Gruden refutes reports of $100M contract

Oakland Raiders head coach Jon Gruden is denying that his contract with the team is worth as much as the previously reported nine figures over 10 years.

"I’m not making $100 million, just so you know," Gruden said, according to Peter King of NBC Sports.

Gruden could simply be trying to lower expectations surrounding himself and the team as he returns to an NFL sideline for the first time since 2008 when he served as head coach of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He recently said he intends to earn whatever his salary may be, and he won't take the Raiders' money if he can't turn them into a winner.

Though he wouldn't expand on the true value of his contract, how the rumored number came to be, or why he allowed it to persist as truth for so long, the former broadcaster insisted he's just following his passion and today's lofty contract figures may be a product of the current NFL landscape.

"I never got into coaching for the money. I got into coaching because I wanted to be a quarterback coach. What the salary cap has become, what free agency has become - it’s amazing," Gruden said.