WATCH: Raiders Star TE Speaks On Long-Awaited Return

The Las Vegas Raiders were without tight end Michael Mayer over the last few weeks. His return marks a big weapon added to the offense, and he recently spoke to reporters.

Las Vegas Raiders TE Michael Mayer / Darrell Craig Harris, Sports Illustrated

Las Vegas Raiders tight end Michael Mayer is back.

The second-year star was out the past few weeks with a non-football related illness. His return is crucial for the Silver and Black to start fresh out of the bye, and he just spoke to reporters from the locker room.

We have the whole video right here:

Here is a partial transcript from head coach Antonio Pierce's media availability on Wednesday:

Q: Have you decided on a quarterback?

Coach Pierce: "Yeah. Gardner Minshew."

Q: What went into that decision?

Coach Pierce: "Listen, when we brought in Gardner [Minshew], we expected, obviously, the play that we had seen in the past. And at some point, you got to give a guy confidence. And there's been times, obviously, with turnovers and other things that have taken place where we made decisions to either put him on the bench or go to another quarterback. But this week, I felt like Gardner gives us the best opportunity to move forward, and he has every opportunity to go out there and help us get to a win."

Q: How do you give Gardner Minshew confidence at this point?

Coach Pierce: "Everybody around him. Starts with the staff, starts with myself, starts with belief and letting him know, 'Man, go out there and let it go, let it loose.' And what do we got to lose at this point, right? 2-7. So, everything that's behind us is behind us, and I'm looking forward to everything in front of me."

Q: You made some changes to the offensive staff. Scott Turner's the offensive coordinator, you bring in Norv Turner and Joe Philbin is the offensive line coach. What changes can we expect to see? Are they going to be dramatic or subtle?

Coach Pierce: "I think we're all waiting to see that. We'll see it out here at practice today. Obviously, I'm not going to make no promises, but just wanted a change, wanted a spark, wanted different ideas. Bringing in Norv [Turner] as somebody who's been from the outside, obviously he's been watching our games. Lot of respect for Norv. He coached against me as a player. As I got into coaching, watching him from afar, and then obviously being with Scott [Turner] the last couple years. So, getting some more ideas, some outside ideas, different perspectives, game planning, how to attack the weakest link, how to get our players in the best position to be successful. That's what I'm looking forward to."

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