Raiders head coach Jon Gruden didn’t have a comment on a Sunday report that General Manager Reggie McKenzie would be fired at the end of the regular season, but it appears the only thing off about the report was the timing of McKenzie’s departure.
NFL Media reports that McKenzie informed Raiders scouts at a Monday meeting that he has been fired. Per the report, McKenzie was given the option of remaining with the team through the end of the season but is not expected to hang around.
McKenzie was hired by the Raiders in 2012 and spent his first couple of years tearing down the team’s roster. His work rebuilding the team resulted in the team’s first playoff berth since 2002 when they earned a Wild Card spot in 2016, but the team took a step back in 2017. Jon Gruden’s arrival this year led to rumblings that McKenzie would be leaving and they only got louder as the team got rid of players like Khalil Mack and Amari Cooper that McKenzie brought to the team.
Those rumblings will stop now and Gruden stands alone at the top of the football hierarchy in Oakland.