4 years after he resigned in controversy from Las Vegas Raiders, Jon Gruden is making his rounds again in NFL, stopping at Detroit Lions camp Monday.
Jon Gruden isn't done coaching.
Four years after he resigned in controversy from his job with the Las Vegas Raiders, he's making his rounds again in the NFL.
Gruden visited Detroit Lions training camp Monday in Allen Park, where his good friend and protege John Morton is the team's new offensive coordinator. Gruden reiterated his desire to return to the sidelines as a coach.
"Hopefully I'm not done," Gruden said. "I'm about to make a comeback. I'm working hard to maybe get one more shot, but hopefully some of these guys that fell off my branch, if you say it that way, maybe they can hire me cause I'm looking for a job."
Asked how realistic he thinks it is that he'll coach again in the NFL, Gruden said, "Oh, I don't care about that."
"I don't care if I coach at Jones Junior High," he said. "I'm going to coach again. I'm still coaching. I'm just not on a team officially, but I do have some private assignments I work on and I wear some gear when I'm watching the games that nobody knows about who I'm pulling for."
Gruden resigned as coach of the Raiders in October of 2021 after private emails between him and then Washington general manager Bruce Allen were leaked from his time as a broadcaster.
The emails included homophobic and misogynistic language and were critical of NFL commissioner Roger Goodell and others.
At least one NFL team reportedly did research on Gruden during its coaching search this offseason, and Gruden worked as a consultant with the New Orleans Saints in 2023. He currently works for Barstool Sports, and said Monday he was grateful coach Dan Campbell allowed him to attend Lions practice.
"I just like to see how they operate, honestly," Gruden said. "Watch how they practice. I can learn different drills. I see things that they're doing and it just gets me going. I mean, I wake up in July and August and I get the shakes, you know what I mean? It's just awesome to hear the (pads) popping and the snap count and see the guys struggling physically, fighting through stuff. It's just really, really a great time in my life. I spent most of my life doing this and just really honorable to be back here."
Gruden and Morton have a relationship that dates to Morton's playing days in the 1990s, when Morton signed with the Green Bay Packers after being released by the Raiders as a rookie.
Gruden later coached Morton with the Raiders and gave Morton his first coaching job in 1998, when Morton was working in the Raiders' personnel department.
Fellow Lions assistants David Shaw, Mark Brunell, Bruce Gradkowski and Marques Tuiasosopo also played for or worked under Gruden, and Morton, who worked under Gruden with the Raiders in 2019-21, considers Gruden one of his mentors in coaching.
"Jon was like the West Coast offense, the Bill Walsh and the Mike Holmgrens on the world, he’s the first one that kind of ventured off, still running the West Coast type of principles, but different formations, shifts, and motions and things like that," Morton said. "So it just opens your eyes to the whole aspect of everything. I thought I knew football but, man, when you — I mean, he just put me in a room, ‘Go do this, go do that.’ It was projects one after another, and all of a sudden you start learning football, so it was really cool.”
Morton spent the 2022 season as a senior offensive assistant with the Lions and helped then-offensive coordinator Ben Johnson build the Lions' playbook.
He is calling plays this year for the first time since the 2017 season with the New York Jets. He said Monday he will do so from the coach's box and feels "very confident" about that part of the job.
Gruden said he expects the Lions' new offense to include many of the West Coast staples he learned years ago, including lots of condensed formations and pre-snap movement.
"He helped put the offense in initially, so Jared (Goff is) going to do a lot at the line of scrimmage," Gruden said. "You're going to hear 'RCE' a lot. I used to have hats made, recognition leads to communication, and if we can do that, we're going to execute at a high level. But I think RCE is the slogan that you're going to hear a lot around here and probably feel like you're seeing a lot."
As for Goff, Gruden, who spent time talking with Goff and his parents after practice Monday, threw a lofty Joe Montana comparison on the quarterback and indicated he sees Goff having another big year.
"The continuous movement that he plays with, he always reminded me of Montana from the days I was with the 49ers and my dad coached at Notre Dame with Joe," Gruden said. "But there's a similar personality, a similar playing style. He is one tough cat in the pocket. I love Goff."
Dave Birkett will appear at the Buy Michigan Now author showcase from 3-8 p.m. Aug. 2 in downtown South Lyon with his book, "Detroit Lions: An Illustrated Timeline." He covers the Lions for the Detroit Free Press. Contact him at [email protected]. Follow him on Bluesky, X and Instagram at @davebirkett.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Jon Gruden compares Jared Goff to Joe Montana, wants to coach again
Category: Football
