Getty Former Raiders head coach Jon Gruden.
The dust has settled for the Las Vegas Raiders after Jon Gruden’s resignation rocked the franchise. While the team can move on and focus on playing football games, Gruden is going to have to figure out his next steps after numerous racist, sexist and homophobic emails were leaked to The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times with his name attached to them. It’s easy to suggest that his career is over but the coach may not be done fighting.
Before all the emails were leaked, Andrea Kremer profiled Raiders owner Mark Davis for HBO’s Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel. She revealed on the latest episode of the Real Sports Podcast that a producer decided to try her luck at calling Gruden and surprisingly got an answer.
“Maggie Burbank, who produced the story that we just did on Mark Davis, she actually called Gruden and he picked up the phone, much to I think her surprise,” Kremer said. “And he’s still in Las Vegas. … He says he’s letting the dust settle. He said, ‘People who know me know what I stand for for 58 years. I have a resume of 58 years.’ He said, ‘The truth will come out.’ It’s certainly cryptic.”
The last line from Gruden is the most eye-opening quote. What “truth” does he anticipate coming out? From the outside perspective, it’s hard to spin his emails any other way. Time will tell what Gruden is alluding to.
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Davis ‘Severely Impacted’
GettyLas Vegas Raiders owner Mark Davis.
Outside of Gruden, the biggest loser of the whole scandal is Davis. The investigation that unearthed the emails was regarding the Washington Football Team. Owner Dan Snyder has come out of this investigation without a scratch while the Raiders lost the man who was in charge of the entire football operation. Needless to say, Davis is not pleased with how this has played out.
“Mark Davis has been severely impacted,” Kremer said. “And I’m not defending Mark Davis. I’m just pointing out a fact here. Dan Snyder continues on. The Washington Football Team continues on.”
There were over 650,000 emails that were searched during the Washington Football Team investigation, yet only a handful of Gruden’s emails were what leaked out. This isn’t likely the last we’ve heard from this whole situation.
What’s Next for Gruden?
It’s hard to know what Gruden’s planning. He’s set to lose a big chunk of money due to the emails leaking out. Nobody would defend the language used in the emails but they were sent when he was not an NFL employee. Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk has speculated on if Gruden could sue the NFL but it’s too early in the process to know if he’s seriously considering doing that.
Regardless, Gruden’s football career is likely over. It doesn’t matter how the emails were leaked, what matters is the contents of the emails. He could go to battle with the NFL and take some people down with him but he won’t be back on the sidelines coaching anytime soon.
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