The case of former Raiders HC Jon Gruden‘s lawsuit against the NFL and commissioner Roger Goodell has taken another turn. The league has filed for the suit to be dismissed, according to a report from Daniel Kaplan of the Athletic. 
[Related: Jon Gruden Sues NFL, Roger Goodell]
Kaplan notes that the league has actually moved for the case to be taken to arbitration in Nevada state court first, and asked for it to be dismissed pending its decision on arbitration. The league’s written response to Gruden’s suit states that “Gruden sent a variety of similarly abhorrent emails to a half dozen recipients over a seven-year period” besides those sent to former WFT president Bruce Allen. Like those emails, which led to Gruden’s resignation in October, these other ones “denounced `the emergence of women as referees,’ and frequently used homophobic and sexist slurs to refer to Commissioner Goodell, then-Vice President Joseph Biden, a gay professional football player drafted in 2014, and others”.
The response also comments on claims alleging the league leaked the damning emails as a way to get revenge against Gruden due to his remarks against the commissioner. As reported by Mark Maske and Nicki Jhabvala of the Washington Post, the league responded that Gruden “primarily assumed the risk that his emails could be circulated beyond the original recipient group, and possessed and distributed by the WFT, NFL and others”. It continues, “to be sure, the NFL and the commissioner did not leak Gruden’s emails”.
The motion details how Goodell had grounds to fire Gruden outright, given the fact that the nature of his emails were detrimental to the league. For that reason, it states, no one at the league office had a motivation to “publicly sabotage Gruden’s career”, as the original lawsuit claims. Instead, it argues, the suit “should be dismissed in its entirety”.
No further developments (such as if the case will proceed to court) will be able to take place until the aforementioned arbitration decision is made.
“They told the world what I said” is a weird basis for claiming that you were wronged.
“They had an OBLIGATION to cover it up, they knew how bad it would be for me!”
Good luck with that, Chuck. You shall need it.
Also weird defense for being a racist, homophobic piece of garbage.
I’d love to see what he had to say about Brandon.
I wish I could understand how a guy could send such poor emails and then quit his job and still expect to be paid.
“The motion details how Goodell had grounds to fire Gruden outright”
How is it on Goodell to fire Gruden? Since when does he have that direct authority over a team’s personnel?
I think the commissioner has always had that authority but of course it is only rarely used. Robert Kraft got a scolding for his escapades in Florida and Daniel Snyder got a demotion of sorts for his digressions.
Coulda just listed Michael Sam by name we all know who it is
Goodell can Sit On It!
oh nooo he sent bad emails.
i hope this goes to discovery and they get to see how ALL these guys really talk, and how they all really think.
this is FOOTBALL, dudes hitting each other with breakneck speed. we need more people like Gruden and less people like goodell. more players less lawyers more hitting less social justice. a lot of people took a year plus off from this game and quite honestly it wasn’t that big of a deal.
Question: what does the physical nature of football have to do with these emails? Are you implying that sexist and homophobic comments are somehow correlated with better play? That doesn’t make a lot of sense to me.
I’m not necessarily saying I would have done the same thing if I were in Goodell’s shoes, but Gruden also needs to realize that sending these types of messages in a domain the NFL can easily access is bound to have consequences.
What a CF that hiring was. Typical raiders organization drama.
This smells like Goodell. I don’t think Roger cared one way or the other about Biden, female officials, homophobic comments or anything else. What I believe is Gruden said something about “Roger” that he didn’t like and went after him! Ask Jerry Jones how Goodell’s power has seen personal vindication? Roger is pleasured going after someone he can crush. Owners, players whoever. If he likes you he’ll keep you on no matter how many black marks you have to the shield. JUST DONT SAY MEAN THINGS ABOUT ME! Who cares what Gruden said over the course of 10 years? You must really want someone to go back digging a decade just to find what you think is enough to pull this off! Yet these owners, players, coaches remain as a Skidmark on football every week?
Goodell’s opinion about Gruden, Jerry Jones or anyone else is irrelevant because the bottom line is pacifying the sponsors who keep the money machine running.