2021 Miscellaneous NFL News

[OldSchoolSnapper]

They fired him because the Raiders owe him $60 million and realize how silly the contract was + mediocre results at best. Nobody cares about those emails and the guy has tons of people from certain groups he supposedly hates vouching for his character. Including both African Americans doing the telecast of SNF, one of whom worked with him for a decade.

 

He's at worst a meathead that has no filter. Just another dumb witch hunt the Raiders took advantage of to get out of a bad decision.

 

Now when they pursue Aaron Rodgers they can let him pick his own coach.

[Fear The Chorizo]

Write some crude, inflammatory, and insensitive emails not intended for public distribution a decade ago to the president of football ops of a team called the Redskins up until last year - forced to resign in disgrace from a job he didn't even have when those emails were written.

 

Meanwhile, trade rumors continue to swirl around Deshaun Watson while writers speculate what caliber of draft picks would be warranted as an acceptable package if he gets put on the Commish's exempt list temporarily for sexually assaulting as many or more women than the total number of red flag emails Gruden sent. And he is still making his $10M salary this season as a healthy inactive with the Texans each week while the league probably just hopes the story goes away quietly.

 

Guess the moral of the story is don't ever write anything down...

[nodakfan17]

There’s no doubt what Gruden wrote was a fireable offense (especially considering there were multiple highly questionable emails over a span of at least 3 years), but if private communications from 10 years ago are fair game, half the country might be out of a job. I now see why Tom Brady smashed his phone.

[Ron Robinsons Beard]

There’s no doubt what Gruden wrote was a fireable offense (especially considering there were multiple highly questionable emails over a span of at least 3 years), but if private communications from 10 years ago are fair game, half the country might be out of a job. I now see why Tom Brady smashed his phone.

 

No. Normal, upstanding people don't communicate the things that Gruden did.

[MrTPlush]

Criticizing the drafting of a gay player, hating on the NFL hiring a woman ref, hating player for anthem protest, and other questionable language. Yup, sounds like your cookie cutter NFL fan right there. Edited October 12, 2021 by MrTPlush

[OldSchoolSnapper]

There’s no doubt what Gruden wrote was a fireable offense (especially considering there were multiple highly questionable emails over a span of at least 3 years), but if private communications from 10 years ago are fair game, half the country might be out of a job. I now see why Tom Brady smashed his phone.

 

No. Normal, upstanding people don't communicate the things that Gruden did.

 

Yes they do, lol. What are we trying to pull here. Maybe you or I don't, but an email calling some professional connection a douche or a P is pretty standard fodder for lots and lots of people when they think they are communicating with a friend.

 

I'm not gonna die on a hill for Jon Gruden's job, but I'm guessing if we combed through all 32 coaches emails from the past decade, 26 or so would be resigning tomorrow. He can go; the world is no worse, Raiders likely better off, but you won't get me to believe for a second that this was anything more than a witch hunt and convenient firing and nothing to do with what he actually did.

[Ron Robinsons Beard]

Maybe you or I don't, but an email calling some professional connection a douche or a P is pretty standard fodder for lots and lots of people when they think they are communicating with a friend.

 

If that was the issue here, Gruden would still have a job this morning. It's the racist, sexist, homophobic and transophobic crap that get him fired. Maybe I'm naive, but no, I do not believe that good people use that sort of vernacular.

[OldSchoolSnapper]

My point is this: Raiders are 5-0 and beating the doors off people. Think he gets fired?

 

I don't, not for a second.

[DuWayne Steurer]

There’s no doubt what Gruden wrote was a fireable offense (especially considering there were multiple highly questionable emails over a span of at least 3 years), but if private communications from 10 years ago are fair game, half the country might be out of a job. I now see why Tom Brady smashed his phone.

 

No. Normal, upstanding people don't communicate the things that Gruden did.

 

Yes they do, lol. What are we trying to pull here. Maybe you or I don't, but an email calling some professional connection a douche or a P is pretty standard fodder for lots and lots of people when they think they are communicating with a friend.

 

I'm not gonna die on a hill for Jon Gruden's job, but I'm guessing if we combed through all 32 coaches emails from the past decade, 26 or so would be resigning tomorrow. He can go; the world is no worse, Raiders likely better off, but you won't get me to believe for a second that this was anything more than a witch hunt and convenient firing and nothing to do with what he actually did.

 

interesting take. I use pretty bad, vulgar language, pretty often. when I write emails or any kind of communication at work, I somehow avoid calling people p or f or whatever. 6 years ago (!!!) I dropped an f bomb in an email header and it got all the way to the director of operations and he said "keep it professional please"

 

I would wager that 26 of 32 NFL. coaches are not calling people the things that gruden was in his emails.

[MrTPlush]

My point is this: Raiders are 5-0 and beating the doors off people. Think he gets fired?

 

I don't, not for a second.

 

Yes, I think once one email turned into an entire slew of emails hitting on about every social topic under the Sun they were pretty much forced to fire him whether they wanted to or not.

 

Reports are they knew about all the emails last Friday, yet he coached Sunday. It all became public and they kicked him to the curb. Had the additional emails not come out good chance he is still the coach.

[OldSchoolSnapper]

You don't think at least half the NFL coaches have used certain very well known derogatory terms in the last 10 or 15 years that would get most people fired immediately in 2021? As someone whose first job out of college involved covering the Tennessee Titans (in 2009) I will just agree to disagree.

 

I also don't know the exact timeline of this incident, just that the initial reports were from a time period where Gruden was not employed by either the NFL or the Raiders. I am assuming that changed as more emails came out, which does change things a bit. However if the Raiders looked like world beaters and weren't putting up 9 points on the Bears, something tells me we'd be hearing about his desire to change and sensitivity training.

[DuWayne Steurer]

use the language? sure. repeatedly in emails? probably not.

[homer]

there were 600K emails from the investigation. Gruden ain't the only one sweating.

[CheezWizHed]

[sarcasm]Was Roco's email included?[/sarcasm]

[DuWayne Steurer]

there were 600K emails from the investigation. Gruden ain't the only one sweating.

 

I agree with that.

 

there's going to be fallout.

[DuWayne Steurer]

[sarcasm]Was Roco's email included?[/sarcasm]

 

 

I lol'd.

[MrTPlush]

One of the problems with this yearly "lets dig up some guys past from a decade ago" is we are then applying today's expectations/standards to something said 10 years ago. Ten years ago saying some of this stuff was way more common and you were not publicly stoned to your death for it. That is how I kind of felt about this situation when the first email came out. Of course now we have a whole slew of emails that some are as recent as 2018 I believe...that is getting a bit recent. Even then though, things have changed a lot in three years.

[homer]

The other aspect of this is that the emails were uncovered during an investigation of Washington's toxic work environment. Yet of the 600K emails only Gruden's were released/leaked by the NFL....who essentially work for the owners. How many of those 600K emails were Daniel Snyder's? Seems like some subterfuge going on here.

[folly412]

One of the problems with this yearly "lets dig up some guys past from a decade ago" is we are then applying today's expectations/standards to something said 10 years ago. Ten years ago saying some of this stuff was way more common and you were not publicly stoned to your death for it. That is how I kind of felt about this situation when the first email came out. Of course now we have a whole slew of emails that some are as recent as 2018 I believe...that is getting a bit recent. Even then though, things have changed a lot in three years.

 

Much likely involved with being a coach vs. a player as well. Seems getting pummeled by the Bears indicated his team wasn't exactly inspired to play for him. Also the only way to rationalize ostracizing him for d-bag e-mails versus guys like Tyreek Hill, Kareem Hunt, Richard Sherman beating women or Aldon Smith getting 15 second chances. At least they were back quickly, where I don't believe Gruden will coach again.

[jerichoholicninja]

The other aspect of this is that the emails were uncovered during an investigation of Washington's toxic work environment. Yet of the 600K emails only Gruden's were released/leaked by the NFL....who essentially work for the owners. How many of those 600K emails were Daniel Snyder's? Seems like some subterfuge going on here.

 

Wasn't there like human trafficking and other federal charges possible from that investigation? And all that comes out is a guy who wasn't even employed by the organization then or now is forced to resign because of words he used in emails.

[JimH5]

One of the problems with this yearly "lets dig up some guys past from a decade ago" is we are then applying today's expectations/standards to something said 10 years ago. Ten years ago saying some of this stuff was way more common and you were not publicly stoned to your death for it. That is how I kind of felt about this situation when the first email came out. Of course now we have a whole slew of emails that some are as recent as 2018 I believe...that is getting a bit recent. Even then though, things have changed a lot in three years.

 

None of the slurs reported in the Gruden story were acceptable 10 years ago. Or 30 years ago.

 

Howard Cosell took deserved heat for calling Alvin Garrett a monkey in 1983.

 

Jon Gruden and Bruce Allen have known this stuff was unacceptable their whole lives. But they didn't care because we worship football people and make excuses for their conduct all the time.

 

The ground hasn't shifted on what is and isn't acceptable to say. The only thing that's changed is we found out that Gruden is a terrible guy, instead of him being able to keep that a secret.

[MrTPlush]

One of the problems with this yearly "lets dig up some guys past from a decade ago" is we are then applying today's expectations/standards to something said 10 years ago. Ten years ago saying some of this stuff was way more common and you were not publicly stoned to your death for it. That is how I kind of felt about this situation when the first email came out. Of course now we have a whole slew of emails that some are as recent as 2018 I believe...that is getting a bit recent. Even then though, things have changed a lot in three years.

 

None of the slurs reported in the Gruden story were acceptable 10 years ago. Or 30 years ago.

 

Well, I guess I will just agree to disagree. Was what he said ever “acceptable”? Well maybe not. However, the punishment for it and the social response to saying such things has DRAMATICALLY changed over the years.

 

And for the record I’m not defending Gruden or inferring he shouldn’t be fired.

[JimH5]

The difference is our access to such stuff. It was unacceptable long ago, too, but unless it was made public (Cosell, Al Campanis, Jimmy the Greek), there was no uproar.

 

Gruden knew that, too, since he filtered it from the public and only shared his racism, homophobia and misogyny with someone he knew to be "safe".

 

Though Bruce Allen couldn't have been the only one to see the real Gruden. Who else in the league and at ESPN was part of his circle of trust?

[DuWayne Steurer]

I mean..... does it matter if that stuff even was "ok" 15 years ago or 20 years ago? what does that even mean? Look at what was ok in the 50's. it's not ok now. it wasn't ok in 2011, and the repeated, weak defense of "everyone does it" is why we continue to see people lose their jobs, and continue to behave like this.... because we normalize it because change is hard.

[OldSchoolSnapper]

I mean..... does it matter if that stuff even was "ok" 15 years ago or 20 years ago? what does that even mean? Look at what was ok in the 50's. it's not ok now. it wasn't ok in 2011, and the repeated, weak defense of "everyone does it" is why we continue to see people lose their jobs, and continue to behave like this.... because we normalize it because change is hard.

 

Yes it does matter, at least it does once you start retroactively punishing people with today's standards of discipline. Doesn't look like it was quite the case with Gruden, but it has happened to others, including dead people.