Raiders' Antonio Pierce Denies NFL Draft Coin Flip After Terrion Arnold's Comments

On Tuesday, Detroit Lions rookie cornerback Terrion Arnold said on The Next Round show that the Las Vegas Raiders' coach called him after the draft and said the team "had a coin toss" between him and Georgia tight end Brock Bowers before going with the latter player for the 13th overall pick.

Per Arnold: "The Raiders' coach, they called me after the draft, and they were like, 'You know, we actually had a coin toss between you and Brock Bowers and landed on him.' I was like, oh wow."

Now comes word from Raiders head coach Antonio Pierce (via ESPN analyst and ex-NFL pro Ryan Clark) that he didn't speak with Arnold. Furthermore, Pierce said the Raiders were unified on choosing Bowers once their final two quarterbacks fell off their draft board.

Arnold ended up going 11 picks later to Detroit.

It's unclear whether the coach Arnold referenced was Pierce or someone else. It's also uncertain whether that coach was literally or figuratively talking about a coin flip, although if so, the assumption is it was likely the latter.

But multiple Raiders have come out and said Bowers was their guy when they were on the clock.

"You try and stick to [best player available] when you can," Raiders general manager Telesco said post-pick (h/t Levi Damien of Raiders Wire).

"It's harder than you think sometimes because you're adding to the football team, and we know where we are today. We are looking for today and the future. But a player like Brock, just the scouting staff, where they have him, what they thought about him, what the coaching staff thought. He's really a pretty consensus guy."

And assistant GM Champ Kelly said the team was in on Bowers and couldn't confirm a phone call (h/t Justin Churchill of A to Z Sports).

Regardless of what did or did not happen, both Bowers and Arnold are tremendous prospects who may have long and prosperous NFL careers. Bowers was notably second on the B/R NFL Scouting Department big board, while Arnold ended at 11th.