The Las Vegas Raiders didn’t stop at firing Josh McDaniels, they have also dismissed his offensive coordinator.
On Wednesday, Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer reported that Las Vegas had also fired Mick Lombardi.
The 35-year-old Lombardi followed McDaniels from New England, after serving as the Patriots’ assistant quarterbacks coach (2019) and wide receivers coach (2020-21).
The son of former NFL executive Michael Lombardi, Mick oversaw a Raiders offense that ranked 30th in points/game (15.8), 31st in yards/game (268.3), 29th in points/play (0.272), 27th in yard/play (4.6), 30th in 3D conversion percentage (32.58%), 25th in RZ scoring percentage (44.00%) and 27th in TDs/Game (1.6).
In turn, the Raiders promoted quarterbacks coach Bo Hardegree to offensive coordinator, NFL Network insider Ian Rapoport reported Wednesday.
One of the young, up-and-coming young coaches in the industry, Hardegree was an Adam Gase assistant from 2014-20. He was an offensive quality control coach with the Broncos (’14), an offensive assistant with the Bears (’15), the Dolphins quarterbacks coach (’16-18), and an offensive assistant with the Jets (’19-20).
After Gase was fired following the completion of the 2020 NFL season, Hardegree joined the Patriots staff as an offensive assistant and then followed McDaniels to Las Vegas.
As the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach, he’ll be tasked with working with Aidan O’Connell, who was named the starting quarterback, as Jimmy Garoppolo was subsequently benched. It’s unclear whether that decision was made by Hardgree and interim head coach Antonio Pierce, or if owner Mark Davis stepped in. In any event, Hardegree will be tasked with trying to turn around one of the NFL’s worst offenses.
[Albert Breer, Ian Rapoport on X]
About Sam Neumann
Since the beginning of 2023, Sam has been a staff writer for Awful Announcing and The Comeback. A 2021 graduate of Temple University, Sam is a Charlotte native, who currently calls Greenville, South Carolina his home. He also has a love/hate relationship with the New York Mets and Jets.