The Las Vegas Raiders owner Mark Davis fired head coach Josh McDaniels and general manager Dave Ziegler in the middle of the night between Halloween and November 1. The firing was justified as the Raiders slipped to 3-5 on the season after an embarrassing Monday Night Football loss to the Detroit Lions, which dropped McDaniels record with the franchise to 9-16. Antonio Piece will take over as Raiders interim head coach for Week 9 against the New York Giants, but the real question is who are the best long-term Josh McDaniels replacements?
Antonio Pierce, Raiders interim head coach
Former Pro Bowl linebacker Antonio Pierce moves from linebackers coach to Raiders interim head coach, and makes his sideline debut with the big headset against a team he played five of his nine NFL seasons for, the Giants.
Pierce now has nine games to audition for the job as Josh McDaniels' full-time replacement. The 2007 Super Bowl champ hasn’t been a head coach since he was in charge at Long Beach Polytechnic High School from 2014-17.
Still, if Pierce can fire up the Raiders’ locker room and do what McDaniels never could — get the most out of weapons like Davante Adams, Josh Jacobs, and Hunter Renfrow — then there is a chance he could keep the job.
Antonio Pierce does have two interesting things going for him. One is that Raiders owner Mark Davis isn’t as wealthy as many of the billionaire NFL owners these days. That’s important because ESPN NFL insider Adam Schefter reports that the “Raiders gave Josh McDaniels a six-year contract in January 2022. He has over four full year left on the deal that the Raiders are obligated to pay.”
Saving some money on an unproven coach like Pierce may be something that appeals to Davis.
Also, Davis had a chance to hire a relatively successful Raiders interim head coach before inking McDaniels, but he let Rich Bisaccia go. Maybe Davis will want to right that wrong. Or, speaking of Bisaccia…
Rich Bisaccia, Packers special teams coordinator
As interim head coach of the Raiders in 2021, current Green Bay Packers special teams coordinator Rich Bisaccia led the team to a 7-5 record down the stretch and a playoff big after Jon Gruden’s shocking fall from grace.
And, that team was one score away from beating the eventual AFC Super Bowl representatives, the Cincinnati Bengals, in the opening round of the playoffs.
Hindsight is 20/20, but I’ll say now what I said then. Bisaccia should have kept the Raiders head coach job, and Davis messed up not seeing that.
Bisaccia hasn’t lit the world on fire as the Packers special teams coordinator, but as a head coach, he showed a lot of potential, which is why Davis should consider him as one of the possible Josh McDaniels replacements.
Not to mention, the money-saving aspect of hiring Rich Bisaccia is a real thing. Bringing this coach back into the fold would cost a lot less than the next two people on this list.
Jim Harbaugh, Michigan head coach
If you see a fast horse and a cloud of dust leaving Ann Arbor, that is likely Michigan head football coach Jim Harbaugh high-tailing it out of town right ahead of the NCAA posse on his tail.
The Michigan sign-stealing scandal may seem stupid to any grown adult who thinks the NCAA is nothing more than a dictatorial elementary school principal trying to enforce its arbitrary rules for no reason. Still, it looks more and more like college football’s governing body is going to throw the book at the Wolverines for scouting.
Either way, Harbaugh is an incredibly successful former NFL coach with a 44-19-1 pro record, a Coach of the Year Award, and a Super Bowl appearance in just four seasons with the San Francisco 49ers. Raiders owner Mark Davis would be lucky to have Harbaugh if he’s willing to pay a hefty financial price.
The knock on Harbaugh is that he rubs people within the organization the wrong way, but this is the Raiders, baby! Nothing would make the late Al Davis smile like the thought of the next Raiders coach being a guy who drives people crazy.
Ben Johnson, Lions offensive coordinator
This NFL offseason, the biggest bidding war in the coaching world will be for Detroit Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson. He took a thrown-away quarterback in Jared Goff and built one of the league’s highest-powered offenses around him.
Teams are going to line up to hire Johnson away from Dan Campbell, and the Raiders get a head start putting him at the top of their Josh McDaniels replacements list as the first franchise to fire its head coach this season.
Johnson could do a lot with Jimmy Garoppolo or Aidan O’Connell (or a 2024 college QB to be named in April) and Adams, Jacobs, and Renfrow. Plus, after working for Campbell, it’s safe to assume Johnson has some toughness to him that Raiders Nation would love.
All that said, several teams will likely be bidding on Ben Johnson’s services come February, so Davis will have to pony up the cash to get him to Vegas.
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