It's that time of year again. With many NFL jobs possibly up for grabs at the end of the season, rumors are starting to fly that ESPN analyst Jon Gruden wants back into coaching.
WalterFootball.com's Charlie Campbell reports that Gruden has been looking into assistants around the NFL to see about their potential availability after the season.
Former Philadelphia Eagles defensive coordinator and offensive line coach Juan Castillo and San Diego Chargers special teams coordinator Rich Bisaccia are both mentioned as possible hires by Gruden.
Take this report with a grain of salt, but it's worth noting Campbell broke a lot of Tampa Bay Buccaneers news over the years while working at PewterReport.com.
The report suggests Gruden is only looking for a "perfect opportunity" for a large-market team or he'd be happy to stay at ESPN.
There have been conflicting reports about Gruden's ability to leave his contract at ESPN, but the network never has said definitively that he can't get out of his deal.
Jeremiah: Hot coaching candidates
With the coaching carousel threatening to turn, Daniel Jeremiah examines seven candidates who might be in line for jobs. **More ...**
We'd fully expect Gruden and the network to deny this report if they acknowledge at all, as they have done in previous years. Campbell says Gruden has "more motivation" to return to coaching now than in previous seasons.
There isn't always fire where there is smoke, but we don't think all these Gruden rumors just get created out of thin air.
We can expect to hear more of them in the next two months.
UPDATE: Interesting to see this tweet from Howard Eskin of WIP Radio and WTXF-TV in Philadelphia on the same day:
Follow Gregg Rosenthal on Twitter @greggrosenthal.
