The Denver Broncos aren't really in a position to be laughing at other teams in the NFL at this point considering they have the second-longest playoff drought of any team in the league, but it's still satisfying for the fan base to see bad things happen to other teams. And by "bad" things, of course, we are just talking about the paper championship that is the offseason at this point. The Las Vegas Raiders have been in search of a new offensive coordinator for Antonio Pierce's staff this offseason, and they had seemingly reeled in former Arizona Cardinals head coach Kliff Kingsbury for the role.
The Raiders and their fan base had seemingly started to love the idea of Kingsbury as the offensive coordinator with fans all over Twitter defending the move with certainty that Kingsbury was going to do a great job. Now, they're left with the disappointment of being left at the altar, more embarrassing and cringeworthy than an episode of Love Is Blind.
Kingsbury bolted Las Vegas to go work for Dan Quinn and the Washington Commanders, where he could potentially be coaching either Drake Maye or Caleb Williams in the next couple of months. Kingsbury, to his credit, has never really attached his name to a non-big-name quarterback dating back to his time at Texas Tech. He's coached the likes of Patrick Mahomes, Baker Mayfield, Kyler Murray, and Caleb Williams at the college and NFL levels.
Meanwhile the Las Vegas Raiders were forced to pivot away from Kingsbury and go to at least their second option, if not something even further down the list. Luke Getsy, who was recently let go by the Chicago Bears, is now the OC in Las Vegas, reuniting with Davante Adams who he once coached in Green Bay.
This has been an odd offseason for the Raiders, who were already bullied into hiring Antonio Pierce by their best player. There were reports that Maxx Crosby, the Raiders' All-Pro defensive end, would demand a trade out of Las Vegas if the team didn't remove the "interim" from Antonio Pierce's head coach title.
And the Raiders did hire Pierce into that head coach role. They did it in an offseason where Jim Harbaugh, Bill Belichick, and Mike Vrabel were available for hire. Say what you want about not hiring former Patriots coaches after Josh McDaniels or whatever else, but the Raiders going with Antonio Pierce in this coaching cycle is at least somewhat surprising. The Raiders did some good things with Pierce at the helm in 2023, finishing strong with a win against the Broncos, but that decision was at least a little bit of a shocker given the alternatives available this offseason.
So, to sum up, the Raiders have been bullied by their own players this offseason. They were left at the altar by Kliff Kingsbury. They are going to have to cut Jimmy Garoppolo in the near future. Josh Jacobs is slated to hit free agency.
What could happen next for the Denver Broncos' rivals?