Saints Are Mulling Adding Jon Gruden To Offensive Staff Next Season, Per Report
If you could have seen this one coming a mile away, raise your hand. According to Jeff Duncan of NOLA.com, the former NFL head coach of the New Orleans Saints
Jon Gruden is interested in working together in 2024. Duncan emphasized that there had been multiple instances of contact between the team and Gruden.
all the way through the year 2023. Prior to the 2023 season, Gruden participated in minicamp and training camp activities as an unpaid spectator.
The visit was mostly motivated by his relationship with starting quarterback Derek Carr. Together, Gruden and Carr served as the team’s head coach and quarterback from 2018 until the first five games of the 2021 campaign.
GRUDEN AND SAINT MET AGAIN Gruden and the Saints met again, per Duncan, while the team was in Tampa for their Week 17 win over the
Buccaneers. So clearly the Saints and Gruden at the very least enjoy each other’s company. But obviously these meetings and his consistent
presence with and around the organization go much deeper than that. Adding Gruden to the staff always felt like a possibility from
the moment he first arrived on a visit in New Orleans.
The interesting thing is that he may not join at a large role. By title at least. Duncan outlines that Gruden’s addition to the staff would be a true
addition. Not necessarily replacing anyone on staff, offensive coordinator Pete Carmichael included.
GRUDEN AND CARR New Orleans worked out a similar arrangement when now head coach Dennis Allen when he rejoined the staff in 2015 at the
team’s senior defensive assistant. Allen would go on to be promoted as the team’s defensive coordinator and in 2022, their head coach.
Perhaps a similar starting place will be created for Gruden should he join the staff in 2024. The on-field impact is clear, especially with his
connection with Carr.
In each of his three full seasons with Gruden, Carr finished with over 4,000 passing yards and in 2018 and 2019 set career
highs in completion percentage. He also threw for 10 or fewer interceptions in each of those seasons as well. Unfortunately though, the story is not
as simple as what Gruden brings from the football perspective. Off-the-field issues are now at the forefront of most NFL fans’ minds when
the Super Bowl-winning head coach comes up in conversation. And rightfully so. GRUDEN’S PAST ISSUES Gruden resigned from
the Las Vegas Raiders partway through the 2021 season after emails surfaced of him using pointedly racist, homophobic and misogynistic slurs.
The emails were uncovered in an NFL investigation of the Washington Commanders franchise with the emails dating back from 2011 to 2018.
After The New York Times revealed the emails, the Buccaneers even went so far as to take his name out of their ring of honour. All of these components are a part of a complicated tale, regardless of whether parties decide to concentrate only on Gruden’s contributions to football.
For better or worse, no single decision can be considered one-dimensional. Like any NFL team, the Saints will probably concentrate the choice on
perhaps hire Gruden and see what benefits he could bring to the company’s performance. However, that would also bring a fair
quantity of luggage they’ll need to deal with during the procedure
Leave a Reply