It's been reported for a few days that McKenzie will be evaluating the status of current head coach Hue Jackson and wasn't entirely sold on retaining him for 2012 and beyond.
While it isn't uncommon for a new GM to want to bring in his own guy to be the head coach, it would have served both McKenzie and the Raiders organization well to keep Jackson on for at least one more season.
Under Jackson in 2011, the Raiders ended the year 8-8. They started the season 7-4, but lost four of their last five games and missed the playoffs. However, the Raiders posses a serious glut of talent, that given time to work together, should be a force to be reckoned with in the AFC West next season.
Cutting Jackson out of that equation significantly harms those chances, however. What teams need most of all is consistency. A quarterback will never develop properly if his coaches and coordinators keep changing, a defense won't understand the system if it changes with every season and one coach's draft picks may have little value to his successor.
Now that McKenzie has deemed Jackson not worth retaining, the Raiders will be taking a step back, not forward. Not even if McKenzie replaces Jackson with Packers assistant head coach/inside linebackers coach Winston Moss, a name that has been circling these developments for a few days.
The biggest knock against Jackson might just be his long-term decision making skills.
After taking over personnel duties upon Al Davis' death, he chose to trade the team's 2012 first-round draft pick and a conditional 2013 second-round pick for Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Carson Palmer after Raiders passer Jason Campbe...
Article Source: Bleacher Report - Oakland Raiders
