The Oakland Raiders officially locked in Jon Gruden as their newest head coach, and it took not one, but two Brinks trucks to get him after he reportedly signed a 10-year, $100 million contract according to ESPN's Adam Schefter.
Raiders are giving new head coach Jon Gruden a 10-year contract, the longest coaching deal in NFL history, sources tell ESPN. The deal is likely to be worth about $100 million.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) January 5, 2018
The deal is the longest for any head coach in NFL history and has the highest average annual value of any current coach after surpassing Pete Carroll's 8 million dollar per year contract.
He also surpassed the average value for most NFL players. Only 113 NFL players made 10 million dollars last year, and guys like LeSean McCoy, Devonta Freeman and Michael Crabtree all fell short of that mark.
Only seven packers will be making more than Gruden next year, Randall Cobb, Mike Daniels, Nick Perry, David Bakhtiari, Clay Matthews, Davante Adams and Aaron Rodgers.
This left many around the NFL wondering how Gruden, or any head coach, could be worth almost half of Rodgers' annual value.
If Gruden is worth $100 million then Aaron Rodgers is worth the planet Earth.
— mike freeman (@mikefreemanNFL) January 5, 2018
If this seems absurd, consider Grudenwas making 6.5 million as a color commentator on ESPN's Monday Night Football, an outrageous amount for someone only broadcasting 16 games and doing light work on the side.
It took this much to pry the highly-sought after, much-rumored candidate after he was fired by the Tampa Bay Buccanneers in 2008 and moved into his booth job.
Gruden, the former coach of the Raiders from 1998 to 2001 and Buccaneers from 2002-2008, has a 100-85 career record, led the 2002 Buccaneers to a Super Bowl, and was recently put in the Buccaneers ring of honor.
However, many are left wondering if the coach will be able to transition into the modern NFL and succeed after a decade hiatus.
Raiders trade Gruden to the Bucs in early 2002.
The next season, Rich Gannon is the NFL MVP for the Raiders.
Bucs win Super Bowl despite their crappy offense.
Bucs decline as defense ages.
Gruden fired and starts calling games for next 9 years.
Raiders give him $100 million.— Sage Rosenfels (@SageRosenfels18) January 5, 2018
This isn't the first time the Raiders have made a mind-blowing coaching decision. In fact, it's not even the first involving Gruden.
In 2002, Gruden was traded to Tampa Bay for their 2002 and 2003 first-round draft picks, 2002 and 2004 second round draft picks, and $8 million dollars in cash.
The move worked out for the Bucs, who won the Super Bowl behind Gruden, but the Raiders got little value in return.
Another famous Raiders' move was signing 31-year-old Lane Kiffin, then the youngest NFL head coach in history, but he was fired after two seasons. A move that was mocked until this year when Rams 31-year-old coach, Sean McVay, turned a stagnant offense into a powerhouse.
The Raiders can only hope that their third attempt at making a prolific head coaching move will be the charm that leads them to their first Super Bowl victory since 1983.
