For Raiders defensive coach Rod Marinelli, reuniting with Jon Gruden was an easy call
Rod Marinelli didn’t think twice about joining the Las Vegas Raiders and coach Jon Gruden.
It was an easy decision for the longtime assistant when Gruden tapped him to be the defensive line coach in February.
“No doubt in my mind,” Marinelli said Thursday. “I worked with coach at Tampa Bay. I understand what he’s about. I understand his intensity and his passion for the game. That was an immediate draw to come back with him.”
Gruden is happy Marinelli is onboard with him again.
They spent four seasons together at Tampa Bay, winning Super Bowl XXXVII when the Buccaneers defeated the Raiders 48-21 in San Diego — just a year after Gruden was sent to Tampa Bay for $8 million cash along with two first- and two second-round draft picks.
Gruden felt Marinelli was needed on the team.
“I became very familiar with them,” Gruden said. “When I got traded or fired, whatever it was, to Tampa, I was fortunate enough to keep him and get him to be our defensive line coach. I’m happy to have done my best recruiting job of all time to keep him in Tampa. He’s a great coach. He’s all business. He’s tough as hell. He doesn’t give in to tough times.”
Raiders players on Marinelli
Having Marinelli on the staff seems to be paying off in the early going of training camp.
Just ask defensive end Clelin Ferrell who was given some words of wisdom from Marinelli.
“The biggest thing he told me is, ‘You have to block out all of the noise. You have to come in and be a leader and you just get off and I’m going to clean you up.’“ Ferrell said.
“I really love his teaching because he understands and appreciates that football isn’t a scientific thing at the end of the day. It’s a game that we love to play and you just have to go out there and play hard and play with disposition, so I love him for sure.”
Defensive end Maxx Crosby enjoys Marinelli’s coaching style, too, and knows he’s going to keep pushing him and his teammates.
“The thing I love about him is he keeps it real and he pushes me every day,” he said. “That’s one thing I want. I don’t want, just because I had one good year, I don’t want a coach that taps me on the (butt) being nice and overdue everything, ‘Yeah, good job Maxx!’ I don’t want that. That’s not me; that’s not my personality.”
Defensive tackle Maliek Collins played for Marinelli with the Dallas Cowboys and knows what to expect from him.
“He’s demanding and I say that in a good way,” Collins said. “He wants you to be the same guy everyday. That’s the main thing. He wants you to to be consistent. He’s like a drill sergeant.”
Marinelli just had a simple message for his defensive line players: consistency.
“It’s a show-me game,” he said. “I’ve always believed that. We’ll find out what we have when we open the season. I like them, but it’s a show-me game.”
This story was originally published August 20, 2020 at 4:34 PM.
