Antonio Pierce certainly has not enjoyed too much of a chance to impress as Raiders HC. Although the Raiders coach said (via The Athletic’s Vic Tafur) Aidan O’Connell can be an NFL starting quarterback, the team did not equip its inexperienced sideline leader with much at the game’s premier position. Unsurprisingly, the team hovers near the top of the 2025 draft order.
The past two offseasons also brought Sean Payton and Jim Harbaugh into the Raiders’ division, one that has been ruled by the Andy Reid–Patrick Mahomes tandem for man years. Without a quarterback or a proven coach, the Raiders are significantly lacking as the 2024 season winds down. A pivotal offseason looms, and Pierce has been under the microscope for a while now.
Despite players stumping for the team’s 2023 interim leader — to the point Maxx Crosby threatened a trade request — Pierce has the Raiders at 4-12. Even with the team having won its past two games, the general expectation around the league is for the Raiders to move on after Week 18, ESPN.com’s Jeremy Fowler notes. The Raiders did not conduct a thorough coaching search before bumping Pierce up to the full-time post; it would stand to reason the team would be ready to do so if/when it fires the former Super Bowl-winning linebacker.
Pierce has not inspired too much confidence in his first season as a full-timer. He also took a historically unusual route to a full-time gig, having no experience as an NFL coordinator or college head coach. Concerns about how Pierce assembled his staff — which has already seen an OC change, with Luke Getsy being fired midseason — also came out during this disappointing season.
Minority owner Tom Brady is expected to play a key role in the Raiders’ quarterback search, and if Pierce is canned, the legendary QB-turned-announcer would be a central figure in the team’s effort to replace him. It is quite unusual for a minority owner to possess this much power, but Brady is certainly a special case due to his standing in the game. However, the new part-owner is not believed to be ready for a regular day-to-day role with the Raiders, Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer notes. He also will be on FOX’s Super Bowl broadcast as the lead analyst, complicating his part in a Raiders HC search — should one take shape.
A Brady-Mike Vrabel connection surfaced this week, and it would seem likely the former Titans HC takes a meeting with the franchise. Though, the Raiders having fired McDaniels — whom Vrabel has remained close with, to the point the unemployed coach has been mentioned as a potential Vrabel OC — may complicate matters for an in-demand candidate. Vrabel met with the Jets today and is believed to be interested in the Patriots’ job, should it become available.
Having gone 5-4 as an interim coach, Pierce drew interest from multiple teams last January. The Titans interviewed him, and the Falcons submitted a request. The 46-year-old HC’s stock has dipped a bit, but it would be rather interesting if Davis bailed on a coach one year in after firing McDaniels 1 1/2 seasons in. Pierce and McDaniels now have equal 9-16 records as Raiders HCs.
While Pierce is not a lock to be fired, it says plenty about his standing and the Raiders’ descent he is already being mentioned so frequently in firing rumors. This is a situation to monitor as Black Monday nears.
There was a weird period of a few years where some interim HC’s kept their jobs and did well, but it’s reverted back to the mean.
Don’t hire a guy because they have a nice run once the pressure is off.
I love that Maxx Crosby threatened to demand a trade if they didn’t hire Pierce full time and now he’s going to demand a trade because Pierce is terrible.
I don’t know if we can blame Pierce for O’Connell being awful. He wasn’t good without him, either. Simply being young does not equivocate you being promising, which is something that the football world sometimes forgets.
That said, the sheer effect that constant turnover has is going to affect the Raiders. Whether Pierce should go or not is perhaps a question that Vegas does not have the luxury of answering this off-season if Davis cannot pay all four of his recent hires. What it really comes down to, or what it should come down to, is what the plan is going forward. Telesco is the GM. He should be the person to come up with that plan. Whatever his strengths or weaknesses are, he is the person entrusted with that responsibility. If Telesco has a path forward in mind, with a desired direction in both coaching and roster acquisition, he should be allowed to pursue that.
Bringing Brady in on a sweetheart deal to control the direction of the franchise (while he somehow calls games for his competitors, which was only allowed due to his supposed “hands-off” role) while your recently hired GM waits on instruction just seems destined for failure. Brady is coming in with zero front office experience, and while he’s got the obvious advantages of having won as an influential player, he’s never done anything like this before. Davis just looks…well, desperate in doing it this way. Telesco should get to head this search, or he needs to be fired so that Davis can pick another GM to figure out a path forward himself. The GM should be doing this search, not the new minority owner.
I agree, I don’t understand the fascination with O’Connell. Just because the organization likes him and Davante Adams called him talented doesn’t mean he’s a franchise QB. He’s not even a top backup. He’ll be out of the league in 5 years, probably.
I take you dont watch much Raider football. Aidan is an upper tier back up in the NFL. He can win you games if your QB is out for a few weeks. Guys like Josh Dobbs, Brandon Allen, Josh Johnson, Mason Rudolph etc. All have been in the league longer than 5 years and Aidan is far better than them as a back up. Hes already proven that
No, he’s not. Not even close.
Josh Johnson Career 9 NFL seasons 2297 yds 13 TDs vs 16 INTs
(44 games)
Mason Rudolph Career 5 NFL Seasons 4545 yds 28 TDs vs 20 INTS
(28 games)
Colt McCoy Career 12 NFL seasons 7975 yds 34 TDs vs 32 INTs
(56 games)
Aidan Career 2 NFL seasons 3616 yds 18 TDs vs 10 INTs
(19 games)
You said AIdan would be “out of the league” in 5 years.” No he wont not even close” especially when guys liked I noted were in the league. Hes already better than Colt McCoy as a backup and colt lasted 12 seasons.
62.1 completion % in this era of football is not the sign of a top backup, especially when he has Bowers and Meyers. That’s 36th of 43 qualified QBs.
I don’t look at completion %. You’re cherry picking. I look at a back up this way. Can he go 2-2 if my starter is out for a month. With Aidan you can. There aren’t many back ups in the NFL that are capable. Aidan is capable and will last more than 5 NFL seasons.
To add Im a Raider fan but I’m not one of those fans sold on Aidan as the franchise. He is however a very capable back up. To not see that is odd to me as a football fan.
You also can’t blame AOC for Pierce not knowing how to coach.
Never did, and I don’t plan to. That wasn’t my main point, anyway.
He’s already gone.
Photo caption: “Tom Brady trying to look as cool as Tom Cruise with sunglasses and failing miserably”
AP might be retained as the team has many areas that need better players and Telesco has only had a single draft to obtain talent.
Either move, firing or keeping, shouldn’t surprise.
Mark Davis and the Raiders actually worked out a contract settlement about 40 days after Jon Gruden resigned. Mark Davis is not still paying Jon Gruden.
If you actually read the verbiage here there is no commitment, only speculation. For instance, “Tom Brady is expected to play” and all of the links direct the reader to other Sam Robinson articles here. This is nothing but PFR click bait.
Agreed, such a nothing article trying to stir the pot.
How many ‘man’ hours did this take you Sam?
Settlements are often paid over time. We don’t know here if the payment was lump sum or over time. And even if it was a lump sum there’s a good chance the Raiders took out a loan to make the payment–a loan they are still paying. So no matter what, the Raiders are paying a financial penalty in 2025 for Gruden’s departure.
One of the finer and overlooked points here was where the other division coaches were mentioned. The young upstart crap has to stop and you’re gonna have to go with a former but not too distant Super Bowl winner to compete with those other winners. I’m not gonna name names bc that just takes the thread off the rails with people spazzing at whoever you suggest but the whole hot list coordinator thing isn’t gonna cut it. And Brady should be involved in an advisory role regarding the quarterbacks available, and take that in conjunction with the scouts on the other side of the table, and take a consensus to ownership and GM to make a decision. O’Connell isn’t good enough, you’ve got to aim higher in that division.
Vrable should be the Patriots HC rn
He got DEI’d