Raiders interview Mike McDaniel as coaching search heats up
HENDERSON, Nev. (AP) — The Las Vegas Raiders have been active in recent days adding to their growing list of coaching candidates, including interviewing former Miami Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel on Monday in South Florida.
Raiders executives also were in the area to attend the College Football Playoff title game between Indiana and Miami.
Owner Mark Davis, general manager John Spytek and minority owner Tom Brady were on the Hard Rock Stadium field before the game, presumably to check out Hoosiers quarterback Fernando Mendoza, whom the Raiders could take with the first overall draft pick.
Perhaps it’s little surprise that given the urgency of needing a franchise quarterback that five of Las Vegas’ six most recent interviews have been with coaches on the offensive side of the ball. The day before interviewing McDaniel, the Raiders had discussions with Buffalo offensive coordinator Joe Brady and San Francisco OC Klay Kubiak.
McDaniel is known for having a creative offensive mind and his Dolphins offenses under quarterback Tua Tagovailoa had periods of notable success. Miami averaged 401.3 yards in 2023 to lead the NFL, and Tagovailoa threw for career highs of 4,624 yards and 29 touchdowns.
But the Dolphins and Tagovailoa failed to sustain that success, and McDaniel benched his quarterback late this season. The organization fired McDaniel after the Dolphins went 7-10 and failed to make the playoffs for the second year in a row.
He is the fourth former head coach the Raiders have interviewed. They also spoke with Kevin Stefanski, Vance Joseph and Matt Nagy. Atlanta has since hired Stefanski.
It is not certain the Raiders will hire a coach with an offensive background. They had second interviews Tuesday with Carolina defensive coordinator Ejiro Evero and Los Angeles Chargers defensive coordinator Jesse Minter.
They have been aggressive in trying to fill the position after firing Pete Carroll, who went 3-14 in his lone season. The club has interviewed 14 candidates.
The person who gets the position will be the third coach in three seasons and will try to turn around a franchise that hasn’t won a playoff game in more than two decades.
But that coach also could have Mendoza at quarterback and more than $82 million in salary cap space, according to overthecap.com, the second most in the league.
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