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Just a couple of months into the Josh McDaniels and Dave Ziegler era for the Las Vegas Raiders, owner Mark Davis can’t have any regrets yet. There were plenty of calls for the team to retain interim head coach Rich Bisaccia and general manager Mike Mayock after they surprisingly made the playoffs. It was only the second time the team made the playoffs since 2002 and it looked like Bisaccia and Mayock could be building something decent.
However, those two likely had a ceiling as to what they could achieve so Davis decided to go in a different direction. In the brief time that Ziegler and McDaniels have been calling the shots, the Raiders have landed proven superstars in Chandler Jones and Davante Adams while convincing Derek Carr and Maxx Crosby to accept contracts that are relatively team-friendly. It’s safe to say that things would’ve gone much differently had Mayock and Bisaccia been retained.
It was possible that Davis would’ve retained one of the two but Mayock and Bisaccia could have been a packaged deal. The former general manager revealed that he believes that Bisaccia should’ve kept the head coaching job going forward.
“The two (special teams) guys I pushed for for years to be head coaches were John Harbaugh and Richie Bisaccia,” Mayock told The 33rd Team. “I thought both of them would be special head coaches. To the point where I recommended both of them to Boston College, a school near and dear to my heart, back in 2007. Harbs [Harbaugh] interviewed for the job and didn’t get it. The following year he got the Ravens job and is one of the best coaches in the league.
“In my mind, I felt Richie had earned [the opportunity to be the Raiders head coach]. I thought we worked incredibly well together.”
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Did Raiders Make the Right Decision?
Mayock certainly didn’t get a fair shot to prove what he could do. Former head coach Jon Gruden made all the major roster decisions during his tenure. It’s impossible to know exactly which moves were Mayock’s and which moves were Gruden’s. He didn’t have any front office experience prior to getting the Raiders job. Davis clearly believed that bringing in a guy like Ziegler was the right call. As of right now, there’s no reason to believe that Ziegler isn’t the guy.
As far as Bisaccia goes, he was always going to have a hard time keeping the job considering his background in special teams. Owners always want the next offensive or defensive guru. While Bisaccia was an excellent leader and motivator, he’s not somebody the Raiders could rely on to call plays on offense or defense if they needed him to. McDaniels is one of the best play-callers in the NFL and it’s safe to say that he won’t make perplexing calls like the one the Raiders made on the last offensive play of the playoff game against the Cincinnati Bengals where the team needed a touchdown but not a single player was in the end zone when Carr threw an interception.
It’s Going to Take Time to Know for Sure
It’s easy to look at some of the moves McDaniels and Ziegler have made and suggest that they are a major upgrade over the former Raiders brass. However, the duo has yet to have a draft together. Also, Mayock pulled off a trade for Antonio Brown when he was still considered one of the best wide receivers in the NFL. Obviously, Brown and Adams are completely different personalities but it’s not like Mayock did nothing.
Ziegler and McDaniels are off to a very strong start but until the Raiders win some games, it’s not fair to say that they are a clear upgrade over Mayock and Bisaccia.
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