New Evidence Shows NFL Is Letting Raiders Tamper With Ben Johnson
In the NFL, one word that often comes up regarding potential free agents is tampering. For those who aren’t familiar, it is when a team or person tries to convince a player who is under contract with another team to join their team without the player’s current team’s permission. This practice became so blatant a few years ago that the league had to institute a legal tampering period before free agency so teams could begin negotiating. Anybody caught violating this rule would get slapped with severe penalties. The problem is there is no such rule, at least officially, regarding coaching candidates. Enter Ben Johnson.
With Mike Vrabel off the table, he has become the hottest candidate left on the market. It’s no secret that the Chicago Bears and the Jacksonville Jaguars are interested. However, the team everybody is talking about right now is the Las Vegas Raiders. They just cleaned house and reportedly are undertaking a massive effort to lure Johnson to the desert. The man leading the way is new part owner Tom Brady. That by itself wasn’t a big deal. However, people are starting to wonder if the former quarterback has an unfair advantage in this process, and the new broadcasting schedule for the upcoming divisional round of the playoffs proves it.
Not only will Brady call one of the upcoming games, but it will be the Detroit Lions and Washington Commanders showdown. How is that not a conflict of interest?
The Raiders have an unfair advantage on Ben Johnson.
Broadcasters are free to meet with coaches and players before games and talk. Keep in mind teams are only allowed to speak with coaching candidates for three hours per week, which the Raiders have already done. Allowing Brady an opportunity to speak with Johnson at that game is a massive violation of their own rules. Yet it appears the NFL plans to look the other way. Chicago and Jacksonville have every reason to question this arrangement since it doesn’t keep the playing field level.
Then again, Brady has never been above cheating before.
If Las Vegas does land Ben Johnson, this development of Brady calling one of his playoff games deserves way more scrutiny than it’s getting. It proves that while the NFL insists on upholding the integrity of the process, it has no issue burying its head in the sand when one of its favorite sons violates the rules. Chicago can only forge ahead. Johnson won’t be available to hire until Detroit is eliminated from the playoffs. If he is their primary target, they must pull out every trick in the book to convince him they are the better landing spot.