The Las Vegas Raiders are in the midst of a new era and trying to build this franchise back to glory, but it wasn’t too long ago that they were doing the same, with Jon Gruden at the head of everything. Gruden re-joined the franchise in 2018, and a year later, he came away with some big-time players, one of the most important being running back Josh Jacobs.
The Raiders used their second of two first-round picks to draft Jacobs out of Alabama, and he immediately became the team’s top back. He rushed for over 1,000 yards in both seasons under Gruden and narrowly missed out on winning Offensive Rookie of the Year.
The two still have a lot of love and respect for each other, with Gruden reminiscing about bringing Jacobs into the Raiders on a recent episode of his Gruden Goes Long podcast:
“What a day draft day was, bringing you to the Raiders. You became the feature back, could’ve won rookie of the year had you not gotten hurt. I still think you should have won rookie of the year. Going on Hard Knocks with Incognito and Antonio Brown. You always had my back. You always played your ass off, practiced your ass off. And I just want to thank you again, personally.”
For his part, Jacobs returned the love, calling Gruden one of his favorite coaches:
“I want to thank you too, man! You took that chance on me and I tell people all the time that you’re one of my favorite coaches for sure.”
Jacobs’ time with the Raiders was excellent. He would go on to lead the NFL in rushing in 2022 and be named a First Team All-Pro selection, though that came after Gruden left the franchise. Ultimately, the two sides were unable to come to terms on a new deal, with Jacobs signing with the Green Bay Packers last offseason and returning to form with 1,329 rushing yards and 15 touchdowns.
Now the Raiders are focused on this new regime with Tom Brady, John Spytek and Pete Carroll at the forefront and hopefully they will return the silver and black amongst the NFL’s elite teams very soon.
Raiders owner Mark Davis believes Jon Gruden got his head ‘chopped off’
Jon Gruden’s time with the Raiders ended for controversial reasons, with some feeling it was unwarranted. One is Raiders owner Mark Davis, who felt Gruden didn’t deserve the outcome.
In a recent interview, Davis noted that he felt Gruden would bring stability to the football side of the Raiders organization but felt his ‘head was chopped off’ by the league following the leaking of e-mails that ultimately led to the Raiders having to let him go.
Davis added that it put the Raiders in a bad position. The franchise has been trying to get things right ever since, and he feels they have now done so with their new brain trust.
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