HENDERSON, Nev. – When Raiders owner Mark Davis sat down with The Athletic for an interview in March, he didn’t have any bold statements about what he expected from coach Josh McDaniels and general manager Dave Ziegler. His only mission was sensible: he wanted to see progress.
More than seven months later, that hadn’t proven true for the Raiders. For Davis, the exact opposite happened. And in response, he fired both McDaniels and Ziegler on Tuesday, just 25 games into the regime’s tenure.
“I just didn’t see the progress,” Davis said in a phone interview with The Athletic on Wednesday. “I saw a regression.”
While the Raiders’ (3-5) 56-26 losses to the Bears and Lions over the past two weeks played a role, Davis’ decision to move on wasn’t a snap. It was a cumulative process based on his overall assessment dating back to last year’s abysmal 6-11 season. When the team got off to a rocky 1-3 start this season, he set the NFL’s trade deadline of Oct. 31 as his date by which he would decide McDaniels and Ziegler’s future with the franchise. Based on what he saw, he felt it was time to make a change shortly after the trade deadline.
The last time Davis conducted a coaching and general manager search last January, he fell in love with McDaniels, then the Patriots’ offensive coordinator. He saw McDaniels orchestrate some of the league’s most productive offenses and help win multiple Super Bowls in New England and believed he could bring some of that magic to Las Vegas. McDaniels would only come if it was a package deal with Ziegler, and Davis felt strongly enough about him to bring both of them on board.
“I was really excited because I think Josh McDaniels has a very fertile offensive mind and I’ve seen in the past that he’s able to adjust to so many different variables,” Davis said. “I thought he could bring a fresh, explosive offensive spirit to the Raiders.”
That didn’t come about. The Raiders’ offense was solid in 2022, but fell short of expectations considering it was a unit that featured quarterback Derek Carr, running back Josh Jacobs, receivers Davante Adams and Hunter Renfrow, and tight end Darren Waller passed. In response, Ziegler and McDaniels released Carr, traded Waller to the Giants and rebuilt the offense with quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo, receiver Jakobi Meyers and tight end Michael Mayer.
Despite the series of changes, the Raiders’ offense got significantly worse. In eight games with McDaniels at the helm, they averaged just 15.7 points per game (30th), 268.3 yards per game (31st), and 4.6 yards per game (27th). They couldn’t run and Garoppolo played like one of the worst quarterbacks in the league. They turned the ball over too often, couldn’t extend drives and couldn’t convert in the red zone. In the midst of all this, McDaniels seemed to have no idea how to fix the problem. Ultimately, it cost McDaniels, offensive coordinator Mick Lombardi and Ziegler their jobs.
With nine games left to play, Davis had to make some last-minute decisions about who would take the reins this season. Replacing Ziegler was the easy part. Davis quickly named assistant general manager Champ Kelly as interim general manager. Kelly actually applied for the full-time GM position in the previous search, and Davis strongly considered him for the position.
“If I hadn’t done the pairing of Dave and Josh, Champ might have gotten the job back then. We were happy and grateful that he chose to come on board as deputy general manager,” said Davis. “So there wasn’t even a question about who would actually take on this position.”
However, things were different for the interim head coach. Davis considered “several” candidates for the coaching staff before settling on linebackers coach Antonio Pierce.
“I didn’t know Antonio very well over the last year and a half, but I got to know him a little,” Davis said. “When I saw Antonio’s background and resume, I was fascinated. So when I sat down with him and interviewed him, I just felt like he was the right guy at the right time for the role I was looking for.”
As for the prospects for the rest of the season under Kelly and Pierce, Davis remains cautious. He’s hoping the offense improves with interim offensive coordinator Bo Hardegree, who has served as quarterbacks coach since last year, taking over playcalling duties and rookie Aidan O’Connell replacing Garoppolo at quarterback. He also believes the improved defense can reach new levels. However, when it comes to the outcome, he maintains a holistic view.
“That’s why they play the game,” Davis said. “I would like to see progress and I would like to see the shared culture of the team. I won’t say we lost the culture because these people never gave up. Even when they were behind, they kept playing. They played really, really hard. I think it’s a great group of young men and it will be interesting to see if we can do more with it under new leadership.”
Realistically, the Raiders probably won’t make the playoffs again with an interim coach like they did with Rich Bisaccia in 2021. But whatever the outcome of the rest of the season, Davis will have to choose the Raiders’ sixth full-time head coach and fourth full-time GM since he became owner in 2011.
None of his decisions have proven successful so far, especially his coaching decisions. Davis believes this is largely because he was over-committed to candidates before the search even began. He wanted to hire Jon Gruden in both 2012 and 2015 before finally succeeding in 2018.
“At some point I finally got that part done,” Davis said, “and obviously it didn’t work out for other reasons that had nothing to do with football.”
Gruden resigned after racist, homophobic and misogynistic emails were leaked just five games into the 2021 season. When the offseason came, Davis was fixated on McDaniels.
“I knew Josh and had a lot of respect for him,” Davis said, “and thought he could be the answer.”
Davis is trying to avoid making the same mistake. He said he wanted to approach this search with an open mind.
“This time I don’t really have anyone in mind that could potentially influence my thinking, so to speak,” Davis said. “My thought process is wide open.
“And there’s a very good chance that the head coach and general manager we have right now will get the jobs.”
(Photo: Kevin Sabitus / Getty Images)