Raiders Deserve Credit For Moving Swiftly To Hire Jon Gruden

The Raiders are sitting squarely in the middle of an NFL investigation for potentially violating the league’s ‘Rooney Rule’, but give credit to the Raiders owner for this much – he moved swiftly in getting the coach he wanted.

Mark Davis realized there was a problem in Oakland just weeks into season and began (once again) the process of recruiting Jon Gruden. At the time, it would have sounded crazy, but after watching Jack Del Rio methodically lose the Raider locker room and lack any form of strategic advantage over opponents for an entire season, the foresight of Davis now looks like pure genius.

Similarly, the Titans have wanted for a while to move on from head coach Mike Mularkey, but their gentle approach to replacing him left the team with limited options now that he’s gone.

There are still viable candidates – maybe some that will end up better than the Titans’ first choice, Josh McDaniels – but the fact of the matter is, the Titans didn’t get their guy.

Having just handed Del Rio a healthy contract extension, the Raiders decision to move on from JDR was as complicated as what the Titans faced with Mularkey.

The difference was, the Titans sat back and let the decision come to them – and it sure looks to be backfiring.

Gruden (like McDaniels) had options, but the Raiders were willing to blow away the competition with an offer. The Titans, on the other hand, are now looking to dig up a diamond in the rough.

The Raiders are indebted $100 million to Gruden, but a coaching staff matters arguably more in football than any other professional sport. Credit Davis (who doesn’t get a lot of that around here) for moving swiftly and getting the coach he wanted.

twitter: @raidersbeat

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4 thoughts on “Raiders Deserve Credit For Moving Swiftly To Hire Jon Gruden

  1. The league itself says Davis complied with the Rooney rule so I don’t see much coming from the investigation and even so , it’ll cost him 200 grand but he got the coach he wanted . Case closed .

  2. Let’s not sing the praises of MarkDavis. I would concur positive comments had he made the correct decision to part ways with McKenzie but he did not do that. McKenzie deserves his walking papers and anyone that believes otherwise is crazy and does not truly understand football or the correct running of a company (organization). McKenzie horribly failed to sign the right players, retain the right players, n most importantly, failed to release dead weight players. Without going into all the details as it would have me typing all day, I will say McKenzie is not the all-knowing Guru that people wish 2 think of him as. He has clearly made a lot of horrible decisions that cost the raiders the progress we would have had should he had made some intelligent and obvious decisions. I knew the raiders were headed for disaster this last season and for others not to have seen it makes me dizzy with mind-boggling spells.

    1. McKenzie won exec of the year for building a team that finished 12-4 with a top 5 offense. Del Rio decided to fire the guy that coordinated days top 5 offense, and keep the guy who coordinated the bottom 5 defense. That’s the only reason the Raiders had a losing record this year. That’s not McKenzie’s fault, he supplied the talent for a winning team, which is exactly what his job is. Mark Davis solved the problem for why Raiders weren’t winners this season, and hint, it wasn’t RM.

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