Jon Gruden has made such an impression in his new role as the resident football junkie at Barstool Sports that many have probably forgotten — or, for the younger generation, never even knew — that he is a Super Bowl-winning head coach. He had a couple of great years helming the Oakland Raiders in 2000–2001, then won it all in his first year with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2002.
Advertisement
Gruden would go on to win two more division titles in The Cigar City before calling it quits and moving into the Monday Night Football booth after the 2008 season. He spent 10 years at MNF until the call of coaching returned, and he rejoined the Raiders in 2018.
He would only last until midway through the 2021 season, however. A scandal involving his use of various slurs in a string of emails became a public relations nightmare and forced his ouster.
He was radioactive for a couple of years, until Barstool Sports basically rehabilitated his image. Gruden is simply football-obsessed now. And his deep football knowledge is as impressive as it is entertaining. One Redditor has seen enough and believes he could come back and be in the top half of coaches in the NFL right now.
“As crazy as it sounds, I’m of the mindset that Gruden could still be a top 15-20 coach in the league right now if he got another shot. He just needs an actual GM to get him some good players this time around.”
It’s really not a far-fetched notion. Gruden has come back out of pseudo-retirement before, after all. And it’s clear that it wouldn’t be a huge issue, as it seems the email scandal has drifted into the background of our collective consciousness. The Buccaneers even reinstated him into their Ring of Honor, having removed him following the initial scandal.
The Redditor’s argument hinged largely on what Gruden was able to do with QB Derek Carr while he was there from 2018 to 2021. Discounting last season, in which Carr missed seven games, the now-retired QB’s top two passer rating seasons were in 2019 (100.8) and 2020 (101.4) with Gruden. His four years with the former head coach also yielded the best four-season stretch of his career.
| Stat (Per Season) | Carr Pre-Gruden (2014-17) | Carr Gruden Years (2018-2021) | Carr Post-Gruden (2022-24) |
| Yards | 3,673 | 4,253 | 3,182 |
| TDs | 26 | 23 | 21 |
| INT | 11 | 10 | 9 |
| Completion % | 61.3 | 68.7 | 65.4 |
| Passer Rating | 87.5 | 97.3 | 94.1 |
As the Reddit user pointed out, Gruden was also able to turn the 4-12 team he took over in 2018 into a 7-9 unit in 2019, a competitive 8-8 that beat the Kansas City Chiefs in 2020, and was on his way to a 10-7 season before the email scandal cut his tenure short. Imagine what he could have done once Davante Adams arrived in 2022.
And, he accomplished all of that despite his general managers—he had a mess at GM his first year and the inexperienced Mike Mayock for the remainder, blowing draft after draft, as the Reddit user noted.
“I reminded myself of the Raiders’ drafts during those years, and it is mind-blowing how many high draft picks they completely wasted. Clelin Ferrell, Jon Abrams, Damon Arnette, Henry Ruggs, etc. Normally teams crater when they miss on that many draft picks, yet somehow Gruden was able to slowly improve the team’s performance over that time,” wrote the user.
Jon Gruden has gone from toxic to a major draw in the span of a couple of years. His last NFL hiatus lasted 10 years while he called games for ESPN, so it’s very possible that after another year or two of reminding everyone how much charisma and football knowledge he possesses, he could get another shot. Who knows — crazier things have certainly happened.
