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2003 Off-season/Draft

The day after we won the Super Bowl my cellphone rang. It was like ten am or so, so I was already up, but I was hungover from the champagne on the flight back to Oakland. I was in bed just trying to recover when I answered the phone. It was a Dallas area code. Big mistake talking to Jerry Jones hungover. BIG mistake. “You Negotiate Like a Girl” by Raiders CEO Amy Trask.

I can confirm that Jerry Jones has reached out to Al Davis and the Raiders to gauge their level of interest in trading head coach Jon Gruden to Dallas. The Cowboys still haven’t filled their head coaching vacancy after firing Dave Campo and Jerry’s had his eyes on Gruden ever since the regular season ended some five weeks ago. Ed Werder, ESPN Dallas-based reporter, on Sportscenter the Monday after the Super Bowl.

There’s a quote about former American President Teddy Roosevelt told by his daughter that the former President wanted to be the corpse at every funeral, the bride at every wedding and the baby at every christening. Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones was much the same person. If he wasn’t the center of attention in the NFL he wasn’t doing something right in his opinion.

Sometimes being the center of attention backfired – like when he fired Jimmy Johnson in the mid 1990s. Other times it worked to his team’s benefit – like when he targeted Jon Gruden fresh off winning a Super Bowl.

Jerry Jones wanted Jon Gruden. Al Davis wanted to give Jerry Jones Jon Gruden because despite winning a Super Bowl, Al still wouldn’t pay him more. The issue is that Jerry and Al are two of the largest egos in the world, so each wanted to “win” the deal. How do you establish the value of a head coach? Quarterbacks, linemen, receivers, they’d all been traded since Day One, so we had some idea what they were worth. But a coach? We were just sort of flying blind. “You Negotiate Like a Girl” by Amy Trask.

Eventually the two sides agreed on a deal. Oakland would trade Gruden to Dallas and Dallas would ink him to a five year, 20 million dollar contract (fully guaranteed). In return, Dallas gave up first round picks in the 2003 and 2004 draft and Oakland had the right to swap first round picks with Dallas in the 2005 and 2006 drafts if the Cowboys had a worse record than the Raiders at the end of the year. It was a king’s ransom, but Jerry Jones felt that Gruden was worth every penny.

Offensive Coordinator Marc Trestman was promoted to head coach. Gruden took Quarterbacks Coach Jim Harbaugh with him to Dallas and made him the Dallas OC.

There was one more domino to fall in Oakland.

I had been in pain for a little bit. My left arm would tingle a little bit and I had aches and pains – no different than any other 37-year-old football player. I had accomplished so much in the NFL: I played for fifteen years, won a MVP and a Super Bowl. I was blessed with all that plus a great wife and two kids who are the light of my life. I had nothing left to prove and with Coach Gruden and Harbaugh leaving, I felt it was the perfect time to walk away from the NFL. “Know When to Walk Away” by Rich Gannon.

Gannon’s retirement left a void under center. Backup Marques Tuiasosopo was highly touted but still raw. He’d progressed under the Raiders for two seasons, but it was a far cry from being good on the practice fields in August and good under the lights in the fall. However, with the extra first rounder from Dallas (it was the 4th overall pick) maybe Oakland could find their signal-caller of the future?

As far as the rest of the off-season: Tampa Bay brought most of its stars back. The Bucs were hungry after getting so close to a ring it wasn’t hard to convince the few free agents to sign short-term deals to try and run it all back in 2003.

San Diego released former Pro Bowl safety Rodney Harrison. He was quickly scooped up by New England, who released Lawyer Milloy to make room. Milloy latched on to Chicago, where he would be paired with Mike Brown at safety.

Gruden and Harbaugh needed a quarterback. Chad Hutchinson and Quincy Carter split duties under center in 2002 for the ‘Boys. Carter was young enough to maybe be something in the NFL, but an upgrade was needed. Dallas would draft Chris Simms in the third round of the upcoming draft to hopefully up the skill level in the quarterback room.

2003 Draft

Cincinnati took Carson Palmer first overall in the draft. He was a sure thing as far as a prospect and hopefully he would help revive the moribund franchise. After that pick…well, chaos.

We have a trade. Oakland is trading the Dallas pick (#4 overall) and two future second round picks to Houston for the Texans’ second overall pick. Sources tell me Dallas is going to draft Michigan State All-American wide receiver Charles Rogers. We all know how much Al Davis loves speed, and Rogers has speed to burn. Mel Kiper, draft analyst.

After Palmer and Rogers, Chicago took Miami wideout Andre Johnson. Houston snagged corner Terrance Newman, and Detroit took Dewayne Robertson to round out the top five. New England, picking six by virtue of their trade with New Orleans the year before, reached a bit and took cornerback Marcus Trufant.

Other notable picks were Pittsburgh taking Terrell Suggs and Baltimore taking USC safety Troy Polamalu. Dallas took Charles Tillman early in the second, and Minnesota took cornerback Nnamdi Asomugha late in the first round after trading back a few spots.