We’ve heard the players in the Raiders locker room talk about how much they want Antonio Pierce to remain their head coach after this season. That carries some weight, but if you think they’re just biased or saying what they’re supposed to say, let’s listen to an outside opinion. Say, a future Hall of Famer.
Former NFL All Pro JJ Watt appeared on the Pat McAfee show Wednesday where he had a lot to say about whether Pierce should have the interim tag taken off in Las Vegas.
“They need to hire AP, by the way. I don’t know why there’s even a question,” said Watt. “I don’t know why there’s anything. Like, AP should absolutely be the coach down there. What is there to contemplate?
“Who would be mad if AP was the coach? Any fans? No. Any players? No. Media? No. Who would be upset if he was the coach?
“The Players are fully bought in and vocally supportive. Every step of the way has been checked. I don’t know what the downside to keeping him would be. Especially when you’ve tried a few different coaches over the last few years and none of them worked out. Let’s say this one doesn’t work out. Everybody was onboard, so… I would rather try the guy that everybody is onboard with and have that fail then try and do something crazy and have that fail and then people would be like ‘why didn’t you just stick with the guy that we all wanted anyway?’ It’s not that hard, man.
“It’s the Raiders. He is like the embodiment of what they want to be as an organization and who they are. He’s such a perfect fit. Just the mentality, the way the fanbase has responded, the Raiders have one of the best fanbases around and they respond very specifically to very specific types of people and AP has embodied everything they want to be as an organization. As a fanbase, Black Hole, all that stuff. He seems to have captured all of that.”
Here is that segment if you’d like to watch it for yourself:
"Antonio Pierce should absolutely be the Head Coach of the Las Vegas Raiders..
It's such a perfect fit and he's everything that the Raiders are about" ~ @JJWatt #PMSLive pic.twitter.com/1IKHWNTM4C
— Pat McAfee (@PatMcAfeeShow) January 10, 2024
It’s tough to argue any of the points Watt makes here. Mark Davis is currently in the process of interviewing General Manager and head coach candidates. We’ll see if arguments like Watt and others have made ultimate resonate with him or if he moves on to what he may view as greener pastures.