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NFLPA Plans To Request Release Of Emails From Washington Football Team Investigation

   DailyWire.com
DeMaurice Smith, executive director of the NFL Players Association, speaks at the Bloomberg Sports Business Summit in New York, U.S., on Thursday, Sept. 4, 2014. The annual event brings together the industry's biggest dealmakers, commissioners, owners, and players to discuss the business of sports and the money behind the game. Photographer: Peter Foley/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Peter Foley/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Following the backlash over leaked emails sent by former Las Vegas Raiders head coach Jon Gruden, the NFLPA plans on requesting the release of the more than 650,000  emails investigated by the NFL over the past few months.

“We have had communications with the league, and the NFLPA plans to request that the NFL release the rest of the emails,” NFLPA executive director DeMaurice Smith told USA Today

According to USA Today, the NFL does not plan on releasing the emails. 

The NFL found Gruden’s racially insensitive and homophobic emails in the course of their investigation of workplace misconduct inside the Washington Football Team organization. 

Smith went on “The Right Time with Bomani Jones” podcast on Wednesday and said that he’s interested to see if the emails contain language that shows a racial bias from teams when they are making hiring decisions. 

“What I’m interested in — is there correspondence that suggests teams are making decisions about coaches based on the color of their skin?” Smith said. “Are they actively hostile to players that have chosen to self-identify in various ways? Are they denigrating of people based on sexual preference or religious identity?”

Also on Wednesday, Raiders quarterback Derek Carr spoke about Gruden, saying that opening up private emails from NFL coaches and general managers could be a good idea. 

“Open up everything,” Carr said

“If we just started opening up everybody’s private emails and texts, people would start sweating a little bit. … Hopefully not too many. But maybe that’s what they should do for all coaches and GMs and owners from now on, is open up,” the Raiders’ quarterback said Wednesday. “You’ve got to open up everything. See what happens.”

Gruden resigned on Monday following a New York Times report that found emails from Gruden over a seven-year span that he sent while he was working as an analyst for Monday Night Football. The emails were sent to the then president of the Washington Redskins — Bruce Allen — and others regarding women referees in the NFL, homosexual players being drafted, and the topic of players protesting the national anthem. 

The reaction has been swift, and the cancellation of Gruden is underway. 

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers — the defending Super Bowl champions — are doing their best to cut all ties from the coach that led the franchise to their first Super Bowl, removing Gruden from their Ring of Honor. 

“The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have advocated for purposeful change in the areas of race relations, gender equality, diversity and inclusion for many years,” the team statement read. “While we acknowledge Jon Gruden’s contributions on the field, his actions go against our core values as an organization. Therefore, he will no longer continue to be a member of the Buccaneers Ring of Honor.” 

Gruden won a Super Bowl in his first year as head coach of the Buccaneers in 2002 after being traded from the then-Oakland Raiders and was inducted into Tampa Bay’s Ring of Honor in 2017. 

On Wednesday, EA Sports announced they will be removing Gruden from their Madden NFL 22 video game.

Gruden also lost his endorsement deal with the Skechers shoe company. 

Joe Morgan is the Sports Reporter for The Daily Wire. Most recently, Morgan covered the Clippers, Lakers, and the NBA for Sporting News. Send your sports questions to [email protected].

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