The Raiders had let Antonio Pierce speak with the media Monday, only to fire him a day later. The team will now shift focus to replacing another coach. Two big names are on the radar. The Raiders sent out interview requests for Lions OC Ben Johnson and DC Aaron Glenn, SI.com’s Albert Breer reports. Another candidate is also likely to receive an interview slip.
Johnson is taking the interview, with Fox Sports’ Jordan Schultz confirming the Detroit play-caller will meet with Las Vegas brass Friday. He is now set to meet virtually with four teams, also being on tap to talk with the Bears, Jaguars and Patriots between Friday and Saturday.
In addition to retaining GM Tom Telesco, the Raiders are set to give Tom Brady a clear voice in this search. That will be an interesting dynamic to monitor, and it also may shape where this search will go. Despite the team firing Josh McDaniels midway through the 2023 season, the Raiders are believed to be interested in another Bill Belichick disciple. The team is expected to pursue Brian Flores, The Athletic’s Dianna Russini tweets.
Counting Rich Bisaccia, Mark Davis has now moved on from four HCs since October 2021. Pierce did receive a longer runway than the Patriots gave Jerod Mayo, as he was Las Vegas’ interim HC for nine games in 2023. But his inexperience showed. It should be expected the Raiders will target a seasoned candidate this time, though without a quarterback answer (and without a top-five pick to acquire one) and after heavy staff turnover this decade, questions loom about this job.
Johnson, 38, having been quite selective in the past will make this an interesting sales pitch on the Raiders’ part; the high-end candidate is again on track to be choosey. The only team on his interview list without a franchise QB hopeful, the Raiders may have a complicated sales pitch to complete.
Glenn, 52, has not been as picky in terms of meetings. Based on Glenn’s docket thus far, a Raiders meeting should be anticipated. Glenn has agreed to meet with four other teams (the Bears, Jaguars, Jets and Saints) this week. The Lions having booked a No. 1 seed means Glenn and Johnson can meet with HC-needy clubs virtually this week, whereas coaches on teams in wild-card matchups must wait until next week for virtual interviews to begin. The Raiders will likely attempt to schedule Glenn and Johnson meetings for this early window.
The Lions have ridden Johnson’s innovative offense to a 15-2 record, building on the climb they made in 2023. Glenn’s unit has stepped up this season. Despite losing Aidan Hutchinson in October, the Lions rank seventh in scoring defense. A fixture on recent HC carousels, Glenn now has real momentum and looks to have his best shot to date at landing a head coaching job.
A Flores pursuit would be quite interesting given his ties to the Patriots. Davis cleaned house on his Patriot Way plan midway through its second season, firing McDaniels and GM Dave Ziegler hours after the 2023 trade deadline. Flores worked with both, with he and McDaniels being part of the Patriots’ coaching staff together across eight seasons. Flores, however, has done plenty since leaving Foxborough. He spent three years as the Dolphins’ HC, a tenure that led to a class-action discrimination lawsuit against the NFL and multiple teams (one that is ongoing).
Flores, 43, has fared well as the Vikings’ DC; the 14-3 team’s defense ranks fifth in scoring. The former three-year Miami HC’s recent work has generated interest from other teams. It should be expected he would take a Raiders meeting — if an interview request eventually surfaces — as he said this week he would honor all interview requests.
Not sold on Johnson nor Glenn. They’ve got great players to work with. Not sure how they’d do with a rebuild. Or having lesser talent. Flores on the other hand I’m intrigued. I feel he may be the right guy for LV. I do like Vrabel too. Offensively for an HC I don’t know. Maybe a defensive minded guy may be right for LV in that division. Flores or Vrabel for me.
Kirk Cousins to Vegas, and the Raiders have something to work with. Playoffs just over the horizon. No chance for success in the playoffs with Cousins but it would make the Raiders competitive in a hurry. I can’t think of a worse personality fit though, timid goodie-two-shoes chartered accountant Kirk Cousins in the Black & Silver. Al Davis would come to haunt the stadium.
Glenn has not generally had great defensive personnel to work with in Detroit, and he just shut down one of the best offenses in football while contending with a whole bunch of injuries.
Shutdown? Or Darnold got exposed? Purdy lit them up the week before with 2nd string players. If they didn’t miss FGs, SF may have won that game.
He had a great season with very few missteps and only one game with a completion percentage under 60 prior to this game. It was far and away his worst game of the year. If no one else really “exposed” him this season, I’m going to go ahead and give a lot of credit to the defense.
The one knock I’ve seen on Darnold, is while he has a great arm and vision, he doesn’t do well under duress. Watching him NOT throw a TD on 1st-4th and goal (twice if I recall) was painful last game. Looking forward to how he does in crunch time in the playoffs.
With the coaches and quarterbacks the Raiders are up against in that division, it is critical that they hit on both.
I highly doubt, as selective as he has been, Ben Johnson is going to have any interest in going to the Raiders. There is very little to work with in Vegas, and I can’t imagine the frequency with which they’ve changed HC is a huge selling point. Whomever is hired will be the fourth HC on Mark Davis’ payroll next season, which is insane.
Not for you to doubt. He will take the interview asthe Raiders have the second highest cap space and 10 picks in the draft so Ben Johnson had a lot to work with. He likes Brady as well
The Patriots have even more cap space and an actual quarterback.
In the division you have seasoned coaches. Coach number 1 is a hall of famer with multiple rings and took another team to the super bowl. Coach number 2 is a super bowl winner. Coach number 3 is a super bowl runner up and a national champon. All three had built those prior organizations from scratch basically.
Team number 4 has to be considered at scratch right now. You have to build the entire thing, not simply replace a few parts. And you’re possibly gonna go with a first timer again.
OK.
I am not sure why Pro Football Rumors is insistent on using Eddie Faulkner’s picture when talking about Brian Flores.