Raiders offseason: What Rich Scangarello brings to the table

New quarterbacks coach helped develop Will Levis; currently helping Caleb Williams prep for the NFL Draft

A wealth of experience but two awful seasons in his most recent stints as an offensive play caller in both the NFL and collegiate landscapes. that’s a high-level description of new Las Vegas Raiders quarterback coach Rich Scangarello.

The 51-year-old coach rejoins the Silver & Black and is one of a slew of new coaching hires that round out head coach Antonio Pierce’s new staff, the team announced on Friday. Scangarello’s initial stint with the Raiders was as an offensive quality control coach under head coach Tom Cable.

Scangarello, who spent the 2023 season out of coaching in the pros or college, stayed busy by engaging in pre-draft training with USC quarterback and potential No. 1 overall pick Caleb Williams. The two have a history dating back to the QB Collective, described as a pro-style development pipeline for high school quarterbacks, on the group’s official website. The group showcased a who’s who of NFL coaches including Los Angeles Rams head coach Sean McVay, former NFL head coach Mike Shanahan, San Francisco 49ers head honcho Kyle Shanahan, Scangarello, and even Raiders passing game coordinator Scott Turner, to name a few.

Scangarello’s posts as offensive coordinator include a one-year stay in 2022 as the Kentucky Wildcats play caller. Before that, he called the plays for the Vic Fangio’s Denver Broncos in 2019. Neither of those excursions were particularly fruitful as Kentucky finished last in the SEC in points per game (20.4), third down offense (34.1 percent), and red zone touchdown percentage (53.1 percent) as the Wildcats went 7-6 overall and 3-5 in conference play. Denver, meanwhile, ranked 28th in points scored (17.6 average per game) and yards gained ( 298.56 average), 30th in third-down conversions (31.7 percent), and 28th in the red zone (47.6 percent) under Scangarello’s watch as the Broncos finished 7-9 overall.

However, that was as a play caller. In Las Vegas, that job belongs to offensive coordinator Luke Getsy.

So what does Scangarello bring to the table as quarterbacks coach?

While the veteran coach was rigid in his ways at Kentucky — tailoring his pro-style offense to in his image instead of installing a system that suited the strengths of his players — he did have a hand in developing Will Levis, who was picked by the Tennessee Titans in the second round of the 2023 NFL Draft (33rd overall). Scangarello also guided a young Drew Lock to a 4-1 mark as the Broncos starting quarterback in 2019 that saw the rookie complete 64.1 percent of his passes (100 of 156) for 1,020 yards, seven touchdowns, and three interceptions (while absorbing just five sacks).

With the Raiders, Scangarello is afforded the opportunity to gear up 2023 fourth-round pick Aidan O’Connell for Year 2 while also tutoring any other quarterbacks the team adds to the roster — be it free agency or the upcoming 2024 draft. While his play-calling acumen is questionable, Scangarello’s work with quarterback is much more defined and tangible. His experience coaching quarterbacks landed him three seasons with Shanahan in San Francisco (2017, 2018, and 2021) so he’s gotten to develop and learn under one of the best offensive minds in the league. By all accounts, Scangarello is good at imparting the overall offensive philosophy of the team to the signal callers under his charge. That’s going to be vital in a 2024 season that has Pierce as the figure head from the get — and a full offseason.

But it’s what Scangarello said about how he evaluates quarterbacks during an episode of the Tape Heads: Draft Season podcast two months after he was hired to be Kentucky’s offensive coordinator back in March of 2022, that provides the most insight on how he views the all-important position.

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When asked about evaluating prospects leading up to the draft, Scangarello noted he’s more interested in what the prospect does under duress with unknown variables snap-to-snap versus what they do in regimented pro day or combine workouts.

“There are no variables — they’re just throwing on air. You show me a guy, all his clips throughout his career, where they take it in the chin and not turn it down and make good decisions, or when the pocket is pushed on them — that’s the league,” Scangarello said on the podcast. “That’s what it takes in the NFL. If you can’t do that, you’re not going to get that overnight in the NFL, and that’s always going to be where you miss on a guy. If you can’t see that in a player and there’s not a lot of it on tape — let’s say Trevor (Lawrence) for example, and there have been other guys, Dwayne Haskins comes to mind, I think he was touched like 18 times in his senior year. It was ridiculous how few times he was in a contested pocket. If you’re going to overlook those things, then you’re going to have a huge margin for error with a miss on a guy.”

Scangarello went on to talk about quarterback traits that are non-negotiables for him — namely being a multi-year starter in college.

“So I’m always looking for guys who have a lot of starts. Do they take care of the football in those moments when it could go sideways, or do they create positive plays? Do they make smart decisions in critical situations? How do they play in two-minute situations?,” Scangarello said. “There are guys I’ve evaluated in recent drafts where they’re on such good teams at Ohio State or these other schools where maybe they don’t even have a two-minute situation that really matters in their entire career. Give me a guy who has played a lot of one-score games and found a way to win, and show me in those situations how he is under duress.”

O’Connell certainly fits that mold as a 24-game starter in his final two seasons at Purdue to go along with his 11 starts as a rookie in 2023 with the Raiders. And we’ll find out if Scangarello’s philosophy has any sway on Las Vegas’ plans at the quarterback spot in 2024.