Oakland Raiders head coach Jack Del Rio knows where he is when it comes to navigating the upcoming season and the uncertainty afterward.
On the outside, it would seem like Jack Del Rio’s taking a “don’t care” mentality as he prepares for the 2017 NFL season as he has pointed out that he won’t be talking to his players about the Las Vegas relocation on a constant basis.
“You are talking about three years from now,” he said to Jenny Ventras of the MMQB. “It really serves no purpose to talk about something that’s going to happen in three years when you are talking about an NFL team. That’s the message, and every time I get asked about it, it’s the same message. We are here, and we are going to focus on the here and now. We are all about returning ourselves to greatness and committing to the things that need to happen to make that happen.”
– Coach Del Rio sharing his thoughts on relocation MMQB’s Jenny Ventras
Being able to focus and put down any distraction controversy takes effort, determination, and discipline; Del Rio’s aware there are many uncertain things which he has no control of. As successful as he has been, nothing’s guaranteed in the NFL and even though he has been embraced by the team and fans alike, everything can change overnight.
He has already proven he can win; now, he has to show he can do it on a constant basis. Worrying about what will happen in the future is not the way to go and he has decided to work with the players he has and the circumstances surrounding the team instead of being concerned about things out of his grasp.
Back with the Jacksonville Jaguars he only had back-to-back winning seasons once and some of it had to with having an incompetent general manager, some of the miscues that led to his firing were his, but not having decent players, which was something out of his control, played a major part on him being fired.
Del Rio will enter the 2017 with the chance of having back-to-back winning seasons for the second time in his coaching career. With ascending players such as Derek Carr and Khalil Mack, his mind is where it needs to be. Las Vegas can wait for another day.
Carlo Sanchez is a senior writer and editor for Raider Ramble. You can follow him on Twitter at @Carlos_Ramble
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