The Las Vegas Raiders announced the firing of their head coach Josh McDaniels on October 31, 2023. He was fired alongside general manager Dave Ziegler and offensive coordinator Mick Lombardi. The Raiders owner issued this statement: “After much thought about what the Raiders need to move forward, I have decided to part ways with Josh and Dave, I want to thank them both for their hard work and wish them and their families nothing but the best.”[1] The linebackers coach, Antonio Pierce, was named the interim head coach. The assistant general manager Champ Kelly will serve as the interim general manager.[2] Pierce will be the 12th different person to coach a game in the Raiders last 20 seasons.[3] The organization will go through an organized and comprehensive search for a new head coach and general manager once the season is complete.
The firing happened just a day after the Raiders fell to the Lions on Monday Night Football. McDaniels and Ziegler were both hired in January 2022 and were expected to take the team to the next step in their evolution. Instead, the Raiders went on to be 9-16 following, and McDaniels was tied for third in the worst record of any Raiders coach in 25 games.[4] McDaniels has had a hard time staying with teams as previous to joining the Raiders, he was with the Denver Broncos and was fired before the end of his second season with the team. Similar with this season, McDaniels has been fired before the end of his second season. The Raiders just haven’t been able to get anything going. This season, the Raiders have been blowing their double digit leads and getting shut out as well. The Raiders did move on from their franchise quarterback Derek Carr prior to this season and tried to find hope in Jimmy Garoppolo. Garoppolo has been battling some injuries, which have been affecting the Raiders stats. Out of 32 teams, the Raiders are 31 in total offense, 32 in rushing yards per game, and 30 in points per game.[5] The Raiders going into week 9 and for the rest of the season will start rookie quarterback Aiden O’Connell to see if there are different results.
When McDaniels was signed in January 2022, he was signed to a 6-year deal worth approximately $10 million per year.[6] At the time of firing, McDaniels has over 4-years left on his contract, that as of right now the Raiders are obligated to pay. The Raiders could formulate a similar deal as they did with their previous coach Jon Gruden after he stepped down. Gruden was bought out of his contract, but that seems unlikely in this case.[7] The only foreseeable way for the Raiders to get out of paying the entire amount for the rest of the 4-years to McDaniels is if there were any incentives in the contract that McDaniels failed to meet. Yet again, the Raiders find themselves paying a coach who is not coaching.
[1] https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/38790836/las-vegas-raiders-fire-coach-josh-mcdaniels-gm-david-ziegler
[2] Id.
[3] Id.
[4] Id.
[5] Id.
[6] https://www.sportingnews.com/us/nfl/news/josh-mcdaniels-contract-details-salary-guarantees-raiders/b4b5c7faf5427feed4a1cbf1
[7] Id.
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