Jon Gruden would not rule out the possibility of becoming the next New York Giants head coach under one key circumstance -- Eli Manning has to return as the quarterback.

During Gruden's Monday Night Football broadcast between the Pittsburgh Steelers and Cincinnati Bengals, just hours after the Giants pulled the plug on head coach Ben McAdoo, Gruden's co-host Sean McDonough asked him if he would consider the recently vacant New York job.

“Would Coach Gruden consider coming to the New York Giants?” McDonough asked on ESPN's broadcast of the Week 13 game. “Your name comes up for every job.”

At first, Gruden tried to play off the rumor.

“Don’t believe half of that stuff you hear and read, Sean,” Gruden said.

When McDonough pressed Gruden, he had a very interesting response.

“Our producer said he saw somewhere the odds of you going to the Giants are 35:1. Would you take the over or the under on 35:1?” McDonough asked.

“I’ll take the under on that if Eli comes back," Gruden said.

Now the speculation begins.

Gruden's response is not all that surprising if you have listened to him broadcast and call any Giants football game over the past several seasons. Gruden has always been a big believer in Manning's skill set, his ability to read the defense and dominate the pre-snap portion of a play, and in his ability to deliver the football on time and accurately when he has a clean pocket. Earlier this season when calling the Giants' only home Monday Night Football game in 2017, vs. the Lions, Gruden defended Manning and blamed the Giants' offensive struggles on the offensive line.

It's also not surprising when you consider how often Gruden's name has come up in recent head coach searches. Less than a month ago, Tennessee fans were convinced that he would be coming back to the college ranks to help bring their program back to glory.

It's clear that Gruden has the itch to coach again, but it remains unlikely that he will return anytime soon when you consider how much money ESPN is rumored to pay him in salary. In order to lure Gruden back to the head coaching ranks, the Giants, or any other team, would have to make him a very lucrative offer.

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The one thing we know for sure is that Gruden is up for the challenge of fixing the Giants offense if Manning is the quarterback. When you consider how well his brother Jay has done with his offense in Washington, with former third-round pick Kirk Cousins at the helm, it might not take more than a few games for this Giants offense to do a complete 180 with Gruden's offensive scheme in place. Every team in need of a head coach this offseason will be looking for the next Sean McVay, the man who turned the Rams offense from first to worst, and that man could be Mr. Gruden for the Giants.