Because hiring a coach from the broadcast booth worked out so well for the Oakland Raiders in 2018, they looked to another television personality to fill their general manager role.

The Raiders announced Monday afternoon that Mike Mayock had been hired as the Raiders’ new general manager. The Raiders moved fast. News of Mayock’s interview broke on Sunday.

Mayock is well known because of his work on the NFL draft for the league’s network, but it’s an interesting hire. Mayock has zero front-office experience.

Mike Mayock has been a broadcaster for many years

Maybe Mayock works out great. Or maybe he’s Matt Millen, who was famously hired out of Fox’s broadcast booth to be the Detroit Lions’ general manager and failed miserably.

It might work, but it seems odd to hire a television personality right after hiring Jon Gruden out of the “Monday Night Football” booth. Gruden was ridiculed endlessly in the first season of a 10-year, $100 million deal.

Mayock, whose broadcasting career dates back to 1993, is a good draft analyst and offers sharp takes on the game when in the booth for NFL Network or NBC on Notre Dame games. That could translate to the front office. He’s also 60 years old and a rookie GM in the NFL, however, so there are risks involved with the hire.

“He loves it. He’s a passionate, passionate personnel man,” Gruden said about Mayock, according to Schefter. “He’s done it for a long time. I know he’s had opportunities to get back into the NFL as a general manager and we’ll see what happens. We’ll see how the dust settles”

Raiders are rebuilding

It’s a good thing Mayock knows the draft well, because the Raiders need to knock a couple of draft classes out of the park.

Oakland has as little talent as anyone in the NFL after some bad drafts with former GM Reggie McKenzie and some unfortunate decisions by Gruden including trading Khalil Mack. But the team has five first-round picks the next two years. They need to hit on many of them.

Gruden is still in charge of personnel, but Mayock will have a major say in what goes down. And if it doesn’t work, maybe Raiders owner Mark Davis can find another broadcaster to add to his team.

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Frank Schwab is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at shutdown.corner@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!
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