Insider Notes “Biggest Issue” that Led to the Raiders Firing Luke Getsy

The Raiders have taken criticism for firing offensive coordinator Luke Getsy, but anyone watching the team this year understood a change was needed.

There were alternatives that didn’t involve firing Getsy, but if the change was going to happen, why drag it out for the rest of the season?

In the minds of many, head coach Antonio Pierce probably waited too long to make a sweeping change on offense.

There were a lot of reasons the Getsy experiment didn’t work in Las Vegas, but team insider Vic Tafur thinks the “biggest issue” might have been Getsy’s inability to get production from Davante Adams.

“It must be noted, of course, that play calling is far from the only reason the Raiders offense has been bad,” Tafur wrote this week in The Athletic. “Minshew, O’Connell and Ridder have all had their struggles, and a bad offensive line has also been dinged and was down to its last five healthy guys at the end of the Bengals game. Tight end Brock Bowers has been sensational, but the Raiders’ plan to lean on 12 personnel was axed when Michael Mayer began a lengthy absence in Week 4 due to personal reasons. And, lastly, the receiver corps is mediocre at best after Davante Adams wanted out and was traded to the New York Jets last month.

“That brings us to another (and maybe the biggest) issue for Getsy,” Tafur continued. “Adams was supposed to be his guy. Getsy was on the Green Bay Packers’ staff for seven of Adams’ eight years with the franchise, and Adams said he was consulted before the Raiders hired Getsy. In the three games they spent together with the Raiders, however, Adams felt he wasn’t utilized properly.”

The irony of the Getsy/Adams situation was that Adams was instrumental in bringing Getsy to the Raiders in the first place.

“Luke Getsy was connected to Davante [Adams]. That’s how he got the job. They ran it by Davante, which was the right thing to do,” JT the Brick said this week on his Radio Nation Radio show. “Davante worked with Luke Getsy in Green Bay, Wisconsin. They had a really good relationship with Aaron Rodgers and LaFleur, and that’s one of the reasons he got the job.”

Tafur noted that Getsy was the Raiders third choice at offensive coordinator in the offseason, behind Kliff Kingsbury and Chip Kelly, but there was another candidate they were believed to be interested in that didn’t have interest in the job.

How the Raiders were able to lose so many candidates is a conversation for another day, but there’s no question the decision to hire Getsy was one that ended up being a mistake.

The decision to not trade Adams sooner ended up being a mistake, as well.

Back in October, ESPN’s Adam Schefter detailed the trades the Raiders rejected for their star wide receiver prior the start of the 2024 season.

“The Raiders have been very stubborn,” ESPN’s Adam Schefter said in October on the Pat McAfee Show. “The problem here is they have in their mind, I think, what has come up in the past. A year ago, at the trade deadline, the Jets were willing to offer two second-round draft picks for Davante Adams and [the Raiders] didn’t do the deal.”

“And then in the offseason this summer, there were teams out there that were willing to give up at least a second-round draft pick, and they didn’t do that,” Schefter continued. “Now we’re into the season and now we’re closer to him essentially being a free agent because there’s no more guaranteed money on his contract, and teams aren’t willing to give up what they were before. The Raiders know what was offered before and they don’t want to move off that.”

x: @raidersbeat