Adam Schefter, ESPN Senior Writer November 4, 2023, 5:23 p.m. ET
Close
- ESPN NFL Insiders
- Joined ESPN in 2009
- Former president of the Pro Football Writers of America and author of four books
Las Vegas Raiders owner Mark Davis proved again this week that he won’t let money influence how he runs his franchise.
The firings of head coach Josh McDaniels, general manager Dave Ziegler and several coaches will cost Davis about $85 million, league sources told ESPN.
Some of those costs will be offset through compensation and mitigation measures, but the layoffs were, as a source described to ESPN, “nevertheless a costly move.”
But that wasn’t the end of the costs for the Raiders, they also reworked the contracts of interim head coach Antonio Pierce and interim GM Champ Kelly.
Editor favorites
1 relative
Some sources around the organization say Davis isn’t worried about money – he’s worried about putting together a successful organization, which led to this week’s restructuring, costs be damned.
“Unfortunately, I had high hopes for Josh and Dave,” Davis told ESPN’s Paul Gutierrez on Wednesday. “It just seemed like we were going in the wrong direction. With the trade deadline coming up, I just felt like it was time to make a change, to make a move.”
Some sources had predicted that there would be gunfire. A source close to the team texted ESPN after the Raiders lost 30-12 to the Bears and undrafted rookie quarterback Tyson Bagent on Oct. 22: “I just heard if they lost badly to MNF. “ [against the Lions]McDaniels is [gone].”
No one would confirm this source’s text in the week before the Raiders’ loss on “Monday Night Football,” but the thought was clear enough: Davis’ patience was wearing thin.
After Las Vegas lost 26-14 to the Lions on Monday night, Davis personally apologized to a group of Raiders players for wasting their season, league sources told ESPN, and confided in a small group of people within the organization that it was time for a change.
Pierce will be the 12th person to coach a game for the Raiders in the last 20 seasons, including interim coaches – more than any other NFL franchise in that span. Pierce will be the Raiders’ eighth interim or regular coach since Davis took over the team following the death of his father, Al Davis, in October 2011. Pierce follows McDaniels, Rich Bisaccia, Jon Gruden, Jack Del Rio, Tony Sparano, Dennis Allen and Hue Jackson.
Unsurprisingly, for Davis, the instability came at a cost, aside from the financial one. The Raiders have not won a division title since 2002 and are tied with the Jets for the third-longest active losing streak in the NFL, behind only the Browns (1989) and Lions (1993).
Davis said he was “intrigued” enough by Pierce’s resume — including a nine-year NFL career as a linebacker, a Pro Bowl selection and a Super Bowl title with the New York Giants, against whom he made his NFL debut on Sunday -head coach will give – to sit with him.
“Seems like a new approach,” Davis said. “Seems like the adjustment we need at this point. I was impressed.”
Davis added that Pierce “understands the culture of the Raiders, and that’s important to me. I felt very good about it.”