As the NFL season schedule begins to wind down, the NFL rumors are starting to heat up. Yes, like it or not, the NFL rumor mill is already starting to churn in terms of several coaches who may be on the hot seat. Now the question is could time in the Big D be coming to an end for Dallas’ Jason Garrett?
Change coming in Dallas?
In Jason Garrett’s defense, not having Ezekiel Elliott running the ball is a huge loss for the Cowboys on offense.
However, he does have a lot of other tools to work with on both sides of the ball, and they are failing miserably. While fans may think that Garrett shouldn’t be judged on this season, he may be losing his team in the locker room.
CBS Sports indicates, via NFL Network's Ian Rapoport, that the players are growing frustrated with the team's lack of adjustments and simple game plan.
The Boys have lost their last three games in a row — being beaten with a combined score of 92-22. That is unacceptable. Sure, losing Zeke hurts, but on the heels of a 13-3 season, a lot was expected out of Dallas in 2017, with or without Elliot in the lineup.
When you still have Dak, Dez, Cole Beasley and Jason Witten on offense, you shouldn’t average 7.3 points a game over a whole month of football. Even though Jerry Jones is still backing Garrett as his guy, if there's some truth that the players have tuned him out, Garrett’s days could be numbered.
Gruden bound for Rocky Top?
Tennessee is not giving up on Jon Gruden, even if he is denying that he has any interest in coming back to the sidelines anytime soon. Reports indicate that the University of Tennessee is still interested in hiring the former Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Super Bowl-winning coach to lead their team into the 2018 season. Now the question is, will Gruden take the bait?
Several sources are reporting that Gruden is being offered $10 million per season, along with another $8 million per season, reserved for the salaries of his staff, to leave his Monday Night Football gig and take charge of the Volunteers program.
Sources surrounding this story have all indicated that part of securing Gruden for the position would include luring former Volunteers quarterback Tee Martin back to Tennessee to serve as a chief recruiter for Gruden.
That could be huge for the school in terms of changing the culture of the football team in an instant. Martin was a great QB for the Vols and having him back in the fold would be great for the school's morale and even better for recruiting.
It will be interesting to see if Gruden takes a leap at the Tennessee job, or if he holds out to see if NFL vacancies become available.