NFL Has “Growing Concern” About Former Raiders Coach Jon Gruden’s Lawsuit

The National Football League (NFL) has a “growing concern” about the lawsuit brought by former Raiders head coach Jon Gruden against the league, Front Office Sports reported.

Gruden was ousted last year from his position as Raiders coach after controversial emails he exchanged with former Washington Commanders executive Bruce Allen were leaked to the media.

Gruden filed a lawsuit against the NFL that alleged they were the source of the leaked emails.

Gruden’s attorneys wrote in a March filing:

Defendants leaked a carefully curated selection of Gruden’s emails, sent years before the Raiders hired him, to its customary outlets for leaking information to the media: the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times. Defendants then purposefully leveraged these emails to force Gruden to resign, and ultimately caused Gruden to lose his coaching career, endorsements, and sponsorships.

On Thursday, Nevada District Court Judge Nancy Allf ruled against the NFL and denied the league’s motion to stay Allf’s previous ruling that denied the NFL’s motion to send the matter to arbitration, which would have kept the proceedings out of the public spotlight.

In May Judge Allf denied the NFL’s motion to dismiss the case. With multiple denied motions, there is “a growing concern around the NFL about the litigation,” sources told Front Office Sports.

“Somebody wanted Gruden out,” a source told the outlet.

The NFL has denied being the source of the leak. The emails were obtained during former assistant United States Attorney Beth Wilkinson’s toxic workplace investigation into the Commanders, which resulted in a $10 million fine.

Jordan Dixon-Hamilton is a reporter for Breitbart News. Write to him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter.