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As the New England Patriots begin the Jerod Mayo head coaching era, the team awaits a new general manager in the process.
Bill Belichick served as both the head coach and general manager for the Patriots for 24 years before he mutually agreed to part ways on Thursday. Mayo will only take over the head coaching duties.
New England could bring back former Patriots personnel director Dave Ziegler to fill that role. Ziegler last served as the Las Vegas Raiders general manager from 2022 to 2023 before the team fired him on October 31.
Las Vegas, which also had former Patriots assistant coach Josh McDaniels as head coach, struggled in 2022 with a 6-11 record. Raiders owner Mark Davis fired both after a 3-5 start by the team.
“Ziegler’s coming off a fairly disastrous run as general manager of the Raiders, but he’s got as much familiarity with the Patriots as anyone,” NESN’s Keagan Stiefel wrote on Friday. “Is that a good thing? We’ve got no idea, but it certainly feels like something Robert Kraft would value in his search.”
“The 43-year-old helped scout during drafts that netted the Patriots some pretty talented players, including Jamie Collins, Logan Ryan, James White and Trey Flowers,” Stiefel continued regarding Ziegler. “He made his name on the pro personnel side, however, having a larger hand in building New England’s last two Super Bowl winners. He might not be ready to be the No. 1 again, but he’d certainly be a serviceable No. 2.”
Dave Ziegler’s Patriots Ties Go Back Further than New England Tenure
Ziegler worked with the Patriots as the assistant director or director for pro scouting from 2013 to 2019. He then served as the assistant director of player personnel in 2020 followed by the director role in 2021 before he left for Las Vegas.
“As a wide receiver at John Carroll University, Ziegler was a college teammate of Josh McDaniels and Houston Texans GM Nick Caserio, who is not expected to be a candidate in this search,” The Athletic’s Chad Graff wrote. “That helps explain why when Ziegler got the chance to leave the Patriots after eight years to become the GM of the Las Vegas Raiders, he brought McDaniels with him despite McDaniels’ poor record as a head coach.”
Dave Ziegler Has More Experience Than Other Patriots GM Candidates
Ziegler won’t need to make a coaching decision if he returns to Foxborough, and his firing in Las Vegas hasn’t ruined his career outlook. Boston Herald reporter Andrew Callahan wrote that Ziegler “maintains a strong reputation in the league for having a natural eye for talent and an expansive network”.
“The upside here is a candidate with GM experience, deep New England ties — he rose from assistant director of pro scouting in 2013 to Belichick’s lead personnel man in 2021 — and a fresh perspective,” Callahan wrote. “Ziegler also had major whiffs in Las Vegas, including signing 32-year-old defensive end Chandler Jones to a hefty free-agent contract, surrendering significant draft capital in a trade for Davante Adams ahead of Adams’ age-30 season and failing to restock an obviously depleted defense.”
If Ziegler returns to New England, he will face the task of rebuilding a roster that produced a 4-13 season in 2023, and he can ill afford to make any “major whiffs” in the process.
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