Getty Former Raiders head coach Jon Gruden locking arms with players.
Jon Gruden will no longer be the head coach of the Las Vegas Raiders after resigning on Monday due to a number of controversial emails he sent in the past. The team is now left to scramble as they are still in the middle of the season. When the first emails dropped last Friday, the team stood behind him. Multiple players came out in support, including Derek Carr, Josh Jacobs and Denzel Perryman. However, more emails were released on Monday and that buried any chances the coach had of staying with the team.
Not many players have spoken to the media yet and none of them have directly addressed the controversy on social media but we could start getting an idea of how they feel. One player who appears to support Gruden is starting cornerback Trayvon Mullen. He posted a picture on Instagram and part of the caption said “got you JG.”
Looks like #Raiders CB Trayvon Mullen made an Instagram post in support of Jon Gruden:
JG is Jon Gruden’s initials so it’s logical to suggest that Mullen is supporting his now-former coach.
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K.J. Wright Believes Gruden Should Be Welcomed Back in NFL
While Mullen’s post was indirect and could be open to interpretation, another player has been blunter. Speaking with Josina Anderson, linebacker K.J. Wright says that Gruden should be welcomed back into the NFL at some point and that the coach is far from the first person to say insensitive things in private.
Ep 5: Should Gruden be welcomed back to the NFL? #Raiders LB KJ Wright says “yes.” Wright on the hypocrisy of ‘cancel culture’ & more: FULL KJ INTERVIEW: t.co/80IWhKgCSc. FULL EP 5 w/ Morris Chestnut, Brian Urlacher & Deric Augustine weighing in: t.co/ynYkH7UyqP
Not everybody will agree with Wright and it’s hard to see Gruden having a path back to the NFL after this whole situation. However, the linebacker has been one of the most respected players in the league over the year so his words do carry weight. It’ll be very interesting to see how other Raiders players feel about this situation.
What Do Raiders Do Now?
Based on the fact that Gruden was allowed to coach on Sunday, it’s clear that team owner Mark Davis wanted to work things out with the coach. He’s been courting Gruden for years and finally got him back in 2018. This was his dream coach and he gave him the keys to the whole operation. Davis has yet to say much on the matter but it’s easy to deduce that he’s devastated with the outcome.
He was hoping to not have to worry about who was running his team for the next decade but now he has to start over. The future is murky for the Raiders but Davis is going to have to figure things out soon. First of all, he needs to decide if he wants to continue with Mike Mayock as general manager. If yes, then he can be in charge of figuring out the coaching situation. However, Davis could just want to wash his hands of the Gruden era and start fresh with an entirely new front office. He’ll let Mayock finish the season but it’s hard to know where the owner’s mind is right now.
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