Jon Gruden resigns: How did NFL world react to Raiders HC's distasteful emails?
Since his days with Al Davis, Jon Gruden has always been seen as somewhat of a lightning rod for attention. But nothing can top the news that came down today of Jon Gruden's resignation after the NFL discovered emails from him that contained racist, homophobic, and misogynistic rhetoric.
Before we dive into a brief background of the now-former Las Vegas Raiders head coach, here are some of the reactions from the NFL world about Gruden's nasty and demeaning emails.
NFL world reacts to Jon Gruden's distasteful emails
Good riddance.
Good riddance twitter.com/tompelissero/s…
and ... scene. twitter.com/TomPelissero/s…
Jon Gruden signed a 10-year, $100M contract in 2018 to become the #Raiders coach.
He ends up staying for just 3+ years, finishing with a record of 22-31 with no playoff appearances and no winning seasons.
Gruden's somewhat questionable NFL history
During his first stint with the (then) Oakland Raiders, Gruden and Davis, the Raiders' owner, were attached at the hip. However, the relationship soon began to sour as Davis became interested in a vertical passing game that the Raiders had traditionally been known for.
Gruden, on the other hand, was implementing a horizontal passing game and that was not a move for a franchise that believed offensive players with speed were the only way to play. This caused Gruden to move to greener pastures and sign as head coach of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2002.
In signing with the Bucs, Gruden was receiving a team that was ready-made to contend for a championship. Their former coach, Tony Dungy, had been head coach from 1996 to 2001 and over the years had turned the Bucs from a laughing stock of the league into the most feared defense in the NFL.
So when Gruden won the Super Bowl during his first year with Hall of Fame players such as Warren Sapp, Derrick Brooks and John Lynch, it was no surprise. Many players and NFL fans alike were under the impression that had coach Dungy not been forced out of Tampa, it would have been his much-deserved Super Bowl victory.
Despite how all of that came about, it amounts to a hill of beans in comparison to the news events of today concerning Jon Gruden. Several emails dating back to 2011 and during the NFL lockout were traced back to Gruden.
In these emails, he made racist, homophobic and misogynistic comments about several people.
One of the most scathing remarks was about NFLPA executive director DeMaurice Smith, who is African American. Gruden, who is Caucasian, states the following about Smith in the email:
"Dumboriss Smith has lips the size of Michellin (sic) tires."
In the past, racist rhetoric towards African Americans was often based on them having huge lips and not being seen as the intelligent equal of others, particularly Caucasians. The fact that Gruden chose to demean DeMaurice Smith in such a way began to show what we all know now as a pattern of racist, homophobic and misogynistic behavior.
In the emails, he also used deragatory terms such as "faggot" and "queer." Those are words which have no place in our stratosphere, and that includes the NFL.