Jon Gruden reportedly wants to “burn [the NFL’s] house down.” He still has a chance to do it.
The former Raiders coach has secured an order from the Nevada Supreme Court setting his case against the league and Commissioner Roger Goodell for a rehearing before the entire panel. This opens the door to a decision by the seven justices to overturn the decision made by three of them that Gruden’s case should go to arbitration.
It’s possibly a good sign for Gruden’s cause. If the court wanted to uphold the ruling for the NFL and Goodell, all it had to do was do nothing. That said, and as explained in the one-page ruling, the applicable rules allow any two members of the court to order a rehearing. With seven justices, the two who wanted it (if it was only two) would need two more in order to overturn the ruling for the NFL.
The ruling comes three years to the day since Gruden’s last game as coach of the Raiders. He resigned under pressure the next day.
While the league office won’t appreciate this opinion, the three judges got it wrong. Gruden’s case ended up in arbitration based on a flawed reading of the NFL’s Constitution & Bylaws. Looking at it more broadly, any arbitration resolved by the Commissioner or his hand-picked designee is tainted by a clear conflict of interest.
Usually, the conflict comes from the fact that the Commissioner is resolving a claim against one or more of the teams that employ and pay him many millions per year. In this case, the claim is against the NFL and the Commissioner. Under no sense of justice should the Commissioner or his designee be resolving a case against the Commissioner.
And, frankly, we all should be rooting for Gruden. Even though he arguably deserved what he got and got what he deserved when emails containing highly inappropriate commentary came to light as a result of the Washington investigation, someone leaked those documents in order to push him out of his job, DURING the 2021 season. Given the extent to which someone compromised the integrity of the 2021 season, we all deserve to know who ordered the Code Red, and who carried it out.
If Gruden’s case ends up in arbitration controlled by the Commissioner, we’ll never know. Because protecting that information will be more important than rigging a victory.
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