Raiders insider hints Las Vegas is becoming the favorite for a home-run coaching hire

Keep in mind there are only 32 of these... With the wild card round over and the divisional round coming up in the NFL playoffs, only eight teams are still alive to win the Super Bowl. One of them would be the top-seeded Detroit Lions in the NFC. They have flourished under Dan Campbell, due in large part to their outstanding coordinator duo of Aaron Glenn and Ben Johnson. Both will get jobs.

While Glenn feels like the more likely to leave his Detroit coordinator post, there is some movement into the idea of Johnson taking over the Silver and Black. That is right. The Las Vegas Raiders could be the team to beat to hire the Lions' brilliant offensive play-caller. One job has been filled with Mike Vrabel taking over in New England, and a seventh opened with the Dallas Cowboys joining the party.

But because the Cowboys missed their window to interview candidates on top-seeded teams during their bye weeks, it makes it that much more difficult for Dallas to wind up hiring either Glenn or Johnson. The Raiders may not have a great roster, but they have a clean slate, which is better than what the Chicago Bears, Jacksonville Jaguars and New Orleans Saints are trying to sell right now.

Vincent Bonsignore of the Las Vegas Review-Journal speculates that Johnson is the Raiders' guy.

One would think minority owner Tom Brady is playing a critical role in the Raiders landing Johnson.

Las Vegas Raiders may be frontrunner to hire Detroit Lions' Ben Johnson

I think besides the clean slate component, the best thing the Raiders have going for them is reasonable expectations. This team stinks, so the entry point is quite advantageous for a head-coaching candidate who wants to bet on himself. The Raiders play in a division highlighted by star and up-and-coming quarterbacks like Patrick Mahomes, Justin Herbert and Bo Nix. They need one.

The Raiders have the No. 6 pick in the 2025 NFL Draft. In most years, that would be a great position to potentially trade up. However, this is not expected to be the best quarterback draft in recent memory. Only two quarterbacks are first-round locks in Colorado's Shedeur Sanders and Miami's Cam Ward. We know that Tennessee is taking one of them. Maybe Cleveland or the Giants beat the Raiders to it?

What I find to be interesting is the Raiders have not hired a general manager yet. Usually that position gets filled before the head coach so they can have some degree of alignment. The good news for the Raiders is they should have time to find the right front-office executive for them before hiring Johnson. This is because the Lions are expected to go on a deep run into the NFL playoffs this year.

Right now, the Raiders seem to have the leg up on other NFL teams in their chances to land Johnson.