Josh McDaniels Losing Steam For Raiders HC Job?

Vic Tafur reports that although there was strong buzz on Tuesday morning regarding the possibility of Patriots OC Josh McDaniels as the next Raiders head coach, that has now died down. 

McDaniels has not interviewed with Las Vegas but there’s a clear link between him and Patriots executive Dave Ziegler who interviewed last Friday. 

Tafur says McDaniels had been calling around the league about putting together a staff but in the last 24 hours, something changed.

League sources tell Tafur a pairing of McDaniels and Ziegler is no longer the leading option for the Raiders, perhaps due to differences over power structure or compensation. 

Per Tafur, Colts assistant GM Ed Dodds is now a name to watch, as he got his start with the Raiders’ organization years ago. Tafur thinks Dodds could have free reign to run his own coaching search if he were to be hired. 

As for McDaniels, he’s looking less likely of a candidate now than he was even just a few days ago. 

Here’s who the Raiders are looking at for their GM and HC vacancies:

Head Coach:

• Raiders interim HC Rich Bisaccia (Interviewed)
• 49ers DC DeMeco Ryans (Interviewed)
• Patriots LB coach Jerod Mayo (Requested)
• Buccaneers DC Todd Bowles (Requested)
• Bills DC Leslie Frazier
• Raiders DC Gus Bradley
• Michigan HC Jim Harbaugh
• Patriots OC Josh McDaniels

General Manager:

• Patriots director of player personnel Dave Ziegler (Interviewed)
• Colts assistant GM Ed Dodds (Interviewed)
• Bengals scout Trey Brown (Interviewed)
• Bears assistant director of player personnel Champ Kelly (Interviewed)
• Raiders director of pro personnel Dwayne Joseph (Interviewed)
• Buccaneers VP of player personnel John Spytek (Requested)

McDaniels, 45, began his NFL coaching career with the Patriots as a personnel assistant back in 2001. He worked his way up to offensive coordinator in New England before he departed for the Broncos head-coaching job in 2009.

Unfortunately, things didn’t go very well for McDaniels with the Broncos and he was fired during his second year with the team. After a brief stint with the Rams as their offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach, McDaniels returned to the Patriots and has been running their offense ever since.

McDaniels agreed to become the head coach of the Colts a few years ago before later backing out of the agreement to remain in New England. He also drew interest last in 2020 from the Browns, Panthers, and Giants, but elected to stay with the Patriots.

In 2021, the Patriots’ offense ranked No. 15 in total yards, No. 14 in passing yards, No. 8 in rushing yards, and No. 6 in total points.

We’ll have more regarding the Raiders’ coaching search as the news is available.