While the Case Keenum era of Denver Broncos football has gotten off to a strong start, Keenum apparently has another fan that he will be playing against when the Broncos host the Oakland Raiders on Sunday.
“I’ve been accused of liking everybody, but I really like Keenum,” Raiders head coach Jon Gruden told Denverbroncos.com. “What he did in college is unseen — the type of production that he had. I told our people a long time ago when I first came here, I think the free-agent acquisition in pro football this year is going to be Case Keenum.”
That is not where the compliments end either. Gruden continued to gush about the former University of Houston quarterback.
“What he did in Minnesota, the toughness that he puts on tape — he made a throw last week against Seattle. There were two or three Seahawks beating down on him, it’s a 14-yard gain. His pocket presence, I think his personality, his fight, his grit — he gets the most out of himself,.” Gruden told Denverbroncos.com. “I’ll bet you ask all those players, they have a ton of respect for him. He’s given them consistent, quality play at a position that they haven’t had since [Peyton] Manning left.”
This is not the first time that Gruden has spoken on his admiration of the Broncos starting quarterback either. Keenum was a guest on Gruden’s QB Camp on ESPN2 back when he was entering the NFL Draft in 2012. Keenum went undrafted, but that does not mean that Gruden failed to see his potential like so many others did.
“You know what I love about you, Keenum?” Gruden asked back in 2012 on his show. “You’ve got some serious guts, man. This isn’t inflated production. This is NFL Pro Bowl production.”
Keenum seemed to enjoy his time with Gruden as well on the show. He spoke on how prepared Gruden was when he had him on the show as well as his appreciation of the coach who is famously known as ‘Chucky’.
“It was a lot of fun,” Keenum told Denverbroncos.com. “He was literally a grinder. It was back in his studio, in his office where it looks like a TV set with all the film behind it, but that was actual film that he stays in there and watches. I’m pretty sure he had watched every rep I’d played in college. [He] found some obscure tape from I don’t know where. It was a lot of fun. I got a lot of good feedback and enjoyed it. He gave me some good encouragement, talking about the game at the pro level. I really appreciated being able to be on it.”
Below is the full Gruden’s QB Camp episode featuring a young Case Keenum.
https://youtu.be/kTwgF47dLfQ