Raiders fire coach Josh McDaniels, GM David Ziegler،
The Las Vegas Raiders have fired coach Josh McDaniels and general manager David Ziegler, the team announced Tuesday evening.
“After much thought about what the Raiders need moving forward, I have decided to part ways with Josh and Dave,” owner Mark Davis said in a statement. “I want to thank them both for their hard work and wish them and their families the best.”
The Raiders plan to name linebackers coach Antonio Pierce as interim head coach, sources told ESPN’s Adam Schefter. Assistant general manager Champ Kelly will assume the role on an interim basis following Ziegler’s departure.
Davis had no additional comment when contacted by ESPN.
The decisions come a day after the Raiders lost 26-14 to the Detroit Lions on “Monday Night Football,” dropping the team to 3-5 on the season.
McDaniels was in his second season leading the Raiders after signing a six-year contract in January 2022. He has more than four full years remaining on the deal that Las Vegas is obligated to pay.
McDaniels concludes his tenure with the Raiders with a 9-16 record and no playoff appearances, the third-worst record of any Raiders coach with at least 25 games.
McDaniels was hired after the 2021 season when Davis opted not to keep interim coach Rich Bisaccia for the job full-time, even after leading the team to a surprising playoff run.
McDaniels and Ziegler were aggressive in their first offseason, trading first and second round picks for Davante Adams, giving a big free agent contract to defensive end Chandler Jones and extending the contracts of Derek Carr, Maxx Crosby , Darren Waller and Hunter Renfrow.
But those decisions didn’t lead to positive results on the field, as McDaniels was never able to build the high-powered offense Davis expected when he hired him and struggled to win matches.
The Raiders have lost a record five games after blowing double-digit leads, including blowing a 20-0 halftime lead in their home debut against Arizona, the most collapse of franchise history. Las Vegas lost to Indianapolis in the Colts’ first game with Jeff Saturday as interim coach after he had never coached above the high school level, then lost to Baker Mayfield and the Rams two days after Mayfield had joins his new team.
McDaniels benched Carr late last season and ultimately cut him in the offseason, giving the Raiders no return for a starting quarterback who ended up getting a $150 million contract from New York. -Orléans.
McDaniels called on his New England alumnus Jimmy Garoppolo as the new starting quarterback and offense regressed severely, becoming the first team since 2009 to score fewer than 20 points on offense in each of the first eight matches of the season.
The last two weeks have been particularly humiliating as Las Vegas lost 30-12 to Chicago and former Division II undrafted rookie quarterback Tyson Bagent, then looked completely inept in Monday night’s loss at Detroit .
Information from the Associated Press was included in this report.
