Raiders to go Patriot Way with GM, coach
Las Vegas to hire Ziegler, McDaniels
Owner Mark Davis tapped the NFL’s most successful franchise over the past two decades by hiring Patriots director of player personnel Dave Ziegler as his new general manager. Davis is closing in on a deal to make New England offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels the new coach in Las Vegas.
The Raiders announced Sunday they had hired Ziegler to replace the fired Mike Mayock. A person familiar with the search says they are finalizing a deal with McDaniels to make him coach to fill the void created when Jon Gruden resigned in October. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the team hadn’t made an announcement.
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 in his first head coaching stint.
The two have worked together in New England the past nine seasons, McDaniels as offensive coordinator and Ziegler working his way up through the scouting department before being promoted to director of player personnel in 2021.
The two take over a team coming off just its second playoff berth in the past 19 seasons. Las Vegas won its final four games of the regular season to qualify as a wild card before losing at Cincinnati.
Interim coach Rich Bisaccia guided the team through a difficult season after Gruden resigned in October following the release of his old, offensive emails. Star receiver Henry Ruggs III was released in November after being charged with DUI felonies following a fatal crash that killed a 23-yearold woman.
Bisaccia’s work earned him the support of the players, but Davis opted to go a different direction.
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.
While several former assistants to Bill Belichick in New England have gotten head coaching jobs, the success rate of those coaches isn’t high.
The seven coaches — McDaniels, Romeo Crennel, Eric Mangini, Bill O’Brien, Matt Patricia, Brian Flores and Joe Judge — have combined for a .410 winning percentage and five playoff berths in 27 seasons they began as head coach. O’Brien had four of those playoff seasons in Houston, Mangini having the other with the Jets.
BEARS: Luke Getsy was hired as offensive coordinator on Sunday, raiding the staff of rival Green Bay to find the assistant they feel is best suited to install a successful scheme for Justin Fields.
Getsy spent the past two seasons as the quarterbacks coach and passing game coordinator for Aaron Rodgers and the Packers. Since Getsy moved into his previous role at the start of the 2020 season, Rodgers has 24 games with multiple touchdown passes and zero interceptions.
Getsy’s hire likely will be the most scrutinized selection for Matt Eberflus’ first staff in Chicago. Eberflus was hired Thursday for his first head coaching job in the NFL after he spent the past four years as Indianapolis’ defensive coordinator.
New Bears general manager Ryan Poles announced Saturday night that Ian Cunningham had been hired as his assistant general manager. Cunningham was the director of player personnel for the Philadelphia Eagles.
BRADY: While the NFL conference championship games went on without Tom Brady for only the second time in 11 years, the world waits for the greatest quarterback of all time to make his future plans official.
An announcement is expected soon and a person close to Brady told The Associated Press his decision will be based on family priorities, not finances. The person spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity Sunday because he wasn’t authorized to speak on Brady’s behalf.
Brady has already stated a desire to spend more time with his wife, supermodel Gisele Bundchen, and three children.
Brady’s contract is a complicated matter for the Buccaneers. He signed a $25 million, one-year extension with three voidable years last March to free up salary cap space to allow the Buccaneers to return all 22 starters from the Super Bowl championship team.
Brady is scheduled to earn a base salary of $8.925 million in 2022 with a signing bonus of $15 million, a roster bonus of $1,470,588, and an incentive bonus of $1.875 million, while carrying a cap hit of $20,270,588 and a dead cap value of $32 million.
He’ll be paid $15 million of his $20 million signing bonus on Friday. However, he would owe the team money if he retires.