Las Vegas Raiders head coach Jon Gruden was clearly courting San Francisco 49ers cornerback Richard Sherman this week while appearing as a guest on The Cris Collinsworth Podcast, which Sherman co-hosts.
"Richard Sherman, if you are a free agent, which there is a rumor you are, we are looking for an alpha presence in our secondary," Gruden told Sherman during the interview. "Somebody that could play this Hawk 3-press technique with the read step. If you're available and interested, maybe you and I can get together at some point off-air."
The only problem is that Sherman is not a free agent. He is under contract with the 49ers until March 17. So you can see why this might be considered an issue. The NFL has rules against tampering, after all. Gruden expressing his interest in Sherman, hinting that the Raiders might be a good next stop during his NFL career, could certainly be viewed as tampering.
The NFL defines tampering as "any interference by a member club with the employer-employee relationship of another club or any attempt by a club to impermissibly induce a person to seek employment with that club or with the NFL."
Sherman doesn't feel that's what happened with Gruden, though.
"All of this sports is just a big freakin' reality TV show, as you know," Sherman told Matt Maiocco NBC Sports Bay Area. "But I think there's legitimate interest. They have a good team. It's going to be a conversation. There will be a conversation with a few teams, and I'll make the decision that's best for me and my family, and off we go."
During the podcast interview, Sherman sounded intrigued by Gruden's pitch, saying, "There's a conversation to be had, for sure."
While the 49ers are allowed sole negotiating rights with Sherman until the start of the new league year, the veteran cornerback doesn't believe Gruden did anything wrong.
"I don't think he was tampering," Sherman told Maiocco. "I think it was a good conversation, good entertainment. And if anybody knows how to entertain people and keep them on the edge of their seats, it's Jon Gruden."
Sherman has made it clear that it would take a miracle for him to return to the 49ers in 2021, noting the team's salary-cap situation and the number of impending free agents as the reason.
"I know the salary cap deal first hand, dealing with the [NFLPA], dealing with the league, and I know their salary-cap situation," Sherman told reporters in December.
Two months later, nothing has changed, in Sherman's mind. He has had conversations with the 49ers, and it sounds like they have been unproductive.
"Nothing's changed at all," Sherman said. "The conversations continue to reaffirm that. It's not sad conversations or anything of that nature, both sides being really happy with how things turned out and, obviously, circumstances are tough, so both sides have to do what's best for them. But it's still a great relationship."