Jon Gruden hypes Parker Washington and Broncos vs. 49ers

The episode dropped Thursday at 6pm ET, and Coach opened on a story before he ever got to this week's games. It was Raiders-Chiefs rivalry week, so he went back to the day he still calls the best of his coaching life.

Jon Gruden

@BarstoolGruden

It's RIVALRY WEEK between the Raiders and the Chiefs! Let's throw it back to my favorite game I ever coached... January 2nd, 2000! What a great day that was, let's go RAIDERS!!

He still has the play sheet. More than 26 years later the guy keeps the paperwork from a regular season game the way most people keep wedding photos. You can make fun of it, but it is the reason the show works. Nobody on TV has more fun breaking down a Cover 3 beater than Gruden does.

Then he got to the greaseboard. It was mostly about the AFC East first. Patriots at Bills is Sunday at Highmark Stadium, and Gruden took Drake Maye's rough start apart play by play on the whiteboard.

Barstool Sports

@barstoolsports

Jon Gruden breaks down what’s going on with Drake Maye and all the big mistakes he’s made this season

The segment that stuck, though, was a guy most of the country could not pick out of a lineup. Gruden drew up routes against Cover 3 with a receiver marked 11 and argued that Parker Washington is getting robbed. By Friday morning he had turned it up even louder on his own account: Washington "might be the most under appreciated player in the entire league."

Barstool Sports

@barstoolsports

Nobody gives Parker Washington the credit he deserves @ChevyTrucks #ad #chevy #silverado

The numbers back him up. Washington had 18 targets in Jacksonville's first 2 games and caught a touchdown against the Patriots in Week 3. That came after he closed 2025 with 19 catches for 347 yards and 2 scores over the last 3 games. He's 24 and already the No. 1 option in Jacksonville. If he were catching passes for a team in New York or Dallas, people would know his name by now.

Friday afternoon the show turned to Sunday's best game. Denver is 2-1 and visits 3-0 San Francisco at Levi's Stadium on October 4. The Broncos are coming off a comeback win over the Rams from 16 points down, and the show's take on them was simple: it may not be pretty, but they find ways to win.

Jon Gruden

@BarstoolGruden

This Broncos/49ers game is going to be AWESOME I can't wait to see who comes out on top! @DKSports #DKPartner

Gruden didn't make a pick in the post, and a Niners fan in the replies wanted to know why he hates them anyway. That's a tough sell. Brock Purdy has 9 touchdowns and 1 interception through 3 games, and Christian McCaffrey is still the guy Denver has to stop on third down. The Broncos' offense ranks near the bottom of the league in yards, so their whole case is defense and fourth-quarter magic. We'll know Sunday whether that holds up in Santa Clara, and whether Washington's next game finally gets the rest of the league to notice.