Marvin Lewis: I have just always been really impressed with Antonio Pierce

Marvin Lewis had been with Arizona State since he was fired as Bengals head coach after the 2018 season.

But now he’s returned to the NFL with the Raiders, serving as assistant head coach to Antonio Pierce.

Lewis, 65, told reporters in his Wednesday press conference that the opportunity to join Pierce was what drew him to Las Vegas.

“From the time that I first met him and had the opportunity to coach him, and then the opportunity to kind of reunite again later on at Arizona State — so kind of was in a similar role with him there as well, being in support of him, I just have been really impressed all the time with him,” Lewis said. “[That goes] back to 2002 with the now-Commanders. So it’s just this opportunity.”

Lewis noted that he defines his role as someone who speaks when spoken to.

“I’m here to support [the coaches] in anything I can do that way, as well as the squad, the players,” Lewis said. “That’s a thing that’s important to me. I try to keep things leveled out for them as much as I can.”

Having known Pierce for so long, Lewis noted that the former linebacker has always been driven and self-motivated. But Lewis added that Pierce does that with a low ego.

“I think, based on how things happened in the fall and so forth once he took over, reaching out to coach [Tom] Coughlin, reaching out to myself, and the people that he had come in and be around — just so he could bounce ideas off of [them] — he’s not stuck on himself that way,” Lewis said.

We’ll see if the staff Pierce has built over in Vegas will help the team reach some consistent success in 2024.