As of Monday morning, the Raiders have not announced a decision on their next general manager, but every indication is that the decision is down to interim GM Champ Kelly and Colts’ assistant GM Ed Dodds.
Sports Illustrated insider Albert Breer said the Raiders’ hiring committee was scheduled to meet again on Sunday, and it sounds like both candidates have reasons to feel good about their chances…
“One tell could be that the Raiders brass did have a meeting/second interview with Kelly—this time with Pierce present—on Friday after officially installing the new head coach. But I’ve heard Dodds is still in really good shape on this one, and Las Vegas did resolve at the start to make these hires separately, which would mean Kelly and Pierce weren’t viewed as a package deal. The plan is for the search committee to meet again to discuss the GM candidates Sunday.”
Based on the way things are playing out, it seems like the Raiders might be trying to figure out a way to have Kelly and Dodds both in the building. In theory, two great minds would be better than one, but there would be challenges to hiring both candidates to roles in the organization.
No matter what arrangement owner Mark Davis is able to come up with, one of the candidates would be subordinate to the other. That might not be a desirable situation for Dodds or Kelly, and both candidates have earned the opportunity to have full authority over the roster and coaching staff.
One thing we do know is that at some point in the last week or so, the thinking within the organization changed course.
As The Athletic‘s Vic Tafur reported last week, Kelly looked like a “slam dunk” for the job at one point in the process, but there was an apparent shift around the time that Antonio Pierce was hired…
“A couple of candidates reached out to the Raiders last week to withdraw their names when it seemed like Kelly was a slam dunk but were told to hold off, according to league sources. Hiring Pierce before working through that process is a drastic pivot considering the Raiders’ behavior up to that point.”
It’s no secret that Pierce would prefer to have Kelly remain in his role as general manager, and that makes the situation even more confusing. Two years ago, Davis talked about the importance of having a strong GM/HC relationship, but the Josh McDaniels experiment seems to have changed his mind a little on the importance of that dynamic.
In any case, the Raiders are still in the market for a new offensive coordinator and it might help their chances to get a GM in place sooner than later. Good OC candidates are starting to come off the board…
twitter: @raidersbeat
I think the hiring authority cannot go wrong with adopting a “Reasonable Person” standard
here. The hiring authority would consider, “What is in the best interest of the Raiders?” And,
Once you reach that conclusion. You must decide, “Would a Reasonable Person, taking all
of the circumstances that exist into consideration, replace the interim General Manager now,
or Would a Reasonable Person promote the current interim General Manager to permanent
General Manager with conditions such as a (1) or (2) year contract.
Quit messing around Dumb A** Davis. hire Champ Kelly !! DO NOT BREAK UP THIS 1-2 PUNCH !! RN4L !
Been a fan of Oakland Raider’s since You’ll Field days.
One thing I believe that is important , does the GM have the vision for the Raiders Pride , Poise Excellence and Gut’s. You can no longer look at just what’s “popular , but who is truly Raider”s material .
Who comes close to , “AL’s way of living a Raider, once you found out who thati it is . Your back to winning Super Bowl ‘s . Get back to what it meant to be Raider. Never settle for” less ,it will defeat who you are…
This GM search is starting to get ridiculous. All Mark is doing is putting us behind on everything as far as scouting, and preparing to go to East West shrine bowl coming up. The senior bowl is coming up and Mark Davis is dragging his *** to make a decision. If he ends up hiring Champ Kelly I’m going to be pissed. Not because Champ got hired but because he could have hired him weeks ago cause he knew deep down Champ Kelly was going to get the GM job.
It’s wed morning and Mark Davis has done it again with his fossil evaluation committee. They hired Tom Telesco. Nobody else then Mark would bring him in for an interview let alone 2 and hire him. This is the general manager that got fired the next day after the Raiders opened up a can of whoopass and scored 63 points. Yes this is the general manager that has the chargers 36 million over the cap. What kind of background does this bafoon have to be in charge of so much coin. My word, keep champ in the house and the minute telesco starts pulling stupid sh** fire him and give the interm tag back to champ. My real opinion Mark is how you do everything, 1 step forward and 2 steps backwards. Telesco is an absolute discrace oh and so are you. Pissed raider fan, Just sell the team, you are clueless!