Silver Minings: Should the pressure be on Jon Gruden?

Here are the facts: Jon Gruden — who has seven years remaining on a 10 year, $100 million contract with the Las Vegas Raiders — is very likely not going to be on the hot seat regardless what happens in 2021.

That’s the way it is, whether you agree with it or not. Gruden is Mark Davis’ dude, that’s the reality.

But the reality also is that any other coach in the NFL was entering his fourth season with a combined record of 19-29 would most certainly be on the hot seat. That’s just life in the NFL.

Just check out the facts of this tweet:

If coaches miss the playoffs regularly, they usually get fired.

These were seven head coaches hired in 2018:

• Jon Gruden, Oakland Raiders
• Matt Nagy, Chicago Bears
• Matt Patricia, Detroit Lions
• Frank Reich, Indianapolis Colts
• Pat Shurmur, New York Giants
• Mike Vrabel, Tennessee Titans
• Steve Wilks, Arizona Cardinals

Patricia, Shurmur and Wilks have been fired. Gruden, Nagy, Reich, Vrabel remain in their roles. Gruden hasn’t been the playoffs in the past three seasons. Nagy, Reich and Vrabel have all guided their teams to the postseason two of the three seasons they have been coaching.

So Gruden is right in the middle of the seven coaches hired during his cycle. If he doesn’t lead the Raiders to the playoffs in 2021, do you think he deserves to keep his job?

In other Raiders’ links:

• Making easy on Chiefs’ fans: Allegiant Airlines (yes, the namesake of the Raiders’ home, Allegiant Stadium) is offering special non-stop flights from Kansas City to Las Vegas for Chiefs-Raiders game in November. Business is business, I suppose.
• Meet Gillespie: The Athletic has a profile on Raiders’ fourth-round pick, safety Tyree Gillespie.
• Waller is elite: PFF has Raiders’ tight end Darren Waller ranked as the No. 3 tight end in the NFL. What a journey his career has been.