Raiders' Adams Talks Importance of a Players' Coach

Las Vegas Raiders wide receiver Davante Adams believes it was Coach Antonio Pierce who brought the best out of the team last season.

Despite missing the postseason, there was no doubt a switch flipped in the Las Vegas Raiders when Coach Antonio Pierce took the helm last season.

Under Pierce, the Raiders managed to defeat all three of their divisional rivals, including a 63-point outing against the Los Angeles Chargers and an upset win over the eventual Super Bowl champions, the Kansas City Chiefs, on Christmas Day. During that nine-game stretch with Pierce as interim head coach, some players discovered a new gear.

Raiders star wide receiver Davante Adams discussed Pierce's effect when he joined the latest edition of "The Shop."

"Sometimes, in order for the team, the set players that you have in the locker room, to realize and fulfill their full potential, you need somebody that they are willing to play for," Adams said. "You know what I mean? You see a difference.

"And I love Josh McDaniels. I, personally, I was an advocate for him the whole time. And obviously, it came to a point where it was clear a change needed to be made, similar to the Patriots' situation. But I always backed him.

"But it was just different once we had made the change and AP was in there, having a guy that -- you don't necessarily have to had played the game -- but having played the game, you can kind of understand it different and you can sympathize with the players. The way you talk to them, whether it's the verbiage or the understanding that you approach your players with, you've seen that with AP immediately. So, when you have guys that have lived it a little bit, you can unlock a little bit of something with a few players.

"Where you think that you need a new end or a middle backer, whereas you might need a new coach in there that can really make that guy really do what he's supposed to do to play like the player he's supposed to be. And then that happened with a lot of guys. You thought that we needed to fill some gaps on defense -- and maybe we could have in a few spots -- but a couple guys started showing up out of nowhere, and we looked like one of the best defenses in the league.

The NFL Draft will be held in Detroit, Mich., on April 25-27, 2024. The Las Vegas Raiders currently have the No. 13 overall pick.

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