Jon Gruden walked into Tampa Bay in 2002 like a man carrying the future of the Buccaneers on his shoulders. The front office paid a massive price to bring him in, sending two first-round picks, two second-round picks, along with $8 million plus cash to seal him. At first, it looked like a master move for the Bucs faithful. Yet seven seasons later, Gruden walked out of the building after getting fired in January 2009. And oddly enough, he blames quarterback Matt Ryan for it.

“I was in Tampa. I was a head coach, and Bill Parcells was running the Miami Dolphins, and they had the number one pick, and my offensive line coach was Bill Muir,” Gruden opened up on the Inner Circle podcast and dropped a wild story. “And I told Bill Muir, I said, ‘If the Dolphins take [QB] Jake Long, I’m going to punch you in the face’. Because I knew Atlanta was going to get Matt Ryan.”

That’s exactly what happened. Long was drafted by the Dolphins, and Gruden also couldn’t get his hands on Ryan because the Falcons selected him.

“I couldn’t believe it. They took Jake Long, and I swear I took a swing at Bill. He ducked. Every time I see you, Matt, I think about that. You’re really a big reason I got fired in Tampa with you coming to Atlanta.”

Back in 2008, Ryan was viewed as the clear top quarterback in the draft. Scouts tracked every throw he made at Boston College. Everyone expected his landing spot to shift the NFC landscape.

Meanwhile, the Bucs went into that year still searching for long-term quarterback stability despite six names under contract: Brian Griese, Jeff Garcia, Bruce Gradkowski, Luke McCown, Jake Plummer, and Chris Simms. Despite having a full house, the team’s strategy of strength in numbers witnessed them pick QB Josh Johnson that year.

Here’s what happened in 2008: The Atlanta Falcons picked Ryan third overall. Tampa Bay went a different direction in the draft and selected Johnson, along with other picks – Aqib Talib (DB, their first pick on 20th overall), WR Dexter Jackson, C Jeremy Zuttah, DT Dre Moore, LB Geno Hayes, and RB Cory Boyd across seven rounds.

But 2008 was a bad season for Gruden. A day after completing an 0-for-December collapse that kept them out of the playoffs, the coach and his team were still unable to explain why their season fell apart.

Regardless, after getting fired, Gruden did not return to coaching until 2018. And in 2017, he even admitted he once wished he had the chance to coach Ryan.

“I would like to develop Jameis. Who wouldn’t want to develop Matt Ryan or Jameis Winston, you know? What are we saying here? If we had taken one, it would have been a lot of fun.”

While Gruden never got the chance to coach Ryan, the quarterback’s arrival in the division coincided with the final, tumultuous chapter of Gruden’s first tenure in Tampa.

Why did the Bucs fire Jon Gruden?

While plenty of theories float around, the truth is the whole situation around Jon Gruden’s firing felt strange from the jump. The Glazers waited nearly three weeks after the 2008 season before they finally moved on from him and general manager Bruce Allen. The move stunned everyone around the Bay. It shocked agent Bob Lamonte so much that when Gruden called him with the news, he hung up, thinking it was just “Chucky” messing around again.

But then the collapse that season made the tension harder to ignore. Tampa Bay sat at 9-3 and looked like a lock for the NFC playoffs. They needed one win in their final four games and instead lost all four. The last one came against a Raiders team led by JaMarcus Russell, which made the fall even tougher for the Bucs’ loyal fans inside Raymond James Stadium.

Some in the locker room thought Gruden’s voice had grown old. Others felt he kept his distance too much. He later admitted he wished he had been more personal with his players, and he hoped they remembered him for competition and fairness more than anything else.

The Glazers also faced heavy debt after buying Manchester United, and the financial weight influenced nearly every football decision.

In the end, the coach was dismissed. He was the eighth head coach to be released that season.