Getty Mark Davis, Raiders owner
It was a player mutiny that, ultimately, led the Raiders’ Mark Davis to fire head coach Josh McDaniels. And it could be another mutiny in Las Vegas that forces Mark Davis to keep Antonio Pierce.
That’s the assessment from SI.com Raiders reporter Hondo Carpenter in his latest podcast looking at potential head coaches to take over the job for next season. Pierce has coached four games now for the Raiders, and while he was able to notch home wins in the team’s first two outings, against the lowly Giants and Jets, the Raiders dropped two in a row, to the Dolphins in Miami and the Chiefs in Kansas City.
The Raiders are on their bye week, now at 5-7 on the season with five games to play. If there is a strong finish—presumably 3-2 or better—Carpenter said it can be expected that players will want Pierce to stay.
“If things continue the way they are and Mark Davis doesn’t hire him, he’s gonna have a mutiny, if they continue the way they are,” Carpenter said.
As for the notion that Pierce is too player-friendly for the Raiders going forward, Carpenter pushed back: “Did you not just see him throw (Roderic) Teamer and (Marcus) Peters off? Did you not see him bench Peters? He is the rare coach who is a players coach and disciplinarian. They know. They love AP. The know, he ain’t playing.
Raiders’ Mark Davis ‘Trusts’ Jon Gruden
There were several potential candidates for the Raiders’ Mark Davis to consider beyond Antonio Pierce—10 in all—which included the likes of USC coach Lincoln Riley, offensive coordinators Ben Johnson (of Detroit) and Frank Smith (of Miami) as well as former Raiders interim coach Rich Bisaccia, who replaced Jon Gruden when Gruden was let go after racist, sexist and homophobic emails Gruden had sent while working for ESPN were released in 2021.
Most notable, though, was Gruden himself, whose lawsuit against the NFL concerning his termination is still lingering in the Nevada Supreme Court and will be taken up again next month.
“There are a lot of people who feel that Mark Davis, more than Tom Brady and Jim Gray, the person he trusts the most is Jon Gruden, and would love to bring him back,” Carpenter said. “And I am hearing from multiple people around the league that if Jon were willing to drop his lawsuit, that they believe the NFL would give a passive nod to go back and re-hire him.”
Antonio Pierce Knows He’s on the Clock
As for Antonio Pierce, he is widely liked by players and by Mark Davis, which gives him a leg up on the job. Mutiny might be too strong a word—the players are under contracts, mostly for seven or eight figures per year—but it is possible that stars like Maxx Crosby and Davante Adams could use the threat of trade requests to influence the hiring process. Both have spoken of their appreciation for Pierce.
Pierce addressed his situation this week before the bye.
“Each and every game you get better, right?” Pierce told reporters. “Hopefully. Some people say you’re getting worse. That’s cool. Everybody got an opinion. You know what that is. But for me, overall, it’s just understanding how we operate. Working with Pat [Patrick Graham], working with Tom [McMahon], being side by side with Bo [Hardegree], working with Matt Sheldon with the game management. That takes time.
“And I get it. I’m racing time now, right? The clock is ticking, right? It’s almost over. I get it. But the best part about it, I know whenever this is over, I’ve gotten better. It will be a better AP whenever that happens. So, I’m fine with that.”