The Raiders made an unorthodox hire in January, keeping Antonio Pierce as their head coach despite his lacking of a conventional resume for such a post. Players, most notably Maxx Crosby, stumped for Pierce; nearly a year later, however, he is on the hot seat.
Although it should be noted Pierce does not have too much to work with right now, the Raiders have lost 10 straight and have the inside track on the No. 1 overall pick due to a projected strength of schedule advantage on the 2-12 Giants. Pierce being given the chance to coach said draftee, most likely a quarterback, is far from assured. A recent report had NFL insiders split on the Las Vegas HC’s future; a subsequent offering is a bit more pessimistic.
Some around the league believe the Raiders are giving consideration to making Pierce a one-and-done (as a full-time HC, at least), according to Bovada’s Josina Anderson, who points to Tom Brady having a significant say here. Brady will indeed be heavily involved on the coaching front, per ESPN.com’s Dan Graziano.
It is unusual for a minority owner to have the kind of power Brady appears to now possess in Vegas, as Mark Davis will lean on the recently retired quarterback to lead the effort to fix the team’s signal-caller situation as well. With Brady’s role set to change how the Raiders operate, Anderson adds another interesting piece of this equation by indicating some around the league believe GM Tom Telesco is “separating himself.”
The Raiders hired Telesco shortly after they removed Pierce’s interim tag, and Davis said last week the franchise does not view the two as a package deal. That makes matters interesting, as GMs are typically given longer leashes than HCs. Telesco also has far more experience, having been the Chargers’ GM for more than 10 years.
Before hiring Telesco, Davis spoke of wanting a third power broker to join his team’s head coach and GM, which at that point had not been determined. While not holding a football ops title, Brady appears to be that third power player in Vegas. As such, Telesco’s job description will have changed less than a year into his tenure.
As for Pierce, he said (via the Las Vegas Review-Journal’s Vincent Bonsignore) his conversations with Davis have been positive and alluded to being under contract in 2025 when asked about his job security. Pierce is a historical outlier in terms of coaching paths, having been neither an NFL coordinator nor a college HC before receiving this…