Now that the Patriot’s year is over, the offseason poaching of the Belichick coaching and front office trees is set to continue. Though at this point I wouldn’t recommend it – as the track record is rather poor, the team’s inside linebackers coach Jerod Mayo will interview for the Raiders head coaching job, and de facto general manager Dave Ziegler will interview for their general manager job.
The #Raiders have put in a request to interview #Patriots defensive assistant Jerod Mayo, source said. Their search begins. And that’s not all. They also requested de facto GM Dave Ziegler.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) January 17, 2022
Patriots director of player personnel Dave Ziegler will interview for the Raiders GM job in Las Vegas on Friday, per sources.
— Albert Breer (@AlbertBreer) January 19, 2022
How much of a chance does Mayo have at actually landing the job? Not a great one according to BetOnline.ag. Mayo is not on BOL’s board at all, even being beaten out by former Raiders head coach Lane Kiffin. Here is the full list of odds to be the next head coach in Las Vegas:
Next Full-Time Raiders Head Coach
Jim Harbaugh +200
Mike Tomlin +300
Rich Bisaccia +400
Doug Pederson +500
Todd Bowles +1000
Eric Bienemy +1000
Sean Payton +1000
Dabo Swinney +1000
David Shaw +1200
Byron Leftwich +1200
Brian Daboll +1400
Nathaniel Hackett +2000
Lane Kiffin +10000
Mayo was drafted by the Patriots with the 10th overall pick in the 2008 NFL draft and played eight seasons as a linebacker in New England. After a brief hiatus from football, he returned to the organization and has been the team’s inside linebackers coach since 2019. He was dubbed a de-facto defensive coordinator this season along side coach Belichick’s son Stephen. Mayo interviewed for the Philadelphia Eagles head coaching job last offseason, but was beaten out by Nick Sirianni.
Dave Ziegler just finished his ninth season in the Patriots front office, and his first as the Director of Player Personnel. Zielger moved into this role after Nick Caserio left to take the Texans general manager job, and he played a major part in New England’s 2021 NFL draft process. Ziegler, Eliot Wolf, Matt Patricia, and Bill Belichick were said to have worked together in a group approach, and it boded well for them – as they drafted Mac Jones, Christian Barmore, and Rhamondre Stevenson.
As I noted in a piece a few weeks ago about the Raiders, I think interim head coach Rich Bisaccia did enough this season to keep his job:
As for Rich Bisaccia – he took over for Vegas after the Jon Gruden saga back in October, and has handled the surplus of adversity they’ve had since then just about perfectly. He rallied the troops all the way to doorsteps of the postseason, having won three straight games prior to Sunday night. An automatic playoff birth could have given Bisaccia a head coach title sans “interim” in 2022.
Las Vegas went on to beat LA and make the postseason before losing to Cincinnati last weekend.
The one thing that would steer me away from rehiring Bisaccia is the track record of interim head coaches continuing in their role. Specifically, Freddie Kitchens’ roller coaster ride with the Browns. Kitchens took over for Cleveland after having a solid interim season and building a chemistry with quarterback Baker Mayfield. Kitchens went 6-10 in his only year with the team and was fired the following offseason.
So maybe it is time for new life in Vegas, and maybe Mayo and/or Ziegler can be just that. We’ll see how it plays out and we’ll see how the Patriots respond.
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