Sports
Raiders Hire Dave Ziegler As GM, Close To Signing New Head Coach
The Las Vegas Raiders announced their new GM hire Sunday and are closing in on hiring Josh McDaniels as their new coach, according to ESPN.
LAS VEGAS, NV — The Las Vegas Raiders have hired New England Patriots Director of Player Personnel Dave Ziegler to be their general manager, the team announced in a tweet Sunday.
The Raiders also are close to agreeing to a deal with Josh McDaniels to be the team's next head coach, according to a report from ESPN's Adam Schefter citing league sources.
McDaniels is the offensive coordinator for the New England Patriots and is in his second stint in that role after taking the Denver Broncos head coaching job from 2009-10.
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Las Vegas Raiders Owner Mark Davis interviewed several candidates for both positions before picking a pair with a long history of working together. The two were college teammates at John Carroll, and McDaniels brought Ziegler with him to Denver.
Ziegler replaces Mike Mayock, whom Davis fired Jan. 17 following the Raiders' wild-card playoff loss to the Cincinnati Bengals. McDaniels would replace Rich Bisaccia, who took over as interim head coach midseason for Jon Gruden, who was fired after offensive emails he sent before being hired in 2018 were found.
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McDaniels is viewed as one of the brighter offensive minds in the game with his many years working with Tom Brady on the Patriots and his work this season helping to develop rookie Mac Jones.
But his first experience as head coach fell apart quickly following a 6-0 start in 2009 after he traded away quarterback Jay Cutler in one of his first moves. Denver finished 8-8 that season and McDaniels was fired with a 3-9 record in 2010, losing 17 of his final 22 games as coach.
McDaniels was also fined $50,000 by the NFL for not reporting that the team’s director of video operations videotaped a San Francisco 49ers walk-through practice before the teams played a game in 2010 in London. The investigation determined that McDaniels did not know about the taping in advance and declined to view it, but he was punished for not immediately reporting the infraction to the league.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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