All the NFL teams are making developments to come out stronger and the Las Vegas Raiders did the same. The team surprised everyone with their sudden announcement to fire head coach Josh McDaniels. Along with the head coach, the team’s owner Mark Davis has fired General Manager Dave Ziegler as well. However, reports now suggest that despite sacking McDaniels, the team has to pay him.
The Las Vegas Raiders were already sad with the team’s recent loss against the Detroit Lions. However, Davis added to the shock with his sudden announcement to remove the 47-year-old coach. He made the announcement through an official statement that he released on October 31. In the statement, the owner of the team wished Josh McDaniels and Zeigler luck for the future.
Raiders gave Josh McDaniels a six-year contract in January 2022. He has over four full year left on the deal that the Raiders are obligated to pay. pic.twitter.com/aOjrl7AtX7
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) November 1, 2023
“After much thought about what the Raiders need to move forward, I have decided to part ways with Josh and Dave. I want to thank them both for their hard work and wish them and their families nothing but the best,” he wrote.
It’s worth noting that though the team has fired the Ohio-born coach, they still will be connected to them. As per ESPN‘s reporter Adam Schefter, Josh McDaniels has 4 years left in his contract. Schefter further mentioned on X that the Raiders “are obliged to pay” the HC the money for that period.
Reports suggest that McDaniels signed a 6-year contract with the Raiders in January last year. The deal offered him $10 million every season. So, according to it, the team has to pay the former HC $40 million. As for this year, it’ll be interesting to see how the team performs for the rest of this NFL season.
Why did the Raiders fire Josh McDaniels?
The Las Vegas Raiders had their Week 8 game against the Detroit Lions which the Raiders lost by 14-26. It seems like this loss was the breaking point for the team’s owner Mark Davis. The team has been having a bad season with a terrible 3-5 record. Probably, for Davis, it seemed the best to replace the head coach to push the team into winning ways.
Born in April 1976, McDaniels took the coaching duties in January last year. At that time, the Raiders had a decent 10-7 record with HC Rich Bisaccia and General Manager Mike Mayock. However, the team’s performance took a bad turn with Josh McDaniels and Zeigler. The team went to a horrible 9-16 record after the two took over.
At that time, Davis had said that Josh McDaniels and the GM were supposed to take the Raiders to the “next step”. However, now it’s clear they couldn’t succeed in doing so. In fact, the former coach holds the 3rd worst coaching record for the team for at least 25 matches.
Along with firing Josh McDaniels, Davis has announced linebackers coach Antonio Pierce as the head coach for now. He further mentioned that the Raiders’ assistant GM Champ Kelly will act as their general manager for now. It’s worth noting that both of them will serve their respective positions till the end of this season.
The franchise has mentioned that they’ll begin a comprehensive hunt for their HC and GM after this NFL season. Till then, it’ll be worth watching whether Pierce can lead the team to the Super Bowl or not. It’s worth noting that he’ll be debuting as the HC with the team’s game against the New York Giants.