Ben Johnson could have surprising solution to Raiders QB situation if he's hired

Detroit Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson has produced the league’s top-scoring offense with unconventional creativity. For a coach who was already seen as a leading candidate to land a head coaching job for the past two years, the 2024 season has brought his candidacy to a boiling point.

Early reports linked Johnson to the Chicago Bears, but his reluctancy to work with general manager Ryan Poles seems to have soured him on that opening. Johnson has made it a priority to avoid taking a job with a dysfunctional organization that churns through head coaches. While well-run teams rarely have coaching vacancies, there are downtrodden organizations that — under the right circumstances — could be on the verge of change. The Washington Commanders, for example, have risen from the ashes following the departure of former owner Dan Snyder.

There’s always the possibility that Johnson opts to remain in Detroit, but recent reports indicate that he could be heading to Sin City. The Las Vegas Raiders have shown some reason for hope with new minority owner Tom Brady, who somehow manages to turn everything he touches into gold. That may be enough to convince Johnson to gamble his coaching career in Las Vegas. 

Raiders could get a Lions’ QB along with Ben Johnson

The Raiders are in desperate need of stability at head coach and quarterback. Johnson would be an obvious solution to the first problem, but one of his choices for quarterback may be a bit surprising. During Wednesday’s episode of the “Las Vegas Raiders Insider Podcast,” Sports Illustrated insider Hondo Carpenter said “it was intimated” to him that Johnson could have interest in trading for Lions quarterback Hendon Hooker.

“If, by some chance, the Raiders were to hire Ben Johnson … what would you think of Hendon Hooker?” Carpenter said. “He’s got a couple of years of experience in the Ben Johnson system. He hasn’t started, but he comes in, instantly competes for [the starting role]. You could still go draft a guy. You still have Aiden there, so he instantly competes. I think he’s clearly the favorite, but he already knows the Ben Johnson system. … I know for a fact that when Hendon was in the draft, the Raiders really liked him. Now, it’s not the Raiders that were there then, but they really liked him. … I think that is an extremely viable option.”

Hooker fell into the third round of the 2023 NFL Draft after he suffered a torn ACL injury in his final collegiate game at Tennessee, and the Lions selected him with the No. 68 overall pick. After spending his rookie season rehabbing the injury, Hooker served as a backup quarterback behind starter Jared Goff. 

Although he has not started a game, Hooker played 33 snaps over the final minutes of three blowout victories this season. He completed six of his nine pass attempts for 62 yards and added two rushing yards on five attempts. He took one sack, but produced no other positive or negative play in his limited exposure.

Finding a quarterback through free agency or the trade market may not be exciting, but it would be wise. The Raiders have the No. 6 overall pick in the 2025 NFL Draft, which is considered to be a weak quarterback class. Even if they expect to draft a quarterback early in the draft, Las Vegas can’t head into April without a backup option like they did last year.

Regardless, the Raiders need to solidify their coaching hire before any quarterback acquisitions can happen.