After being named permanent head coach of the Las Vegas Raiders, Antonio Pierce received some notable congratulatory messages on social media.
Earlier in the day, there were multiple reports that the Raiders planned to hire Pierce full-time after he spent weeks of the season as interim head coach in Las Vegas after former head coach Josh McDaniels was fired.
Pierce led the team to a 5-4 record after taking over and was supported by multiple players in the Raiders locker room after positively changing the team culture.
The Raiders officially announced Pierce’s hiring with a video of him sitting behind the head coach’s desk, looking directly into the camera and saying, “Raider nation stand up,” with a smile on his face. The message also included the words ‘Intermediate Head Coach Antonio Pierce’ with the line intended to indicate the passing of the intermediate tag.
Colorado Buffaloes head football coach and NFL legend Deion Sanders tweeted his congratulations to Pierce when he said, “God Bless @Raiders HeadCoach Antonio Pierce!!!! Wow God is good. All he needed was opportunities. Thank you to all the @Raiders players, fans and Faithful for supporting my brother.
Deion Sanders and Maxx Crosby offered congratulations to Antonio Pierce
Pierce was officially named permanent head coach of the Las Vegas Raiders on Friday
Raiders superstar defensive end Maxx Crosby, the Raiders player who has publicly expressed support, was also quick to give his approval of the team’s decision.
‘Let’s work!!’ Crosby tweeted Friday afternoon.
Crosby recently threw his support behind the team hiring Pierce as its permanent head coach several times, the first of which was a tweet he sent that read “#HireAp.”
The 26-year-old edge rusher’s tweet came in response to a report that Pierce was set to interview with the Tennessee Titans for their vacant head coaching position as a potential replacement for the recently fired Mike Vrabel.
Not long after, reports from NFL Network stated that Crosby would likely request a trade if the Raiders decided to hire a coach other than Pierce.
The reports came after Crosby took to his podcast and said, “I want to be a Raider… but if we go in a different direction, nothing is off the table.”
Sanders and Crosby both sent their messages to Pierce by mail to their X accounts
Crosby previously tweeted “#HireAP” following the news that Pierce was in the mix for the Titans
Crosby also recently underwent knee surgery to resolve a bursa issue that had been bothering him since Week 2 of the season and will also undergo another surgery this season due to an issue with his thumb.
Despite playing through the different feeds throughout the season, Crosby finished the season with a league-high 90 tackles, 23 tackles for loss and a career-high 14.5 sacks, having played in all 17 games.
He also recorded two forced fumbles, two passes defended and one fumble recovery.
Crosby is expected to recover from his surgeries and be ready by the time next season rolls around, although the question remains who his head coach will be.