Randall Cunningham shows Jon Gruden his wild snap count

Gruden lays out how his quarterbacks always worked: pick a color and a number and live with it. Then the old Eagles legend explains why he never did.

Jon Gruden

@BarstoolGruden

My man Randall Cunningham had one of the best snap-counts you will ever hear.

This is pure Gruden catnip. The man has spent the last year and change on a one-coach crusade against the clap snap that took over college football, preaching that a real snap count runs on voice and inflection. Getting Randall Cunningham, of all people, to show up and prove the point with a cadence that sounded more like a paint swatch catalog than an offense is basically Gruden's dream segment.

There is history here too. Gruden got to coach Cunningham in Philadelphia, and he has been honest that he did not make the most of it, saying he tried to jam the 49ers offense he learned in San Francisco onto one of the most freakish athletes the position has ever seen. Cunningham spent 1985 to 1995 with the Eagles before his second act in Minnesota, where in 1998 he led the league with a 106.0 passer rating and the Vikings scored a then-record 556 points.

Barstool's cut of the same conversation keeps the focus on the bit itself: Gruden cracking up while Cunningham walks through switching colors and octaves instead of locking in one call. The transcript is rough enough that we will not swear to every word of the cadence, but the gist is clear. The color changed, the pitch changed, and the defense never got comfortable.

Barstool Sports

@barstoolsports

Randall Cunningham gives Jon Gruden his unique snap count

Honestly it tracks. Cunningham played like nobody else, scrambling out of trouble and making throws on the run that most quarterbacks of his era would not even try. Of course his snap count was improvised too. A guy who never played the position the same way twice was not going to settle for one color and one number for an entire season.

For Gruden, it is another chapter in his war on the clap. Every time a legend shows up and gives him the voice-inflection gospel, his case gets a little stronger. Somewhere a college QB is clapping his hands at the line right now, and Gruden is absolutely watching.