Star Free Agent Believes He’ll Have Conversation With Raiders

Getty Mike Mayock & Jon Gruden of the Las Vegas Raiders.

Recently, Las Vegas Raiders head coach Jon Gruden made not-so-subtle hints to Richard Sherman that his team might be interested in his services. The five-time Pro Bowl cornerback didn’t appear to dismiss the idea. With the hiring of Sherman’s former coach Gus Bradley as defensive coordinator, the pairing of the two sides makes a lot of sense.

The Raiders need some veteran leadership on their defense and Sherman is one of the best in the business. He revealed that he is planning to speak with the team in the offseason.

“All of this sports is just a big freakin’ reality TV show, as you know,” Sherman told NBC Sports Bay Area. “But I think there’s legitimate interest. They have a good team. It’s going to be a conversation. There will be a conversation with a few teams and I’ll make the decision that’s best for me and my family, and off we go.”

Considering Sherman is his own agent, it’s hard to know exactly what he’ll do this offseason. He’s still a good cornerback at this point in his career and would help the Raiders if he’d come in at a good price.

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Sherman Doesn’t Believe Gruden Tampered

While it’s no surprise that Gruden has an interest in Sherman, he may get into some trouble. According to Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk, what the coach did could have been tampering. That will likely result in a big fine or even a loss of draft pick.

For what it’s worth, Sherman doesn’t believe Gruden did anything wrong.

“I don’t think he was tampering,” Sherman said. “I think it was a good conversation, good entertainment. And if anybody knows how to entertain people and keep them on the edge of their seats, it’s Jon Gruden.”

The San Francisco 49ers will probably feel very differently than Sherman does. It’s possible that Gruden is going to get hard pretty hard by the NFL.

Sherman Likely Won’t Return to the 49ers

Regardless of if Gruden tampered or not, it doesn’t appear as if Sherman has any intention of returning to the 49ers. He recently said that he’s planning to move on and hasn’t changed his mind.

“Nothing’s changed at all,” Sherman said. “The conversations continue to reaffirm that.

“It’s not sad conversations or anything of that nature, both sides being really happy with how things turned out and, obviously, circumstances are tough, so both sides have to do what’s best for them. But it’s still a great relationship.”

Sherman had a nice run in San Francisco but he’s going to be 33 by the start of next season. It doesn’t seem likely that the team would want him to continue to start. If he comes to the Raiders, he’ll probably be seeing the field quite a bit. Despite his age, he could still help a team.

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