Days after Jon Gruden visited training, New Orleans Saints head coach Dennis Allen opened up about why he invited the disgraced former Las Vegas Raiders coach to join the team.
Allen discussed the decision after practice Tuesday, telling reporters he appreciated Gruden’s input on Saints first-year quarterback Derek Carr, whom Gruden coached in Oakland and Las Vegas.
“Look, I mean, No. 1, we’ve had several coaches come and visit us,” Allen said, by Katherine Terrell of ESPN. “Obviously Jon is a guy who has had a lot of experience with Derek, and Derek had his greatest success under Jon Gruden.
“And so we felt like bringing him in, having a chance to sit down and visit him as an offensive team, with the quarterbacks and having new thoughts and ideas on things that we could implement.”
Gruden spent 15 seasons in the NFL as a head coach with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and several stints with the Raiders. He coached the Bucs to their first Super Bowl championship after the 2002 season. The Raiders signed him out of retirement for his second stint with the franchise in 2018 with the lure of a $100 million contract on 10 years.
Gruden resigned in 2021 following a New York Times report that revealed racist, anti-gay and misogynistic emails he had exchanged over the years with former Washington Commanders executive Bruce Allen and d ‘others. Gruden issued his resignation hours after the report was released on the Monday following Week 5 of the 2021 season. The Bucs removed his name from their Ring of Honor the following day. Gruden hasn’t worked in or around the NFL since.
Reports of Gruden’s visit with the Saints sparked speculation that he was making an effort to return to the NFL. It also raised questions about why Allen invited Gruden to the team facility. When asked to address the potential backlash of hosting a man who allegedly sent racist, anti-gay and misogynistic correspondence, Allen kept the subject on football.
“No, look, you ask everyone who was involved, and they thought it was really good for our football team,” Allen said. “And look, we’re going to look at all the tracks that we can try to improve. So that was an area where we thought just bringing him in and having the opportunity to sit down and visiting would help us.”