Non-Negotiable: The Defense Must And Will Improve By jonblazington on Jan 20, 2021, 1:04pm PST + Dave Adolf, Gunther Cunningham, John Fox, Fred Whittingham, Willie Shaw, Chuck Bresnahan, Rob Ryan, John Marshall, Bresnahan again!! Jason Tarver, Ken Norton Jr and finally Paul Guenther. This is the list of defensive coordinators who have been in charge of the Raiders defense since my young adult years. I wanted to zoom back and get some perspective on the Raiders defensive coordinator history for the past 30 years and as we can see, not a lot of quality coordinators. This list is littered with bottom of the barrel to middling coordinators that have been in charge of the Raider defense in Los Angeles, Oakland and Las Vegas. Of this group, John fox is the clear top coordinator and a good coordinator throughout his career. The great defensive coordinators become head coaches because they do their job so well. John Fox started his dc career with the Raiders but after he left, it has been an erosion of coaching quality and talent. Chuck Bresnahan was able to field a decent defense with Gruden as the Head coach. What a disaster he turned out to be in his second stint with Hue Jackson as the Head coach. Bresnahan has never inspired a ton of confidence and he proved why. When Rob Ryan was hired, there was hope that maybe he coached like Rex Ryan but with a wig. Nope. He coached like Rob Ryan. Jason Tarver was a first time NFL coordinator and that didn't work out. He was labeled as the "Mad Scientist" and he was a mad scientist. The kind that blows up the lab and kills everyone inside. Tarver might have blown up any future chances to run a defense. He hasn't been asked to be a DC again and there has been zero buzz about him when jobs open up. Ken Norton Jr, it turns out, is a good guy and great player in his day...just don't let him anywhere near your defense unless Pete Carroll is helicopter coaching him. Norton's time as DC was below disappointing. A mid season firing means you weren't very good at your job and Norton's defense has been one of the worst statistically in NFL history. Then Gruden was hired, looked at the defense and made the decision to throw jet fuel on this burning pile, and hire Paul Guenther. The defense that was despicable under Norton, continued under Guenther and actually regressed if that is possible. At least for Norton, it was his first time as a DC. In actuality, this defense was as low as you can get, and Guenther took them to a new level. To take something that no one thinks can get worse, and make it much worse is amazing. Congratulations Paul Guenther and buh bye.