After serving three seasons as the defensive coordinator for the Las Vegas Raiders, Paul Guenther has been relieved from his position. Defensive line coach Rod Marinelli will serve as the interim defensive coordinator for the remainder of the season.
Rod Marinelli will serve as interim defensive coordinator for the remainder of 2020. https://t.co/ERXdpa3lpu
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) December 14, 2020
Paul Guenther Fired
After another abysmal performance by the Raiders defense, it would appear that Jon Gruden and Mike Mayock had finally seen enough. Giving up 44 points to the team directly ahead of you in the playoff standings was just unacceptable.
Paul Guenther was brought in to be the defensive coordinator by Gruden three years ago. Since then, the Raiders have consistently had a bottom-tier defense in almost every statistical category. The defense is constantly surrendering long drive after long drive that results in points for the opposing team. Throw in the fact that Guenther could never solve his pass rushing issues, and it is easy to see why he no longer is employed by this team. Many fans felt as if this move should have come weeks ago, but it never came to be. Even despite the coaching change, it may be too little too late as far as this season is concerned.
Guenther has coached in the NFL since 2002 where he started as an assistant coach for the Washington Football Team. He was eventually hired to be an assistant coach for the Cincinnati Bengals in 2005. He would hold numerous coaching roles until finally being promoted to defensive coordinator in 2014. In 2018, Guenther was brought in to be Jon Gruden’s first defensive coordinator for his second stint with the Raiders.
It is unclear what the future holds for Paul Guenther. Despite his experience and wealth of coaching knowledge, he did himself no favors with the Raiders. This may have been Guenther’s last shot at being a defensive coordinator in the NFL.
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