2018 NFL Head Coach Hire Grades: Who Did/Didn’t Do Well?
By Erik Lambert
The 2018 NFL head coach hire run is nearing its end. Two teams remain without their choices in Arizona and now Tennessee. The remaining jobs are filled.
This presents the chance to start assessing each of those jobs and how the respective team has done making the hire. Does it seem logical and with a clear goal in mind or were they simply grasping at a big name without much though of whether he fits what they were trying to do? That’s what this grade sheet will assess. Each hire, both official and heavily rumored are involved. Like draft grades these are of course subject to change in the months and years to come.
Oakland Raiders: Jon Gruden
Say this for the Raiders, they certainly swung for the fences on this hire. Jon Gruden is by far the biggest name who collected one of the jobs this off-season. That’s no surprise. He already has a Super Bowl ring as a head coach that he collected back in 2002. Gruden is already a proven commodity who actually turned the Raiders into a contender once before. Of course that was 20 years ago but the man is still just in his 50s. So it’s not like he’s ancient.
The problem is he hasn’t coached a football game in 10 years. Most of his experience has been from the booth on Monday Night Football. The league and the players have changed a lot from what he’ll remember back then. Does he have the same edge and drive that made him such a success? After all part of the reason he left was burning out from the long hours. He’s not as young as he used to be. There’s just no telling if this Gruden will be as good or better than the old one.