Gruden considering suing NFL and commissioner over email leaks: report

Former Las Vegas Raiders football coach John Gruden is considering suing the NFL and Commissioner Roger Goodell over leaked emails that spurred his resignation. 

Several attorneys have reportedly told Gruden that he could have a strong tortious interference case, claiming the league prompted his resignation for private emails that were sent when he was not a league employee, according to CBS Sports.

“This is anything but over,” a league source told CBS Sports’s Jason La Canfora on Sunday. 

The emails, in which Gruden used racist, homophobic and misogynistic language, were uncovered as part of the league’s investigation into workplace misconduct within the Washington Football Team’s front office. While that investigation is being kept under wraps, a series of emails from Gruden somehow leaked.

The email chain, which spans from 2011 to 2018, involved then-WFT President Bruce Allen and Gruden, who was employed by ESPN as a lead broadcaster for “Monday Night Football.”

Las Vegas Raiders owner Mark Davis said during the league’s owner meeting last week that the club has reached an undisclosed settlement with Gruden on the remaining salary of his contract. 

Gruden reportedly had $40 million left in guaranteed payments under the 10-year, $100 million contract he signed with the team in 2018, CBS Sports reported.

Davis has called on the NFL to release its full report on the WFT’s workplace misconduct investigation, saying that teams should have been informed about the findings sooner. 

“It’s a timing issue,” Davis said. “That’s probably the disappointment that I had … Well, the fact that they may have known about it a couple of months beforehand and didn’t let us know about that.” 

Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.) and Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-Ill.), members of the House Oversight and Reform Committee, sent a letter to Goodell asking the league to provide information from its investigation into WFT. 

Goodell, who fined Washington $10 million in July following its investigation, said the league won’t release the full report, adding WFT owner Dan Snyder has been “held accountable” for his actions. 

The Hill has reached out to the NFL for comment.