Mike Florio believes there’s a double standard with Adam Schefter’s reporting.
Florio, the Pro Football Talk founder, called out Schefter, the ESPN NFL insider, for what he believed to be an “irresponsible” tweet about Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson staying put in Detroit.
Johnson was believed to be the front-runner for Washington’s opening, but opted to stay with the Lions.
Washington then pivoted to Dan Quinn.
After Johnson passed on the Commanders, Schefter provided a morsel of sourced information.
“Ben Johnson was not the head-coaching lock that people thought and his asking price spooked some teams, per sources,” Schefter tweeted Tuesday.
Schefter did not provide follow-up details about Johnson’s asking price and Florio ripped his former friend for not providing more context.
“I want to preface this by saying there was once a time Adam Schefter and I are friends, we currently aren’t. I’m just amazed that he can get away with stuff that others can’t get away with. I’m not saying he’s going to get away with this, I’m pointing it out currently,” Florio said on “Bernstein on Holmes” in Chicago. “Throwing out there the idea that Ben Johnson’s asking price spooked teams with no further information, with no further context, with no opportunity for Johnson or his agent to respond to this suggestion, seems irresponsible to me. And I would get dragged if I did it.
“But you put this out there to 10.7 million followers on X and it’s treated as gospel. ‘Ben Johnson is unreasonable, Ben Johnson is unrealistic, Ben Johnson is too big for his britches.’ I want to know more about this. What was the number? Is it reasonable to be spooked by the amount Ben Johnson supposedly wanted? Is it 10, is it 15, is it 20 million? I don’t know. And is it true? Or is it just face-saving by the Commanders, who had been linked so closely to Ben Johnson?
“He says no, ‘It still smells like Dan Snyder in here’ or words to that effect, stays in Detroit, and now they make it about him and not about them. So, that one tweet has a lot of curiosity that it sparks. And I feel like it’s not something that you put out there without more — and at a minimum, without giving Johnson a chance to refute it, explain it, comment on it, confirm it, whatever.”
Florio’s opinion was a very inside-journalism take that not everyone will care about, but it’s not unfair to him to ask for more details about Johnson’s supposed demands.
Johnson surprised many by staying put in Detroit in hope of a future job rather than take any of the eight openings, including the Washington opening that includes the No. 2 draft pick.
CBS Sports’ Josina Anderson had reported in December that Johnson’s asking price was $15 million per season, which his agent refuted.
But it’s difficult to assume that Schefter’s massive audience is aware of Anderson’s reporting from over a month ago.
And without knowing the asking price, it’s hard for the general public to know if Johnson was asking for too much or if teams were coming up with excuses for why they didn’t land him.