There has not been a lot of confidence in NFL circles that Antonio Pierce will be back with the Raiders next year, but an NFL Network report on Sunday may have changed the narrative a little on Pierce’s future in Las Vegas.
According to NFL Network’s Mike Garafolo, the decision on Pierce’s job has not been made and it sounds like the first-year head coach hasn’t lost favor with team owner Mark Davis.
Garafolo said Davis has been involved in meetings with coaches and there is some newfound optimism that Pierce is going to hold onto his job.
”I know a lot of folks think it’s a foregone conclusion that [the Raiders] are going to make a coaching change, but those folks are on the outside,” Garafolo reported on Sunday.
”On the inside of the building it’s sounds like there’s a lot of optimism that Antonio Pierce will continue as the head coach of the Raiders… Davis has been pleased with the last couple of weeks, understands there’s not a lot of talent, and there is a lot of youth on the roster.”
Elsewhere around the league, the New England Patriots were quick to fire first-year head coach Jerod Mayo after Sunday’s win over the Bills, and many believe the Patriots are going to make an aggressive move to hire Mike Vrabel in the days ahead.
Vrabel has been linked to the Raiders, but the longer the Pierce holds onto his job in Las Vegas, the chances grow that Vrabel will end up in New England.
It’s going to be a complicated offseason for the Raiders, and it will get even more complicated if they drag out the decision on Pierce. Regardless of who coaches the team next year, the new coach (or potentially the current coach) is going to want to assemble a coaching staff on the front end of the NFL’s hiring timeline.
Offensive coordinator Scott Turner and defensive coordinator Patrick Graham could both be with new teams next year and it that happens, the Raiders will need to move quickly to be in the running for the top coordinator candidates in the league.
Last year, Davis and his advisors slow-played the decision on Pierce and many of the top coordinators were spoken for by the time the Raiders were serious about hiring an offensive coordinator of their own.
That’s a scenario the Raiders need to avoid happening again this year.
x: @raidersbeat
The only way Pierce returns is if Mark Davis does not want to pay another head coach that is no longer with the team!
Not sure if it’s a great idea to keep Pierce because he did seem to have a bit more of his share of first year head coaches errors in judgement but these raiders had more that their fair share of injuries to key players. With that said continuity is on the raiders side. Pierce has another year on his contract and I have faith in the raiders moving forward making really good football moves !!!
If Telesco can get a decent QB, we would be in the play offs. What the Raiders don’t need is changing coaches every year and expecting to win. Telseco will get a QB.
A really good quarterback would’ve been on injured reserve the whole season. Until we build an offensive line and a solid defensive line it doesn’t matter who’s under center. Why don’t you people get that?
Get an offensive coordinator and keep the defensive coordinator (if you can). Get a top QB. Keep AP another year, by then it will be clear if he’s the man or not. Many vary good coaches had bad first years. I been a fan and avid follower since the eighties… Go Raiders
Keep Graham? You mean the guy that can’t make adjustments during the game? The guy that keeps the same personnel on the field during a game when they get beat play after play after play after play? Every game all season long. If you watch the Chargers game, with your eyes open, you saw Richardson get beat over and over and over. And yet he was on the field. And we’ve had a guy named Sam Webb on the roster that gets buried on special teams. And he’s probably better than anyone else we have at corner. He may be dumb as a rock, but he can ball.
You can’t be serious. Pierce had the same record as McDaniels and they ran McDaniels. They need to fire Pierce. At the end of the day, they were 4-13, the buck stops with the HC. Pierce doesn’t make any half time adjustments like all good coaches do. If it’s not working in the first half, he doesn’t even try to change things up. Also he doesn’t try to make adjustments during the game.