Just call it Chucky’s revenge.
Jon Gruden’s legal team is seeking testimony from commissioner Roger Goodell and both former and current owners as part of his lawsuit against the NFL, alleging the league purposefully leaked damaging emails that forced him to resign as head coach of the Raiders in 2021, ESPN reported Thursday.
Gruden, 62, resigned in October 2021 after the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times published emails that showed the former head coach using racist, sexist and anti-gay language in communications with former Commanders general manager Bruce Allen while Gruden was an analyst at ESPN.
The Super Bowl-winning coach has been waging a legal battle against the NFL ever since, and in a filing this week, which was viewed by ESPN, it was revealed that his lawyers want a wide range of people connected to the league testify.
Along with Goodell, former NFL counsel Jeff Pash, ex-Commanders owner Dan Snyder, Raiders owner Mark Davis, Patriots owner Robert Kraft and Cowboys owner Jerry Jones are on the list of people Gruden’s attorneys plan to summon.
That list also includes Roc Nation CEO Desiree Perez, attorneys with law firm Reed Smith and former NFL Players Association executive director DeMaurice Smith, along with designees from the Giants, Jets, Seahawks and Dolphins.
The court filing also revealed that no settlement talks have taken place.
The NFL suffered several setbacks in its attempts to have the case dismissed or moved into an arbitration process that the commissioner oversees.
Gruden has not coached in the NFL since he resigned, though his name has popped up several times during coaching cycles.
Even recently, a report surfaced that Gruden had been in contact with the Jets about a possible job on Aaron Glenn’s staff, but he denied that Gang Green reached out to him.
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
