Bucs may have what it takes to lure ESPN’s Jon Gruden into coaching again

Any faint hope of the playoffs has slipped away for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The penchant for self-destruction has become the team’s consistent defining trait. The growth of franchise centerpiece Jameis Winston appears pressed against a familiar ceiling, in spite of – or because of – head coach Dirk Koetter, who was promoted largely to develop the quarterback. And now there’s a disputed NFL Network report that Winston and Koetter aren’t getting along.

And just as we enter Jon Gruden week in Tampa, no less.

With Gruden heading into the Buccaneers ring of honor on Dec. 18, the talk about his potential NFL return will hit new heights this week. Partly fueled by the fact that Gruden has made a lot of statements this year about getting back into football. But also because sources close to Gruden believe a sweet-spot opportunity is developing in Tampa, where Gruden still owns a home and has a track record with ownership.

Not to mention one significant reality: if he’s ever going to angle for an NFL encore, the Buccaneers essentially have everything he has been looking for.

Does that make Gruden a lock to be in the Tampa conversation if Koetter gets fired? No. But some of the NFL executives who still commiserate with Gruden believe the Buccaneers check off almost every box he desires to seriously consider leaving television.

“You can only do so many Corona commercials into your late 50s,” one league executive said of Gruden. “… For most guys who don’t stay in the coaching pipeline, that [NFL] door really starts to close later in your 50s. He knows there’s a shelf life there and he’s starting to push it.

[Former Pittsburgh Steelers coach] “Bill Cowher, you know – Bill kind of rode it out. He was still interested in the NFL for a while. But TV and some of his other interests took over. The thing is, I don’t know if Jon has any other interests outside of being Jon Gruden and then football. At some point – I think some point soon – he has to choose between being in the Jon Gruden business or being in the football business. If he’s going to be in the football business, he has things he wants to come back. If they aren’t there, he won’t.”

The Buccaneers apparently have quite a few of those things. Strong defensive pieces. A mid-20s franchise quarterback whose arrow is still pointed up. Ample salary-cap space going forward. Solid young offensive pieces in place around the quarterback. Gruden covets all of these. Along with one other thing that might be the sticking point: a big, fat paycheck.

It’s anyone’s guess whether the Glazer family, owners of the Bucs, would lay out a huge deal for Gruden, but that point appears to be unequivocal – he’s going to need a top-shelf NFL salary to leave ESPN for the grind. And of course, he’s going to need an opening at head coach.

The Buccaneers don’t have that now, but it’s not looking good for Koetter. Not with Winston’s development seeming to be at a standstill despite the offensive pieces that were added around him this offseason. And not with the Buccaneers sitting at 4-9, with the team’s four wins coming against an exceedingly bad quartet: the Chicago Bears, New York Giants, New York Jets and Miami Dolphins.

That’s the kind of thing that puts a damper on attendance and sours a fan base. Before long, the so-called media buzzards begin to circle, waiting for the inevitable. Perhaps that’s a little of what took place Sunday, when the NFL Network reported that Winston and Koetter have had some issues in their relationship stemming from the offensive scheme.

“Me and Coach Koetter, we have a great relationship, first and foremost,” Winston said Sunday, denying any rift. “We’ve got the same goal when we go out there on that football field, and that’s to win a football game. So it doesn’t matter what anybody else can possibly say.”

That statement can be viewed two ways. Either Winston is being truthful and he and Koetter have no problems. Or he and Koetter have had issues and he’s trying to keep it in-house for the sake of the team.

Neither of those two scenarios changes the truth, and that’s this: Winston has only marginally progressed under Koetter. And the offense as a whole doesn’t speak well of a coach whose forte is that side of the football. Winston is still making some of the same mind-numbing mistakes. The running game is failing. And elements of the skill positions – while young – don’t reflect the consistency that the talent teases.

And once again, the NFL is a bottom-line business, and the Buccaneers are 4-9 in a season they were expected to take a big step forward and start pressing for NFC supremacy. Instead, we’re watching a left-for-dead New Orleans Saints team and a quarterback-garbled Minnesota Vikings club rise up into the void left by Tampa Bay. That irks this ownership, which has displayed a remarkable penchant for moving quickly on middling head coaches.

Going backward in the mediocrity timeline, the axe came down quickly on Lovie Smith, Greg Schiano, Raheem Morris … and even Jon Gruden.

The difference in that group for ownership? Gruden delivered a Super Bowl. And he did it by being a finisher. He took a roster that was loaded up during the Tony Dungy era and became the over-the-top element that brought it all together. Maybe that would have happened with Dungy anyway, but the point was the Glazer family gambled on Gruden being the missing element and he repaid them with a Super Bowl win.

This roster isn’t anywhere near what Guden took over the first time around. I’m not even sure you could point to anyone on the roster and have confidence there is Hall of Fame talent represented, whereas Gruden’s peak roster was loaded with the likes of Warren Sapp, Derrick Brooks, John Lynch and an outstanding cast of role players on both sides of the ball.

Tampa Bay doesn’t have that kind of stocked depth chart now. But it has two things Gruden never really possessed: a supremely talented quarterback who could eventually be one of the best three or four in the NFL, and an absurd amount of cap space to add pieces starting in 2018. Not to mention a general manager in Jason Licht, who should at the very least be extremely flexible and open to suggestion at this stage of his less-than-perfect tenure.

This is the type of situation that should whet Gruden’s appetite. And lest anyone question it, the same people whose ear he bends on football matters also say things aren’t picture-perfect in Gruden’s ESPN world, either. The booth on “Monday Night Football” has not been the same since Mike Tirico departed, leaving Gruden to be paired with Sean McDonough. Those close to Gruden say the relationship is workmanlike but not always a perfect fit – something that may also be driving Gruden to think outside the TV world.

Expect that to be a significant point of interest when Gruden is entering Tampa Bay’s ring of honor next week. For his part, Gruden has ambiguously downplayed his future, recently stating that he “can’t control all the reports.” But that’s not exactly a true statement. If Gruden is done with the NFL and the NFL is done with him, he can control the narrative. Instead of throwing water on it, he has fueled it.

Seemingly waiting for his sweet spot. Which might be closer now than ever – measured in months and the miles from his front-door step in Florida.

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