Adam Schefter had some harsh words for Ben Johnson over the way he conducted himself with the Washington Commanders.
Johnson had seemed to be a lock for the Commanders’ vacant head coaching job at one point, but abruptly canceled his second interview with ownership and ultimately is staying in Detroit as its offensive coordinator.
The ESPN NFL insider used an appearance on “The Pat McAfee Show” on Monday to criticize Johnson and how he let things play out with Washington.
“Ben Johnson is entitled to do and stay wherever he wants,” Schefter said. “Where it becomes an issue I think is this, if you know you’re pulling out of that job and you’re withdrawing your name from consideration, all good. No issues. There’s a time to do it. When the Washington ownership group is not in the air on the way to see you in Detroit. … If you know you don’t want that job and you’ve committed to talking to these people, who have spent weeks doing diligence on you and investigating the possibility of hiring, why would you not just sit down with them when your season is over?
“Listen to them for two hours. Say, ‘well Mr. Harris, Mr. Rales, very impressive. I want to wish you the best of luck. Good luck with everything. Thank you for coming to Detroit. I’m very happy here, I’m going to stay.’”
In the end, the Commanders hired Dallas Cowboys defensive coordinator Dan Quinn for the job and it appeared that there were a few issues with Johnson.
Johnson reportedly had a problem with the Commanders’ new ownership group, which is headed by Josh Harris, who also owns the New Jersey Devils and Philadelphia 76ers.
According to a report by ESPN, Johnson viewed the group, which also has NBA legend Magic Johnson among its ranks, as “basketball guys” and were too overconfident in their knowledge of football.
There was also the issue of how well Johnson had interviewed for jobs and the notion that he “didn’t interview well.”
Washington’s ownership had been in the process of traveling to Detroit to meet with Johnson when he alerted them to his thinking.
“The Commanders found out in midair at the same time that they were getting a text from an agent,” Schefter continued. “It was like something that was done in advance or there was any warning. There were media reports that one person on the plane turned to another and asked, ‘Is this true? He’s not interviewing with us anymore?’”
The NFL insider was clearly fired up about the way Joshnon handled everything and McAfee poked fun towards the end of a clip of the interaction that Schefter was plugged in with the Commanders.