Cowboys' Amari Cooper never felt Jon Gruden was racist
Amari Cooper is currently a superstar wide receiver with the Dallas Cowboys, but he started his NFL career with the Oakland Raiders and Jon Gruden was hired as his head coach in 2018.
Amari Cooper was traded to Dallas a few months into Jon Gruden's first season with the Raiders.
Amari Cooper in 2018
With Raiders:
6 Games
22 REC
280 YDS
1 TD
With Cowboys:
6 Games
40 REC
642 YDS
6 TD https://t.co/5ZLHBAU6lS
When Jon Gruden resigned as the head coach of the Las Vegas Raiders this week, Amari Cooper stated he wasn't exactly the most surprised. Don't get his words wrong, though.
Cooper wasn't surprised by Jon Gruden's comments, mostly because the wide receiver doesn't surprise easily. He also made a comment about his former head coach's decision process and how he's sure it has gotten him in trouble more than once.
Amari Cooper did not feel Jon Gruden was racist during his time playing for the former head coach
Here's what Cooper had to say about Jon Gruden:
"Just knowing personality types, just knowing [Jon] Gruden, he's able to make really quick decisions and sometimes it can be impulsive. Sometimes it can be good, sometimes it can be bad...For example, he's not the type of guy on a fourth down to be hesitant if he's going to go for it or not and that's where it's a good thing. He's not the type of guy to take 15, 20 minutes to decide what he's going to wear in the morning...But then on the other hand, it could be a bad thing, impulsive like that I guess. You just feel like you have to say something and you just say it without thinking. It's just his personality, I guess."
Amari Cooper played 9 games for Jon Gruden in 2018. His thoughts on Gruden's departure: "To be honest, I don’t get surprised at anything these days. I've seen a lot of different things happen. Knowing Gruden, I never thought he was racist or misogynistic or anything like that."
Amari Cooper also stated he never thought of Jon Gruden as racist or misogynistic and never heard him make any such comments. Cooper also called Gruden's resignation and possible end to his career unfortunate (likely a comment pertaining to Gruden's historic career in the NFL).
#Raiders GM Mike Mayock says Carl Nassib requested and was granted a personal day today because he has “a lot to process” following the Jon Gruden email situation.
There's no way to say Jon Gruden did or did not make such profane comments during his tenure coaching the Raiders, and some may assume from Cooper's comments that Gruden may have slipped from time to time in a passing conversation.
One of Jon Gruden's "present" players on the Raiders team was Carl Nassib, an openly gay player. Nassib was granted some personal time from the team after Gruden's resignation and everything was released to the public. It will be interesting to see if Nassib speaks to the public once he returns and if he has any further insight into the dilemma.