Even with the New York Giants set to hire John Harbaugh as head coach, there are still eight head coaching jobs that remains opened around the NFL. Former Las Vegas Raiders head coach Jon Gruden kept out of the spotlight for a while after an email scandal led to his resignation, but he has started to talk about an interest in returning to coaching.
So far, he hasn’t even gotten an interview request for any of the open jobs. While the contents of the emails that led to his resignation are problematic and could lead to political backlash if a team hires him, that’s not the biggest reason nobody is looking at him.
According to Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio, Gruden’s ongoing lawsuit with the NFL is the main reason teams aren’t touching him.
“Gruden’s lawsuit has been successful, so far,” Florio wrote. “The Nevada Supreme Court ruled that year that his case is not required to be resolved by the NFL’s secret, rigged, kangaroo court of arbitration. That will only continue to make him persona non grata at 345 Park Avenue. Indeed, the NFL still omits the episode featuring the 2002 Buccaneers (and Gruden) from its annual July 4 America’s Game marathon.
“So that’s the real question. Will a team do business with a coach with whom the NFL desires to do no business whatsoever? As one source explained it within the past year to PFT, the emails themselves are not believed to be an impediment to Gruden’s ability to resume coaching. The roadblock, if any, is the lawsuit.”
Could This Be Gruden’s Last Chance?
There was a time when Gruden was considered one of the best coaches in the NFL. That was nearly two decades ago now.
When he returned to the Raiders, he had carte blanche to build the team in any way he saw fit. He went 22-31 before resigning. Couple his lack of recent success with the fact that NFL leadership doesn’t seem to want anything to do with him, and it’s fair to question if his coaching window is closing.
“Given that he’s currently unattached to any NFL team, every team with a vacancy is free to talk to him, formally or informally, publicly or privately,” Florio wrote. “If anyone currently is, no one is talking about it.
“And here’s the bottom line. With 25 percent of the NFL’s head-coaching jobs still open, this seems to be Gruden’s last, best shot at getting another job.”
Would Mark Davis Consider a Reunion?
There’s only one owner in the league who might not care about upsetting the NFL and is a big fan of Gruden: Raiders owner Mark Davis.
Now, Davis has seemingly left the head coach search up to general manager John Spytek and minority owner Tom Brady, but if he’s not happy with the results, Florio wouldn’t be totally surprised if the owner pushed for a Gruden reunion.
“The most nagging question for some is whether the Raiders would do it,” Florio wrote. “If so, it would be a call made by owner Mark Davis, possibly over the objection of Tom Brady — especially since it was Gruden (according to Davis) who objected to signing Brady when he became a free agent in 2020.”
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