The New Orleans Saints' coaching search may take them to all sorts of strange new places this offseason, including a familiar face who was assistant the coaching staff during the 2023 season. The Jon Gruden renaissance could make a stop in New Orleans starting in 2025.
Gruden, who spent the 2023 season with the Saints and former Raiders quarterback Derek Carr as an offensive consultant, is trying to get back in the league as a coach after resigning in disgrace at the end of his Raiders tenure.
Oddly enough, Gruden is not persona non grata in the NFL. In fact, the Saints were extremely close to bringing him and his years of experience to town in what would have been Dennis Allen's final season.
According to Tom Pelissero, Gruden is being seriously vetted by multiple teams as a possible head coach. According to Pelissero, if Gruden wanted to be named Saints offensive coordinator, he would have had his wish granted. Hiring Gruden to replace Allen, to put things lightly, would be a gigantic risk for everyone involved.
Saints nearly hired Jon Gruden as OC in 2024
First, the good. Gruden turned the Raiders into a Super Bowl contender and eventually broke through with a Buccaneers team that had Brad Johnson at quarterback. Gruden's teams are rarely unwatchably bad, as he had the Bucs and Raiders in the playoff hunt consistently.
Now the bad. Gruden went 67-81 after the Super Bowl, and he never won a playoff game after that run with mostly Tony Dungy's players. His best seasons were over 20 years ago. Gruden will have a ton of influence in the draft room, yet he drafted only one player (guard Davin Joseph) who made a Pro Bowl with the Bucs while Gruden was in Tampa.
Gruden is also fresh off filing a lawsuit against the league after resigning in disgrace after multiple offensive emails were leaked. Not only is his style of management outdated, but he's coming to New Orleans fresh off a lawsuit that carries the potential to completely torch any positive vibes this team could have as they try to rebuild.
Gruden's time has passed him by, and the Saints need to come to that realization at some point in the near future. Bringing him in could be a one-way ticket to yet another era of being stuck in the middle while failing to break through in a weak division.