NFL aids Las Vegas Raiders in investigation into Jon Gruden emails

The NFL is aiding the Las Vegas Raiders’ investigation into Jon Gruden’s emails after a story released by the Wall Street Journal described an email sent by Gruden back in July of 2011 to have contained the use of a racist trope directed at NFL Players Association executive director DeMaurice Smith.

“The NFL sent the Raiders additional Jon Gruden emails to review on top of the negative one that surfaced last week and, per sources around the league,” ESPN’s Adam Schefter said.” The NFL is actively monitoring the situation and waiting to see how the team will handle the matter.”

“Dumboriss Smith has lips the size of Michelin tires,” Gruden wrote in the email that has since launched an investigation, per Andrew Beaton of The Wall Street Journal.

Gruden sent the email during a lockout by the players over the 2011 summer. He sent the email after the NFLPA chose not to vote on a collective bargaining agreement ratified by the league’s owners. At the time of the email, Gruden was a color commentator for ESPN. During that time he was one of the analysts for the network’s Monday Night Football telecast.

Jon Gruden revealed via ESPN’s Chris Mortensen that Gruden’s emails also included harsh words for NFL commissioner Roger Goodell and other NFL team owners.

“I was in a bad frame of mind at the time (in 2011) and I called Roger Goodell a (expletive) in one of these emails, too,” Gruden said via Mortensen. “They were keeping players and coaches from doing what they love with a lockout. There also were a lot of things being reported publicly about the safety of the sport that I love. I was on a mission with high school football (in the Tampa area) during that time and there were a lot of parents who were scared about letting their kids play football. It just didn’t sit well with me.”

Gruden issued an apology regarding the email via The Wall Street Journal in which he expresses that the email was not intended to be racial. But he did admit he believed his email went “too far.”

“I’m really sorry,” Gruden said. “I was upset. I used a horrible way of explaining it. . . . I don’t think he’s dumb. I don’t think he’s a liar, I don’t have a racial bone in my body, and I’ve proven that for 58 years.”

Currently, Jon Gruden is in his fourth season as the head coach of the Las Vegas Raiders. In 2018 he signed a record 10-year $100 million contract to take over the position from Jack Del Rio. The two-time Raiders coach also has a no-trade clause built into the contract. In his second stint with the Raiders, Gruden is 22-31 and has yet to lead his team to the playoffs in three seasons.

In his career, Gruden previously coached the then-Oakland Raiders from 1998-2001, the Buccaneers from 2002-2008. Gruden led Tampa Bay to a Super Bowl victory in his first season with the team, defeating his former team, the Raiders.