In a recent past life, Jon Gruden was perhaps known best for putting quarterback prospects through his personal ringer of film sessions and board work as ESPN cameras watched. “Gruden's QB Camp” not only allowed the host to show off his extensive football knowledge and excitable persona, but also served as a means for the viewing public to gather a sense of how prepared collegiate signal-callers were to deal with NFL concepts.
Now coach of the Oakland Raiders, Gruden apparently took a similar approach with Antonio Brown before his team traded for the superstar wide receiver. At Brown's introductory press conference on Wednesday, Oakland general manager Mike Mayock told reports that his team's coach and new number one receiver spent the morning pouring over film at team facilities – perhaps violating the league's tampering rules in the process.
“Jon had 400 clips of Antonio in the office,” Mayock explained, per Pro Football Talk's Mike Florio. “I walked in this morning, the two of them were sitting in there like little kids watching 400 cutups of Antonio. Everything he did. Everything. I mean, they were like little kids in a laboratory.”
The league's legal tampering period began on Monday, approximately 24 hours after the Raiders and Pittsburgh Steelers agreed to the parameters of a trade that would send Brown to the Bay Area. The deal didn't become official until Wednesday afternoon when the league year began, allowing teams and players to put pen to paper on previously agreed-upon contracts.
Pro Football Talk reports that the Steelers only permitted the Raiders to perform a physical on Brown before the trade was officially completed.
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