The NFL doesn’t like to lose; at least, that’s what’s been evident over the past few years, as seen in former Las Vegas Raiders head coach Jon Gruden’s lawsuit against the league. Since Gruden filed the suit in November 2021 following his resignation after his emails were leaked, the NFL has lost multiple appeals in its attempt to move the case to arbitration. But now, the league appears to be playing what could be its final card.

Per Eriq Gardner of Puck, the NFL is now employing a new legal strategy by filing an anti-SLAPP motion to dismiss Gruden’s lawsuit under Nevada’s anti-SLAPP statute. Anti-SLAPP laws are designed to protect defendants who speak on matters of public interest and to prevent wealthy individuals from filing meritless lawsuits solely to silence them.

Per Nevada’s anti-SLAPP law, “[a] person who engages in a good faith communication in furtherance of the right to petition or the right to free speech in direct connection with an issue of public concern.”

In simple terms, the league is saying that if someone associated with the NFL were behind the leaks, those emails were about a matter of public concern, so the lawsuit should be dismissed. That, however, didn’t sit well with Mike Florio of Pro Football Network. The analyst argued that if the email leaks were actually a public concern, why did that happen during the regular season?

For broader context, the league reportedly obtained Jon Gruden’s emails in June 2021. However, it did not release them until October of that year, when the regular season was already underway. The Raiders, meanwhile, sat at 3-2 through their first five games.

“If this was an exercise in advancing a public concern, the NFL should have disclosed the emails then, allowing the Raiders to hire a full-season replacement,” Florio wrote. “Alternatively, the NFL should have waited until after the 2021 season ended. Ideally, the NFL shouldn’t have leaked the emails at all.”

In fact, after the second wave of email leaks, Jon Gruden had to submit his resignation during the Raiders’ season. While it’s true that Rich Bisaccia led Las Vegas to the postseason before losing to the Cincinnati Bengals in the Wild-Card round, there still remains a debate about what would have happened if Gruden remained the Raiders’ head coach during that postseason run. That, however, we will never know, as Gruden is away from the NFL job. At the same time, his battle with the league continues.

A timeline of Jon Gruden’s legal battle against the NFL

The latest development in Jon Gruden’s legal battle against the NFL gained momentum almost five years after he sued the league. In October 2021, the NFL investigated workplace conduct within the Washington Football Team. During the investigation, they reviewed approximately 650,000 emails. However, only Gruden’s emails were leaked.

Per the New York Times, Gruden exchanged emails with former Washington executive Bruce Allen. Some of his emails reportedly contained racist, misogynistic, and anti-gay language, along with criticism of NFL figures, including Roger Goodell. ESPN reported that Gruden said that Goodell was “clueless” and “anti-football.”

However, things escalated when another set of emails was leaked, forcing Gruden to resign from his Raiders head-coaching role five weeks into the season. A month later, Gruden sued the NFL and Roger Goodell in Nevada State Court. He alleged there was a “malicious and orchestrated campaign” against him.

Gruden was on a ten-year, $100 million deal with the Raiders and felt the league tried to destroy his career by intentionally leaking the emails. But the NFL tried to dismiss the lawsuit by forcing it to arbitration. However, in August 2025, Gruden won a big battle when the Nevada Supreme Court ruled in favor of Gruden, 5-2.

The court ruled that the NFL Constitution and Bylaws’ arbitration clause “does not apply to Gruden as a former employee and is unconscionable.” While the NFL requested another hearing, Gruden won another battle when the Nevada Supreme Court unanimously rejected it by a 7-0 vote.

By early 2026, the Supreme Court had rejected the league’s final appeal to move the case to private arbitration. According to reports, Jon Gruden is now seeking $150 million in damages, and while the NFL has lost multiple appeals throughout the legal battle, the league appears to have little interest in letting this case end in defeat.