![Las Vegas Raiders head coach Jon Gruden looking on.](https://www.totalprosports.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/GettyImages-1346087379-3-1-1024x563.jpg)
An AFC team that may be searching for a new head coach reportedly has strong interest in hiring Jon Gruden.
Speaking on “The Las Vegas Raiders Insider” podcast (h/t RaidersBeat.com), longtime Raiders insider Hondo Carpenter of Sports Illustrated reported that Raiders owner Mark Davis “would love to bring” back the Super Bowl 37-winning head coach.
“I am going to tell you there are a lot of people who feel that Mark Davis, more than [Tom] Brady and Jim Gray, the person he trusts the most is Jon Gruden and would love to bring him back. I am hearing from multiple people around the league that if Jon were willing to drop his lawsuit, they believe the NFL would give a passive nod to go back and re-hire him… everyone keeps talking about Jon Gruden.
A lot of people believe that Jon Gruden’s lawsuit is going to take Roger Goodell out and it’s going to embarrass a lot of people… now that Nevada courts continue to support [Gruden’s lawsuit] and now it’s coming up on potential discovery, and if you know anything about the legal system, in discovery, Jon’s going to be able to ask any question he wants. It doesn’t even have to be about him. He can say ‘I want to talk to this owner, I want to talk to that owner, I’d like to talk to Roger Goodell, or whomever,’ and Jon Gruden knows where every body is buried in the NFL.“
The 60-year-old returned to the NFL this year as a consultant for the New Orleans Saints. He resigned as head coach of the Raiders in 2021 after emails he wrote containing racist, misogynistic and homophobic language were leaked.
Gruden coached the Raiders from 1998 to 2001 before getting traded to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, whom he led to a Super Bowl title in 2002. After a decade away from the sidelines, he accepted a 10-year, $100 million deal from Davis to coach the Raiders again.
Gruden is 117-112-0 as a head coach. He went 60-57 over his two stints with the Raiders.