Both the Oakland Raiders and San Francisco 49ers hired new head coaches Wednesday night, making the Bay Area busier than ever despite no playoff football being played.
The Raiders hired Jack Del Rio, who went 68-71 in eight seasons with the Jaguars from 2003 to 2011, getting them to the NFL Playoffs somehow – twice. We’ll see how he does with the Raiders, who have become a laughing stock in the NFL, going without a winning season since 2002 – when Bill Callahan took over for Jon Gruden, then lost to him in the Super Bowl.
Amazingly, the Raiders have had eight head coaches since their Super Bowl season, not including Del Rio. From Norv Turner to Lane Kiffin (remember that debacle?) to Tom Cable to Hue Jackson to Dennis Allen and Tony Sparano, the head coaching gig in Oakland has been a revolving door of ineptitude.
Across the San Francisco Bay, however, the 49ers decided that 44 wins and 19 losses with Jim Harbaugh just wasn’t good enough. Both parties decided to split, but it was apparent the Niners were ready for a change. They stayed in-house, hiring defensive line coach Jim Tomsula to lead their team going forward.
It has taken the Raiders 10 years to total up the 44 wins Harbaugh got in four, and now, both teams will enter the 2015 NFL season with new head coaches.
What Do the Raiders Need to Happen?
Back in the ‘70s, the Raiders were kings of the Bay Area, with a winning record in every season between 1970 and 1980, along with two Super Bowl championships. The 49ers, however, had just four winning seasons in that span.
Al Davis is gone, and his mishandling of the modern NFL team in his later years is close to fading out. His son, Mark Davis, is running things now – and has been since October of 2011, when his father died.
We’re already seeing something different out of Mark Davis that we rarely saw from Al – hiring an NFL head coach with some experience. Of the 20 head coaches for the Raiders before Del Rio, only three were previously head coaches elsewhere – Norv Turner, Joe Bugel and Art Shell. Those three guys won 15 games in four seasons (although, Shell won a lot more in his first stint in the early ‘90s).
Del Rio will quickly begin to fix a defense that has ranked in the bottom third for 10 of their past 12 seasons, including being ranked 32nd in total points allowed this past season.
1. Derek Carr needs to continue to develop, and not take steps back like other recently successful rookie quarterbacks have, like Mike Glennon, Robert Griffin III and Sam Bradford. Carr’s 21 touchdowns and 3,270 passing yards led all rookies this season, but he’s definitely going to need a star wide receiver in the huddle to make any real headway in this division. Carr looks like the real deal — for now.
2. Running back Latavius Murray has to stay healthy – and get a complementary running back to help keep him healthy.
This offensive line held up in the passing game, but they were very bad on the ground. They’ll continue to try to keep Carr upright as a first priority, and a full season from a healthy Murray should help matters considerably. Only four other teams had lower Adjusted Line Yards than the Raiders, according to FootballOutsiders.com.
3. The Raiders need to draft a wide receiver in the top 35 draft picks. With the fourth pick in the draft, they should have some options, including taking a much-needed pass rusher or Amari Cooper, the top wide receiver in the draft. With Del Rio at the helm, the Jaguars ended up taking an offensive player in the first round six times in nine drafts, including two WRs (Reggie Williams and Matt Jones). Some of those years were with GM Gene Smith making the picks, however.
For once, in a long time, things are starting to look up for the Raiders – right at a time when things are looking down for the 49ers. Colin Kaepernick is coming off a stinker season raising questions about his future. Their new head coach has one game of experience as an interim coach under his belt, so who knows where this goes? Frank Gore is likely going to play elsewhere in 2015 and the defense took a step back after several injuries and suspensions took the wind out of their sails this past season.
Now could be the time to trade in your Niners stock for some silver and black!
Photo Credit: Thearon W. Henderso