Seahawks 'Spooked,' OUT on Coach Ben Johnson Sweepstakes

Seattle Seahawks 'Spooked,' OUT on Detroit Lions Coach Ben Johnson Sweepstakes

The Seattle Seahawks remain as just one of two teams without a current head coach in place, and they just lost out on one of their potential candidates.

Per NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero, Detroit Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson has told the Seahawks and Washington Commanders that he’s pulling out of both races and will return to the Lions next season to remain under coach Dan Campbell.

© Junfu Han, Detroit Free Press

“Lions OC Ben Johnson informed the Seahawks and Commanders that he’s staying in Detroit, per sources,” Pelissero tweeted. “Johnson is still only 37 and will be a hot head coaching candidate again next year. But first, he wants to take another shot at bringing a Lombardi Trophy to Detroit.”

ESPN's Adam Schefter reported that despite the hype surrounding Johnson as a potential head-coaching hire, he apparently was asking for too big of a contract and scared away teams he interviewed with like Seattle and Washington.

“Ben Johnson was not the head-coaching lock that people thought and his asking price spooked some teams, per sources,” Schefter tweeted.

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Led by quarterback Jared Goff this season, the Lions offense featured a dynamic pair of running backs in Jahmyr Gibbs and David Montgomery along with All-Pro receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown, standout rookie tight end Sam LaPorta and an imposing offensive line. Detroit averaged the third-most offensive yards per game (394.8) during the regular season, and was only a few plays away from making it to Super Bowl 58.