Between the ugly mess that led to his firing in Las Vegas, to the lawsuit he filed against the league afterwards, you’d have to think that Jon Gruden’s days as an NFL head coach are over.
And even if that’s not the case, you would think he’d at least be done for good in Sin City.
Well, according to ProFootballTalk’s Mike Florio, there is actually a scenario where we could see Jon Gruden not only returning to the league, but coaching the same Raiders team that let him go last season.
According to Florio, it’s very likely that a loss to Jeff Saturday’s Indianapolis Colts today would pretty much be the final nail in Josh McDaniels’ coffin. However, it is unlikely that Mark Davis will fire him in-season.
Instead, Florio believes that Davis could wait till the end of the season to can McDaniels, at which point he could look to re-hire his old buddy, Chucky.
Via PFT:
If the Raiders can’t win this one, how can McDaniels survive?
It would still be highly unlikely for McDaniels to get the heave-ho during the season. But he could be in grave danger of getting fired after 2022 ends, if he loses on Sunday.
Then what? Given the affinity and affection Mark
Davis has for Jon Gruden, could anyone rule out a return?
It sounds crazy. But not as crazy as Colts owner Jim Irsay firing Reich and hiring Jeff Saturday.
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This is still probably a long shot, as there is still plenty of bad blood between Gruden and the NFL. And the Raiders will also have plenty of other, less controversial coaching options should they fire McDaniels at any point before next season.
Then again, as Florio very appropriately pointed out, in a league where we just saw Jeff Saturday get hired despite having zero NFL or college coaching experience, we’d be foolish to rule out anything at this point.
