If the Oakland Raiders hiring of Jon Gruden was a mistake, it’s going to prove to be a costly one.
Signed this offseason to a 10-year contract worth $100 million, Gruden is now 1-7 during his second stint coaching in Oakland after the Raiders were embarrassed by the San Francisco 49ers 34-3 on Thursday night.
Third-string quarterback Nick Mullens brought the Niners up and down the field against the Raiders in an embarrassing game for Gruden that would be getting even more attention had a San Fran cheerleader kneeling during the anthem not grabbed headlines.
Their offense – the same one that scored a measly three points on Thursday – has been bad, but the defense hasn’t really been much better following Gruden’s decision to trade Khalil Mack before the season.
The Raiders are giving up more yards-per-play than any defense in NFL history.
— Gregg Rosenthal (@greggrosenthal) November 2, 2018
At -111 in point differential, the Raiders are only better than the lowly Buffalo Bills (-113) in that department. To their credit, the Bills have at least won two games, double what Oakland has been able to do.
Gruden can contend this is all part of a bigger plan to secure the top draft pick this season and accrue other first-round selections via trade in order to help the team in the future, but the fact of the matter is that he may just not be a good coach (or general manager).
With last night’s loss, his career record (including the playoffs) is 101-92. A winning percentage of .523 is fine, but it’s certainly not worth a $100 million investment.
“The Raiders will have picks to build with, but not much to build around. The roster is a decaying skeleton and the coach is a dinosaur,” according to For The Win. “This mess in Oakland isn’t improving and Gruden isn’t making things better. In fact, he’s actively making them worse… and he’s getting paid a fortune to do so.”
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