Josh McDaniels’ poor actions resulted in his termination by the Raiders: what happens next?
The final image of Josh McDaniels as an NFL head coach will come from Monday night. In the second half against the Lions, Las Vegas Raiders receiver Davante Adams found himself open for two long touchdowns, but hand-picked McDaniels favorite Jimmy Garoppolo misfired on both throws. The first, under intense pressure from Aidan Hutchinson, landed two yards out of bounds. The second fell two yards beyond Adams’ grasp. The star wideout went to the sideline, slammed his helmet on the bench, and clearly stated that he was tired of what I’ll refer to as the Raiders experience.
Fast forward 24 hours, and it was clear that Mark Davis was also bored of the experience. On Tuesday night, the Raiders’ owner abruptly dismissed McDaniels and general manager Dave Ziegler, ending the former Patriots coordinator’s head-coaching tenure after 25 games and less than two seasons into a six-year contract. McDaniels went 9-16 as Raiders coach, a drop from his 11-17 record in 28 games with the Broncos (2009-10), where he was dismissed halfway through his second season.
McDaniels and Ziegler did not deserve to depart based on their record and performance thus far. They’ve been mediocre, yes, but lots of coaches have performed worse before improving. Davis did not fire Jon Gruden, who started 11-21 in his second season with the Raiders. Kyle Shanahan finished 10-22 in his first two seasons with the 49ers. Dan Campbell, who gave McDaniels his final loss, began his Lions career 4-19-1. He’s gone 13-4 since then. Many coaches have started slowly but recovered.
Instead, the argument for terminating McDaniels and Ziegler is more complete. I’m not sure a coach and general manager have ever made as many major decisions wrong in the first two years of their career as the now-deposed Raiders duo. Everyone makes mistakes, and it’s easy to amend decisions in retrospect, but many of their choices seemed silly even at the time. Running through them in chronological sequence provides a basic history of the regime and explains why the couple is in Las Vegas.
Depending on how you look at the roster McDaniels inherited, some could argue that Las Vegas’ collapse over the past two seasons was even more dramatic than a mediocre win-loss record.
The 2021 Raiders have advanced to the playoffs!
Las Vegas won its final four games, including the famous overtime game against the Chargers in Week 18, to advance to the postseason.
There they lost 20-6 to the Bengals, but looked set to come back and score the game-winner, but Derek Carr threw an interception on fourth-and-goal, ending Las Vegas’ season.
Before and after the loss, Raiders players were searching for interim coach Rich Bisaccia.
Davis fired general manager Mike Mayock and hired McDaniels and Ziegler in his place.
Bisaccia was assigned to the Packers as a special trainer.
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Yes, the Raiders were a team that made the playoffs with a 10-7 record.
But a closer look reveals something different.
As I wrote before McDaniels was hired, the Raiders were one of the luckiest teams in the league in 2022.
They finished with his 10-7 record, but had a 65-point lead.
In games decided by seven points or less, they won 7-2.
The four-game winning streak to end the season included victories over backup quarterbacks Nick Mullens and Drew Lock, as well as Colts quarterback Carson Wentz, who has not been vaccinated against the coronavirus.
, was diagnosed with the new coronavirus several hours ago.
What was returned was the game.
After years of terrible draft picks and trades during the Gruden/Mayock era, their young core was largely lacking.
The Raiders needed to rebuild.
McDaniels and Ziegler disagreed.
Their first major pick showed what they thought of the team.
The Broncos acquired Russell Wilson in a trade, the Chargers acquired Khalil Mack in a trade and signed J.C.
Jackson was a great free agent signing, but the Raiders clearly felt they had to make their own move to join the AFC West arms race.
First, let’s take a look at the big decisions made by the hapless administration there.
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A timeline of bad decisions and bad football March 18, 2022: Raiders send Adams’ first-round pick and second-round pick to the Packers.
McDaniels took over a Raiders team that had question marks virtually everywhere on the offensive line and defense, and sent its top two picks to Green Bay for a quality wide receiver.
The Raiders traded Adams to a five-year, $140 million contract, paying the superstar approximately $68 million over the first three years of his new contract.
The deal reset the wide receiver market, which came out on top eight days later when the Chiefs sent Tyreek Hill to the Dolphins.
When I wrote about this trade, I considered the assumptions the Raiders made in making the deal and why it didn’t work out.
The main ones revolved around self-exploration, Adams’ development, and the Las Vegas time frame.
Adams was and is a great receiver, but he will be 30 years old in December 2022.
The track record of these star wideouts as they reach age 30 suggests that they cannot be trusted to continue producing All-Pro-level seasons year after year.
He had one last year, but is on pace for 1,145 yards and 6 yards.
