Josh McDaniels continues to plunder Bill Belichick’s Patriots personnel

Are we going to witness the smackdown of all smackdowns when the New England Patriots square off against the Las Vegas Raiders in 2022?

Josh McDaniels, who jettisoned the Pats this offseason to take the head job in Las Vegas, has now completed the trifecta. He first began by swiping coaches from Bill Belichick’s staff, which seemingly broke the six-time champion’s No. 1 rule. Then he took a key player in Brandon Bolden (and others) in free agency.

Then, following the NFL Draft, the Raiders conducted a bit of a front office overhaul … again. After firing Mike Mayock in January, team president Dan Ventrelle was ominously announced to “no longer be with the organization” last week, which prompted new GM Dave Ziegler (former Patriot!) to make more changes.

One of his first was hiring former Patriots’ national scout Brandon Yeargan, which simply cannot be sitting well with Belichick at the moment.

Josh McDaniels and Dave Ziegler continue to steal former Patriots personnel

Yeargan spent nine years in New England and was recently promoted to national scout following the front office shuffle that saw Matt Groh earn the director of player personnel job. Coincidentally, those nine years were spent with Ziegler and McDaniels.

This one’s arguably the biggest heist, too. The Patriots’ national scout is usually one of the most important positions in the entire organization given how Belichick constantly builds his teams through the draft and on the undrafted FA market. Over the last two years, New England lost Nick Caserio to the Texans and Ziegler to the Raiders, both of whom held prominent scouting roles.

But … according to former Patriot and now-Raider Duron Harmon, McDaniels isn’t trying to replicate the “Patriot Way” in Las Vegas. So what’s he doing? Stealing every disgruntled Patriots employee who happened to reluctantly work under Belichick for the better part of a decade? Come on now.

McDaniels and Ziegler have poached five former players, five former coaches, and now one scout. And you mean to tell us these guys aren’t trying to instill a similar blueprint?

OK. We’ll see how it works out for Las Vegas when the Patriots and Raiders get together on the gridiron in a few months.

Josh McDaniels broke Bill Belichick’s No. 1 rule with new Raiders coaches

Josh McDaniels could get Bill Belichick angry as he continues to hire New England Patriots assistants to his Raiders staff.