Raiders dealing with front office 'divide,' Gruden's crew led by guy who doubted Von Miller
The situation in Oakland is not great as it relates to the front office and coaching staff
Will Brinson
mugshot by Will Brinson
@WillBrinson
22h ago • 1 min read
The Raiders started 0-2 and there are serious concerns about how things are being handled in Oakland as the Jon Gruden era continues to kick off in questionable fashion. Indeed, there may even be a "divide" in the organization when it comes to scouting players and handling personnel matters.
According to a lengthy breakdown from Ian Rapoport of NFL Media, Gruden's approach, which mirrors how he prepared for games while working for ESPN on Monday Night Football, has "led to a disconnect in a Raiders building" between Gruden's guys and the scouting/front office people who were in place before under GM Reggie McKenzie.
Basically, Gruden came in and hired a whole new staff.
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Gruden "essentially has his own staff that helps him judge talent and make decisions -- most notably confidant and Director of Football Research Dave Razzano -- along with a slew of interns and assistants" according to Rapoport.
Razzano, Rapoport notes, was a long-time scout in the NFL who became a "rogue scout" on Twitter and shared various opinions about potential draft picks back in 2011 that look, ahem, questionable now.
Notably, Razzano complained about the "lack of effort" from Von Miller, who has morphed into a perennial Defensive Player of the Year candidate.
Yikes. There appears to be a clear divide in the organization between guys who are Gruden's guys and guys who McKenzie's guys.
Per Rapoport, the ones who grew up under McKenzie are "frustrated that Gruden has his guys, who make up a group that spearheaded the signing of several veteran free agents, the jettisoning of many previous draft picks and the trade of Khalil Mack."
There has been a LOT of public sniping about the Mack trade, with Gruden noting he had nothing to do with sending a second-round pick (2020) to the Bears along with Mack in the deal. McKenzie made it quite clear he wasn't interested in dealing Mack at all, even if he took the high road when discussing it publicly.
It was already difficult to imagine McKenzie coming back in 2018 but when you read the details of how things are unfolding within the Raiders, it's really hard to imagine a scenario where this dysfunction continues into 2019.
