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Though the Las Vegas Raiders just fired head coach Josh McDaniels, there’s already plenty of speculation about who could take over. There will be no shortage of interesting candidates but one name to keep an eye on may be Colorado head coach Deion Sanders.
CBS Sports’ Pete Prisco made the case for why the Raiders should consider hiring the Hall of Famer.
“I’ll throw a name out there, ready? Prime Time,” Pete Prisco said on the November 1 episode of CBS Sports HQ. “How about Deion Sanders? He could be an NFL head coach. It’s not that complicated. It’s football. It really isn’t. Yes, manage men. Manage your staff. Allow your coaches to coach and be good in game situations. That’s a problem for a lot of coaches in this league.”
The Colorado hype has died down with some tough losses but Sanders inherited a team that went 1-11 last season and has them at 4-4. It remains to be seen how great of a head coach Sanders is but there’s no denying he’s a great motivator and players want to play for him. Hiring him would be a huge move for Raiders owner Mark Davis to make.
Why Deion Sanders Is Interesting
Hiring Deion Sanders to be the next Raiders head coach would be a massive risk. He’s never coached at the NFL level. However, there are a few ways it could work. Sanders is a superstar and carries himself like one. Las Vegas is a perfect city for him to be in and he drives fans to the stadium, which is something the Raiders have struggled to do.
That said, he’s not going to be a great play caller or outscheme other coaches. He would need to be surrounded by very good offensive and defensive coordinators. He has the charisma and star power to drive top coaches to work for him.
Pairing him with a great general manager would also be important as Sanders has no experience with personnel at the NFL level. What he does better than just about anybody is get his players fired up to play. He’s a great motivator and also knows how to keep players and coaches accountable. He’d be a risky hire but sometimes it takes a big swing for a franchise that hasn’t won a playoff game in two decades to turn things around.
Mark Davis Giving Antonio Pierce a Fair Chance
While there will no doubt be many coaches linked to the Raiders job in the coming months, Mark Davis isn’t going to be close-minded to interim head coach Antionio Pierce. He made it clear that Pierce has a real shot at keeping the job long-term.
“This time, I don’t really have anybody in mind that would potentially prejudice my thinking, so to speak,” Davis said in a November 1 interview with The Athletic’s Tashan Reed. “My thought process is wide open. And there’s a very good chance that the head coach and general manager that we have right now may end up getting the jobs.”
What works against Pierce is that he has less than two years of coaching at the NFL level and has only been a head coach at the high school level. However, he’s got nine games left in the regular season to prove that he deserves the job.
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