Colin Cowherd: “The media CRUSHED Bill Polian for missing on Lamar Jackson… How about the sports media get CRUSHED for how we treated Jon Gruden on Khalil Mack?? They already used one of those first round picks on Josh Jacobs, who’s gonna be Rookie of the Year, and the second one is going to end up being a Top 10 pick because the Bears aren’t very good… I just looked at an NFL Mock Draft and saw the Raiders taking Oklahoma wide receiver CeeDee Lamb at 9. Gruden works great with wide recievers. THIS THING IS GOING TO WORK OUT. You can’t doubt what Gruden and Mike Mayock have done with their offensive pieces. Richie Incognito, Josh Jacobs, Hunter Renfrow, the tight end from LSU -- They have done a tremendous job, while Chicago isn’t good, doesn’t have a quarterback, and doesn’t have a first round pick to get a quarterback! This turned out to be a great deal for the Raiders.” (Full Video Above)
Listen to Colin Cowherd explain why he thinks the NFL media, including himself, owes Oakland Raiders head coach Jon Gruden an apology, after the former Super Bowl champion and television star was eviscerated for his role in trading Raiders fan favorite Khalil Mack last season.
Gruden went with a controversial scorched earth mentality when he first got to Oakland, who had been the league’s biggest joke since Gruden first left the team in 2002, which notably included the trading of potential Hall of Fame pass rusher Mack after a lengthy holdout. In exchange for Mack, the Raiders received first and sixth-round picks in 2019, coupled with first and third-round picks in 2020.
Gruden’s coaching capacity in a more modern NFL was then put into question, as the media almost unanimously denounced the move.
A year later and Gruden is the favorite to win the Coach of the Year award on a Raiders team who is just a half game out of the AFC wildcard, while Mack and the Bears are the league’s most disappointing team.
Check out the video above as Colin details why the trade turned out to be a wonderstrike for Gruden, and says how the NFL media, quick to hammer Bill Polian for his comments on Lamar Jackson, needs to look in the mirror and acknowledge how wrong they were bashing Gruden.