The air in Allen Park hums with a specific kind of electricity in late July. It’s not just the cicadas; it’s the crack of shoulder pads, the bark of cadences, the rhythmic thud of cleats on turf. It’s the sound of football waking up. For some, it’s background noise. For others, it’s a siren song, a primal call that bypasses logic and settles deep in the bones. Jon Gruden? He hears it loud and clear. And standing on the Detroit Lions‘ practice field this week, the old fire flickered unmistakably in his eyes.
“Yeah, hopefully I’m not done,” Gruden confessed, the familiar gravel in his voice cutting through the Michigan humidity. “I’m about to make a comeback. I’m working hard to maybe get one more shot…” He trailed off, the competitive glint undimmed by years away from the official headset. “Hopefully some of these guys that fell off my branch, if you say it that way, maybe they can hire me cause I’m looking for a job.”
The candor was classic Gruden. So was the setting. He wasn’t just a tourist. He was embedded, drawn to the Lions’ camp by a deep-rooted connection – his coaching tree. John Morton is a direct descendant, a former player under Gruden with Oakland, who got his first coaching gig from Chucky himself back in 1998. Lions assistants David Shaw, Mark Brunell, Bruce Gradkowski, and Marques Tuiasosopo?
NFL RUMORS
Former #Raiders Jon Gruden: I’m working hard to get one more shot at coaching. pic.twitter.com/yRiMsdAtms
— NFL Rumors (@nflrums) July 28, 2025
All branches from the same trunk. Morton calls Gruden his mentor, crediting him for opening his eyes to the vastness of offensive strategy beyond basic West Coast principles: “He just put me in a room, ‘Go do this, go do that.’ It was projects one after another, and all of a sudden you start learning football, so it was really cool.”
This visit wasn’t mere nostalgia, though. It’s reconnaissance. Gruden, the football obsessive, dissects practices like a surgeon. “I just like to see how they operate, honestly. Watch how they practice. I can learn different drills. See things that they’re doing and it just gets me going.” He leaned in, the intensity palpable. “I mean, I wake up in July and August and I get the shakes, you know what I mean? It’s just awesome to hear the (pads) popping and the snap count and see the guys struggling physically, fighting through stuff. It’s just really, really a great time in my life.”
The path back, however, is far from a simple two-minute drill. Gruden’s abrupt 2021 resignation from the Las Vegas Raiders, triggered by the leak of offensive emails sent years prior during his ESPN tenure, remains a defining, controversial chapter. It cost him a lucrative contract and temporarily tarnished a legacy built on a Super Bowl XXXVII win with Tampa Bay (making him, at 39, the youngest coach to do so at the time), back-to-back AFC West titles in his first Raiders stint, and a career 117-112 regular season record (.511). Yet, the league hasn’t entirely shut the door.
He consulted quietly with the New Orleans Saints in 2023, and at least one NFL team reportedly did research on him during its coaching search this offseason. The Buccaneers, acknowledging his indelible impact despite the controversy, even quietly reinstated him to their Ring of Honor this past February.
Gruden brushes off the complexities of a potential return with characteristic bluntness. Asked about the realism of coaching again, he shot back: “Oh, I don’t care about that. I don’t care if I coach at Jones Junior High. I’m going to coach again…still coaching. I’m just not on a team officially…” He hinted at private work, even secret gear-wearing loyalties on game days. The drive is undimmed.
RCE, Goff, and echoes of Montana
His focus in Detroit zeroed in on the Lions’ evolving offense under Morton, predicting a system infused with Gruden-esque staples: condensed formations, pre-snap movement designed to confuse defenses, and a heavy emphasis on quarterback recognition. “You’re going to hear RCE a lot,” Gruden grinned, referencing his old mantra: Recognition leads to Communication leads to Execution. “Probably feel like you’re seeing a lot.”
But his most eye-catching analysis was reserved for the man running the show: Jared Goff. After a lengthy chat with Goff and his parents post-practice, Gruden offered a comparison that silenced the chatter on the sideline. “The continuous movement that he plays with, he always reminded me of Montana from the days I was with the 49ers and my dad coached at Notre Dame with Joe,” he stated. “But there’s a similar personality, a similar playing style. He is one tough cat in the pocket. I love Goff.”
Comparing a current QB to the ice-cool legend Joe Montana? That’s not just praise; it’s a seismic endorsement from a coach who knows quarterback play like the back pages of his famously dense playbook. It speaks to Goff’s resilience and refinement, qualities Gruden clearly values above all else.
Standing there, amidst the sweat and grind of another team’s camp, Gruden looked less like a relic and more like a coach waiting for the next play call. The emails are part of his story, a dark stanza in a complex football poem. But the core verse? It’s still about the shakes in July, the smell of the grass, the intricate dance of Xs and Os, and the unyielding belief that he has more chapters to write.
Whether it’s Jones Junior High or an NFL sideline, Gruden’s cleats, metaphorically speaking, aren’t hung up just yet. The comeback tour, it seems, is warming up in the bullpen. The NFL world, for better or worse, hasn’t heard the last of ’Spider 2 Y Banana.’
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