The Las Vegas Raiders made a colossal mistake when they moved on from interim head coach Rich Bisaccia, who led the Silver and Black to the playoffs in 2021. Although he may not have been the long-term solution for the franchise, he was far better than who the team replaced him with.
Owner Mark Davis opted for the "Patriot Way," which netted the team a leadership tandem of head coach Josh McDaniels and general manager Dave Ziegler. These two did irreversible damage to the franchise in terms of both morale and personnel decisions.
While their additions of wide receiver Davante Adams and quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo seemed like solid ideas at the time, both players fell flat during their tenure with the Raiders. It became clear that the issue may not have been the players themselves, but who was leading them.
Raiders still facing financial burden from two Josh McDaniels acquisitions
Although McDaniels and Ziegler are both far removed from their days in Las Vegas, they are still tormenting the team financially.
Both Adams and Garoppolo are members of the Los Angeles Rams now, but because of the contracts that they were given by McDaniels and Ziegler, they are still costing the Raiders a combined $28.5 million against the cap in 2025.
As a result of these decisions, the Raiders have the ninth-most dead cap space in the NFL after June 1, according to Over the Cap. This is the quintessential parting gift from the team's previous regime, whose good decisions were scarce in their season and a half in charge.
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Fortunately, the Raiders were able to clear some cap space last season under one-and-done general manager Tom Telesco. Ironically, his lack of aggression during free agency was his downfall, as opposed to McDaniels and Ziegler, who did themselves in with wreckless spending.
Thanks to new general manager John Spytek and head coach Pete Carroll, the Raiders are fully back on the right track. Despite their brutal dead cap hit from previous leadership, they have the sixth-most cap space in the NFL this year, as well as the second-most in 2026.
Adams and Garoppolo did not live up to expectations during their short stints with the Raiders, but their failure was not entirely their fault. As for the financial component, that purely rests on the shoulders of McDaniels and Ziegler, who most of the Raiders' current problems continue to be traced back to.
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