Jay Gruden knows his place. It's just that this week, that place is being two places at once.

In San Diego this week, he is known as the little brother assistant coach to Tampa Bay Buccaneers boss Jon Gruden. Meanwhile, in a parallel football universe, he is one of the best quarterbacks of all time.

In the Arena League.

Jay Gruden has won six Arena League titles as a player and as a coach. (Provided to SportsLine)

By Tuesday, Jay Gruden was on a plane to San Diego, where he will be breaking down film for his brother in preparation for the Super Bowl.

"I need a good week there," he said, "to run about five miles a day if I get some time."

Jay is out of shape and, as far as both leagues are concerned, out of mind. Back in Orlando, he is AWOL with his team's season 10 days away. Predators coach Fran Papasedero is trying to get by with anonymous (is there any other kind in the Arena League?) backups until Gruden returns.

A week after the NFL season ends on Sunday, Gruden's season begins on a new, improved, more respected Arena League. For now, it's move over Kurt Warner. The Super Bowl is about to see its second Arena League quarterback.

"The Arena League has been good to me," he said. "It gave me a shot when the NFL just kicked me out and never even let me throw a pass in training camp."

Jay won four titles in six years with the Tampa Bay Storm, then retired as a player after the 1996 season. He popped up again in 1998 as the league's youngest coach with Orlando. When Predators quarterback Craig Whelihan blew out a knee, Gruden resigned as coach and returned to the field in 2002.

Jon got the Bucs job and in February asked his brother to join the staff. Jay didn't think he was ready to be a full-fledged NFL assistant but didn't want to give up either opportunity -- indoor quarterback or apprentice NFL coach.

A compromise was reached. Jay joined the staff only as long as it didn't interfere with his parallel universe.

"I don't really coach anybody," he said, "I'm still learning. I mainly break down film and try to give them any other kind of edge. I didn't think I was ready to step in here this year and be a position coach. I need a couple of years to get this 11-man game back in my mind."

Jon has that scowl on his face. Jay has the chip on his shoulder. It's what has kept him hanging around the Arena League for 15 years after leaving Louisville.

"I thought I was at least going to get a shot in an NFL training camp from Day 1 but never got that opportunity," said Jay, the bitterness still in his voice. "I went to Louisville a couple of years as a grad assistant. Here they had a (Arena League) team in Tampa in 1991, my hometown. I needed a summer job anyway."

Two teams, 12 years and 19,142 indoor passing yards later, Gruden has won six Arena League championships as both player and coach. Meanwhile, the Arena League's version of Joe Montana is stepping humbly around the Super Bowl.

There was talk that Jay would be hired to coach Bucs quarterbacks. But Jay quashed that talk almost immediately.

"I don't think Jon needed the criticism of a brother coaching quarterbacks. Initially, I think he mentioned it but there was never any formal offer."

The indoor edge is one that the NFL is increasingly searching for. This season, Pittsburgh's Tommy Maddox made the jump from indoor football (via the XFL) to the NFL. Paul Tagliabue's teams are at least intrigued by indoor football. Its players and style of play are no longer a joke.

There are approximately 30 former Arena League players in the NFL, including Tampa Bay practice-squad player Antoine Toliver.

"Two or three years ago, I'd call a personnel director and try to talk to him about a player. You might be lucky to get a call back," said Papasedero, a former Division II All-American at Springfield (Mass.) College. "Now you've got every single one of them calling up looking for players. They know this is a valuable and viable recruiting tool for them."

To the point that the NFL considered an option to buy 49 percent share in the Arena League. The deadline passed in March. There are whispers that the league might fold NFL Europe and rely more on the indoor leagues for player development.

Twelve current Predators have a combined 270 games of NFL experience, according to Papasedero.

"On every NFL roster you've got probably 12 guys that are just such superior athletes you're not going to be able to replace them," he said. "But once you get down past No. 12, you're (the equivalent of being) on the Arena roster."

A week after the Super Bowl, NBC debuts its weekly coverage of the league. So as anonymous as Gruden will be this week, he could be a major network star by the time NFL training camps roll around.

"I've seen guys come in and play in the NFL," Papasedero said. "Guys that weren't great, super quarterbacks were being paid like super quarterbacks because that's what the market bore. I think Jay definitely could have played."

Not even being the brother of an NFL coach and son of a former NFL assistant has gotten Jay a break as a player.

"Other teams figured, 'Why didn't they take him?'" Jay said. "Maybe I wasn't good enough. It would have been great to get that shot. Looking at Brad Johnson and the way some of these guys throw the ball, I know why I didn't get the chance. But some of these second- and third-team guys are horrible."

It turns out that at the end of one career and the beginning of another, Jay Gruden is in just the right place. A brother who loves working with him and a coach who doesn't mind waiting for him.

"He's the one who installed our offense from Day 1 in 1998," Papasedero said. "He's the one who, in essence, designed it. You don't worry about him learning when he comes back. I know he is ready to play.

"It would be nice if he got a Super Bowl ring before the season starts."