Raiders land Gus Bradley as defensive coordinator
The Las Vegas Raiders have hired former Los Angeles Chargers defensive coordinator Gus Bradley for the same role, the team announced Tuesday.
Bradley is coming off a four-year stint with the Chargers when his defenses never ranked in the lower half of the league in yards allowed. The 54-year-old was permitted to seek employment elsewhere after the Chargers fired head coach Anthony Lynn at the end of the season.
Bradley, who was head coach of the Jacksonville Jaguars from 2013 to 2016 and defensive coordinator of the Seattle Seahawks before that, will look to turn around a Raiders defense that seemed inept for most of 2020. He'll presumably install his well-known Cover 3 scheme, which would be a switch from the Paul Guenther era that featured various coverages.
In his four years in LAC, Gus Bradley:
— Austin Gayle (@PFF_AustinGayle) January 12, 2021
- Blitzed at the lowest rate in the NFL (16%)
- Played Cover 3 at the highest rate (43%)
- Played with dime personnel at the second-highest rate behind Green Bay (34%)
Las Vegas fired Guenther on Dec. 13, hoping to resurrect a plummeting defense and sinking season. But the unit experienced similar results under interim coordinator Rod Marinelli.
Despite investing ample draft picks and money into their defense over the last three offseasons, the Raiders have made little progress on that side of the ball. They finished the 2020 campaign 25th in yards allowed and 30th in points given up.
The Raiders are coming off an 8-8 year, and they're still looking for their first winning season since bringing back Jon Gruden as head coach.