Detroit Lions assistant coach makes list of dark horse candidates for Raiders head coaching job

Josh McDaniels was definitely on the hot seat, but apparently Monday night's loss to the Detroit Lions was the last straw as he was fired by the Las Vegas Raiders late Tuesday night. So now the Raiders are looking for yet another head coach, and a full reset/rebuild may finally get done.

Where owner Mark Davis will look for new people to lead the Raiders' football operation is unclear. But it's clear no stones should be left unturned, even if he gets rejected by who he most wants as a general manager. That GM presumably will have full authority over the head coaching hire.

Any preliminary list of Raiders head coaching candidates right now will include Lions' offensive coordinator Ben Johnson, and possibly Lions' defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn. But it's also fair to assume the Raiders' job will not be all that appealing to a lot of candidates, which would lead to them having to go down their list to find the one they'll hire.

Lions assistant coach lands on list of dark horse candidates for Raiders head coaching job

FanSided NFL writer Ryan Heckman has authored a list of four dark horse offensive minds to replace McDaniels as Raiders' head coach. Hiring an offensive guy to replace McDaniels would of course not be the "hire the opposite of what you just had" approach a lot of teams take, but there's some merit to going with someone who knows offense.

Two of the four candidates offered by Heckman have past Lions' ties, Dolphins quarterbacks coach/passing game coordinator Darrell Bevell and Colts' offensive coordinator Jim Bob Cooter. A third is currently on the Lions' coaching staff.

Assistant head coach/running backs coach Scottie Montgomery.

Montgomery is in his first season as running backs coach for the Lions. But he has a long and pretty unique coaching resume, across the college and NFL levels. He also played four seasons in the NFL (2000-2003).

Scottie Montgomery coaching resume

• Duke, Wide receivers coach (2006-2009)
• Pittsburgh Steelers, Wide receivers coach (2010-2012)
• Duke, Associate head coach/offensive coordinator/passing game/wide receivers coach (2013)
• Duke, Associate head coach/offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach (2014-2015)
• East Carolina, Head coach (2016-2018)
• Maryland, Offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach (2019-2020)
• Indianapolis Colts, Running backs coach (2021-2022)
• Detroit Lions, Associate head coach/running backs coach (2023-)

Montgomery's only head coaching experience is three seasons at East Carolina, with a 9-26 record. But he has coached wide receivers in college and the NFL, called plays at the college level and coached quarterbacks or running backs at one of the levels.

If the Raiders go outside the box of better-known candidates to hire their next head coach, and they may have to, Montgomery's across the board experience would stand out among those kind of candidates.