The Las Vegas Raiders have decided to move on from Mike Mayock. Mayock, who took over the General Manager role in 2019, was officially fired on Monday. The Raiders’ tumultuous season ended with a 26-19 loss to the Bengals in the Wild Card round. Mayock lead the Raiders to a 25-25 record over the course of his 3 year tenure.
Why it Happened
While the Raiders made their first playoff appearance since 2016 this year, the organization has been plagued with major issues the last two years. Things began to unravel in the 2019-20 off-season, when Mike Mayock and the Raiders made a trade to acquire Antonio Brown from the Pittsburgh Steelers. Brown was nothing short of a complete disaster, missing multiple days of camp and fighting with both the Raiders front office as well as the NFL as a whole. The trade ended with Brown’s departure from the team before he ever played a snap.
The problems continued in the 2021 season. Head Coach John Gruden was fired after the league uncovered emails containing homophobic and sexist language. Shortly after, first round pick Henry Ruggs III was involved in a tragic DUI accident that resulted in the death of a young woman. The Raiders then lost another first round pick when DB Damon Arnette filmed videos of himself brandishing guns and making death threats, resulting in his release from the team.
On top of all the issues taking place off of the field, Mayock also failed when it came to the draft as a whole. Of Mayock’s six first round selections, 2 are no longer with the team, 1 has been relegated to a backup, and 2 more have struggled to develop in their short time in Vegas. Given Mayock’s history as a draft analyst, this failure to produce high quality draft picks may have been the final straw.
What’s Next
Mayock’s firing may be a sign of bigger things to come for the Raiders organization. Las Vegas now has a vacancy at GM and Head Coach, which is typically the sign of a total rebuild. This leaves the future of quarterback Derek Carr and offensive coordinator Greg Olson uncertain as well. It is possible new leadership would prefer to start over completely instead of keeping the remnants of the Raiders core.
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