INDIANAPOLIS — Antonio Pierce is taking a back seat this week.

After a busy end to the season, a long assistant coach search and a victory tour of media row at the Super Bowl, the Las Vegas Raiders coach is enjoying talking to draft prospects at the NFL Scouting Combine and watching general manager Tom Telesco go to work.

“I don’t know how it’s going to play out, but Telesco better start working his magic,” Pierce said with a smile Wednesday. “I told him: ‘It’s your turn now. All eyes are on you. I am going to be undefeated for six more months.’”

The Raiders pick 13th in the NFL Draft, and there are three quarterbacks — Caleb Williams, Drake Maye and Jayden Daniels — who might be gone in the first three picks. Should they give up future first-round picks to move up and get their guy?

“I am sure that’s something that Telesco has already spoken about, but that’s my personality,” Pierce said. “As you guys saw and witnessed, I am a go-getter. But obviously that has to be a collective agreement.”

It’s no secret the Raiders are looking for their next quarterback this week. J.J. McCarthy, Bo Nix and Michael Penix Jr. are also first- or second-round options.

“I just want a leader,” Pierce said. “I want a guy that can lead, that wants to compete. I want a guy that’s not afraid of a challenge because this is a big challenge that we have in front of us. We’ve got the world champs in our division again. You know what you have to deal with each and every year as long as you have Patrick Mahomes in our division.

“I want somebody that says: ‘You know what? I am up for that challenge.’ That’s the same way I look at it going against these three coaches in this division.”

The starting job won’t be handed to a draft pick, as Aidan O’Connell earned the right last season to compete for that spot. But the new player should relish that, as well as the chance to win games on the biggest stage.

“I want a guy who when the game is on the line, he wants the ball,” Pierce said. “Making the throws or doing it with his legs or putting us in the right call.”

Pierce said he doesn’t want to go with an unknown commodity, someone who could develop long term.

“I want to go with a proven winner,” Pierce said. “And somebody that knows what it’s like to grind and go through some adversity.”

While some may take “proven winner” to mean a veteran, that appears to be the backup plan to finding a starter in the draft.

“You want guys with a bunch of starts underneath their belts — you don’t want a one-hit wonder,” Pierce said. “You don’t want a guy who had one year of success and say that’s the guy. You want someone who has been battle-tested, that has been through adversity, had challenges and wasn’t just handed the keys. Because that’s going to be the process here no matter what we do.”

O’Connell, a fourth-round pick last year, improved over 10 starts as a rookie, and he has already returned to the facility to start working out and meet the new coaching staff.

“He never blinks,” Pierce said. “With all this noise and all this stuff about the quarterback, he comes to work every day and does his thing. It’s beautiful to see.”

Obviously, the Raiders hope their draft pick wins the job. The game has changed in recent years, and quarterbacks’ ability to extend plays and run for yards has resulted in more immediate impact than a need for long-term projection and development.

“I would hope whoever we draft, that’s the route we go, that’s who the starter becomes,” Pierce said. “You don’t want to put a Band-Aid at that position. That’s old … that’s old, man. I think the Raiders … we’ve seen that enough in this organization.”

That’s an obvious reference to Jimmy Garoppolo, who lasted just six games as a starter after being signed in free agency to replace Derek Carr, the starter for nine years after being drafted in the second round in 2014.

“You want the face of your franchise to be the quarterback, to be that guy you can count on for the next 10 years,” Pierce said.

Speaking of fixtures, Pierce is hopeful that the Raiders re-sign Josh Jacobs, who is set to hit the free-agent market.

“Two-headed monster with him and (Zamir) White? Watch out,” Pierce said.

Pierce said he has so much respect for Jacobs.

“The last four games, he battled and he tried everything possible to play,” Pierce said. “It didn’t work out, but he was trying up to the last game. He had a lot on the line and that was unselfish of him, and I really respected that and appreciated that. I know it’s a business and I know that he wants to get paid — and I hope he gets paid as a Raider. But regardless if he’s not here, man, he was one of my favorite players to watch, coach and be around because of his mindset. He is an alpha. He is what you want at running back.”

The Raiders will again lean on the running game, but the offense will look different next season. Pierce is excited about offensive coordinator Luke Getsy and the rest of the coaching staff that he put together.

“It was a long process. I interviewed 11 offensive coordinators and five offensive line coaches,” Pierce said. “I feel like we have a group of men who are well-rounded, have a lot of ideas. Some guys have done it at the highest level as far as being a head coach for multiple years. Some guys are just getting into the game, and we also have seven former players.”

Pierce also praised the fact that “17 to 25 players” have been working out daily at the team facility. Defensive end Maxx Crosby punched in again at 6 a.m. Wednesday.

“It’s shocking,” Pierce said. “All these guys coming in since the Super Bowl. I don’t know why, but they seem to like being around the building a bit more. They seem to understand what they can do to get better and help us win. There is some meat on the bone from last season, and guys feel like there is unfinished business. They wanted more, and that mindset has carried over.

“This is a tight-knit group, man. And that’s why when people ask me why I talk or do what I do, it’s because I am backed up by 53 dawgs, 53 dudes that are ready to go to war still in February. We just gotta temper it down a little bit, AP as well.”

Pierce chuckled at the notion some critics call him a “rah-rah” coach or question his resume. The former New York Giants linebacker and team captain, college recruiter and NFL position coach is not going to change who he is because he is now a head coach.

“When I leave this job, I am going to be the guy I was before,” Pierce said. “This is a temporary seat. I am not a fool. I got hired and I am going to get fired. But the one thing they are not going to change about me is who I am. How I talk, how I walk, how I act. I don’t mince my words or bite my tongue. It is what it is. Like it or love it or don’t, this is me. It’s not a gimmick. I walk through the halls and see all these coaches, former players and scouts. Those were the same guys who told me I couldn’t do what I was going to do or had my back. I keep receipts.”