The Las Vegas Raiders have announced coaching changes, including Champ Kelly and Antonio Pierce.
Before their Week 9 game against the New York Giants, Mark DavisMark Davis and the Las Vegas Raiders sacked head coach Josh McDaniels and general manager Dave Ziegler, promoting Antonio Pierce and Champ Kelly as interim replacements. This week’s mailbag focuses on it, as well as the Raiders’ future orientation.
Q: What kind of changes can we expect for the remainder of the year? Are we competing or in full development mode?
A: We already know of one huge change, Aidan O’Connell starting over Jimmy Garoppolo, and I think we can expect to see the Pierce-led Raiders make a lot.
I’m anticipating similar moves down the stretch of the season. What I mean is that if the veterans ahead of them struggle, more young players will get greater playing time.
When a new coach takes over, he is more likely to make changes because he is not responsible for bringing in certain players. McDaniels, on the other hand, had to be more patient with players like Garoppolo and the veterans he added in order to justify their inclusion on the roster. Now that Pierce has realized that it hasn’t worked, he’d best give the other guys a chance to see if he can turn things around and land the full-time job.
