Since being fired by the Raiders in January, Antonio Pierce hasn’t talked publicly about his time with the Raiders, but on Sunday he finally made a few pointed statements.
Speaking on his time as head coach of the Raiders, Pierce hinted that he and former GM Tom Telesco were not on the same page with what to do at the quarterback and running back positions.
“With Pete Carroll, the biggest thing with him is, he’s been there, done that before. He’s won everywhere he’s been,” Pierce said on the CBS pre-game on Sunday. “[Carroll] brings in a culture. I think no different than I tried to do last year,:
“You bring in a culture and get guys excited, but you got to maintain it,” Pierce continued. “But I think the key thing that happened for Pete Carroll [is] he got his quarterback… then he went and got the running back. So it’s interesting for me because that’s what I wanted last year, and I didn’t get it. My guy Josh Jacobs plays for the Green Bay Packers. With him and [John] Spytek I think they’ve done a great job of working together. It always starts with the head coach and GM being on the same page.”
Pierce’s comments are especially interesting considering what Jacobs said about the decision-makers in Las Vegas earlier in the year.
In May, Jacobs was a guest on the Bussin’ with the Boys podcast, and he made a couple of strong statements about someone within the Raiders’ organization.
On the surface it sounded like he was talking about Josh McDaniels or Dave Ziegler, but it was Pierce and Telesco calling the shots in March of 2024 when Jacobs left Las Vegas for the Packers. Jacobs referred to conversations that go back to the McDaniels and Ziegler era, but some of his frustration definitely carried over into the Pierce and Telesco season.
“Where he was going wrong was he was talking too much,” Jacobs said about someone in the Raiders organization during the period of time he was negotiation with the team.
“I’m not going to say who it was, but it’s a guy that make decisions,” Jacobs continued. “He’s talking too much and thinking it’s not going to get back to me and everything is getting back to me. So I’m knowing what’s being said on the inside. He’s basically like ‘[Josh] needs the money.’ I’m like ‘I don’t need no money. I could quit playing right now. I’m great.’ So I’m like ‘Where are you getting this information from? Why do you think that you got the leverage when I just led the NFL in everything there is for a running back?’”
Jacobs went on to say the Raiders offered him $10 million per year, but did not want to include any incentives in the deal. He added that there were six teams at the time offering more money than what the Raiders were offering.
If the Raiders were really only offering Jacobs $10 million per year, he definitely took a better deal with the Packers.
From ProFootballTalk’s Mike Florio, here’s a breakdown of the deal Jacobs signed with the Packers a little more than a year ago.
“Per a source with knowledge of the deal, the contract has a $12.5 million signing bonus, and no other guaranteed payments. His 2024 base salary of $1.2 million is guaranteed as a practical matter, pushing the first-year haul to $13.7 million. He also has a $600,000 offseason workout bonus, and up to $500,000 in per-game active roster bonuses,” Florio reported in March of last year.
“That’s up to $14.8 million for one year. After that, it’s up to the Packers. Jacobs has a $5.93 million roster bonus due on the fifth day of the 2025 league year, and a $1.7 million base salary. The $600,000 workout bonus and $500,000 per-game active roster bonuses are also in the deal for 2025,” Florio continued.
“For 2026, the deal has a base salary of $10.2 million, a $600,000 workout bonus, and up to $700,000 in per-game active roster bonuses. In 2027, the salary moves to $12.2 million, with the workout bonus of $600,000 and up to $700,000 in per-game active roster bonuses.”
Based on those numbers, Jacobs’ deal in Green Bay is significantly better than what the Raiders were offering considering the $500k per game bonus that he will receive each game in 2025 that he’s on the active roster.
As for the quarterback position, it would be interesting to know which quarterback Pierce wanted the Raiders to pursue.
Going into the 2024 draft, the Raiders were linked to a handful of quarterbacks, but Telesco recently hinted that Nix was one of the quarterbacks he was targeting a year ago.
“Now looking back had I known I had only one year there, maybe that would have been different. I don’t know,” Telesco said in June.
It wasn’t much of a secret a year ago, but Jayden Daniels was the one quarterback Telesco said the Raiders would have traded up to get in 2024.
“Jayden Daniels. That would have been easy,” Telesco said.
“But then when we got into J.J. McCarthy, Bo Nix and Michael Penix, as far as trading up for those guys, that I was not as much into. To give up that many assets, because we were going to have to give up a lot of draft picks. We needed as many as possible to try to build up the team. So that would have been a hard move to make to trade up for one of those quarterbacks… other than Jayden Daniels that was going to be a non-starter.
Telesco pointed to injury concerns around Penix as a concern but added that drafting Nix was in consideration.
“Bo Nix, his background of work, his durability, his movement skills. That one was interesting, and he’s gone to the perfect team. That would have been a good possibility.”
x: @raidersbeat
Wow! Why we still talking about these CLOWNS?!?! OBVIOUSLY whoever was making those decisions were making the wrong ones. I’m not a fan of old school football anymore but if PC can make a difference now then so be it. Raiders just need to get thier **** together.
Pierce needs to look in the mirror and come to grips with his own mistakes. Because he made a ton of them. Far more than the GM did. Never a raider.
Pierce lost the locker room when Jacobs walked, especially the way it went down. Then when Taco Adams, who could have had Pierce’s back, stuck a knife in it, Pierce’s days were numbered. The group thought Pierce was in their corner, but those two dogs bailed, and AP who no HC experience at any level (never should have got the job), failed again and again in game management. But yes, let it go. let’s hope the next HC search goes better, because PC is a glimpse.
Good post
Pierce had an uphill battle from the start. Had the GM went all out and drafted the commanders QB as Pierce wanted and the RB he wanted, the Raiders might have retained Pierce. But yes Pierce did make quite a few mistakes.
Jacobs staying would have been big. The QB decision was laughable. There was no way they would have kept Adams on that contract. The OC Hire was moronic. Both HC and GM couldn’t lure talent or coaches. It was a terrible year for Raider fans and hopefully things turn around for the best
Pierce’s comments are correct. The organization did handcuff him by not giving him talented players at the RB and, more importantly, the QB positions. Also, not mentioned, was that he was saddled with a poor OC when the team opted not to sign the OC that he actually wanted. I thought the GM did a good job drafting, but the above mentioned moves are what sunk this HC/GM tandem. Pierce did show his inexperience with poor game management, one could argue that he was too green for the job.