For the second time in three years, the Oakland Raiders have hired a Denver Broncos defensive coordinator to be their next head coach.
Oakland Raiders now have hired HC Jack Del Rio, as @mortreport reported they would.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) January 14, 2015
After two up-and-down years in Denver (the ups: the regular season; the downs: those postseason losses), Del Rio's tenure in Denver is over.
What this means for Denver
First,, we can scratch one of six names off our Denver Broncos head-coach candidate list. Second, the Broncos will definitely be having a new defensive coordinator now (that was always almost certainly going to be the case).
Finally, some players like Terrance Knighton might end up following JDR across the AFC West. Following up on our story earlier, I'm told Knighton wants to be a Bronco - even a Bronco for life - but that Jack Del Rio as a head coach is very intriguing to him.
What this means for Oakland
A lot of Broncos players, including Knighton, gave Del Rio the highest vote of confidence. Those votes continued after news broke.
The raiders just got better! #BelieveThat
— Omar C. Bolden (@Os_Island) January 14, 2015
What this means for Jack Del Rio
Put simply, he'll have an uphill battle.
Post Jon Gruden, the Raiders have gone 67-141. Head coaches have had winning pcts of .469, .281, .125, .250, .386, .500, .222, .250
— Eric Stangel (@EricStangel) January 14, 2015