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Reggie McKenzie (linebacker)

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Position:
  
Linebacker

Role
  
Football player

Siblings
  
Raleigh McKenzie

Name
  
Reggie McKenzie

College:
  
Tennessee

Weight
  
109 kg

Height
  
1.85 m


Reggie McKenzie (linebacker) Raider Linebacker 198588 Reggie McKenzie 54 Pride

Date of birth:
  
(1963-02-08) February 8, 1963 (age 52)

High school:
  
Knoxville (TN) Austin-East

NFL draft:
  
1985 / Round: 10 / Pick: 275

Children
  
Kahlil McKenzie, Jalen McKenzie, Mahkayla McKenzie, Jasmin McKenzie

Similar People
  
Dennis Allen, Raleigh McKenzie, Al Davis, Jack Del Rio, Hue Jackson

Place of birth:
  
Knoxville, Tennessee

Education
  
University of Tennessee

Legends of the game raleigh and reggie mckenzie


Reginald McKenzie (born February 8, 1963) is the current general manager of the Oakland Raiders of the National Football League. Previously, McKenzie was a linebacker for the Raiders and was later the director of player personnel for the Green Bay Packers. He played college football at Tennessee.

Contents

Reggie McKenzie (linebacker) Reggie McKenzie Named Raiders General Manager Former

Austin-East High School

Reggie McKenzie (linebacker) Hoby Brenner Photos 19851013

McKenzie played high school football at Austin-East High School. He was a consensus All-State linebacker during his senior year, and was considered the 22nd best player in the state by the Knoxville News Sentinel. He was a teammate of Raiders Director of Player Personnel, Joey Clinkscales. McKenzie was valedictorian of his 1981 graduating class.

University of Tennessee

Reggie McKenzie (linebacker) Reggie McKenzie Travels to Khalil Mack39s Pro Day Just

McKenzie played collegiate football at the University of Tennessee from 1981 through the 1984 season. In 1981, he played in 11 games, tallying 20 tackles (9 solo). During his sophomore season in 1982, he picked up 33 tackles (18 solo). Playing in 11 games as a junior in 1983, he tallied 32 tackles (18 solo), including 3 sacks. During his senior year, he registered 89 tackles (63 solo), including a sack, as well as an interception and two fumble recoveries, as part of a linebacker corps that included Carl Zander, Alvin Toles, and Dale Jones.

Los Angeles Raiders

Reggie McKenzie (linebacker) University of Colorado FirstandOrange

From 1985 to 1988, McKenzie played as a linebacker for the Los Angeles Raiders. He became a starter as a rookie at inside linebacker next to Matt Millen in a 3-4-4 defensive scheme, playing in all 16 games for a team ending the year with a won-lost record of 12-4, allowing 308 points (19.2 points/game), 9th of 28 teams, and winning the AFC Western division. Los Angeles lost their divisional round to the New England Patriots, having difficulty to stop a running game which amassed 156 yards against them, led by Craig James' 104 yards behind an offensive line which featured John Hannah at left guard and Brian Holloway at left tackle. It was McKenzie's only playoff appearance. McKenzie also started all 16 games the following year, but at outside linebacker in a 4-3-4 scheme, with Matt Millen inside and Jerry Robinson on the other side. The Raiders ended with a record of 8-8 and allowed 346 points (21.6 points/game), 19th among 28 teams. He returned as an inside linebacker in a 3-4-4 defensive scheme during the 1987 NFL season, the strike year, but started only 5 games, sharing time with Jerry Robinson next to Matt Millen, and then only 3 the following year, his final one as a Raider.

Time out of the NFL

Reggie McKenzie (linebacker) extrasmnginteractivecomlivemediasite5682014

While out of football in 1991, McKenzie spent a season as a defensive coach for Dorsey High School in Los Angeles. He then played with the Montreal Machine of the World League of American Football in the spring of 1992.

San Francisco 49ers

Reggie McKenzie (linebacker) GM Reggie McKenzie suggests Raiders could release or trade

After sitting out three years, McKenzie came back in 1992 as a member of the San Francisco 49ers, but played in only 2 games.

University of Tennessee assistant coach

In 1993, McKenzie returned to Tennessee and served as an assistant under head coach Philip Fulmer. That year, the Volunteers appeared in the Florida Citrus Bowl and landed one of the nation’s top recruiting classes, highlighted by QB Peyton Manning.

Green Bay Packers director of player personnel

McKenzie was employed by the Green Bay Packers from 1994 to 2012. He began as a scout, and gradually rose through the ranks to become the Packers' director of player personnel and eventually the team's director of football operations, while reporting to general managers Ron Wolf and Ted Thompson.

Oakland Raiders general manager

McKenzie was hired as general manager of the Oakland Raiders on January 5, 2012. Longtime owner Al Davis had been general manager since 1966, and retained control over football operations after becoming principal owner in 1972. Both Wolf (who had worked in the Raiders front office prior to his Green Bay tenure) and former Raiders coach John Madden recommended McKenzie to new owner Mark Davis, who hired McKenzie after an interview conducted jointly by Davis and Madden.

McKenzie promptly fired head coach Hue Jackson and hired Dennis Allen, who had previously served as the defensive coordinator of a Denver Broncos squad that barely beat Oakland for a playoff spot. He brought in his twin brother Raleigh McKenzie to become a college scout for the Raiders. McKenzie's first priority was to shore up a porous defense which allowed 433 points (27.1 points/game), 29th among 32 teams. Before the 2012 NFL Draft, he signed four free agents to help the defense: outside linebacker Philip Wheeler and cornerbacks Shawntae Spencer, Ron Bartell, and Pat Lee. Wheeler had a strong season but left as a free agent for Miami in the off-season, while none of the other additions had any impact or remained for 2013, either.

McKenzie inherited a roster full of high-priced and underperforming players, with more than $154 million committed toward the $120.6 million salary cap. Additionally, the Raiders had traded away most of their draft picks in the 2012 NFL Draft prior to his arrival, leaving McKenzie with his first pick at No. 95 overall with offensive lineman Tony Bergstrom. However, even within those limitations, the Raiders had an exceedingly poor draft class. The six players they selected only started a combined 35 games for the team (31 of those by Miles Burris) and none of the six remained on the team after the 2015 season. Meanwhile, McKenzie failed to select any of the ten future Pro Bowl players (including QB Kirk Cousins, taken in the fourth round by Washington) that were available when he took Bergstrom. The Raiders struggled to a 4-12 record in 2012.

McKenzie continued to draft poorly in 2013, selecting underachievers CB D.J. Hayden in the 1st round (12th overall) and T Menelik Watson in the 2nd, and utter busts LB Sio Moore in the 3rd and QB Tyler Wilson in the 4th. (Wilson never played a down for the team.) Only finding future Pro Bowl RB Latavius Murray in the 6th round provided any future benefits, but Murray spent the entire 2013 season on injured reserve and the Raiders suffered another 4-12 season under coach Allen. With Hayden, Watson, and Murray all leaving the team as free agents after the 2016, none of the 2013 draft choices remained Raiders for as long as five years, either.

During the 2013 offseason, McKenzie released several starting players such as Richard Seymour, Michael Huff, Tommy Kelly, Darrius Heyward-Bey, and Rolando McClain in continuing the rebuilding process. Dennis Allen, perhaps the greatest symbol of McKenzie's early failures as GM, was fired after losing the first four games of the 2014 season, with a final record of 8-28, the worst for a Raiders coach since before Al Davis was associated with the franchise. Under interim head coach Tony Sparano, the Raiders saw their record fall to 0-10 before splitting their final six games to finish at 3-13.

Despite the team's poor performance (total record of 11-37) in McKenzie's first three seasons, owner Mark Davis chose not to fire him, both because McKenzie still had a year remaining on his contract and because 2014 draftees Khalil Mack and Derek Carr showed potential, unlike the failures of top draft choices in previous years. This decision was rewarded in 2015 when the growth of Mack and Carr, along with the addition of new head coach Jack Del Rio and standout draftee WR Amari Cooper led to a 7-9 resurgence, giving hope that the Raiders might soon post their first winning season since 2002.

On July 29, 2016, Mark Davis announced a four-year contract extension for McKenzie, which will keep him with the Raiders through 2020.

On January 19, 2017, following the Raiders' 12-4 regular season featuring strong performances by Carr, Mack, Cooper and others, McKenzie was named the 2016 NFL Executive of the Year by the Pro Football Writers of America.

Personal life

McKenzie was born in Knoxville, Tennessee on Feb. 8, 1963. McKenzie and his wife, June, have two daughters, Jasmin and Mahkayla, and two sons, Kahlil and Jalen. Kahlil was a five-star defensive tackle at Clayton Valley Charter High School in Concord (Class of 2015), and currently plays for The University of Tennessee. Jalen was a four star recruit who committed to USC on January 16, 2017.

His Super Bowl ring was stolen on May 3, 2009.

His twin brother Raleigh McKenzie also played in the National Football League as an offensive lineman for the Washington Redskins, Philadelphia Eagles, San Diego Chargers and Green Bay Packers, and is now a Raiders scout.

References

Reggie McKenzie (linebacker) Wikipedia