Jon Gruden's Agent Believes Former Coach's Emails Being Leaked Was A Hit Job: 'He's Not A Racist'

We're approaching the one-year mark since Jon Gruden was forced to resign as the head coach of the Las Vegas Raiders following a scandal involving an email leak, but his agent is still going to bat for his client, now calling it "a hit job."

Gruden stepped down as the Raiders' head coach in October of 2021 after emails directed at NFL commissioner Roger Goodell were leaked that contained racist and homophobic comments. The emails were discovered in what was a league investigation into the Washington Commanders' workplace culture.

In one of the emails to come from the leak, Gruden called Goodell a “clueless anti-football p-ssy.” Another email reportedly implied that Gruden was annoyed that the NFL forced the then St. Louis Rams to draft “queers,” which is a reference to the team drafting Michael Sam in 2014.

Gruden reportedly sent an email making fun of the size of NFLPA executive director DeMaurice Smith’s lips.

“Dumboriss Smith has lips the size of Michelin tires,”  the email from 2011 reportedly read.

The collection of emails dated back to Gruden’s time at ESPN, before he joined the Raiders for his second stint as head coach.

With the original investigation not directly pointed at Gruden, his agent Bob LaMonte is convinced the NFL was simply out to get his client.

"I can tell you right now that was a hit job," Bob LaMonte told JoeBucsFan.com.

"Why now, of all things, does that come out in an investigation that had already gone away? It was 10 years ago. And then why Jon and why the Raiders? He wasn’t even in the league at the time of those e-mails…That’s the tragedy of it. You can say what you want, but if anyone really understands Jon, they know he’s not a racist. That’s quite obvious."

LaMonte's comments about Gruden echo those of Brent Musburger, now the former radio broadcaster for the Raiders.

“As I told coach, whoever took you out, Jon, that was a paid assassin,” Musburger said back in December of 2021. “That was one of the best hit jobs that I’ve ever been around."

Gruden has since filed a lawsuit against the NFL and Goodell as he believes the league sought to ruin his career and make an example of him. The NFL looked to dismiss the case, but a judge denied that ask.