Arians open to replacing Gruden on MNF — yes!

FOXBORO, Mass. — This would be so great. Truly. Retired Arizona Cardinals head coach Bruce Arians says he’d like a crack at replacing Jon Gruden as colour analyst on Monday Night Football telecasts.

Gruden has returned to coaching after nearly a decade on MNF, as head coach of the Oakland Raiders.

Arians is highly opinionated, bold, brash, smart, quick on his feet, funny as hell, sincere and he knows pro football — and what’s wrong with it — as much as anyone ESPN could hire as Gruden’s replacement.

“Oh, gosh, I’d be interested” Arians told ESPN.com. “I don’t think they’re interested in me. But that would be like the dream job, especially working with someone as good as Sean (McDonough). That’d be fun. That’s obviously a home run.”

No, Bruce. That’d be a walkoff grand slam. Arians, 65, will wind up on TV with some network doing NFL games. He has talked already with Fox and NFL Network, and is scheduled to meet with CBS in early February.

“I want to be part of the game,” Arians said. “When you’re doing games, you do a lot of travelling. You’re in the locker-room, you’re doing production meetings with players and coaches. In a studio, you get a broader perspective, maybe you can tell more stories. I’m probably a better storyteller.”

He’d be even better on game telecasts. Do it, ESPN. Please. North America will thank you.