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Former Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Oakland/ Las Vegas Raiders head coach Jon Gruden has always been a bit of an odd duck. That was always part of the appeal of Gruden, who decades ago was considered a football coaching wunderkind.
Miami Dolphins safety Jevon Holland’s dad appeared recently on a Miami Dolphins podcast, and he told a wild tale about Jon Gruden.
Jevon Holland has established himself as one of the better safeties in the league, and was one of the top safety prospects in the 2021 NFL Draft prior to being selected in the second round by the Dolphins. As he was making the interview rounds, he was asked a truly wild question by Jon Gruden. Here’s Pro Football Talk with more.
His father, Robert, in a recent appearance on the DolphinsTalk.com podcast, said that Jevon “had this sort of Colin Kaepernick tag” prior to the 2021 draft. It prompted one specific coach to ask a question to which the Hollands took exception.
During an offseason featuring plenty of Zoom calls during the pandemic, the Raiders had called Jevon “every day for a week.” Here’s what Robert Holland said about one of the calls: “Jon Gruden asked Jevon, ‘Hey, are you going to change your name to Malcolm X when you get into the league?’ And i jumped up, and then Jevon put his hand up and said, ‘No, I got this, Dad. And, listen, I use my platform to speak for those people who can’t speak, and I’m only speaking for good. And if I’m not the kind of guy who you perceive as speaking for good or doing something wrong, maybe I shouldn’t be part of your organization.’ And he hung up.”
Ironically, Gruden would be fired by the Raiders later that year when emails that showed a similar lack of tact and contained plenty of offensive comments were revealed in an investigation surrounding the Washington Commanders.
That’s clearly not an appropriate question to ask, though. If you want to ask about a player’s activism, it seems like there are better ways to do it.
Gruden has not worked in the NFL since his firing. He served as an advisor for the Milano Seamen of the European League of Football this year.