Still several potential offensive coordinators for Raiders

The coaches on the market to take an offensive coordinator job have been flying off the shelves of late. The head coaches are all in place and the attention has shifted to the coordinators.

The most recent offensive coordinators to find landing spots were Aaron Kromer (Bears), which occurred Wendesday and Norv Turner (Browns) and Ken Whisenhunt (Chargers) who both signed on Thursday. All three of them would have been solid offensive coordinator choices in Oakland.

The Raiders have reportedly interviewed three candidates thus far - Marc Trestman, Mike Martz, and Greg Olson - but Trestman became the Bears head coach and there is no indication the Raiders will be offering the OC job to either of the other two.

The Raiders are one of only a handful of teams still without an offensive coordinator. Despite many of the best ones already gone, there are still a few good names out there to be had.

Several of the fired head coaches already found jobs. Three offensive minded coaches still remain -- Mike Mularkey, Chan Gailey, and Pat Shurmer. Two other potential candidates were left without a team when their head coach was fired including former Eagles OC Marty Mornhinweg and former Bears OC Mike Tice. The remaining name out there is Ravens former OC Cam Cameron who was fired midway through the 2012 season.

UPDATE: Marty Mornhinweg has been hired as the Jets offensive coordinator.

There are also, of course, the three Green Bay candidates -- Bob McAdoo, James Campen, and Jerry Fontenot. These three become candidates based on the strength of their resumes. Their being from the Packers organization only adds to their chances with Reggie McKenzie's history with the team.

The lone college candidate whose name seems to be bandied about of late is Stanford offensive coordinator, Pep Hamilton. He has held the OC position for the Cardinal for two seasons and is producing some buzz as an OC candidate in NFL circles. UPDATE: He has joined his former QB Andrew Luck and the Colts as their offensive coordinator.

So, as you can see, there are a few candidates from whom to choose. But not all candidates are equal and not all are what the Raiders are looking for. This whole search has already taken longer than most had expected. But from the beginning, it was known that there were many great prospective offensive coordinators to be had.

It is a double edged sword to be certain. On one hand, the Raiders need to be sure they get the coach they want before someone else does (which may have already happened). On the other hand being one of the few remaining jobs, the Raiders look more and more enticing (although a coach signing out of desperation is not really a good thing).

The longer the Raiders wait, the more criticism they would invite with regard to their coaching search. It was a long process last year and forced what many saw as settling for bringing back Greg Knapp as the offensive coordinator. That's not the kind of mistake they can afford to make again.

They can still get a prime candidate, but they better hurry and get their guy before they are left with the scraps again.