• Over the past 24 hours, I’ve tried to dig in and figure out just what sort of risk Las Vegas Raiders owner Mark Davis would be taking in simply removing the interim tag from Antonio Pierce’s title, and making him the storied franchise’s next head coach.
Based on the conversations I’ve had, I’d say it would be a moderate one.
The upshot of hiring the 45-year-old former NFL linebacker into the top job would be how he connects with and inspires players, which is no small part of the job. He understands the dynamics of a locker room, and what it takes to lead one, having captained a Super Bowl champion as a player. He also, according to a couple of people working with him, knows what he doesn’t know and, thus, does a nice job of letting his coaches coach.
On the flip side, he’s only coached two seasons in the league, putting him well behind what fellow ex-players Mike Vrabel, DeMeco Ryans, Kevin O’Connell and Dan Campbell had when they got head coaching jobs (only Campbell hadn’t been a coordinator). Also, Pierce doesn’t call the offense or the defense, and he’s leaned on director of football research Matt Sheldon in game management. So there is a fair question on how far just being the motivator-galvanizer can take a head coach. Along those lines, there is the fact, too, that Pierce took over a moving train, and that the circumstances would change in February, March and April, when it comes time to lay a real foundation, and set an organizational structure. The learning curve, in that area, may be steep, though not unsurmountable. So what does Davis do? Some in the organization think Pierce may have won the job with Monday’s win over the Kansas City Chiefs at Arrowhead Stadium. Someone else who knows Davis figured he’d first take a big swing on Jim Harbaugh or Bill Belichick, with Pierce the pick if neither of those work out. Either way, Pierce figures to benefit from some lingering regret I’ve heard Davis has over not giving Rich Bisaccia another year, after the former Raiders special teams coach managed an incredibly difficult finish to the 2021 season (Jon Gruden emails, Henry Ruggs III and Damon Arnette off-field issues, etc.) by getting Vegas to the playoffs, and nearly knocking off the Bengals in the wild-card round. If Pierce gets the job, he’ll need help—and most assume he’d bring in someone such as Marvin Lewis (his ex-Arizona State staffmate, who’s been around the Raiders some this year) in a senior role. The hire would come with some risk for Davis, too. But as it stands right now, there’s plenty of reason to believe it could happen. And there’ll be even more reason to believe it could happen if the Raiders play the next two weeks like they did Monday.
