The Raiders were prepared to wait. As long as they needed to wait. Even if that meant well into February. For a shot at landing Ben Johnson as their next head coach. They were among a handful of teams who held virtual interviews with him during their first round bye week. But they would have to hold off on an in-person interview until after they were done with the playoffs.
With the Lions as the top seed in the NFC, it seemed a fairly good chance they would have to wait a while. But the end of the Lions’ playoff run ended sooner than many expected.
Saturday night, the Lions lost 45-31 to the Washington Commanders, thus ending Detroit’s season. And now Johnson, along with fellow head coaching candidate DC Aaron Glenn, are free to move about the country.
This process could potentially go quickly. The Raiders have already satisfied the Rooney Rule with their interviews with Robert Saleh and Ron Rivera last week. So, if Johnson wants the job, and the Raiders offer is what he’s looking for, we could see movement on this soon.
Keep up with all the news in our Raiders head coach interview tracker.