Las Vegas Raiders owner Mark Davis pulled the plug on the Josh McDaniels and Dave Ziegler era on Halloween night. Davis decided to support the players on his team instead of McDaniels and Ziegler, resulting in a shakeup in the coaching staff and front office.
With the players voicing and publicly expressing their frustration over this 2023 NFL season, the team couldn’t continue on this path. The son of Al had to make a decision; after speaking with the captains on the team, Davis knew what had to be done.
Why did Mark Davis side with the Raiders’ players?
The question many will ask themselves: Why did Davis decide to back his players over McDaniels and Ziegler? NFL Insider Tom Pelissero shed light on what went into the decision-making process, which stems from where the Silver and Black stand with their current record.
“This is something Mark Davis had been thinking about for quite a while,” Pelissero said on Friday’s edition of The Rich Eisen Show. “And quite honestly, when it comes to the trade deadline, Mark Davis didn’t want to give up these star players.
“He wanted to figure out a way to get the most out of these guys and still be competitive because they’re not 0-8 here. They’re 3-5. They still got things to play for here. And they feel like between Maxx Crosby, Davante Adams, [and] Josh Jacobs, they got some superstars on the roster.”
When the NFL deadline came around, the Raiders owner didn’t want his team to become sellers and hit the rebuild button. Davis believes in the players on the squad, to the point he banked on them over the head coach, general manager duo he hired last offseason.
Furthermore, Davis has seen that a coaching change can result in a positive shift. After Jon Gruden resigned in 2021, the Las Vegas squad responded quite positively to Rich Bisaccia taking over.
Could Tom Brady have played a role?
Tom Brady has been relatively quiet since the 2023 NFL season began. The former New England Patriots quarterback has yet to officially become a Raiders minority owner, as the move would need NFL approval. Nonetheless, could he be exerting his influence behind the scenes?
Brady was a player who knows Josh McDaniels well – better than any other player, perhaps. It’s likely Davis went to the seven-time Super Bowl champion to ask his opinion on the situation. Could the former quarterback have tipped the scale in the players’ favor, leading to the coaching change?
If the three-time AP MVP is already voicing his opinions on the future of the Raiders, he could be doing it again as Las Vegas weighs whether to remove the interim tags on Antonio Pierce and Champ Kelly.
*Top Photo: Photo by Chris Unger/Getty Images