Report: Raiders are hiring Josh McDaniels as head coach

It is the Patriots’ offensive coordinator’s second time running a team

The Las Vegas Raiders have reportedly found their successor to Jon Gruden — and he’s an offensive guru as well.

Keeping in step with the franchise’s storied offensive history, Raiders owner Mark Davis has tapped New England Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels as the team’s next head coach, according to ESPN.

McDaniels comes to Las Vegas with New England’s Dave Ziegler, who will replace Mike Mayock as the Raiders’ general manager. McDaniels and Ziegler have appeared to be a package deal all along. Along with their New England connection, they also went to John Carroll University together.

Las Vegas is yet another NFL team attempting to replicate New England’s massive success. So far, it hasn’t had much success elsewhere. But Davis is clearly a believer in the McDaniels-Ziegler combination. The Raiders interviewed several general manager and coaching candidates before coming to this conclusion.

McDaniels, 45, is known as a great offensive mind, play caller and quarterback instructor. However, he delivered poor results as the head coach of the Denver Broncos when he was hired there in 2009 at the age of 32. He went just 11-17 in Denver. His tenure there was sullied by poor relationships with players and a scandal that involved the Broncos videotaping a San Francisco practice in London prior to a game. McDaniels also left the Colts at the alter in 2018.

But now he is back in the saddle as a head coach with a familiar face as the Raiders start a new era.