Oakland Raiders 'agree' record $100m deal with Jon Gruden

Jon Gruden is set to become the highest paid head coach in NFL history, courtesy of the Oakland Raiders.

Gruden has agreed to replace Jack Del Rio on a 10-year deal worth $100million (£73m), with an announcement expected to be made on Tuesday, per ESPN’s Adam Schefter.

The Oakland Raiders endured something of an underwhelming campaign under the recently fired Del Rio, who was let go just one year into a four-year contract extension because the Raiders, billed as pre-season Superbowl contenders, failed to even crack the play-offs.

Jon Gruden has agreed to a 10-year, $100m contract to become Oakland Raiders head coach

Gruden will replace the dismissed Jack Del Rio after a poor season in the AFC West

THE ROONEY RULE

The ‘Rooney Rule’ was introduced in 2002 and requires every franchise to interview at least one minority candidate whenever there is a head coach vacancy or senior football operating job available.

Prior to its introduction, the NFL had seen just six black coaches in 80 years, despite 65% of its players identifying as African American.

To address this imbalance, the ‘Rooney Rule’ ensured that minority candidates would get a look in for the league’s top jobs.

The rule is named after Dan Rooney, who as influential in bringing the rule to life after the firings of Tony Dungy and Dennis Green from the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Minnesota Vikings in 2002.

The firings of both Dungy, a Superbowl-winning head coach in waiting, and Green, an influential figure in opening doors for other African Americans in the NFL, were deemed unreasonable across the league and marked a worrying trend whereby an already marginalised minority group became even smaller.

Despite their rivals floundering, the Derrick Carr-lead Raiders underwhelmed.

AFC West winners Kansas City Chiefs imploded midway through the season, losing six games from seven before winning their final four, while the Los Angeles Chargers, despite losing their opening four games, also bettered the Raiders’ measly six-win season.

Although the Raiders racked up 12 wins and a playoff appearance the season before, which is partly why Del Rio originally received a four-year extension, the Raiders regressed, even though they made stellar additions in the off-season, like signing running back Marshawyn Lynch and tight end Jared Cook to improve an already-high octane offense.

That stark dip in form lead to wholesale changes, and as such, Gruden, who has already began piecing together his backroom staff, was chosen to end the Raiders’ Superbowl drought, with their last appearance on NFL’s grandest stage coming back in 2002, when a Gruden-lead Tampa Bay Buccaneers side inflicted a resounding 48-21 defeat.

Gruden first coached the Raiders for four seasons from 1998, but was traded to Tampa for two first-round draft picks, two from the second round and a cash sum of $8m.

The Bucs won the Superbowl glory in Gruden’s first season but then he failed to win another playoff game during his time in Tampa, before being sacked in 2008. He has since spent his time as analyst for ESPN in the nine years since.

The Raiders maintain they adhered to the ‘Rooney Rule’ and interviewed minority candidates as well as Gruden, as protocol states, despite it seeming like Gruden was the odds-on favourite to take the post regardless.

Gruden won the Superbowl with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, beating Oakland in 2003

Read more at DailyMail.co.uk

Oakland Raiders ‘agree’ record $100m deal with Jon Gruden

THE ROONEY RULE