A Series Of Lies May Have Led Mark Davis To Fire Jack Del Rio

Jack Del Rio made many a costly error in his final year with the Raiders. His first – and maybe most consequential – was the decision to part ways with offensive coordinator Bill Musgrave in favor of Todd Downing.

The Raiders offense fell apart under Downing, but the larger issue to owner Mark Davis may have been the way Del Rio went about promoting Downing.

According to J.T. The Brick (who is an employee of the Raiders), it was essentially a made-up story from the coaching staff that resulted in the Raiders losing Musgrave – who, in hindsight, may have been the most valuable coaching commodity on the 2016 staff.

“[Derek Carr] had zero chemistry with Todd Downing, the offensive coordinator. As you know, Bill Musgrave, who won 12 games with the Raiders the year before, he goes to Denver because the Raiders didn’t want to lose Todd Downing and they felt like they were going to lose Todd Downing to another team. They would have elevated him at another team to an offensive coordinator position. That turned out not to be true. And that’s what kind of soured everything with Mark Davis, was watching Todd Downing struggle with Derek Carr. So, Carr lost confidence. He developed into a quarterback who checked down and threw down underneath.”

Additionally, Scott Winter of the Las Vegas Raiders Report noted two weeks ago that there were conflicts between Musgrave and offensive line coach Mike Tice that also contributed to Musgrave’s exile from the Raiders – and that Tice may have had as much to do with the made-up story as Del Rio.

There were previous reports that indicated Tice had become a “divisive force” inside the Raiders locker room – a notion that seemed to come as news at the time – but in light of the scheming that went on between Del Rio and Tice a year ago, makes a little more sense today.

Did Del Rio know there wasn’t strong interest in Downing after the 2016 season?

It’s hard to believe he didn’t, and if a series of lies are what led to Musgrave being let go, then Del Rio and Tice got exactly what they bargained for.

twitter: @raidersbeat

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11 thoughts on “A Series Of Lies May Have Led Mark Davis To Fire Jack Del Rio

  1. Unemployed lying bastards! Never bought into Del Rio because of his past coaching record! Gd riddance ! Thanks for taking the trash with you!

  2. This gets more bizarre but the moment. Why would Del Rio want to sabotage the team by firing his most valuable coach?

    Can’t wait for the next chapter in this ever evolving soap opera.

    1. Also, Del Rio is a full-on Trump supporter, so his judgement is blatantly questionable. Makes sense to me..

  3. i think Mike Tice thought he was a lot smarter than Del Rio and was getting his prodigy Downing into the OC spot so Tice could eventually complete the “coup” and take over for Del Rio as the head coach.

    I think Tice was scheming to get Del Rio fired and take over the Raiders.

  4. Del Rio had to know Downing wasn’t ready to be an OC . He didn’t have a pedigree or background for it . I believe he made the move because Musgrave wasn’t a ” yes man ” and seemed to challenge Jack .
    If Downing wasn’t ready to be OC , it’s also likely JDR knew nobody had any interest in hiring him away as an OC . I think the story is true .

  5. U know being the best at something….. Like coaching for example. Is having ppl on your staff that know as much if not more than you do. It takes a better leader to be a better listener. That’s why the Raiders will be way better with Gruden than with Del Nero. You as a person don’t have all the answers but the more you experts you have in the same room… Someone will come up with it.

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