The Los Angeles Chargers found their new coach on Wednesday, announcing Michigan’s Jim Harbaugh as their replacement for Brandon Staley, bringing the number of vacancies down to four. At the same time, a potential scoop from Boomer Esiason suggests another domino could fall soon. As revealed in a recent radio appearance, Esiason has heard … or believes… that the Washington Commanders are set to hire current Detroit Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson. “He’s going to be the head coach of the Commanders, I told you that,” Esiason said during his New York WFAN radio show on Wednesday.
Which, if true, would mean the Atlanta Falcons would lose out on another potential candidate to replace Arthur Smith. Johnson, 37, is one of the hottest coaching names this offseason, as evidenced by his six interviews with different teams. One of those teams was the Falcons, who virtually interviewed him on Sunday following the Lions’ Divisional Round win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and have already sent in a request for another. Yet, as the Falcons learned Wednesday with Harbaugh, just because a coach has scheduled an interview with a team doesn’t mean they’ll wait for it before making a decision. Despite reports from the beginning suggesting that the Falcons were intent on taking a “big swing” at landing now-former New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick, Atlanta has cast a wide net during their search.
So far, the Falcons have interviewed 14 candidates and have already begun calling multiple back for another meeting. The initial stem behind the Falcon zeroing in on Belichick has seemingly cooled as rumors of a potential disagreement inside Flowery Branch have spread. Meanwhile, reports have stated that Atlanta was “very impressed” with other candidates like the pair of Detroit Lions coordinators Aaron Glenn and Johnson, in addition to the Houston Texans’ Bobby Slowik
The Falcons’ willingness to overturn every stone to make sure they have conducted a thorough search is admirable yet expected. However, with a major name like Harbaugh off the board and the potential of losing another, Johnson, it seems the Falcons need to move with more urgency.
