Why the Raiders head coach opening is one of the most desirable
Yahoo Sports Daily hosts Caroline Fenton and Jason Fitz are joined by Sumer Sports host Lindsay Rhodes to discuss why the Las Vegas Raiders’ head coach opening should be one of the most desirable jobs. Watch the full episode of Yahoo Sports Daily on YouTube or YahooSports.TV .
Video Transcript
I feel like no one else is talking about this as a good job.
And I understand why.
So, I'm going to highlight the Raiders job purposes of this conversation.
Please do.
You're like, "I'd love to hear that argument," and I get it.
Raiders fan fits.
I think that it's because, um, If you're a coach looking for a fit, if you don't have a quarterback.
You don't have a chance, and I think there are a lot of openings right now Path to a quarterback.
And I keep hearing the Falcons' conversation.
Where's the path to a quarterback?
They don't have a first-round pick.
And they have very little salary cap space.
So, unless you are fully bought in on Michael Penix, or Kirk Cousins, like, where are you gonna get that quarterback?
I don't know that you have a chance to go over the top.
And you do have a chance to come in way under expectations, and then you lose.
And you don't have a chance to build.
I think that the thing that's interesting About the Raiders job is that they have that number one overall pick.
And so if you're a coach that is attracted to Fernando Mendoza and the field, and you think, "This is a franchise quarterback that is going to be You know, one of the good guys.
You can get in on the ground floor with him.
You get to mold him as a quarterback and make a...
Put this team on a path where there are actually very little, uh, ex like, expectations attached to that job in the short term.
So, in that sense, it's a bit attractive because they're not going to pull the rug under you if you come in under expectations next season.
It would have to be very bad, like it was this year for Pete Carroll.
But I think when you're connecting yourself to a No.
1 overall pick, You are putting yourself on a path to dictate what the franchise does.
Few years, and you also give yourself a longer leash with which to build that.
And there are also other offensive like, I was floored that the Raiders were as bad as they were this year.
I thought they were a team that was going to be knocking on the door of the playoffs.
Like, I didn't think that they would get in.
The playoffs.
I didn't think that was what this season was gonna be, but I thought that they'd be in the conversation fighting for a spot.
Like, think of the offensive weapons that they have there.
You've got Brock Bowers.
I know they traded away Jakobi Meyers.
They need some help in the wide receiver room, for sure.
They set themselves up with that trade, in part, to make some of those changes.
You've got Maxx Crosby on the defensive side of the ball.
You have Ashton Jeanty, who is incredible, and I know we didn't get to see that.
Production.
People who play fantasy are like, Oh, he underperformed.
We have a scoring metric at Sumer Sports, where we've trained a model to evaluate each player's play, and it does literally every frame of every snap and evaluates for different traits and their ability to impact play.
Positively.
He did his job, right?
He just didn't have a good offensive environment around him.
Which always impacts the running back's production.
That's why you don't draft running backs this early.
So, I think Ashton Jeanty's a great... Like, you've got weapons there.
You can turn this around.
And I'm not saying you're a Super Bowl contender next year.
But you can put it on the up and up.
And so, in that sense, I think it's attractive.
