Ben Johnson

Ben Johnson to the Raiders is “picking up steam” in league circles over the last 48 hours, according to Peter Schrager of Fox Sports.

Schrager’s tweet comes on the heels of an Ian Rapoport article linking Johnson to the Raiders. The Raiders job comes with obvious drawbacks as Las Vegas is without a quarterback and in the same division as Patrick Mahomes and Justin Herbert, though the team could be willing to pay top dollar for the Lions offensive coordinator. With the 38-year-old Johnson still set to interview with the Jaguars and Bears Saturday, these links to the Raiders could be setting up a leverage play for the Detroit coach who sat out the last two hiring cycles despite being one of the top candidates. It’s still possible that Johnson is actually interested in Tom Brady’s vision for the Raiders’ future, which could include Johnson having some say on who their next general manager would be.