Are the Raiders one of the top head coaching opportunities in this year’s hiring cycle?
With Fernando Mendoza presumed to be on his way to Las Vegas and more than $100 million in projected salary cap room going into next year, the Raiders should be a preferred landing spot for prospective head coaches.
But according to NFL insider Tom Pelissero, there is one dynamic that coaching candidates (some of them, at least) still have reservations about.
“Las Vegas… you’ve got Tom Brady ostensibly running the football operation along with John Spytek. That’s directly a quote from owner Mark Davis. And yet, people come out of those interviews just going, ‘Who exactly is running the building?’” Pelissero said on the Rich Eisen Show.
“What exactly… what am I looking at here? Tom [Brady] lives in Miami. How is he co-running the football operations from 2000 miles away? Again, and in a really tough division where you’re going up against Sean Payton, and Andy Reid and Jim Harbaugh.”
The Raiders put out a statement after the season that Brady and Spytek will be running the football side of operations, but it seems like not everyone is convinced the power structure in Las Vegas is one that makes sense.
After Pete Carroll wasn’t a fit with the organization last year, it’s possible that candidates are skeptical of the role Brady is going to have going forward.
It has been rumored that Brady loomed over Chip Kelly in his 11 weeks as offensive coordinator of the Raiders, and if that’s the role Brady wants to keep going forward, it might be a situation that won’t appeal to everyone.
No doubt there is a lot going on behind the scenes, but one of the interesting developments in the last 48 hours is the fact that ESPN’s Adam Schefter continues to name candidates other than Klint Kubiak as the front runners for the Raiders’ job – or more accurately, he hasn’t been bringing up Kubiak’s name at all when talking about the Raiders.
Kubiak has been widely discussed as one of the top candidates for the job, so it’s notable that Schefter keeps leaving him out of the discussion when asked about the Raiders’ head coaching vacancy.
Schefter is probably the most calculated insider in the league, so it’s hard to imagine he has been leaving out Kubiak’s name unintentionally.
Answers should be coming soon, though, as Schefter said on Monday, he expects the NFL’s remaining coaching vacancies to be filled (even if not officially) as soon as Wednesday.
x: @raidersbeat
