Hue Jackson Fired: Shocking Move Won't Help Raiders Find Stability

The Oakland Raiders have a new general manager in Reggie McKenzie, and he made it abundantly clear on Tuesday that he's not messing around.

Via ESPN's Adam Schefter, here's the latest news:

Roughly a year after he first got the job, Hue Jackson has gotten the axe. The Raiders will now be on the lookout for a new head coach.

In other words: new GM, same old Raiders.

I don't fault McKenzie for firing Jackson. He went 8-8 in his one and only season at the helm, and the Silver and Black spent the bulk of the season playing sloppy, undisciplined football. Jackson also executed the trade to acquire Carson Palmer from the Cincinnati Bengals.

At the time, it seemed like a boneheaded trade. In retrospect, it's even worse. Palmer did not come in and rescue the Raiders, and dealing for him cost the Raiders two vital draft picks.

But the Raiders' subpar play and the Palmer trade aren't the only reasons Jackson got the axe. Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk summarized the situation rather perfectly over the weekend:

"

It’s believed that Jackson has damaged his stock in Oakland via statements made in the wake of Sunday’s home loss to the Chargers, which caused the Raiders to miss the postseason for the ninth straight year.  To stay, Jackson will have to submit to the new structure and accept the fact that his influence as to football matters necessarily will diminish.

"

It appears Jackson wanted to submit to no such structure. Hence, the axe.

Now that Jackson is gone, McKenzie can look to bring in his own people. Since he comes from the Green Bay Packers organization, it's a good bet that he will draw plenty of people to Oakland from Wisconsin, perhaps even the Silver and Black's new head coach.

Once everyone is in place, the rebuilding process can begin.

Rest assured, it will not be a quick process. On the contrary, it's going to take a while.

In essence, McKenzie's firing of Jackson is the end of the Al Davis era in Oakland. Mr. Davis passed away in October, but Jackson was his guy and he proceeded to run the team in very much the same way Mr. Davis would have run it. The Palmer trade was a perfect example of a move Mr. Davis probably would have made.

Davis' guy is gone now, but the team that he and Jackson fielded is still there. Breaking it up will not be easy, and it will be even harder to cultivate a new team from the ashes of the old one. The Raiders basically won't be participating in the 2012 draft, and there's still a chance that they will surrender their 2013 first-round pick to the Bengals.

McKenzie comes from an organization that built a championship team by drafting and developing talented players. For the first couple years, he's going to find that hard to do in Oakland.

Had McKenzie kept Jackson around, he basically would have allowed himself to ease the Raiders out of the Al Davis era. Jackson could have had another season or two with his team, and McKenzie could have fired him when the time was right to rebuild.

Now is not the best time to rebuild. In fact, now is a pretty bad time to rebuild.

Since the deed is done, it's a sure thing that the Raiders are in for another two or three years of hardship. On the bright side, Raider Nation should be used to the idea by now.

Assuming McKenzie knows what the heck he's doing, the Raiders will find stability eventually. When they do, they'll get back to winning, albeit not in a way the Raiders are accustomed to. All the usual Silver and Black slogans will still be uttered here and there, but there will be a new definition for Raider football.

Right now, there is merely an idea as to what that definition might be. It will be a while before it is realized.