Jon Gruden has been out of the NFL since October 2021, when he resigned as Las Vegas Raiders head coach after emails he sent years earlier, containing racist, misogynistic, and homophobic language, were published. While everyone assumes Gruden’s absence from the NFL comes down to the lawsuit, the former HC is pointing to something else.
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Gruden recently sat down with Suzy Kolber of Scripps Sports to share his honest thoughts on what is keeping him away from football.
“I don’t like what we’re doing to the game. And one of the reasons I’m probably not in the game right now is I voiced a lot of my displeasure with the direction of the game. So, I think we have some issues that got to get solved pretty quick. I know I could help solve some of the problems, but I’m not going to be one of these guys to bang on a soapbox here today, but the game of football has changed dramatically in the last several years, and I’m worried about the game.”
Jon Gruden moved away from the league after 22 years of service, during which he led the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Oakland/Las Vegas Raiders as the head coach for 15 years.
However, following his exit in 2021, Gruden has publicly expressed his strong displeasure with the direction of the league. First off, the former NFL head coach has repeatedly identified NFL officiating as his “biggest concern” with the modern game.
Gruden has often argued that refereeing crews lack consistency and are disproportionately dictating the game outcome. Other than that, the former HC also launched a tirade against the league’s push to expand its schedule by hosting regular season games overseas.
So far, the league has hosted NFL games in around 11 countries outside of the United States, such as the United Kingdom, Canada, Japan, Mexico, and many more. However, Gruden feels that if the league truly cared about growing the sport, it would invest that money into youth football inside the United States, where thousands of children lack the resources or programs to play.
The former NFL HC referenced legends like Ray Nitschke and Red Grange, pointing out they never played in London or Australia.
He also critiqued modern college systems feeding into the pros, noting that offenses have lost fundamental discipline and communication.
“I’m worried about the game to be honest with you,” Gruden said on Not Just Football with Cam Heyward. “A lot of people think the game is evolving. I think the game is dissolving. We’re just not communicating… You got to recognize the defense, recognize the coverage, and then you start to communicate. And if you can recognize defenses and communicate what you want to do, you got a chance to execute.”
Gruden left the league following his resignation as the head coach of the Las Vegas Raiders in 2021, following a public controversy.
In 2021, the NFL investigated workplace misconduct and s*xual harassment within the Washington Football Team, reviewing over 650,000 emails. During the probe, private emails from Jon Gruden, sent between 2011 and 2018 to former Washington executive Bruce Allen, were uncovered.
Gruden’s emails also criticized NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, female referees, and players kneeling during the national anthem. Faced with immense public pressure and escalating tension with the Raiders front office, Gruden officially resigned.
Gruden has maintained that the timeline of the leaks was a “malicious and orchestrated campaign” by Roger Goodell and the NFL front office to intentionally destroy his career and force him out. Because Gruden was the only person whose emails were made public out of the 650,000 documents reviewed, he filed a $150 million lawsuit against the league.
While the lawsuit does not disqualify him from employment in the NFL, it is one of the reasons for the tensions between Gruden and the league.