Code Red: Jon Gruden Says Nathan Peterman "Is Growing On Me"

When Nathan Peterman finished his tour of pain with the Buffalo Bills last November, he wasn’t sent to football prison, even though that clearly would’ve been the right decision. Peterman earned a second chance with the only team that would make sense for him to give him one. (“Sense” is used lightly here.) Raiders head coach Jon Gruden was eager to find something good in the worst QB of the season, and possibly ever.

Peterman is still on the roster for training camp, and Gruden gave a tantalizing update today:

Here’s why I love this quote: Gruden, the former color commentator for Monday Night Football, made a second career out of letting his emotions betray him, and he carried that trait when he returned to coaching. If Jon Gruden thinks there’s something to this Nate Peterman kid, he really believes that.

The context of those seven words, which should never be uttered in that order, is even better. Even if you allow that Peterman isn’t responsible for every mistake he made in Buffalo, any percentage of them is still so, so dreadful. This one-two combo is masterful: “He was an Opening Day starter for the Buffalo Bills last year. I take that very serious.”

To refresh your memory: After the Bills declared Peterman their QB1 in a tweet that somehow has yet to be deleted out of shame he went 5-for-18 and threw two picks in the season opener before he was benched for Josh Allen. Peterman finished the game with a 0.0 quarterback rating as Buffalo lost, 47-3. Gruden believes there was something valuable in the fact that Peterman was allowed to start that game in the first place. Let’s all pray he makes the Raiders’ 53-man roster.