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The Raiders fired head coach Jack Del Rio after yesterday’s season finale against the Chargers. Ian Rapoport indicates former Raiders head coach and current ESPN analyst Jon Gruden will likely return to the organization.
The #Raiders are confident Jon Gruden will say yes eventually, though he is being careful about doing so before they comply with the Rooney Rule and he is still on the books to broadcast a game Saturday for ESPN. Gruden is already planning to call plays, hire DC Paul Guenther.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) January 1, 2018
Manish Mehta says Gruden could have interest in a name familiar to Jets fans.
The Daily News has learned that Jon Gruden is expected to be interested in hiring offensive coordinator John Morton if/when he gets the Oakland Raiders job.
Morton worked in the Raiders organization during Gruden’s first stint with the team.
What does this mean?
To be honest, this is probably much ado about nothing.
It is good for Morton for a report like this to come out. It sounds like he is in demand now. A report like this doesn’t necessarily mean the interest is real. Remember a while back when Mehta reported the University of Tennessee had interest in Jets defensive coordinator Kacy Rodgers? As it turned out, Tennessee could not give the job away. They were turned down by nine candidates. After being turned down by their A-list, B-list, and C-list candidates, Rodgers did not get so much as a single interview. It didn’t hurt his reputation for some random report to make it sound like he was in demand, though.
In reality, it doesn’t matter if the Raiders are interested. The Jets have Morton under contract and can block any such move. If the Jets want Morton to stay, there is nothing the Raiders can do about it.
If the Jets ever allowed Morton to leave, they clearly don’t think much of him or his ability to develop a young quarterback.
Morton would also have to want to leave, and early indications are the job might be a step back in one sense. You might have noticed in the Rapoport tweet he indicates Gruden is planning on calling his own plays. Morton gets to call plays with the Jets. So he’d essentially be taking a demotion.
Maybe things have turned toxic behind the scenes for Morton and the Jets. That’s about the only way he will be leaving.