Report: Raiders players wanted Josh McDaniels fired

The Las Vegas Raiders haven’t been the most consistent team in the NFL, and a lot of that has had to do with their revolving door at the head coach position. It’s hard to fix a team’s issues without continuity, and even though they do have some talent on their roster, the coaches haven’t been able to maximize it.

Josh McDaniels seemed like a decent choice to fix their woes at first. He came with plenty of pedigree and success as the New England Patriots perennial offensive coordinator, and he had been waiting for another chance to be the main guy for quite a while.

But his first season in charge of the organization was far from encouraging. And instead of addressing some of the most obvious issues, they chose to scapegoat Derek Carr and replace him with Jimmy Garoppolo.

Fast forward to today, and the 3-5 Raiders will have an interim coach for the remainder of the season. According to Ian Rapoport of the NFL Network, the players — and even some coaches — were actually glad things went that way, as they had already held a meeting to try and get him to change his ways.

Raiders Players Were Done With McDaniels

“Players — and coaches — had ripped into him during the meeting,” Rapoport reported. “The point of the session was to be upfront and honest to try to fix what was wrong for the then-3-4 Raiders. Among the issues addressed: Overcorrecting, long meetings, the ways in which McDaniels attempted to hold players accountable and blaming players for issues with play-calling.”

The report states that McDaniels was a ‘bystander’ in the following practice. He had lost his locker room and looked like ‘a shell of himself.’ It didn’t take long before team owner Mark Davis let him, GM Dave Ziegler, and OC Mick Lombardi that they would be relieved of their duties.

The Raiders were on the heels of a two-game losing streak and failed to make moves ahead of the trade deadline. They could’ve used a boost on both sides of the field, as they currently rank last in total yards per game (288.6), third-worst in points per game (15.8), and third-words in rushing yards allowed per game (140.6).

This Was A Long Time Coming

It’s hard to say that this outcome was surprising. Raiders stars Josh Jacobs and Davante Adams had been quite open about their frustrations with the status of the team — particularly the offense.

Moreover, Mark Davis had reportedly met with them and other players once things started escalating. He got a better glimpse of what was going on with their testimonies before eventually coming to terms with the decision to let McDaniels go:

“As the losses mounted this season, Davis began meeting with players such as running back Josh Jacobs, Adams and other leaders, sometimes over dinner,” Rapoport wrote. “Many of the issues that came up in the team meeting last week had been previously disclosed to Davis privately, which led him to start contemplating a potential change.”

The players seem to be quite excited about Antonio Pierce taking the reins of the team for the remainder of the season. And while making the playoffs could seem out of reach, they still have half of the season ahead of them to turn things around.