Las Vegas Raiders

The Las Vegas Raiders and quarterback Derek Carr are reportedly set to hold discussions regarding a contract extension.

According to NFL.com's Ian Rapoport, the Raiders have decided to move forward with Carr as their starting quarterback following the hiring of Josh McDaniels as head coach and Dave Ziegler as general manager.

As of now, Carr is set to enter the final year of his contract in 2022, and he will earn just under $20 million.

Rapoport noted that in addition to Carr getting his wish of McDaniels being brought on board, both McDaniels and Ziegler are longtime admirers of Carr.

During their time as the New England Patriots offensive coordinator and director of player personnel, respectively, McDaniels and Ziegler reportedly had an "affection" for Carr that made them consider trading for him.

Now, Carr, McDaniels and Ziegler are all together in Las Vegas, and all signs point toward that continuing to be the case in the years to come.

The 30-year-old Carr is an eight-year NFL veteran, and he has been the Raiders starter under center ever since his rookie year in 2014.

While Carr has never been considered an elite quarterback, he has always been solid and played a role in keeping the Raiders in playoff contention for much of his career.

Carr led the Raiders to the playoffs in 2016, but a late-season injury prevented him from playing. He finally got his first taste of postseason action in 2021 after helping the Raiders go 10-7.

The former Fresno State standout completed 68.4 percent of his passes for a career-high 4,804 yards as well as 23 touchdowns and 14 interceptions.

Carr and the Raiders fell short in the AFC Wild Card Round against the eventual AFC champion Cincinnati Bengals as he threw for 310 yards, one touchdown and one pick in a narrow 26-19 defeat.

Given what McDaniels accomplished in his 13 seasons as the Patriots offensive coordinator, primarily with Tom Brady as his quarterback, Carr finds himself in an ideal position.

McDaniels was able to get a lot out of a rookie quarterback in Mac Jones this season, as New England reached the playoffs with him at the controls, so he should be able to accomplish even more with a veteran like Carr at his disposal.

The Las Vegas Raiders have reportedly hired New England Patriots wide receivers coach Mick Lombardi to be their next offensive coordinator, per ESPN's Adam Schefter.

Lombardi joins ex-Pats offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels, who is now the Raiders' head coach.

In addition, the Raiders hired Pats offensive line coach Carmen Bricillo for the same position in Las Vegas.

McDaniels also previously brought over Patriots quality control/QB coach Bo Hardegree to be the Raiders' quarterbacks coach.

The exodus of coaches leaving New England for Las Vegas is over now, though, per Andrew Callahan of the Boston Herald. 

All of those coaches join Dave Ziegler, the former Pats director of player personnel who was named the Raiders' GM.

As for the Raiders' new OC, the 33-year-old Lombardi began his coaching career as an assistant at Fordham in 2009.

In 2011, Lombardi moved to New England and became a scouting assistant for the Pats.

Two years later, Lombardi got back into coaching, heading west to become an assistant for then-San Francisco 49ers head coach Jim Harbaugh. He worked as an offensive assistant in 2014 before moving to the defensive side in 2015. Lombardi then went back to work on offense and became a quality control coach in 2016.

Lombardi left the 49ers for the New York Jets in 2017, working as an offensive assistant for two years. He then headed back to New England, first as an assistant quarterbacks coach (2019) and then the wide receivers coach (2020-2021).

Now he'll get his first coordinator job as he works with a talented offensive group that includes tight end Darren Waller, wideout Hunter Renfrow and quarterback Derek Carr.

Rob Ryan is reportedly joining Josh McDaniels' coaching staff with the Las Vegas Raiders. 

Per ESPN's Adam Schefter, Ryan will serve as a senior defensive assistant for the 2022 season. 

Ryan and McDaniels worked together with the New England Patriots. McDaniels joined the organization as a personnel assistant in 2001 when Ryan was in his second season as linebackers coach. 

After the 2003 season, Ryan left the Patriots when he was hired as the Raiders defensive coordinator for head coach Norv Turner. He was with the team for five seasons before he took the same position with the Cleveland Browns. 

Ryan also spent time with the Dallas Cowboys (2011-12), New Orleans Saints (2013-15) and Buffalo Bills (2016) as defensive coordinator. 

Following a two-year hiatus, Ryan returned to the NFL in 2019 as inside linebackers coach for the Washington Football Team. He spent last season as inside linebackers coach with the Baltimore Ravens. 

With the Ravens replacing their defensive staff, including coordinator Don Martindale, Ryan left the club. 

Ryan will coach under new Raiders defensive coordinator Patrick Graham. They ranked 14th in the NFL in yards allowed (337.2 per game) and 26th in points allowed (25.8 per game) in 2021 while running Gus Bradley's defense. 

Las Vegas made the postseason this season with a 10-7 record but lost to the Cincinnati Bengals in the AFC Wild Card Round.    

Las Vegas Raiders edge-rusher Maxx Crosby has emerged as one of the NFL's biggest draft steals over the past few years.

The No. 106 overall pick in the 2019 draft out of Eastern Michigan amassed 25 sacks in his first three seasons and just capped 2021 with a Pro Bowl appearance and that game's MVP award.

Crosby's efforts also helped the 10-7 Raiders make the playoffs for the first time in five years.

On Thursday, Crosby answered questions in a Bleacher Report AMA session about a variety of topics, including new Raiders head coach Josh McDaniels and earning the Pro Bowl's top award.

The following is the full transcript from the AMA session.

    

So I understand you’re here on behalf of Reframe, which has an absolutely awesome mission to help people create healthier drinking habits. I checked it out myself and there are so many amazing tools, exercises and resources that come as a part of that. Can you talk to me a little bit more about what you’re doing with them? 

The Reframe app is the No. 1 sobriety app in the world. It’s a community to make you feel like you’re welcome. Sobriety is about getting people together and breaking those barriers and stigmas. They do an incredible job to create a safe environment for people. When they came to me, I was really fired up about it.

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@DuckButter52: What advice can you give people who are going through recovery? 

Everybody’s situation is different, and that’s what I learned through my almost 2 years now being sober. Have to make if you want to change. What changed for me is just realizing I have to do it myself. It’s an internal decision you have to make if you want to change. It truly saved my life. Someone like me, I have a ton of people I help out and that’s what it’s all about—just being of service and giving back. Just for the people out there: stay strong, take it one day at a time and keep that circle tight. If you have a good tight circle and people you trust, stay around that.

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@KToney_89: What was it like winning pro bowl DMVP?

It was awesome just being around the best players in the world and being able to talk ball. Those memories are something you’ll always remember. I want to keep going back to the Pro Bowl and keep elevating my career and that’s what I plan on doing. Just being around those guys was super inspiring. It was awesome getting to pick their brains on some of the stuff. I talked with TJ Watt about football the whole time. It was really cool because he’s a football addict.

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@BaskingRidger: How in the world do you never run out of energy? 

It starts with the work for me. 11 months out of the year I am all in on my commitment to my body and my recovery. Whenever I get to go out on Sunday, it’s a relief because I finally get to put my work on display. I don’t want to ever waste a snap. I don’t want to look back and ever have any regrets. That’s kind of what changed during my third year. That mentality it’s a mixture of heart, cardio and relentless work.

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@DouglasCalvert: Do you ever get aggravated after getting held on a ton of plays? How do you overcome that?

That’s a part of the game. You go to Twitter after a game and people are like ‘there’s nobody held like Maxx etc.’ Being a d-lineman that’s just a part of it so you can’t worry too much.

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@Steven183882: Thoughts on the McDaniels hire? 

He has called me a few times. Every time I see him, he has been busy but I’ve met a lot of people around him. He seems like a really good dude so I look forward to meeting him and getting to know him more.

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@OfficiallySpeed: Most fun guy to talk to in the Raiders locker room? 

That’s tough. There are a ton of great guys. We had a truly special locker room for sure.

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@StephenBSmith: What team did you root for growing up? Was there a specific player you admired? 

I was born in Michigan so I grew up a Lions fan, which was tough. There were a ton of guys—Suh, Stafford, Calvin Johnson, Reggie Bush, Jason Jones (he’s an Eastern Michigan guy). Those teams had so much potential so it was disappointing that they didn’t get to make a run.

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@Rhettro: If you could play along side with any player in NFL history in their prime, who are you going with? 

I would probably say Jared Allen. Him and I coming off the opposite edges would be a problem to say the least.

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@NFLugger: Which QB do you want to sack the most that you haven’t? 

I would say Brady...I got to play him last year and I was close a couple of times. I’m not sure who now, but I look forward to sacking every QB I can.

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@Chris_Traeger: Go-to pregame meal?

I’m a meal prep guy, even on gameday. I eat the same thing before games and all that. Yogurt and snacks—something light, set up by our nutritionist. Our nutritionist Ricky [Ng] is the best in the league.

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@MrBoban__: Favorite athlete from another sport?

I was a diehard D-Wade fan. When Harden went to Houston, I was a huge fan of his. I’m a huge basketball fan but there are a ton of guys I could think of. I also love UFC—Sean O'Malley, Conor McGregor, Nate Diaz, Ngannou—I could go on and on.

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@TheCBB: What is your favorite thing about Pitbulls? 

Just their personalities. I have three of them and they’re all super unique in their own ways. Pitbulls get a bad rep because of how they’re used but if you treat a dog the right way, they’re the most loving adorable things in the world. I treat them like my children and love them to death.

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@Not_TheIslandBoy: Who is your Super Bowl pick? 

I haven’t picked yet, but if I had to say, I would probably say the Rams. I want Stafford because he’s an old Lion and I think his time has come to deserve it.

The Las Vegas Raiders reportedly have interest in Joe Judge as their special teams coordinator, according to Jeremy Fowler of ESPN. 

Judge spent the past two years as head coach of the New York Giants but was fired after compiling a 10-23 record. He spent the previous eight years with the New England Patriots, serving as the special teams coordinator from 2015-19. 

He provides familiarity with new Raiders coach Josh McDaniels, who was the Patriots offensive coordinator for the past 10 seasons.

Las Vegas also hired Patrick Graham as defensive coordinator after he spent the past two years in the same role in New York under Judge.

The connections to the coaching staff and past experience in the role could make Judge an ideal fit for Las Vegas. 

Even when things were going poorly for the Giants, the special teams didn't suffer. According to ESPN's Football Power Index, New York's special teams were neutral in 2021 while the offense and defense were a negative compared to the rest of the league. 

The special teams coordinator role could be especially important for the Raiders after the job was held by Rich Bisaccia the past four years. The well-respected leader became the interim coach last season after Jon Gruden retired, leading the team to the playoffs with a 7-5 record at the helm.

Bisaccia will reportedly join the Green Bay Packers staff for next season, per Ian Rapoport of NFL Network.   

The Las Vegas Raiders are reportedly hiring Patrick Graham as their defensive coordinator, according to ESPN's Adam Schefter. 

Graham served as defensive coordinator for the New York Giants for the last two seasons. 

Graham heading to the Raiders comes after SNY's Ralph Vacchiano reported before New York hired Brian Daboll that Graham would have been interested in remaining with the Giants if he didn't land the team's head coaching position. 

According to Vacchiano, Graham was popular with Giants players, and the team's ownership liked him a lot. The 43-year-old was invested in the Giants, having turned down the opportunity to interview for the New York Jets head coaching job last year.

Daboll also expressed interest in retaining Graham as defensive coordinator, telling reporters he hoped he would remain with the team in 2022. 

Graham's decision to join the Raiders in the same position is especially surprising after he told Zack Rosenblatt of NJ Advance Media that coaching the Giants defense was his "dream job." 

However, Graham does have strong ties to Raiders head coach Josh McDaniels. He worked with McDaniels for the New England Patriots from 2012-15.

Graham will replace former defensive coordinator Gus Bradley, who spent just one season in Vegas. He helped improve the team's defense but has since joined Frank Reich's staff as a defensive coordinator for the Indianapolis Colts. 

Graham had the Giants defense ranked No. 21 in total defense and No. 23 in scoring defense during the 2021 season. Those numbers aren't great, but his defense often had to make up for the offense's mistakes. 

As for the Raiders, the franchise's defense ranked 14th in yards allowed and 26th in scoring last season under Bradley. Graham will hope to improve those ranks in 2022. 

The Indianapolis Colts are reportedly hiring former Las Vegas Raiders defensive coordinator Gus Bradley as their new DC, according to Joel A. Erickson of the Indianapolis Star. 

Bradley will replace Matt Eberflus, who recently accepted the Chicago Bears' vacant head coaching position. 

Bradley was among six candidates to interview for the Colts' vacancy, including Tennessee Titans defensive assistant Jim Schwartz; Washington Football Team defensive backs coach Chris Harris; Jacksonville Jaguars defensive coordinator Joe Cullen; New Orleans Saints defensive backs coach Kris Richard; and Dallas Cowboys secondary coach Joe Whitt Jr.  

The 55-year-old spent one season in Las Vegas. The Raiders defense finished the 2021 campaign 14th in yards allowed and 26th in scoring. The unit was 25th in yards allowed and 30th in scoring in the season prior to Bradley's arrival.

Before joining the Raiders, Bradley spent four seasons as defensive coordinator for the Los Angeles Chargers from 2017 to '20. The Chargers defense finished in the top 10 in passing yards allowed in each of his four seasons. It also finished in the top 10 overall in three of his four years as DC.

He also served as head coach of the Jaguars from 2013 to '16 but is mostly known for his time spent as the defensive coordinator of the Seattle Seahawks from 2009 to '12 as he helped create the Legion of Boom. 

Bradley will now coach a talented defensive unit that includes Pro Bowlers DeForest Buckner, Darius Leonard and Kenny Moore. The Colts finished the 2021 season with the ninth-ranked scoring defense. 

The Colts will be hoping Bradley can continue to build on the unit's previous success. 

Las Vegas Raiders head coach Josh McDaniels is ready to add to his staff, and he's reportedly interested in hiring Cleveland Browns tight ends coach Drew Petzing as the team's offensive coordinator.

The Raiders have requested an interview with Petzing, per The Athletic's Zac Jackson. 

Petzing has served as the Browns' tight ends coach for the last two seasons. He started his career in the NFL as a football operations intern for Cleveland in 2013 before joining the Minnesota Vikings. 

From 2014 to '18, Petzing held several roles for the Vikings, including as the assistant wide receivers and quarterbacks coach. He took over as the team's wide receivers coach in 2019. 

The 34-year-old has no connection to McDaniels, who was announced as the Raiders' head coach Monday after spending the last 10 seasons as the offensive coordinator for the New England Patriots. 

Petzing is the first known candidate for the Raiders' vacant OC job. If hired, he would replace Greg Olson, who served as the offensive coordinator from 2018 to '21. 

On the other side of the ball, McDaniels has shown interest in New York Giants defensive coordinator Patrick Graham and former Chicago Bears defensive coordinator Sean Desai for the DC role, according to NFL Network's Tom Pelissero and Ian Rapoport. 

The Raiders finished the 2021 season with a 10-7 record, their best since the 2016 campaign when they went 12-4 under Jack Del Rio. The franchise hasn't made it past the Wild Card Round since the 2002 season, and team owner Mark Davis is hoping McDaniels will be the guy to bring them back to the promised land.