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Plenty of people were surprised to see Jon Gruden decked out in Chiefs gear during an unexpected visit to Kansas City’s training camp earlier this week, but Andy Reid quickly snuffed out speculation his appearance had anything to do with a potential NFL comeback.
It’s been close to three years since Jon Gruden saw his time as the head coach of the Las Vegas Raiders come to a very abrupt end courtesy of the scandal that unfolded after an NFL investigation into the toxic culture of the team now known as the Commanders discovered he’d deployed homophobic, racist, and misogynistic language in emails he sent to former Washington GM Bruce Allen.
Gruden quickly resigned after the messages came to light and eventually filed a lawsuit against Roger Goodell and the NFL that asserted they were released as part of a conspiracy to destroy his career, which marked the start of a legal battle that’s technically still unfolding after he recently asked the Nevada Supreme Court to reserve a decision that relegated the case to arbitration.
Prior to the start of the 2023 season, Gruden landed a new gig with an NFL team after the Saints brought him on as an advisor to assist with the onboarding of Derek Carr (who played under Gruden in Las Vegas). The team has reportedly tinkered with the idea of hiring him in an official coaching capacity, but he still doesn’t have a job as we near the start of the 2024 campaign.
On Sunday, we were treated to a somewhat unexpected development when Gruden was spotted sporting Kansas City Chiefs apparel and hanging out with Andy Reid while the team was practicing at training camp, which led to some people wondering if the disgraced coach was angling for a reunion with the man he coached alongside under Mike Holmgren with the Packers in the 1990s.
According to ChiefsWire, it doesn’t sound like that’s going to be the case, as Reid essentially chalked up Gruden’s presence to him being a solid hang while addressing the appearance, saying:
“He loves football. He and I go way back 30 years, so we’ve known each other for a long time. So it’s good to get him up here.
He’s always had good input on things. He’s very smart. He’s a great football coach.”
The Chiefs are obviously doing pretty well for themselves without Gruden, and it’s hard to imagine they’d willingly sign up for the firestorm that would likely come with hiring him—especially when you consider they’ve already had to deal with the headaches stemming from comments Harrison Butker made in the offseason.