The Josh McDaniels experiment in Las Vegas is over and his legacy as a head coach in the NFL will be that he was one of the worst to ever do it.
McDaniels’ record as a head coach is now 20-33, but some of his biggest blunders with the Raiders came on the personnel end of the operation.
McDaniels brought GM Dave Ziegler with him from New England, but it’s no secret that McDaniels was making the major personnel decisions during his 21-month reign of terror in Las Vegas.
Some have pointed to the decisions to sign Chandler Jones and Jimmy Garoppolo as McDaniels’ biggest personnel mistakes, but the most consequential blunder of his tenure with the Raiders might have been his inability to get anything in return for Derek Carr.
Premium draft picks have tremendous value in the NFL, but because of a no-trade clause that was added to Carr’s contract extension in 2022, the Raiders had no leverage in their efforts to trade their quarterback of nine years.
In a previous offseason, the Raiders were reportedly offered two first-round picks for Carr by the Colts, and former GM Mike Mayock went on the record about the offers he received during his time with the Raiders.
“I took the phone calls of people trying to trade for Derek Carr, and he was worth more than a first-round draft pick,” Mayock said.
We’ll never know what McDaniels and company could have gotten for Carr, but his trade value probably would have been similar to the price that Mayock was offered. His value may have dipped after a messy season with McDaniels, but in hindsight it shouldn’t have.
If the Raiders had an extra first-round pick going into the 2023 draft, there’s a good chance they could have traded up for one of the top quarterbacks instead of taking Tyree Wilson.
Wilson is off to a slow start in first NFL season, and Pro Football Focus has only given him one respectable game grade on the season.
Trading Derek Carr to get C.J. Stroud (although they were rumored to like Bryce Young more) would have been an ideal scenario for McDaniels and the Raiders.
All that being the case, fourth-round rookie Aidan O’Connell has shown promise and it’s possible that at a cost of $60 million, McDaniels may have at least managed to leave the Raiders with a little hope at the quarterback position.
That’s about the most we can hope for at this point.
twitter: @raidersbeat
I have hated every moment of Josh being Raiders head coach, but if Aiden O’Connell turns out to be a franchise QB, I will tell Josh even a broken clock is right twice a day.
Well said
The amount of hate dc getting is astonishing he was told to give the team a friendly team deal 😒 in return derek asked for the NO trade clause! You can’t ask him to give you his soul and bend over at the same time
No S#$T, Mc Daniel’s with out anything happening, no plays, NO CONFIDENCE DEALING with questions at Post Game media sessions.
His dealing with questions was nothing compared with his lame answers to questions.
A real insecure energy is hanging over him.
I wish him well in his endeavors but PLEASE stay out of Vegas.
Of course WE WATCHED THE GAME and how much better and in sync they played as a TEAM.
WHEN THE PLAYERS get the locker room back it shows by the performance of everyone.
McDummy trade or released a lot of talented players that are playing on other teams. He also signed players to bad contracts like jimmy g. And chandler jones. He also didn’t pick the 5th option for Jacobs . He cost the Raiders a lot of money.
Worst head coach ever I’m NFL history. He has no people skills and an ego that should keep all teams away except, he should be allowed back as Patriots OC just so we can all see him fail without Tom Brady. Just as B.B. is now doing in Foxborough.
Josh McDaniels needs to be disemboweled with a rusty pitchfork!
The owner of the Raiders doesn’t seem to smart either.