Well, it’s Wednesday, and you know what that means! Yes, exactly, it is time for another memorable Buccaneers trade. Last week we looked at the trade that sent Steve Young to the 49ers, so I figured this week I would feature a trade in which we came out on top.
This trade is particularly interesting because we didn’t receive any players, or draft picks, in return. That’s right! In this trade, all we received was… a coach. But not just any coach, we got Jon Gruden. The year was 2002 and the Buccaneers had just fired Tony Dungy. Dungy had led the team to the playoffs 4 of the past 6 seasons, but they couldn’t break through to the Super Bowl.
This frustration led management to relieve him of his duties. At the same time, this was happening in Tampa Bay, Gruden was coaching the Raiders, who had just lost their AFC Divisional matchup (the Tuck Rule game) in the playoffs to rookie quarterback Tom Brady and the New England Patriots.
Frustrated at the lack of Super Bowl hardware, the Bucs knew they needed a drastic change. So, what did they do? They traded for the Raiders coach. And why not, Gruden at that point was having loads of success with the Raiders, but he too just fell short of a Super Bowl appearance.
So, what did we give up for a coach? In the deal, we sent two first-round picks, two second-round picks, and $8 million in cash to the Raiders (all picks materialized into sub-par players). That is more of a haul than what they received for all-star defensive lineman Khalil Mack.
After that, the rest is history. Gruden would lead this team to success in only his first season at the helm, guiding them to the Super Bowl where they played none other than, you guessed it, his former team; the Raiders.
The Bucs laid a beating on the Raiders in Super Bowl 37, dominating them towards a 48-21 victory. Dexter Jackson, Tampa’s safety won the MVP in that game after he had two-pick 6’s. The game will forever go down in history as the “Gruden Bowl”, seeing as how integral he was to it. In total there were seven future Hall of Famers playing in that game, including names such as Jerry Rice, Charles Woodson, and Warren Sapp.
Gruden would go on to coach the Buccaneers until the 2008 season until he would be relieved of his duties. This trade was definitely unique, and it definitely garnered the results we wanted. Go Bucs Go!