In Gruden’s first season in control, the Raiders are 3-10 and last in the AFC West. Once owner Mark Davis persuaded former head coach Jon Gruden to return to the franchise - Gruden reportedly received a 10-year, $100 million contract that includes the final say in personnel matters - the writing was on the wall that McKenzie would be pushed toward the door. When the Raiders hired Jon Gruden as coach, the writing was on the wall for general manager Reggie McKenzie. But the Raiders slipped to 6-10 last season. In 2016, the Raiders went 12-4 and finally ended their postseason drought at 13 seasons.
Quickly, Mack, the Associated Press 2016 Defensive Player of the Year, and Carr became Pro Bowl franchise pillars. McKenzie jump-started a turnaround by working through the cap problems and absolutely nailing the 2014 draft, selecting linebacker Khalil Mack fifth overall and getting quarterback Derek Carr with the fourth pick of the second round. They had a weak roster and an awful salary cap situation. The Raiders hadn’t qualified for the playoffs since 2002. McKenzie inherited a hot mess in 2012, joining a franchise long in a state of disrepair. McKenzie’s departure from the Raiders merely provides the latest reminder. The league’s message about it being all-in on inclusion is seriously undercut by, well, the facts. The fact is, the NFL is an overwhelmingly African-American league in which almost 70 percent of the players are black. And in Miami, Grier, who directs the team’s draft and oversees the personnel staff, reports to Mike Tannenbaum, the Dolphins’ executive vice president of football operations. Then late in 2017, the New York Giants and Cleveland Browns fired Jerry Reese and Sashi Brown, respectively, within the same week.įormer Houston Texans general manager Rick Smith is on a one-year sabbatical as his wife fights cancer and is not expected to return to the team.
Before last season, the Buffalo Bills fired Doug Whaley. At the conclusion of the 2016 season, the NFL had seven black general managers.
The 2016 NFL Executive of the Year, McKenzie joined the list of top black decision-makers recently purged from professional sports’ most successful league. For a league with 32 teams that continues to emphasize its supposed commitment to diversity in management, that’s an awful look. The Oakland Raiders fired Reggie McKenzie on Monday, which will leave Chris Grier of the Miami Dolphins as the NFL’s lone African-American general manager once Ozzie Newsome of the Baltimore Ravens steps down, as long planned, from his position at the end of the season.