Rob Leonard to be Raiders DC

[BoKnows81]

[FLORIDARAYDAH]

This is similar to when they promoted Todd Downing to OC. I'm a little worried.

In what way?

[chucker]

Not quite, in that instance Raiders were coming off a 12-4 season where the offense had excelled only to fire the OC because the coach and QB didn’t get along with him. It was an imbecilic move to fire Musgrave in the first place so Carr could have his little buddy who wasn’t as hard on him.

I agree that it's unfair to Leonard to characterize this as a hire just to appease a player.

If anyone wants to reply to this with a Carr post, please put it in the Carr thread.

[Raidernation1979]

Not quite, in that instance Raiders were coming off a 12-4 season where the offense had excelled only to fire the OC because the coach and QB didn’t get along with him. It was an imbecilic move to fire Musgrave in the first place so Carr could have his little buddy who wasn’t as hard on him.

What’s funny is this take is revisionist history. Not saying every single fan, but the majority of fans were in favor of getting rid of Musgrave. The consensus at the time was he was holding the offense back.

[16 to 88]

lol at people thinking this was an appeasement hire for Maxx. Kubiak isn't going to put his HC title on the line for appeasement. I also keep reading that Leonard and Crosby are tight but how does anybody really know just how tight they are and at the end of the day they both know football is a business.

[Jeevo]

Wait … we were 7th in DVOA???

[Dr Death]

Trust the process. Are they going to get every hire right? No, but if they get more right than wrong, the rest takes care of itself.

I look at it this way... what they have done for the past 30 years hasn't worked. It's time to go a different way. I'm all for the youth movement on this team. What's the worse that could happen..... we still suck?

[GoodTimeCharlie]

Rome wasn’t built in a day gents.

LET’S GO MENDO!!!

[Be_Easy_25]

I don’t like this for Rob Leonard. I don’t think there’s enough talent on that side of the ball.

A veteran DC could take the heat for a meh defense if it lacks talent. Can Rob survive that?

I have my doubts.

[FlyBono24]

Wait … we were 7th in DVOA???

Sounds like bullshit to me.

This defense was trash just like every year with Graham.

25th in points scored against, that's the only ranking that matters.

[Corleone]

Sounds like bullshit to me.

This defense was trash just like every year with Graham.

25th in points scored against, that's the only ranking that matters.

Devil’s advocate:

Having a QB lead the league in INT certainly does the defense no favors regarding ppg allowed. I bet historically, most teams with our QB situation allow a lot of points.

[NewEraX25]

Sounds like bullshit to me.

This defense was trash just like every year with Graham.

25th in points scored against, that's the only ranking that matters.

But it doesn't show an accurate representation of the D. You can't grade the D without factoring in a historically garbage offense. This dude was given shit to work with on the line, let's see what he can do as a DC before we shit on him. Hell our defense might actually be better if Maxx could f[raiders_icon]cking close out a rush.

[Smucky]

I appreciate Kubiak recognizing and rewarding talent in-house and not sweeping everyone out to the street because they represent the old regime (or the old, old regime).

[Swagron]

Guess Maxx is staying...

Blech.

[GoodTimeCharlie]

Blech.

We’ll see. A lot can happen between now and April 23rd.

[Raiders Baby]

They have denied requests to interview Leonard for lateral moves over the past couple of years, so it appears that they just think he's really good. Working with Mcdonald and Flores before doesn't hurt his background either.

If we're being honest, we also don't have the talent on defense for a candidate to look at and think this is a team on the precipice of a defensive turnaround that will look good on a CV. It will take a serious coaching effort to make this D look good.

Agree with this completely. The Raiders are a buzzy team this offseason because we have cap space and the top pick.

Those two things were enough to lure arguably the most desirable coaching candidate to the Raiders, and as a fan it’s easy enough to drink the koolaid and see the upward trajectory. Hopefully it works out, we’ve been waiting long enough!

But it’s also not unexpected that not every defensive minded coach would be drinking the koolaid the same way. I get why Klint would take the job — presumably, we will take Fernando, and Mendo is a great “on paper” fit for KK’s offense.

The same allure doesn’t exist on defense. Our best defensive player is not even certain to be on the roster. Maybe we could have attracted someone based on the upward trajectory and promise of job security?

But I don’t mind giving Leonard a tryout here, particularly because many of the other candidates have already been hired at this point. If it doesn’t work out, hopefully everything else is working well (Fernando + offense) and we’ll have a little more choice in our next hire