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There’s a new sheriff at Allegiant Stadium, but there’s also a new deputy, and both are arriving by way of the New England Patriots. Not long before kickoff for the AFC Championship Game between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Cincinnati Bengals, the Las Vegas Raiders made a final decision on their vacant general manager position — naming New England Patriots de facto GM Dave Ziegler to the position in the wake of firing Mike Mayock. They then immediately got to work finalizing a deal with Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels, who has agreed to be their head coach, CBS Sports NFL Insider Jonathan Jones reports.
McDaniels takes the reins from Rich Bissacia, the Raiders special teams coordinator turned interim head coach after the divorce from Jon Gruden, and it marks the second time McDaniels has agreed to become head coach of an NFL team in the past four years.
His first is one that will never be forgotten and has been a dark cloud for him to this point, namely in his acceptance of the position for the Indianapolis Colts in 2018 before ultimately doing an about-face and sticking with the Patriots; and despite the Colts having already made the announcement. That said, the Raiders aren’t expecting the same change of heart from McDaniels, especially considering the addition of Ziegler as GM, keeping the two together on their trek from Boston to Las Vegas.
McDaniels, 45, joins the Raiders having spent the majority of his coaching career in New England, but he’s not a first-time head coach at the professional level. He was named head coach of the Denver Broncos in 2009, but that stay was short-lived, as he’d move on in 2011 to take the role of offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach for the St. Louis/Los Angeles Rams before circling back to the Patriots in 2012 — where he’s remained since.
With Zielger and McDaniels now onboard, all eyes turn to the future of quarterback Derek Carr, as the Raiders continue with one of the more challenging offseasons in the NFL.
