Jack Del Rio has two years left on his contract, but the Oakland Raiders have no plans on letting their head coach go any time soon.
According to a report, the Raiders hope to begin contract extension talks with Del Rio “soon.”
Raiders talks with Jack Del Rio on an extension will begin soon. He's an obvious coach of the year candidate. Mark Davis very pleased
— Jason La Canfora (@JasonLaCanfora) January 14, 2017
Since Del Rio took over as head coach, Oakland has shown steady improvement.
In 2015, the team went 7-9. While that may not seem like much, the Raiders won seven combined games in the preceding seasons. In 2016, Del Rio led Oakland to a 12-4 record, guiding the Raiders to their first playoff appearance since 2002.
Oakland did all of this despite playing under the cloud of ever changing rumors as to where the franchise might end up. Generally speaking, location uncertainty has spelled doom for teams.
But Del Rio found a way to keep his young team focused and lead them to a place where they hadn’t been in over a decade. That makes him a viable option for NFL Coach of the Year, and certainly makes Del Rio worthy of a healthy contract extension.