Teams Las Vegas Raiders - The Black Hole

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I don't want Harbaugh. At first I liked the idea of a hard nosed coach like him but with all the talk of his family and friends saying he should go to Michigan he is clearly torn up inside. We need his full commitment, not a half hearted one because he kind of wants to stay in the NFL. Only way would be if he happily takes less money and says how much he wants to not only coach in the NFL but, more importantly, coach the Raiders.

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Is It Jim Harbaugh or Bust for the Oakland Raiders in 2015?

By Christopher Hansen , AFC West Lead Writer Dec 18, 2014

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Ben Margot/Associated Press


Jon Gruden, ESPN color analyst and former head coach of the Oakland Raiders, won’t be returning to the Silver and Black anytime soon. If owner Mark Davis is really going to spend on his next coach, as Adam Schefter of ESPN reported Sunday, he’s already running out of top-dollar candidates.

Gruden’s reluctance to leave the cushy broadcast booth leaves embattled San Francisco 49ers head coach Jim Harbaugh as the Raiders’ only endgame. That’s because spending big money on a mid-level candidate or even a hotshot college coach wouldn’t be money well spent in Oakland.

The Raiders are still two games away from the offseason, but it’s already setting up as if it’ll be Harbaugh or bust in 2015. The Raiders need a head coach like Harbaugh who can attract free agents and win immediately so they can get a new stadium.

If Mark Davis can’t turn his team into a winner soon, he’s going to be stuck somewhere he doesn’t want to be instead of in new digs in Oakland or Los Angeles. He’ll be stuck at O.co Coliseum in Oakland, seriously considering the Alamodome in San Antonio or sharing Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara with the 49ers.

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Ben Margot/Associated Press

Mark Davis could be getting ready to hand Jim Harbaugh a lot of power...and money.

What’s more is that Harbaugh is the only available head coach who has the leverage to get some general manager-like powers. His power was at the center of the contract negotiation between Harbaugh and the 49ers.

If the Raiders are serious about making changes in the front office that include general manager Reggie McKenzie, it’s imperative they find an equal or better replacement. Despite his team’s lackluster record, McKenzie has built a base of young talent in Oakland and cleaned up the salary cap. Since the Raiders aren’t typically a desirable job for top football executives, it makes it hard to move on from McKenzie and his handpicked front office.

Harbaugh may do more than attract talent. He may be able to bring with him Philadelphia Eagles vice president of player personnel Tom Gamble. The two men worked together with the 49ers for over two years, and according to Tim Kawakami of the San Jose Mercury News, Gamble had a good relationship with Harbaugh.



Gamble also interviewed for general manager openings with the New York Jets and Jacksonville Jaguars two years ago but turned down a second interview with the Jaguars to try to land the job with the Jets that went to John Idzik. Becoming a general manager is clearly a step he wants to take, and he’s helped turn the Eagles around in just a couple years.

"I don't come in every day [and] fixate on (becoming a general manager),” Gamble said, via Jeff McLane of The Philadelphia Inquirer in 2013. “I don't think about it. To me, it's the inevitable if you have success and you're around success.”

Even more interesting is that Harbaugh and Gamble both have ties to the Raiders. Harbaugh’s first coaching job was with the Raiders, and he revered Al Davis. Kawakami confirmed that Gamble was the secret executive candidate the elder Davis tried to hire back in 2008. Per Kawakami, Gamble was also one of Al’s few confidantes in the last few years of his life.

Even if Gamble doesn’t come with Harbaugh, he’s still the ideal candidate for the Raiders because he doesn’t have many NFL ties. That opens the door for the Raiders to stick with their current front office with or without McKenzie at least on an interim basis to see how they work together.



Davis may welcome the idea of saving a little cash, especially because Harbaugh is going to come at a premium. The University of Michigan offered Harbaugh a six-year, $48 million contract, according to Ian Rapoport of NFL.com.



Jason La Canfora of CBS reported that Davis had double that out there for Gruden and that there was little doubt he could make the offer on Harbaugh, but Vic Tafur of the San Francisco Chronicle scoffed at that report.



Indeed, the numbers keep growing, and it’s becoming apparent that Harbaugh’s agent is doing a good job manipulating the process just as Gruden did to get more money and security from ESPN. The longer this process plays out, the more expensive Harbaugh could get.

Any team that wants Harbaugh will also have to give the 49ers something to secure his services. Anything more than a mid-round pick is probably too much, but that’s just another resource the Raiders will have to consider giving up to get the guy they want.

The personal side of it is working in the Raiders’ favor. Harbaugh’s wife and three young children live in the bay area, and he hasn’t worked outside of California since his playing career ended in 2001. There’s a certain appeal to the fact that Harbaugh wouldn’t have to move, he’d just have a little longer commute.

There are other good coaching candidates out there, and the Raiders might be better off not giving up a draft pick for Harbaugh, but none of them give the Raiders everything they need in one tidy package. It’s Harbaugh or bust now for the Raiders, no matter how they try to spin it if they don’t get him.
 
No move imminent — Raiders likely to extend Coliseum lease

By Vic Tafur

Updated 9:11 pm, Saturday, December 20, 2014

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Photo: Scott Strazzante, The Chronicle

The Raiders’ home game Sunday against the Bills will not be their last home game at O.co Coliseum, barring a last-minute fumble.

Team owner Mark Davis is expected to sign a one-year lease extension with the Coliseum to play there next season, league sources said, despite little progress in talks with the city of Oakland regarding a new stadium.

But NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell has apparently put any possibility of playing in Los Angeles next season on the shelf. According to sources, he told the Raiders, Chargers and Rams last week that no team is moving to Los Angeles until 2016 at the earliest.

Davis would neither confirm nor deny the Raiders’ plans, but did reiterate he is steadfast in his desire to keep the team in Oakland.

“Getting a deal done here has always been what we’re trying to do,” Davis said Saturday night. “These fans are unbelievable. They came out in the rain on a Thursday night to support an 0-10 team in the win against Kansas City. They sent a message.”

There are plans to send out season-ticket renewal forms to Oakland fans as soon as the lease is extended.

Team officials have met recently with Oakland Mayor-elect Libby Schaaf and several times with Floyd Kephart, who heads the New City Development LLC investment team, which wants to build a new stadium on the Coliseum site.

The San Diego-based Kephart, who runs a company that advises hedge funds, had a Sunday deadline to submit a binding agreement in conjunction with the Raiders — required under New City’s contract with the city. That deadline will pass without an agreement, but Kephart remains optimistic that the team and a developer will come on board at some point.

Part of the problem is how both the Raiders and A’s fit into “Coliseum City” plans on the current site. Kephart, who met recently with A’s owner Lew Wolff, said he was told the A’s — who just signed a 10-year lease — have no interest in his plans.

The A’s would be a more attractive occupant on the development proposal on the Coliseum property simply because they have 71 more home games than the Raiders, 81 to 10.

Originally, the Coliseum City project was supposed to turn the Coliseum complex into a multibillion-dollar sports and entertainment hub with new stadiums for the Raiders and A’s as well as housing, hotels, retail and office buildings.

Previous investment teams were cut because they missed key benchmarks, but city officials are optimistic this time. Kephart, who said he has interested investors, and the new developer could focus on the 200 acres around the Coliseum that are publicly owned rather than the original 800-acre plan.

Schaaf opposes using public money for stadium construction.

It helps Oakland that the Los Angeles exit, however viable it may be, has been temporarily barricaded.

The Raiders, Chargers and Rams are on year-to-year leases and were all free to file relocation applications for the 2015 season on Jan. 1, but Goodell popped that balloon. He told the three teams not to look at Los Angeles as a possibility until the 2016 season.

The Chargers then announced Tuesday that they will not exercise their right to terminate their lease at Qualcomm Stadium, stating they will continue their attempt to build “a Super Bowl-quality” stadium in San Diego.

The Chargers get 30 percent of their business from the Los Angeles market and have the most to lose if and when a team moves there. But San Diego is expected to get a bigger percentage of the relocation fee than other teams if that happens.

NFL owners would like to see two teams move to the Los Angeles market. Davis is open to the possibility of the Raiders being the second team, because he doesn’t have the resources at this point to help build a new stadium there.

The Raiders, meanwhile, met with San Antonio officials twice, including in Oakland last month. But there are a lot of obstacles to such a move — particularly Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones thinking that’s too close to his team. It’s hard to imagine two-thirds of the owners signing off on the Raiders moving to San Antonio. (Oakland playing its games at AT&T Park next season — which was discussed at one point — was more likely than that.)

League sources said San Antonio was the aggressor and wants to show all the sports leagues that “it’s a big-league city.”

Which it looks like Oakland will remain, for at least another NFL season.


Vic Tafur is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. E-mail: vtafur@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @VicTafur
 
TennisPlayerAndy said:
Would've been nice to see this form displayed earlier in the year....
Click to expand...
At least we're seeing it. Mack good again, Carr solid and Murray looking every bit a starting RB. Let's beat Denver next week to really see off the season in a good way.
 
GeeCats07 said:
At least we're seeing it. Mack good again, Carr solid and Murray looking every bit a starting RB. Let's beat Denver next week to really see off the season in a good way.
Click to expand...

Yep. Mack has to be close to DROY.

Would love to destroy Denver.
 

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GG said:
Would be unreal if we got say Harbaugh HC and Rex Ryan DC
Or Rex Ryan HC and some kick-ass college phenom OC/HC to be OC, and some grizzled old NFL vet as DC.
Click to expand...
Maybe Superman will come and play QB for you too
 
Mind you, after saying all I did about popping corks for Harbaugh coming here.

I can certainly see how Mark could hold steadfast to the status quo and continue to be patient.

McKenzie GM, hire Sparano as HC, would be much cheaper than Harbaugh, and the players love playing for him, Tarver has been doing much better, and perhaps just Olsen replaced....unless the feeling in the org is that it's better for Carr's development to MAINTAIN the system, OC, and QB Coach, rather than the common error of changing systems and coaches too often too early on a rookie QB.

So....with that....I really do think it's possible Mark just says no to Harbaugh, and keeps the entire status quo.
 
Sometimes it does take time. Tarver for instance, came in a total newb, and struggled because he over-complicated things, with Allen. But under Sparano has learned a lot. Next year, with more talent, he could be a very good DC. Imagine we let him go, and he went to a more talented team, and became a top DC in the league. Us, kicking ourselves.
 
Patience is a virtue.

Reggie has built a nucleus in two drafts that with another good draft will have this team pretty talented, all drafted, young, and can carry on.

QB, RB, LG, TE2, CB, CB, DT, OLB, OLB, MLB.

2015 draft add #1 WR, SS, FS, DE, TE1, LT, C. With more OL additions, another WR, CB, in UDFA or FA.

By 2016, another draft, the Raiders team will be contending.
 
Reggie knows he's a goner. His latest interview is indicative of that. He talks about how he at least can reconcile that he did the heavy lifting and built a foundation. He knows he's about to be canned and is painting a positive for himself.

Reggie's rhetoric has changed a lot......from championships, win now, this is my team, i will hire the next HC, etc, to well at least i left a foundation here.
 
GG said:
Reggie knows he's a goner. His latest interview is indicative of that. He talks about how he at least can reconcile that he did the heavy lifting and built a foundation. He knows he's about to be canned and is painting a positive for himself.

Reggie's rhetoric has changed a lot......from championships, win now, this is my team, i will hire the next HC, etc, to well at least i left a foundation here.
Click to expand...

I still think there's a chance he will be retained, only if we can't land a top HC. Everything I've heard though is that Mark Davis will put on a massive push for Harbaugh early next week.
 
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