Will Antonio Pierce remain coach of the Raiders?

LAS VEGAS — Has Antonio Pierce coached his last game with the Las Vegas Raiders?

Speculation has been brewing for weeks that Pierce, who shed the interim tag after rallying the Silver and Black to a winning record (5-4) last year after taking over for Josh McDaniels, might not be back for 2025 after this season’s struggles.

The Raiders were unable to finish on a high note, losing Sunday to the Los Angeles Chargers, 34-20, at Allegiant Stadium to end their disappointing season at 4-13. Las Vegas will have the No. 6 selection in the 2025 NFL Draft.

When asked in his postgame news conference if he thought he’d be back or deserved to remain the Raiders’ head coach, Pierce said, “No comment.”

He is tentatively scheduled to address the media Monday at the Raiders’ team headquarters in Henderson. Whether that happens remains to be seen.  

In Pierce’s time with the Raiders, the team has had some tough losses and few highlights. Sunday, they celebrated wide receiver Jakobi Meyers eclipsing the 1,000-yard mark for the first time in his career (1,027) while rookie eight end Brock Bowers set an NFL record for most receptions in a season by a rookie with 112. The total is also a Raiders team record for most catches in a single season.

Still, it doesn’t overcome the bad taste this season left in the mouths of Raiders fans everywhere, not to mention owner Mark Davis who was hoping the strong finish in 2023 under Pierce would carry over to 2024.

But that didn’t happen. Too many injuries and too many losses may have Davis looking once again for a change on the sidelines.

With Jerod Mayo lasting just one year in New England and the Patriots likely looking to replace him with former Pats linebacker and Tennessee head coach Mike Vrabel, a potential prized target for the Raiders will likely not be available. Vrabel and Tom Brady were longtime teammates in New England and are good friends. So unless they have some sort of secret agreement in place for Vrabel to join Brady, the Raiders minority owner, here in Vegas, the search for a replacement for Pierce may have to be found elsewhere.

Frankly, unless someone like Detroit offensive coordinator Ben Johnson were to be seriously interested, Davis should not go looking for another new coach. At some point, the revolving door has to stop when it comes to hiring coaches and general managers. The Raiders already changed offensive coordinators during his season, moving on from Luke Getsy for Scott and Norv Turner. Team Turner has done OK given what they have to work with and perhaps that’s enough reason to keep Pierce for now.

Since Davis took over for his father, the late Al Davis in 2011, the Raiders have had nine different head coaches and six different general managers. Stability apparently has no place in the organization’s lexicon.

What chance did Pierce legitimately have to win with Gardner Minshew and Aidan O’Connell as his quarterbacks? They’re serviceable backups but neither is taking you to a Super Bowl.
O’Connell, who was in command for the Raiders’ wins over Jacksonville and New Orleans, threw a costly interception late in the first half that led to the Chargers eventually scoring and taking a 17-10 lead into the locker room at intermission.

In reality, this is going to be on current GM Tom Telesco to find the right QB. Maybe he has to move up in the draft to get Cam Ward of Miami, Fla. Perhaps he tries to trade for one. There has been talk of trying to cut a deal with Minnesota for rookie JJ McCarthy, whose rookie season was derailed by a knee injury in the preseason and subsequent surgery. With Sam Darnold having a great season with the Vikings, perhaps they’d be willing to part ways with McCarthy, though I don’t know what the Raiders thought of the former Michigan star a year ago when he was going in the top 10 (the Vikings took him at No. 10).

Or maybe the Raiders look for their next QB via free agency, though I’m not sure the ideal candidate is out there.

The other issue for Pierce was he never had a healthy team to coach. You can go back to the start of the season when DE Malcolm Koonce was lost to a knee injury before the opener and missed the whole season. Or when Christian Wilkins fell to a broken foot. Or safety Marcus Epps, who tore his ACL. Certainly Maxx Coby’s ankle injury and subsequent surgery impacted the team as did Minshew’s broken collarbone and Zamir White’s injured quad.

When you have that many regulars out (only the Lions had more) and you don’t have the depth to overcome so many absences, how can you expect to have success?

In Pierce’s defense, his team kept playing hard for him, right until the end. He never lost the room. They battled. They scrapped. They just weren’t good enough.

Yes, he is still learning how to be an NFL head coach. He has been surrounded by former successful head coaches like Marvin Lewis and Tom Coughlin that he can look to for mentoring.  He is learning and he is making progress.

But it’s a tough business, a results-driven business. You’ve got to win in the NFL. Honeymoons are very brief. So I could understand if Davis felt he needed to move on from Pierce now, rather than give him one more year to prove he is indeed the right man for the job.

Would Telesco be on board with keeping the coach? Would Brady? Certainly their opinions have been solicited by Davis and at this point you would like to believe he has solicited their input.

But ultimately, this is Davis’ decision. It’s his team. And at some point, he needs to get it right.