ESPN details how Jon Gruden email leaks led to Dan Snyder being forced to sell Commanders

Report: Jon Gruden email leaks led directly to Dan Snyder being forced to sell Commanders

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It’s funny how dots can be connected and traced back to when the first domino fell. It wasn’t so long ago that Dan Snyder seemed untouchable as the owner of the Commanders/Redskins/Washington Football Team. He was supremely confident he couldn’t be forced to do anything.

First it was his refusal to change the name of the team from the Redskins, despite mounting public and league pressure.

He ultimately did have to do that. Going with “Washington Football Team” (which is basically what many outlets were already calling them) before eventually going with Commanders as the new mascot.

Such was also the case with his ownership of the team despite serious lawsuits for toxic workplace allegations.

Once those came out, Snyder treated it like he did everything else — a staple of powerful people who aren’t often faced with anyone telling them “no” — he brushed it off.

But in this case, he may have gone a step farther. One step too far as it would happen.

We all know that in the midst of the investigation into Snyder and the Washington Football Team’s toxic workplace allegations, it was Raiders head coach Jon Gruden who was caught under the wheels of that bus.

Emails were discovered between Gruden and then Washington GM Bruce Allen that included some offensive language many deemed to be racist, homophobic, and misogynist in nature. Leading to Gruden’s forced resignation.

Some indepth reporting by ESPN reveals many details about how and perhaps *why* those emails were released. Along with the reverberation felt from it that went far beyond Gruden. Many believe it was Snyder himself who leaked them.

Snyder was in the midst of a suspension due to the results of the league’s investigation into his team’s conduct. He got impatient and wanted back in and hoped the leak would help get him back in Goodell’s good graces.

Lawyers close to the NFL and to Gruden said the choice to leak to the Times over The Washington Post, a newspaper Snyder hates, was a dead giveaway that Snyder and those around him were behind the leaks.

If that indeed was Snyder’s plan, it backfired. Big time.

No matter how the leaks were engineered, multiple sources draw a direct line from emails that trickled out over a few days in October 2021 to Snyder’s crash and his imminent $6.05 billion sale of the Commanders. Within days of the leaks, a congressional committee launched a wide-ranging investigation of the Commanders and the NFL that forced Goodell, Allen and Snyder to testify under oath. The congressional inquiry would lead to a federal criminal investigation into alleged financial misconduct by Snyder and the team. As pressure mounted, Snyder bragged to associates that he had collected dirt on his fellow owners and Goodell that could “blow up” the league. Unfazed, owners finally all but forced Snyder to sell his beloved franchise.

“He was free and clear that October — he just had to wait out his suspension and let everything blow over,” a source close to Snyder said. “A major miscalculation. Without the leaks, he might just have survived.”

Goodell’s response to the leaks was…not at all what Snyder was hoping for.

The commissioner was furious that the emails sullied the league’s image after years of trying to make progress in the areas of diversity, equity, and inclusiveness.

Not to mention, the leaks now got the attention of Congress who opened their own investigation into Snyder.

A source close to the committee told ESPN that, although congressional staff and some lawmakers were already interested in issues around the Commanders and Snyder, the string of leaks moved them to act. Their thinking was, if the leaks showed the kind of material Snyder was weaponizing against his enemies, what else might be out there?

And thus Snyder had officially overplayed his hand. And he was about to finally get at least a bit of what was coming to him.

Snyder’s suspension would continue indefinitely. The owners — and most importantly Jerry Jones — would line up in lockstep to force Snyder to sell the team, which as of late last May, he has agreed to do.

Meanwhile, Gruden’s lawsuit against the NFL persists, with him thus far refusing to ever settle. Some would probably say his forced resignation was a good place to start. But Snyder was always the big fish here.

Who knows, by the end of this thing, we could see a lot more people get their just desserts.

Raiders WR Davante Adams ranked as No. 4 player over 30 heading into 2023

Raiders WR Davante Adams ranked as No. 4 player over 30 heading into 2023 season

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There might not be a better receiver in the NFL than Davante Adams. Despite making the switch from Green Bay to Las Vegas, Adams had one of the best seasons of his career. He racked up over 1,500 receiving yards and led the NFL in touchdown receptions with 14.

Not only might he be the best receiver in the league, but he is also significantly older than the other top players at his position. Adams will turn 31 on Christmas Eve, but he hasn’t shown any signs of slowing down.

In a recent article by John Kosko of Pro Football Focus, he named the best players in the NFL over the age of 30. Adams appeared on the list, coming in at No. 4. Here is what the site had to say about the three-time All-Pro receiver:

A season ago, Adams quietly had one of the best seasons of any receiver, but no one noticed because the Raiders struggled to win games. Adams’ 14 touchdowns led the league, and his combined 92.9 grade over the past two seasons is the third-best mark of any player over the age of 30.

While not a lot went right for the Raiders last season, but Adams was one of the best players in the league in 2022. Even with another quarterback change, expect Adams to be highly productive again in 2023.

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Raiders ‘came together’ in wake of Jon Gruden resignation to  ‘get the win for coach Rich’

Raiders ‘came together’ in wake of Jon Gruden resignation to  ‘get the win for coach Rich’

A week ago today, Jon Gruden resigned as Raiders head coach following a bombshell report detailing several offensive emails the former ESPN analyst had sent over the years prior to his return to coaching. When the Raiders players convened for their first practice of the week, they were naturally struggling with the emotions of it all. 

The emotions were to be expected. And the worst thing you can do as an organization in a time like this is to tell these guys to suck it up and play ball. To the Raiders credit, they didn’t do that. They held several meetings, both as a team and individually to allow players to try and come to terms with it all.

From there the question was whether those emotions — and whatever disruptions the whole thing was sure to cause — would affect their game planning for the division rival Broncos in Denver on Sunday.

As I noted last week things like this can often go in two different directions; either it can tear a team apart — as it seemed to in their 2016 season with the divided views on protests in Washington — or it can bring them closer together.

Based on what we saw Sunday, the latter would appear to be the case. 

“We still have our room of guys, our leaders. More now than ever we had to step up and be a voice.” said QB Derek Carr. “And it’s fair to think that way, obviously with everything that’s gone on. Again, there will be a time for all the emotions of all that, but now’s not the time. If anything this brought us closer…It for sure brought us closer. With talking with the guys, in meetings and all that kind of stuff. Proud of where we’re at and glad for our organization to get a win. We needed a win bad this week. Sometimes when you get punched in the gut it’s hard to bounce back, but we were able to do it.”

The Raiders rallied around each other as teammates. They came out strong in the game, with the offense scoring three times and the defense holding the Broncos to one score with a turnover and three punts. The first touchdown went to Henry Ruggs III on a 48-yard pass from Carr on the game’s opening drive to set the tone for the rest of the day. If there was anyone on the team who still had lingering worries, that put those worries to rest.

“We’re a team, so pretty much we came together,” said Ruggs. “As a team, it’s really not about anybody else but us. So, as long as we’re together, we got to go out on the field 11 at a time, so as long as everybody in our locker room is together and on the same page no matter what, we can make some things happen.”

This was also about new head coach Rich Bisaccia. After all, he’s not new here. Bisaccia is in his fourth season as Assistant Head Coach and Special Teams Coordinator. He is well respected by the players and the coaches and was thrust into a difficult situation.

“We came out here and we wanted to get the win for coach Rich,” said Maxx Crosby, who finished with three sacks in the game. “We wanted to go out there and play great football and I feel like we did that. We still can be a lot better. We got to finish, but it was good to get the win.”

There was little doubt in this win too. The Raiders jumped out to a lead on the first drive and never relented. They led by ten at the half and extended that lead to three times extended their lead to 17 points before ultimately winning 34-24 with a Broncos garbage time TD.

They looked right in the face of adversity and played their best football of the season. And they should feel pretty damn good about that.

“In this business there’s always crazy things going on,” Crosby continued. “Especially with the Raiders. There’s no mistake about it. Ever since I got here there’s always things going on. But these guys that we have in this building are resilient. From the coaching staff to the players to the trainers. Everybody has a positive outlook on this organization. So, just having everybody around, continuing to not forget what we have in front of us. Everyone’s talking about ‘Oh, no, what are the Raiders going to do? Is the season over?’ And we heard all of it. And for us to go out and have a great week in practice and go out there and play good football, it’s just a testament to all these guys in the locker room. I couldn’t be more proud of them.”

Crosby played out of his mind — getting in on five sacks — Derek Carr averaged nearly 19 yards per completion, and Rich Bisaccia notched his first win in his first game as interim head coach against a division opponent in their house. Crazy indeed.

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New play caller Greg Olson ‘crushed it’ as Raiders ride fast start to cruise past Broncos

New play caller Greg Olson ‘crushed it’ as Raiders ride fast start to cruise past Broncos

Even with the Raiders starting this season out 3-0, they were plagued by slow starts. Those slow starts would jump up and bite them as they lost two straight games to the Chargers and Bears.

Those first five games extended a streak by the Raiders of 11 straight games in which they failed to score on their opening drive dating back to week 11 of the 2020 season.

Then Jon Gruden resigned. And that streak ended.

Gruden was calling all the plays during his time as head coach, while Greg Olson was more of a strategist as the offensive coordinator. But with Gruden out, Olson stepped into the play calling duties. And the offense came to life.

Not only did the scoreless open drive streak end, the slow starts were also put to bed soundly. The Raiders drove for a touchdown on their opening drive. Then they drove for field goals on their next two drives. The second of which, Daniel Carlson missed off the right upright.

That didn’t trip them up, though. In the second quarter, Carr threw a gorgeous, perfect pass right into the arms of Kenyan Drake for a 31-yard statement touchdown as the first half ended.

It extended the Raiders lead to 17-7, making for just the second time this season they had the lead at the half. The other time was when they held a 9-7 lead over the Steelers at the half of their week two game.

How the Raiders were able to start the season 3-0 was by finishing games strong. But there was no simple flip of strong start vs strong finish in this one. The Raiders simply kept it going, matching their first half with another 17 points in the second half. Starting with Drake scoring again, this time on the ground from 18 yards out.

Prior to this game, Drake hadn’t scored a touchdown. He had two in this game with a season-high 73 total yards.

“He just kind of really just made everything a little simpler,” Drake said Olson’s offense. “We didn’t come into the week with a lot of dropbacks, a lot of different things like that. We just reduced the amount of things that we had to worry about. We just went out there and played ball. But other than that, it’s the same offense. It’s not going to really change. Got the same quarterback, the same playmakers on that side of the ball.”

That second TD by Drake was set up by 29-yard screen play to Josh Jacobs. Screen plays aren’t often that exciting, but we haven’t seen them much in this offense. This one was called perfectly and execute with equal perfection. The Broncos brought the house, the Raiders line let the through and Jacobs had a convoy. Two plays later, paydirt.

By the end of the third quarter, the Raiders had scored 31 points, which was the most points they have scored in regulation all season. The offense was working like a well-oiled machine. Something it hadn’t done much of over the past couple weeks.

“I thought he was great,” Carr said of Olson. “I thought he had a great flow of the game. His communication, his tone in the headset. There’s so many little things that matter, especially for quarterbacks. He was getting the plays into me so early, so that I have time at the line of scrimmage either to go fast, or I can push the tempo or I can trick them. We had an offsides because I can push the tempo and get the guys where I need to get them, stuff like that. It was very smooth.”

Then with a fourth quarter field goal, they put the game away while making this their highest scoring game of the season, including their two overtime wins. And Carr went over 300 yards passing (341) for the first time in three weeks.

After the game, interim head coach Rich Bisaccia seemed to downplay how dominant the offense was in the first game without Gruden, suggesting it was at least in part to the Denver defense’s inability to game plan for Olson.

“Advantage to us is this is the first game Oly has called in a while, so they really didn’t have…they were trying to figure out what we were going to do,” Bisaccia said. “I’ve been with Oly before where he’s called every play. And it was collective. I thought we ran the ball better, so I thought we had a little more play action look to us today. And we moved Derek out of the pocket a little bit. Offensively those guys did a great job with that. It was fun to watch. Oly did a great job.”

Yeah, there was more play action and more of other things that make the offense more unpredictable and thus more dynamic. Quite the concept.

All in all, Olson took the baton and ran with it as Raiders play caller. And in a difficult situation to be certain.

“For everything that he had to deal with this week, and then being thrust into calling plays for the first time in a while, I thought he crushed it, honestly,” Carr said of Olson. “I thought he was great. His demeanor on the sideline, all that, he was awesome.”

10 worst personnel decisions during Jon Gruden second stint with Raiders

10 worst personnel decisions during Jon Gruden second stint with Raiders

We are now just a week since the first email was leaked that ultimately led to Jon Gruden being forced to resign. It’s fair to say Gruden made a few mistakes when he decided to send these emails. The first one people seemed to be willing to forgive. The onslaught of equally heinous leaked emails that followed made the first one less like a whoopsie and more like a disturbing trend.

Those revelations of Gruden’s true opinions laid bare was more than enough to end his tenure with the Raiders. But if we’re being honest, his performance in the personnel department should have been enough as well.

His personnel mishaps had piled up to the point where no other coach in the NFL could have survived it. But Gruden did because of Mark Davis’s seemingly endless faith in the once highly-regarded NFL coach.

Honestly, the hardest thing about putting together this list was narrowing it to just ten. So, let’s just go with the top ten. We’ll start at ten and count down.

Raiders well-respected interim head coach Rich Bisaccia has earned long-awaited shot

Raiders well-respected interim head coach Rich Bisaccia has earned long-awaited shot

It’s been a long time coming for Rich Bisaccia. Twenty years at the NFL level and 39 years coaching football to be specific. And since 2008 the Special Teams Coordinator has been the Assistant Head Coach on every team he’s been a part of. 

After all that, the hope would be that Bisaccia would get a head coaching job in the more conventional way — interviewing for the job in the offseason and being hired and asked to put together a staff. But when you’ve waited this long, you take the opportunity as it comes. 

“Yeah, this is certainly an exciting moment,” said Bisaccia. “No one wants to be a head coach in this particular situation. No one wants to be put in front of this under these particular circumstances. But it’s an incredible opportunity certainly, not only for me, but all the other coaches that are here to see what we can do with this adversity. See what we can do with this challenge. See what we can do with the next day, and the same thing for our players. So, am I excited? I’m certainly excited. Am I beyond excited? I just know that to some degree we are all football coaches. 

“Somebody once told me, I asked a coach I worked for a long time ago, I said, ‘Coach, when do you know you’re ready to be the head coach?’ He said, ‘when they give you the hat and whistle and tell you you’re the head coach.’ So, I’ve been doing a lot of different things in this football world for a long time, so with the help of all those other assistants that are up there we are going to do the best job that we can and we’re looking forward to having the opportunity to play ball again.”

The ‘particular situation’ Bisaccia and the Raiders find themselves in is, of course, Jon Gruden being forced to resign after several leaked emails surfaced with him using racist, misogynist, and homophobic remarks. That makes this not even your typical interim head coaching position because typically those jobs come open when a season is already lost. In this case, the Raiders are 3-2 with most of the season still ahead of them.

“He’s a very strong leader and a great thing about him is his immediate direction,” defensive coordinator Gus Bradley said of Bisaccia. “And in a time like this you know exactly where he stands and what is expected and we go. And the relationship he has with the players and staff is complete trust. And I think that’s just such a big part of it.”

Bisaccia, Bradley, and Gruden all go way back. They were all on the same staff in Tampa for several years. It was Gruden who Bisaccia credits for giving him his first NFL job back in 2002 with the Buccaneers. Bisaccia was retained by the Buccaneers for two seasons after Gruden was fired in 2008. From there Bisaccia went on to coach with the Chargers (2011-12), Cowboys (2013-17), and the reunited with Gruden with the Raiders in 2018.

It’s clear from his resume that Bisaccia is highly respected, both by the organizations with which he coached and the players who played for him. And beyond.

“The irony is I’ve endorsed him for a lot of head coaching jobs over the years, both in college and the NFL, back when I had a different job,” Raiders GM Mike Mayock said, speaking of his time as an NFL Network analyst. “He’s got as much respect in the locker room, in our locker room, as any coach I’ve ever seen in my life and the reason he does; is he a great coach? Hell yeah. But he’s an even better man and what I’ve always told people when I endorse him is that he’s the most natural leader of men that I have ever been around.”

When you hear Bisaccia speak, it doesn’t take long to see what Mayock is talking about in terms of Bisaccia’s natural leadership abilities. He’s an inspiring guy. He gets his players pumped up. And as the Special Teams Coordinator, he tends to coach more players than any other coach on the team, including those who play in every phase of the game. And also has a substantial say in who makes the roster. Much like a head coach.

“We’re certainly involved in the personnel part all the time, how the roster works on game day, how the 53-man roster works,” Bisaccia said of his Special Teams Coordinator duties. “Mike [Mayock] and I, we’re in conjunction about the practice squad which has been a big deal now with 16 players on it, and then time. Special teams’ coaches are very aware of time because you get a little time in practice or a lot of time, or when you get a special teams practice. How it all fits and how it all works. And so, I feel like maybe it’s a leg up.”

But if you were looking for any more reason to root for Bisaccia, you need only watch him talk about what he thinks about now that he’s reached the height of his profession as a coach.

“Yeah, you know, your parents come to mind,” Bisaccia said, fighting back tears. “I mean my dad was the head football coach at New York Giants, he just never told anybody. I got five sisters, I got four kids, five grandkids. So, to have an opportunity to be the head coach of the Las Vegas Raiders, wow! I guess really that’s the only thing I’m going to get choked up about.”

Tough spot. But a great opportunity for a great man. It is hard not to root for him to succeed.

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Raiders GM Mike Mayock addresses Jon Gruden resignation, Mark Davis still refusing

Raiders GM Mike Mayock addresses Jon Gruden resignation, Mark Davis still refusing

Wednesday — two days after Jon Gruden’s abrupt resignation as Raiders head coach following the leaking of several offensive emails he had sent during his time as an ESPN analyst — Raiders GM Mike Mayock took to the podium to make a statement and answer questions. Something owner Mark Davis has not only yet to do, but has on more than one instance refused to do.

Monday Gruden put out a statement

“I have resigned as Head Coach of the Las Vegas Raiders. I love the Raiders and do not want to be a distraction. Thank you to all the players, coaches, staff, and fans of Raider Nation. I’m sorry, I never meant to hurt anyone.”

To which Mark Davis said simply:

“I have accepted Jon Gruden’s resignation as Head Coach of the Las Vegas Raiders.”

And that was it.

Wednesday, ESPN’s Paul Gutierrez reached out to Davis in the hopes that two days after the fact, the Raiders owner will have had a chance to collect his thoughts and thus have something to say. He did not. In fact, his only response was seemingly worse than saying nothing at all.

“I have no comment,” Davis said. “Ask the NFL. They have all the answers.”

The NFL should be answering some questions as well. But it’s very much on Davis to speak up and say what must be said. If for no other reason than optics and to keep anyone from having to interpret his words in a way he may not like.

One possible interpretation is that the NFL forced Mark’s hand in this and he’s not happy about it. Which, even if that’s true, it wouldn’t excuse the lack of a statement here. Mayock was forced to guess as to what Davis was dealing with.

“Mr. Davis was dealing with that. I think he wanted to be fair to Jon Gruden,” Mayock said, responding to a question about potential league pressure. “And he wanted to be fair to the Raiders organization. He knew ultimately he was going to have to make a decision, but I’m not getting into timelines. You’re going to have to talk to Mr. Davis for any more detail.”

Getting the answer straight from Mr. Davis would be great. But, again, he left it for his GM to come out and speak for him. Something Mayock claimed not to want to do, but was still put in the position to do so. First with regard to the decision for Gruden to coach last Sunday’s game despite the Raiders being in possession of the emails prior to the report on Monday.

“The reality of that is that Mark Davis really is the one that was dealing with that. And I think he felt like — and I don’t want to speak for Mark — but there was an awful lot of due diligence that had to go on inside of this. All I knew was a bombshell had dropped. The players talked about it, we talked about it with the players, Jon dealt with it and then, of course, I didn’t even know… Again, Mark was dealing with all the email stuff. We were trying to prepare for a football game. And then when the rest of it came out, I think Mark was already in the middle of his due diligence. I think he was trying to figure it all out. Again, I know what the guy stands for and I think he was trying to do the right thing.”

Then to defend the organization’s record on matters such as diversity and the like.

“The way I grew up the Raiders always stood for diversity,” Mayock said in his opening statement. “They had the first Latino quarterback Tom Flores who also became the second Latino head coach, the first African American head coach was Art Shell, the first female CEO was Amy Trask. Obviously, all of that was under Al Davis’s watch. Now, this week his son Mark Davis, I think, had a tough time. He had a tough week. He had to gather facts, he had to do his due diligence, and since the day I took this job almost three years ago, what Mr. Davis has preached has been three things; it’s been Diversity, Social Justice, and Domestic Violence.”

At some point Mayock spoke for himself and how he feels. And his answer was short, succinct, and appropriate for the situation.

“I do have emotion. And I am sad. And to be honest with you I’m sad for the whole Gruden family, not just Jon,” Mayock said. “But at the end of the day, we’re all accountable for our actions. And that’s how we have to look at it.”

All of that seemed easy enough to say. And it’s good to hear it from the GM, but he’s not the one who makes the decisions in the organization. That would be the owner. We should be hearing from that person.

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Odds for Raiders next head coach, Jon Gruden’s next job

Odds for Raiders next head coach, Jon Gruden’s next job

Jon Gruden’s out as Raiders head coach. Stepping in as the interim head coach is Rich Bisaccia, who had served as Assistant Head Coach and Special Teams Coordinator for Gruden’s entire recent tenure with the Raiders. But interim head coaches rarely stick as the next head coach.

So, who will the next head coach be to lead this Las Vegas franchise? Well, oddsmakers have some ideas.

The odds are out. Here’s what an offshore betting site has for odds on favorites to be the next head coach of the Las Vegas Raiders:

Eric Bieniemy +600

Brian Daboll +650

Joe Brady +750

Kellen Moore +750

Byron Leftwich +900

Matt Campbell +900

Todd Bowles +900

David Shaw +1000

Gus Bradley +1000

Matt Eberflus +1000

Rich Bisaccia +1000

Doug Pederson +1200

Darrell Bevell +1800

Nathaniel Hackett +1800

Jerod Mayo +2000

Rod Marinelli +2000

Tom Cable +2000

Jay Gruden +5000

Peyton Manning +5000

Urban Meyer +5000

Howie Long +7500

Charles Woodson +10000

Lane Kiffin +10000

Tony Romo +15000

Sebastian Janikowski +50000

As for what’s next for Jon Gruden, they have those odds too.

Host Podcast -150

Work for Fox News +300

NCAA TV Analyst +500

NFL TV Analyst +500

High School Football Coach +1200

Member of NCAA Coaching Staff +1200

Member of NFL Coaching Staff +2500

TV Game Show Host +3300

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Raiders Jon Gruden among top odds to be next NFL head coach fired

Three years without making the playoffs is usually not something a head coach survives. Jon Gruden is in a different situation with the Raiders, as Mark Davis had long been enamored by the head coach turned ESPN personality. So much so that Davis …

Three years without making the playoffs is usually not something a head coach survives. Jon Gruden is in a different situation with the Raiders, as Mark Davis had long been enamored by the head coach turned ESPN personality. So much so that Davis lured Gruden out of the broadcast booth with a reported 10-year, $100 million deal.

The question though is how long of a leash does that give Gruden to turn this team around and get them back to winning football? Highly doubtful it’s anywhere near ten years. In fact, some oddsmakers are putting that number at four.

The oddsmakers at BetOnline.ag put out their top five odds to be the next head coach fired and Gruden landed at number four.

There are many who will naturally be skeptical. The argument being that Mark Davis wouldn’t want to eat the cost of the final six years of Gruden’s deal. The problem is that you don’t know what Davis would have to eat, because you don’t actually know how Gruden’s contract is structured.

Gruden is quoted as saying in an interview with USA Today that if he can’t get the job done, he won’t take the Raiders’ money. Some took that to mean he would give money back if the team doesn’t win. But it could simply mean that he would not seek money above and beyond the years he is head coach.

For example, one early report from Pro Football Talk when Gruden first signed his deal said indications he received were that Gruden’s deal was backloaded, with the numbers jumping up in the final five years. Due in part to the lower taxes in Nevada than in California.

Combined, this could suggest Gruden’s deal is more of a five-years-and-we’ll-see type of situation. And it that’s the case, hypothetically, Davis would likely only be on the hook for one year of Gruden’s deal should he let go of him in year four.

Mind you, this is just reading tea leaves here, but the point is there is a decent chance that should the Raiders be unable to make the jump this year and thus look to move on from Gruden, it may not mean Davis and the Raiders are eating a boat load of money. And the odds are reflecting that.

Jon Gruden ‘confident’ Raiders’ top rookies are ready for their first NFL action

No preseason, no problem. Coach Jon Gruden is confident his top rookies will perform against the Panthers.

In the weeks leading up to the Raiders’ initial campaign in Las Vegas — which coincides with the third year of a roster rebuild — there was something missing. Something big.

There were no preseason games. Not a reduced stretch of games, as some have called for, but none whatsoever.

Every NFL team had the same situation, due to the spread of COVID-19, but it was a particularly bad blow for the Raiders. Much of the young roster needs more seasoning, especially the rookies.

But this year, they must find their form quickly because these games count, starting this weekend against the Panthers. Coach Jon Gruden is confident his young roster is prepared.

“We’ve done all we can to get them ready,” Gruden told reporters on Wednesday. “We’re confident in these young people. That’s why we brought them here.”

Gruden mentioned that in 2018, his first year back with the Raiders, he started two rookie offensive tackles in Kolton Miller and Brandon Parker. Last season, Las Vegas relied on two rookies in the backfield with Josh Jacobs and Alec Ingold. Rookie wide receiver Hunter Renfrow started in the slot.

“We’re rebuilding the team. Now we’re starting to see the products of our labor,” Gruden said. “And we’re hoping that [Damon] Arnette and [Henry] Ruggs and [Bryan] Edwards are up to the challenge because Carolina is going to challenge them.”

Defensive back Damon Arnette and wide receivers Henry Ruggs III and Bryan Edwards are listed as rookie starters on the Raiders’ initial depth chart. Arnette and Ruggs III are both first-round picks, and Edwards is the next highest-drafted rookie on the team.

How they respond to their first NFL action could reveal a lot about their skill, and of their character.

They’re bound to make mistakes they could have made in the preseason and will have to persevere with live bullets flying. Any miscue by Arnette is likely to be extremely visible, as well, due to his position.

But Gruden is confident. And why wouldn’t he be? It’s year three of his run as coach, and many roster pieces are in place. He and general manager Mike Mayock have targeted tough, competitive players, just the type that can fight through rough patches.

Now, it’s up to these three rookies to embrace the challenge and thrive in Las Vegas, along with the rest of the youthful roster and their veteran leadership.

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