With Ben Johnson accepting the Chicago Bears’ head coaching gig, the Las Vegas Raiders will have to pivot to another sideline general.
There was a lot of buzz that Raiders minority owner Tom Brady was zeroed in on Johnson, but now the legendary quarterback will have to go back to the drawing board. Who are some other top candidates that Brady and the Raiders can target? Let’s break down the top candidates for the job based on who Las Vegas has interviewed.
5 Candidates That the Las Vegas Raiders Should Target
Let’s break down five candidates who have interviewed for Las Vegas’ head coaching vacancy and who make sense as potential hires.
5. Ron Rivera, Free Agent
The former linebacker knew how to build strong defenses and bounce back after rough seasons. During his first three seasons as the Panthers’ head coach, Carolina improved from the 27th-ranked scoring defense in 2011 to 18th in 2012 and second in 2013. Similarly, Washington was the 27th-ranked scoring defense the year before Ron Rivera arrived in 2019 and jumped immediately to fourth in 2020. The Washington Football Team ranked third in PFN’s Defense+ metric in 2020 and fourth in 2022.
And while Rivera’s teams didn’t always sustain elite defensive production, they typically bounced back from down years. For example, Washington fell to the 22nd-ranked scoring defense in 2021 but improved to third in 2022. And after Carolina fell from second to 21st in 2014, the Panthers bounced back to sixth in 2015.
From 2011-19, the Panthers committed the fewest penalties in the league. Similarly, the Commanders committed the fifth-fewest penalties from 2020-23 with Rivera as their coach. This wasn’t a case where either franchise was particularly strong at avoiding penalties either. The Commanders ranked 14th in penalties the year before Rivera arrived in 2019, while the Panthers ranked 25th in penalties the year before he got there in 2010.
Rivera’s famous nickname, “Riverboat Ron,” was well-earned. The Panthers were one of the most conservative fourth down offenses during Rivera’s first five seasons from 2011-15. In that span, Carolina went for it on fourth down at the fourth-lowest rate (9.6%) overall and fourth-lowest rate in opponent territory (16.5%). But from 2016-19, the Panthers went for it on fourth down at the ninth-highest rate (15.3%) and the sixth-highest in opponent territory (26.6%). Carolina added the 10th-most EPA on fourth-down decisions during this span.
This carried over to Washington, though Rivera was more situational about his fourth-down aggressiveness. The Commanders had the 12th-highest go-for-it rate from 2020-23 but the ninth-highest in opponent territory.
What went wrong during Rivera’s head coaching stints? Rivera won 102 games from 2011-23, the eighth-most of any coach over that span. Yet despite his ability to maintain a head coaching job for 13 consecutive seasons, Rivera has never posted back-to-back winning seasons.
His best stretch came from 2013-17 when the Panthers made the playoffs four times in five years. But while that stretch included a 15-1 juggernaut that made Super Bowl 50 after the 2015 season, it also included a 6-10 crash landing in 2016 and a 7-8-1 team in 2014 that snuck into the playoffs thanks to a woeful NFC South.
In all, Rivera has made the playoffs five times in 13 seasons as a head coach (38.5%). For context, more maligned coaches like Marvin Lewis (43.8%), John Fox (43.8%), and Doug Pederson (50%) have made the playoffs at a higher rate than Rivera.
4. Pete Carroll, Free Agent
The hiring of Pete Carroll comes with a very easy data point to reference and it’s a convincing one: success.
During his peak time in Seattle (2012-20), the Seahawks (68.4%) trailed only the dynastic New England Patriots in win percentage, had four divisional titles, and, of course, went to the Super Bowl in consecutive years (winning it all in 2013). That’s not a bad run for a coach who took over a franchise that won a total of nine games in the two seasons prior to his hire (in his 14 seasons: 9.8 wins per season).
Even at the end of that peak, Carroll was getting a ton out of his players. Despite having a defensive background, he was able to put together an offense around a veteran QB that earned a ‘B’ in our Offense+ grading metric (for reference, that’s a higher mark than the Minnesota Vikings or Kansas City Chiefs produced this season).
Russell Wilson had a career season (68.8% complete and 40 touchdowns) and it showed that a Carroll team could succeed at a high level, even five years removed from that Legion of Boom era that dominated on that side of the ball.
Speaking of that Legion of Boom, the winning equity they brought to the table ranks up there with any defensive unit in the history of this game. During their peak (2012-15), the Seahawks coughed up just 1.33 points per possession, a rate that was 11.9% better than any other defense over that stretch and would have paced the league this season by over 18%.
The secondary generated the highlights and the sound bites, but this unit excelled at everything and the thought of rekindling that potential is enticing for any franchise. Carroll cut his teeth at the collegiate level on the defensive side of the ball and there is where he made his first impact on the NFL, so it stands to reason that a team could sell itself on his ability to build up that side of the ball.
Carroll’s resume on the offensive end is highlighted by the selecting and developing of Wilson while the defensive peak is stamped by one of the most dominant runs we’ve ever seen.
3. Todd Monken, OC, Baltimore Ravens
Todd Monken was a collegiate quarterback, and much was expected of him when he elected to return to the professional game after spending three seasons in Georgia as their offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach. He not only lived up to the hype, he’s overachieved.
During his two seasons with the Ravens, Baltimore leads the AFC in scoring, with Lamar Jackson playing like an MVP for almost every moment. Many coaches are beholden to a system and are tempted to bend their roster to fit their system, but this season has proven that Monken is more than happy to adjust to the strengths of his specific roster.
In 2023, the Ravens ranked 11th in pass rate over expectation, opting to let Jackson decide games rather than banking on a running back without a proven bellcow. That faith earned his quarterback some hardware, and he won an NFL-high 13 games.
Last offseason, Baltimore jumped at the opportunity to add Derrick Henry, a player who is essentially an offense unto himself. Monken not only adjusted his play-calling (29th in pass rate over expectation this season), but he leveraged his new-look unit to further the development of his franchise quarterback.
We are talking about one of the best offensive minds in the sport who is still on the right side of 60 years old. Due to the direction of the NFL, a coach like this is currently valued as high as ever.
2. Aaron Glenn, DC, Detroit Lions
Aaron Glenn has been involved on the defensive side of the ball in a coaching capacity in the NFL for over a decade now, this coming after a 15-year career as a defensive back that saw him earn three trips to the Pro Bowl.
Glenn was a defensive backs coach with the New Orleans Saints from 2016-20, but the Detroit Lions came knocking ahead of the 2021 season in desperate need of help. That season, their defense ranked 31st or 32nd in red zone efficiency, points per drive, turnover rate, and average opponent drive distance. They lost six of seven games to close that 2020 season and were outscored 252-150 in the process (no other team allowed more than 237 points over that stretch).
They didn’t need help – at the end of that 5-11 campaign, they needed a culture rebrand, something the experienced Glenn brought and has sustained during his time in the Motor City:
- 2020 (before Glenn took over): 2.95 points allowed per drive
- 2021: 2.52
- 2022: 2.28
- 2023: 2.03
- 2024: 1.91
He may not have youth on his side the way the coordinator on the other side of the ball does (Ben Johnson is 38 years old while Glenn is 52), but that’s unlikely to lower his stock much in the eyes of NFL franchises. He’s not “old,” and we did just see Dan Quinn (54 years old) guide the Commanders to the NFC Championship Game after spending the previous three years as a defensive coordinator. You could argue that he was less appealing than Glenn, considering that he had already been fired as a head coach (Falcons, 2020).
1. Brian Flores, DC, Minnesota Vikings
Flores is a schematic problem solver. Tasked with revamping a Vikings defense that was light on talent in 2023, the former Miami Dolphins head coach made it work.
He sent blitzes (49.3%) and dropped eight into coverage (20.8%) at league-high rates, per TruMedia, while guiding a defense that somehow finished 11th in DVOA.
Flores has maintained his diabolical sense of scheming this season, playing a large part in Minnesota’s standout season. Sam Darnold gets a lot of attention, and he deserves it, but this defense has played a huge role in the sustained success throughout 2024:
- Points Per Drive Allowed: 1st
- Interception Rate: 1st
- Opponent Passer Rating: 1st
- Opponent Three-and-Out Rate: 6th
In all three stops as the defensive play-caller or head coach, Flores improved the defense:
- Flores took over as the Patriots’ defensive play-caller in 2018 following the departure of Matt Patricia and saw New England jump from 27th in EPA per play to seventh.
- Flores’ Dolphins defense ranked 30th in EPA per play in his first season in 2019, but it jumped to fourth in 2020 and finished sixth in 2021.
- Flores’ Vikings defense ranked 20th in EPA per play in his first season as defensive coordinator in 2023 but ranked second in 2024.
From a Defense+ perspective, the Dolphins improved every year, going from 32nd in 2019 to eighth in 2020 and sixth in 2021. Similarly, the Vikings have gone from 23rd in Defense+ in 2023 to third in 2024.
Unlike many members of Bill Belichick’s coaching staff, Flores has shown the ability to adapt his scheme to his current surroundings. For example, the Patriots traditionally played high levels of man coverage, which Flores brought to the Dolphins. Miami played the highest level of man coverage in the NFL (50%) during Flores’ head-coaching tenure from 2019-21.
However, the Vikings have played man coverage at the fourth-lowest rate (18%) during Flores’ two seasons in Minnesota. He’s managed to turn man coverage into an effective change-up pitch without relying on it, as the Vikings average the second-highest EPA per play in man coverage since 2023.
Also, during Flores’ tenure, the Dolphins committed the seventh-fewest penalties, leading to the third-best penalty yardage differential (651 fewer penalty yards than their opponents). In addition, Miami had a roughly neutral turnover differential under Flores, but much of that was due to the putrid 2019 team. From 2020-21, the Dolphins had the ninth-best turnover differential and forced the fourth-most turnovers in the league on defense.
