It looks like Mark Davis has his man.
This time his man was already in the building.
Per reports, Antonio Pierce will be the Las Vegas Raiders next head coach.
Pierce took over on an interim basis when Davis let Josh McDaniels go.
Pierce led the Raiders to a 5-4 record including a win over the Kansas City Chiefs.
On paper, it looks like a good hire. The players were supportive of the hire which is an indication that Pierce had already started building a culture.
Pierce is also smart enough to ask for help. It was reported throughout his term as the interim coach, that Pierce was consulting Tom Coughlin.
Pro Football Talk reported that Pierce will continue to consult Coughlin until he puts together a staff.
Unlike McDaniels, Pierce seems to be more of a blank slate giving him room to grow and adjust as he gets more experience as a head coach.
Davis and the Raiders still need to hire a general manager but it should work out better than it did last time when McDaniels got to bring in his own general manager (Dave Ziegler) in the name of synergy. Some of the best front office/coach relationship has come when the two positions work together to develop a roster as opposed to a single voice for two positions.
All of this is the easy part.
The hardest part for Pierce and the Raiders will be finding a quarterback. It’s hard to win in today’s NFL without one.
Las Vegas selects 13th in the upcoming draft. That will take all of the top quarterbacks away. Will the Raiders call Chicago about Justin Fields’ availability? Will they take a look at Kirk Cousins?
The Raiders will also need to determine what to do with Josh Jacobs after the previous regime botched how they handled Jacobs’ deal.
But first things first, the Raiders needed to determine who would be their next head coach and if you ask the locker room, Davis got it right.
