The founder of the Fired Future Coaches Association visited on Wednesday with an inevitable future member who doubles as his brother.
Via CSN Washington, former Raiders and Buccaneers coach Jon Gruden checked out his brother Jay’s team at practice.
“I’m really proud of him, No. 1,” Jon Gruden said. “And I have a lot respect for what needs to get done here. . . . It looks like they’ve improved their football team, as well.”
Gruden watched practice and attended a team meeting. Quarterback Robert Griffin III said that the team expects to see “our fair share of Jon here” throughout the season.
That’s fine, but it won’t make the Seahawks or Cowboys feel comfortable with giving Jon Gruden access to practice and coaches and players as those teams prepare to face Washington on ESPN’s Monday Night Football in 2014.
“Jon is our Monday Night Football analyst,” ESPN said in a statement forwarded to PFT after Jay Gruden got the job. “If we have the Redskins, [Jon] will call the games. We will be transparent about their relationship. Jon is a professional and will call the games objectively.”
Objectively calling the games is one thing. Facing and process the temptation to share information with Jay that could help his team win will be another temptation.
And it doesn’t simply apply to the games involving Jay’s team that Jon is calling. Every week, Jon will have unique access and insight to a pair of teams that could be in Washington’s division or otherwise on Washington’s schedule. Will ESPN insist on Jon saying nothing to Jay? Will Jon ultimately honor that directive?
Most importantly, will there be any way to know if Jon complies?
It’s a bizarre situation with plenty of potential tentacles. Given that NFL coaches are obsessively competitive and notoriously paranoid, it’s a complication that could create some added intrigue for the nation’s ultimate reality show.