Could Jayden Daniels, the current Heisman Trophy winner, and Antonio Pierce, the coach of the Las Vegas Raiders, team up again?
We have made it known throughout this offseason that there is mutual interest between 2023 Heisman Trophy winner Jayden Daniels and the Las Vegas Raiders.
While appearing on Sports Center on Saturday, ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler confirmed Daniels’ interest in the Silver and Black
“It does feel like that there is some smoke here, that’s sort of undeniable at this point,” Fowler said. “I spoke to somebody who’s involved in Daniels’ process who does openly wonder: Is Daniels looking at his options right now? Now, he has had interest in playing for the Raiders, that is real. Staying on the West Coast, reuniting with Antonio Pierce from their Arizona State days. But they pick 13; it’s going to be hard to sort of make that sort of trade happen.
“Intrigue in Minnesota as well. That’s not to say that he doesn’t have interest in playing for Washington eventually. I cannot confirm that that’s any different, but as was told to me, this has not gone as smoothly as it should for a player who’s a viable candidate for the No. 2 overall pick. It should be sort of pretty clear at this point.”
As Fowler mentioned, Daniels played under Pierce while at Arizona State. In fact, Pierce even recruited him.
Pierce stated, “I mean, I thought he’d win the Heisman — that was my recruiting pitch,” on February 28 at the NFL Combine. “Man, I’m so proud of him. Jayden was 150 pounds when I was recruiting him.” ‘Where you getting this little skinny dude from San Bernardino?’ everyone [was] asking.
But what I seen was victorious. I once observed a very competitive individual who was always trying to prove people wrong and had lived his entire life under suspicion due to his stature or other physical or mental characteristics. In my opinion, all he’s accomplished is disprove people.
It was nice to witness him perform admirably at the SEC, the pinnacle of collegiate football. It was very striking.
