Urgent Raiders Issues No. 2: Coaching Up Players

HENDERSON, Nev.--The Las Vegas Raiders are entering a critical year two of the Coach Josh McDaniels and General Manager Dave Ziegler regime.

As the 2023 NFL Draft approaches, the Raiders are facing critical systemic issues that can be addressed now. We are discussing the five most significant in this series of articles.

Yesterday we went into full detail about the myriad first-round failures before Ziegler and McDaniels' arrival.

McDaniels and Ziegler will be judged on their own, but they are victims of those colossal failures and are trying to work the Silver and Black out of their self-induced hole.

Today we look at the assistant coaches and their ability to develop and grow their players.

Last season, the first under McDaniels and Ziegler, we saw an issue that has plagued this franchise for years and continued under their regime.

Let's look at one position in particular to illustrate this point.

Specifically, let's look at the defensive backs. Chris Ash and Jason Simmons oversee that particular part of the team.

Entering the 2022 season, two players had the attention of the NFL from the Raiders' defensive backfield: Tre'Von Moehrig and Nate Hobbs.

Both players had incredible rookie seasons, and their sophomore campaign was expected to catapult them into stardom.

That didn't happen to either of them.

Coming into the year, I reached out to multiple people on seven NFL teams. I asked about players on the Raiders who they felt were underrated and thought could be the next Maxx Crosby-type player to skyrocket.

Everyone said Tre'Von Moehrig. You need to grasp that every single one said those two names.

I quickly discussed the young Horn Frog with them and predicted he would make the Pro Bowl.

Was that a doozy or a prediction?

Here is what two of those men said before and after watching him this past season.

BEFORE

No. 1: "Moehrig has all of the skills to be great. Superior vision, top instincts, and an ability to feel the play and where it is going. We wanted him desperately, and his rookie season proved us right.

A super addition for the Raiders."

No. 2: "I remember scouting Moehrig. We desperately could have used him, and wanted him. We had another guy that fit a need, and had he not been there we would have grabbed him in the first round. Despite the dump pick in the first (tackle Alex Leatherwood), they made up for it by stealing him in the second. Great get. He'll be a Pro Bowler for years."

AFTER

No. 1: "What the hell happened? He was so fluid in college, and it carried right over into year two. I didn't watch every game, but I remember saying to someone else that he is making the same mistakes in multiple games. That is on coaching, and they are allowing it, which means they are coaching it. What a shame for the kid."

No. 2: "If you watched him play, especially his last games. he seems to be overthinking things. Gone is that instinct, and now he is working at it. I'm sorry, but doesn't seem to be the same player. That kid loves football, and he isn't playing like he is loving whatever they are doing. The effort is there so you know he is trying, but where is the coaching."

That is an indictment of the Raiders coaching staff.

While injured often in 2022, many of those sentiments would reflect on Nate Hobbs in 2022.

Good teams aren't built on first-round picks. In fairness, the good teams don't miss as much on those vital selections, but the good ones know when to trade those picks for proven players or multiple other choices because your staff can develop them.

Say what you like, but wide receiver Hunter Renfrow and defensive end Maxx Crosby are the types of players who get teams to the Super Bowl. Guys who were not as heralded, but they were developed and grew.

Hobbs and Moehrig had the respect of the NFL, but the Raiders coaching staff, let them, Josh McDaniels, Dave Ziegler, and Patrick Graham, down.

I am not saying the Raiders' ancillary staff has all been bad, and that isn't the issue. At this level, one coaching failure can cripple a franchise in a league where nearly every game is close.

How much better would the Raiders have been had Moehrig remained on the trajectory that he was? Hobbs? How about if they didn't regress?

How better would the Raiders have been had Ash and Simmons performed at the level of many of their coworkers?

I am not picking on either coach. But their players, coordinator, head coach, general manager and owner are under a microscope, and so are they.

McDaniel said about retaining his staff: "We'll look at everything. Again, I think those guys have worked really hard and done everything that they could do to try to help put our team in position to win. We are going to evaluate our own performance, for sure. And that's every year, so I'm definitely not ready at this point to say anything other than I'm thankful for all that they did for us to try to help us win and give us a chance. So, we'll look at that obviously as we go forward."

For McDaniels, he has to ask himself a difficult question. When he said: "I'm thankful for all that they did for us to try to help us win and give us a chance," did anyone, at any time, ever think of the Raiders secondary and think they gave them a chance to win?

Did anyone ever think they helped the Raiders win?

I am not saying they didn't make plays, and I am also saying that a coach can't bemoan "execution," and not eventually look at the ones coaching it and call them out.

McDaniels is walking a tight line. Players don't mind being called out; they know when they made a mistake. But, they don't like coaches using the excuse of execution, which implies players, when there are weaknesses in the coaching.

In fairness, McDaniels, privately to the team, has called out coaching errors, even his own. But the public statements have been about execution, which has not been appreciated.

A quick instinct to let under-performing players go will earn a coach respect in the locker room. Keeping under-performing coaches will quickly cause a coach to lose respect. We all know that players and coaches can have bad seasons. If McDaniels believes in said player or coach and keeps them, and they respond, good for him. But not doing anything, and one year turns into two, you have issues.

Josh McDaniels, like Jon Gruden, had a good staff. But coaches who didn't produce hurt the entirety of the organization.

Chris Ash and Jason Simmons are two very good men. This critique has nothing to do with their character; it is because they had enough weapons to have done better in 202, and they didn't.

It hurt this franchise.

The Las Vegas Raiders need players to produce. They need the men they are paying to get that out of them to do the same.

Josh McDaniels is keeping them, so if 2023 looks like 2022, that is on him.

This staff is far from a sinking ship. McDaniels had multiple men on his staff who had solid 2022 campaigns. I will be detailing them in my next series.

The 2023 NFL Draft will go from April 27-29 and be held at Union Station in Kansas City, Mo. The NFL Scouting Combine is Feb. 28-March 6, 2023, 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. Starting at 12 p.m. EST on March 13 and ending at 3:59:59 p.m. EDT 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. EDT on March 15.

The 2023 NFL Year and Free Agency period begins at 4 p.m. EDT on March 15. The Raiders are expected to be significant players in the free-agent market this season.

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