Raiders hire Antonio Pierce as head coach: Best memes and tweets

It was abundantly clear in the second half of the season that the Las Vegas Raiders stumbled onto something special with interim head coach Antonio Pierce. In the wake of Josh McDaniels and Dave Ziegler being relieved of their duties, Pierce went 5-4 as the Silver and Black's interim head coach. He quickly got complete buy-in from the locker room and quickly established trust within the fanbase.

This is a great day for Raider Nation, as Las Vegas is righting a wrong made only two offseasons ago. The Raiders also may have had something special with another former interim head coach of theirs in Rich Bisaccia. He helped the 2021 Raiders make the AFC playoffs in the aftermath of the Jon Gruden scandal. Bisaccia was not retained and owner Mark Davis foolishly hired McDaniels instead of him.

While the Raiders could have gone big-game hunting for someone like Jim Harbaugh, a guy who had a previous working relationship with the team some two decades ago, Davis wisely watched what all unfolded before him. He saw what we saw, which was a leader of men. How his players responded to him is a tremendous sign of possibly more good things to come for the Raiders in the coming years.

Of course, the Raiders need to finalize a general manager deal to see who will work alongside Pierce.

At the end of the day, this was the right decision for Davis and the Raiders to make for next season.

Las Vegas Raiders hire Antonio Pierce as head coach: Memes, reactions

Pierce is the second head coach to be hired in this offseason cycle. The other was another promotion from within in Jerod Mayo taking over for Bill Belichick as the next face of the New England Patriots franchise. While that hire was largely panned due to its incredibly short length, the Raiders' hiring of Pierce is widely being celebrated because we all saw what he did for half of the season just last year.

This move is incredibly popular within both the fanbase and the locker room. Key players on the Raiders are all in favor of promoting Pierce from within. This may be an indication that running back Josh Jacobs will be back next year, that wide receiver Davante Adams will want to keep playing for his boyhood's favorite team, and most importantly, defensive end Maxx Crosby wanting to stay put.

While the Raiders may have finished last season on a high note, they are still far from a complete football team. They must get better at the quarterback position if they aspire to be in playoff contention next year. Jimmy Garoppolo is far too brittle to trust being a starter anymore. Aidan O'Connell proved to be serviceable as a rookie, but a first-round pick or a free agent is coming.

I think the best way to encapsulate what this hire means is it is time to get to work. Davis listened to his players this time around. This is the guy they wanted to lead them. As long as Pierce can have a great working relationship with Davis, as well as the team's new general manager, we could be in for a great era of Raiders football. If there is no cohesion, then the Raiders will continue to be very chaotic.

Now that the Raiders have gotten their guy, only six head-coaching vacancies still need to be filled.