Report: Jon Gruden Backed Out of NFL Network Gig to Join ESPN

Jon Gruden made national headlines yesterday when he replaced Tony Kornheiser on ESPN's Monday Night Football. Kornheiser, of course, "stepped down" (as MDS, Ryan and I noted last night, that may or may not be extremely convenient) from his role in the booth with very little noise aside from the original announcement.

All in all, it was a pretty smooth transition. That is until SI's Peter King dropped a bombshell in his Tuesday morning version of Monday Morning Quarterback, teased via his Twitter account.

Do not invite Gruden and NFL Network czar Steve Bornstein to the same event anytime soon, or ever. Bornstein wants to wring Gruden's neck. The NFL Network is furious with Gruden for jilting the network after he'd verbally agreed to a deal to work there.

[...]One of the reasons the NFL Network is so steamed, I'm told, is that no one from the Gruden camp called Bornstein to tell him.

Of course, this is only made more awkward by the fact that the NFL and ESPN are partners, and the WWL essentially snaked Gruden out from under the NFL's nose. Of course, there wasn't necessarily anything illegal about the move, provided it went down as King described it, it's just that, well: burning bridges isn't a good idea, even for an 800-pound gorilla.

There's still a good chance I think, especially judging from Gruden's recent comments about "short-term-focused," that he's only at ESPN for a single year. But there's also a much better chance that if he ever needs another job, he won't be getting it from the NFL Network.