The Raiders’ general manager search has expanded to include eight names. While the team’s pursuit of its next full-time head coach has not gotten as far off the ground, a few external candidates have emerged.
One possible solution — a Josh McDaniels–Dave Ziegler partnership — has surfaced on the radar, according to Vic Tafur of The Athletic (subscription required). Ziegler, who moved up in the Patriots’ front office hierarchy following Nick Caserio‘s 2021 New England exit, interviewed for the Las Vegas GM job Friday and has been connected to bringing the Pats’ longtime OC with him.
McDaniels has not taken a formal interview with any team during this year’s hiring cycle, though the veteran OC was calling around to coaches around the league for staff-assembly purposes recently, Tafur adds. Patriots West might not be where this Raiders process ends up, however.
Momentum has cooled on a McDaniels-Ziegler pairing this week, per Tafur, who adds Colts VP of player personnel Ed Dodds — a former Al Davis staffer — is still in the mix. Dodds’ GM interview is set for Wednesday. Dodds previously withdrew his name from consideration for the Bears’ GM post. Dodds being with the Colts when McDaniels backtracked on a 2018 Indianapolis agreement would all but squash any chance of those two pairing up.
The Raiders have interviewed only Rich Bisaccia and Patriots linebackers coach Jerod Mayo for their HC position. The team remains interested in speaking with 49ers DC DeMeco Ryans and has a meeting with Buccaneers DC Todd Bowles set for Friday. While Jim Harbaugh looms, not much has emerged connecting the Michigan coach to the Silver and Black in several days. Harbaugh was on the Raiders’ staff as QBs coach for part of Dodds’ Oakland tenure, but this was nearly 20 years ago.
Las Vegas’ GM search is now at eight names, with a request to interview Bucs exec John Spytek and interviews with Falcons staffer Ruston Webster and Steelers exec Brandon Hunt representing the latest news coming out of the search to fill Mike Mayock’s job.
Would you commit until he signed on the bottom line?
Ed Dodds. Bet the farm on it
LOL. Someone could have been the janitor at Gillette Stadium a year earlier, but if BB puts them on his staff in any capacity, some team will try to hire them a year later.
I wonder who’s staff is going to get picked and plucked from after Bill retires??
For awhile it’s been a mix of Andy Reid’s coaches and primarily Belichecks, and then it was all too popular to grab anyone who coached near or under Sean McVay and Kyle Shanahan.
Who will it be next, are teams going to start poaching Zac Taylor’s younger coaches?? I’m sure it will just become whichever coach that’s either consistently winning or showing the most innovation offensively, but I really hope the 49ers are able to hold onto Ryans for a couple more seasons.
Dangit, the 49ers are just now really seeing him blossom as a play caller and as their DC, and it is a thing of BEAUTY!! The gameplan he had against the Cowboys, shutting down Lamb and their run game, and especially the gameplan and ingame adjustments he made against Rodgers, Adams, Jones, and Green Bay was truly GENIUS.
Ryans had Rodgers looking like an inexperienced amateur out there. Disguising their double coverage on Adams and tricking Rodgers was awesome, and quite frankly something not alot of coaches have been able to accomplish.
Ryans, this postseason, has relied on his pass rush lead by Bosa and Armstead, to speed up Dak and Aaron, and used his interior men Armstead and DJ Jones to free up Warner and Al-Shaair to halt Elliot, Pollard, Jones, and Dillon. He’s also stopped the top TWO offenses using a cornerback trio of Emanuel Moseley, Dontae Johnson, and Ambry Thomas…And if you’re asking yourself who are they?? Don’t be alarmed, I promise you aren’t alone as one was an undrafted free agent that’s started occasionally over the last few seasons, the next is someone that’s been released and resigned seemingly a hundred times, and the third has been their much maligned, raw rookie CB who had been beaten out by Josh Norman and other washed up free agents over the course of the season.
Which, btw, it was also Josh Norman who came in cold after Johnson got hurt, and who somehow blanketed D.Adams on Rodgers long pass down the middle, and another rookie 5th Round safety, Hufanga who Ryans used to trick Rodgers into thinking he had Adams 1 on 1 with Norman.
Starting Hufanga out near the LOS, and then trusting him to be able to immediately run back and have over the top coverage of Adams showed Ryans isn’t afraid to put his faith into a young player, and he trusts his players to get the job done. Those are two reasons why his players love playing for him, and it is also especially his love and passion for the game he still has.
Ryans is going to make one heck of a head coach one day, but man, selfishly I really hope the 49ers can hang onto him for at least another season or two, or five…lol
McDaniels wants to be Belichick’s successor in New England. He isn’t going to some dead in the water organization.
By the time Bill leaves New England, especially in the hands of McDaniels, the Patriots will be the dead in the water organization.