Recently, I started a series evaluating each head coach in their first year. I wrote an article last year when eight coaches were initially hired, and it’s good to look back on this list and re-rank them. I have ranked, now former, Patriots head coach Jerod Mayo 8th, and dead last, on that list. It’s obvious with how his tenure ended, which brings me to the next person on the list.

As much as I do not want to, Antonio Pierce is 7th on this list. As you’ll see below, I was very high on Pierce after he was the interim coach and went 5-4 last year after taking over for Josh McDaniels.

Here is how we evaluated Antonio Pierce last year when the Las Vegas Raiders took the interim tag away and made him the full-time head coach.

Since this article, Pierce lost Josh Jacobs in free agency, Davante Adams midseason in a trade, and Maxx Crosby to injury. And after starting the season 2-2, ten consecutive losses and quarterback instability took a toll on this franchise, and ultimately cost Pierce his job.

Losing three significant pieces to your roster, Antonio Pierce had an uphill battle. Offensively, losing your best running back and receiver is no scenario any head coach wants, especially in your first way. Jacobs and Adams combined for 2,245 scrimmage yards and 14 touchdowns in 2023 and 41% of the team’s first downs. Whenever you lose that production, it is hard to recover. That’s evident with ranking dead last in the NFL in rushing yards, with leading rusher Alexander Mattison totaling 420 yards on the ground.

When you lose that production and don’t have a consistent starter at quarterback, it makes the job that more difficult. Gardner Minshew played in 10 games, Aiden O’Connell in 9, and Desmond Ridder took snaps in 6. To remind you, the NFL is only a 17-game season. The three quarterbacks combined for 4,083 yards, 19 touchdowns, and 16 interceptions on 64.5% completions. Many of these yards came in garbage time or trying to come back from a deficit in the second half.

Antonio Pierce is a defensive-minded head coach, so he probably wasn’t happy about the defense not bailing his offense out in games. 25.5 PPG allowed on defense is tied for the 7th-worst in the NFL. Nine of their 13 losses came by double digits. Six of those games came when the defense allowed 30 points or more to the opposing offense. What’s worse than losing those close games? Not even being in the game.

But what about the schedule ahead of them? This is not in the team’s control, you play who you play, and you could argue Antonio Pierce’s luck of the draw wasn’t fair to him.

Ten of the Raiders’ 13 losses came in a consecutive string that brought agony upon a fanbase. In that 10-game losing streak, seven of those games were to playoff teams, including the Broncos twice and the Chiefs twice, taking losses to the defending Super Bowl Champions in one-score games. Their other three losses came to the Bengals and Falcons, who barely missed the playoffs, and the Miami Dolphins to a healthy Tua Tagovailoa on the East Coast. You could stick up for Pierce, with that brutal of a schedule and the roster around him, he deserved one more season.

Therefore, I re-rank Antonio Pierce 7th on my list.

RE – RANKING:

8) Jerod Mayo

7) Antonio Pierce

6) TBD

5) TBD

4) TBD

3) TBD

2) TBD

1) TBD

Stay tuned for the next installment of this series, re-ranking the first-year head coaches after a season under their belt.