Multiple local reporters in Chicago and Las Vegas thought the Chicago Bears had a slim chance of landing Ben Johnson before the Detroit Lions’ 45-31 loss to the Washington Commanders in the divisional round.
George Ofman, Bill Zimmerman, and Vincent Bonsignore reported Johnson’s camp was cozying up to the Las Vegas Raiders, with Tom Brady’s team being No. 1 on the offensive wizard’s list.
Ben Johnson didn’t have a No. 1 before Monday morning
One problem: Johnson’s agent, Rick Smith of Priority Sports, claims there wasn’t a No. 1 team on the list until Monday morning, a few hours before reports first surfaced that Johnson accepted the job with the Bears.
“The Sunday night after the Lions were defeated by the Commanders was the first time that I was able to finally complete, to make Ben a presentation, he and his wife, a presentation of all of the information, allow him to ask questions, allow him to be able to make an informed decision,” Smith said during an appearance on the 2nd City Gridiron podcast with Zimmerman. “He woke up Monday morning, called me at, I don’t know what time it was, it was in the morning, and said, ‘call the Bears, and see if you can get a deal done.'”
Rick Smith didn’t want to stop the rumor mill
Smith claims he didn’t plant the sources who told numerous local reporters in Chicago and Las Vegas that Johnson was leaning toward the Raiders before the divisional round game. (The NFL Network reported at the time that it was an even three-way race.) However, Smith didn’t stamp out the rumors coming from local guys.
“The whole thing, Ben to the Raiders, you know, great sources, all the other stuff, no, that was never right, Smith said. “However, sometimes, again, going back to my job, sometimes things go viral, that you’re like, I gotta put a break on this. And sometimes thing goes viral, like, no, this is good, I like this. And that viral thing was, I like this, let’s just leave that out there, okay?”
Last year, Brandon Aiyuk’s agent, Ryan Williams, publicly discredited rumors that his client requested a trade from the San Francisco 49ers in the spring.
Smith didn’t want to do that because of how he negotiates with front offices.
Smith used the rumors as leverage on the Chicago Bears
On Monday, following the presentation of all the information he didn’t have before, Johnson told Smith he wanted the Bears job. Smith claims Chicago knew Johnson wanted the Bears job, so Smith needed leverage in order to make more money on the deal.
“I got the Raiders are interested, Jacksonville’s interested,” Smith said. “I still have that, you know? So at the end of the day, the Bears know, I mean, the Bears were always going to do the right thing. Like I said before, this wasn’t a knockdown, drag out. They started low, I go high, they go up, I go down a little. We zeroed in on this thing on both sides immediately…
“So leverage goes both ways, you know what I’m saying? So yeah, the Bears could try to leverage me, but then I could also go to three teams and say, put an offer on the table. And I’m like, well, this team’s got this. I don’t do that. That’s not my style. I think that’s a B.S. way of doing business. So basically, I go one, two, three, or whatever it is, and go to the first team he wants to go to, which was the Bears. And I say, all right, let’s get a deal done right now. They know that if they can’t, then I’m going to two. So it’s not a leverage game. It’s a reality game.”
The reality is that false rumors were allowed to spread because Johnson’s agent wanted the B.S. out there, whether he planted it or not. We pointed out the rumors were out there to help Johnson’s agent in negotiations.
Someone planted it, and they planted it for a purpose. Whatever that might be.
The Bears quickly rushed to finalize a deal with Johnson on Monday. They didn’t even bother to give the inexperienced head coach an in-person interview before handing him a contract believed to be in the ballpark of $13 million.
That’s an incredible feat for Smith to land his client a job immediately without an in-person interview (something Johnson has struggled with in the past) for a king’s ransom.
At least that’s the narrative Smith wanted to give Zimmerman after the fact.
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