The Oakland Raiders are one of several NFL teams looking at the staffs of playoff teams to fill their vacancies.
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It makes a lot of sense that teams on the outside of the playoffs, their seasons finished, are looking to the teams in the playoffs to help fill their coaching vacancies. The Raiders are one of those teams and they’ve been looking under plenty of rocks for a new coach, like the Dallas Cowboys and passing game coordinator Scott Linehan.
An interesting place to look for a head coach. As per the comments there, some people don’t even know teams have passing game coordinators. Scott Linehan isn’t just a passing game coordinator though, he is the play caller for the Cowboys dynamic offense this season, so it’s hardly a surprise teams needing coaches are interested in him.
Linehan was signed for a one-year deal and joined the Cowboys during the last offseason. He’ll be a free agent at the end of the season and will probably have plenty of suitors from other teams besides the Raiders. The Cowboys were struggling to figure out who would call plays last offseason, according to Pro Football Talk, and Linehan ended up being the one. All he’s done this year is help Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo, wide receiver Dez Bryant and running back DeMarco Murray achieve record numbers.
Linehan isn’t the only pending free agent on the staff for the Cowboys. Head coach Jason Garrett is on that list, as is defensive coordinator Rod Marinelli, whose two-year deal is up after this year. So the Cowboys will face a little offseason staff drama whenever their season ends as well.
Renegotiation of Linehan’s one-year contract has so far not been in the cards for the Cowboys, and Linehan holds a lot of leverage having a big hand in a top offensive team with star players having some of their best career numbers. He was criticized for an inability to stick with the running game while in Detroit, but this year that hasn’t been a problem as the Cowboys running game has a been a huge part of their offense.
The Raiders’ current top five coaching candidates according to the International Business Times are Jack Del Rio, current defensive coordinator of the Broncos, Eric Mangini, Todd Bowles, current defensive coordinator for the Cardinals, Pep Hamilton, current offensive coordinator for the Colts, and Pat Shurmur, current offensive coordinator for the Eagles.
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