5 next best head coach hires the Raiders can make after losing Ben Johnson

The Las Vegas Raiders have to get aggressive in their head coaching search. With the Detroit Lions unexpected early exit from the NFL playoffs, that expedited the process for some teams. And with Chicago reportedly taking Ben Johnson off the board, the Raiders need to get to work. 

Johnson was a prime candidate for just about every team needing a coach thanks to his offensive acumen that had Detroit as one of the most explosive offenses this past season. While Johnson probably favored the Chicago Bears thanks to a young quarterback to build around, the Raiders had their chance. 

Now that Johnson has landed his job, the Raiders have to speed up their process to get one of the best available candidates left. Here’s who the Raiders can pursue with Johnson saying in the NFC North and landing in the Windy City. 

5) Kliff Kingsbury has helped the Washington Commanders reach the NFC championship game year one into the rebuild. He might be ready to take over a team again

Kliff Kingsbury has re-surfaced as a head coaching candidate after turning Jayden Daniels and a fractured Washington Commanders offense into one of the best two teams in the NFC this year. 

Kingsbury joined Dan Quinn’s staff as offensive coordinator after he took a backseat to coaching after being fired as the Arizona Cardinals coach. He spent last season as a senior offensive analyst at USC. 

This year, the Commanders offense led by Kingsbury as coordinator, did what many teams couldn’t do, even against a beat up Detroit defense. They scored 45 points and ended Detroit’s playoff run before it ever got started. 

And throughout the season, it was an offense that allowed Daniels to thrive almost effortlessly. Kingsbury is no stranger to working with a young, mobile quarterback that can make electric plays. The Raiders need a quarterback and may be intrigued by this upcoming class. 

Kingsbury could get back into the head coaching ranks and do it with the Raiders if he gets the right player at quarterback. That said, the Raiders need to be aggressive in making sure another brilliant offensive coach doesn’t get scooped up. 

4) Joe Brady and the Buffalo Bills offense has been potent this season so naturally the Raiders should be interested in translating that to the west coast

Joe Brady has taken a team with Josh Allen at quarterback and young weapons around him and turned them into one of the best teams in the AFC over the last few years. The Bills needed better offensive production after they fired Ken Dorsey. 

Brady took over and did just that. The Bills offense with Allen shouldn’t be as good as it is. The Baltimore Ravens for example had nine pro bowlers, Lamar Jackson, Derrick Henry and Mark Andrews.

If Allen had weapons like that, imagine how much better they’d be. So if Brady can take a young core and get significant production out of them, the Raiders should be intrigued with what Brady could do with the Raiders with the flexibility they have in both the draft and free agency. 

Brady and the Bills are a win away from playing for the team’s first Super Bowl since Sean McDermott has rebuilt this team. Despite several appearances in the AFC championship game, if they get to the Super Bowl, it should be all the Raiders need to be aggressive at snatching Brady. 

3) Steve Spagnuolo is very familiar with the Raiders, he could be the secret weapon to get them competitive in the AFC West

Steve Spagnuolo is very familiar with the Las Vegas Raiders. He has to spend at minimum, two weeks a year preparing for them. That means he’s diagnosed all their strengths and weaknesses ahead of each matchup. 

No coaching candidate knows the Raiders like Spagnuolo does. Which makes him an extremely good option to take over the team. He would know exactly what the team needs to not only compete in the division, but compete against his former team in the Kansas City Chiefs. 

That said, hiring him doesn’t mean they immediately will beat the Chiefs. But it does mean he can take some of that championship pedigree they’ve built over what feels like the last decade to get Las Vegas contending in the AFC. 

Spagnuolo hasn’t been a sought after candidate like Johnson was. But it does mean they can’t afford to miss out on him in the event there’s a team lurking and waiting for the season to end to get aggressive in their pitch. 

2) Aaron Glenn may be interested in the New York Jets, but he hasn’t closed the door on any other coach-needy teams. 

Aaron Glenn is getting active with two in-person interviews this week. The Raiders need to move quickly if they value Glenn as a good candidate to fill their head coaching vacancy. Like Johnson, he was the face of the rebuild in Detroit. 

It would be irresponsible to pass on Glenn because he’s seen the bad and knows what it takes to make it good. And the Raiders aren’t in a good spot right now. Like the Jets, they need a culture change. 

They thought Antonio Pierce was the answer for that. But when he was promoted from interim to full time coach, he didn’t work out like they hoped. 

The Raiders need an outside face to change the trajectory of this organization. And Glenn’s experience being on both sides of a rebuild is invaluable.

1) Robert Saleh deserves to be a head coach again after New York Jets debacle and Las Vegas could be a good landing spot.

Robert Saleh should get another shot to rebuild a program after the fallout of the New York Jets fiasco. He was jettisoned as the problem when in actuality it was Woody Johnson being inept that cost the Jets from reaching the potential they could have. 

But as they say, one man’s trash is another’s treasure and Saleh could be the golden ticket for the Raiders to become competitive in the AFC West. While Saleh struggled to win in New York, that wasn’t his fault. 

There were several factors that caused him to struggle and never really gain his ground. The Raiders are doing a full rebuild. It would be a clean slate for Saleh. The Raiders is a job that if he doesn’t succeed then maybe he was to blame for his struggles in New York. 

But if he does help the Raiders compete in what looks to be a difficult division, it would have been the perfect opportunity.