Jon Gruden: 5 Potential Replacements If Coach Leaves Monday Night Football Booth

According to Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune, former NFL coach and current Monday Night Football broadcaster Jon Gruden is preparing for a return to the sidelines in a head coaching gig in 2012. 

If those reports are true and Gruden leaves the MNF booth, football's iconic broadcast will be in need of a replacement.

Who are the best candidates to replace Gruden?

There's not many, but here are five logical replacements.

Mike Mayock

Mayock is the most obvious replacement. He knows the game as well as anyone, and few commentators can articulate what just happened on a given play quite like Mayock.

He currently does Thursday night games for NFL Network, but he needs a bigger stage. Football fans would be better off for it if he took over for Gruden.

Deion Sanders

MNF has historically looked for eccentric personalities as color commentators, and Sanders certainly fits that bill. He isn't horrible as a studio analyst at NFL Network, either.

Could that translate over to the booth alongside Mike Tirico and Ron Jaworski? 

Troy Aikman

Some people love him, some hate him, but Aikman knows the game and has plenty of experience calling big games alongside Joe Buck at FOX.

Don Meredith 2.0? There would be plenty of star power with adding Aikman.

Dan Fouts

Fouts lasted only one season on MNF, but his exit was more about Dennis Miller's failure than his own.

Fouts was actually well-received for his role. He's currently a part of CBS's No. 3 NFL broadcast team.

Chad Pennington

Pennington is still a newcomer in the announcing world, but he's a rising star. He knows the game and is well-spoken.

Pennington's relaxed demeanor is a far cry from Gruden's, but I don't think people would complain about having the former quarterback in the booth.