Brandt: I’ve Never Seen Someone Raise The Energy Level In A Room Like Jon Gruden

After six years at ESPN and nearly another decade as an executive with the Green Bay Packers, Andrew Brandt has been around many of the most influential people in business and sports.

He is also not one to throw around opinions without basis – i.e. he’s no Stephen A. Smith.

So when Brandt makes a strong statement like he did this week writing for The Athletic, it becomes instantly noteworthy.

Speaking to his time around Jon Gruden at ESPN, here’s what Brandt said about the $100 million man now coaching the Raiders:

“He would start speaking—about a player, a play or coaching scheme—in a (relatively) normal tone. His intensity would soon elevate, eventually reaching a crescendo that would bring everyone in the room to the edge of their seats to see where this soliloquy would go. I have been around a lot of leaders—whether in sports, business or both—but have not seen anyone raise the energy level in a room like Gruden. If Gruden, in talking football, can motivate producers, directors, researchers and broadcasters, think what he can do for a room of players and coaches.”

So much time is spent on Gruden’s fascinating (and sometimes confusing) personality that his ability to communicate and motivate is often underscored.

Considering the Raiders in 2017 generally played like they prepared on Sunday mornings by watching re-runs of Lassie, Gruden’s energy will be a welcome change.

Come to think of it, do you think a gentle-spirited German Shepherd may have come up with the idea to morph the heaviest offensive line in football into a shifty batch of outside-zone blockers?

twitter: @raidersbeat

*Lassie was actually a Collie. Whoops!