After interviewing for the Atlanta GM opening and being left twisting in the wind over the hiring of Marvin Lewis, Rich McKay took an apology and about $14 million over six years to stay in Tampa Bay. Hey, you give me $2.3 mill a year and a coach like Jon Gruden and I’d probably suck it up too. Meanwhile, Gruden retained the entire holdover defensive coaching staff led by DC Monte Kiffin and rumors have brother Jay Gruden moving over from the Arena Football League to take an offensive assistant slot, perhaps even OC although Jon will call the plays as he did in Oakland.
The situation in Oakland is, shall we say, fluid. That is, there are lots of rumors and little hard fact except that whoever comes in as coach will have to keep all the assistants. Since one rumor is the new coach will be current OC Bill Callahan and the other strong one is Bill Tuna, I mean Parcells, that probably won’t be a big hurdle. Given Al Davis’ history, the team may not rush to hire anyone before the free agent period and draft combine happen on March 1. With either of those guys as coach and the two extra draft picks from Tampa Bay, one has to think the 2002 Raiders will easily surpass this past season’s ten wins.
BillSaysThis 