in the 1998 offseason, the bills signed johnson as a free agent. he gained a considerable amount of interest around the league after playing well in a week 1 contest against the ravens, and was expected to become the primary quarterback for the bills. however, the bills also signed former canadian football league (cfl) star flutie after a.j. smith, their director of pro personnel, heavily valued his talents. johnson only led the bills to a 1–3 start before being injured in the middle of his fifth start in week 6 at indianapolis. flutie came in and not only led the bills to a come-from-behind win, but earned the starting job and led the bills to a 7–3 record after. the bills finished with a 10–6 record and wild card berth. in 1999, flutie's stats were down with 19 touchdowns against 16 interceptions, but he went 10–5 as a starter and led the bills to a second wild card berth. with a playoff berth decided, wade phillips decided to let johnson start the week 17 game against the afc east division champion, the colts. johnson played well in flutie's place, going 24–of–32 for 287 yards and 2 touchdowns with no interceptions in a 31–6 win. the following day, phillips told johnson he would start in their first round playoff game against the titans. years later, phillips claimed that it was not his decision to start rob johnson, and that owner ralph wilson had ordered him to do so. it remains unknown why the bills started johnson, but it is possible that the investments the bills had spent on the players played a key role. while flutie was a low-cost signing for the bills, johnson was being paid $25 million over 4 years with the expectation that he become the bills' franchise quarterback. as a result, wilson may have wanted to see a return on his investment.