When Jon Gruden last coached in the NFL back in 2008, he took on the responsibility of calling plays in addition to being in charge of an entire team and staff. Although a decade has passed since he last did that, he plans on continuing with it in his second stint with the Oakland Raiders.
At his introductory press conference on Tuesday, Gruden confirmed that he will be the one calling offensive plays at the start of next season.
Jon Gruden plans to call offensive plays with Raiders, he said. What he’s done in past.
— Michael Gehlken (@GehlkenNFL) January 9, 2018
Gruden is a former quarterback who has continued to work with QBs during his time with ESPN, so it’s not as if the game has passed him by. That said, it will be interesting to see if he experiences any growing pains in the play-calling department. The game has changed quite a bit in the past 10 years, both with style of play and the rules now in place. Gruden has obviously studied all of that, but he won’t be able to just break out his old playbook and pick up where he left off.
The Raiders have made a massive financial commitment to Gruden, so he obviously has the freedom to do as he pleases. Derek Carr should benefit greatly from that.
