Raiders owner Mark Davis spoke to members of the media this week from the owner’s meetings, and it was clear from his comments that GM Tom Telesco is a little more secure than head coach Antonio Pierce in terms of job security.
When asked about the Raiders quarterback situation going forward, Davis implied the decision on the team’s next quarterback will come down to involvement from Telesco and minority owner Tom Brady.
“You’d have to talk to Tom Telesco,” Davis said. “And, of course, Tom Brady at some point will have something to say on that.”
As for Pierce, Davis only said that his head coach will be evaluated after the season separately from his general manager.
“They didn’t come in as a team,” Davis said. “They are individuals.”
If Davis was going to give Pierce a vote confidence, this week would have been the time to do it, and Pierce didn’t get lumped into any of Davis’s sentiment on Telesco.
Adam Schefter appeared on the Pat McAfee Show on Monday and shared a few pointed opinions on Davis and his comments about Telesco and Pierce.
“I think last week when Mark Davis spoke at the owner’s meetings, I think it was pretty apparent that Antonio Pierce’s future is unsettled,” Schefter said. “He was asked about the general manager, the head coach, he said he is viewing them separately, not as a package deal… made it very clear that each guy will be judged independently of one another.”
“He also said ‘I’ll get to everything after the season.’ If the owner is going to stand behind a guy, he stands behind the guy. Mark Davis didn’t stand behind Antonio Pierce,” Schefter continued. “Until he does, I think that’s a question. It’s also a little bit unfair to AP considering all the quarterback drama they have been through. They haven’t had a quarterback this year, and so if that’s what Mark Davis decides to do, well, Antonio Pierce was fighting a fight this year with one hand, at least, tied behind his back.”
The flipside of Schefter’s argument came from The Athletic’s Vic Tafur, who responded to Pat McAfee’s video shown above.
“Raiders have lost 9 straight,” Tafur said on X. “Pierce himself has said he is coaching for his job, and a vote of confidence would have been ill-timed and meaningless. My 2 cents.”
While Pierce has struggled to win games with below-average quarterback play, the first-year head coach has made mistakes of his own. He continues to have issues with clock management and the offensive coaching staff he hired a year ago was arguably the team’s most regrettable offseason decision.
“Coming in, the Raiders fully anticipated [the quarterback position] was Aiden O’Connell’s job, but they promised Gardner, if you beat him out, you can have it. And what happened was both quarterbacks looked terrible under Luke Getsy,” Sports Illustrated insider Hondo Carpenter said on the Las Vegas Raiders Insider podcast earlier this month.
“The hiring of Luke Getsy and all of that offensive stuff totally ruined this franchise’s 2024 season. [It was] a horrible decision,” Carpenter continued. “And now you see Aiden come back after he’s gone five weeks, and bam, he’s in and looking better than old Aiden. Go back and watch what he did last year on Christmas Day compared to what he did on Black Friday. He doesn’t even look like the same quarterback.”
If Pierce manages to hold onto his job after the season, he’ll need to show a plan on the offensive side of the ball that looks a lot better on paper than what the Raiders were able to do this year.
Interim offensive coordinator Scott Turner has moved the Raiders’ offense in a positive direction since Getsy was fired in November, and it was reported on Sunday that Turner is one of Bill Belichick’s top candidates to be his offensive coordinator at the University of North Carolina.
x: @raidersbeat
Maybe it’s unfair for me to compare MD to his dad MR AL DAVIS… i was hoping he would continue the family and Raider family tradition… AL had knowledge of the game and kept the Raiders in California he knew the fan base in California could not be matched anywhere… maybe he should talk and listen to past Raiders from players to gm’s and get back to Raiders football… wish i had the money to buy all the small shares and be majority owner I’d sell the stadium to the A’s even paint it green and yellow move back to California…Man can you imagine how loud home field games would be… a large open no roof stadium BOSS …just like the old days when Bill Graham presents Day on the Green…
I guess Schefter would rather have had Davis lie about his confidence in the HC. The Owner was honest, the press and fans should appreciate that.
I thought in a million years,I’d never say this, but if we aren’t tanking already it’s time to start.
9 points. The Turners are running an offensive juggernaut. Maybe next week the Raiders score 8 points.
Unfair? I’ll tell you what’s unfair, hiring a HC because the players wanted him, who is totally unqualified to be a HC in the NFL. We are a laughingstock of the NFL with no end in site.
Thanks Mark.
Belichick can have Turner, he’s awful.
How about Pierce making a couple bonehead decisions in each game? That’s not fair to the team!
There is definitely a bit of unfairness to AP’s situation. We all know they wanted to draft a QB, and weren’t in position to do so. Injuries to key players, etc.
But it’s time to start evaluating what AP is actually bringing to the table when it comes to the future. He hasn’t distinguished himself from an Xs and Os or gameplanning perspective. Game management is bad. On the plus side, guys are still playing hard, but how much can that be worth when you’re 2-12? It’s devastating to constantly be changing coaches, but is AP the guy to coach the next good Raiders team, whenever that might be?