The Rams said they were focusing their coaching search on assistant coaches currently with other teams. Ultimately, they hired one.
The process never veered toward the kind of big-name, sizzle-over-substance option that Jon Gruden would have been. It made sense, and didn’t make sense, for a variety of reasons. It appears that it never was a serious consideration.
Gruden, who last coached in 2008 and was only two games above .500 during his tenure in Tampa, has never been a serious contender to return. That’s possibly because no one has regarded him as a viable option to thrive in a return to the NFL. It’s also possibly because Gruden prefers both the perception that he’s on the A-list and the no-accountability TV gig he currently enjoys to the reality of coaching a team again, potentially struggling, and possibly getting fired, again.
Another factor in his apparently lack of interest in the Rams (or their lack of interest in him) is the possibility that Gruden didn’t regard Jared Goff as a viable franchise quarterback. If Gruden viewed Goff as a potentially great quarterback, coaching the Rams would have become Gruden’s best option for ever returning.
There’s still a chance he eventually will. It could have made sense to return to the Rams.
