Raiders' GM Ziegler on Beginning Year Two with Team
Jan. 31 will mark one year since Dave Ziegler was officially hired as general manager of the Las Vegas Raiders, and heading into his second off-season, he will deal with some major hurdles.
Ziegler has to find a trade partner for Derek Carr -- along with figuring out who the team’s starting quarterback is going to be next year -- and he has to decide if he’s going to re-sign running back Josh Jacobs.
The Raiders can adopt a couple of different philosophies if they so choose; they can trade away Carr, not re-sign Jacobs and build through the draft with newly acquired capital, or they can re-sign Jacobs, find an established veteran quarterback, and push for playoff contention.
In an interview last Friday, Ziegler spoke about what comes next for the Raiders.
“We kind of look at the whole picture, and kind of have an idea of where can we improve, and I think that’s the biggest thing as we go forward is taking self-reflection, having some, I’d say, constructive criticism within the building, and finding solutions,” Ziegler said.
“Everybody can come up with a problem, and identify a problem, but can you identify a solution? A couple of the things we’re doing in scouting right now, looking at this past year’s free agency class and this past year’s draft, and looking at ‘where are some of the areas where we could have made better decisions that could have impacted the organization possibly in a better way.”
Ziegler mentioned that a big part of the off-season is being honest about evaluating his own team, good or bad.
“Understanding where are your strengths, where are your weaknesses, where are some of the different areas that you need to improve the team, and that’s going to be a big focus here as we go through January, and we go through February, as we’re leading into free agency, and we’re leading to the draft, is making sure we’re solidifying the things that we’re strong on, improving our weaknesses, and making great decisions here for the future of the Raiders too,” Ziegler said.
Ziegler will take an honest approach into the off-season and evaluate what moves he needs to make to ensure the best possible future for the Raiders.
The NFL Scouting Combine is Feb. 28-March 6, 2023, held at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, Ind. March 7, 2023, before 4 p.m. EST, is the club's deadline to designate Franchise or Transition Players.
March 13-15 is the free agent negotiation period. During that time, starting at 12 p.m. EST on March 13 and ending at 3:59:59 p.m. EST on March 15, clubs are permitted to contact and enter into contract negotiations with the certified agents of players who will become Unrestricted Free Agents upon the expiration of their 2022 Player Contracts at 4 p.m EST on March 15.
The 2023 NFL Year and Free Agency period begins at 4 p.m. EST on March 15. The Raiders are expected to be significant players in the free-agent market this season.
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