NFL executives aren't fans of the Raiders hiring Antonio Pierce as head coach

It feels like the dust has finally settled on one of the craziest head coaching cycles in recent memory. Guys like Bill Belichick, Jim Harbaugh, Mike Vrabel, Dan Quinn, and Pete Carroll were all on the move this offseason, with some landing jobs and others, uh, not.

With all 32 head coaches for 2024 now in place, The Athletic polled a group of league executives about who made the best hire. Spoiler alert: teams aren't super in on the Raiders plan. Here's what they had to say:

NFL executives aren't fans of the Raiders hiring Antonio Pierce as head coach

"Dave Canales and Antonio Pierce were the only new hires who didn’t receive any votes ... Pierce was promoted after serving as the interim coach following Josh McDaniels’ midseason firing. The Las Vegas Raiders were 5-4 under Pierce, who was a popular leader with the players who publicly pined for him to get the job.

As is the case with new hires every year, optimism spreads throughout the building as the coaches’ positive traits are highlighted and cited as the reasons why they all got their jobs. Eventually, flaws will be exposed, and the coaches’ ability to adjust will be a true determiner of their successes or failures in these positions. History has proven most won’t work out."

Not getting a single vote is a tough look, but at least he wasn't alone in that. And yeah, it seems like the approval of the players in the locker room would be more important than the approval of league executives, a lot of whom may not even be running – or even employed – by teams anymore, but that's another conversation for another day. It seems like "literally no one believes in us" is exactly the type of message that Pierce and the Raiders would love to operate under once the 2024 season kicks off, and now they have it.

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