Mark Davis can't be trusted (again) to make the right call for his Raiders
The bucks stop with Mark Davis.
Or in another sense, the futility of the Las Vegas Raiders has done nothing to stop the money from flowing for the enigmatic team owner who once again has put himself – pockets stashed with cash from the franchise’s move from Oakland to Sin City – in position to hire a new coach and general manager while trying to turn around a once-proud, signature NFL franchise.
Here we go again. Davis stunned the NFL universe on Tuesday night by dumping coach Josh McDaniels and general manager Dave Ziegler, merely a year-and-a-half into their uninspiring tenures.
Sure, this was coming eventually. Davis fell for the banana-in-the-tailpipe when he hired the duo and expected they would produce the best of "The Patriot Way" in getting out from under Bill Belichick’s wings. And now, after McDaniels was thrown overboard with a 9-16 record, Davis has absorbed another costly lesson.
Don’t these NFL shot-callers ever learn? "The Patriot Way" doesn’t work outside of Foxborough, and the formula is short-circuited without a Hall of Fame-credentialed quarterback. Ask the Detroit Lions' faithful, who experienced the Matt Patricia/Bob Quinn era.
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Davis whiffed by not keeping interim coach Rich Bisaccia following the 2021 campaign. After Jon Gruden resigned when heinous, 10-year-old emails were leaked amid the Dan Snyder scandal, Bisaccia led the Raiders to the playoffs. Players openly stumped for Davis to keep the former special-teams coach, who deserved a shot. And two people with knowledge of the process, who did not want to be identified, told USA TODAY Sports that close associates of Davis also advised him to stick with Bisaccia. The two requested anonymity due to the sensitive nature of the situation.
It’s unclear where Davis got the urge to hire McDaniels. Typically, NFL owners have many voices in their ears, internal and external, when positioned to make such monumental hires. And it’s not uncommon for owners to sometimes operate like rabid fans, influenced by "hot" names, or to be swayed by people within the NFL universe who supposedly have "inside insight" on the worth of candidates.
Now, it’s fair to wonder whether whomever recommended McDaniels to Davis will be held accountable. As it stands now, the results fuel another case study for the history of bad hires by NFL owners. The odds for success might have been better at the casinos on The Strip.
In any event, Davis – whose hiring of Gruden in late 2017 included a questionable process against the backdrop of complying with the Rooney Rule – ramps up again for another search, while former NFL linebacker Antonio Pierce gets an opportunity as interim coach.
Moves that have haunted the Raiders
Hold your breath – and your noses – Raider Nation, for a one-stop reality check:
Can Davis be trusted to make the right moves?
As one noted football philosopher was fond of saying, "You are what your record says you are."
Since he inherited the ownership reins in 2011 from his late father, Al, the Raiders are 82-120, with just two winning seasons. It’s notable, too, that former GM Reggie McKenzie, who ushered the franchise out of salary-cap jail and stocked the talent for the team that went 12-4 in 2016, was dumped after Gruden’s arrival. McKenzie, a football personnel lifer, was replaced by Mike Mayock, who made his mark as a wonderful draft analyst for the NFL Network but had never worked for an NFL team.
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These are the types of moves that have haunted the Raiders.
McDaniels and Ziegler blew it on one big decision after another. They sent quarterback Derek Carr and tight end Darren Waller packing. They gave up first- and second-round picks to land receiver Davante Adams from the Packers, the price tag including a five-year, $140 million contract. Chandler Jones, since-released, came on a three-year, $51 million deal.
Carr may not be an elite player and had a hefty contract number, but without a suitable replacement, they were better off keeping him instead of rolling with Jimmy Garoppolo, who just got benched for rookie Aidan O’Connell and is guaranteed $45 million from his three-year, $72.8 million deal. And given Jimmy G.’s injury history, it was an ominous sign when he couldn’t pass his physical for months while rehabbing from foot surgery.
And this year’s top pick? Defensive end Tyree Wilson, drafted seventh overall, has managed just one sack while symbolizing the struggles with the draft.
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Davis’ record has been established by the actions of those he put in charge of the operation.
Interestingly, he’s struck gold with his women’s basketball franchise, the Las Vegas Aces. A few weeks ago, the Aces became the first back-to-back WNBA champions in 21 years.
The Raiders, meanwhile, haven’t won a playoff game in 21 years.
With the latest shake-up, which included ousting offensive coordinator Mick Lombardi, Davis will swallow tens of millions of dollars. He set himself up for this. Not only did Davis hire McDaniels – who flopped in his previous stint as Denver Broncos coach and shocked the Indianapolis Colts in 2018 by accepting, then backing out of a deal to become coach – he signed McDaniels to a six-year contract.
That was a stunning leap of faith. And now it’s backfired.
It will likely cost Davis at least $50 million for the McDaniels gaffe, when including the contracts for Ziegler and others who must be paid off. According to Sportico, McDaniels was earning $10 million per year – which ranked in the top 10 for NFL coaches. Ouch.
Of course, the blow for Davis is lessened by the Monopoly Money that comes with owning an NFL franchise. The track record in hiring coaches is, well, much worse for Davis than the Silver-and-Black lining of the financial bottom line.
In moving to Las Vegas in 2020, and with a sweetheart deal for immaculate Allegiant Stadium, the Raiders' value has more than doubled from what it was worth in the final years in Oakland.
According to the most-recent valuations by Forbes, the Raiders have the NFL’s sixth-most valuable franchise at $6.2 billion. In 2019, the team’s final year in Oakland, it was valued by Forbes at $2.9 billion. And in 2018, the Raiders generated the lowest revenues in the year, according to Forbes, at $335 million.
Even if Davis is chagrined after investing so heavily in his former coach, he can afford to absorb the losses from the McDaniels era. It’s another type of NFL reality check: Win, lose or draw, NFL teams make their money.
Yet the cost of restoring a reputation after another failed hire is a whole other matter.