4 reasons why the Las Vegas Raiders head coach is an attractive job
4 reasons why the Las Vegas Raiders head coach is an attractive job
Money to spend
Some say that the salary cap in the NFL is a figment of our imaginations as teams often find ways to work around the supposedly rigid structure. They convert salaries to bonuses, give guys massive fake contracts, release veterans on the final years of their deals with no dead cap, and work all kinds of other magic to make player contracts fit under the cap.
Despite what people say about the cap not being a true factor in team building, it can still impact the type of team you can build, and having cap space is better than not having it. This number can fluctuate between now and then based on players getting extensions, but the Raiders are projected to have over $50 million in cap space in 2022.
They have several players on one-year prove-it deals like Solomon Thomas and Quinton Jefferson while other contributors like Josh Jacobs and Johnathan Abram are still on their rookie deals.
The right coach and GM combo can maximize their cap flexibility but not being bound by the cap could be another factor in a coach choosing to come to Las Vegas. This new coach will have the ability to splash the cash on the right free agents and build out the current weak spots on this team, with the offensive line being the most glaring now.
The cap room could allow the new coach to bring in players that are familiar with his system or simply players that he has admired. Gus Bradley has done just that with a few key contributors like Denzel Perryman and Casey Hayward who have been big factors in the resurgence of this defense.
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None of these factors alone will be enough to convince the right coach to take the job, but the combination of all of these, among others, could be why the Raiders can attract a popular candidate. We did not expect the Raiders to be searching for a new coach so soon into Gruden’s massive 10-year deal but they are in a great position from which to begin their search. It certainly beats coming off a 2-14 season in a 50-year-old stadium with leaky sewage and a baseball diamond in the middle.