As training camp was starting, there were some rumblings out there that Jon Gruden had played a prank of sorts on his team in which he had a fellow coach come onto a video conference and tell them that Gruden had come down with coronavirus. The thinking was that it was a drill of sorts to prepare the players for that possibility.
The rumblings quickly died out and Gruden was not asked about them at any point. Then during today’s game, as the Raiders were on the field, and Gruden was seen several times not wearing his mask, reports came out that several head coaches had been fined for not wearing their masks on the sideline. Gruden was asked about it, and it led to a revealing moment in which he said he actually did have the virus this offseason.
“I’m doing my best. I’ve had the virus, ok,” said Gruden seemingly annoyed by the question. “I’m doing my best. I’m very sensitive about it, but I’m calling plays. I just want to communicate in these situations and I apologize and if I get fined I will have to pay the fine, but I’m pretty sensitive about all of that and I apologize.”
Shortly thereafter, Gruden told Jerry McDonald of the East Bay Times via text that he had the virus in mid-July.
Checked in with Jon Gruden via text. Said he had coronavirus in mid-July. Wasn't planning on going public. Irked by people saying he faked it. #Raiders
— Jerry McDonald (@Jerrymcd) September 22, 2020
That would seem to match the timing of the video conference call in question, considering the first players reported to camp at that time. It would stand to reason as well that he would have recovered from it and been cleared by late July when the full team arrived and began walk-throughs, so he wouldn’t miss any of that time.
And for what it’s worth, the fines for the coaches for mask violations were $100,000 each while the teams were fined another $250,000, according to ESPN’s Adam Schefter.
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