Jon Gruden: If I can't 'get it done,' I won't take Raiders' money
Jarrett BellUpdated 9:35 a.m. ET July 25, 2018
NAPA, Calif. – Jon Gruden wore a T-shirt emblazoned with the familiar Oakland Raiders logo showing the pirate with a patch over his eye.
He might as well have fashioned a bullseye on his chest.
That’s what the high expectations amount to for Gruden, charged to revive a signature NFL franchise after being lured out of ESPN’s Monday Night Football booth with a 10-year, $100 million contract that is the richest for any coach in league history.
“If I can’t get it done, I’m not going to take their money,” Gruden, 54, maintained during an interview with USA TODAY Sports on Tuesday.
Leave it to Gruden to make such a bold statement illustrative of just how unconcerned he is about the exterior pressures of his new role.
Living in the now is the ticket.
“Who guarantees I’m going to live 10 years?” he said. “So I don’t think about that. You start thinking about a 10-year contract – people don’t know how it’s structured and it doesn’t matter. The only thing that matters is, ‘Is Khalil Mack going to be here? Is Donald Penn going to be ready to play?’ I’ve got more important things to worry about than eight years of my contract.”
It’s widely assumed that Mack, the centerpiece edge rusher entering the final year of his contract, won’t show up without a new deal when the bulk of veterans are due to report to training camp on Thursday. Mack, due $13.846 million on the option year of his rookie pact, could conceivably command a new deal in the neighborhood of the $19 million-plus range that Von Miller collects from the Denver Broncos.
Asked if he expects Mack will report, Gruden said, “I don’t know. In fairness to the situation, we haven’t had a lot of talk with him.”
Gruden added that while Raiders general manager Reggie McKenzie is engaged with Mack’s agent, Joel Segal, and director of football administration Tom Delaney crunches salary cap numbers, he’s stayed out of the negotiations.
“There’s a perception out there that I’m doing everything,” he said. “I’m talking to Derek Carr and we’re trying to get ready for practice. I’m trying to pick up (defensive coordinator) Paul Guenther’s crazy blitzes … I understand the bullseye thing, but I can only control what I can.”
Still, Gruden – who thrived in his first stint as Raiders coach, then won a Super Bowl with the Buccaneers before flaming out – is one of the NFL’s most compelling story lines as he returns to the sidelines following a nine-year run with ESPN.
“Expectations, bullseye, whatever,” Gruden said. “When you start to think about the magnitude of all that, it’s like the open for Monday Night Football. It’s great to talk about. But that’s a story for (sideline reporter) Lisa Salters to do.”
Follow Jarrett Bell on Twitter @JarrettBell.
