The Las Vegas Raiders fell woefully short of expectations during the 2022 season. Many thought of them as a dark horse Super Bowl contender after acquiring Davante Adams in a trade and signing Chandler Jones in free agency. However, those splash moves weren’t enough to get the team over the hump.

Las Vegas struggled mightily in the first season with Josh McDaniels as head coach. They went 6-11 as the defensive production cratered. Looking to shake things up this offseason, McDaniels and general manager Dave Ziegler went back to their roots.

The team’s biggest moves this offseason were bringing in players with connections to their past with the New England Patriots. Jimmy Garoppolo, who was a second-round pick of the Patriots in 2014, was signed to take over as the starting quarterback from Derek Carr. Jakobi Meyers, who spent the first four seasons of his career in New England, signed a three-year deal in free agency.

The Raiders are becoming Patriots-West, which has been a failing strategy for everyone trying to replicate what Bill Belichick has done in New England. He, along with having Tom Brady under center, is what made the Patriots special. 

Despite that, people try to copy his form. Zielger and McDaniels are attempting to do that once again in Las Vegas, as they made two more moves recently that go deeper into that strategy.

Quarterback Brian Hoyer signed a two-year deal with the Raiders this week. He had three different stints with the Patriots in his career and will now be the backup to Garoppolo in Las Vegas.

In addition to Hoyer, the team signed Danny Amendola to their coaching staff. Amendola retired from the NFL on July 25th, 2022 and will now begin the second phase of his football life. Las Vegas hired him with the title of coaching assistant/returners. It is a new position on the Raiders, as McDaniels didn’t have a special teams-specific coach last season.

“It’s a valuable guy, if you can find the right one,” McDaniels told ESPN. “He has done it and done it at a high level. He will help our guys.”

The best stretch of Amendola’s career came with the Patriots from 2013-2017. He excelled as a wide receiver and on special teams as a kick and punt returner. The credentials are certainly there to be a coach in the NFL, as his connection to Ziegler, McDaniels and the Patriots helped him land a job in Sin City.