If you follow the NFL long enough, you learn there are few narratives that seem to follow every team in the league – regardless of whether they happen to be true or not.
For example, every team seems to get the prospect they were targeting in the draft. It doesn’t matter the situation; you can be sure every team was surprised the player they picked fell to them in the draft.
The same storylines tend to play out with coaching hires and for the Raiders, that means they have a difficult story to sell to their fan base in the days ahead.
On January 9, the Raiders fired GM Tom Telesco and the reported explanation behind his firing was that Tom Brady and the decision-makers in the Raiders building were clearing the way for one of the top head coaching candidates to bring their hand-picked GM to the organization.
To get Ben Johnson or Mike Vrabel, we were made to believe Telesco had to go.
It was advertised as an opportunity to have alignment between GM and head coach unlike anything the Raiders have put in place since Dave Zieg… err… let’s just say it was something Tom Brady really wanted to see happen.
Now with Johnson and Mike Vrabel both taking head coaching jobs in cities not called Las Vegas, it’s starting to look like the Raiders fired Telesco to get a head coach they probably could have hired with Telesco in place.
The Raiders fired Telesco and don’t seem to have a plan in place any more exciting than the one they had with Telesco in the big chair. At the very least, Telesco had proven to be one of the best draft evaluators in the business – which is more than can be said about the majority of GMs who have come through the Raiders’ building.
From the outside, the only alignment being prioritized in Las Vegas right now seems to be a GM that fits the description of what Brady is looking for – and that is a person he likes or maybe more specifically, a person he has worked with before.
It hasn’t been reported to this point, but if it comes out that Johnson didn’t take the Raiders job because the team wouldn’t give him the general manager he wanted, it’s going to be a bad look for the Raiders.
So until further notice… it’s definitely starting to feel like the new voices in Vegas are shooting from the hip just as much as the ones who came before them.
That doesn’t mean Brady and company are going to fail, but the situation in Vegas is definitely a little less encouraging than it was a week ago.
x: @raidersbeat
What are the Raiders doing today are they taking the day off or what?
Perfect article, couldn’t agree more. Just fired the best GM since prime Al Davis to “appeal” to a candidate. Complete joke of an organization & now Brady is getting a healthy dose of realizing he’s a fraud just like Mark. Sell the team Mark.
Sounds like you have a much bigger ax to grind . I take it your not, and might never have been a fan of the Raiders. Lot of haters come on here. If I’m wrong, I still get ya. Frustration is getting the best of us. I know I am
Why is Tom Brady calling the shots? He has ZERO experience at running a franchise in any capacity.
Mark Davis needs to sell the team. Telesco gave us the best draft we had in at least a decade and his reward was to get fired.
Who is going to want to work for an organization that does this to it’s own people?
Clown show.
WOW!! Even the goat couldn’t save the Raiders, hell it sounds like he is already part of the problem. It’s a good thing I’m not a betting man because the only sure thing about the Raiders is that they will find a way to screw things up. I could only pray now that the Raiders will soon pull their head out their A$$ and get it right.
All Telesco did was bring in best player available, since he Screwed the pooch in not getting Penix. He got lucky that Bowers is who he is in a rookie year. He brings in a Minshew and allows coach to start him. Gimme a break. I’m fine with him being gone. But please pick well and then actually Give a regime some time.
Hire Spags! Take from your reigning division champs . He knows their system, Andy Reid, mahomes better than anyone. Start there.
Spags has no business interviews for the HC position. He was a bad HC when he was leading the Rams!
Hire Pete Carroll!
I said it before – Just Because TB12 was a Great QB and a Great Competitor… it gives him No Real World Experience as a Talent Evaluator or even as a Person to Pick a Coach much less a GM. The Telesco Firing is Looking like ANOTHER of a Long Line of Blunders through the years that the Raiders pretty much Botch Everything!!! On his First Move – Brady has Shown that he might be Just slightly less inept as Mark Davis when it comes to putting together a Football Organization. On top of it all he got Played like a Fiddle by Ben Johnson. Johnson got the Job that he Really Wanted and the Bears had to Pay him more than they normally would have if it wasn’t for The Brady/Davis Team. STRIKE ONE TB12 !!
Telesco also drafted JPJ and Glaze, both turned out to be solid starters so it wasn’t just Bowers.
Antonio Pierce was a clown show for a head coach and letting Tom Brady make decisions for the team is another clown show.
Mark Davis clearly doesn’t have the first clue. Sell the team.
Deep breaths. Calm down. When have the Raiders ever had a big name coach hire? We make big name coaches. The Raider media, yes they work for the Raiders, they are linked on Raiders.com, sold the nation a pipe dream of getting Johnson. Did his agent tell him to play along, thus driving his numbers up? Hell yes. The fact that it was announced today is all you need to see that it was already decided. I don’t know that Johnson is all that. I mean, maybe? McDaniels, remember him? The guy was an OC that won Superbowls! Johnson hasn’t made past the conference final. McDaniels failed twice as a HC. Just chill, there are still good candidates and we may not have to over commit to give them an opportunity. Maybe, they come in with something to prove, and not something to live up to.
We been chillin for way to long. The opportunity to get better has been overlooked or just plan ignored by this organization. I’ve said it before, stop thinking your smarter than everyone else Raiders, nothing your doing has worked. Need I remind you how long it’s been!?!?
Mark “no clue” Davis continues to run the ship into the ground! I’m of the opinion that he erred in firing Telesco. Out of all of his GM hires, he seemed to be the one that drafted well. Ok, the Minshew hire turned out to be a disaster, but I don’t think many QBs would have excelled behind this porous, no-talent OL. Minshew was decent behind the Colts OL. Now IF Brady is running the show that’s a BIG gamble bc he has NO EXPERIENCE running an NFL team! He’s just a big name that excites some casual fans. Mark needs to sell to someone that at least has some common sense.
Hell no to Pete Carroll, 73 years old no way should he be the head coach. That would be awful.
A guy that is intriguing that is available from the Eagles is their OC Kellen Moore.
I would want an offensive guy for head coach and then another offensive guru for OC after we hire the head coach.
Watching the OSU-ND game tonight, Chip Kelly is a guy i would bring back to the NFL to be my OC.
Just throwing that out there.
I agree, old school football is not the answer anymore! Just get it right Raiders.!!
WTF is wrong with the Raiders???? last year they dragged feet and screwed up the whole season! This year everybody
in the USA knew they were going to fire the coach, a handful of other teams were also in need or going to be in need of a new coach, Dallas already hired, Chicago hired, jets hired, on and on, the Raiders, still without a coach, GM or a QB
looks like a repeat of last year, late Feb. or early March before they make a decision. Looks like the Powers to be in Vegas cannot make a decision to put a raincoat on in a downpour!! Good example of more money than Brains?
Or proof you cannot fix stupid!!!! Yep i’m certainly frustrated, But in my new plan i can say “GO BUFFALO”.
Telesco a skilled draft evaluator? Run that by the fans and press of San Diego and see what reaction you get.
Yes he is. He drafted at least 10 pro bowlers for San Diego. If Chsrgera fans think that’s bad, then they deserve all the bad that happens to them.
Really? Let’s talk about all the charger rejects he brought here instead of cheppy picking practice squads. Get a clue.
Lance Newmark would be a HUGE upgrade over Tommy boy.
Cherry picking
All you need to know about Tommy boy is all the charger rejects that he brought with him to Vegas. Guy is a loser.
GM. Is Billy Beane available?
My short and sweet take is Brady determined Spytek a better GM, and had been talking to him for a while. Once there was a “go” he fired TT. TT has a mixed track record and it gets more nuanced as to capabilities and orginazional dynamics than gets addressed by fans. Spytek will be a better GM. My take is TT did great with Bowers and JPJ, he didn’t blow the first two picks like we are used to. Glaze is young and we will see, he looks like a good piece on O-Line, but in a few years we may see others that were scouted higher and were better options. Rest of draft could be considered a failure. Minshew signing was a failure, lack of assessment there is glaring. Spytek knows football way better than TT. Now the HC. Let’s see what happens, I think we are better off, Spytek has a stellar rep.