Saints turn to Jon Gruden to help offense

Jon Gruden. Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

Saints turn to Jon Gruden to help with offensive install

By Michael Gallagher | Last updated 5/27/23

After resigning as head coach of the Las Vegas Raiders in October 2021, Jon Gruden is back in the NFL. Well, sort of.

According to Jeff Duncan of NOLA.com, Gruden has been helping the New Orleans Saints as they begin to install a new offense centered around prized free-agent signing Derek Carr.

“The club brought in Gruden this week to pick his brain about the offensive transition,” Duncan said. “The longtime head coach spent much of his time at the Saints facility with Carr and the offensive coaching staff as they orchestrated the early stages of the offensive installation. Gruden has a unique familiarity with Carr and the Saints' offensive scheme so the move to bring him to campus makes sense.”

The Saints are moving to a West Coast offense this season, similar to the one Gruden ran during his tenure as Raiders coach — one that Carr is already familiar with.

No. 4️⃣ pic.twitter.com/lRBoselxpD
— New Orleans Saints (@Saints) May 23, 2023

Carr, who signed a four-year, $150M contract with the Saints during the offseason, enjoyed some of the more fruitful years of his career under Gruden with the Raiders from 2018 to 2020.

During that span, he completed 68.8 percent of his passes with 67 touchdowns and 27 interceptions. He threw for 4,000 yards or more in every season and had three of his four best single-season passer ratings.

Gruden left the Raiders over a year and a half ago following a New York Times report that exposed a series of emails in which he used misogynistic, racist and anti-LGBTQ language.

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