Jon Gruden’s stint as a head coach may be finished, but NFL fans aren’t done criticizing his decision-making skills.
When his previous team traded away his final first-round pick on Tuesday, the former head coach of the Las Vegas Raiders became one of the greatest losers of roster reductions.
According to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, the Las Vegas Raiders released Alex Leatherwood, the No. 17 overall choice in the 2021 NFL Draft, on Tuesday, “cementing (Leatherwood’s) tragic legacy as one of the worst flops in recent NFL draft history,” according to Yahoo! Sports.
The Raiders have made a number of ugly roster decisions recently, with Tuesday’s cut being the latest. In total, they have traded away their last three first-round selections and declined to exercise the fifth-year options on the three selections made before them.
Gruden and former Raiders general manager Mike Mayock, as one Raiders fan put it on Twitter, “is crossed off the Raiders Christmas card list.”
Which First-Round Picks by The Raiders Are No Longer Playing for The Team?
First-round pick Leatherwood was selected by the Raiders in 2021. The squad was expected to have a difficult time, according to several NFL draft analysts at the time.
“The Raiders believed they had selected their future right tackle when they selected Leatherwood out of Alabama. The majority of NFL draft reporters, who nearly uniformly didn’t envision Leatherwood as a first-rounder, were surprised by it, according to Yahoo! Sports.
According to the article, Pro Football Focus graded Leatherwood as the 80th-best guard in the NFL during his first season.
The Raiders released the other two previous first-round picks who are no longer with the team due to off-field problems, unlike Leatherwood. While cornerback Damon Arnette was seen on camera threatening to harm someone, wide receiver Henry Ruggs was involved in a terrible car accident.
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Now, Where Is Jon Gruden?
Gruden departed the Raiders due to off-field issues, just like Ruggs and Arnette did. In October 2021, he gave up his position as Raiders head coach after The New York Times published an article about “emails in which he had made homophobic and sexist slurs.”
In a statement at the time, he claimed, “I never intended to injure anyone.” In Little Rock, Arkansas, Gruden joined the Little Rock Touchdown Club on Tuesday to talk about the scandal and his career in general.
According to a video of the conversation posted on Twitter, the former head coach admitted that he is “ashamed” about what he wrote in the emails but still believes he is a “decent person.”
“I attend church. It’s been 31 years since my marriage. I have three fantastic boys. Even now, I adore football. I’ve erred, but I don’t believe anyone in this room hasn’t either. I just ask for forgiveness and, perhaps, another chance,” he concluded.
According to Sports Illustrated, Gruden’s representative has stated that the head coach merits another position in the NFL.
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NFL Appeals Nevada Supreme Court Decision Supporting Former Coach Gruden
As the NFL appeals a prior decision to the Supreme Court of Nevada, a Clark County district court judge on Thursday sided with former Las Vegas Raiders head coach Jon Gruden, allowing his lawsuit against the NFL to proceed.
In light of the NFL’s appeal to the Supreme Court, Judge Nancy Allf rejected a move from the league to halt discovery in Gruden’s case.
On Thursday, the NFL’s attorneys submitted their appeal. In his decision last Wednesday, Judge Allf rejected the NFL’s request for arbitration in Gruden’s legal action against the league.
The NFL’s legal team is attempting to resolve Gruden’s claim through arbitration rather than the open discovery process. This procedure would probably show how and who leaked emails from Gruden and other business-related data.
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NFL lawsuits stated in their motion submitted prior to the hearing that the only “damage” that could possibly befall Gruden if the stay is granted is a delay in the legal procedures, which Nevada state courts have frequently ruled to be insufficient to overturn a stay. The NFL parties, on the other hand, “will suffer irreparable harm” if the stay is rejected, as they will forfeit the arbitration benefits they had agreed to.
On October 11, 2021, Gruden announced his resignation from the Raiders after emails revealed he had made racist, misogynistic, and homophobic remarks. According to a New York Times investigation, Gruden not only made racial remarks in an email sent in 2011 but also frequently used offensive language while working for ESPN.
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Final Words
Due to emails, he sent that contained homophobic, sexist, and racial language, Gruden was forced to retire as the Raiders’ head coach in the middle of the season.
The emails were discovered as a result of the NFL’s investigation into the alleged poisonous working culture at the Washington Football Team. Despite the inquiry’s findings, which included a $10 million fine for the team, there was no formal report describing the violations that were found.