Oakland Raiders: Reggie McKenzie failure was not with the roster

The Oakland Raiders took another step towards their future when they decided on Monday to part ways with longtime GM Reggie McKenzie.

It’s a sad end for a man who took on one of the most colossal rebuilding efforts in recent NFL memory and almost succeeded. People forget how things started for McKenzie. His first draft had no 1st or 2nd round picks in it and he had no money to spend due to inflated contracts across the roster. He had to spend that first year just getting out from under the mess. Not until 2013 was he really able to start his construction project.

Five years later one can only be left with questions of what-if. Perhaps the one that sticks out for him the most is what if quarterback Derek Carr hadn’t broken his leg, all but crushing the Raiders’ chances in the playoffs two years ago. That setback completely derailed the team and they didn’t recover in time to salvage last season, leading to the hire of Jon Gruden who has since taken over command control.

At that point, his exit became almost inevitable, and now it’s come to pass. So there’s only one question left. Why?

#Raiders GM Reggie McKenzie had a meeting with his scouts today where he informed them he was fired, per me and @TomPelissero. He was given the chance to stay the season, but is not expected to do so.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) December 10, 2018

Reggie McKenzie failures were with coaching hires, not roster building

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This season is proving beyond a doubt that McKenzie has an eye for football talent. The triumvirate he secured between 2014 and 2015 in Khalil Mack, Derek Carr, and Amari Cooper was supposed to carry the franchise into contention. It almost did in 2016 when the Raiders made the playoffs after going 12-4. All three were spectacular that season. So why did it all go wrong? The same thing that has proven to be the Achilles heel of many GMs.

McKenzie just couldn’t get the head coaching spot right.

His first choice was young Dennis Allen who’d had a strong year in 2011 as the Denver Broncos defensive coordinator. It became obvious fairly soon that Allen was too inexperienced and unprepared for that opportunity. The team finished with two 4-12 seasons and started 0-4 in his third before he was finally fired. Then McKenzie tried the same path again, this time hiring Broncos defensive coordinator Jack Del Rio.

While it was a bit more of a credible move given Del Rio had prior head coaching experience, the fact is his run in Jacksonville years prior was largely uninspiring. After the great year in 2016, it became obvious that the coach didn’t know how to develop their young roster properly. Those two misfires are what led to Gruden being hired and McKenzie’s inevitable ousting.

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