The Las Vegas Raiders have been unable to establish any continuity with their leadership over the last two decades. Coaches like Jon Gruden, Josh McDaniels and Antonio Pierce have cycled through the franchise since they relocated to Las Vegas in 2020 alone.
It has been a comedy of errors for the Silver and Black, but perhaps no era was more brutal for Raider Nation than that of McDaniels and general manager Dave Ziegler. The two not only failed to have success in Las Vegas, but they also lost the locker room and made the team an NFL embarrassment.
One of the key mistakes that they made was souring the relationship with running back Josh Jacobs, who put together an All-Pro campaign in 2022 but was still not deemed worthy of an extension. This is because McDaniels had recent draft picks Zamir White and Brittain Brown waiting in the wings.
Bears sign former Raiders seventh-round running back Brittain Brown
With Jacobs still on the roster and poised for another big year, McDaniels and Ziegler selected White in the fourth round of the 2022 NFL Draft. While this did not feel like a major need at the time, the team's leadership made things worse by doubling up at the position and taking Brown in Round 7.
Brown dealt with injuries during his career and never played an offensive snap for the Raiders, playing just 61 special teams snaps during his rookie season. When Pierce took over the following offseason, Brown was an easy cut for the new regime when they narrowed the roster down to 53 players.
He was signed at the beginning of the regular season by the Seattle Seahawks, but he only ever made the practice squad. Brown was not re-signed by Seattle this offseason, and he has been a free agent ever since. On Monday, however, he struck a deal with the Chicago Bears.
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Now, he'll have a chance to prove himself worthy of a roster spot with one of the up-and-coming teams in the NFC. Chicago landed Ben Johnson this offseason, who many felt was the crown jewel of the coaching cycle, and would help the team navigate through the NFC North.
At 6-foot-1 and 205 pounds, one would think that Carroll would be interested in a player of his stature. Plus, Raiders offensive coordinator Chip Kelly has intel on him as he coached Brown at UCLA, where he split the backfield with Seahawks running back Zach Charbonnet.
However, Kelly's apparent disinterest in signing him tells the whole story. The Bears will likely find out soon exactly what the Raiders did, which is that Brown is a talented, high-character player who has simply not been able to put things together yet at the professional level.