Jon Gruden Could Be HC Candidate This Offseason?

When examining the potential head coaching market this offseason, Dan Graziano of ESPN names former Raiders HC Jon Gruden as an intriguing option to keep an eye on. 

However, Graziano points out that Gruden re-entering the coaching ranks is a complicated situation with his pending lawsuit against the league for defamation and violation of privacy.

ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler also wouldn’t be surprised to see Gruden be interviewed for head coaching vacancies if his lawsuit concludes, given that there are limited offensive candidates available and the imprint of his system is still scattered around the NFL. 

Gruden hasn’t been on an NFL sideline since 2021, when he was forced to resign during the season, one that was looking like it may have been his best in Las Vegas as that team made the playoffs under interim HC Rich Bisaccia.

Back in March, Gruden said his ultimate goal is to return to an NFL sideline. Some teams did homework on Gruden as a potential candidate during last year’s hiring cycle, but there were no interview requests. 

“I miss it,” Gruden said on the Fitz & Whit podcast. “I’m scratching that itch, though, right here — I’ve had more people come in here in the past few weeks than probably any coach in the league. College guys, NFL guys. I’m studying every day, scratching that itch. I would like one more chance to do it because I thought we had that team on the right trajectory. We were 3-0, we beat three straight playoff teams, and I thought we had a good young team and it really crushes me to see how everybody went different directions real fast. So deep down I’m kind of hoping someday I get a chance, but I’m definitely not counting on anything. So I’ve reinvented myself.”

Gruden, 62, got his first head coaching job with the Raiders in 1998 and was traded to Tampa Bay after four seasons with Oakland. He ended up spending seven seasons with the Buccaneers and won a Super Bowl in his first year with the team.

Gruden was fired in January 2009 and didn’t return to coach in the NFL until 2018 when he re-joined the Raiders. He resigned in 2021 after racist emails surfaced as part of the investigation into workplace misconduct involving the Washington Football Team. Gruden had been emailing former Washington president Bruce Allen over several years. 

The NFL has denied that it was responsible for the leaked emails. Gruden sued the NFL and commissioner Roger Goodell and that lawsuit remains ongoing. 

In his head coaching career, Gruden posted a record of 117-112 with a postseason record of 5-4.