Las Vegas Raiders

Alabama head coach Nick Saban isn't planning to be in the market for a new offensive coordinator this offseason.

ESPN's Adam Schefter last week named Crimson Tide offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach Bill O'Brien as a possible replacement for Josh McDaniels as the offensive coordinator for the New England Patriots.

On Wednesday, Saban downplayed the rumors.

"We have no indication of that, other than what y'all put on the internet right now, which is a lot of maybes," he told reporters. "We're not trying to address anything that might happen."

Nobody expects O'Brien to be on the Alabama staff for the long haul.

Following the success of Lane Kiffin from 2014-16, the Crimson Tide offensive coordinator position has served as a springboard to bigger and better things.

Kiffin returned to the head coach ranks at Florida Atlantic in 2017 and has spent the last two years as the head coach at Ole Miss. His replacement, Brian Daboll, was at Alabama for only one season before filling the Buffalo Bills' offensive coordinator vacancy and just became the head coach for the New York Giants. It was Steve Sarkisian's turn in 2019, and he parlayed two years with the Tide into the head job at Texas.

O'Brien's experience with New England makes a move to the Patriots plausible. He joined the franchise as an offensive assistant in 2007 and moved up to become offensive coordinator in 2011. He then became the head coach for Penn State (2012-13) and the Houston Texans (2014-20).

"His experience developing quarterbacks and calling plays would make him a strong [fit] for the role," The Athletic's Matthew Fairburn wrote of the 52-year-old's potential to succeed McDaniels. "Belichick typically hires coaches he's familiar with, and O'Brien checks that box as well."

Alabama's offensive coordinator turnover has done little to hurt the team on the field. The Tide won the national championship in 2017 after Kiffin left and were the national runners-up following Daboll's and Sarkisian's departures.

Should O'Brien bolt, it will probably be business as usual for Saban, and he'll have no shortage of interested candidates for the position.

The Las Vegas Raiders won 10 games in 2021 and made the postseason for the first time since 2016, but that wasn't enough to save the job of general manager Mike Mayock or earn interim head coach Rich Bisaccia the full-time gig. Instead, the Raiders have decided to try out The Patriot Way.

On Sunday, the Raiders announced that they hired New England Patriots director of player personnel Dave Ziegler as Mayock's replacement. Meanwhile, they are hiring longtime Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels as their next head coach, according to NFL Network's Ian Rapoport.

On one hand, McDaniels is a well-respected offensive mind with head coaching experience who played a role in all six of New England's Super Bowl wins. On the other hand, McDaniels' tenure as head coach of the Denver Broncos was mostly a disaster, and calling his hiring-that-wasn't as head coach of the Indianapolis Colts a debacle doesn't do it justice.

If things work out, this hire could mean big things for Derek Carr and the Raiders offense, which struggled to produce consistently in recent seasons. But given McDaniels' past, this is also a risky move that could just as easily blow up in the Raiders' face.

There's little question that McDaniels is one of the more well-respected young offensive coaches in the league. After Charlie Weis left the Pats following the 2004 season, McDaniels became the team's de facto offensive coordinator before officially earning the title the following season.

After the Patriots missed the Super Bowl for two straight seasons (gasp), McDaniels coordinated their offense during their undefeated 2007 regular season. That New England team sported one of the most prolific offenses of all time, averaging more than 411 yards and almost 37 points per game.

McDaniels' finest work arguably came the following season. With Tom Brady on the shelf with a torn ACL, his Matt Cassel-led offense finished fifth in the NFL in total yards and eighth in points. It was McDaniels at his absolute best: crafting an offense around what his players do best rather than stubbornly cramming square pegs into round holes in the interest of running "his" scheme.

In November, Patriots head coach Bill Belichick compared McDaniels' approach to Alabama head coach Nick Saban while speaking with reporters:

"It's kind of like Saban when we were in Cleveland. Nick knew what every player on the field was doing. He knew what the guard keys were. He knew what the running back was keying. He knew what the nose guard was doing. He knew what everybody on the field was doing.

"Josh is kind of the same way. He knows what all 11 guys are doing on offense, what their keys are, what their adjustments are and all that. And he knows defensively how the guy is taught to play certain blocks or routes or reads and how to attack them."

McDaniels appears to be enamored with Raiders quarterback Derek Carr, too. 

"For McDaniels, he now inherits a quarterback in Derek Carr that he has always liked," Rapoport said on NFL GameDay. "In fact, the Patriots considered trying to trade for Carr before the season. Now, McDaniels and Ziegler get him."

McDaniels has a quarterback he reportedly likes. A quality running back in Josh Jacobs. One of the league's most dangerous tight ends in Darren Waller. And an excellent slot receiver in Hunter Renfrow.

The Raiders need help on the outside at wideout. And they need to improve an offensive line that Pro Football Focus ranked 28th leaguewide this season. But the cupboard McDaniels is inheriting is hardly bare.

That's the good news. Now comes the bad news.

Long story short, McDaniels' first stint as a head coach in the NFL was a hot mess. His Broncos opened the 2009 season by peeling off six straight wins, but they lost eight of their final 10 games and missed the postseason.

McDaniels clashed with some veteran players in Denver from the get-go. Although quarterback Jay Cutler made the Pro Bowl in 2008, McDaniels wanted no part of him. A potential three-team deal that would have landed Cassel in Denver wrecked the relationship, and the Broncos eventually dealt Cutler to Chicago for Kyle "Really?" Orton and a package of picks.

By the final month of the 2010 season, the losses were piling up, both on the field and in the locker room. The Broncos and McDaniels were each fined by the league for illegally taping a practice session by the San Francisco 49ers in London. In early December, with the Broncos at 3-9 and McDaniels 12-16 as the team's head coach, he was fired.

And as bad as that was, things got that much worse in 2018.

It took a while, but another NFL team finally decided to give McDaniels a shot. On Feb. 6, 2018, the Indianapolis Colts announced McDaniels as their new head coach.

The two sides agreed to terms. The Colts scheduled an introductory press conference. Assistants left their teams to join McDaniels in Indy. All that was left was putting pen to paper.

And then McDaniels backed out of the job.

In December, McDaniels insisted that he has no regrets about how he handled things in 2018:

"I think every year, I have tried to learn and grow as a coach and as a person. You make decisions in life and in your career that you feel like are the best decisions for you and your family, which is certainly what happened then. You move forward and you do everything you can within your power to make those decisions the right ones. That's what I've tried to do every day. I certainly have no regrets about what has transpired since then."

McDaniels might not regret it, but it was a terrible look. As a result, Raiders players might question the commitment of their new head coach before he ever sets foot in the door. They could question whether his loyalties lie primarily with the Raiders or with himself.

Meanwhile, some Raiders players are "disappointed" that the wildly popular Bisaccia wasn't given the opportunity to continue on without the "interim" tag.

Maybe McDaniels has learned from the mistakes he made in Denver and Indianapolis. He has certainly shown the ability to craft a potent offense. Maybe he'll assemble a quality staff, delegate where appropriate and make the most of this next (and perhaps last) chance to be a head coach. He also presumably doesn't have the level of personnel control in Vegas that he did in Denver.

But this feels an awful lot like yet another team trying to duplicate that which cannot be duplicated: New England's two decades of dominance over the AFC.

And that hasn't come close to working yet.

The Las Vegas Raiders have hired former New England Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels as their next head coach. They officially announced the hiring in a press conference Monday.

"It was going to take a special place for me to leave where I was. ... This is one of those iconic places, a historic organization," McDaniels told reporters.

McDaniels has spent the last 10 seasons as Patriots OC. He had joined the New England organization in 2001 as a personnel assistant and held the coordinator position from 2006 to 2008 after working his way up the coaching staff.

McDaniels said that the first thing Raiders owner Mark Davis told him was a reference to the team's 2001 AFC Divisional Round loss to the Patriots, which created the infamous tuck rule:

McDaniels' first run as a head coach didn't go so well, as he led the Denver Broncos to an 11-17 record in less than two seasons before getting fired in 2010.

He spent one season as offensive coordinator for the then-St. Louis Rams before returning to New England in 2012.

A key moment in McDaniels' career came in 2018, when he backed out of a deal to become head coach of the Indianapolis Colts after the team had already publicly announced his hiring. His 11th-hour decision to remain with the Patriots was a controversial one, so much so that his agent dropped him as a client in the aftermath.

A six-time Super Bowl champion while working under New England head coach Bill Belichick and with future Hall of Famer Tom Brady, McDaniels faced the test of building an offense around a rookie quarterback in 2021. He passed with flying colors, as the Patriots ranked sixth in the NFL in scoring offense and Mac Jones is among the leading candidates for Offensive Rookie of the Year.

The Raiders went 10-7 in the 2021 season and made the playoffs for the first time since 2016. The Cincinnati Bengals eliminated Las Vegas in the AFC Wild Card Round.

The team faced some early turmoil this season when former head coach Jon Gruden resigned on Oct. 11 in the wake of a series of leaked emails that revealed he made racist, anti-gay and misogynistic comments over the course of a decade.

The Raiders went 22-31 in three-plus seasons under Gruden and was 3-2 at the time of his resignation. Special teams coordinator Rich Bisaccia was named interim head coach. 

Midway through the season, wide receiver Henry Ruggs III was arrested following a car crash that killed 23-year-old Tina Tintor. The 2020 first-round pick was released from the team.

Ruggs was charged with felony counts of DUI resulting in death, DUI resulting in substantial bodily harm and two counts of reckless driving, along with a misdemeanor of possessing a gun under the influence of alcohol.

Soon after Ruggs' arrest, cornerback Damon Arnette was seen on video waving around a gun and threatening to kill someone. He was also released.

Despite the off-field tumult, Bisaccia was able to rally the team and ended the regular season with four consecutive wins. McDaniels said he's hoping to help the Raiders build around the right players who can be respected both on and off the field.

"We're going to build a character as high-character people," McDaniels said. "We want a tough, smart football team that is explosive."

McDaniels inherits a team that has a solid foundation in quarterback Derek Carr, running back Josh Jacobs and tight end Darren Waller. The Raiders will pick 22nd in the 2022 NFL draft and should remain a competitive team in the AFC next season.

Las Vegas Raiders wide receiver Hunter Renfrow and Carolina Panthers cornerback Stephon Gilmore were added as replacements to the 2022 Pro Bowl team Sunday.

Gilmore will be stepping in for Los Angeles Rams cornerback Jalen Ramsey, who will be participating in the Super Bowl. Renfrow replaces an injured Keenan Allen. 

Gilmore's name showing up among the alternates for the Pro Bowl was a little surprising given he was limited to just eight games in 2021. He compiled 16 total tackles and two interceptions in that half-season of work after coming over via trade from the New England Patriots. Pro Football Focus gave Gilmore a 77.1 overall grade for the season.

The Panthers will face stiff competition in bringing Gilmore back next season, with the 2019 Defensive Player of the Year due to hit free agency. Gilmore joins Trevon Diggs, Darius Slay and Marshon Lattimore on the NFC depth chart at cornerback.

Renfrow emerged as one of the most reliable targets in football during his third NFL season, compiling 103 receptions for 1,038 yards and nine touchdowns. His emergence was critical in the Raiders earning a wild-card berth, with Renfrow stepping in as Derek Carr's favorite target after the release of Henry Ruggs III following his vehicular homicide charge and tight end Darren Waller being out with injuries.

Renfrow joins Tyreek Hill, Stefon Diggs and Diontae Johnson among the AFC selections. Johnson is serving as a replacement for Ja'Marr Chase, who will be heading to the Super Bowl.

The first meeting between Josh McDaniels and Las Vegas Raiders about the team's vacant head-coaching position was reportedly fruitful for both sides. 

Per Pro Football Network's Aaron Wilson on Saturday, McDaniels interviewed with Raiders officials all day on Friday and had dinner with them in the evening with "everything proceeding very well so far."

There appears to be significant interest from both sides in making a deal happen. 

Per NFL Network's Ian Rapoport, Raiders owner Mark Davis will speak with McDaniels on Saturday and a "hire could come as quickly as this weekend" if things go well. 

Wilson reported on Friday that McDaniels told Raiders officials he wouldn't accept their request for an interview unless he was going to be offered the job. 

"And the Raiders told McDaniels that if and when he was offered the position, he needed to be prepared to accept," Wilson wrote. "Sources emphasized that all parties are on the same page, including McDaniels, (Dave) Ziegler, Raiders owner Mark Davis, and team president Dan Ventrelle."

According to Wilson, Ziegler is expected to be hired as the Raiders general manager. The 38-year-old has spent the past nine seasons with the New England Patriots, including serving as director of player personnel in 2021. 

McDaniels is in his second stint as Patriots offensive coordinator. He returned to the organization in 2012 after stint as Denver Broncos head coach (2009-10) and one season as offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach for the St. Louis Rams (2011). 

In his prior head coaching experience in Denver, McDaniels was fired 12 games into his second season after going 11-17 overall.

The Indianapolis Colts announced McDaniels was going to be their next head coach in February 2018, but he later backed out of the deal to remain with the Patriots. 

New England's offense finished ninth in Football Outsiders' DVOA this season, finishing in the top 10 in both passing and rushing DVOA. The Patriots lost to the Buffalo Bills 47-17 in the AFC Wild Card Game.  

Rich Bisaccia finished the season as interim head coach for the Raiders after replacing Jon Gruden on Oct. 11. He led the team to a 7-5 record and a berth in the playoffs, but they lost 26-19 to the Cincinnati Bengals in the AFC Wild Card Game on Jan. 15.    

The Las Vegas Raiders are expected to bring aboard New England Patriots director of player personnel Dave Ziegler and Pats offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels as their next general manager and head coach, respectively.

Aaron Wilson of Pro Football Network broke the news: "McDaniels is having dinner with the Raiders' leadership team on Friday night, according to sources. He is expected to be hired along with Ziegler within the next few days."

The 45-year-old McDaniels has spent 18 of the last 21 seasons with the Patriots. He took the Denver Broncos' head coaching job following the 2008 campaign, but he was fired in his second season following a 3-9 start.

He worked as the then-St. Louis Rams' offensive coordinator in 2011 before returning to New England, where he's won six Super Bowl rings.

The 44-year-old Ziegler worked for the Broncos' scouting department for three seasons before joining the Pats in 2013. He's worked in a variety of roles for the Pats, including as assistant director of pro scouting, director of pro personnel and assistant director of player personnel.

McDaniels agreed to become the Indianapolis Colts' head coach during the 2018 offseason, but he notoriously backed out at the last minute.

It appears a job with the Raiders is more palatable for McDaniels, whose offense finished sixth in scoring in 2021.

Last offseason, New England overhauled its offensive personnel and handed the keys to rookie quarterback Mac Jones. Despite all of the changes, the offense jelled, and the team scored 462 points en route to an AFC Wild Card berth.

That performance made McDaniels a name to watch in this year's coaching cycle yet again, though he reportedly didn't want to waste his time in the interview process:

McDaniels informed the Raiders that he wouldn’t accept their interview request unless he was being offered the job, per sources. And the Raiders told McDaniels that if and when he was offered the position, he needed to be prepared to accept. Sources emphasized that all parties are on the same page, including McDaniels, Ziegler, Raiders owner Mark Davis, and team president Dan Ventrelle.

Should McDaniels officially get the job, he will replace interim head coach Rich Bisaccia, who led the team to an AFC Wild Card appearance after guiding the Silver and Black to a 7-5 mark down the stretch.

Bisaccia took over for Jon Gruden, who resigned in October after emails surfaced in which he used racist, anti-gay and misogynistic language. 

After the Raiders lost 26-19 to the Cincinnati Bengals in the playoffs, the organization parted ways with general manager Mike Mayo

It appears McDaniels and Ziegler will now head West, meaning that rumors connecting University of Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh to the Raiders job will not come to fruition.

Las Vegas is coming off a 10-7 season and its first playoff appearance since 2016. The Silver and Black are looking for their first playoff victory since 2002, when they won the AFC.

It appears the momentum toward Josh McDaniels becoming the next head coach of the Las Vegas Raiders is grinding to a halt.

Vic Tafur of The Athletic reported the New England Patriots offensive coordinator was "calling coaches around the league about putting together a staff, but it appears something happened in the last 24 hours."

It remains unclear if there are concerns about power structure or salary, but McDaniels is apparently no longer the favorite.

According to Tafur, the momentum has stalled for more than just McDaniels. A duo of McDaniels as head coach and Dave Ziegler as general manager appeared somewhat likely at one time, but that is no longer the case for the Patriots director of player personnel either.

Las Vegas is in the market for a general manager after moving on from Mike Mayock, though there is at least somewhat more uncertainty at head coach since Rich Bisaccia performed so well in an interim role this past season after Jon Gruden resigned.

The Raiders went 7-5 under Bisaccia and won their final four regular-season games to get into the playoffs.

Multiple players have offered their support of Bisaccia, but the Raiders are seemingly moving forward in interview processes as they look to find their next head coach and general manager.

Ziegler stood out as a potential GM candidate considering he has been with the Patriots the past nine seasons and helped lead the team to eight playoff appearances and three Super Bowl titles. He has been involved in scouting and player personnel decisions and had an impact on the roster the team put together during that time.

McDaniels has some head coaching experience from when he went 11-17 with the Denver Broncos in 2009 and 2010, but he is best known for his two different stints as the Patriots offensive coordinator that's covered 13 seasons.

He has six total Super Bowl rings from his time in New England, three of which came when he was an offensive coordinator.

Alas, the Raiders may be headed in a different direction as they look to find the GM and coach combination to help them compete against the likes of the Kansas City Chiefs, Los Angeles Chargers and Denver Broncos in the AFC West for years to come.        

The Las Vegas Raiders reportedly interviewed Pittsburgh Steelers pro scouting coordinator Brandon Hunt for their general manager vacancy.

Tom Pelissero of the NFL Network reported the update Wednesday as the Raiders continue to seek a replacement for Mike Mayock, who was fired last week after the team was eliminated from the playoffs by the Cincinnati Bengals.

Vegas is opting for an organizational overhaul despite reaching the postseason for just the second time since 2003.

Jon Gruden resigned as head coach in October after it was revealed he previously sent racist, misogynistic and anti-gay emails.

Rich Bisaccia, the special teams coordinator, took over the staff on an interim basis for the remainder of the campaign. He guided the Raiders to a 7-5 record and a wild-card berth, but the team brass still opted to conduct of a full-scale search for a head coach, too.

Mayock spent three seasons as the team's general manager during which the franchise posted a solid 25-24 record but failed to reach the league's upper echelon.

So team owner Mark Davis and Co. are searching for a new vision for the future.

Hunt has spent the past 12 years as the Steelers' pro scouting coordinator working alongside general manager Kevin Colbert, who's been part of the front office since 2000.

Pelissero and Ian Rapoport previously reported Colbert is expected to step down following the 2022 draft, and Pelissero noted in Wednesday's update that Hunt will be an internal candidate to fill the GM vacancy if he remains in Pittsburgh.

Hunt's extensive experience within a storied organization that's reached the playoffs eight times during his 12-year tenure—he also spent time in the Steelers scouting department earlier in his executive career—makes him an intriguing option for a franchise seeking stability.

The Raiders haven't provided a timetable to announce their GM or head coaching hires.