-
Adam Schefter is a senior writer at ESPN
Las Vegas Raiders owner Mark Davis showed again this week that he won’t let money influence how he runs his franchise.
League sources told ESPN that firing coach Josh McDaniels, general manager Dave Ziegler and some members of the coaching staff will cost Davis about $85 million.
Some of those costs will be borne by compensation and dilution, but the dismissals were, as one source described to ESPN, “an expensive move nonetheless.”
The costs didn’t stop there for the Raiders, who also reworked the contracts of interim head coach Antonio Pierce and interim general manager Champ Kelly.
Some sources in the organization say Davis isn’t worried about money — he’s worried about putting together a winning organization, which is what led to the change that happened this week, mind you.
“Unfortunately, I had high hopes for Josh and Dave,” Davis told ESPN’s Paul Gutierrez on Wednesday. “It seems like we’re going in the wrong direction. So, with the trade deadline, I felt like it was time to make a change, time to make a move.”
Some sources predicted that shootings would be coming. “I just heard that if they lose on a bad MNF (against the Lions), McDaniels (is gone),” one source close to the team texted ESPN after the Raiders’ 30-12 loss to the Bears and rookie quarterback Tyson Bagent on Oct. 22. “
No one will be able to verify the veracity of sources’ transcript of the week before the Raiders’ loss on Monday Night Football, but the thinking was clear enough — Davis was running out of patience.
After the Raiders’ 26-14 loss to the Lions on Monday night, Davis personally apologized to a group of Raiders players for wasting their season, league sources told ESPN, and also confided in a small group of people within the organization that it was time to Make a Difference.
Pierce will become the 12th different person to coach a game for the Raiders over the past 20 seasons, including interim stints — the most of any NFL franchise during that span. Pierce will be the eighth different coach, interim or regular, for the Raiders since Davis took over the team following the death of his father, Al Davis, in October 2011. Pierce follows McDaniels, Rich Bisaccia, Jon Gruden and Jack Del Rio. Tony Sparano, Dennis Allen and Hugh Jackson.
Unsurprisingly, the lack of stability has come at a cost — aside from a financial one — for Davis, whose Raiders haven’t won a division title since 2002, tied with the Jets for the third-longest active drought in the NFL, behind only the Browns (1989). . ) and Black (1993).
Davis said he was “intrigued” enough by Pierce’s resume — including a nine-year NFL career as a linebacker, one Pro Bowl selection and a Super Bowl title with the New York Giants — that he would face him for the first time as a major league coach. American Football Today. – To sit with him.
“It seems like a new approach,” Davis said. “Seems like the adjustment we need at this time. I’m impressed.”
Davis also added that Pierce “understands the culture of the Raiders, and that’s important to me. I felt good about that.”