Dennis Allen to Raiders: Oakland Smartly Goes Defensive with New Hire

The Oakland Raiders have a new general manager, and now they have a new head coach.

According to ESPN's Adam Schefter, the Raiders are going to hire Denver Broncos defensive coordinator Dennis Allen to succeed fired head coach Hue Jackson. Allen and the Raiders have agreed to a contract in principle, but the deal has not yet been signed.

Becoming the Broncos' DC was Allen's big break, as he had spent the previous five seasons as an assistant coach for the New Orleans Saints. Under Allen's watch, the Broncos allowed 24.4 points per game and about 358 total yards per game, numbers that don't truly reflect the revival Denver's defense went through midway through the season.

That new GM Reggie McKenzie has settled on Allen is a pretty strong indication that things are going to be a little different under his guidance than they were under the late Al Davis. Under Mr. Davis, Oakland's MO was to target offensive-minded head coaches, with varying degrees of success.

I hate to sound like a broken record or pat myself on the back, but I've been calling for the Raiders to hire a defensive-minded head coach ever since Jackson got the axe on Jan. 10. With all respect to the Silver and Black's storied tradition, the truth is that the Raiders are long overdue for a new organizational direction. Going from being predicated on offense to being predicated on defense is as simple as it gets, but the shift will work out for the best.

There's no point in sugarcoating how bad the Raiders have been on defense in recent seasons. They have consistently been one of the worst defensive teams in the league for the better part of the last decade, and things were particularly bad in 2011. The Raiders allowed 27.1 points per game, and ranked 27th in the league against both the run and the pass.

It is my presumption that Allen will leave the specifics of fixing Oakland's defensive woes to a defensive coordinator, but it's worth noting that Allen is coming from a Broncos team that got a defensive facelift and a new overall direction as soon as John Fox was hired. If Allen can have a similar effect on the Raiders in Year One, it will be clear that the Raiders made the right choice.

Beyond arranging a new organizational direction based around defense, it was important for the Raiders to bring in somebody in tune with the current landscape of the NFL. Having coached for the Saints and a team that is in the midst of its own rebuilding project in the Broncos, Allen very much fits the bill.

So, in short, the Raiders are making a smart hire here. In fact, this is the smartest hiring the organization has made since it hired Jon Gruden in 1998, and that hire was more of a product of luck than wisdom.

One thing Raiders fans have to understand, though, is that Allen is going to need some time. He's taking over a team that has glaring flaws up and down its roster, meaning both he and McKenzie have their work cut out for them.

But hey, if they didn't want the challenge, other people would be in their shoes.