The Raiders drew considerable skepticism before the draft, when there were reports that General Manager Mike Mayock and coach Jon Gruden sent all of their scouts home the weekend before, and that most of them were getting fired.
Mayock takes exception to that.
He only fired three of them.
Mayock told Albert Breer of SI.com that many of the scouts that were sent home were back on the job now, and that only three of them were no longer with the team.
“I never fired any of them. I didn’t. I sent them home,” Mayock said. “Listen to me, I sent them home, and I fired zero of them until the day after the draft. And then I notified a couple guys [that they were fired]. End of story. Nobody follows the story. Nobody cares. Everybody just wanted to report that Mayock sent everybody home.”
The Raiders fired scouting chief Joey Clinkscales and pro scouting director Dave Vandernat shortly after the season. Since the draft, we know that Raleigh McKenzie’s contract wasn’t renewed (#asexpected) and that they “moved on” from scout Dave McCloughan. That ostensibly leaves just one we haven’t heard about.
And since the leaks about sending scouts home happened shortly after Mayock sent him home, it’s a reasonable guess to think we’ll know the other name soon.
