According to many reports, the Las Vegas Raiders' top target for their head coach vacancy was former Detroit Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson, who was eventually hired by the Chicago Bears.
Reports also suggested that Pete Carroll, who the Raiders eventually hired, was the No. 2 option if Johnson didn't take the job. Well, one NFL insider is saying that was not the case.
Per Tony Pauline of Sportskeeda, ex-Tampa Bay Buccaneers offensive coordinator and current head coach of the Jacksonville Jaguars, Liam Coen, was actually ahead of Carroll in the pecking order.
He also adds that the Raiders have been ridiculed down at the Shrine Bowl for their decision to hire Carroll, which Pauline says "doesn't make much sense to anyone."
"The Raiders have received a lot of ridicule from all corners here at Shrine practice after hiring Pete Carroll as their head coach," Pauline reported. "The team, and Tom Brady, wanted Liam Coen to take the job, but he chose Jacksonville; and other than trying to stabilize the franchise, choosing Carroll doesn't make much sense to anyone."
On the flip side, the hiring of John Spytek as general manager received praise from the folks in attendance for Shrine Bowl practices.
"The reaction to their new general manager hire couldn't be any different," Pauline wrote. "People have praised the hire of John Spytek, who was assistant general manager with the Tampa Bay Bucs before taking the Raiders job.
"People are confident Spytek knows personnel and will do a good job filling in the missing pieces on the Raiders roster. They also expect Spytek and the Raiders will be one of the teams working hard to move up into one of the top two spots at the top of the draft so they can select a quarterback," Pauline concluded.
This is the first time we've heard Coen's name linked to the Raiders. There was no report saying the Raiders even requested an interview with him, let alone had him at the top of the list of their candidates.
But, as Raiders fans know, a lot of what was reported during the head-coach hiring process didn't hold up, so anything is possible at this point.
An example of that was Johnson's agent, Rick Smith, telling the 2nd City Gridiron podcast that the rumors saying that the Raiders and Johnson were close to joining forces wasn't true. Even Raiders owner Mark Davis admitted those rumors were false.
“Initial gut reaction Day 1 on the Raiders was ‘No go. Okay?” Smith said. “Tom Brady absolutely has an extremely compelling case that gets you to listen. The whole thing ‘Ben to the Raiders... great sources’ and all the other stuff, that was never right.”
“No, we didn’t think we had Ben Johnson,” Davis said to Logan Reever of Las Vegas 8 News Now after Carroll’s introductory presser. “We never made an offer to Ben Johnson. He’s a Chicago Bear.
Considering Coen's connection with Spytek from the Bucs, the Raiders having an interest in him makes sense. But none of that matters now. Coen is in Jacksonville and the Raiders are moving forward with Carroll.
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