The Las Vegas Raiders received a brutal message from James Cregg.
Having served as the 49ers’ assistant offensive line coach during the previous season, Cregg, 50, helped lead his team to a Super Bowl victory. After being hired in 2022, he spent his second season with the 49ers.
Prior to that, in the mid-1990s, the product of Norco, California, was an All-Conference offensive tackle while attending Colorado State for his college football career. Prior to stints at Colgate and Idaho, that is also where his coaching career got its start as a graduate assistant.
Cregg made his NFL debut in 2007 as the assistant offensive line coach with the Silver and Black, spending two seasons in two different locales. This was his second tenure with the team. He was on staff with Lane Kiffin, who he followed to Tennessee and USC as offensive line coach after Kiffin left the Raiders.
After that, Cregg played for a few more seasons in the NFL with the Los Angeles Chargers and Denver Broncos, almost leading all four teams in the AFC West to a series victory.
From 2018 to 2020, he coordinated the rushing game and served as the offensive line coach for LSU, which was his most prosperous coaching tenure. The widely-traveled coach was a member of the Tigers’ National Championship squad in 2019—a team that broke multiple offensive records and took home the Joe Moore Award for College Football’s Most Outstanding Offensive Line Unit.
With 40 sacks allowed last season, tied for the 12th-fewest in the NFL, Cregg will take over an offensive line that ranks 27th in Pro Football Focus’ run-blocking grade of 73.9. In contrast, the 49ers allowed only 34 sacks, which ranked seventh in the league, and were second in the league with a 92.1 ground game percentage.
There are also some immediate questions that the next coach in Las Vegas will need to address.
While Andre James, Greg Van Roten, and Jermaine Eluemunor, the starting center, right guard, and right tackle from the previous season, are all set to become free agents, Dylan Parham, a left guard entering his third season, might be best suited to move to center. Along with this, Cregg will have to assist in deciding whether the team should chase another player in the draft or free agency, or if swing tackle Thayer Munford Jr., a third-year veteran, can replace Eluemunor.
