A long-time New York Giants reporter believes that the organization might take a serious look at the possibility of bringing Antonio Pierce back to the organization as their defensive coordinator if he does not get the full-time job as Las Vegas Raiders head coach.
After a disappointing season in 2023, the Giants head into the offseason with some major decisions to make and key roles to fill. Obviously, what they do at quarterback will be one of the biggest stories in the coming months since the team has the sixth pick in an NFL Draft that has a very strong class of quarterback prospects. However, finding a new defensive coordinator will be a top priority in the short term.
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During this past season, there were reports of a building schism between head coach Brian Daboll and his DC Don “Wink” Martindale after proving to be a successful duo during their 2022 run to the postseason. While the murmurs of problems seemed to quiet in recent weeks, things exploded on Tuesday when Martindale resigned from the Giants staff.
The organization fired a pair of the long-time NFL coach’s staff and this reportedly led to a firey clash between him and Daboll that ended what was turning into a promising tenure in New York for the 60-year-old. Now, the Giants must fill a key role in their organization during what will be an important offseason for the regime of Daboll and general manager Joe Schoen.
While there will be many different coaches thrown into the speculation as candidates for the defensive coordinator position, long-time New York Post Giants reporter Paul Schwartz offered up a very interesting name on Wednesday: Antonio Pierce.
New York Giants head coach and Antonio Pierce have unique friendship dating back to 2017
Schwartz revealed that Daboll and Pierce have a friendship that dates back to 2017 when the Giants’ head coach was on a recruiting trip as a member of the Alabama football staff and spoke with Pierce when he was the high school coach for future NFL QB Matt Corral.
“Got a lot of respect for A.P.,” Daboll said back in November when their teams faced off after Pierce took over as Raiders head coach. “I remember meeting with him down in his office, talking about Matt out in Cali, and obviously [I]know what he did here. I’ve built a friendship with him along the way the last few years.”
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Schwartz claims “The Giants will be sure to check out Pierce’s status,” in the coming weeks if the Las Vegas Raiders do not retain him as head coach.
Pierce has deep ties to the New York Giants organization after playing five seasons for the franchise and being a big part of their 2007 Super Bowl-winning team. Pierce reportedly sought advice often from legendary Giants head coach Tom Coughlin after taking over as Raiders head coach midway through the 2023 season.
Pierce went 5-4 as the head coach of the Raiders in 2023. He has never served as a coordinator for an NFL team during his career, however, he was the DC for Arizona State during their 2020 and 2021 seasons before becoming the Raiders linebackers coach.
