Antonio Pierce has come sprinting out of the tunnel once again.
The former Las Vegas Raiders head coach Pierce is set to interview for the New York Giants head coaching job, Jordan Raanan of ESPN reported on Friday. Ranaan also notes that ex-Dallas Cowboys head coach Mike McCarthy and Los Angeles Rams defensive coordinator Chris Shula are among the other names on the Giants’ interview list.
Pierce, 47, has plenty of familiarity with the Giants franchise. He played as a linebacker for the Giants from 2005-09, making a Pro Bowl team in 2006 and winning Super Bowl XLII with the Giants in the 2007 season.
However, Pierce’s run as an NFL head coach has been far less successful. Pierce served as head coach of the Raiders for one-and-a-half seasons from 2023-24, going 9-17 overall (.346) and failing to secure a single playoff berth. He ended up getting fired by Las Vegas in Jan. 2025 after seemingly having trouble co-existing with some of the team’s star players.
The Giants, meanwhile, are 3-13 heading into the final week of the season and have been led by interim head coach Mike Kafka ever since Brian Daboll was fired back in November. They have been particularly rough defensively as well, ranking 29th in the NFL this season with an ugly 364.1 yards allowed per game.
Pierce obviously has a defensive background as a former linebacker who has also worked as both a linebackers coach and a defensive coordinator over the course of his coaching career. But if the Giants want to base their head coach hire around developing 22-year-old franchise quarterback Jaxson Dart instead, another candidate (such as this big name who has been linked to the Giants in recent months) might make more sense.
