Graney: Should inmates be running the asylum in Raiders coaching search?

They have spoken loud and clear, their support of Antonio Pierce as the next coach of the Raiders more obvious than Maxx Crosby’s love of tattoos.

Players have stood united. They want Pierce. Team leaders have made such a desire clear to owner Mark Davis.

Who should listen intently and take such opinions to heart.

And then do what he believes is best for the organization, whether that’s promoting Pierce from his interim tag or going in a different direction.

Davis must have the ultimate call. It’s his team. And while such decisions about who best to coach the Raiders under his watch have hardly worked for what seems like forever, it’s his responsibility to get things right.

Um, now would be a good time.

Players know Pierce

It’s not to say Davis shouldn’t take his players’ wishes under serious consideration. They’re the ones who worked under Pierce for the final nine games of the season.

The ones who saw how he inspired a locker room, changed a culture, brought life to a place that was void of it those final days and weeks when Josh McDaniels was coach.

The ones who bought in from the moment Pierce assumed control.

All the stuff, Pierce will remind you, he talks about daily: chemistry, accountability, pride, poise, passion.

Davis needs to take notice when Crosby tweets #HireAP. He needs to hear such statements as the ones his star edge rusher made on his podcast.

“Nothing is off the table,” Crosby said when asked what he would think if Pierce wasn’t promoted. “I’d have to consider everything. Clearly, I’ve made it loud and clear I want to be a Raider for life. I want to be here. I want to win here. I want to retire here. But if you go and start from scratch again, I have to consider everything.”

If that’s his way of saying, as many have surmised and reported, that Crosby would consider demanding a trade without Pierce as coach, Davis needs to think long and hard about it.

And then make what he believes is the best decision for his organization.

He needs to listen to what star wide receiver Davante Adams said at one of his weekly news conferences: “(Pierce) is obviously who I want. That’s my vote, and I’ve been vocal about that, and that’s basically how the whole locker room feels with good reason. He’s come in and done a great job, and it’s continued to win us over. It’s not just the comfortable thing. I think having AP here would be good for this organization.”

And then Davis needs to make what he believes is the best decision for his organization.

Pierce more and more appears the favorite to become the full-time coach. So maybe, in the end, players get what and who they want. Odds heavily favorite it right now.

But they can’t and shouldn’t have final say. They need to be a big part of the process. They need to be heard and respected. But this has to be a Davis decision, no matter how poorly previous ones have proven. It’s his team. It’s on him.

Pen to paper

For his part, Pierce is well aware of how players feel about him. He’s just not counting on anything until it becomes official.

“Yeah, it’s still not until it’s final, until we put pen to paper,” Pierce said the day after his team’s final game. “I really know where everybody stands in this building, I don’t need to express it. They’ve expressed it. That’s up to them. They know where I want to be. Hopefully, they’ve seen the hard work and the effort that I put in to try to make this the best organization it can be in the National Football League.

“Everybody’s going to have an opinion. I can just control what AP can control, and that’s being the best interim head coach I can be until otherwise.”

Players have stood united. They want Pierce.

Now it’s up to Mark Davis. As it should be.

Ed Graney, a Sigma Delta Chi Award winner for sports column writing, can be reached at egraney@reviewjournal.com. He can be heard on “The Press Box,” ESPN Radio 100.9 FM and 1100 AM, from 7 to 10 a.m. Monday through Friday. Follow @edgraney on X.