Silver Minings: Josh McDaniels’ hire continues a team trend

As the Las Vegas Raiders fully move away from the Jon Gruden era, the hire to replace him has some similarities to his return to the team four years ago.

Like Gruden did in 2018, McDaniels is returning to the head coaching chair after a long interim. McDaniels hasn’t been an NFL head coach since December 2010, when he was fired by the Denver Broncos following a woeful 28-game tenure that started in 2009 when he was 32. This is actually the third time this century that the Raiders have hired a head coach after a long break, as illustrated by this Associated Press tweet:

Yes, Gruden and Shell’s return to the big chair didn’t work out well. But I wouldn’t instantly think McDaniels’ tenure in Las Vegas will be a failure because of this trend. Every situation is different and unlike Gruden and Shell, McDaniels has been continuously working in the NFL an assistant in-between head coaching jobs. So while he hasn’t run a team in over a decade, he has been working and living the NFL coaching lifestyle ever since and is fully entrenched in today’s game.

In other Raiders’ links:

• Arnette details: The Las Vegas-Review Journal has more details on the recent arrest of Raiders’ first-round bust Damon Arnette.
• McDaniels notebook: The Athletic has more thoughts on the McDaniels’ hire.
• Inside look: The Raiders’ website has a feature on McDaniels and new general manager Davie Ziegler.