Jon Gruden’s troublesome emails and his litigation against the NFL won’t keep him from being in the mix to return as a head coach as the 2025 hiring cycle kicks into gear in the coming days.
Gruden is expected to be one of the “hot” candidates among teams looking for a new head coach, a person with knowledge of the situation told Front Office Sports. Earlier this week, NFL Network reported that multiple teams have weighed hiring Gruden.
There are three teams with head coaching positions (Bears, Jets, and Saints) and other openings are expected after the NFL regular season concludes Sunday.
In October 2021, Gruden resigned as head coach of the Raiders—a team that could be moving on from Antonio Pierce—after sexist, racist, and anti-gay emails Gruden sent while working for ESPN were published by The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times. Days after his resignation, Gruden alleged in a lawsuit against the NFL that the league “intentionally” released the messages Gruden exchanged with then-Washington exec Bruce Allen between 2011 and 2018. The NFL had denied it was the source of the emails, which were obtained during an investigation of the Commanders and former owner Dan Snyder.
Neither Gruden’s nor Vikings defensive coordinator Brian Flores’s suits against the league will impact teams’ hiring decisions, the source believes. Flores filed a racial discrimination lawsuit against the NFL in 2022 days after he was head coach of the Dolphins, and the case remains ongoing.
Flores is in his second season on head coach Kevin O’Connell’s staff. Last season under Flores, the Vikings improved from 31st in team defense to 16th. Through Week 17 this season, Minnesota’s defense leads the league in takeaways as the Vikings face the Lions on Sunday, with the winning team earning the NFC’s No. 1 seed (and a bye).
Gruden apologized for the emails, which included the use of a racist stereotype to describe then-NFLPA executive director DeMaurice Smith in 2011. With the NFL seeking to diversify its coaching ranks in a league where Black players are the majority, a Gruden hire could face blowback.
“I went too far calling him the Michelin lips,” Gruden told The New York Times in 2021. “I never had a blade of racism in me,” Gruden said, adding that he “used a terrible way to insult a guy.”
The NFL Network reported that Gruden turned down the Saints’ offensive coordinator job before the season and is among the teams considering Gruden for the head coaching vacancy created when Dennis Allen was fired in November.
Gruden worked in an advisory role with the Saints during training camp in 2023, and he was spotted on the sideline as a guest of the Buccaneers ownership earlier this season. Gruden led the franchise to its first Super Bowl title in January 2003.
Days after his visit to Raymond James Stadium on Nov. 10, it was announced that Gruden would join Barstool on a multiyear deal. He has appeared on multiple Barstool shows since his hire, and the site sells Gruden memorabilia.
Gruden’s lawsuit against the NFL has been stayed for more than two years as the Supreme Court of Nevada has decided on the NFL’s appeal. Clark County District Court Judge Nancy Allf, who has since retired from the bench, ruled against the NFL’s motions to dismiss the case or, alternatively, remand the case from arbitration. In a 2–1 decision in May, the Supreme Court of Nevada reversed Allf’s arbitration decision.
But it didn’t end there. Gruden asked for a rehearing in front of the full Supreme Court of Nevada and, in October, that motion was granted. The en banc hearing has yet to be scheduled.
