The Oakland Raiders are looking like they will be finishing with the same record as last year at 4-12 after losing again on Sunday and with owner Mark Davis possibly looking to fire Dennis Allen as head coach, is it possible that Jon Gruden could return to take over the team again?
The answer is likely no, as Gruden has looked very happy and comfortable in his role at ESPN, but the possibility of him coming back to coaching never seems to die and with jobs like the Houston Texans and Texas Longhorns already open and the potential of Oakland as well, rumors have started to circulate about whether Gruden will return or not. According to Pro Football Talk, former Raiders quarterback Rich Gannon hasn't done the man any favors in getting the stories to die down, as he on the radio that he spoke with Gruden in the past and said it is possible that he could return to the Raiders at some point.
Many feel that head coach Dennis Allen deserves another year, as the Raiders have been shedding bad salaries and contracts for the past two seasons and heading into 2014 they will finally be clear of some of the worst numbers. The fact that the talent pool hasn't been very deep is not fault of Allen's and this team should not have had high expectations this season and Allen should get a chance to get things right. But with the NFL being a win-now league and teams like the Chiefs and Colts going from worst to first in an offseason, making a head coaching change could be something that Davis decides to do.
Gannon said that he felt Gruden would return to the NFL at some point, but that the Raiders may not be the best spot, as Gruden would want to have control over the roster and moves and with a general manager already in place in Reggie McKenzie, that may not work out very well. Gruden could be a huge snag for the Raiders, as he of course was once the coach there and led the team to its best sustained period of success over the past two decades before the team fell off the map.
Gruden was head coach from 1998 to 2001 and he won 40 games, including the playoffs and dropped 28 during his tenure and that came before he won the Super Bowl with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, naturally, against his old Raiders team. Gruden took the team to their first division title in over a decade and led them to a 12-4 record in 2000 and the AFC championship game, which they lost to the Ravens. Gruden spent four seasons with the team and while he is happy where he is, that could change if the right situation came along.
The Raiders are 4-10 this season and Allen is just 8-22 with the team during his tenure and while it isn't all his fault, the head coach can often be the one that takes the hit for what goes down. The team is ranked 25th in passing yards per game and 24th in passing yards allowed and on both sides of the ball they need to improve to compete with teams like the Chiefs and Broncos in the AFC.