Jon Gruden: Insane or a Genius Part 2

By Bailey Biddle

The last time I wrote about Jon Gruden, he traded Khalil Mack for draft picks in the 2019 and 2020 NFL Draft. After that trade, the Chicago Bears defense had been elevated by the play of Khalil Mack and arguably a top 5 defense in the National Football League. At first glance if you don’t take the time to really research what Jon Gruden is doing, he seems completely insane.

What we need to know is that Jon Gruden is with the Raiders for the long haul, and signed a 10 year deal. Jon Gruden is trying to imitate what Bill Bellicheck is doing in New England by controlling the coaching staff, roster, and draft picks.

With Gruden's coaching strategy, he can acquire his guys in the draft and free agency that fit his scheme and his player personnel types. Jon Gruden recently traded away Amari Cooper to the Dallas Cowboys for a 1st round draft pick. I think Jon Gruden won the trade and the Cowboys just gave up too much for a receiver that has the talent level, but lacks the consistency that makes him a top 10 draft pick. This year alone, Amari Cooper has a total of 280 receiving yards on 22 catches with 1 touchdown. In weeks 1, 3, and 5 Amari Cooper had a combined 4 receptions for 36 yards. Now is that stats for a number 1 receiver? To back up my thoughts on Amari Cooper being inconsistent in weeks 2 and 3, he had a combined 18 receptions for 244 yards and 1 touchdown.

Amari Cooper throughout his whole career has been inconsistent and since this trade there have been reports that Jon Gruden is starting to lose his locker room. When Gruden joined this team last year, they were coming off of a 6-10 season even with Khalil Mack. If Jon Gruden doesn’t make moves for this team, this team will accomplish nothing and be a hot pile of garbage. Yes, I understand in the past Jon Gruden doesn’t have the greatest resume in the draft room with Gruden heavily leaning toward the offensive side of the football and none of those picks really panned out. Let’s take a look at some major draft picks Jon Gruden has hit and missed on throughout his career at Tampa with Gruden being the main decision maker in the war room. Thank goodness the Raiders have Derek Carr because Jon Gruden has never been able to hit on a franchise quarterback and has not been able to develop young quarterbacks.

Jon Gruden in drafting an offensive player in the first round at a skill position always had a phenomenal rookie year then their stat lines would slowly go down and thin away to nothingness. Two main examples of this is wide receiver Michael Clayton who had 80 catches his rookie year, and Carnell Williams who won rookie of the year. Carnell was a phenomenal player, but injuries slowed down his career. If Jon Gruden wants to rebuild through the NFL draft, do you have confidence in his ability? Jon Gruden’s last year in the draft room drafted Aqib Talib, so Gruden does have his hits and misses like every general manager. The scary stat is the misses outweighs the hits.

I think we have to give Jon Gruden a chance and a clean slate. If you are a Raiders fan, be patient in what Gruden is trying to do with this organization. He is trying to bring his type of players, coaches, and a better culture to the franchise. Jon Gruden has 5 first round picks in the next two years and many late round picks to bring this franchise back to the glory days. Only time will tell if trading Khalil Mack was a dumb move, trading away Amari Cooper, or if signing Gruden was even the right move.