Tuesday the Raiders made their 2025 coaching staff official. Among them were a couple guys who return to the Silver & Black a decade after they once coached with the team.
Joe Woods and Marcus Robertson may sound like familiar names to some fans. It’s because both used to coach for the team. In fact, both were on the Raiders staff together in 2014 — Robertson as the Assistant DB coach and Woods as secondary coach.
Now both are back — Robertson again as the DB coach and Woods as the defensive passing game coordinator.
Both coaches were in their first year with the Raiders in 2014. For Robertson, it was the first of three years as he stuck around after the firing of Dennis Allen and was promoted to DB coach where he served for two seasons in Oakland under Jack Del Rio.
For Woods, that was his only season with the Raiders before moving on to become the DB coach. Two seasons later, when he was promoted to defensive coordinator in Denver, Robertson joined him as his DB coach.
This reunion would occur again in New Orleans in 2023 with Woods as DC and Robertson as the DB coach. Now they again move together to Las Vegas.
All told, they have been on the same staff five seasons in the NFL. 2014, 2017-18, and 2023-24.
That first year together in Oakland was rocky for reasons entirely out of their control. But their reunion in Denver was much better with the Broncos having a top five pass defense their first season back together. And they had a top ten pass defense their first year back together in New Orleans.
And in this case, they will serve under returning defensive coordinator Patrick Graham, which should allow them to focus on the position groups they know best.