If you want to be correct about it, the Oakland Raiders have been preparing for the day they could violate the Rooney Rule since the moment Mark Davis replaced his father as the team’s managing general partner.
That’s how long Davis has wanted Jon Gruden, and his hyperactive haste and generosity is a tribute to his persistence as much as it is his inability to create adequate subterfuge. His giddy admission that he jumped on Gruden on Christmas Eve, other than reminding folks of the 21st anniversary of the day his dad whacked Mike White in 1996, told us he had picked Gruden not only before interviewing any minority candidates but before firing Jack Del Rio as well.