Given Gruden’s history, Raiders should tread lightly with ‘Diva’ WRs

Things got ugly for Gruden and Keyshawn Johnson

Even after arriving with Tampa Bay, and then winning the Super Bowl, the relationship between Gruden and his star receiver quickly imploded.

Keyshawn Johnson recalled much of the events back in 2011, in a piece by Michael David Smith of Pro Football Talk. Despite winning a title together, Johnson’s season the following year soured to the point of no return.

He recalled that the Gruden-led environment was so toxic and that their player-coach relationship went bad.

"“I didn’t want to be in the environment. No matter we had just won a championship, and I was playing fine the year that I got deactivated, I was doing great. In fact, we had a chance to go to the playoffs. But it was just something about the way I was being coached, talked to, dealt with. Just didn’t want to be there.”"

All things considered, there’s a good chance thing would’ve turned sour had Cooper remained with the Raiders. The same thing with Brown, these types of personalities don’t seem to mesh well with Gruden’s approach. The fact that Johnson mentioned his psyche was messed with, doesn’t bode well if the Raiders are contemplating bringing someone like Beckham.

People this offseason seem to want Carr shipped off as if he’s the problem. Perhaps, fans should be looking at the man in charge instead. The man that wanted to take things ‘back to 1998’ may be out of touch in dealing with players. Especially with reports of there being no leadership or accountability in the locker room. For someone who’s labeled a ‘player’s coach,’ it seems Gruden can only handle his ‘type’ of players.