The Chicago Bears appeared to be losing out on the bid to land Detroit offensive coordinator Ben Johnson as their next head coach. The Las Vegas Raiders and minority owner Tom Brady have made bold pitches to land the 38-year-old offensive mind.
Johnson met with the Bears in a virtual meeting last week. He cannot interview with the Bears in person until after the Lions’ postseason is don’t. However, Johnson made an interesting move on Friday that has many in the Chicago community thinking he’s headed to the “Windy City.”
Ben Johnson signed with a Chicago sports agent
Per Ryan Glasspiegel of Front Office Sports, Johnson signed for representation from NFL agent Rick Smith, president of Priority Sports.
“Lions offensive coordinator and hot commodity head coaching candidate Ben Johnson has signed with agent Rick Smith of Priority Sports, the agency confirmed to FOS,” Glasspiegel posted on X.
Lions offensive coordinator and hot commodity head coaching candidate Ben Johnson has signed with agent Rick Smith of Priority Sports, the agency confirmed to @FOS. pic.twitter.com/YvY3MFCylh
— Ryan Glasspiegel (@sportsrapport) January 17, 2025
Per Smith’s profile on LinkedIn, the agent lives in Highland Park, Illinois. He is an alumnus of Northwestern University School of Law and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Cahmpaign. He’s obviously connected to Chicago.
However, Smith is a rival of Trace Armstrong.
But we were told the Chicago Bears only deal with Trace Armstrong
What’s funny about Chicago’s immediate reaction to Johnson signing with Smith is that it came hours after Bears fans were in arms about ESPN’s Kaylen Kahler’s report on the influence of sports agents in NFL coaching hires.
Via ESPN:
Since 2018, agent and ex-Chicago defensive end Trace Armstrong and his agency, Athletes First, have represented two fired Bears head coaches, Matt Nagy and Eberflus; three fired offensive coordinators, Mark Helfrich, Luke Getsy and Shane Waldron; as well as current general manager Ryan Poles.
“I’ve never seen one agent have so much influence on one team and had so little success, but they keep going back and taking his guys,” said one coaching agent, who requested anonymity to speak freely on the topic. “And we all kind of shake our heads like, have they not figured this out yet?”
So maybe Johnson signing with Smith doesn’t have anything to do with the Bears at all.
Priority Sports, based in Chicago and Sherman Oaks, California, represents Lions head coach Dan Campbell and Washington Commanders head coach Dan Quinn.
© Junfu Han / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
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