Oakland Raiders: Report indicates major divide in front office

An early report on Sunday morning from Ian Rapoport of NFL Network confirms everyone’s suspicions: There’s a divide in the Oakland Raiders front office.

The Oakland Raiders’ wild offseason started with the team’s decision to hire Jon Gruden out of the Monday Night Football booth to a 10-year, $100 million contract to be the team’s head coach, and ended with the very unpopular decision to trade away franchise player Khalil Mack to the Chicago Bears.

If ever anyone needed a great example of cause and effect, that’s it.

The Raiders’ hiring of Gruden meant the team would undoubtedly be implementing his philosophies going forward, but everyone was fascinated to see how things would work out specifically between Gruden and incumbent general manager Reggie McKenzie, who was retained along with a number of his previous staff members.

Well, according to NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport, there’s a significant ‘disconnect’ in the way Gruden has been operating versus the way McKenzie and his staff would like to operate.

This is a fascinating report from Rap Sheet and seems to very clearly indicate a few things.

First and foremost, it confirms that those who were retained from Reggie McKenzie’s staff, including McKenzie himself, are not in alignment with the way Gruden is running the team.

Second, it seems like these personnel members are simply waiting to inevitably be let go by the Raiders and are making sure everyone in the league knows they have not been part of some of Gruden’s odd scouting decisions, draft decisions, and personnel decisions in general.

They do not want their professional careers attached to the Khalil Mack trade or anything else that has gone on this offseason for the Raiders as it appears to be heading in a downward spiral quickly.

Gruden operating with his own ‘circle’ of front office personnel, trusting their boards rather than collaborating with some guys who had helped make the Raiders a playoff team two years ago is baffling. His decision to trade Khalil Mack for what will ultimately amount to mid-first round draft picks was downright foolish.

Personnel-wise, Gruden has been making one unwise decision after another, assembling one of the oldest rosters in the NFL over the course of the offseason and marking his territory on the team rather than making them better.

With an 0-2 start to the season and a road game in week three against the Miami Dolphins, the pressure is on Gruden to turn things around quickly, prove that his way works, and make sure these people in his own building who don’t agree with his decisions eat crow before they pack their bags.

If not, it’s going to be a long start to the next 10 years.