Raiders News: Josh McDaniels Becomes Legit Candidate For Las Vegas

This offseason, the biggest question for the Las Vegas Raiders remains who will be the team’s next head coach. Interim coach Rich Bisaccia certainly made his case while leading the team to their first playoff berth since 2016, while big names such as University of Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh have been floated around as well.

The team is also in the midst of finding a new general manager after parting ways with Mike Mayock, so figuring that out before settling on a head coach could be the route they choose as well. But that doesn’t mean interviews aren’t still happening, and a new name has emerged in current New England Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels.

According to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, the Raiders requested and were granted permission to interview McDaniels for their vacant head coaching position:

Raiders requested today a head coach interview with Patriots’ offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels, per league source. McDaniels now expected to interview with the Raiders.

— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) January 27, 2022

McDaniels has spent the last 10 years with the Patriots as their offensive coordinator in addition to a previous three-year stint from 2006 to 2008. In between, McDaniels was head coach of the Denver Broncos, where things did not go well. After a solid 8-8 campaign in his first season in Denver, McDaniels went just 3-9 in his second season before being fired after Week 13.

Since then, McDaniels has proven again to be one of the top offensive coordinators in all of football and has put in the work to get another chance at a head coaching position. In the last 10 seasons, the Patriots’ offense has ranked in the top-10 in scoring in nine of them, including this past season when they ranked sixth despite starting rookie quarterback Mac Jones.

McDaniels is the first offensive coach the Raiders will be interviewing as the other candidates have all been defensive coaches aside from Bisaccia, who was a special teams coach. The team has already interviewed Bisaccia and Patriots linebackers coach Jerod Mayo for the position. The team is also expected to interview Tampa Bay Buccaneers defensive coordinator Todd Bowles, as well as San Francisco 49ers defensive coordinator DeMeco Ryans for the position as well.