NFL players union says it will demand release of all emails that led to Gruden resignation

The executive director of the NFL Players Association said the union plans to ask the league to release the rest of the emails from the investigation that led to the resignation of Las Vegas Raiders coach Jon Gruden.

Gruden resigned from his post Monday evening, almost immediately after The New York Times published a damning report that detailed emails he sent over a previous seven-year period that contained racist, homophobic and sexist comments.

DeMaurice Smith, the executive director of the union, told USA TODAY Sports in an interview on Tuesday that the group plans to request the full release of the league’s investigation into workplace misconduct within the Washington Football Team. Gruden sent the emails to team president Bruce Allen and they were gathered as part of an investigation by the league into workplace misconduct within the franchise.

“We have had communications with the league, and the NFLPA plans to request that the NFL release the rest of the emails,” Smith told USA TODAY Sports.

A league spokesman told USA TODAY Sports, however, that it does not currently have any plans to release the emails that were gathered through the investigation, citing confidentiality.

A person familiar with the situation sounded a similar note to The Washington Post, telling the newspaper that the league does not intend to release more information regarding the investigation.

According to the Times, Gruden, when he was working as an analyst for ESPN, called NFL commissioner Roger Goodell a “f—–” and a “clueless anti football p—-.”

The unearthed emails also revealed that Gruden denounced women referees and criticized players who protested during the playing of the national anthem.

The Times’s article came days after The Wall Street Journal reported on an email from Gruden sent in 2011 — which was also discovered as part of the NFL investigation — in which the then-analyst used a racial trope to describe Smith.

According to the Journal, the NFL probe scrutinized more than 650,000 emails.

The Hill reached out to the NFL for comment.