Jon Gruden Is a "Focal Point" for the Rams

The Rams are one week removed from the Jeff Fisher era, and did not even take one full season to turn the LA Coliseum into the Festival of Empty Seats. With potentially another team joining them in Los Angeles, and expensive PSLs to move, it’s clear they need a splashy hire.

So let the wish-list reporting commence! Charles Robinson writes for Yahoo:

" The Los Angeles Rams are moving toward a meeting with ESPN analyst Jon Gruden about the team’s head coaching vacancy, multiple sources with knowledge of the Rams’ coaching search have told Yahoo Sports. The sources indicated Gruden has become a focal point on the Rams’ list of candidates, but that other candidates could also come into play – notably Stanford Cardinal head coach David Shaw and New Orleans Saints coach Sean Payton. "

Robinson adds that Gruden would be “inclined to listen” if the Rams would give him full authority over personnel, and that the Rams would perhaps be amenable to that. Robinson didn’t have a handle on the extent Payton and Shaw would be interested. While Payton remains under contract with the Saints, Jason La Canfora reported recently that that Payton is Very Available to be acquired.

Gruden did a great job in Oakland, and coached the Bucs to a Super Bowl championship his first year in Tampa. It’s easy to see why teams still think about prying him away from ESPN. However, this would not be without risk; he’s been out of the league for eight years, and the Bucs went 45-51 in the regular season and 0-2 in the playoffs in his tenure after winning the title.

Who the hell knows what the odds are that Gruden would leave MNF for this gig, but if he did it would be great copy no matter what transpires.