Report: Jon Gruden helping Carr, Saints install new offense

The New Orleans Saints brought in Jon Gruden this week to help the team work on building the offense around quarterback Derek Carr, according to Jeff Duncan of the Times-Picayune.

Gruden, a longtime NFL head coach, reportedly spent much of his time at the Saints facility working with Carr and New Orleans' coaching staff under head coach Dennis Allen.

The 59-year-old Gruden hasn't coached since October 2021. He was most recently with the Raiders, with whom he installed a West Coast offense and worked with Carr across three-plus seasons. The Saints employ a similar offense, as Sean Payton originally implemented the scheme in New Orleans in 2006.

"I'm used to that family of offense," Carr told Duncan. "It's all the same drawing, but different words. ... It's just different words mean different things."

He added: "It's a new system, new words, (but) a lot of similarities to things that I grew up on and believe in. It's still a learning curve, but not as big of a curve as it could be in a different system or a different offense."

Payton, who was with the Saints from 2006-21, coached with Gruden in 1997 as members of the Philadelphia Eagles under head coach Ray Rhodes. Gruden was Philly's offensive coordinator that year, while Payton served as the club's quarterbacks coach.

Gruden joined the Raiders for a second stint as the franchise's head coach in 2018. He resigned in October 2021 after reports revealed he'd sent emails using racist, homophobic, and misogynistic language. The 59-year-old sent the emails while working for ESPN as a football analyst from 2009-17.

Carr, 32, posted a 97.3 passer rating with Las Vegas from 2018-21 and recorded a 70.4% completion rate in 2019, the highest of his NFL career. The four-time Pro Bowler, whom the Raiders drafted in the second round in 2014, spent his first nine seasons with the team. He signed a four-year contract with New Orleans this offseason after agreeing to part ways with Las Vegas.