There are three weeks left in the 2018 NFL season, but teams are beginning the process of cleaning house. We’ve seen two head coaches fired, and now the Oakland Raiders are firing their general manager. Reggie McKenzie informed scouts he has been fired, and will not finish out the season.
#Raiders GM Reggie McKenzie had a meeting with his scouts today where he informed them he was fired, per me and @TomPelissero. He was given the chance to stay the season, but is not expected to do so.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) December 10, 2018
The move is not surprising. Once Jon Gruden joined the organization, it seemed like merely a matter of time before McKenzie would be gone. The team has gone in the tank, with McKenzie deserving some measure of blame, but if Gruden was not running things, I think McKenzie might have gotten another year, if not more.
Whatever the case, he’s out and should be able to land a new job fairly quickly if he is so inclined. He turned the Raiders into a playoff team after they had been in the dumps, and by all accounts is well-respected around the league. He has extensive history with the Green Bay Packers, so keep an eye on that.
The question now is what this means for the Raiders in free agency and the 2019 NFL Draft. If the 49ers have a better first round pick than the readers, it won’t mean much for their vantage point. But it will be interesting to see how Jon Gruden and his staff approach free agency this coming spring. The team is looking at over $80 million in cap space, and I have to think Gruden will be active in the market. How they approach it is another question entirely.