Maxx Crosby is the latest Las Vegas Raiders star to openly express his support for Antonio Pierce to remain the team’s head coach heading into 2024.
While speaking to reporters this week, Crosby put his stamp of approval on Pierce.
“There’s only 32 [NFL] head coaches in the whole world,” Crosby said Thursday, via Paul Gutierrez of ESPN. “So you’ve got to find a leader of men. And when you’ve got one of them in the building currently, I don’t know why you would let them go.”
Earlier in the week, wide receiver Davante Adams also let it be known that he thinks Pierce should keep his job going into next season.
Pierce took over as interim coach after the Raiders fired Josh McDaniels at the end of October, but if the opinions of Adams and Crosby mean anything, he may be shedding his interim tag sooner rather than later.
Since Pierce began patrolling the sidelines, Las Vegas has gone 4-4. While that record isn’t too impressive by itself, it should be mentioned that the Raiders scored 63 points in a 42-point drubbing of the Los Angeles Chargers several weeks ago and also shocked the Kansas City Chiefs at Arrowhead Stadium on Christmas.
Plus, it’s pretty obvious that the players seem to love Pierce, who had previously been serving as Las Vegas’ linebackers coach.
There has been speculation that the Raiders could pursue University of Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh this offseason, as Harbaugh is said to be angling for an NFL job again. But Las Vegas owner Mark Davis should probably tread carefully and may not want to repeat history.
Two years ago, Rich Bisaccia led the Raiders to the playoffs in an interim role, but Davis decided to go in a different direction that ensuing offseason, hiring McDaniels for the job. The result? Las Vegas went just 6-11 last season and was 3-5 this year before McDaniels was canned.
We’ll see if Maxx Crosby and the rest of the Raiders players can convince Davis to retain Antonio Pierce for the future.
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