5 mistakes that cost Dave Ziegler his job with the Raiders
Dave Ziegler inherited a playoff team — however flawed — when he was hired as general manager of the Raiders in January 2022.
He made a major splash before his first draft in charge of the organization by trading his top two selections for star receiver Davante Adams, one of the NFL’s top players.
It can be argued that wasn’t the right move for a roster with so many holes, but it was far from the worst decision he made during his tenure.
Here are the top five mistakes that led to his firing Tuesday night:
1. Chandler Jones
It’s unfortunate that Jones is going through what appears to be serious mental issues that took him away from the team during training camp and led to his release. But this was another player Ziegler and coach Josh McDaniels pursued largely because of their past relationship with him in New England. Jones did have an episode late in his stint with the Patriots that led to him being traded to Arizona. He had a great career with the Cardinals, but the signing was questionable even if Jones had been a model citizen. The production was never there.
2. The quarterbacks
Ziegler was right there with McDaniels in offering an endorsement of Derek Carr, the quarterback they inherited who was the longtime face of the franchise. They kind of backed up their words with an extension as soon as they took over. Even though Ziegler gave the team an out in the contract after one season, that season ended with a messy divorce, and the Raiders had to let Carr move on with no compensation. This is another mistake that might have been caused by Ziegler and McDaniels not quickly enough identifying what they had on the roster when they took over. They could have moved on immediately from Carr and started the rebuild instead of thinking they had the roster to return to the playoffs.
This offseason made matters even worse.
It would be easy to say Jimmy Garoppolo just doesn’t have it anymore and make excuses that his rapid decline was difficult to predict. But was it? Injuries have taken a huge toll on his body, and he has already missed two games this season with new issues. Ziegler should have been able to see this coming. Garoppolo was still not fully healthy when he signed his deal.
3. The Josh Jacobs debacle
It made sense when the new regime decided not to pick up the fifth-year option on the star running back’s contract. The value of the position has dwindled, and there are sound analytical arguments to not paying top dollar at the position. But if that’s going to be your philosophy, you have to commit to it. Jacobs had a tremendous season, and Ziegler and McDaniels quickly found out he is also a respected figure in the locker room. So they tried to franchise tag him and keep him around. That led to resentment and kept Jacobs out of much of training camp. It’s tough to say whether the situation has been a factor in the struggling run game, but it couldn’t have helped. If there was any chance the team wanted to keep Jacobs around, they should have picked up the option. After that, things spiraled.
4. The Hunter Renfrow conundrum
This can easily be attributed to McDaniels as one of the reasons he is on the way out, but what is up with signing a productive wide receiver to a massive extension and then being unable to figure out a way to use him? If there is a case to be made that Renfrow just wasn’t as good as his numbers suggested, then fine. Move on from him. But Ziegler elected to lock Renfrow up with a pricey extension that made him untradeable this season.
5. Drafting Tyree Wilson
The book is far from closed on Wilson, a talented player who has started to show signs of life. He might end up being a decent player. But he was always going to take time to develop and wasn’t going to contribute right away, and drafting a project player isn’t the right move for a general manager who needed production immediately.
Contact Adam Hill at ahill@reviewjournal.com. Follow @AdamHillLVRJ on X.
