Keyshawn Johnson doesn’t seem too surprised about Jon Gruden. On Tuesday morning during the ESPN Radio show Keyshawn, JWill & Max, Johnson ripped Gruden after he resigned as the head coach of the Las Vegas Raiders. The former NFL wide receiver spent two seasons with Gruden when they were both were with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and Johnson said Gruden was a fraud.
“I didn’t know that Jon would say things like that and put them in an email,” Johnson, said as transcribed by CBS Sports. “He’s just always been a fraud to me. … From day one, he’s been a used car salesman. And people bought it because he inherited a championship team built by Tony Dungy and Rich McKay, and he came in there with a little bit of different energy than we had with Tony, and it kind of kicked us over the top to get our world championship – which I am grateful for. But at the same time, I also saw through who he was through that journey of getting a championship.”
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Johnson played for Gruden from 2002 to 2003. Dungy was the Buccaneers head coach before being fired in 2001. Gruden led the Buccaneers to a Super Bowl win in 2002 but could never get back to that same level of play throughout his coaching career. Gruden was fired in 2009 and then worked for ESPN.
During his time at ESPN, Gruden reportedly emails to different people which had misogynistic, anti-gay and racist language. The New York Times reported the news over the weekend, and it led to Gruden resigning as the Raiders head coach on Monday night. This was the 58-year-old’s second stint with the Raiders as he originally coached the team from 1998 to 2001. Gruden was hired by the Raiders again in 2018, signing a 10-year, $100 million deal.
“I have resigned as Head Coach of the Las Vegas Raiders,” Gruden said in a statement. “I love the Raiders and do not want to be a distraction. Thank you to all the players, coaches, staff, and fans of Raider Nation. I’m sorry, I never meant to hurt anyone.” Gruden has a career coaching record of 117-112 and 5-4 in the postseason.
