Jon Gruden: Former NFL Coach Agreeing to New ESPN MNF Deal Is No Surprise

Former Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Oakland Raiders coach Jon Gruden decided to sign a contract extension with ESPN for Monday Night Football, and it comes as no surprise given how much easier his life has become. 

Sure, Gruden will no doubt be coveted by a number of teams in need of a head coach after the 2011 season. That isn't going to change for a few years because he proved he could be a quality coach in the NFL. 

However, there's no question he lives a life with much less stress, but he still talks football all the time. What could be better than that? 

Gruden issued a statement through ESPN explaining why he agreed to his new five-year deal that begins in September of 2012.

"Our Monday Night Football crew is special, and to have the opportunity to continue to be a part of this team, working these big-time NFL prime time games every week on ESPN, I'm fired up."

How could the man not be fired up about staying on with Monday Night Football? He works one day a week, gets to travel all over the country and makes a ton of money just to talk football. 

I am a little surprised that this deal happened in the middle of the season though. I guess ESPN didn't want to run the risk of a team coming after Gruden hard before he was locked into a lengthy deal with them. 

Now that a deal has been agreed upon, one that ESPN called "an exclusive contract," it makes you wonder if Gruden will ever coach in the NFL again.

It appears as if he won't, but if a team comes calling and is willing to pay huge amounts of money, then who knows?

Gruden isn't well liked by a ton of people because he can wrong from time-to-time, which Bleacher Report's own Dan Levy likes to do after every MNF game. 

Whether it's his nagging voice, his love for everyone on the field or strange resemblance to Chucky the psycho murdering doll, some people are just irked by Gruden. But ESPN is letting him stay for another five seasons.

I'm sure Gruden is just fine with that because having a full-time job be a sports commentator is a pretty sweet gig.