The Las Vegas Raiders were one of the teams that had a head coaching vacancy that presented a threat to hire away one of the Detroit Lions coordinators this offseason. That threat is now over.
On Friday, the Raiders hired interim head coach Antonio Pierce to be the full-time head coach going forward. It’s a move that had been championed by the Raiders players, who finished 5-4 under Pierce after starting 3-5 with Josh McDaniels in charge. The Raiders fired McDaniels after a Week 8 loss to the Lions on Monday Night Football.
Pierce is a former Raiders linebacker who meshed well and quickly earned respect in the locker room. In that regard, he’s a lot like Lions head coach Dan Campbell and Texans head coach Demeco Ryans, both of whom are still competing in the postseason.
The Raiders had never formally requested permission to speak with either Lions coordinator, Ben Johnson or Aaron Glenn. They are conducting remote interviews during the scant free time this weekend before the Lions face the Buccaneers.