The Las Vegas Raiders thought they had their head coach for a very long time before Jon Gruden resigned following an email scandal during the 2021 season. He has been out of the NFL since, outside of a brief stint as a consultant for the New Orleans Saints in 2023.
Gruden has been working to rehabilitate his image recently and partnered up with Barstool Sports on a new show covering football. Even though Gruden can make plenty of money working in the media, he still longs to coach.
He recently spoke about his desire to return to the sidelines.
“Hopefully I’m not done,” Gruden said, per Dave Birkett of the Detroit Free Press. “I’m about to make a comeback. I’m working hard to maybe get one more shot, but hopefully some of these guys that fell off my branch, if you say it that way, maybe they can hire me, cause I’m looking for a job.”
It seemed like Gruden would only want to return to the NFL level, but it sounds like he’d be willing to coach in any capacity.
“I don’t care if I coach at Jones Junior High,” he said. “I’m going to coach again. I’m still coaching. I’m just not on a team officially, but I do have some private assignments I work on and I wear some gear when I’m watching the games that nobody knows about who I’m pulling for.”
Gruden Talks Attending Lions Practice
Gruden has been trying to dip his toes back into coaching. He’s shown up at NFL team practices over the past couple of years. This year, he was Dan Campbell’s guest for a Detroit Lions practice.
He was very appreciative of the opportunity.
“I just like to see how they operate, honestly,” Gruden said. “Watch how they practice. I can learn different drills. I see things that they’re doing and it just gets me going. I mean, I wake up in July and August and I get the shakes, you know what I mean? It’s just awesome to hear the (pads) popping and the snap count and see the guys struggling physically, fighting through stuff. It’s just really, really a great time in my life. I spent most of my life doing this and just really honorable to be back here.”
Gruden Faces Uphill Battle for NFL Return
Many teams might be willing to overlook the email scandal when it comes to Gruden, but it’s hard to ignore the fact that his return to the Raiders was headed toward failure. The team was 22-31 in his return before he resigned, and he was responsible for some of the worst draft picks of the decade.
That’s not to mention that he went six straight seasons without winning a playoff game with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers before he was fired. Gruden could have some upside as a head coach if he goes to a team with an established general manager who calls the shots. He’s proven that he’s not a strong evaluator of talent. If he goes to a team where he’s in charge of personnel, it’s hard to imagine it would go much differently than his recent Raiders tenure.
