NFL Hot Seat Watch: Head coaches who need to be fired already

1. Jon Gruden, Oakland Raiders

I know this isn’t going to happen. I also know it may not be a very popular opinion, seeing as countless Oakland Raiders fans continue to make excuses for the old ball coach. And yet, right now, there is no one head coach more deserving of being canned than Jon Gruden.

Just don’t ask Raiders owner Mark Davis, who recently took the opportunity to pull attention away from his head coach (via ESPN’s Paul Gutierrez). Instead of pointing fingers at Gruden, he placed some of the blame on his own shoulders while subtly suggesting fault on general manager Reggie McKenzie’s part.

Personally, I’m not buying it. Davis claims draft failures have gotten the Raiders to this point. Except the Raiders were one broken leg away from contending only two seasons ago. It sounds to me like Davis is simply trying to find a scapegoat for Gruden’s failures.

Chucky has spent nearly his entire time as head coach trading away the team’s best players and signing cheap, past-their-prime veterans. Sure, they’ve got three 2019 first-round picks to work with, but who says those will be used effectively? I’ve heard time and time again that it’s all part of Gruden’s master plan, but it seems to me like he’s only interested in sabotage.

Seriously, the madness needs to end. Gruden has the Raiders on a path towards becoming the laughingstock of the NFL. If Davis doesn’t cut the cord, he’ll soon be wishing he wasn’t the owner of the league’s worst team.

Then again, maybe Davis is already under Gruden’s spell. All those years of corny commercials have certainly made him a rather persuasive, conniving character.