Raiders' Davis jokes about firing Gruden to avoid 'Hard Knocks'

The Oakland Raiders are an early favorite to be featured on HBO's training camp miniseries "Hard Knocks," but team owner Mark Davis is already joking about doing anything to avoid the spotlight.

"I'll just fire Jon (Gruden) and then hire him back," Davis said on Tuesday, according to ESPN's Paul Gutierrez.

The Raiders meet all the criteria to be selected by HBO. Exemptions are granted to teams introducing a new head coach, those that have made the playoffs over the past two seasons, and clubs that appeared on the show within the last decade.

The Raiders are eligible, and the team is intriguing because it owns three first-round draft picks next month. Oakland has also added star receiver Antonio Brown and lightning-rod linebacker Vontaze Burfict to play under Gruden, a high-profile head coach.

Davis wants the team to focus on improving its 4-12 record in 2018.

"It would be disruptive," Davis said of the show. "We've got a lot of business to take care of, get ready for the season. I appreciate that they might think we'd be great TV, but we got something to accomplish."

Other teams that could be hand-picked for the show are the Detroit Lions, New York Giants, San Francisco 49ers, and Washington Redskins.

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