National Football League

Oakland Raiders Reaching Out to Wade Phillips

Updated Mar. 5, 2020 2:04 a.m. ET

Fansided, Carl Cockerham/FanSided via With the First Pick

The Oakland Raiders defense already has all the talent and money spent on it in the world. The organization is now looking to get results as they are talking to defensive coordinator Wade Phillips.

The Oakland Raiders 12-4 this past season with one of the worst defenses in the NFL. But if you look at the names on that defense, there’s no way the unit is supposed to be that bad. That’s because defensive coordinator Ken Norton Jr. is in over his head.

There are constant breakdowns in communication and wasted timeouts due to a lack of organization. But worse than that, he had players doing things they aren’t best at. The overall scheme of the defense didn’t even fit the players.

Running a 4-3 under with 3-4 personnel is not the way to get your front-7 to play their best. Asking bump-and-run corners to bail and play zone isn’t going to get it done either. Head coach Jack Del Rio got more involved in the defense last year.

That’s why we saw more 3-4 looks last year and the defense was much better. But Del Rio doesn’t have time to focus only on the defense so he needs someone he can trust to run it. So he reportedly reached out to former Denver Broncos Defensive coordinator Wade Phillips.

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Joe Arrigo broke the story via Twitter.

I have learned that the #Raiders are in talks with former Broncos DC Wade Phillips for a role on the coaching staff.

— Joe Arrigo (@joearrigo) January 10, 2017

Speculation about Phillips becoming the Raiders’ defensive coordinator was already out there. At a press conference a couple of days ago, Del Rio a question about possible coaching changes came up. And Del Rio responded by saying, “We’ll see how it goes.”

Many took that as a hint that Phillips could very well be on his way to Oakland. Before that, there was the flattering tweet Phillips made about quarterback Derek Carr. And now, there is actually something to all that speculation.

If this works out, the Raiders are on their way!