Why did the Raiders hire Josh McDaniels? Why Las Vegas took a chance on former Patriots OC
Josh McDaniels #JoshMcDaniels
The Raiders have had an interesting revolving door at head coach the past few years. They started 2021 with Jon Gruden entering his fourth year, but Gruden of course resigned midseason when he became embroiled in an email scandal in which he used homophobic slurs amid other heinous verbiage.
From there, Rich Bisaccia took the reins for the Raiders, and he led the team to a 7-5 record and a playoff berth. The Raiders, however, lost to the Bengals in the wild card round, and Bisaccia moved on to the Packers as special teams coordinator.
That left the Raiders in a sticky situation. A playoff team without a head coach with a quarterback entering a contract year.
The Raiders wasted no time. At the end of January, they hired Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels, who already had had a year-plus stint with the Broncos. They’re off to a 1-3 start with McDaniels at the helm, although to McDaniels’ credit the Raiders are third in the NFL in yards per game at 385, trailing only the Chiefs and Bills.
MORE: Josh McDaniels’ coaching history: Timeline of stints, record
Why did the Raiders hire Josh McDaniels?
McDaniels was, undoubtedly, an interesting choice for Vegas.
Given the direction the franchise was going, it was a bit head-scratching seeing them go with a coaching retread, particularly given the dubious history of Patriots coordinators-turned-coaches.
“I understand the vision that they have in mind,” McDaniels said when he was introduced as a head coach. “You can tell where this organization is headed and I’m excited to be part of it.”
Mostly, it seemed like Raiders GM Dave Ziegler was going with who he knows. The two worked together in Denver, with Ziegler serving as a player personnel assistant in 2010. Ziegler was also with the Patriots from 2013 to 2021 in various personnel roles before the Raiders named him GM.
In other words, Ziegler would have been extremely familiar with McDaniels, so him going with a Patriots guy was a reasonable choice.
MORE: Tom Brady sees ‘a lot of bad football’ around NFL
Why did the Raiders move on from Rich Bisaccia?
The decision to hire McDaniels didn’t come without scrutiny.
Bisaccia inherited a tough situation and took the Raiders to the playoffs in a down-to-the-wire race with the Chargers. To make things harder, Bisaccia seemed to have a lot of players’ support.
“I’ve said it many times already: Rich is my pick if it was up to me,” defensive lineman Maxx Crosby said on Colin Cowherd’s ‘The Herd’ in January. “He’s a leader. He’s a leader of men. He’s somebody you look forward to seeing every morning. He’s a great coach from top to bottom. “I think he’s earned the right. We won 10 games this year. With all the things going on in our building we still found a way to win. I think that’s a big reflection of Rich.”
Derek Carr was similarly high on Bisaccia.
“I think we can all think that he’s the right guy,” he said, per ESPN. “He’s proven that people listen to him. Our team listens to him. And I love him so much, I’m thankful for him. All those things will be decisions that I don’t make, I don’t get to make. I just play quarterback … but with everything that went on, if you really look at what happened, all the pieces missing, everything that changed, yeah, he held it together.”
The Raiders, however, were going through a regime change, and Bisaccia didn’t make the cut.
The Raiders’ inauspicious start under McDaniels could be throwing up red flags, but they are coming off a win. With Carr and Davante Adams looking for rhythm, McDaniels may still be figuring out the pieces he has.
The Raiders haven’t come storming out of the gate early, but they have time to figure it out. With Carr signed to a three-year extension before this season, however, one can’t help but wonder who the fall guy will be if the Raiders continue to struggle.