Report: Raiders Opt for Continuity, Pierce Stays on

The honeymoon is over for Antonio Pierce as a head coach in the NFL, but two insiders for The Athletic believe he’ll hold onto his job after the season.

Vic Tafur and Tashan Reed wrote a column on Thursday and offered five predictions for the second half of the season.

Most of their predictions weren’t giant leaps, but their confidence in Pierce might be a little more than most have at the moment.

Here’s what Tafur and Reed wrote about Pierce and his standing with Raiders owner Mark Davis…

“As the Raiders’ season has gone off the rails, speculation about Pierce’s job security has intensified. His in-game decision-making has been heavily criticized, and the coaching staff hasn’t been able to find any consistent success. But owner Mark Davis isn’t itching to make his third coaching change in three years. He hoped the Raiders would be more competitive, but he knew Pierce was inexperienced and would endure growing pains…

Pierce maintains a strong hold on the locker room. Two of his most ardent supporters during his nine-game tenure as interim coach last season — Davante Adams (publicly at least) and Josh Jacobs — play for other teams now, but defensive end Maxx Crosby and many other players who were on the team last year remain.

Also, the Raiders have been battered by injuries. Four starters are on injured reserve — O’Connell, defensive tackle Christian Wilkins, defensive end Malcolm Koonce and safety Marcus Epps — and multiple others have missed significant time. This was already a thin roster, and they don’t have the depth to account for those absences.

Davis is trying to be patient with Pierce. He still wants to see improvement this year — as evidenced by the recent firings — but it would take a disastrous finish to the season for Pierce to get canned after Year 1.”

For what it’s worth, the biggest challenge facing Pierce and his coaching staff after the season might be the addition of Tom Brady.

Davis would probably like to give Pierce another year, but some believe Brady is going to want one of his own guys on the sideline.

Bill Belichick has been mentioned as a potential head coaching option for the Raiders, but former Titans HC Mike Vrabel might be the more realistic option. Belichick is 72 years-old and Vrabel is probably going to get as much interest (or even more) from teams looking for a head coach after the season.

As far as Tafur and Reed predicting Pierce will keep his job, it was a fun exercise but everyone knows the second half of the season is going to determine Pierce’s fate.

Another strong finish and ownership won’t have any choice but to keep him.

But if the second half of the season looks anything like the first half, it could be another adventurous offseason coming for the Raiders.