Jon Gruden calls passing on Aaron Rodgers in 2005 'one of the greatest regrets' of his life

Current Oakland Raiders head coach Jon Gruden talks about passing on selecting Green Bay Packers superstar quarterback Aaron Rodgers back in the 2005 NFL Draft while he was coaching the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

In the years that have followed the 2005 NFL Draft, there has been much made about Aaron Rodgers dropping in the first round down to the 24th overall pick with the Green Bay Packers. Rodgers was thought to be in contention for the No. 1 pick as he was dubbed one of the best players in the draft at his position.

Leading up to the draft, there was chatter that several teams atop of the board aside from the San Francisco 49ers had interest in selecting Rodgers. This included the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who held the fifth overall pick under then-head coach Jon Gruden. According to Rob Demovsky of ESPN, Gruden had an interesting anecdote about his predraft workout with Rodgers to which he called passing up on the future Hall of Famer one of the biggest regrets of his life.

Jon Gruden, ex-Tampa Bay head coach: “I went and watched tape with Aaron. I can still remember it like yesterday. I watched tape with Coach Tedford and Aaron. Was really impressed in the film room and then we went out right there in the stadium. We walked right outside and started playing catch to loosen him up and then you look up in the stands and here comes this strange figure walking down the aisle and Aaron says, ‘Who is that?' I said that's our receiver. He says, ‘Well who is it?' I said, ‘You'll see.' So it's Jerry Rice. That was pretty good. That was a great day. I've still got the picture hanging right here at the FFCA [Fired Football Coaches Association]. It's a memento of why I was fired. You can see one of the greatest regrets in my lifetime.”

Looking back, it was a huge mistake by the Bucs to pass up on a player that has developed into one of the best quarterbacks to play the game. He has led the Packers to a Super Bowl win and countless trips to the playoffs over the duration of his illustrious career.

However, the selection of former Auburn running back Carnell “Cadillac” Williams had the early signs of being the right choice at the fifth overall pick. Williams put together a stellar rookie campaign where he won the AP Offensive Rookie of the Year award that included setting the NFL record with 474 rushing yards through the first three games of the season. Unfortunately, this turned out to be short-lived as injuries began to pile up after that and he was never able to recapture that level of performance in the final six years of his career.

On top of that, the Bucs also had their fair share of problems under center with the likes of Brian Grease, Chris Sims, Bruce Gradkowski, and Jeff Garcia all struggling to provide stability at the position. This combined with the lack of consistent success led to Jon Gruden losing his job after the 2008 season. Ultimately, this is a situation that the Bucs can only look back upon as what could have been.