New Raiders offensive coordinator Bill Musgrave has been around the NFL block a few times.
In his most recent job, he coached the quarterbacks of the Philadelphia Eagles in head coach Chip Kelly’s wide-open, fast-paced attack. He’s also coached under former 49ers head coach George Seifert (in Carolina), Joe Gibbs (in Washington) and Jim Mora (in Atlanta), as well as Jack Del Rio (in Jacksonville).
Now that Del Rio has hired him again in Oakland, Musgrave says he’ll incorporate many of the things he’s learned from all his mentors into the Raiders offensive schemes.
The main thing, he says, is that he will be flexible.
“I’m definitely not going to come in with a system and force anybody to do something that’s not natural,” he told reporters this week in a conference call. “We’re definitely going to try to customize and tailor the Raiders’ system to fit the Raiders players. Philosophically I do believe in running the football. I definitely want to be a physical outfit that runs the ball and imposes their will on the defense. At the same time, it’s difficult to defend through the passing game and being diverse.”
He looks at young quarterback Derek Carr, too, and knows some of the things that worked in Philadelphia will fit in nicely in Oakland’s offense.
“We’re going to do quite a bit (of the Eagles’ attack) if it fits what the players can do there in Oakland. We’re looking forward to getting out on the field in the spring and really finding out where their strengths lie.
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“We talked about tailoring the system to fit them, but I’ve got a hunch that a lot of the things we did here in Philadelphia will match up real nice and be effective.”
Musgrave said Carr and young running back Latavius Murray were two reasons the job was very attractive. He believes he can build a running attack to feature Murray’s abilities.
He raved about Murray’s size, speed and production late in the season when he finally got his chance.
“Looking forward to getting out on the field with him and finding out what he’s all about,” said Musgrave. “Finding out what his strengths are so we can tailor our run game to be right up his alley.”
