By: Brock Wells

Sean McVay is fresh off a Super Bowl win at the helm of the Los Angeles Rams and aims to have them back in the mix of championship contention again in the 2022 season. At 36, he’s an extremely young NFL head coach and was the youngest head coach in the modern history of the league when he was hired by the Rams in 2017. Some have pointed to his youth and spunk as one of the ultimate strengths of the current Rams franchise.

Is the youngest head coach in NFL history to win a Super Bowl a Hall of Famer? When you consider the fact that he’s been to two Super Bowls already is his very young coaching career, it seems as though he’s surely headed in that direction. Or does this actually reflect a mere moment in time that tells us very little about what McVay’s career may turn out to be? With a career this young, it’s obvious time is the only thing that will tell.

When McVay became the youngest head coach in NFL history to win the Super Bowl, he didn’t set that mark by long. Mike Tomlin was also just 36 years old when his Pittsburgh Steelers won Super Bowl XLIII with last-second heroics over the Arizona Cardinals. Tomlin was a mere ten months older than McVay. Before Tomlin, Jon Gruden was the youngest head coach to win a Super Bowl at 39 when his Tampa Bay Buccaneers beat up the Oakland Raiders in Super Bowl XXXVII.

Let’s look at their careers respectively. McVay, Tomlin, and Gruden each won a Super Bowl in their first five seasons as a head coach.

Five-year regular season winning percentage:

• McVay: .679
• Tomlin: .688
• Gruden: .625

Now, just to make it clear, Gruden is not a Hall of Famer. His Tampa Bay Super Bowl team was essentially Tony Dungy’s team which he just happened to be in the right place for. On the other hand, McVay and Tomlin without question created the culture with which their respective Super Bowl teams were molded by. Tomlin, who likely is a future Hall of Famer, won his Super Bowl in just his second season at the helm.

Tomlin’s Hall of Fame credentials extend even beyond that. Like McVay, he took his team to two Super Bowls in his first five seasons as head coach. But what we don’t know yet about McVay’s career is whether he will continue to sustain a winning culture long into his career. In 15 years now as the coach of the Steelers, Tomlin’s teams have never finished a season under .500. He’s also reached the mark of 150 regular season wins.

McVay is just over a third of the way to 150 at this point, although his team features to be right in the mix for the Super Bowl contention again in 2022. If his career was finished today, it’s difficult to say he’s a Hall of Famer. It isn’t that he isn’t on the right trajectory””he certainly is””it’s just that there isn’t enough career to make a full determination yet. If the culture he’s built in Los Angeles over the last five years proves to be sustainable over the long haul, surely we’ll have a better answer.

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By: Corey Hietpas

Davante Adams has been one of the best WRs in the league for the past three years now. He’s a target monster and a dangerous red-zone weapon. While the Packers would love to extend Adams as he’s only under contract through 2021, he mentioned on the Colin Cowherd show that if Aaron Rodgers were no longer on the Green Bay Packers that he would have to strongly consider his future. With Rodgers’ future uncertain, it seems that Adams’ future is uncertain. So, let’s consider a future where Rodgers is traded away. Which teams outside of the Packers would be the best fit for Adams? I think the Las Vegas Raiders would be a great fit for Adams, below are a few reasons why. 

Davante Adams has a strong relationship with the Raiders’ starting QB.

To start, this needs to be split into two scenarios. Scenario one: Aaron Rodgers stays with the Packers or is traded anywhere besides to the Raiders. In this scenario, Adams has a very strong relationship with his new QB, Derek Carr. Adams and Carr played at Fresno State together for two years and developed a great relationship while there. This relationship exists today and would be a large factor in this scenario. It was rumored that Carr was even attempting to recruit Adams to the Raiders before he signed his last extension. Scenario two: Aaron Rodgers is traded to the Raiders for Derek Carr plus other assets. This is a realistic outcome as Rodgers listed the Raiders as one of his few desired trade locations. The relationship and connection that Rodgers and Adams have is special and doesn’t need much elaboration from me. Adams has said that he wants to continue playing with Rodgers, and I believe he would strongly consider signing with the Raiders if Rodgers ends up there. 

The Raiders badly need a WR1.

Amari Cooper was the last true WR1 that the Raiders have had, and he hasn’t been with them since 2018. Darren Waller has filled in admirably, but he is a TE. He’s one of the best TEs in the league, but he’s still a TE. The Raiders are sorely in need of an outside threat who can thrive while facing the competitor’s top CB. It’s fair to say that Adams is one of the few receivers who can seemingly get open at will, no matter the opposing defender. Adding Adams to an already effective offense would make them, at the worst, a top ten offense in the league.

Davante Adams wants to win, and the Raiders are close to being able to provide that.

The Raiders have not been anything special the last few years. They only won 7 games in 2019 and 8 games in 2020, but they are a young and improving roster. The offense had two rookie WRs taking a lot of snaps and the front office has been filling major holes on the defensive side over the last two years. Even without Davante Adams, it appears that the Raiders are a team that is close to competing for a Wild Card playoff spot. Now add Adams to the roster, and you’re looking at a dangerous offense and a legit contender.

A lot is up in the air with Davante Adams at this point, but the Aarong Rodgers saga should be coming to a head soon. With that sorted out, we’ll have a clearer picture of the realistic outcomes for Adams. If it played out with Adams joining the Raiders, they would be a team to watch in the AFC.

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By: Adam Hulse (Twitter: @AdamHulseSports)

The Raiders had very high expectations when they lured Jon Gruden away from the broadcast booth and made him their head coach. Mark Davis, the owner, gave Gruden a 10-year contract worth 100 million dollars. This is one of the biggest contracts in history, and one that should come with an expectation of winning. That has not been the case to this point. In fact, despite the records, it can be argued that the team is even worse off now than it was when he first got the job. Here are some of the reasons why Gruden is failing in Las Vegas.

Poor Results

The most simple way to judge the success of a coach is by looking at their record. In the past 3 seasons with the Raiders, Gruden has only 19 wins and 29 losses. This is a very ugly winning percentage that is below 40 percent. In fact, none of the 3 seasons have been winning seasons, and the Raiders have missed the playoffs all 3 years. The legendary Al Davis, the former owner of the Raiders, had the very famous motto of, “Just win, baby!” It’s safe to say that Gruden has not lived that motto so far.

Roster Decisions

In addition to all of the money Davis gave Gruden, he also gave him the power to collaborate with GM Mike Mayock about player personnel decisions. The moves that this tandem has made in these 3 years have been questionable at best. First, they traded away their two best players in Khalil Mack and Amari Cooper. Then they chose the wrong “veteran impact players” such as Antonio Brown and Vontaze Burfict, who provided zero leadership and are no longer with the team.

One of the most puzzling things they have done happened during this current offseason. They released three of their starting offensive lineman from a year ago and traded another away. To make it even worse, the one they traded away, Trent Brown, is a solid tackle who is in the prime of his career at just 27 years old. In return, they received nothing more than a fifth-round draft pick. That is extremely poor value.

Questionable Draft Picks

Though drafting is a collaborative effort, Gruden has the final say in Las Vegas when making their selection. In his three drafts, the results have been mixed and the strategy seems off. He has reached on several picks and completely missed on others. Last year he selected Henry Ruggs over both Jerry Jeudy and CeeDee Lamb. It’s only been one season but so far that looks to be a big mistake. At least Ruggs has not been a complete failure, he does show some big-play ability, and he is nowhere near the worst pick for Gruden. His list of bad choices when selecting in the top 100 include Damon Arnette, Arden Key, Lynn Bowden, Jonathan Abram, PJ Hall, and Tanner Muse. All of these players clearly qualify as draft busts.

Divisional Competition

There isn’t much of a case to be made that the Raiders are a better team heading into the 2021 season than they were a year ago. The same can’t be said about the other three teams in the division, and because of this, the AFC West is going to be a major challenge. The Chiefs, who were already not only the best team in the division but in the whole conference as well, improved even further by upgrading their offensive line. The other two teams, the Broncos and the Chargers, have made moves this offseason to improve their roster and provide optimism for the upcoming campaign. It appears that the only team in this division that has not taken a step forward is the Raiders.

Changing the Narrative

On the positive side for Gruden, despite the losing overall record and questionable roster moves, the Raiders record has actually improved each season since he arrived. If that trend were to continue, they should have a winning season this year and would likely make the playoffs. The issues presented by his decisions are going to make that very difficult, but of course, it’s not impossible. Now officially in the middle portion of that long ten-year contract, it’s time for Gruden to prove whether or not he was worth the investment.

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