Rich Gannon isn’t joining Gruden in Oakland, but he wants a role with Derek Carr
When Jon Gruden was rumored to be the next Oakland Raiders coach, it seemed Rich Gannon was also going to join his staff as the quarterbacks coach.
Not so fast. Gannon said Wednesday on “The Greg Papa Show” on 95.7 The Game that he will not join Gruden’s staff – but he wants to help ex-Fresno State star Derek Carr in the offseason.
“I talked to Derek yesterday for a little bit. I talked to him a week-and-a-half ago,” Gannon said. “So, I’m going to talk to Derek a lot about the mental part of it. I’m going to talk to Derek a lot about the preparation, about attention to detail, about the schedule, about what he needs to accomplish on Monday and Tuesday and different things like that that maybe the coaches won’t get into.”
Carr had a subpar season with 3,496 yards, 22 touchdowns and 13 interceptions. His numbers were down considerably after having an MVP-type season in 2016 with 28 touchdowns against six interceptions and 3,937 yards before his season was cut short because of a broken fibula in the next-to-last regular-season game.
Gannon played 18 seasons in the NFL with four teams, but enjoyed his greatest success after he joined Gruden in Oakland with the Raiders in 1999. Gannon was NFL MVP in 2002 when he led the Raiders to their last Super Bowl appearance – a loss to Tampa Bay with Gruden in his first year as Buccaneers coach after leaving Oakland.
Of working with Carr, Gannon said, “I’m going to share with him what worked for me and what I did and some of the secrets that I developed over my 18-year career, which I haven’t really shared with a lot of people.”
“I think he’s open to that,” Gannon continued. “We had a conversation yesterday. He wanted to sit down and visit. Not only that, but I’m going to try to help him understand Jon Gruden. How to deal with Jon in meetings. Jon can be very intense. I’m just trying to help him in any way I can.”
Anthony Galaviz: 559-441-6042, @agalaviz_TheBee
This story was originally published January 11, 2018 at 9:57 AM with the headline "Rich Gannon isn’t joining Gruden in Oakland, but he wants a role with Derek Carr."