It has been over six months since Jon Gruden’s record 10-year, $100 million contract was announced, yet many of us are still wondering, is the Oakland Raiders head coach worth anywhere near $100 million?
Over the last 20 years, Jon Gruden has achieved the greatest heights possible as both an NFL head coach and an ESPN commentator. Gruden, of course, won a Super Bowl as the coach of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and went on to become the highest paid on-air personality at ESPN.
However, it has been nearly a decade since Gruden last coached an NFL game and it is not as if he had a flawless resume as a head coach. Gruden certainly did a nice job in Oakland, going 38-26 with an AFC Championship appearance in four years. Many people don’t realize that after Gruden’s first season in Tampa Bay, in which the team won the Super Bowl, the Buccaneers went just 45-51 the rest of the way, failing to make it past the Wild Card game.
Back in 2008, teams huddled between most plays and fullbacks were still pervasive. It is not as if Gruden is clueless as to what has happened in the NFL over the last decade, but 10 years is a big gap between coaching stints. Gruden said publicly that he is not a fan of analytics and wants to go back to some of the philosophies from 20 years ago. At this point, it is to difficult to know exactly what to make of his beliefs on modern statistics and technology, but it is not a great sign.
Gruden’s $100 million is even grander than it sounds when you factor in the fact that there is no state income tax in Las Vegas, where the Raiders will be for most of the duration of the contract. Some are wondering whether Jon Gruden is even worth more than his brother, Jay Gruden, current head coach of the Washington Redskins, especially for arguably the poorest franchise in the NFL. One has to wonder if the contract itself will be suffocating for “Coach Chucky.”
Although the contract is both blown up and back-loaded, the 10-year guarantee at least makes it easier for the Raiders to hire coordinators since they can have confidence that Gruden won’t be going anywhere. The Raiders are hoping that Gruden will be a great fit for a city like Las Vegas. He was certainly a compelling hire with upside, but if the contract does not work out, it could have disastrous ramifications.
