On Monday, only Jon Gruden’s lawyers spoke in the aftermath of a major victory over the NFL and Commissioner Roger Goodell in the Nevada Supreme Court. On Tuesday, Gruden issued a statement to his former employer, ESPN.
“I’m looking forward to having the truth come out and I want to make sure what happened to me doesn’t happen to anyone else,” Gruden said in the statement.
If/when the case moves forward in Nevada state court, Gruden’s lawyers will have the right to seek evidence regarding the person(s) who leaked emails from the Washington investigation to multiple media outlets, in an alleged effort to end his tenure with the Raiders.
“The league’s actions disrupted the whole season,” Gruden added. “We were leading the division at the time, and they completely blindsided me and the team.”
He’s exactly right. Even if Gruden objectively deserved to be pushed out based on emails sent while, coincidentally, he was working for ESPN, someone from a small group of people who had access to the emails chose to leak them during the 2021 season. The situation could have been handled in June, when the emails were first flagged. The situation could have been handled after the season. Instead, someone weaponized the emails and forced the Raiders to change coaches on the fly.
With Rich Bisaccia as the interim coach, the Raiders made it to the playoffs and nearly beat the Bengals in the wild-card round. The Bengals, in turn, nearly won the Super Bowl.
“What happened wasn’t right and I’m glad the court didn’t let the NFL cover it up,” Gruden said.
The league will still try to cover it all up, through an appeal aimed at forcing Gruden’s case into the secret, rigged, kangaroo court of arbitration. If the United States Supreme Court eventually gives the league what it wants, it’s likely that no one will ever know the truth about who leaked the emails.