Oakland Raiders reportedly set to pursue Jon Gruden

Here we go. GRUMORS have resurfaced, this time in the NFL. And ironically enough, it’s one of Jon Gruden’s former stomping grounds. The Oakland Raiders will reportedly make a run at the Monday Night Football color commentator.

#Grumors have set the college football coaching carousel on fire over the years, specifically so at The University of Tennessee. But the NFL? Well, beyond a couple words tossed around here and there in Tampa Bay this year, they haven’t come close to being anything legitimate.

That changed on Saturday night, however. ESPN’s Adam Schefter and Chris Mortensen report that the Oakland Raiders are ready to make a run at Jon Gruden.

Now, normally when it comes to Grumors, they should be taken with a grain of salt. However, this is Schefty and Mort — it doesn’t get much more credible and reputable than those two. So this is probably pretty legit. Of course, there’s the awkwardness of the fact that the Raiders haven’t relieved Jack Del Rio of his duties as of yet but at this point, that seems like a formality. Oakland hasn’t exactly performed up to snuff in 2017, and JDR may have overstayed his welcome. That would open the door for a vacancy, and for Gruden to possibly land there.

The other layer, of course, was that Oakland was where Jon Gruden’s first head coaching job was. Gruden helped piece together a team that he would eventually face in the Super Bowl with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Al Davis infamously traded Gruden to Tampa in a move that bit them in the behind in Super Bowl 37. So this would not only be a return for Gruden to the coaching ranks of the NFL but, also a reunion for him with one of his old stomping grounds.

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Of course, it’s very easy to say that Gruden likes his job as the Monday Night Football color commentator. It’s cushy, it pays well, it keeps him out of the stresses of a head coaching job. Oh, what the heck? Let’s go crazy.