Raiders fire coach Josh McDaniels, GM David Ziegler
HENDERSON, Nev. -- The Las Vegas Raiders fired coach Josh McDaniels and general manager Dave Ziegler, the team announced Tuesday night.
"After much thought about what the Raiders need to move forward, I have decided to part ways with Josh and Dave," owner Mark Davis said in a statement. "I want to thank them both for their hard work and wish them and their families nothing but the best."
Reached by phone and asked to elaborate on the reason for the firings, Davis told ESPN, "No comment at this time."
The Raiders are naming linebackers coach Antonio Pierce as their interim head coach, Davis confirmed to ESPN. In a follow-up statement, the team also announced that current assistant general manager Champ Kelly will serve as interim GM, with the organization committed to undergoing "a comprehensive search for a general manager once the season is complete."
Davis would not say who would take on offensive playcalling duties, as that was McDaniels' job. Phone calls to McDaniels and Ziegler were not returned.
The move comes one day after the Raiders lost 26-14 at Detroit Lions on "Monday Night Football," Las Vegas' second consecutive defeat in which the team's offense could get no traction. The defeat dropped the Raiders' record to 3-5.
McDaniels and Ziegler, both hired in January 2022, inherited a 10-7 team that made an unexpected run to the playoffs during the 2021 season -- just the organization's second postseason bid since 2002 -- under interim coach Rich Bisaccia and then-GM Mike Mayock, who took over following the in-season resignation of coach Jon Gruden.
Davis said at the time that McDaniels and Ziegler were expected to take the team to the "next step" in its evolution. Instead, the Raiders went a combined 9-16 without a playoff appearance under the new regime.
McDaniels did not last two full seasons in his previous stop as a head coach, either, going a combined 11-17 with the Denver Broncos from 2009-10.
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Davis was enamored with McDaniels' offensive system and his pedigree as a longtime offensive coordinator for the New England Patriots, with whom he won six Super Bowl rings.
But the offensive success did not translate to Las Vegas, and the Raiders suffered some of the most embarrassing defeats in franchise history under the duo. That included blowing a 20-0 halftime lead against Arizona for the biggest collapse in franchise history, losing to Indianapolis in the Colts' first game with Jeff Saturday as interim coach after he had never coached above high school level, blowing a double-digit lead to Baker Mayfield and the Los Angeles Rams two days after Mayfield joined his new team, and getting shut out in New Orleans when the starting offense failed to cross the 50-yard line.
Then two weeks ago, Las Vegas lost 30-12 to Chicago and undrafted rookie former Division II quarterback Tyson Bagent in his first career start.
The Raiders in 2023 moved on from nine-year starter Derek Carr, who was benched and inactive for the final two weeks of the 2022 season. In March, they signed the oft-injured Jimmy Garoppolo -- McDaniels' former pupil in New England -- to a three-year, $72.75 million free agent contract. Shortly after signing with Las Vegas, Garoppolo underwent surgery on the left foot that he injured the season prior, causing him to miss the entirety of the Raiders' offseason on-field program and be on a "pitch count" in training camp.
Garoppolo this year has missed 2½ games due to a concussion and back injury and leads the NFL in interceptions with nine. He is coming off one of the worst statistical games of his career in Detroit.
Also, All-Pros Davante Adams and Josh Jacobs have been under-utilized at receiver and running back, respectively, for most of the season. Adams had one catch for 11 yards at Detroit and has not caught a TD pass since Week 3, while Jacobs, the NFL's reigning rushing leader, has yet to record a 100-yard rushing game this season, bottoming out at -2 yards in a Week 2 blowout loss at the Buffalo Bills.
Then there's former Pro Bowl slot receiver Hunter Renfrow, who caught 103 passes in 2021, but has just 10 receptions on 16 targets this season.
Pierce will be the eighth different coach, interim or regular, for the Raiders since Davis took over control of the team after the death of his father, Al Davis, in October 2011. He follows Hue Jackson, Dennis Allen, Tony Sparano, Jack Del Rio, Gruden, Bisaccia and McDaniels.
Pierce will make his NFL head-coaching debut Sunday against the 2-6 New York Giants, with whom he won a Super Bowl as a player in 2007.
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