I would say anybody who thinks this was a bad deal for the Raiders doesn't understand the situation, doesn't understand the history and tradition of the Raiders, gets their football knowledge from People magazine, or is maybe not a true Raider fan. The word "bandwagon" comes to mind...
The Raiders offered Gruden three different contract extensions. He turned them down, while having his agent leak lots of rumors to Mortensen of ESPN about him going to different colleges, about confidential details of negotations with the Raiders, and about Gruden going to other NFL teams. After all this, Gruden finally said he would not negotiate with the Raiders any further and that he would leave after the 2002 season.
Faced with a stubborn and unresponsive Gruden, Mr. Davis had three choices:
1. Keep Gruden as a lame duck coach for 2002 and lose him with no compensation.
2. Fire Gruden and get no compensation.
3. Trade Gruden to a team that is desperate to hire a high profile coach because they fired a perfectly good coach and failed in the process of hiring no less than three high profile coaches.
Mr. Davis made the wise choice. He made his asking price known 4-6 weeks ago. The price was unprecedented: 2 first round picks, 2 second round picks, and 8 million bucks. Tampa Bay at the time said thanks but no thanks. But Davis left the offer on the table.
Tampa Bay had taken a gamble by firing a great coach, Dungy, because they thought they could get the fabled Bill Parcells. Parcells backed out, and they tried for Marvin Lewis, a Dungy clone, but he wasn't interested either. Desperate to save face and get a coach who was at least as good as the one they foolishly fired, Tampa Bay tried to buy out Steve Mariucci's contract. Mooch turned them down too.
Now Tampa Bay were out of options and running out of time. And who was waiting patiently, holding all the cards? Mr. Davis. He had told the Bucs a long time ago what he needed for Gruden. With the Dungy firing about to blow up in their face, and with their options and time running out, Tampa Bay were finally desperate enough to pay Mr. Davis' price. The deal was consumated and Mr. Davis turned a lame duck coach into four potential star players plus enough money to pay a few years of the new coach's salary. The draft picks are crucial because the Raiders have several Pro-Bowl veteran players whose careers will end in the next 2-3 years (Wisniewski, Thomas, Allen, Rice, Gannon, Armstrong), gaping holes at the safety positions, plus a superstar defensive lineman who has snorted his way out of the league (D. Russell). The Raiders need young talent badly and they will get it thanks to this deal.
Who will the new coach be? Among those available are Denny Green, Jim Mora, and according to Raider insiders, Steve Mariucci, whose relationship with the 49ers organization has soured. Are those guys any worse than Gruden? I don't think so.
Let's look at Gruden's accomplishments. He created a team of elderly veterans who have a very good but conservative offense, a porous defense, and lose in the playoffs every year. Green, Mora, and Mariucci have all demonstrated the ability to do that, with far fewer future Hall-of-Famers than Gruden had at his disposal.
Furthermore Gruden has not fixed the penalty problems (Raiders still among the league leaders), and he has not fixed the character problems (Russell and Janikowski are the most prominent addict/criminals on the team).
And I'm not even getting into Gruden's overly conservative and inappropriate offensive playcalling in key situations, which has cost the Raiders many games.
Finally, Gruden never was a Raider. His actions in negotitation, and the actions of his agent, showed selfishness and disloyalty to Mr. Davis. Mr. Davis is all about self sacrifice and loyalty. If you put the team before yourself and you are loyal to the Raider organization, you are rewarded with Mr. Davis' eternal loyalty and gratitude, as many many former players and coaches can attest. Once a Raider, always a Raider. Jobs, financial help, medical help, educational help, Mr. Davis provides all these things to loyal Raiders after their football days are over. But if you are disloyal and put your own needs before those of the team, then you are not a Raider. Gruden's actions in negotiation and with the media put him in this category, and to have such a person leading the Raiders on the sideline was not acceptable.
So IMHO it is a great day in Raider history. A cancer has been removed from the team. There are available coaches who are as good or better as Gruden. And the Raiders got four key draft picks which will help them rebuild an aging squad. I was so happy when I heard this news that I called all my Raider buds to celebrate.
See you in September.
Section 143, Row 19, Seat 8.
WAR RAIDERS!!!
