Jon Gruden has a pretty good gig right now. He’s the lead color commentator on Monday Night Football, and he gets paid a ridiculous amount of money to perform that job. Considering that, it would be somewhat surprising if Gruden wanted to leave his cushy broadcasting job and move back into the high pressure world of coaching an NFL team, but according to the Philadelphia Daily News, Gruden informed Eagles’ owner Jeffrey Lurie through an intermediary that he was interested in potentially replacing Chip Kelly as the team’s head coach.
Gruden wanting to get back into coaching now, when there have been many opportunities for him since he left the Buccaneers in 2008, would be unexpected, but for him to be interested in a job that would put him in the same division as his brother Jay, the head coach of the Redskins, would be an even bigger stunner.
Despite the reports, however, Gruden texted long-time Eagles’ broadcaster Howard Eskin to tell him he was not interested in the job.
Sent tweet earlier. Got text from Jon Gruden "I'm not interested" https://t.co/xEh6060Vx9
— Howard Eskin (@howardeskin) January 8, 2016
If Gruden really did want the job, he’d probably be the favorite, but the Daily News also mentions a handful of current assistant coaches that could be Lurie’s top choice, including Adam Gase and Doug Pederson.
It remains to be seen for sure if Gruden was telling Eskin the truth or just trying to keep his interest in the job secret for now, but if somehow he does end up as the Eagles’ coach, it would certainly be a bombshell hire that would shake up the landscape of the NFC East.
