Mark Davis Got Awfully Close To Admitting Raiders Are In A “Rebuild” And “Praised” Dave Ziegler
As the festivities were underway at the NFL’s Owner’s Meeting this week, Las Vegas Raiders owner Mark Davis had some interesting things to say. Most notably, the polarizing owner shed light on what he thinks the state of his team is; more importantly, are they rebuilding? Year 2 is off to an interesting start for general manager Dave Ziegler, and on that note, Davis made some interesting comments.
Are the Raiders in a “rebuild” or what?
While speaking with Raiders beat writer Vic Tafur, Davis alluded to the notion that Ziegler was still “learning” on the job. That’s not exactly a ringing endorsement, and, much worse, it’s not something that fans will want to hear. Regardless, Davis made sure to state that he thinks his front office leader will do as good a job as anyone. Well, moving forward, at least.
“Dave is young and never been in this position before. It takes time to learn all the tricks of the trade. I think the people he confides in might not be giving him the full picture because it’s so damn competitive. But he’s going to be doing great.”
It’s worth noting the sly shot at “people” that Ziegler may or may not be listening to. There’s no way someone might be trying to undermine the Raiders with bad advice, right? Still, this year’s offseason has a much different outlook than last year. After acquiring Davante Adams and Chandler and locking down Maxx Crosby to a long-term deal, it appeared Ziegler and the Raiders were all in. That didn’t work out; instead, Derek Carr has been jettisoned, and several players, including Darren Waller, are now on different teams. If you recall, Davis made it known at that time that the team was trying to win now.
Fast forward a little under a year, and the Raiders’ owner is singing a different tune.
“Is it a rebuild now? I suppose if you’re getting a new quarterback, obviously, that’s a big positional change and the fact is we still have holes on the defense we need to fill. The offense, again, we lose a quarterback and a tight end; that’s a lot. Again, there’s pieces there that have to be placed in. Are we closer than we were last year? I don’t know at this point. But we do have the draft coming up and that’s going to tell a lot.”
Changing quarterbacks is usually a sign that things aren’t working out. In Carr’s case, Mark Davis couldn’t have foreseen the eventual issues between No. 4 and head coach Josh McDaniels. The head honcho’s style didn’t mesh with Carr. Whether it was the criticism in front of the team or the authoritarian style of play-calling, it didn’t work.
Judging from the owner’s words, it’s obvious that he’s bought into whatever Dave Ziegler and Co. have planned. One aspect of that plan that everyone can agree on is that the 2021 roster has been completely gutted save for a few pieces. Whether it ends up being justified or not, we’ll have to wait.
