Former Las Vegas Raiders head coach Jon Gruden stayed out of the public eye for a long time following his resignation in 2021. Many people around the NFL were not pleased with him amid the email scandal and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers even took him out of their Ring of Honor.
Time clearly heals a lot of wounds as Gruden is starting to get back in the good graces of people. He's been all over social media recently with his new YouTube channel and collaboration with Barstool Sports but deep down, we all know that Gruden is a coach.
On Thursday, the Buccaneers revealed that they are reinstating Gruden into their Ring of Honor which is a major sign that people are moving on from what the coach did. This has led to speculation that Gruden could be coaching again as early as 2026.
Look, I know people have fond memories of Gruden due to his personality but he's not a very good head coach anymore. He was so bad during his second Raiders tenure that they got better after he resigned. Since winning the Super Bowl in 2002, he has won more than nine games in a season once out of 10 years of coaching.
He's not a strong talent evaluator and the Raiders are still dealing with the after effects of his poor drafting. To me, he only has value as an offensive coordinator at the NFL level. He could also potentially have success with a team that has a very good general manager who has total personnel control.
It just feels like Gruden is better suited for college. It's easy to see him being very successful at the college level. I'm not sure what from Gruden's Raiders tenure would lead a team to believe that he's a good fit to be a head coach again. Only a team with a crazy owner like the Dallas Cowboys or New York Jets would make a move like hiring Gruden.