Las Vegas Raiders Coach Jon Gruden is entering his fourth season as head coach of the franchise.
He signed a 10 year $100 million contract with the Raiders in 2018 so the Raiders are obviously very vested in Gruden.
During that time, the Raiders relocated from Oakland to glitzy Las Vegas.
Despite his football knowledge and reputation, Gruden will definitely be on the hot seat and could lose his job if the Raiders have a poor season in 2021.
The Davis family has given Gruden plenty of time and are right to consider a change after 2021 if things do not go well for Gruden’s team.
Some would argue that Gruden could already have been fired for any of the following reasons.
Win-Loss Record
From 2018-2020, Gruden’s win-loss record is 19-29.
That cannot elicit a lot of confidence.
Even if he gets a pass for his first season back in the NFL coaching ranks after a 10 year hiatus when the Raiders were 4-12, he still is below .500 in 2019 and 2020.
The 2020 Raiders beat teams they were not expected to beat, like the Super Bowl Champion Kansas City Chiefs at Arrowhead in Week 5.
However, in Week 12, the Raiders inexplicably lost to the Atlanta Falcons by a score of 43-6.
The Falcons finished the season at 4-12.
Coaches have lost their jobs for being more consistent and with better win-loss records than Gruden’s.
2017: Derek Carr will save the Raiders!
2018: Jon Gruden will save the Raiders!
2019: All the draft capital and cap space will save the Raiders!
2020: Las Vegas will save the Raiders! pic.twitter.com/NTUyLDFG79— CJ Errickson (@CJE_NFL) March 24, 2021
Personnel Issues: Trades and Draft Picks
As if his win-loss record is not bad enough, how Gruden has managed his roster could be considered much worse.
Many Raiders fans have yet to forgive him for trading Khalil Mack which was a big mistake but unfortunately not his only one.
Under Jon Gruden's leadership:
– The #Raiders traded away All-Pro Khalil Mack
– Traded away Amari Cooper, who revitalized the #Cowboys offense
– Led the team to a 4-12 record
– Traded a 3rd/5th for Antonio Brown to the #Steelers
– Released Antonio Brown
– Year 2 of 10Yikes. pic.twitter.com/JMu5AsONmh
— George Carmi (@Gcarmi21) September 7, 2019
The trades are questionable at best, but at the very least, he could have redeemed himself with quality draft picks from those trades.
That did not happen either.
Jon Gruden duped so many of y’all into thinking that trading away elite talent for high draft picks is the way.
Now you think that draft picks are the gold standard and can’t be touched in a trade when, in the big picture, they have not got this team to a winning season.
— CJ Errickson (@CJE_NFL) February 3, 2021
Derek Carr
Then, there is the whole Derek Carr situation.
No one is ever really convinced that Jon Gruden is satisfied with Derek Carr as his starting quarterback.
On September 22, 2000, Gruden raved about Derek Carr:
“This guy’s a great quarterback. We’re surrounding him with better players. And once our defense I think starts playing to their potential, he can even be better. He does so much with the ball and without the ball and behind the scenes that I think Raiders fans should really be proud of him, and I know I am.”
A month earlier, perhaps in an effort to motivate Carr or because he was really thinking about going with the backup Marcus Mariota, Gruden said:
“[Mariota’s] a dazzling playmaker with his feet, and that’s the key to his game. So I saw that, glimpses of that today. It was exciting. Started off slow in seven-on-seven, but picked it up. Had a nice day. Had a really nice day.”
The 2021 Las Vegas Raiders are facing tough competition in the AFC West from the Kansas City Chiefs and the young and rising Los Angeles Chargers.
They need to perform well, or Gruden’s future with the franchise will certainly be in jeopardy.
I doubt it but I’m sure y ‘all be pushing for it. Anything you can do to keep Raiders in the basement or middle of the pack. Just stop already