Report: Gruden Reneged On NFL Network Deal

Well, ESPN has now hired two new broadcasters who reneged on verbal deals with other networks. Last month, we reported that Matt Millen had a verbal deal with NBC before jumping to ESPN. (ESPN spokesman Bill Hofheimer later denied that ESPN had knowledge of any deal between Millen and NBC, and we didn’t get around to posting on that before the shelf life on the story had expired.) Now, Peter King of SI.com reports that Jon Gruden had verbally agreed to work for NFLN, as the color commentator for the league-owned network’s in-house slate of games. Per King, the two sides had finalized “everything but the signature on the paper.” Then Gruden took a job with ESPN. And so NFLN chief Steve Bornstein reportedly is furious with Gruden, and presumably with ESPN, which stealthily swooped in to nab Gruden once ESPN realized that the guy who looked like Beavis with the “bighead” camera feature could be swapped for Beavis’ alter ego, Kornholio. Our guess? Agent Bob LaMonte intentionally and deliberately (and discreetly) shopped the NFLN offer to ESPN, which knew that everything needed to be kept on the down low. As the saying goes, it’s better to ask for forgiveness than permission, and ESPN likely now has some work to do to repair its relationship with the league. Meanwhile, our old friend Steve Duemig of WDAE in Tampa, a well-known Gruden critic, has unloaded on the former Bucs coach via Twitter: “Now people should believe what I’ve been saying about that a-hole all along,” Duemig says.