The Raiders have always been one of the hot-button organizations in the NFL and the haters around the organization sometimes feel just as passionate as the fans.
Maybe the biggest ‘Raider Hater’ on the planet is media personality Michael Lombardi, who was an executive with the team 20 years ago.
Since being fired by the Raiders, Lombardi has been spending his years criticizing the team at every opportunity.
Lombardi slowed his roll for the 22 months that his son was the team’s offensive coordinator under Josh McDaniels, but when his son was fired along with McDaniels in 2023, the vitriol was back.
This week, Lombardi spent a healthy portion of an hour-long podcast trashing Davis and head coach Antonio Pierce. He also threw a stray at a team employee not many Raider fans are familiar with.
Tom Delaney is listed as the Raiders’ Senior Vice President and Director of Football Administration, and if you’re familiar with him, it probably isn’t because you’ve heard his voice or seen him on camera.
The team website says Delaney is in his 24th year with the Raiders, and according to Lombardi, Delaney is the owner’s eyes and ears in the building.
Lombardi worked with Delaney in the early stages of his career, and apparently he doesn’t think a lot of him.
“We hired Tommy Delaney out of the f—-ing pro shop, and all of a sudden, Tommy Delaney is now f—-ing running the whole g—-d— thing. Two for one deal out there coming out. I mean, it’s unbelievable,” Lombardi said on The GM Shuffle podcast.
“But [Davis] listens to Delaney. Why? I don’t know,” Lombardi continued. “I don’t know why he would listen to Delaney. Delaney’s eyes and ears in the building. So he’s got everything going on. This building needs a cleansing. They need an exorcism out there.”
It doesn’t matter what Lombardi thinks of Delaney, or anyone else in the Raider organization, but it’s interesting that he essentially calls Delaney the “mole” in the building.
If Delaney reports to Davis on what he sees in the building, does it really matter?
If anything, it sounds like Lombardi is accusing Delaney of stealing a role similar to what he once had in the organization.
Going back a couple of decades, Lombardi was called a “fox in the hen house” by former Raiders head coach Art Shell.
It’s a story worth digging into if you don’t know it already.
x: @raidersbeat
This disfunction is not surprising and helps explain a few things. A few articles came out around 2021 that spoke about the “toxic culture ” Mark Davis cultivated.
Move on Lombardi, you are a bitter old man.
I think Lombardi is a fraud, but who Mark Davis listens to, and is influenced by, is absolutely an important thing to know given how awful Mark Davis has been as owner. Especially considering some of the other names that have been mentioned, the laughable Ken Herock job search, etc.
The question people outside the building want to know: Are there any bright football minds who are really clued in to the NFL in 2024 in the building? Do they have any influence? Are they in a position where they can be honest instead of a “yes man?”
WOW. Sounds like your still bitter about what ever happened in the building. The Raiders don’t need a “mole” or a ” fox in the hen house”. MD needs to get off his *** and see and hear it for him self AND JUST DO THE RIGHT THING. Not listening to all the wrong people and you and the team have nothing to show for it. Wake TFU already!!
Just shows how much of a football mindset he really has after all these years of erratic changes and moving to Vegas… California is RAIDER NATION… no home field advantage in Vegas… sell the stadium to the A’s… and put a casino where they tore down a casino…
California was and still is home of the Oaktown Raiders since moving to Nevada it only made it easier and more convenient for the other afc west teams to come and see their teams and until they start winning MD is gonna be po that his home field advantage is now the home field to every other team we play and Michael needs to get over it its been over 20 years since he’s been fired it’s time to move on
Raiders have been very disappointing for the past 3 decades. No quarterback. No sign of improvement. No fire! Perhaps changes are needed in the front office.
I don’t like Lombardi, but he is right. Mark has destroyed the Raiders legacy out of greed. Just Win Baby is not in his vocabulary. It’s more like Commitment to EXCREMENTS. Until Mark is gone the Raiders will never be successful again. This is a clown who has never done anything his entire life until his Dad died. I had the opportunity to sit in the box because of my friendship with George Atkinson and I can testify Mark is a full blown IDIOT. Who ever he listens to has to be either a bigger idiot or a cancer. I love the Raiders since birth, as you can tell by my name. However, moving to my hometown of Las Vegas was a mistake. Yes it made him a billionaire, but it destroyed what Al built. Watching visiting teams fans invade the Raiders house to me is criminal and Mark is the one commiting the crimes against the Raiders.