Silver Minings: Are Raheem Morris and Don Martindale 2022 Raiders head coach candidates?

These two defensive coaches could be interesting to Mark Davis

While it is still about three months away from being finalized, there is already a lot of discussion of who the Las Vegas Raiders may pursue as the full-time head coach in 2022 as the team moves away from the suddenly-completed Jon Gruden era.

A lot of names have already been bandied about and Albert Breer, in a mailbag item for SI.com, mentioned two interesting potential candidates — Baltimore Ravens defensive coordinator Don “Wink” Martindale and Los Angles Rams defensive coordinator Raheem Morris.

I like these names and understand why Breer has connected the Martindale and Morris dots to the Raiders and owner Mark Davis, who will ultimately make the hire.

Martindale has coached for the Raiders before and that could interest Davis. The 58-year-old was their linebackers coach from 2004-08. Morris is a diversity candidate and that has been important to the Raiders over the years, and it could be something the team is even more interested in after the fallout from the Gruden departure.

Yes, there will be plenty of more names that emerge, but these two names could be kept in mind as we get closure to the official start of the coaching search in Las Vegas.

In other Raiders’ links:

• Streak against Denver: The Raiders can win three straight games against the Broncos for the first time in 10 years.
• Davis thoughts: The Athletic looks at Mark Davis’ lack of leadership during the first days Gruden saga.
• Solomon Thomas’ rebound: A look at a solid start to the season by new Raiders’ defensive tackle Solomon Thomas from our cousins at Niners Nation.
• Game preview: The Raiders’ website looks at Sunday’s game.