NBC’s Mike Florio has hit out at Adam Schefter, accusing the ESPN insider of “irresponsible” reporting over his tweet about Ben Johnson opting to remain with the Lions after interviewing for the Washington Commanders head coaching job.
Johnson was widely expected to be the next Commanders coach as he was the top candidate. However, he made a surprise U-turn, choosing to stay on as the Lions offensive coordinator.
“Ben Johnson was not the head-coaching lock that people thought and his asking price spooked some teams, per sources,” Schefter tweeted on the development earlier this week.
The way Florio sees it, that’s not enough context.
“I want to preface this by saying there was once a time Adam Schefter and I are friends, we currently aren’t. I’m just amazed that he can get away with stuff that others can’t get away with. I’m not saying he’s going to get away with this, I’m pointing it out currently,” he said on ‘Bernstein on Holmes’ (H/T the New York Post).
“Throwing out there the idea that Ben Johnson’s asking price spooked teams with no further information, with no further context, with no opportunity for Johnson or his agent to respond to this suggestion, seems irresponsible to me. And I would get dragged if I did it.
“But you put this out there to 10.7 million followers on X and it’s treated as gospel. ‘Ben Johnson is unreasonable, Ben Johnson is unrealistic, Ben Johnson is too big for his britches.’
“I want to know more about this. What was the number? Is it reasonable to be spooked by the amount Ben Johnson supposedly wanted? Is it 10, is it 15, is it 20 million? I don’t know. And is it true? Or is it just face-saving by the Commanders, who had been linked so closely to Ben Johnson?
“He says no, ‘It still smells like Dan Snyder in here’ or words to that effect, stays in Detroit, and now they make it about him and not about them. So, that one tweet has a lot of curiosity that it sparks. And I feel like it’s not something that you put out there without more — and at a minimum, without giving Johnson a chance to refute it, explain it, comment on it, confirm it, whatever.”
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Of course, fans won’t care much about the above as it’s a bone to pick within the journalism fraternity. But Florio isn’t being unreasonable here, some more context would have been great.
It’s worth noting, however, that back in December, Josina Anderson of CBS Sports reported Johnson was after $15 million a year. The OC’s agent quickly shut her claims down.
