Jon Gruden discusses Oakland Raiders' GM Reggie McKenzie

[bigboy3333]

By Jerry McDonald

jmcdonald@bayareanewsgroup.com
Posted: 04/16/2013 02:22:54 PM PDT
Updated: 04/16/2013 02:41:23 PM PDT

Asked Jon Gruden on a conference call about Reggie McKenzie's philosophy of identifying high-character players and the whether any of the athletes he had on his ESPN shows fit that criteria, and here was his response:

"I think Reggie's going to do fine. He's got an unbelievable pedigree. He's been around the best football people in the business, guys like Ron Wolf and others. No question about that. He has a background with the Raiders being a former player with Oakland. And I know football character and character is highly touted when it comes to finding and developing players, and Reggie McKenzie is going to find guys that I think fit that criteria. I think all of the kids that we have in here this year have high
Oakland Raiders general manager Reggie McKenzie walks on the field before the Oakland Raiders vs. San Diego Chargers game at O.co Coliseum in Oakland, Calif. on Monday, Sept. 10, 2012. (Jose Carlos Fajardo/Staff)
football character.


Good enough for me, unless Reggie proved other wise ....

[Tenebrous]

It seems Gruden has been reduced to spitting sunshine; he likes every player that he meets, every player is great etc. I make my own decisions and based on what RM has done so far, he is a complete and total disaster. Nevertheless, as I noted before, he better have one heck of a draft with all the help the NFL gave him -- no team has had as much personal contact with the players in this draft than the Raiders.

[bigboy3333]

It seems Gruden has been reduced to spitting sunshine; he likes every player that he meets, every player is great etc. I make my own decisions and based on what RM has done so far, he is a complete and total disaster. Nevertheless, as I noted before, he better have one heck of a draft with all the help the NFL gave him -- no team has had as much personal contact with the players in this draft than the Raiders.

Well, who are U to say that the Reggie way will fell ?....what i thought, no one but U and (dumb dumb) trying to blow smoke up somebody ass.

Who else around agree with you and (..... ....)?....but you are entitled to your opinion..for what it's worth.

Can U or (..?) (????) come up with reliable source that the Raiders are doom under Reggie leadership??..until then, lay off the smoke!

[Tenebrous]

It seems Gruden has been reduced to spitting sunshine; he likes every player that he meets, every player is great etc. I make my own decisions and based on what RM has done so far, he is a complete and total disaster. Nevertheless, as I noted before, he better have one heck of a draft with all the help the NFL gave him -- no team has had as much personal contact with the players in this draft than the Raiders.

Well, who are U to say that the Reggie way will fell ?....what i thought, no one but U and (dumb dumb) trying to blow smoke up somebody ass.

Who else around agree with you and (..... ....)?....but you are entitled to your opinion..for what it's worth.

Can U or (..?) (????) come up with reliable source that the Raiders are doom under Reggie leadership??..until then, lay off the smoke!

Did I state that he will draft poorly? Indeed I made no reference to the future. What I did state (underlined for you) was that, based on his decisions so far in Oakland, he is a complete failure. Then I went on to state, that he better have a great draft -- which is distinct from stating that he will NOT have a great draft. At this point, if he goes on to have a bad draft, even after the NFL did all they could to help the Raiders gauge the players, with his poor decisions outside the draft, there will be not even one single reason to keep him in Oakland. In my view, he is hanging on by a thread - a poor draft along with his poor decisions should really be enough to move on in another direction.

[bigboy3333]

The very same thing could be said about Al Davis in his final 10 years of life...but I was not there day in day out bashing ever move Al Davis made....

[RF34]

I was. Passing on Calvin Johnson was the dumbest move AD made since benching Marcus Allen.

[bigboy3333]

I was. Passing on Calvin Johnson was the dumbest move AD made since benching Marcus Allen.

Do U agree?


The level of incompetence in the draft room by the Raiders is stunning. Over the past nine years they're the only team to not draft a Pro Bowl player in the first round. The year-by-year futility in drafting:

2004 -- Drafted tackle Robert Gallery second overall. Couldn't hack tackle. Became a decent guard. Now out of football.

2005 -- Drafted cornerback Fabian Washington 23rd overall. Now out of football.

2006 -- Drafted safety Michael Huff seventh overall. Just left for Baltimore as an unrestricted free agent.

2007 -- Drafted quarterback JaMarcus Russell first overall. Russell and Ryan Leaf are the biggest quarterback busts in NFL history. Now out of football.

2008 -- Drafted running back Darren McFadden fourth overall. When healthy, he's a very good back, but he's missed 23 games due to injury in five years. Enters the season as the Raiders' prospective starting back.

2009 -- Drafted wideout Darrius Heyward-Bey seventh overall. Just left for a modest free-agent deal in Indianapolis.

2010 -- Drafted linebacker Rolando McClain eighth overall. Two arrests, one team suspension and three in-and-out seasons later, he was released by McKenzie last week.

2011 -- Al Davis used the first-round pick in a trade the previous year for defensive tackle Richard Seymour, who was cut by McKenzie in a cost-cutting move last month.

2012 -- Former coach Hue Jackson used the first-round pick in a trade the previous year for Palmer, who was traded by McKenzie to Arizona in a cost-cutting move last week.

Nine first-round picks in the last nine years, and the Raiders have just one of the players used with the nine picks on the roster today. That is all-time incompetence. McKenzie is here to clean up the mess. It's categorically unfair to judge the job he's doing until at least the end of the 2014 season.

[Tenebrous]

The very same thing could be said about Al Davis in his final 10 years of life...but I was not there day in day out bashing ever move Al Davis made....

Al Davis never, at least in recent memory, fired a coach that was clearly moving the team forward in favor of bringing back a known failed coach along with a first year HC who was just a first year DC under a defensive minded coach. The worst (not draft related) he did was trade Gruden, which I was very upset about - but, Gruden could have said no and at least Davis got some picks for his troubles. In the end, I blame them both for that, though Davis more than Gruden. Then there was the Art Shell debacle, but Davis didn't fire a coach that was moving the team in the right direction to hire him.

The fact that you are comparing RM to Davis' worst years in the latter decade of his life is telling about how well RM has done so far in Oakland.

[Tenebrous]

I was. Passing on Calvin Johnson was the dumbest move AD made since benching Marcus Allen.

Do U agree?


The level of incompetence in the draft room by the Raiders is stunning. Over the past nine years they're the only team to not draft a Pro Bowl player in the first round. The year-by-year futility in drafting:

2004 -- Drafted tackle Robert Gallery second overall. Couldn't hack tackle. Became a decent guard. Now out of football.

2005 -- Drafted cornerback Fabian Washington 23rd overall. Now out of football.

2006 -- Drafted safety Michael Huff seventh overall. Just left for Baltimore as an unrestricted free agent.

2007 -- Drafted quarterback JaMarcus Russell first overall. Russell and Ryan Leaf are the biggest quarterback busts in NFL history. Now out of football.

2008 -- Drafted running back Darren McFadden fourth overall. When healthy, he's a very good back, but he's missed 23 games due to injury in five years. Enters the season as the Raiders' prospective starting back.

2009 -- Drafted wideout Darrius Heyward-Bey seventh overall. Just left for a modest free-agent deal in Indianapolis.

2010 -- Drafted linebacker Rolando McClain eighth overall. Two arrests, one team suspension and three in-and-out seasons later, he was released by McKenzie last week.

2011 -- Al Davis used the first-round pick in a trade the previous year for defensive tackle Richard Seymour, who was cut by McKenzie in a cost-cutting move last month.

2012 -- Former coach Hue Jackson used the first-round pick in a trade the previous year for Palmer, who was traded by McKenzie to Arizona in a cost-cutting move last week.

Nine first-round picks in the last nine years, and the Raiders have just one of the players used with the nine picks on the roster today. That is all-time incompetence. McKenzie is here to clean up the mess. It's categorically unfair to judge the job he's doing until at least the end of the 2014 season.

Unfair to judge RM?! Lol, since you are trying to make the same bad argument that 790 already failed with, I shall just quote myself.

RECENT FIRST ROUND HISTORY: 2012 - none; 2011 - none; 2010 - Rolando McClain (LB, Alabama); 2009 - Darrius Heyward-Bey (WR, Maryland); 2008 - Darren McFadden (RB, Arkansas); 2007 - JaMarcus Russell (QB, LSU); 2006 - Michael Huff (S, Texas); 2005 - Fabian Washington (CB, Nebraska); 2004 - Robert Gallery (OT, Iowa); 2003 - Nnamdi Asomugha (CB, California), Tyler Brayton (DE, Colorado).

Damn we suck at drafting in the first round! This has to be the worst 1st Round selection I have ever seen on any team. But let's cry and whine about it, blame RM for everything.

How does this even make sense?! Two wrongs do not make a right -- even if all those picks were the worst picks ever, that does not make RM's blundering good. For exmaple, one would be insane to conclude that Stalin was a humanitarian because Hitler was worse. If your defense of RM is that someone else was worse -- that is not a good defense of RM and speaks volumes about his failures so far in Oakland.

Last season, was not the result of Nnamdi, Russell, Washington, Gallery, etc. -- last season the team finished 4-12 largely because of very poor decisions by RM. The team somehow finished 8-8 with ridiculous injuries and Chuck B., just the year before RM's decisions, was that team not equally affected by all the players you noted?

Not that it matters, but let's look at your list -- Russell, while I was not for drafting him, was reported to be one of the most gifted QB's by many NFL Scout Pundits. Many had him as the top QB and even top player overall -- yet, somehow this makes RM look good?! DHB was a reach by many pundits, but many of the same pundis also stated that his was the highest ceiling of any player. Gallery and McClain?! Again, almost, if not every, team would have selected those players when drafted. Nnamdi was great in Silver and Black. Washington was a mid-to-late first round pick and didn't work out. Huff, not a bad player, and the main surprise was that the Raiders selected him over Leinart - which, in hindsight was the right call. So, what have you proved? That the draft is somewhat of gamble?!

What's your next argument in favor of RM, water is wet? In the end, niether wet water nor past decisions by others excuse RM's present blundering.

[RF34]

Al Davis never, at least in recent memory, fired a coach that was clearly moving the team forward in favor of bringing back a known failed coach along with a first year HC who was just a first year DC under a defensive minded coach.

Tom Cable had the team moving in the right direction.

The worst (not draft related) he did was trade Gruden, which I was very upset about - but, Gruden could have said no and at least Davis got some picks for his troubles. In the end, I blame them both for that, though Davis more than Gruden.

Gruden and the Raiders had a verbal deal in place. Some changes were made by the organization to said deal that resulted in said trade. All of that was on Davis.