When Jon Gruden took over as the head coach of the Raiders in January 2018, he said his goal was to build “the best football team we can for the people here in Oakland.”
He lied.
As we enter the final season of the Raiders’ Oakland run, that much is clear. As soon as Gruden started his second, non-successive term, he began building for a grand debut in Las Vegas rather than a strong finish in the East Bay.
Don’t get me wrong; rebuilding the Raiders was and remains a justifiable decision. Gruden took over a franchise that last won a playoff game in 2003, the year after he was traded to Tampa Bay, and he inherited a roster that wasn’t worth keeping together, as it had little chance to be anything better than mediocre.