Iconic football announcer Brent Musburger believes Jon Gruden’s career as an NFL head coach was destroyed as part of a hit job.
Gruden was fired in October after leaked emails showed the now-former Las Vegas Raiders head coach using racist, misogynistic and homophobic language between 2011-2018.
“As I told Coach, whoever took you out, Jon, that was a paid assassin,” Musburger told J.T. The Brick of the Las Vegas Sports Network. “That was one of the best hit jobs that I’ve ever been around.”
Musburger is currently the radio play-by-play voice of the Las Vegas Raiders, the NFL franchise that parted ways with Gruden after the email leak.
Gruden’s emails were uncovered as part of a league investigation into an alleged toxic workplace culture created by the Washington Football Team and their owner Daniel Snyder. More than 650,000 emails were reportedly investigated, causing many to question why Gruden’s offensive messages are the only ones being leaked.
“They didn’t go to their media goombahs,” Musburger continued. “They didn’t leak this to Adam Schefter or one of those guys who breaks stories. They first went to the Wall Street Journal. And when Gruden was still coaching after that, then they dumped the rest of it on the New York Times. That was a professional hit job.”
Gruden is currently suing the NFL for what his lawyers described as a concerted effort by
“There was a second lawsuit involved, OK?” Musburger noted on the Las Vegas Sports Network. “Between the owner, Snyder of Washington, and a former General Manager. And that means that a lot of outside people had access to those emails that they were going through.
“So I think the hardest part for Gruden’s lawyers to prove is that somebody from the National Football League actually leaked that. Because if it is somebody from the NFL, shame on them.”
Gruden can blame his downfall on others, but the offensive language used was ultimately his own wrongdoing.
“I wish that coach Gruden had been suspended for four, five, or six games…I didn’t think that Jon’s career should be ruined by his stupidity, it had been so long ago,” Musburger said.
Watch above via the Las Vegas Sports Network