Gus Bradley is bringing some friends with him to Las Vegas.
The new Raiders defensive coordinator is bringing in coach Richard Smith and defending coach Ron Milus (photo above) with him. (Defensive line coach Rod Marinelli remains with the Raiders.)
Can you confirm the new Gus Bradley team with the @Raiders will include Richard Smith and Ron Milus as linebackers and defensive coaches
– Vincent Bonsignore (@VinnyBonsignore) January 12, 2021
There may be more changes to come, too. The Raiders made no announcement about linebacker coach Dave Lippincott and secondary coach Jim O’Neill, both of which still appeared on the team’s website on Tuesday afternoon.
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These changes made sense. Bradley, like Marinelli, has a history with Raider coach Jon Gruden, so the new coaches Smith and Milus are part of that tree … and are not connected to the dismissed defensive coach Paul Guenther.
Therefore, these moves make it clear that Bradley is fully in charge of the defense. He said earlier in the day that he could bring in some Chargers coaches and that has already happened.
Both Smith and Milus are longtime NFL coaches and have great respect for the league. Like Bradley and Marinelli, Smith, 66, has experience as a defensive coordinator for the NFL, so this is a very experienced technical team.