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Jon Gruden
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Taylor Lewan
Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to another episode of Bust with Boys. Very special guest with us today we have a the Legend of Clay High School, a Legend of Dayton Dayton College quarterback. We have a Super bowl winning coach Mr. Jon Gruden. Hey, brother. We are excited to have you on, man. Obviously, we just had you in the locker room. That show's already come out. But your passion, your love for football, and you never know with some of these personalities. You see, I remember watching you with, like, the draft experience and watching you get up with players and having quarterbacks talk about it, and you got that look in your eyes like you do right now, having them draw things up. But you truly. You truly love, eat and breathe football. Where did that passion start?
Jon Gruden
Yeah, I do. That's why I love being here with you guys. My dad was a coach. My dad coached at Indiana. He coached at Notre Dame. He coached with the Buccaneers. So I kind of grew up going to the locker rooms, idolizing players, wanting to be a coach. I played at Dayton. I wasn't very good. My high school is no longer around. They closed the doors. So I don't have any. I don't have any tapes to show you or prove what kind of player I was. But, you know, when you grow up knowing what you want to do at a young age and then you have an opportunity to get your foot in the door, it's. It's just been that way from the beginning.
Will Compton
How much of a learning curve was it like getting around your old man and when you were getting integrated into coaching? Just understanding the work that goes into coaching football, the sacrifice that goes into coaching football, because it's like you sit there as players, and I've always had aspirations of coaching, but coordinators, like coaches, mine, would always just say, hey, if you find something else to do, you might want to look into that. Because every. All the work you put in to be a player, it's like, you know, it's tenfold when you're coaching, because you're there from start to finish, all around the clock.
Jon Gruden
I mean, I was lucky because my dad knew people and I was able to get started probably ahead of some other guys would. And I got started at Tennessee. The Volunteers, they were in a Sugar Bowl. We beat Vinnie Testaverde. So I got around Walt Harris, a great offensive coach. And I was lucky, man, because when you're around people that know the game inside and out, that can set the tone and put you on a routine, and you try to accumulate knowledge every day and challenge you, that's just the environment I've always been in and one I've tried to create. So anyways, it goes by fast.
Taylor Lewan
Look.
Jon Gruden
Look at me now. I'm on busting with the boys, man. Let's Go, man. Hit the big time.
Taylor Lewan
Of all your accomplishments has got to be top five.
Will Compton
When you.
Taylor Lewan
When you coach for your graduate assistant, right, for the Tennessee Volunteers. Do you hold any love for the Volunteers now? Like, are you a fan of the Vols, all the places you coached at? Do you, like, still hold it near?
Jon Gruden
Oh, God, I love Tennessee. I met my wife there. My wife cheered at Tennessee. I was a cheerleader. My wife was dating Johnny Major's son. Johnny Majors, legendary coach at Tennessee. She's dating Coach Major, son. And they broke up, and I went in for the kill, man. But I absolutely love Knoxville, Tennessee. Love the Volunteers. We have property up in the Smoky Mountains, Sevierville, near Dollywood. And we go back a lot. We just love it. And we're in the playoffs, too.
Will Compton
Who are your college teams in Tennessee and Indiana. Are those the two?
Jon Gruden
Well, my dad coached at Indiana and Notre Dame. I coached at Tennessee, University of Pacific, who dropped football. The Southeast Missouri State, University of Pittsburgh.
Will Compton
You were at semo?
Jon Gruden
Yeah, one year. No, Cape Girardo, man.
Will Compton
Yeah, bro.
Taylor Lewan
I was getting a little nervous. I saw. When I saw Dayton on the Wikipedia, playing college football there, I was thinking, I wonder if he has any love for Ohio State. But it seems like you just stay in the Indiana category, huh?
Jon Gruden
Yeah, pretty much. I mean, I love my experience growing up in Ohio. My dad coached at Dayton, made a lot of connections there. What a staff he was on at Dayton. John McVeigh, who became the 49ers GM, was the head coach. But most of my ties are places I've coached. Those are the things I can remember the most.
Will Compton
Yeah. What is your. What do you think about this barstool? Barstool media world?
Jon Gruden
Yeah, man. It's totally different. You know, I never had a Twitter page. I never had anything. I don't know anything about social media. I used to give everybody a hard time about doing it. Now I'm taking selfies, you know, with George Brett in the airport. I mean, it's. It's really awkward and different.
Taylor Lewan
It's a wild game. Even. Even when we finish the locker room, you're like, hey, put your helmet on. Let me yell at you a little bit. Get this on camera. So it seem you're diving in the game quickly.
Jon Gruden
I'm trying. And I got some great guys, as, you know, the guys that run the place. Dave Portnoy. These guys are interesting, man. They're really creative, to put it mildly. I got to go on the golfing thing with Frankie and Trent. We had some people come down to my office last weekend. And I'm, I'm, I'm anxious to see what is going to unfold, but I just want to do good. I want to be part of the team and try to find my role.
Will Compton
Yeah, you told him to cut you if you're not producing.
Jon Gruden
So I said, I said give me, get me out of here if I, you know, I got my, I got a couple things I'm getting better at. And this is all part of the seasoning process hanging around with you two guys. Yeah, you know, I'll steal some ideas from you. This is a hell of a setup, man. It's, it's about, you know, telling the truth, having some fun, making some people laugh and making them think outside the box a little bit.
Will Compton
Yeah, yeah. It's like getting to have this like, you know, we were talking about it either on the locker room or outside of it. What you miss the most is the camaraderie. You miss the locker room.
Jon Gruden
Yeah.
Will Compton
Unfortunately we get to have people on like yourself, players that are currently playing ex players to where you still kind of get that feeling, that ball busting. They're having fun, having some laughs because you do, you just, you miss the locker room so much when it's over.
Jon Gruden
Oh, it's, it's what you, what you can't duplicate. But you guys are doing a pretty good job of it, you know, just giving guys shit. That's what I tried to do every day. I tried to stir the pot, man. I'd come in there one day and try to make you guys laugh.
Taylor Lewan
Yeah.
Jon Gruden
And I'd go to any extreme measure I had to go to make you laugh too, because sometimes you guys are grouchy bastards every day.
Taylor Lewan
No doubt.
Jon Gruden
You know, they need to laugh at six. Yeah. I got to make them laugh. And then the next day I might try to fire you up. Hey, Luana, let's, you know, you know. And then the next day you might really try to piss them off. Like I might really try to piss Will Compton.
Taylor Lewan
So you got seven shades of smoke when you're coming.
Jon Gruden
Well, you want.
Taylor Lewan
Are we going to get.
Jon Gruden
Well, you just don't want to just install 22 Hank. And here's, you know, here's 18 Bob. After a while, you know, you get a little bit bored. You got to try to make it fun and you try to stimulate your guys and I think that's when they play their best.
Will Compton
Who's the best pot stirring coach you've been around?
Jon Gruden
Ray Rhodes. Ray Rhodes was the head coach of the Eagles when I Was the offensive coordinator. He was a secondary coach of the 49ers when it all started for me. He had Ronnie Lott. He had a great group back there. He was a combination of Richard Pryor. He was, he was a comedian and he was a great technician, a great technical football guy. But he would create analogies. He would speak in analogies that were awesome. And he used those analogies in his teaching methods. Ray Rhodes was phenomenal. One of the great coaches I've ever been around.
Will Compton
What about motivator?
Jon Gruden
Yeah, motivation. Motivation. I. That'd be a hard one. I'd have to think about that for a minute. But I've been around some good ones. How about you? Who's the best motivator you've been around?
Will Compton
I mean, Bo Pelini was a hell of a motivator.
Jon Gruden
I'll bet.
Will Compton
Dude, honestly, like, I've told Taylor this. I don't know if I've said it on the bus, but you are a hell of a motivator. I mean, when you're. What was that? When I came out there, it was like my seventh year. And you're a veteran, you're coming out mid year and usually like when you're a vet and you've, you've had some years in the league, you've heard everybody speak, you've heard all the speeches and everything else, but I remember you just had us after a practice one day and it was getting my piss hot. And it was like one of those things. You're like, yo, this is the. You hear all this stuff about Jon Gruden and everything else. Now I get to play for him. And you walk away from just that, that post meeting motivational talk he gave. And it is, it's one of those things because then coaches try to do it and it's like you understand what they're trying to do. But it's not like, it's not like getting you fired up or it's not making you think. You're like, oh, I wonder what's. I wonder what Taylor thought about this speech. You kind of go and laugh about it, but you were somebody that always felt like you had the right words, the right tone, the right time. And so I would say, I would say yourself, Coach Vrabel, he can get going.
Taylor Lewan
Your brother Vrabel is more a matter of fact. Yeah, but expressing to you like the keys to the game. But in a way they were like, yeah, if we just do these three, four things we are going to in
Will Compton
the night before a game when he'd Start running a highlight tape like, you tell us they're. They're talking about us this way, they're talking about us that way. Tell me we can't block on the edge. Tell me we can't make plays in space. Tell me we're not. You know, all those different things that get it. That would get you fired up. Your brother, he was more of a. He was more of a comedian.
Jon Gruden
Yeah.
Will Compton
He would take some, like, rap lyrics or song lyrics and. And bring it out, and we'd, like, have fun. Jay's awesome.
Jon Gruden
You know, a lot of times I see assistant coaches. I remember when I was in Tampa, we all know Mike Tomlin now is the head coach. He's a great motivator. You should hear him in a room with his secondary guys. When I was coaching for the Bucks, he was a great motive. Ronde Barber, John lynch, he had those guys frothing at the mouth. Rod Marinelli, our D line coach.
Will Compton
Yeah.
Jon Gruden
Was phenomenal. Some of my real, you know, bad words, I learned. I learned from Marinelli.
Will Compton
Yeah.
Jon Gruden
Al Davis was a great motivator, and he used any method to get you fired up.
Will Compton
Versace.
Jon Gruden
Versace was good. I think you try to hire guys that can handle their players. I hate assistant coaches that come into your. Hey, we. Taylor Luan was three minutes late. Hey. Will Compton wasn't paying attention in the meeting room. Go get them to pay attention. You know, that's your job. You know what I mean? I like coaches that can run the show and really get these guys charged up in their. In their own individual worlds.
Will Compton
Yeah.
Taylor Lewan
When it came to coaching, and you're talking about, like, one day you would try to make guys laugh, then motivate, then piss them off. What? Like, how did you learn that? I need to go about these different ways to motivate different players. Like, was that something you knew right away as a coach by watching your dad, or is that something you gained over time?
Jon Gruden
Well, pretty much. You're not. When you're the head coach, you're not just motivating the left tackle. You're not just going into a team meeting to motivate the quarterback or the wide receiver. You're trying to get everybody on a common thread. Everybody's got to see this together. And, you know, I just think the more camaraderie you can generate, the better chance you have. It's a long season, and I think it's. It's important to laugh at each other. You know, get guys up there, have them talk for a minute or two. Some balls Bust each other's balls, including your own. And that worked for me for a while, but I think I pissed some people off. And unfortunately, that's the way it goes
Will Compton
when now talk about, talk about you pivoting throughout your career because the game is a lot different now. You're busting our balls. You guys are much more sensitive these days. We had, we had Mike Allstot on the bus and he's talking about how soft the league is now. Like, how have you had to kind of adapt your philosophies over time?
Jon Gruden
Yeah, I mean, I did Monday Night Football for nine years. And during those nine years, I got away from the players association. How practices have changed. You know, you can't hit the quarterback below the leg. A lot of different rules have come in. Player safety, big issue. But the big thing is coming back and coaching. You have to adapt to the rules, but you still have to push the envelope. You got to create repetitions, repetitions. The mother of learning, whether it be walkthroughs, whatever it is, we have to develop players. And you guys will admit these college kids coming out, they are not as far along as people think they are. A lot of these guys are transferring year to year. They're only one year starters. They're really raw and you need time to spend with them. But you got to push the envelope. You got to adapt to the circumstances that are laid out for you.
Will Compton
Go ahead.
Taylor Lewan
No, we were talking about the transfer in the nil in the last episode of Busting with the Boys. How it's got to be so difficult as a college coach to go up to a player and be like, these are the things you need to work on and be a little bit harder on them, a little more tough love on them. Because those like, I'm just gonna go somewhere else, get paid the same amount. Do you think there's going to be like a, a drop in the talent level in the NFL the next five to seven years with guys? Not kind of. Because you have to be forged in fire a little bit when it comes to college. You have to go through the, this, the 6:00am winter conditioning type of situations. And a lot of guys, when it gets too difficult now, they'll just leave. And if they're not pressed to move forward and grow, they're going to be a less than player. Do you think there's going to be a. You'll see.
Will Compton
They'll be raw without mental toughness.
Taylor Lewan
Yeah, raw without mental toughness.
Jon Gruden
Well, you just said the thing I, I think is the key ingred a pro football player. It's mental toughness. I don't care where you go, what round, or who you play for. You're going to get your ass knocked off in the NFL and the media is going to jump on you. The. That's just the reality of it. And if you don't have mental toughness to lean on, you're out. You're going to be gone early. Yeah, but I worry about the state of college football, what we're doing. I mean, these guys are pulling out of bowl games. Guys are in the nil portal before the season is over. How would you look at your teammate if you had a left guard playing next to you at Michigan? It's entering the portal before you play in a bowl game. That would probably piss you off, especially the playoff.
Will Compton
Like, the portals open now. It's like these teams are going to try and make a push to win a national title, and you got guys kind of flirting with the next girl. Yeah, I. I have no crazy.
Taylor Lewan
It's. It's gotta be just because when Will and I were in college, it was, you pick a school, you're at that school for four years. If you want to transfer, you have to sit out for a year and lose a year of eligibility. So there's a lot of risk if you want to make it that dramatic of a change. So you either, you know, buy in or get the fuck out. And I could not imagine sitting next to a left guard or a tight end and blocking with them while they're, like, going. Gonna go to some other school, whether it's in the SEC or another school in the Big Ten. That's got to be difficult for players to deal with.
Will Compton
The worst one would be just knowing a guy's bitching about the situation and you're trying to go, like, win a football game.
Taylor Lewan
Yeah, it's like, brother, we're. We're trying to win this game. That's all that matters. And Will and I are big. Drink the Kool Aid. Guys like we. When we were playing our sport on our team, it was like, we're living and breathing and dying for that team.
Jon Gruden
I really didn't want our scouts to bring in a lot of players that were transfer players, guys that quit at Michigan and went to Notre Dame and went from. I wanted guys that were finishers that started and finished the job, signed up and executed their mission. Now you're going to have to adapt to that philosophy. You're going to have to take some guys that are bouncing around. But I've met With some of these kids that have entered the portal and a lot of it has to do with their situation. They don't have money, they don't have two parents, they don't, they weren't raised with everything given to them. They don't have any money. And all of a sudden you get somebody offer you $700,000 or $600,000. You can't blame these guys for chasing their dream and improving their family situation.
Taylor Lewan
If you never had money before, it's hard to look at $700,000 and say, no, I'm gonna hold out and wait. Yeah, there's another train of thought too. Is like if you've been broke your whole life, what's being broke a couple more years and being a part of something special.
Jon Gruden
Yeah.
Taylor Lewan
That's kind of the selling point. It's like you're a Kenny Dillingham from asu. It's like, listen, we can't offer you all the money in the world, but there's something special going on here and eventually you're gonna make that money. It's just, it's just hard, man.
Will Compton
Yeah. They just need to find a way to not make it free agency all year round.
Taylor Lewan
Yeah.
Will Compton
Because as a coach, you recruit, you're already recruiting your ass off to get the next guys in, but you got to recruit your ass off for the guys that are there. And then these portal situations and opportunities open up like while you're in the middle of a season. So I just feel like something, there's got to be a solution that's going to come.
Jon Gruden
Well, you guys come from the big time. You guys come from Nebraska, Michigan. I played at Dayton. You know, I got friends that coach in the Mid American Conference. Just picture yourself at Toledo or Western Michigan or Kent State. You're coaching your ass off. You find these players that aren't five star players that are maybe one star players. You feed them, you develop them and as they become all conference players in the Mid American League, sophomores or juniors, here comes Nebraska, here comes Michigan. You take all my players, man, and you pay them and what do I get? You know what I get? I get nothing. That pisses me off, man. So the, the smaller schools are the ones that are getting punched in the mouth and you know, that's just part of the program right now.
Will Compton
The friends and coaches that you know and have are they, is like some of their philosophy just recruiting guys to be like, hey, you can be this, this could be a stepping stone. I'll get you to the next league.
Jon Gruden
Yeah. I mean Recruiting now is. It's a different deal. You got some guy walking in your office that's managing, hey, I got Taylor, Luan, and Will Compton. These. This guy's representing you two guys, and he's telling me, hey, if you want Luan and Compton, you got to pay him this and pay him that. And if you pay me, I'll make sure you get these two guys. So now you're dealing out. You're dealing with a lot of variables. It has nothing to do with football. And it's a problem. It's a problem.
Will Compton
That's a good point.
Taylor Lewan
Didn't you. Didn't you tweet something yesterday about Asians taking 20?
Will Compton
Yeah. Look, there's. There are agencies, and I mean, you were with caa. Like, there's agencies where you get. Like, in the NFL, it's bigger contracts, bigger money to where you're paying the 1 to 3%. And then if you have, like, a marketing rep, there's. There's like a 10 to 20 cut that they take if they were to get you twisted T or body armor. You know what I mean? To be like in a commercial. So I understand that there are quality agencies that command 10 to 20% in total off of, you know, two, $300,000. I understand that. The problem I have is knowing that you have and you learned about in college, that these runners that take place, like, you could be represented by Coach Gruden. He's your agent. He's your agency. I could be somebody that goes to Tennessee, Nebraska, and Michigan just doing my own thing and getting your market understanding. Hey, if Taylor hit the portal, what would he be worth? 4000-005000-00600,000 dol. And then I DM and message you and start to poach and do all these things, and I know nothing about your situation, your experience, anything. I'm just trying to make a quick buck off you because I know I can get 20% if I start dangling these carrots in front of you. Like, hey, I know you're with him making 300,000, but I'm telling you right now, I'm feeling the temperature out there. You can make up to 700,000 if you come with me. And so there's just so many muddy waters. Nobody's out there, you know, telling all the truths of it all because everybody. It's just an open market. The business has got to figure itself out. College football's got to step in and put some parameters somewhere. And guys, unfortunately, are going to have. Kids are going to have to unfortunately learn the hard way at times. And it's going to have to sort itself out. But that's like the issue I have is knowing that I get it. It's a business. It's an open market. We live in a free market. We want players to get paid. College football makes millions and billions of dollars off this stuff. I understand all that, but we know at the same time too, like, we were those players, we were those guys in college. And you understand how important development is, how important adversity is, how important being forged in the fire is. And maybe you are in a situation where, hey, you should transfer, but there's a lot of guys that just get the wrong information, bad information, and they're getting bad mentoring or they're getting no mentoring at all. They're just chasing money. When it's like, you know, you. I just hate to see that happen with kids.
Taylor Lewan
I know.
Will Compton
I see that happen with college football because it hurts the product and ultimately leaks into the NFL to where that's, you know, that becomes a bad product because the fundamentals and technique is off. It's way worse just because of the quality. These kids aren't going and choosing football because they want to be great football players. They want to, they think they want to, but then they get bedazzled by money and everything else. And again, I understand it. I just hate this wild west that we're living in because it's hard to figure out what this nil world is because nobody really talks about it a whole lot. There's a lot of shit that goes
Jon Gruden
on that was really freaking. Well, I mean, I was. Well said right there.
Will Compton
I mean, think about it like, you know, Coach Norvell, he's with Colorado State, he was kind of talking on it, but coaches can't speak on it too much because you don't know all the legalities going on.
Taylor Lewan
Right.
Will Compton
You're in with the nil collective. Like they have their own stories and drama. Coaches understand what their situation is. Players understand what their situation. It's just, it's fucking bizarre right now.
Taylor Lewan
And as a coach, as a college coach, your whole thing with these young players is 18 to 22 year olds is all about limiting distractions. And when we were, you know, oh, no, I was 09 to 13, you were 08 to 12. Yeah, when you're, when you're there in college, then it's. It's a game of like limited distractions with alcohol, with assholes and women like that. Those are the, those are the big three pillars. Now you're throwing money in the whole thing too. Because at, as a, as a player, you're looking at that pot of gold at the end of the dark tunnel. But now there's little flickers of lights with a little bag here, a little bag there that can get you on the wrong path. And then you don't get forged in the fire. You, you lose a technique and you become a lesser football player. That hurts you in the end that when you're 25 years old, a couple years in the league, that second contract might not be as good, which would be way more money than you would have ever made in college. So it's a, it's a whole thing.
Will Compton
I just, I just hate the money hungry.
Taylor Lewan
It makes it interesting though.
Will Compton
Snakes that are out there.
Jon Gruden
Really interesting man is sitting here looking at you two guys on this bus, man. I mean I've known you guys as players and I've seen you guys on this bus. And to think that you guys have turned this into, I mean, an unbelievable deal. I mean you guys are killing.
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Will Compton
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Taylor Lewan
see my co worker in light at the pharmacy.
Jon Gruden
Can he tell I'm picking up prescription hemorrhoid cream? I'm probably standing weird.
Taylor Lewan
Why is he smiling?
Jon Gruden
He knows he's gonna call me Hemorrhoid Lloyd tomorrow. I know it. I gotta quit my job.
Will Compton
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Jon Gruden
I just, I hate to interrupt you guys and change subjects, but this nil kind of rubs me wrong. But you know, success on the field is one thing, but transitioning, like I just, for all the young guys out there, can you just tell me how you transitioned into this thing right here and have created and reinvented yourselves here? This is pretty freaking cool, man.
Taylor Lewan
Yeah, if you, if you want to take the first part of that, I mean, it's a story we've told a lot on the bus, but it is just cool.
Jon Gruden
But a lot of players, you know, they get out of football, they kind of search for their next game, their next thing. How did you guys do this?
Will Compton
Yeah, I, speaking for myself, I feel like I was in, I was in Year six with the Tennessee Titans. And you know, coach, like when I got to play for you, like I cut my teeth into the league with your brother at Washington. And in my situation, if I'm a backup and a special teams guy, I don't want anybody to get hurt. But if I'm going to get my opportunity, you know, you're going to need the guy to go down in front of you and then, hey, I get to show them what I'm about. I can show them that I can rock the green dot, do all those things. And so when I didn't get that opportunity. In my sixth year, I'm kind of sitting there with myself. You know, there's things I'm interested in. I know I want to coach. I have interest in, like, the real estate. You're trying to. You're trying to figure out where your curiosities go, because at some point, the game is going to end. It's going to end sooner than you think. It's probably not going to end on your terms like most guys. And so just knowing that I love podcasting, I end up asking Taylor if he wanted to start a podcast with me. He was all in. And I'm kind of thinking to myself, like, people do make money in this podcasting world. If we could, you know, if we could, you know, have the. If we're able to spin it and transition and use this as a transitional point, like, how great would that be? And so for me, it was like, all right, I'm gonna start a podcast. I could play myself out of the league because nobody in the NFL world's really doing it. McAfee retired to go into barstool media and then the media in general, but nobody's really doing it. And I know how coaches and I know how front office and people can feel about players being on a public platform, especially when it's like, I'm not. I wasn't in a situation where I'm getting a big second contract. Like, I was a. Going into that offseason knowing I was going to be a 90 man guy having to make a 53 roster and who wants any of that luggage or extra drama? So I'm like, if I play myself out of the league, but it's, you know, if we're able to transition and create something like, you know, then that's just the risk that I'll take. Fortunately, I got to continue doing it and being on the podcast, doing the podcast, being on the bus, going to play for you, playing with the Titans again and doing it for a few more years. But ultimately, for me, it was like, hey, this game is going to end at some point. I need to understand where my interests are, where my curiosity lies, and try to do whatever I can to have the autonomy to do it myself before I have to go, like, work for the man. And who knows if I'm working for the man if it's going to be in the right situation. When you're done playing football, we get catered to our entire lives. The structure's there. You get a motivational speech, you understand how tough it is. You want to Be forging the fire. You have all those skills to transition. However, you don't get the highs of playing at that, that elite level of the NFL. Right. Going out there on prime time, winning with a band of brothers. And when that gets pulled away, a lot of guys struggle because it's like, where's our next roller coaster? Where's our next high? We played on such a high level. The logo, even though they tell you Coach Gruden, you know, you guys got to sacrifice for this logo, everything you guys pour into this, we're doing it for the team. Team, team, team. The minute the team is you're not on the team anymore, that logo isn't calling you back to make sure you get your next job. So it's all about how can we control our situation. And I feel like we've been able to create bustin with the boys and it's been incredible because the big thing you miss when you leave is the locker room. We've gotten the create something off that. But that's like, that was like my train of thought going into busting with them.
Taylor Lewan
Yeah. And it's, it's interesting because you kind of see like Will and I's pass how different they were entering the NFL because when I got a scholarship offer in Scottsdale, Arizona for the first time was from Utah State, right then and there I thought to myself, I'm going to the NFL. Like that is now. My, my path of life has now is very clear. And as a football player who lives, breathes and eats and loves the game of football, you truly think the most honorable death is probably to die in between the hashes. Like that is kind of the way you want to go. You, you, like you look in the mirror before a game with tears in your eyes and you think, if today is the day I go, like it's a good fucking day and it's time to go out there. So for me, I was always a guy that's like, I was never focused on what's next. I was always focused on right now. And it was, you know, playing well and getting to the NFL. So I go to Michigan, I become a first round pick, and when Will Compton comes to the Tennessee Titans. I just signed the biggest deal in NFL history for an offensive lineman. To me, everything is going according to plan. Where I'm not seeing the inevitable end of what every player has to go through. Even if you're Tom Brady, who can beat Father Time, like you are always going to the game's always going to walk away from you. Before you walk away from it. So when Will approaches me about doing a podcast, I'm thinking to myself, dude, like, I guess. And I just. In my head, I compartmentalize it as, like, well, people do real estate. People do stocks. Like, this is the same thing. It's just an investment. I just happen to be in the public eye. And you mentioned it in the locker room. I'm not like your stereotypical office lineman, a scene not heard type of guy. I'm very much seen and very much heard. So, like, it was an opportunity for me to kind of, like, allow this personality to come out. And it was like, you know, to me, I thought, like, I don't know what this is gonna be. This might be just a fun little game.
Will Compton
Guys take a couple hours a day, video games when they're at home. It's like, you're coming in.
Taylor Lewan
Yeah, just coming for a couple hours, ripping a podcast. And it turned into this. And it couldn't have happened at a better time. I remember I bought. So the. The house I live in now. I bought the land, and I was building, and Will and I were walking around the property, and it was right. It was like, right before the season or right after the season, and Will's like, this is my last year. I don't want to do it again. I played that game with him for three more years. Every year it was, this is my last year. I don't want to do it again. And then it was like, you know, maybe I can sneak in, get rid of camp. And then he started playing the game. And so, like, while we're both still playing in the NFL, bus is kind of just, like, chugging along and grow, getting more and more followers. People are more.
Will Compton
We got into bar stool, which got
Taylor Lewan
a bar stool early and often, which you're gonna come to find out is, like, the greatest teacher in this world. It's. It's. It gives you the ability to be yourself, unapologetically. Be yourself, the good and the bad, and be everyone. Be like, that's all right. You're a part of Barstool. You can do whatever you want here. And so it is. It's interesting how it all turned out. And you just kind of look back and you're like, it's kind of crazy. Like, in my mind, I'm like, I kind of just lucked into this. I kind of just like, fell into meeting Will. And Will wanted to do this.
Jon Gruden
He didn't.
Taylor Lewan
He wanted the safety blanket of doing it with somebody else.
Will Compton
And, I mean, we had a Safety. Our chemistry, too.
Taylor Lewan
Yeah. I mean, it's beautiful.
Will Compton
Like, when you sign the big deal, there's a part in my brain I'm like, well, the team won't be able to touch him because he's the highest paid player on their team. If I play myself out, I'm just not going to get a phone call again. Yeah, it's like it. Let's just.
Taylor Lewan
We knew we had three years of guarantee to do what we wanted. Ended up working out.
Will Compton
Yeah.
Taylor Lewan
And ended up working out for us.
Will Compton
Coach Gruden ends up calling and I go out to, I go out to Oakland.
Jon Gruden
Yeah.
Taylor Lewan
But you, you've dealt a lot of transition too, when you were going from the NFL into commentating. Like a lot of coaches try to do that. A lot of coaches try to dip their toe into media space, but you came in and you murdered it. The ability to know what every player's college they went to and their mascot. And you just talk about guys as if you've known them for 20 years. How did, how was that transition for you from going from coaching to media?
Jon Gruden
Well, I was a communications major in college. I always wanted to do the news. I always wanted to be a sportscaster. Really, if I wasn't going to coach. Excuse me.
Taylor Lewan
If you want to answer that too.
Jon Gruden
Do whatever you got to do.
Taylor Lewan
You kind of want to take that, don't you?
Jon Gruden
No, I'm sorry. I didn't turn it off. But Mike Tico was the key for me. I mean, I got, I got fired. I was really humbled. I was really down. And the NFL Network called me and asked me to come to the combine and do some segments covering a combine. Steve Maruchi is a friend of mine, says, come on. I. So I got right up to the combine. I said, I can't do it. I was just humiliated. I didn't want to go to the combine and see all my coaching friends after just being fired. I was embarrassed. So Mooch says, come on, let's go. So I ended up doing it and I guess I did pretty good. And some guys at Monday Night Football saw me and we had a chance to interview. But when I met Tariko, long story short short, he helped me big time. He threw me grapefruits that I could hit. He would hit me, you know, and probe me. And he really helped me with my preparation and my confidence. But it was, it was, it was a transition. It was pretty interesting. I really enjoyed the three man booth when we had Jaworski up there because we would bust each other's Balls. And it was almost like three guys at a bar watching a football game. That's what I felt like. But it was a great transition, a lot of fun, and it allowed me to get the tapes, keep studying. We got our quarterback camp going in the spring, which kind of kept me going with the draft and ultimately led to my return to the Raiders. Unfortunately, I didn't last long.
Will Compton
Yeah, talk about how hard it was to transition. You're talking about being embarrassed and humiliated. You are like a. You were like a Super bowl winning coach and you're somebody who got traded.
Jon Gruden
Yeah, well, that was hard too. But you know, when you get fired, you guys know how it is. You're eventually even. You got cut. Sit you. Maybe you decided yourself, but maybe you saw the writing on the wall. At some point, somebody, yeah, you're fired and it catches you. But when I did go back, it was. It was a lot different. The world had completely changed. What's really hard is hiring a coaching staff. When you're the head coach, the most important thing you got to do is hire the right coaches. I'm going to call the plays and coach the quarterbacks. That's just how I did it. But you better hire the right defensive staff. You know, you better get the right personnel group around you that sees the vision that you have for the team or vice versa. We have to see it the same way. But that was a big challenge is surrounding yourself with guys that you grew up with. A lot of those guys had their own jobs. They couldn't get out of their contracts. It's a pain in the ass, man. Getting your network together on the same staff so you can go in and do what you want to do?
Taylor Lewan
When you are picking out those coaches, you're talking about your buddies. How hard is it to get a phone call from a guy that you maybe have known for a long time that you know is not the right person for the job or what's that conversation like?
Jon Gruden
Oh, man, it's hard. You know, you got to say, I'm going in another direction. And you lose some friends. It's hard to have a lot of friends. You know, sometimes you gotta turn a guy down. You can't do it. You got a job open. Hey, I need the job. I don't have a job. I need this job. And you got to let them down. And sometimes it costs you. But there's a lot of hard lessons and mental toughness that you gotta understand come with being the head coach.
Will Compton
Yeah. When you were in media for those nine years, was the goal always to get back in the NFL and be a coach.
Jon Gruden
It was initially I thought I'd be right back in doing something right, but the more I got around to Rico and Jaworski and the. I mean, I love that song, man.
Will Compton
Yeah.
Jon Gruden
And there was a certain. As a kid growing up, I love Monday Night Football. My mom and dad would let me stay up to watch the highlights at halftime. Howard Cosell and Frank Gifford. I. I felt honored to be on Monday Night Football, but I ultimately knew I had to get back on the sidelines. And I still miss it, man. I still would like to take one more swing, but right now I'm busting with the boys and I'm with Barstool and I'm having fun, man.
Will Compton
Are you hoping to get back on the sideline?
Jon Gruden
Well, I mean, you know, fantasy. I live in fantasy world a little bit. I'm no different than I was when I was 18 years old. You know, I fantasize about stuff and I still fantasize about getting a can of whoop ass and going out there with a bunch of guys and just kicking the. Out of some people. I. I just like that competitive of game day feeling. I just, you know, you can't get that anywhere else, man.
Taylor Lewan
The butterflies, the juice.
Jon Gruden
Were you ever.
Taylor Lewan
We were a smelling salt guy.
Jon Gruden
No, I never did that. I never had to do that.
Taylor Lewan
The smelling salts were always. It just adds that level of anxiety to a whole new fun level. Yeah, but that dude. When the jets fired for their head coach, I think it was. Was it. Booger came out and he's like. One name you need to think about right now is John Gruden. And for the last couple of years, your name wasn't really thrown around the whole coaching realm. And all of a sudden your name is now starting to find its way back into the NFL. When you start to hear that, are you getting phone calls about anything or are you just the media starting to talk and you're letting them do their thing? Because that's how everything works. All it takes is one person to say your name and then it's slowly like a snowball just starts getting bigger and bigger as it rolls down a hill.
Jon Gruden
Just a few conversations. You know, I think the big thing I'm trying to do right now is coach people that. I have the ffca. I have a.
Will Compton
You have a fancy factory down.
Jon Gruden
I have my own. I got my video tapes and I'm. I'm obsessed with it. We have a lot of coaches, a lot of players, just different coaching staffs. That have come in and we study football, and I really am getting my fix doing that. I really don't need this nil stuff. I would. I would give me a heart attack.
Will Compton
Would you coach college?
Jon Gruden
You know, I might if it was a big program with a lot of nil money. Because I'd buy a lot of players, and I guarantee I could walk across when we play Nebraska. You know what I do after the game? I'd go find the two or three guys that aren't playing a lot that I like. I'd say, you know what? You ought to get your ass out of here. Come play. I would do a good job of that. Yeah, I could see myself. I'm wired. I just. I just am not wired like they're doing business now in college. I can't deal with a lot of this financial, you know, paying you a million dollars. And the weak side linebacker gets 100, right? Or this guy here. This guy gets nothing. I just have a hard time with the salary structure and the whole overall operation, but that's just me.
Taylor Lewan
When you see a guy like Bill Belichick, with the resume that he has, looking at unc. Is it confirmed now? Is he now the. The Tar Heels head coach he's willing to coach?
Will Compton
At the time we're recording this, the. The post that I saw was like the North Carolina Tar Heels. They would know their decision within 24 hours of.
Taylor Lewan
With Bill Belichick coaching now in college, like, what. What's your thought process?
Jon Gruden
Seeing that I'm not really shocked, as many people are, I. I think he's got a son who's a very good young coach. The opportunity to maybe bring your son with you to Chapel Hill. Chapel. You guys ever been to Chapel Hill?
Taylor Lewan
Have not.
Jon Gruden
There's a lot of good stuff there, man. To go to Chapel Hill, you know, finish your coaching career with your son, perhaps get the program back to where people say, wow, we got to play North Carolina, and maybe someday have your son take over. Maybe that's something that's in the cards. I don't know. But he's got a new girlfriend. I see that all over the Internet. Things don't ever stay the same. You either get better or worse. And I think Belichick might be looking for something a little different. How would you like to live in New England for 15 years? You know, you might want to go to Chapel Hill, man.
Taylor Lewan
Go to Chapel.
Jon Gruden
Girlfriend, how's it going? Some fun. Kick some ass and be with your son. You know, I. I think Belichick is capable of doing just about anything in football. He's already done it and good for him if he chooses to get into the ncaa. How would you like that though? If you're coaching in the acc, you're at Wake Forest or you're at Duke, you're the Miami Hurricanes and you open up with Bill Belichick.
Will Compton
I know, wouldn't that be cool?
Taylor Lewan
Got his cut out sweater on. Yeah, I was impressed by how well he's done in the media this year. I did not think without you heard like Gronkowski and Edelman and Brady kind of like chirp about, talk about how bland he is and how he's kind of.
Will Compton
We got to see it for 15 years.
Taylor Lewan
Yeah, got to see it. Just kind of talking to the media now. He comes in, he's doing Manning cast, He's on Pat McAfee show and he does an incredible job. Did you expect that?
Jon Gruden
No, I really didn't. But as I said, I, I, I don't know Bill Belichick like a lot of guys do. I don't hang around with the defensive guys. The offensive guys get on this bus, the defensive guys, I've always been on that bus. But I remember when I was coaching the Raiders, I got a call from Bill, he says, hey, I heard you like Bon Jovi. My wife loves, we love Bon Jovi. I go, yeah, we really do. Like he's playing in San Jose Saturday night. You want to meet him and get two tickets? I say, hell yeah. So I've always been indebted to Bill Belichick. He's a cool guy, man. I mean he is a really cool guy. And I just think it's exciting at his age to reinvent himself and come back perhaps as a college coach. Says a lot about him.
Will Compton
Yeah, you talk about you have this football facility in Tampa. What, what does your week look like? Like when do you wake up? How is your routine on a day to day?
Jon Gruden
Yeah, I gotta have a routine, you know, Monday through Sunday I have to have a routine. I always did as a coach. But Monday I, I really like to go in there and look for my grinders. Studying and looking at the Sunday, the games, the statistics, the play time percentages, who did what. My tapes really come in Tuesday morning. So Monday I'm kind of, you know, getting my boards ready. You know, who really played well in third down, who had the best scoring game. I want to see those games. How, how did Russell Wilson throw for 400 yards? I can't wait till the tape comes in, but I kind of set up my Tuesday film study based on what I see Monday. And then Tuesday is like an all day. That's why it's, it's crazy. I'm here flying out on Tuesday, I couldn't get to my tapes, man, you know. Then Wednesday I try to work on my presentation. I believe you got to do the preparation, you got to study the tapes for me to say this guy's playing good. I want to see that he's playing good. If this guy's playing bad you read about, I got to see struggling, you know, But I do the preparation. Then on Wednesday I start the presentation, start to send out my boards, you know who I like and I draw my stuff up, up. And then Thursday I get into some behind the scenes things. I like to study red zone, just different short yardage things, different running backs, just different things. But I, I love to study three hard days and then I do like to get out on Friday if I can't hit the golf ball. Yeah.
Will Compton
What time are you waking up throughout
Jon Gruden
the week I get up early, 4:30, 5:00'. Clock. Not like I used to, but my office is right down the street, half a mile from my house.
Taylor Lewan
Let me just pause you for a second. You said 4:30, 5 o'. Clock. Not like I used to. What did you used to get up?
Jon Gruden
I see up 3 o', clock. 3:17 every day. 3:17 was my number.
Taylor Lewan
Really?
Jon Gruden
Yeah.
Taylor Lewan
What time would you go to bed?
Jon Gruden
I go to bed early. I go to bed. 9:30, 10 o'. Clock. I try to be in bed by 10:10, 10 o' clock at the latest.
Taylor Lewan
At 10:10. That is, that's wild.
Will Compton
What is that? What are the hours look like when you are the head coach? Are you there till what, midnight and waking up at.
Jon Gruden
No, I could never do it at night and I, I didn't want my coaches to feel like they had to come in at 3 o' clock or 4 o'. Clock. I didn't want them to feel like that at all. But I had to get in there early. Nobody bothering you, nobody's bitching, nobody's phone's ringing. I had to focus my concentration on the scripts, you know, the cards, you got to draw the cards, the tip sheets for the quarterbacks and you know, I, I try to get out when the work is done, you know, I did not want to be in there all night. Now when I worked for the Raiders, Al Davis was a night guy guy. So I would be a morning guy and Al would come in at seven o' clock at night. He almost killed me that first year. Finally I said, hey, something's got to give man. I I just can't. I can't stand here till midnight. But that was a tough year. My Al broke me in pretty good man.
Will Compton
We had man I want to talk
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Yeah, but I'm not itching to go downtown and tell a receptionist I'm here
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Taylor Lewan
$30 concert tickets are on sale now.
Will Compton
It's Summer of Live, presented by Live Nation. $30 tickets to over 4,000 shows now through May 5th. Tickets are going fast, so don't miss your chance to see Kesha, Kid Cudi, Luke Bryan, mgk, the Pussycat Dolls, and so many anymore. Make it a summer of live music. $30 concert tickets this week only go to live nation.com summeroflive I want to talk about the. The time you recruited me to come back to the Raiders.
Jon Gruden
Yeah.
Will Compton
If you can remember, I'll recall it a little bit. So I was there the last five games for Oakland. We had fun. Like, we weren't having the best season. Went out on a decent note defensively. And Coach Gruden brings me in for an exit meeting. You know, not like the. The nil exit meetings, where it's like, hey, you got to pay me this or I'm not coming back. But he brings me in on an exit meeting. Coach Gruden's like, I need Will Compton back. Like, you're not going to be a Hall of Famer. You're not going to be a Pro Bowler. I'm sitting there in my head like, I'm. I mean, I'm still playing. Like, yeah, I understand. I can't be a pro. I probably won't be a Pro Bowler, but I could still aspire, right. Still have a little bit of juice in the tank.
Taylor Lewan
Could be. Still could be a Pro Bowler, though.
Will Compton
Yeah.
Taylor Lewan
Hall of Famer will put that right, right, right.
Will Compton
He's like, I. I need. I. I want you around. We need more. Will Compton's on the team, and I don't know what's going to happen in free agency, yada, yada, yada, because I got to play and start, like, three games there at the end, which I'm thinking in my head. When I went out there and I did my workout, I was on the squad. I was in the backup. I was special teams. I was starting in base that first week. All right? Coach Groom comes up. He's like, hey, just don't even think out there. Go out there, make plays. Have fun. I love you, man.
Taylor Lewan
That's awesome. Who would you play first with week?
Will Compton
The Lions. We played the Lions the first week. And so I ended up taking over the job, finishing out those three games. And so I'm thinking in my head, I thought I was coming out there to kind of finish out my career. Like, let me go out there. I'll go out on a bang, have some fun, be for the boys, bring some merchandise, promote bussing, and just have a good time, because the stress is off of, like, I felt like my career was kind of Done after I got injured with the Saints. And so it's like, oh, okay, I get to go out here and play. Like, I'm just going to go have fun and play. Finish off playing the game that I started, like, loving. And so when I played those three games, I'm thinking in my head, like, maybe I might get a little. Maybe I might get a little something. I knew I bought myself a year or two just because I got to play again. I got to have some film. But they go into recruit me, they pay $50 million to, like, Littleton and Kwakowski. Great linebackers, Good linebackers. But I'm thinking in my head, like, you know, I thought I might get
Jon Gruden
a little bit of.
Will Compton
I thought I might get a little bit of coin.
Taylor Lewan
Two or three.
Jon Gruden
Yeah. Guaranteed money's what he wanted.
Taylor Lewan
Yeah, everyone does. Every player does.
Jon Gruden
I'm interested in, though, is I'm. I have this philosophy. It's called rce you a hat and put RCE on it. Recognition, communication, execution. I think you got to have it at quarterback. The guy's got to recognize the defense and then communicate the line, call the audible, whatever. And that's going to lead to high levels of execution. The thing I loved about Will is he could recognize the offense, he could recognize the situation, and he could communicate better than most guys I've seen at linebacker. He was a sharp guy, and that would lead to higher levels of execution. A lot of the yards you see are bullshit yards. Bad tackling, bad defensive entry mistakes. A lack of recognition, a lack of communication. And if we can have that peace and a secure peace, that's what I was really after. But you were. Let's be honest here. You could come out with that smiley face with that microphone. You wanted guaranteed money. And I can't blame the guys. Go out to California and play football. You know, Vegas. Yeah.
Will Compton
That was the first year, transferring, transitioning to Vegas.
Jon Gruden
Yeah.
Will Compton
Because they had offered. I had a minimum on the table with no signing bonus, which is like, the game's the game. There was no market for me. So they were in a spot to where it's like. I mean, nothing else is out there for you. We'll offer you this. And, you know, I got PG calling me. He's like, explaining everything. He's like. And Coach Gruden's like, I just want you around. I want to see. I want them to see you communicate all this stuff. You don't have to practice. You don't have to do this. And I'm thinking to myself, like, I just Came out there as a minimum player and proved that I could play, like, the. The week of the game. Like, I can do the same exact thing and not put wear and tear on my body for training camp.
Jon Gruden
Right?
Will Compton
And I'm telling.
Taylor Lewan
There's always training camp with you.
Will Compton
It was always training camp. Yeah, it was always training camp. And PG was like, can you call Coach Gruden and tell him the same stuff? Because he's coming in. He's like, how are we signing Prince of Mukamaru and Nelson Aguilar? And Will won't come out here to the Raiders. I'm like, yeah, I'll be happy to talk to him. I called Coach. Coach Gruden. I think he was just finishing a workout. He sounded like he was sweating a little bit. He's like, will Compton. He's like, you're harder to sign than Keyshawn Johnson, man. How do we get you out here to the Raiders? And I'm thinking, yeah, I bet you offer Keyshawn Johnson more than a minimum in a subway gift card. And we're, like, bantering, laughing back and forth, and, yeah, I always loved that story. I couldn't wait to tell my old man because he's always been a massive fan of football and yourself. But that's my, like, recruiting story with Coach Gruden. You're harder to sign than Keyshawn Johnson, man. I'm like, well, I mean, he's getting. I'm sure you paid him some money.
Taylor Lewan
Yeah, yeah. You had some characters in that Raiders team. What was. What was your interactions like with Richie Incognito.
Jon Gruden
Love him.
Taylor Lewan
Great guy.
Jon Gruden
Incognito is out of football. He had the episode with Miami. He's out of the league. And we brought him in for a workout, and we have the cones set up. We got Tom Cable, really good lion coach, been with Seattle a long time. And Incognito comes out, and he's listening to Tom Cable tell him what he wants him to do.
Taylor Lewan
Do.
Jon Gruden
He wants him to hop Basically, the first 10 yards, karaoke, do a couple other things just to showcase his athleticism and his, you know, his whatever, how he can bend and twist. Incognito goes around the thing one time, half speed, and Cable goes, I've seen enough.
Taylor Lewan
Really?
Jon Gruden
He's a great. Incognito is a really good app. He went to Nebraska. He's a little full of, like, Compton, but, you know, he has the it factor that we needed. He had the nastiness. He had the. He has the Taylor Luan personality. He's Very outgoing. He's not afraid to say something. He'll make you laugh. He'll piss you off. He had everything we needed at guard, and he could pull on the power plays and adjust. He has a great ability to get out on screens, but I love being around him. He comes to Tampa. We play golf a little bit.
Taylor Lewan
Bit.
Jon Gruden
He likes my wife. My wife's about this tall. And he's been through a lot in his life, but he's. He's. He's really a character. We had vontes burfect. We had traded for Antonio Brown. They put us on Hard Knocks.
Will Compton
Yeah.
Jon Gruden
What a collection. I was assembling you guys.
Taylor Lewan
Yes. Having.
Jon Gruden
I was trying to bring back the old Raiders, the 7580 Raiders.
Taylor Lewan
You did it. How was it? What was it like having Burfect and AB on the same team? Because obviously there's a whole thing about CTE SPN that AB is doing. And you see that hit, that burfect put on ab. Like, was there ever. Did you have to make amends there?
Jon Gruden
I never got around Antonio enough. You know, Antonio showed up on a hot air balloon. He had his feet fried. He had cryotherapy. I never even heard of cryotherapy. And he had an issue with his helmet. He wasn't happy. The NFL wouldn't let let him wear his helmet. So we really never got him around the guys very much. I didn't have very much interaction with them at all, really. One of the most frustrating things in my coaching career was not getting him to play for us. We had a minicamp. I tell you. We had a mini camp back in Oakland. He put on a display. He took some of our routes that we like to call lookies. I got all these words. He made the routes look better than anybody I've ever seen. And his conditioning was sick. If we didn't have a fence around the field, he might have got killed by a car. Because he finishes everything. He'll run 100 miles an hour. I thought I went home and got hammered. One night after minicamp, I told my wife, I said, we're going to complete every pass. That's how good this guy looked. He was phenomenal. And unfortunately, I never got him for one freaking game.
Taylor Lewan
What's the conversation with Mayock when they're like, you walk in, you're like, hey, what's the problem with ab? And they're like, doesn't like his helmet. Oh, his feet were fried from cryotherapy. What are those upstairs conversations like when you're trying to deal With a guy like that.
Jon Gruden
Well, Mike was a new GM too, so a lot of this stuff is first time and, and what an experience it was. It was a rough day. And you're on Hard Knocks. Then you got Vontes Burfick. But the two of those guys, they, they mixed pretty good. They kind of laugh with one another. And Richie was kind of like the third part of the party. Those conversations were great.
Taylor Lewan
I talk about ball bus.
Jon Gruden
Yeah, you talk about busting with the boys. You should see some of the boys I bust with. But I, I always felt this. If you have football character on your team. Team. And we, we felt our coaching staff, you know, we had Derek Carr, we had some really good veteran players, good football character. Let's bring in some characters. So we bring in Burfick. You know, Burfic really is. He's a great guy and he's a smart guy. He just knocks the out of you. And what's wrong with that? I mean, I, that's my feeling. And I think if you do have the character in place, you can bring in some characters and have some fun. And Richie Incognito is a great guy. Don't, don't, don't kid yourself on perfect either. He's really smart and he's really a hell of a guy. He's misunderstood, perhaps by some. And I, I really enjoyed Antonio Brown. I mean, hell, he. He went out with my son. He cut a song. They got a song out there. I'm not even going to tell you the name. We gotta find that electronic dance song.
Taylor Lewan
Sure will definitely find that thing before days end.
Will Compton
And even on Incognito too. Like, he was, he was a. How old was he? He was like the oldest player on 34, 35 years. And he was a pro. I'm talking about, like, whenever practice would end, he had the massage therapist. I'd be coming in the needling. He'd be getting done. Like somebody who, like, took care of his body around the clock and working
Taylor Lewan
out with him in Arizona, he is a guy that, like, doesn't necessarily look like an athlete, but is truly athletic. Like, he has all the pieces of an office line you would want. He's stout, too.
Jon Gruden
Remember the COVID where you can't have meetings with the players in person? So we would have zoom meetings. So you would see all the players on their little, you know, corner. You'd be having an offensive line meeting and you'd see the 15 offensive line. We'd have a team meeting and you could see a lot of the faces So I remember incognito one time, took all his clothes off, was walking around in his garage. You know, he just did things that were so off the wall, hilarious to keep everybody laughing. And God bless that guy.
Taylor Lewan
The baby face killer, man. Yeah, he hasn't aged a bit. Look at that face.
Jon Gruden
You got to see him hit a golf ball.
Taylor Lewan
He can play. He's an athlete.
Jon Gruden
He isn't.
Taylor Lewan
He is an athlete, man.
Will Compton
He wrong, wrong person to get on the bad side with on the football field. Like, he was one of those dudes that was a menace on just field goal.
Taylor Lewan
Yeah.
Will Compton
Oh, he's trying to finish you on field. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah.
Taylor Lewan
Yeah, man. I wouldn't want to. Wouldn't want to deal with that.
Will Compton
You want to get him going to hopefully draw a penalty.
Taylor Lewan
I wish I was able to play with him. I would have loved to play. I think there he was with Buffalo for a minute. There was a little bit of talk about him coming to the Titans, and I was like, man, that'd be awesome to play right next to him for a year.
Jon Gruden
Well, we had a great relationship.
Will Compton
This you.
Jon Gruden
You played. You played one of the toughest position positions there are. Who are, who are some of the guys now that play left tackle that you look at and say, hey, he's. He's really good. Who, who are they these days? It's easy to say Trent Williams, he's not playing right now.
Taylor Lewan
Yeah, well, Trent, to me is, I think, is the greatest of all time. I think he is from an athletic standpoint, from a strength standpoint, understanding. Because with offensive line, like, you're playing every single snap of the game and they say to go hard every single play. He is a true understanding of, like, if you're the backside on power and you're doing a hinge like you. You have a very easy job. You take care of the B gap, you wing out the ends coming down. You just block him out real quick. So he, he does a great job of picking and chooses his times to attack in the game. A guy that I like, I love his feet is Larry Tom Council. I know we talked about Houston having some struggles, but I think his feet are maybe the best feet of it I've ever seen. I think Ronnie Stanley, he's got a. A poetic movement about him when he's in his pass set. He's. He's very smooth and a guy that. Who was injured and has now come back and I play with him. Jack Conklin, talk about a guy that has zero technique, has zero fundamentals. When it comes to playing the position, but just always gets the job done. I, I like those guys quite a bit.
Jon Gruden
They got a guy in Tampa. I really like this Tristan Worf.
Taylor Lewan
God.
Jon Gruden
Yet he's a power player. Left tackle.
Taylor Lewan
Have you seen, have you seen the video when he was coming out for the draft and jumping out of the pool.
Jon Gruden
Who can do that?
Taylor Lewan
That type of power is just different. And then we talked about him too is Joe Alt. I like Joe Alt quite a bit too. Like a young guy who's found his way on a run heavy offense that I, I'm a big fan of and
Will Compton
embracing the move to right tackle.
Taylor Lewan
Yeah.
Will Compton
Because you talking about that like, you know some guys. Like he was telling you at the draft he didn't want to play.
Jon Gruden
There it is right there. There.
Taylor Lewan
Yeah. That is, that's incredible. It's wild how Iowa gets these offensive linemen, man.
Will Compton
I know. And then white cornerbacks.
Jon Gruden
Yeah, the.
Taylor Lewan
And then Micah Beckton. Was it Micah Beckton? That's who we were talking about.
Jon Gruden
Yeah. Maai Becton, he left tackle.
Will Compton
He's.
Jon Gruden
He's out of Louisville. He, he, you know, he goes to New York and the media gets on him and they let him go and he gets with the right coach or reinvents them, puts him in there at right guard.
Taylor Lewan
It says it's, it's really important for these, the position groups at all times. I'm sure it's important for everywhere but for an offensive line coach, especially because you got DBs and, and they all like they're not playing as one unit. They all have their own job. So might be in zone. Some might be a man. You're playing too high. One high and then receivers, you have your, all your different routes. But with an offensive line, it's like truly all five guys have to be on the same page with what everybody's doing. That's just such a different job. You need a good offensive line coach to be a success. Successful. You gotta have it.
Jon Gruden
Oh my God. That's. That's probably the most important hire. You know, if you're the head coach, your defensive coordinator and your line coach, you know, you gotta, you gotta get somebody that can be the sixth man that can play both guards and center. A swing tackle. Those are tough jobs, man.
Taylor Lewan
What, what were those conversations like with the swing guys when you're saying you have a guy like me? I was a guy that only played left. Like I couldn't. You put me in a right hand stance. I'm as worthless as a football player as you'll ever see. See.
Jon Gruden
Well, I think the good line coach, well, you're the left tackle. You're. You're the highest paid left tackle. We're not going to talk about you for a minute, but other guys on the practice field. Bill Callahan was my line coach for a long time. He's, he's currently with the Titans. Son's the head coach.
Will Compton
Yeah.
Jon Gruden
But he would go out on the practice field and we'd have Luan playing right guard. I'm like, bill, what the hell are you doing? Ah, you know. Yeah. And then we got. Luan's playing right tackle two days later. But my point is he would create your versatility. He would force you to get in a right hand stance, a left handed stance, a two point stance, a four point stance. And I think you have to have a line coach and a backup line coach who studies a play side to back side. It's always on your ass every second of the day. Those are what the great ones do, you know. And I think as you said, that's a key part of being a great lineman is who's coaching you.
Taylor Lewan
We had a, with Rabel. Rabel was always a guy that would just find his way into the offensive line line room and it would just tell us how to block. Having no idea how to block offensive line, he just like just get in the way. All you have to do, you don't just position block this guy. Were you ever a guy that would just wander into position groups and just hang out for a little bit?
Jon Gruden
Not really. I was pretty much always on the offensive side, you know, but I would try to reach out to the defensive guys later in the week. I always had a lot of respect for our pass rushers. You know, we have to have a fourth quarter pass rush or we got no chance. That's why I can't wait to see these playoffs. Warren Sapp, Simeon Rice. You have to have guys that can close you out. And that's why I love the 49ers if Bosa plays. But now without Bosa, without Armstead, they don't have that fourth quarter pass rush.
Taylor Lewan
Yeah.
Jon Gruden
That's why the Chiefs can win the super bowl every year because they do have a great coach and a great quarterback. But they got a fourth quarter pass rush, man. Yeah. And if you have those three, you have to have those three elements, I think to win it. But I was always interested in the game plan of our past rushers. What are you going to do to Luan? You know, what are you going to do to Luan. But as you know, you don't want to be in third and seven. You don't want to have a lot of third, you know. And when you do get to third and seven, you got to be careful as a play caller to make sure we have a chip over there. We got somebody nudging the guy. Quick game screens. You got to do some things to help these guys because in the noise against some of these guys, it's a. It's a hard job. You got.
Taylor Lewan
You've either got to chip these guys, slide to the most dangerous pass rusher, or have a quarterback that can facilitate and get the ball out quickly. That was one thing. We had Ken wizen Hunt for 2014 and 15, and Ken was like, this is my offense. But he's been dealing with Philip Rivers for the last 10 years. So we have Jake Locker and Zach Mettenberger eventually after Jake hurts his thumb. And it's all key right and key left. We're doing six man's protections. We're not doing chips ever. And we don't have the quarterback that understands the offense well enough to know where his hots are or when to get the ball out or where the man side protection is with Von Miller on, on that. On that side side. So it was, it was tough sled for a couple of years. You need those chips, you gotta have them one, one play that you're obsessed with. Spider 2Y banana. What, what. What's the obsession? It's a. It's a man. It's a max protection type of situation. A low red type of situation. Why do you love it so much?
Jon Gruden
Andrew Luck. We had Andrew Luck on our show Gruden's QB Camp. And David Shaw, the head coach at Stanford, was on my staff in Philly and in Oakland. Well, Stanford runs a lot of Spider2y banana. And I have never met a quarterback coming out of college like Andrew Luck. I mean, he had everything 6, 4, 2, 40, he could run. And probably the smartest guy I've ever met play the position. So they're running Spider2y Banana at Stanford, unlike I've ever seen. And I'm just studying, getting ready for Andrew Luck. And I'm seeing spider two wide banana, Spider three wy bananas. The guy's putting on a clinic, like throwing, throwing. But Spider2y banana, they must have thrown 15 touchdowns. I'm not you. So they're playing USC. Stanford is playing USC. Big game. College football game day. Is there. Spider2y banana is very simple. You hit the fullback in a flat or if the tight end pops, you might hit the tight end of the corner. You never throw the ball backside on Spider 2Y banana. Well, Andrew Luck on Spider 2Y banana against USC throws a pick six, throwing to the backside. He called it a lightning route or something. So as soon as I got to that play, his face got red as a sheet and we busted his balls on that.
Will Compton
Yeah.
Jon Gruden
And it just kind of went viral. Whatever the word is you guys use, you know, when something hits with dance. But it was, it was a cool moment. And ever since then it's bite or 2y banana. But it is a hell of a play. If you're running power, if you're running a rock, if you're running Mike Allstad on 96 pounds and your linebackers are worried about tackling that big some watch out, we'll slip a fullback into the flat.
Will Compton
Spider2y bananas. Who are some of the teams right now that are kind of in the middle of the pack that you could see winning the whole thing?
Jon Gruden
I think Pittsburgh and Baltimore, I think someone's going to come out of the North. You know, I still think, I still think Pittsburgh's dangerous. I mean, they're leading their division, but when you look at their schedule, them and Baltimore. Baltimore, I kind of consider them as the middle of the pack in the afc. That's, that's a tough question for me. I, I really think there's five or six teams that have a chance to win it. I think there's about 20 teams that are getting ready for next year.
Will Compton
Yeah. What do you, what is your view of the landscape of football right now, the quality of the product?
Jon Gruden
I just think continuity is a big part of winning. When you look at Andy Reid, he's been there, he's done that. He's been in Kansas City City. Mike Tomlin in Pittsburgh, John Harbaugh in Baltimore, Dan Campbell's been in Detroit, Shanahan. You know, like the teams that are in the money every year, it just seems to me like have been together. The Philadelphia Eagles, Sirianni's been there now a few years. I just think there's a lot of change over now. Teams change coaches, not just head coaches, offensive coordinators, defensive coordinators. And I think it's a problem with the development of players. You guys can speak on this when you're a first year player, when you're a rookie, it's an eye opening deal, man. I don't care what round. But when you came back as your second year in the same system, that's when you probably showed your most improvement. But when you keep pulling a rug out of you players, and here's a new snap count, here's a new system, it's a. It's a hard deal to get better, don't you think?
Taylor Lewan
Yeah, absolutely.
Will Compton
You're on that, like level one learning curve in that first year. And then again when you go into years two, year three, you're looking at them details. You're thinking outside the box. You're trying to think more like a coordinator than just your own position. You're thinking about everywhere, everybody else around you, how everything moves around you. But yeah, when it's a new system, it's like you just want to understand, like what your job is.
Taylor Lewan
Yeah, you understand, right? You understand the bigger picture. Going into year two, as opposed to just your, Your assignment for your play calling, was it always the same? Did you always keep the same numbers? You say 96 power, Spider 2.
Jon Gruden
Why banana?
Taylor Lewan
Do you always have the same terminology and phrases going from year to year, or did you ever try to switch it up a little bit?
Jon Gruden
I took a lot of pride in the verbiage. I learned under Bill Walsh with the 49ers, Mike Holmgren. We had a lot of words and we became very wordy. But when I was out of football and I came back, we realized that a lot of these players, you know, we gotta. We gotta tighten up our communication so we can pick up a player off the waiver wire, make a trade, whatever, and bring you in and fast track you. You don't have time to learn all these crazy words and what they mean. So we did streamline it a little bit, but we still had a lot to say because we had a lot of formations, we had a lot of motions, a lot of personnel groupings, and if you want to have a big airport, you want to take flights everywhere, you got to make sure you're organized. You have the ability to do that. I'm just. I never like these teams that line up in trips, right, and clap their hands and put the ball and play. You know, I like multiple looks. If the defense hasn't seen it, they can't prepare for it. It's an illusion of sophistication. But we're just simple and basic plays that start off looking the same, that are different. You know, there's some common threads of philosophy I think, that you got to have if you're going to be any good at it.
Will Compton
How much football do you feel like you forgot when you were in Media for 9 years? Terminologies, your playbook I probably didn't much,
Jon Gruden
just because I have my own computer at home. Home. And when I watch the first play of the game, I type in the formation. A lot of times I even type in the front. So now you save your work and I can come back and be my own quality control guy. It's a sick, obsessed world of football I live in, and that's why it's kind of cool to get out of it. And it's almost like I'm out of prison or something. I mean, I'm playing golf with these guys and there's a drone flying around. Me and Trent, we're playing golf. Frankie's on the other team. We're talking, having a good time. I'm like, is this John Gruden? You know, shouldn't I be in a laboratory studying a red zone offense or something? And now I'm on the bus with you guys.
Taylor Lewan
It's.
Jon Gruden
It's really, you know, Wish I'd have done this 10 years ago. It's a lot more fun, man. What.
Taylor Lewan
What.
Will Compton
What can people expect with you at barstool? It seems like you're bringing back the Gruden football camp.
Jon Gruden
We're going to try to bring back Gruden's QB camp, and it won't be the same. It'll be.
Will Compton
Be.
Jon Gruden
It'll have a little different spice to it. But this Dave Portnoy guy, he's. He's something else. And this big cat guy, I really like this big cat.
Will Compton
Yeah.
Taylor Lewan
Yeah.
Jon Gruden
I'm just getting to know them. And I got hired. Really? Week eight of the season. So it's hard to just create a. A show and. Come on. I mean, you're gonna have to put a little time on task and meet with some people and, you know, I'd like to do something with you, man. Like, do some. With you guys. I don't know. Yeah.
Taylor Lewan
Yeah.
Jon Gruden
But I have a creative mind myself and just starting to scratch the surface a little bit. I've got some people out there that send me nasty texts and messages, you know, to help help me get better. And I. I encourage that. Yeah. You know, I need the help from people, but I. I really am excited about what could happen.
Will Compton
Yeah.
Jon Gruden
Because I know the potential is. Is. Is.
Will Compton
Yeah, bro, you're the greatest.
Taylor Lewan
Got on top of a rocket ship. Like, barstool has a way of making you more known than ever.
Will Compton
Yeah. Well, how those conversations go, go. Dave just hit you up like, hey, I'm gonna.
Taylor Lewan
Yeah, I gotta.
Jon Gruden
I got a message on one of those, you know, I don't know, Twitter, you Tik Toks or whatever. Yeah. My son Mike, who wrote the song Nicey, he's my music man. He says, hey, dad, Dave Portnoy reached out to you. So, to make a long story short, my wife was in a ballroom dancing contest in Orlando, and Dave flew in to see me, and we just had dinner together and talked a little bit. Bit. Next thing I know, man, we're. I was in Chicago filming something up there, and, you know, you walk in, you don't realize what's going on. I mean, hell, I'm just a coach. I walk in there and they're filming stuff. Hey, what about John Daly? Did you go golf with John Daly? You start talking about it, Next thing you know, it's out there. Everybody knows about the whole day, you know, but it's really fascinating how it works. Yeah. You know, and the. The ability that they have to reach so many people on so many different. Different platforms instantly, and they take a lot of pride in it. You know, they want to be really good, which is what I like. Right?
Will Compton
Your Gruden loves football content. I mean, since day one, I, I, I like, I consume it. It's like, all right, I'm trying to hope you. You drop stuff before we do the locker room to hear everything. You're breaking down. Because I remember, I'm like, I'm not thinking it's probably his son running the profile, but he's got the Gruden loves football Twitter profile. And I just dm and I'm like, I need Gruden on busting with.
Jon Gruden
I've.
Will Compton
And I've already messaged with him, but I'm just having fun with the. The profile. I'm like, I need Gruden on busting with the boys. Like, I need air. And he responds to me like it's him running the whole Twitter account. He's like, oh, you're a Gruden grinder. Of course I'll come on. And I'm thinking, oh, okay, I'm just messing with Coach Gruden again.
Taylor Lewan
Yeah.
Jon Gruden
But, you know, when you break a game down, what I wanted to do with that is try to take fans into a little bit of the reality of what we go through, 100%. If it's the Chargers and the Bucks, let's start with top of line things you might want to know. I'm. Here's the injury list. Right? Here's where they rank statistically. Here's how they play on the road. I mean, there's a lot of things that you got to get your mind straight on before you even get in to the Chargers offense. Let's talk nothing but about Chargers offense. And I wanted the fans to know who the offensive linemen were, who the receivers were, who the running backs were, who the play caller was. I mean, I spent 20 minutes on a Chargers offense. Here's a couple schemes they like to run. This is the Chargers offense, but they're going up against Tampa's defense. And then you spent 20 minutes on Todd Bulls calls the plays. You know, they got Winfields hurt, they got Jamal Deans hurt. And you go into all the matchups and some of the blitzes that Todd Bulls runs. Then he got to do the Chargers defense against the Bucks offense. Next thing you know, it's an hour and 15 minutes on one game. And people are like, man, fans aren't going to want to watch all that. But the hardcore fans, oh, bro, nutty people like me, like, like it. Then at the end of the game, they say, at the end of the presentation, they say, we got to make a prediction who's going to win. I said, I don't know who's going to win. I said, you know, I don't care who wins. Yeah, you know, but then I start picking scores and some of my picks, I'm like, you guys, I root for a team a little bit. I kind of want. So I kind of picked them to win. And it's not some of the gambling people they get pissed at. You screwed me, man. You gave me all this information. You picked the wrong.
Will Compton
Yeah, I remember coming in, Taylor, my, hey, have you seen this grudenless football show? I'm like, bro, he runs it like he's low key. Like running a team meeting at the top of a week.
Taylor Lewan
It's incredible, the breakdown of everything. Do you. Have you noticed how easy it is to overthink things? Because it's like you can break down all the film you want, but then like, all right, who's going to win? You're like, well, this team. And then you're like, well, no, their defense is this and that. Have you, have you ran into that where it's like you get into a point of overthinking it a little bit.
Jon Gruden
You can easily overthink it. And I, I tell you, there are some games. Now, I'm not a big gambling guy. I'll be honest with you. There's some games I've learned to stay away from. Got no idea what's going to happen in this game. Right? And there are certain Games. As I told you guys earlier, I'm going in on this game. Yeah, you know, I don't pick the spreads. I. I would never pick the spreads. And I know you don't make as much money when you pick the money line, they call it, but you pick a team to win.
Will Compton
Win.
Jon Gruden
I'm pretty good at picking winners. And I, I don't get involved in a spread. And then my son says we don't get any money if you pick the money line. Well, if you pick two money lines, you know, you got a little parlay. I'm learning the words, you see. Anyways, I'm, I'm, I'm learning and I'm loving it. And this is really cool, this operation. I would not have expected anything less from you two Guys.
Taylor Lewan
Guys.
Jon Gruden
And I tell you, I don't know where you guys are going with the future. There's a lot of rumors about where you two guys are heading.
Will Compton
Hopefully all good.
Taylor Lewan
Yeah. Yeah. Hopefully. Nice chatter.
Jon Gruden
It is very nice.
Will Compton
I gotta. I got a couple fun questions for you written up by our boy Sherman. The back.
Taylor Lewan
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Really?
Taylor Lewan
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Will Compton
Let's say you're running a fantasy football league, but the teams are made up of only coaches. Which coach are you drafting? First.
Taylor Lewan
First overall pick.
Jon Gruden
I take Andy Reid because Andy Reid, he can call the plays and he can coach the quarterback.
Will Compton
Man, that's a good pick. Yeah, anybody's going to fault you there. If you could only watch one NFL game on repeat for the rest of your life, which game are you?
Jon Gruden
One NFL game.
Will Compton
One NFL game.
Jon Gruden
It would be the millennium game. Raiders versus Chiefs. The calendar just kicked over to 2000. I was in my second year coaching the Raiders. I was going to get fired. We were seven and eight. We're playing at the Chiefs. All the Chiefs need to do is win this game, beat the Raiders, who they've beaten 100 times in a row. Row. And they win the division, get a home playoff game. We're down 17 zip after about six minutes. And this place is rocking, man. My boy Rich Gannon got pissed off and shredded him. We beat him 38, 35 in overtime. Check that game out. Raiders at the Chiefs, 2000. Last game of the year.
Will Compton
Just.
Taylor Lewan
He knew it. Off the top, too.
Jon Gruden
We busted him good, man. We. I was dancing on the field.
Taylor Lewan
Field.
Jon Gruden
Probably saved my job that day, too. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Taylor Lewan
God, it's got to be a great feeling. Go home, crack open a nice drink.
Jon Gruden
What about you? What's your favorite memory on the Gridiron? Just get one.
Taylor Lewan
20, 19 playoffs, AFC divisional round against the Baltimore Ravens. They were the 1 seed. We had to win 5 of 6 just to make it into the playoffs. We play against the New England Patriots. And the Dynasty for Tom Brady was his last game as a Patriots. Patriot. And we go in against the Ravens. It was Lamar Jackson's first MVP in Baltimore. The bank was like as loud of a stadium as I've ever heard in my entire life. And we owned them. Like, I. That is my favorite game from a blocking standpoint ever. They had eight guys in the box. We ran Wanda, which is a open side outside zone, and we blocked him. And Derek ran it for like 40 yards. It just felt like everything we did did it was we were going to get at least 4 yards.
Jon Gruden
Look how he's sitting up.
Taylor Lewan
Like, it was awesome. We had a turnover. We had a turnover in that game. I think Jerrell Casey got a strip. Strip stack fumble that was picked up by Harold Landry, that player on like the 46 yard line going in. And we call Lucy X pylon Y X pylon post. And It's Khalif Raymond. He's like four or five yards past the db and we score, touching on the next play. And it's just like school. We're gonna beat the.
Jon Gruden
You know, that's the thing. See, that's the one thing I've learned about being in social media is I like to discover, like, great plays. I like to go back and show you some of the memories of. Of other players. I have tape in my office of Lawrence Taylor. I got Eric Dickerson running with that high form. But you can't show. You can't really show the video. You don't have rights to the video to use all the time, you see, Right. So you gotta, you know, you gotta got to creatively find ways to make your point. But I would love to see that game.
Taylor Lewan
It was awesome. There's. Yeah, I can go on all day about that game. That game was awesome. The blocking was incredible. We had five guys doing everything right every single play. It was unbelievable.
Will Compton
It's hard to think about mine. I feel like it's more. You just get pissed off that you lost. Like when we lost a Green Bay in the wild card round when we ended up winning the division. Probably the most fun game and most fun memory is when we clinched the division at Philly right around Christmas went out there. That was the dad game. My only career sack on Sam Bradford. But we beat their ass and we came back and just the. The city, the town was packed in Ashburn, Virginia, like you were just going 12 miles an hour driving out of the facility because fans were so excited. It was such a moment that, you know, that was like, do you like that year? Kirk Cousins kind of making his run. We're kind of a bad football team. And we'd win one, lose one, try to string a couple together. And we ended up winning the division. Division that year in the NFC lease they called it. But I would say that game is probably the most memorable, fun game as far as moments go. Probably when I got. I got to start against the New Orleans Saints. We played the week before at New England. We got our ass kicked, but I made a few good plays. I think I had like eight tackles. And they made the switch to make me the. The Mike the Mic backer. And I remember Kirk Olive Adati. He pulled me right into the office before we went into the defensive room to have a T or to have a defensive meeting to start breaking down the Saints. He pulled me in and he whispered, you got the keys? Make me right and just dat me up And I'm like, oh, we're rolling. Like, I'm active. Like I get to play now.
Jon Gruden
Yeah.
Will Compton
And so we end up beating the Saints ass, bro. And the paper, the one of the papers is next week was like, you know, rwa, Redskins with attitude. And I, you know, I was spotlighted in it, had a really good game. And that was probably the most memorable moment was when I, I got to ultimately, like, take over the job in Washington because, you know, you just, you bust your ass to get in all the situations that you're in. The year before that there was like, you know, that's when I got to play against you guys. The Delaney game. And I had a little run there because somebody had gotten hurt to where I accumulated some tackles. But then you just start to get noticed the next year. It's like, hey, are you going to take this guy's job? You have a couple injuries, you don't get the opportunity to take it. Then in the middle of the year, as it unfolds, similar to the Oakland year, where you just end up getting an opportunity and you just don't look back. Like, those are, those are more of like my memories. Memorable times in the NFL.
Taylor Lewan
What was least favorite game ever?
Jon Gruden
The tuck rule was bad.
Will Compton
Oh, I don't know. I forgot that.
Jon Gruden
People don't realize I forgot. Yeah, yeah.
Will Compton
He did a walk through, you know, take at his facility and he goes in the bathroom on the. And he's got the photo sitting up and it's the tuck rule photo.
Jon Gruden
You know, we play the AFC Championship game when I was coaching the Raiders and against Baltimore, and I don't know if you remember, but Saragusa killed our quarterback. We don't get a personal foul. We don't get anything. It really pissed me off in that game too. But the tuck rule, you know, instant replay is designed to only overturn a play. That's completely, what, Obvious.
Taylor Lewan
Yeah.
Jon Gruden
Right. To lose a game like that. Think of Steve Wisniewski. He's nine Pro Bowls. William Thomas, Eric Allen. These are great NFL players. That's the last game they ever played. You know, we got, we, we got a chance to, to go to the Super Bowl. That's what kind of team we had.
Will Compton
Yeah.
Jon Gruden
And I, I can see Belichick taking his headset off. Their whole staff. Brady's walking off the field. You can interview any of them. They knew that game was over. Yeah. And the only thing wrong with the Tuck rule is they spelled it wrong. It's really not a T. It's another consonant that's supposed to be.
Taylor Lewan
That's what.
Jon Gruden
They don't even have the rule anymore.
Taylor Lewan
Yeah.
Jon Gruden
That's how bad it is.
Taylor Lewan
God.
Will Compton
Biggest rival coach out there. We're just like, I. I want to get his ass. Whether you guys went back and forth,
Jon Gruden
who was your coach, you know, had to be Andy Reid, you know, because we were on the same staff. We're on Mike Holmgren staff in Green Bay. You guys love this. So Andy played for Mike Holmgren at byu, so he was kind of the teacher's pet, you know?
Will Compton
Yeah.
Jon Gruden
I don't. I love jabbing him.
Taylor Lewan
Yeah.
Jon Gruden
So we had this big board. Me and Mariucci and Andy Reid were young coaches at the time. And we would put the plays on the board with the formations, and these are the plays that we think should be in the game plan. And Holmgren would be doing his thing. He'd come in, he'd sit there and look at the board, and in a different color would be a new play. And Holmgren was always. He was always like, whose play is that? Andy goes, that's my play. That's 69. Handoff. Solid. You get on the board and draw it. Mike would put it in, and Andy would, like, look at me and mooch like. Like, I'm smarter than you guys. Yeah. So Andy would get a play in the game plan. It would be called, and it gained 6 yards or gained 8 yards. And Andy walk around the office all week, like, that's
Will Compton
awesome.
Jon Gruden
So now we're not playing good. We just signed Reggie White in free agency. We got. We got Brett Farr playing good. We got Sterling Sharp. We got a hell of a team, and we're not playing good. We're like two and three. And people are starting to get on Holgren's ass a little bit. You know what I mean? Like, what's wrong with you guys? So we go into the room, there's all the plays, and there's this play called Fox 3, Fullback slide 58 all go Z. Search. Holmgren's like, what are those plays? I go, those are my two plays. And I had a cut up. And I. Well, you don't like our place? Is that what your problem is? You don't want to run around. He was on my, like, yelling at me. I'm like, so we go play the Bears on Halloween night. You can go back and watch this game now. It's pouring down rain. The worst night in the history of football. 3rd and 2. Early in the game, Holmgren calls red left fake, fox 3. Naked right, fullback slide. And I swear to God, Brett Favre kept it, runs it in. Longest touchdown run of his career, 36 yards on Monday Night Football. I'm on the sidelines, I'm not saying anything, but I'm like, God damn, that's my play.
Will Compton
So listen, this is true story.
Jon Gruden
Late in the game, we just need a first down. The game's over and it's like third and 14. And I had seen Dan Marino running all go with a little search route. The guy acted like he was running a scene, but he would throw his shoulders down and uncover. And I put that play in, and Sterling Sharp ran it better than Mark Clayton and Mark Duper ever ran it far through it. Like a 23 yard gain to ice a game. That's my play, too. So we get on the plane and back then they give you a little bag with two beers in it. And Homer is sitting in the front with Ron Wolf, the gm, And I'm in the back. I'll never forget this. I got my beer and I'm drinking it. I'm thinking, God damn. Well, that was the greatest day of my life. Holger turns around, he goes, hey, Gruber. Calls me Gruber. Hey, Gruber, come down here. I walk down a thing, I sit next to him, he goes, game ball. Hell of a job. I turn around, I walk back to my seat, I see Andy Reid and I go, go, G. I love competing with Andy Reed. Then when we competed against each other, when he was in Philly, I was in Oakland or Kansas City. I mean, I just used to love seeing him. And we saw
Taylor Lewan
leg and said, game.
Jon Gruden
Awesome, man. Merry Christmas and God bless you, man. If I can ever do anything, if I ever come back and coach.
Taylor Lewan
Yeah.
Jon Gruden
You'll be my left tackle.
Taylor Lewan
Let's go. You're have a bad.
Jon Gruden
You're not getting a guaranteed contract, though. You're getting a.
Taylor Lewan
You're got to earn it.
Jon Gruden
You're getting a minimum salary benefit and no incentives. But you.
Will Compton
I'll coach for you. I'll coach.
Jon Gruden
I got to have a left tackle.
Taylor Lewan
I love it. Before. Before you go, I do want to play a game of crystal ball with you.
Jon Gruden
Okay.
Taylor Lewan
Of all the coaching positions that might be open this year, might be the Dallas Cowboys. We know the jets, we know the Bears. Where do you think you would fit in best?
Jon Gruden
Oh, I. I have no idea. That puts me on the spot.
Taylor Lewan
Yeah, you're right. That's a tough one, huh? You know, we'll cut it. Guess what?
Jon Gruden
Cut.
Taylor Lewan
Hey, appreciate you coming on, man.
Jon Gruden
Man, I do think the Bears with that young quarterback is interesting. Yeah, you know I like their defense too man. Have you seen them play? Yeah, they got some guys on opening TJ Edwards. I mean he's a hell of a player. They got some linebackers that can run. When they lost Jaquan Brisker, they lost a key member of that secondary. But they got corners. They do have some pass rushers. They got some receivers, man. Yeah, they got a quarterback. I like this kid, man.
Will Compton
Chad got you nice.
Jon Gruden
Minnesota might look out on Monday night. These guys. This quarterback is interesting man.
Taylor Lewan
I love it.
Jon Gruden
It's got me feeling nicey Support for
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Jon Gruden
Thanks a lot.
Will Compton
Yeah,
Jon Gruden
I'll go tandem right 76 rebound pass. I'll throw a hail mary up there. I'll isolate my best receiver. If they play one on one over there, I'll throw it to him. If not, I'll take. I'll pop it up into the end zone.
Will Compton
Touchdown. Love it.
Jon Gruden
You ever see guys throw Hail Mary's in the ball lands off the field to play. I want to make this point before I leave. Have you ever seen this? Where the. The. I'm talking a Hail Mary, okay. And the ball lands off of the field of play. Have you ever seen that?
Will Compton
Yes. You have?
Taylor Lewan
Yes. Yes.
Jon Gruden
Why do you think that is? Is.
Taylor Lewan
They're scared.
Jon Gruden
Why do you think it is? It's a QB rating, man. They don't want to throw interceptions.
Taylor Lewan
Oh, you think it's an ego thing?
Jon Gruden
I know it is. It has to be. These are the greatest passers in the world. You mean to tell me on a hail Mary you can't put the ball on the field of play? Seriously, you can throw the ball in that tight window that big. You can sizzle it in there off platform into a window that. That big. But on the last play of the game, you can't keep the ball on the playing field. Let me tell you, when you see that, you know you're dealing with somebody that's interested in his QB rating. Keep an eye on that.
Will Compton
I will, I will.
Jon Gruden
What that take last thing I'll tell you. I learned this from Reggie White. Do you know tackles for loss and sack is a big way these guys get paid, right?
Will Compton
Yeah.
Jon Gruden
So back in the day, Reggie White told me this a long time ago. They're playing for the Philadelphia Eagles. Eagles. And the quarterback takes a knee. Reggie White, Clyde Simmons, he told me those guys would go flying in there to touch the quarterback to get credit for a tfl. And now that rule, I guess, has changed, too. Yeah, but I'm interested in, you know, two seconds left in the half, you're in a prevent defense and somebody runs a draw play for 16 yards. You know, I. Those. That's why. Statistics, you got to be really careful when you look at them.
Will Compton
Man, I love that knowledge. Yeah, I love knowledge. I love the takes.
Taylor Lewan
Coach, we appreciate you so much. Thank you for coming on the show. It was unbelievable. Please subscribe rate 5 stars.
Will Compton
That was awesome.
Jon Gruden
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In this lively episode, NFL veterans Will Compton and Taylor Lewan welcome Super Bowl-winning coach Jon Gruden aboard the bus. The three dive deep into Gruden's lifelong football passion, the changing landscape of college and pro football, coaching philosophies, memorable NFL moments, and the impact of NIL and transfers on modern players. With stories from Gruden’s legendary career—plus candid talk about competitive coaching relationships, player motivation, and wild locker-room and Hard Knocks tales—this episode is both a masterclass in football culture and highly entertaining.
This episode is a treasure trove for football enthusiasts—full of locker room laughs, strong opinions on the state of the game, and exclusive behind-the-scenes stories from a trio who have lived football at the highest level. Gruden’s reflections on coaching, media, and the next generation offer wisdom (and jokes) for fans, players, and coaches alike.