Las Vegas Raiders Head Coach Antonio Pierce from Final Day of Mandatory Mini-Camp

HENDERSON0N, Nev.—The Las Vegas Raiders have officially completed their first OTA and Mandatory Mini-camps of the 2024 season, and all attention is turning to the NFL Training Camp to be held in Costa Mesa, California.

Under the guidance of head coach Antonio Pierce, the Silver and Black have united as a team, from the coaching staff to the players. Their collective optimism and confidence are soaring, and the bar for their performance, if possible, has been higher.

Coach Antonio Pierce is a genuine and authentic person. He doesn’t hide what he feels, and he is not disingenuous.

It is that authenticity that has endeared him to his team, and fan base. When Pierce stepped to the podium for his post-mandatory mini-camp press conference he was engaging and incredibly insightful.

You can watch the entire press conference below and read the transcript:

Head Coach Antonio Pierce

Q: You're getting ready to break now. Your first offseason as the head coach of the Raiders, got to see this whole process from beginning to the end today. How do you feel everything's gone so far? Coach Pierce: "Productive. I asked the coaches from the jump to put X's and O's to the side a little bit in the offseason as we started up in phase one and two and get to know one another. Coaches on coaches, coaches to players, and then when the players came in, players to players. I wanted to really build that chemistry, that continuity, that trust, accountability, communication that we talked about all offseason. I thought it went well. When we got on the grass, you can see the excitement, the passion, the love, the effort to play the game. I think the best part about the offseason, you're still in school. And in a sense when I say you're in school, you're learning. There's been adjustments that the coaches have come up with. We have new staff obviously on offense. Defensively, we added some new pieces in the coaching staff, a lot of good ideas. And then, you want to put it on the grass and see how it comes out and how it works with the players. And that's the best part about it because now over the next five weeks, as Patrick Graham would say, you get into the lab. Luke [Getsy], you get in the lab, Tom [McMahon], myself we get in the lab, and we make the adjustments necessary for what team we have now. Because when we first started in phase two, we didn't even have a draft. We didn't have the rookie class, we didn't have all these other pieces. And then you put it all together and you see how it starts to gel, and your identity and the look of your team starts to mold into what you want it to be."

Q: We talked to Davante Adams yesterday, and he talked about setting realistic expectations for this time of year in mini camp, but also setting high standards for yourself. What would you say are realistic expectations for this time? And what are the high standards you set for the players? Coach Pierce: "Their expectations are what I talked about, get to know one another, it's about people first. We're in the people stage, because we don't have pads on, we're out there playing seven on seven. The standard never changes. It's to come to this building every day with a smile, with a purpose to be the best version of yourself and to build a team. Because we're going to do that in training camp when we get the pads on even more and more. We get to know about each other physicality wise. But I think we've done a good job of really taking the time and getting to know each other in this building. And I'm not talking about just the first floor, I'm talking about the second floor, the third floor. We've done a lot of things with team bonding. The guys have done a great job of doing things outside the building with one another. And then when we get on the grass, we've competed and done a good job of taking care of one another."

Q: What are some of those team bonding activities that you think have been the most productive or brought you guys the closest together? Coach Pierce: "Probably the one next door. That was interesting to see. Good athletes, right? We've got one percenters of the world playing for the Las Vegas Raiders, but when they go over there and they put on their basketball shoes, some of them need to stick to their day job and keep the cleats on. But it's good to see. We had a skills challenge, we had a three-point contest, a knockout challenge, another shooting competition. Then we played some three on three and saw the real hoopers. We've got some real hoopers on this team and we got some guys that can't hoop, got a lot of guys that probably needs to see Dave and Busters soon. But it was cool to really see these guys compete, get to know one another, mix up the teams, offense, defense, special teams, put all those guys together and just let them go at it with one another."

Q: We talked to a lot of assistants in the last few weeks, and a lot of them mentioned how you've empowered them as assistant coaches to lead their rooms or whatever their responsibility may be. Why was that something that was important for you to do taking over as head coach? Coach Pierce: "Yeah, because I can't do everything. I can't be in every room. Just like right now, we've got meetings going on. I can't be in there. But it really started with our staff, having them present in front of the entire staff different projects, both offense to defense to special teams, getting some of our younger coaches to speak up and talk. As you can see, we hired, I think, a really good staff, and it's a lot of us, 29 coaches to be exact. And there's a lot of knowledge there, and it's a shame if we don't share that knowledge, not just to the coaches but to our players. So, I want to make sure that they know that their voice can be heard, they can speak, but at the same time there's a time and place and everybody knows their role. But I would be a fool not to have the gentlemen that I brought in this building speak and have that empowerment to talk to the players and vice versa."

Q: You did an interesting thing in assembling your staff of older guys with a ton of experience, younger guys with very little. Was that intentional on your part to mix that up the way you did? Coach Pierce: "Yeah, just because of time, technology. You think Marvin Lewis is going to go crazy on that computer and Rob Ryan and Joe Philbin? No. Then you've got some guys that are straight out of college, and some younger guys coming from the college ranks and other places that are really tech savvy. Then you've got guys that has been head coaches, coordinators at different levels and been in different systems. And some systems that we really studied over the last two years prior to me taking over. You look at a guy like Rob Leonard with Baltimore and then Gerald Alexander with Pittsburgh, you're talking about guys that came from organizations and places that played football the right way. And the more intel and people you can grab from those places, the better we are. And more importantly, they're good people. And I think for all of us, and I've talked about it, we always say we've got to coach the players, but coaches need to be coached. And when you have the expertise of a Marvin Lewis, a Joe Philbin, the years of a Rob Ryan - which I'm sure was entertaining conversation yesterday for you guys - how can you pass that up? I'm really excited that they want to be here next to myself and the rest of our staff because they can do other things. Does Marvin Lewis really need to coach? Not really. Joe Philbin, not really. Rob Ryan, I mean they've been in the game 30-plus years, all those gentlemen. So to be in a meeting room and just to hear them talk, and not just always to myself, but to the receiver coach or to our young offensive assistant, whoever it may be, just for them to drop that knowledge is critical. And then you want to see these guys prosper and get opportunities someday to either be in my position, or a coordinator or have their own room."

Q: It's a small sample size, but what have you thought of the quarterbacks in terms of them trying to pick this up and just the just the competition between them? Coach Pierce: "I think they embrace the competition. It's great. I mean, the best part about it, it's a friendly competition. And when I say friendly, we shake hands and kiss babies, but when we go out there, we're trying to both be the guy and you love to see that, and our team sees it. And I said this probably early on in offseason, when you have competition - some people see competition at the quarterback position as like, 'Oh my God, we're scared.' No, I love it. Because the rest of our team, we're looking at them. So what does everybody else on our team have to do? They have to compete. And what we now have is competition throughout our entire roster. There's competition in the running back room. That defensive line room, there are some boys in here, there's some grown men in there that can play football. We're not going to be able to keep all of them. Our linebacker room, our DBs, I mean there's some guys here. Seeing the competition at quarterback has risen the level of competition overall on our team."

Q: How much do you think being a former player, especially at a higher level has really helped you connect with the players? Coach Pierce: "Playing at a high level, I think that gives me the respect and accountability that I can talk to them and they know I'm not BS-ing them. But they also know I'm not going to BS them period as a person. And we talk straight forward, we're direct. There's no gray. We normally say black and white, it's Silver and Black here. And they really do a good job of asking questions. When I'm talking, we get the eye contact, get the head nod. Different people have spoken throughout this offseason. I don't need to wear out the voice. I'm going to be speaking starting July 23 a lot, a lot more. They know my intent. They know my purpose. They know why I'm here and they know I'm here to help them and I'm their biggest fan, but they also know I'm their realest critic. And when it gets real, they're going to hear it direct."

Q: There's been a lot of emphasis on special teams throughout the course of practices and Coach Tom McMahon was pretty fired up about the opportunities. What have you seen so far from that opportunity? Coach Pierce: "Yeah, I'm not doing demonstrations like Coach McMahon, but I really wanted to put an emphasis on that. First of all, we have some really good specialists. Between AJ [Cole] and Daniel [Carlson], I mean we couldn't be more blessed to have those two difference makers there. But obviously, with the new rule, right, it's a learning curve for all of us. We had the officials out here from the National Football League and they were wide-eyed, because nobody's seen this live yet. It looks good in practice, but that first preseason game, I think everybody needs to tune in for the opening kickoff to see what's about to happen, because there's a lot of different variables that could go into it, how it's been officiated, what different special teams coordinators are coming up with ideas. So, I really wanted to emphasize it. But more importantly, we talked about this earlier, the development of this offseason program for me was our younger players and our special teams guy, because that's going to be the core group of our team. You know what Davante [Adams] is going to do, you know what Maxx Crosby is going to do, and Christian Wilkins, but we need to give the guys that are going to make this team on special teams more opportunities to showcase that and give Tom [McMahon] the time to teach."

Q: Adaptation has been a big part of your career, going from Mt. SAC through your journey to the league and then after the league media to coaching at different levels. Where do you get that ability to adapt so easily? Coach Pierce: "Part of my upbringing, just kind of how I grew up and where I grew up at, being an only child, fending for yourself, finding different ways to get out of situations. But more importantly, just having the right people around me. Even when I made bad decisions, you always had that one person that was trying to lead you the right way. And I think my professional career kind of really formed me a lot. When I got to the Washington Commanders, three head coaches, four D-coordinators, four linebacker coaches, four strength and conditioning guys, I mean every year was something new, new language. But that never stopped my number one goal and my number one purpose, to play football and to play at a high level. And then I went to New York and stability, continuity, what it was like to win, what pro football looked like from other pro players, that all that all helped me out. And there have been days like when you have those veterans like I had as a rookie with Darrell Green, Bruce Smith, the Jessie Armstead's of the world, they helped mold me to be the player and to train, to study, to prepare to be a professional football player, and that's something that I really believe in, and that's reflected in our staff."

Q: You've been spending a lot of time with the offense during OTAs and in these last few days of minicamp, and I'm curious, from your vantage point, now seeing the offense being installed and being on that side of the field and being in all those meetings, how that process has gone, literally learning a new system from ground zero? Coach Pierce: "Yeah, this is the good part, because I really do take off my coach's hat and now become a player and how it's being taught, how's it being presented, how's it coming across, are we being repetitive, are we going too fast, are we changing up, are we using all the resources that we have in this building to teach and learn? It's been very good, because I can actually put myself in their shoes. But more importantly, when we have those staff meetings at night or in the morning, things that we talk about and seeing our different assistant coaches talk like we talked about empowering them earlier, I think it has been critical for all of us because having one voice talk all the time installing can get boring. But when you change up and you have a guy like Luke Steckel that comes in here and has got a lot of juice, a lot of energy. And then you get James Cregg and he's all wiry and it's like, 'Goddamn.' So, you bounce the ball, and then you've got Cadillac [Carnell Williams], and he's got that southern drawl and you slow it down. So, now these guys are on their toes, it's not just sitting here getting bored, right? Because at this time of year, again, it's voluntary. So, to see those guys in there and just have that attention span was really critical for me. And obviously, that's why I'm sitting there because I want to make sure we're getting it the right way."

Q: What is your assessment of where the offense is right now in terms of the install? And it seems like there's a little ways to go obviously. Coach Pierce: "Yeah, I mean there is because we've still got training camp. So that's the good part. This is what I would say, and I know it might come up in the other question. I don't think the offense is behind. I think the offense is where every team that has a new offensive coordinator and head coach, is at right now. I don't think I've ever heard a team say, 'Man the offense is way ahead of the defense right now,' in June. It's going to be the opposite. It's always the defense is ahead of the offense. Where I think our guys are doing a good job is Luke Getsy and that offensive staff, they've thrown everything at the guys. They got the playbook. Just asked them today, 'Hey guys, is everything in? Luke is everything in?' And he shook his head, 'Yes, it is AP.' Okay cool. So now that's what we'll use the next five weeks. We'll get together as a staff when we get back in training camp, okay less is more. I live in that world less is more. And who are we? What is our true identity? We'll figure that out more in pads, but I think when you give the volume anywhere, I don't care what offense you're with, it's going to be some ups and down days. It's the learning curve. Do you remember three years ago with us with Patrick Graham? It wasn't pretty. Look where we are at today. So, one of our pillars is process. And I told our guys, 'Don't get frustrated, just trust the process.' And I know it's repetitive, it's a cliche deal, but it's true. Just trust the process. And again, it's on us as coaches to take out the things that we just can't get right. But it's also up to you as players to get it right. To study your playbook, right? To come back July 23 more dialed in and more focused, more of an understanding of what to expect, what the calls are, the vocabulary. That's your job, you're a pro football player. You come prepared come July 23rd. I think you'll see growth as we go to through training camp."

Q: De'Andre Pierce spoke about respect for your career, but the fact that the way you fathered him was what he was proud of. Father's Day coming and your family is so valuable. What does that mean to you? Coach Pierce: "It's cool. I'm fortunate to be an only child. I'm also fortunate I had a lot of children. And when I played, I had De'Andre [Pierce] at 18 years old. So, sophomore year of college, you've got a son, I'm chasing my career goal and there's a lot of things I missed. There's a lot of graduations, performances, practices I couldn't take him too. And I didn't want a chance that when I got older and I finished playing that I missed those again. De'Andre has done a good job throughout his life of high school, playing college football, tried the pros, got into coaching. Listen, the opportunity came up, you put him on the staff, you put him at the bottom of the list, make him do the simple things, the hard things, things he's not comfortable with. He's over there coaching the O-line getting the hell beat out of him by Jackson [Powers[1]Johnson], getting thrown out the club. But the cool part about it and Father's Day coming up and for all our coaches and all the fathers out there, there's nothing like that relationship. As fathers we get beat up a lot. I wasn't a deadbeat dad. I was always there for my son, and I'm proud of where he is. I'm proud of all my children. And I'm just proud of the really the men that we have in this building, because I think we've got some excellent men in his building and Happy Father's Day to everybody going forward."

Q: Yesterday Christian Wilkins spoke about how Maxx Crosby brings up his level of play. I'm wondering how Maxx's gas tank challenges Thayer Munford and what you've seen out of his development with Maxx on the other side of him. Coach Pierce: " That's a great competition every day to go up against Maxx [Crosby] and Christian [Wilkins] over there. If I could just say a little bit on Maxx and Christian, I think the best thing and the greatest thing for the Raiders that we're seeing is two alpha competitors compete in everything. And that just goes back to the question earlier about quarterback competition. These guys are competing in everything, the first one to get off the rock, first one to win the individual drill, first one to run from the jungle gym all the way to field one. I mean everything is a competition. So what is happening with our team? Everybody's following. When I first got here, it was the Maxx Crosby show, fanboy central, waving hands. It was Maxx and then the band. Well, now it's Maxx Crosby - well, you know what? It's the Raiders running across the field. What you're seeing on the other side of the ball is guys competing. Everything I've talked about in every phase one, phase two, phase three, minicamp - competing. When we get to training camp, it's competing. It's Raiders versus Raiders until we get to Week One of the preseason and Week One of the regular season. The Raiders are going to be not the best of friends when we get to training camp, it's not going to be pretty, it's going to be ugly, I'm sure it's going to be violent. And then we'll love one another and we'll do it against somebody else. But Maxx Crosby going against [Thayer] Munford is going to do nothing but make Munford a better player. Every day you're seeing a guy that's coming at it. Munford can't have a bad day, he can't have a bad rep because I'm not slowing Maxx Crosby down, I'm not doing it. I told our staff, I'm not doing it. I'm not going to do it. Munford is going to see that in real life when we go up against other really good defensive ends in the National Football League. So, to get those repetitions each and every day give or take 50-60 snaps per practice. I mean, hopefully that speeds up the development and growth with him and make us a better team."

Q: We already know what Davante Adams can do, it's been documented, but when you look at the rest of that room, how good can that receiver room be for the Raiders this year? Coach Pierce: "There's two guys I'm going to point out and obviously the obvious ones, but one guy really stood out this offseason, Tre Tucker - different dude. He looks different, acts different, runs different, catches the ball different. Don't look at the size, don't mention that. Watch him play. He's the biggest guy out there. He had a hell of an offseason, came back right after the offseason program, the Super Bowl and got in here and started working and was here every day. Blazer, we know about the speed. But everything that we talked about working on, he took that to another level, and you can see the look in his eye of a confident player, of a guy that just wants to constantly get better. He's pushing and the guy that's right next to him, who I get it because you have to Davante and these guys kind of get pushed in the background, Jakobi. Jakobi is that guy. When you say I need a dog, Jakobi is that dog, Jakobi is an alpha, Jakobi is fearless, Jakobi works probably as hard as any player on our team. You saw this last year, his commitment in the run game speaks volumes because he could be easily a 100 reception and 1,000-yard receiver, but it’s all those other things, it's those crack back blocks, it’s those hits on the D-end, the linebacker, getting his nose bloody, rolling up his sleeves, flexing on guys, setting the tone. His energy and presence, he might not say a lot and you guys know him, he's kind of real slick, real slick and slight of words, but when he speaks you better listen because he's got some substance behind him. So, those two guys have really taken a really good jump for us. It's been really good to see because we're not going to win this game with one person. We’ll win this game as a collective group at the wide receiver core, tight end, running back and the quarterback, it’s not just on one guy. And we are going to win or lose by that, and these guys are really bought into the team aspect that it takes all of us to do it. You know, I always talked about our superheroes putting on their capes. I told the guys today, ‘Hey, those superheroes need some other guys to put some more capes on. We need some more capes in that room.’ And it's okay for Big Mike [Michael Mayer] to step up. Brock Bowers, I don't care about a rookie. We're going to go when he's ready to go. Alex Mattison, Zamir White, Ameer [Abdullah]; we got a lot of guys this offseason who have really relished in the role of competing and taking on that that sense of ownership of like I'm not going to wait for something to happen, I'm going to go make it happen. And that's the difference I see in our team overall.”

Q: What's the next step with Zamir White being the guy and what does he have to do to take it to the next level? Coach Pierce: “Well, I think with anything, let’s say he's running back A or B; however you want to look at it, it's just the physical demand of playing that position for 17 games, right? Let's say he's up into 200-300 carries, I don't know, but let's just say it's up there. That's going to be the most he's had in a long time. So, how he takes care of his body, what he does over the next five weeks. You saw when he came in this offseason, he looked right, he's built right, and he's a strong powerful man. But then also just understanding that just because you got the job now that it can't be taken. Alex Mattison, really good football player, and that's how I’m going to keep going about our team. These guys got to step up and it’s just not on Zamir, it’s everybody, and Cadillac [Williams] has done a really good job of really pushing competition, pushing those guys. Hey, listen, if you have a bad play, it’s next man up mentality. So, Zamir understands that, so don't get comfortable. And I think he's done a really good job with that.” Las Vegas Raiders Transcript 6.13.24

Q: How did you get Cadillac Williams on the coaching staff? Coach Pierce: “Yeah, 2005, we played against Cadillac when he was a rookie. Played him several times throughout his career. Interesting, when I was the head coach at [Long Beach] Poly, we did an NFLPA game together. We were on the same staff. Saw him work there, I think it was 2013 or 14. And then just watching college football, saw what happened in Auburn, and to be honest thought he was still there on staff. And then obviously, we was looking at different coaches at that position and I kind of got a text from somebody like, ‘Hey, did you think about Cadillac?’ I was like, ‘He's coaching at Auburn, he's going to get the head coach job.’ I remember something of that nature. We spoke on the phone, and this was a no brainer for me, man. Like, he is a hard worker, he’s a grinder, he’s a gritty guy. Obviously, that backfield he had out of Auburn, he had Brandon Jacobs as a freshman, Ronnie Brown and then Cadillac. And those guys, I mean, they played the game the right way. I mean, they were physical, they were tough. Love ball, gritty guys. And I thought really at that running back room because that room is so unique now National Football League and how it’s being evaluated and the pay scale that you need somebody there that can really just not talk ball with them but talk off the field football with them understanding what it is and the ups and downs of playing running back in National Football League.”

Q: As you cut the players loose this week, what's your message for the expectations you have for them for the next few weeks before training camp? Coach Pierce: “I told them decompress and remove themselves because we did a really good job with attendance this offseason. I said use the next two weeks just like I'm going to do, I'm going to unplug so you don't have WhatsApp, don't hit me up. I said, come that second week of July you need to turn up the heat a little bit. Get that water and that pot start to simmer. But I said one thing we can’t do, is we can’t start over on the 23rd and 24th. We're not going backwards. So, it is on you to come here, and the physical shape is on you to be ready mentally and emotionally. But more importantly, understanding the playbook because we're going forward with whoever can understand the playbook. It's not about draft pick, it's not about money, it’s not about status. We're going with the guys that put in the time and commitment to do what we want to do over the next six months. And that's just to do one thing and one thing only and that is win, and I want winners. Winners never stop working. You can decompress but I didn’t say you can stop working. So, we got to find a way of that, and I just told them when they come back kick in the front door and let's get this bad boy rolling.

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