Jon Gruden has no plans on settling lawsuit with NFL

Communication between Gruden, an ESPN employee when he wrote these seminal emails, and then-Washington president Bruce Allen included crude remarks about commissioner Roger Goodell, gay NFL players, female referees and Washington cheerleaders. The first email — made public Oct. 8, 2021 as a result of the NFL’s Dan Snyder investigation — included Gruden using a racist trope to describe NFLPA executive director DeMaurice Smith. Between that email becoming public and the wave of New York Times-uncovered emails three days later, Mark Davis planned to stick with Gruden. Before the second wave of emails emerged, Davis discussed Gruden’s status with current and former Raiders, per Wickersham and Van Natta, who report some wanted the embattled HC gone while others did not.

In between the Wall Street Journal report and the New York Times follow-up that ended up sealing Gruden’s fate, though, Davis and then-Raiders president Dan Ventrelle spoke with Goodell and lead NFL counsel Jeff Pash. The two NFL bigwigs applied pressure on him to act, according to ESPN, with Goodell indicating that more emails were coming. While Gruden coached the Raiders’ Week 5 game — a loss to the Chicago Bears — he submitted a forced resignation the next day. A month later, Gruden sued Goodell and the NFL.

Thus far on Gruden’s legal journey, he has enjoyed success. He does not intend to settle this suit for any amount and aims to “burn the house down” to expose the league for an alleged conspiracy to remove him as Raiders head coach. After Davis was nudged to part ways with Gruden, the owner blasted the league and Snyder in a conversation with the recently dismissed coach.

The Gruden matter coming out of the NFL’s Snyder investigation helped induce the House Oversight Committee to launch its investigation into Snyder. The Congressional probe included Lisa Friel, the NFL’s special counsel for investigations, who indicated the leak came from the Commanders rather than the league. Denials from every accused party — except for Smith, whom ESPN asserts bragged about leaking the email that included Gruden’s racist trope to describe him — have followed. Gruden has long believed Goodell was responsible for the leak.

Snyder is accused here of leaking the emails to curry favor with the commissioner and to deflect from his scandals. The longtime Washington franchise owner, however, is believed to have attended each of his team’s games during his suspension. Snyder’s July 2021 de facto ban was supposed to last “several months,” but he believed the punishment was to last only a month. With Snyder already receiving what most perceived as a light penalty (the $10M fine, the short ban, and the Beth Wilkinson investigation not producing a report), some owners believe he would not have been effectively forced to sell his franchise had he complied with the terms of the 2021 suspension.

Months later, an ESPN report that contended Snyder had gathered dirt on Goodell and a number of owners accelerated the push for a sale. Snyder and Philadelphia 76ers/New Jersey Devils owner Josh Harris have agreed on a sale and a ratification vote is scheduled for July 20. Snyder, who remains the subject of a second NFL investigation, has owned the NFC East franchise since 1999.