Yes, the Raiders would be the perfect choice for Hard Knocks. For a variety of reasons.
One of which is that coach Jon Gruden likely will contradict himself. Possibly on multiple occasions.
He’s already at it. Last week, he made it clear he has little or no interest in presiding over the relationship between quarterback Derek Carr and receiver Antonio Brown.
“I’m not going to get into the relationship business,” Gruden said. “I think Brown is a great guy. I love having him here. Derek is a great guy. You can’t rush a relationship. You just don’t have a great relationship in three weeks or two months. It’s something that you’ve got to earn and you’ve got to really work and, and that’s why it’s important that we spend time together. I’m a little worn out with all the relationships and all the things that really don’t matter right now.”
And, of course, comments emerged this week from Gruden regarding his decision to put Brown and linebacker Vontaze Burfict on the same team for an in-house game of Family Feud.
“You gotta try to get these guys to know each other,” Gruden told Peter King. “This is the only time that you can really do that. April, May, June. It’s almost like church. Everybody stand up. Shake a hand, introduce yourself to your teammates. Otherwise, Peter never gets to know Jon and Jon never meets Joe.”
So Gruden isn’t in the relationship business. Except when he is.
Here’s hoping he’ll be in the Hard Knocks business.
