Tom Brady may have been used to winning Super Bowls as a quarterback in the NFL but the appeal of his superstar persona was no match for the Chicago Bears in the recruiting of Ben Johnson.
In fact, with Brady calling the game between the Detroit Lions and Washington Commanders this past Saturday for FOX, it was clear that he was smitten with the idea of Johnson becoming the Raiders' head coach. While Brady stopped short of mentioning Johnson's name during the game, he also stopped short of saying anything critical of the new Bears' head coach.
Over the course of the past week, there was an uptick in speculation that Brady, who is a minority owner of the Las Vegas Raiders, would be able to successfully pitch Johnson on the idea of becoming the next head coach of the Raiders.
Despite that speculation, it was the Bears who had the better sales pitch.
Per source: Ben Johnson choosing the better overall situation, including young quarterback in place with the @Bears, over the money the @Raiders were prepared to offer, the chance to help pick the next GM and opportunity to work with Tom Brady.
— Vincent Bonsignore (@VinnyBonsignore) January 20, 2025
It's onto Plan B for the Raiders
The Chicago Bears get one over on Tom Brady.
In terms of courting Johnson, the biggest thing that the Raiders had to offer that the Bears couldn't was the idea of pairing the first-time head coach with his handpicked general manager. In fact, on Sunday, the Raiders interviewed Lance Newmark for their general manager position. Newmark, a former Lions' executive, had been circled as a name that Johnson wanted to work with.
Time will tell if the Bears reveal the contract details of Johnson as the team's head coach. Speculation as of this morning was Johnson was seeking a contract worth $13MM per season. However, money wasn't going to be an issue in this search for the Bears.
For the Bears, Johnson's arrival likely was due to the team having Caleb Williams in place as the team's starting quarterback. Despite the appeal that Brady's Raiders may have had, the team had no legitimate path toward solving their quarterback need this offseason.