5 takeaways from Jon Gruden’s introductory press conference with the Raiders
By John Buhler
Jon Gruden just had his introductory press conference as the next head coach of the Oakland Raiders. Here are the five takeaways from the press conference.
It actually happened. On Tuesday afternoon in Alameda, Jon Gruden was introduced as the next head coach of the Oakland Raiders. It had been 17 years since Gruden last worked for the Silver and Black. He was traded to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers before the 2002 NFL season and would go on to beat the Raiders in the Super Bowl in his first season in Tampa.
Gruden had been with ESPN since 2009 after his firing from the Buccaneers at the end of the 2008 NFL season. Tampa Bay hasn’t been back to the playoffs since Gruden was fired. While Gruden did great work as the lead analyst on Monday Night Football, we all could tell that he was going to get back into coaching. It was going to take the right opportunity and the right time for that to happen. It’s good to have Chucky back on the Raiders sidelines.
Obviously, Gruden has a ton of work to do in the coming weeks and months. He still has to put together a good bit of his staff, analyze what all went wrong with the team in 2017 and get ready for free agency and the NFL Draft.
It was a spectacle viewing the Gruden introductory press conference, no matter how you ended up seeing it. The only comparable thing in recent memory might have been when Jim Harbaugh took over his alma mater Michigan Wolverines in 2015. Here are the five biggest takeaways from Gruden’s introductory press conference as the next head coach of the Raiders on Tuesday.
Gruden and general manager Reggie McKenzie should work well together.
With former Green Bay Packers general manager Ted Thompson being relieved of his duties after a disastrous injury-riddled 7-9 campaign, there was a chance that Raiders general manager Reggie McKenzie could be making his way back to the Packers organization. While he did cut his team in scouting under the legendary front office executive Ron Wolf in Green Bay, he opted to stay with the Silver and Black.
Though the coaching staff will be completely different in Oakland in 2018, McKenzie will man the front office for the foreseeable future. If anybody had any doubts of if Gruden and McKenzie would coalesce, the press conference certainly debunked that. Keep in mind that Gruden use to coach in Green Bay under Mike Holmgren in the 1990s.
Owner Mark Davis was very emotional throughout the press conference, probably because he was gleaming with joy in having Gruden as his head coach and McKenzie as a general manager. All three men obviously have great respect for each other, but it will be interesting to see how Gruden and McKenzie work together going forward.
Gruden was bullish on many of the players that McKenzie has already assembled for him. Obviously, Derek Carr is a huge reason Gruden took the job. He really likes the offensive line and sees a lot of untapped talent on this roster. Here’s to Gruden and McKenzie crushing it in their first offseason together.