Report: Raiders GM "Separating Himself" Behind the Scenes

The Raiders have lost 10 games in a row and rumblings are starting to pick up that head coach Antonio Pierce might be nearing the end of his run in Las Vegas.

“Sources I’ve talked to are torn on the Raiders,” ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler said last week. “There is a feeling in some league circles that the job could come open, in part because the team cut a shorter-term deal with Pierce, their once-interim coach. And the Raiders need updates to several parts of their football operation. But Pierce inherited one of the league’s worst quarterback situations and suffered a rash of injuries, so a one-and-done would be severe.”

Since Fowler’s report, the Raiders turned in an uninspiring 15-9 loss to the Falcons on Monday night and it feels like anything that can go wrong for Pierce has been going wrong for Pierce this year.

If he chose to use them, Pierce certainly has reasonable excuses for the failed season, but there might be a limit to how much losing owner Mark Davis will be willing to tolerate, regardless of the situations around the season.

Every indication has been that Pierce and GM Tom Telesco have been in lockstep throughout their short tenure together, but Davis said last week that Telesco and Pierce will be evaluated separately at the end of the season.

“They didn’t come in as a team,” Davis said about Pierce and Telesco during the owners’ meetings last week. “They are individuals.”

Davis also talked about Telesco having a hand in choosing the next quarterback but said nothing about Pierce having influence in the decision.

Additionally, a Tuesday report from NFL insider Josina Anderson suggested Telesco is starting to distance himself from Pierce in some capacity.

“As tough as it is to hear, there are league sources who believe based on their own high-level back-table conversations that the Raiders are currently entertaining the idea of getting a new head coach, while general manager Tom Telesco is simultaneously separating himself behind the scenes,” Anderson reported this week at Bovada.

While Brady will be involved in the process of finding a new quarterback, it would be naive to believe he won’t have a voice in the decision on Pierce.

A Pro Football Post report in November indicated that Pierce was not Brady’s first choice to coach the Raiders last year, and it’s fair to wonder if Brady has someone else in mind to replace him already.

The same report from Pro Football Post said that Pierce’s job is not safe and that there was a “growing expectation” in league circles that Mike Vrabel could be the Raiders next head coach.

Answers are coming soon, but first, Raider fans will have to suffer through the final three games of the regular season.

The fan base has been torn on how to root for the team, but it’s become clear that the best-case scenario for the Raiders is to finish the season with the highest draft pick possible.