The Raiders’ new head coach and general manager duo address the media at the NFL owners meetings. Find out what the pair had to say, as they talk about this year’s free agency.
As March nears its end, another off-season event kicks off: The NFL owners meetings. Josh McDaniels and Dave Ziegler, the two men hired by Mark Davis to be the team’s head coach and general manager, represented the Silver and Black as they addressed the media.
There was an abundance of topics to discuss, from Derek Carr’s extension, all the way to memes made by Raider Nation about Dave Ziegler. Yes – Ziegler saw the memes and was pleasantly amused by the creativity.
The duo not only managed to provide excellent answers to most questions but indirectly reassured the media they have a plan, which is going exactly as they had hoped up to this point. This plan, from the beginning, started with grabbing edge rusher Chandler Jones in free agency.
Although Ziegler confirmed it was a priority to get Jones onboard, he also stated he wasn’t sure exactly how it would go. Without the free agency market being set for edge rushers, it was anyone’s guess if the two parties were on the same page in terms of numbers. Fortunately for the Raiders, the two were able to find common ground, and priority no.1 was checked off.
With the Chandler Jones deal all wrapped up, Las Vegas found themselves with three premier edge rushers. The problem, as Ziegler tells it, “you only have so many snaps”. That being the case, the front office felt they had to move one of the edge rushers who were already on the roster, and it wasn’t going to be the All-Pro who signed an extension this off-season.
That’s where Rock Ya-Sin comes in, who Ziegler refers to as a “young, ascending player”, and plays a “premium position you can never have too many quality players at”.
Naturally, this wasn’t the only trade that was talked about, as the Raiders brought in a current back-to-back first-team All-Pro shortly after Ya-Sin.