Jon Gruden’s Ousting from the NFL is Shameless Hypocrisy

The other day while watching the Indianapolis Colts playing against the Baltimore Ravens during Monday Night Football on ESPN, the commentators brought up the sudden resignation of Oakland Raiders’ head coach Jon Gruden. The resignation itself was not a surprise. Rather it was expected. But the timing of the commentators talking about it caught my attention, because it revealed the absolute hypocrisy of the NFL.?

But even now, I do not see anybody talking about it.?

Right around the time the commentators were explaining how justified it was for Gruden to be forced to resign, Ravens receiver Sammy Watkins had received a pass from quarterback Lamar Jackson for a 28-yard catch and run. We will come back to Watkins in a moment, but the commentators themselves, who likely knew and even worked with Gruden when he worked for ESPN from 2008-2018, had no problem condemning Gruden on the air.?

Jon Gruden saw his NFL coaching career go down in flames this October when emails spanning from nearly a decade surfaced. The emails, dating as far back as 2010, were discovered during an NFL investigation about the workplace environment. Gruden routinely used language that has been almost universally described as “homophobic, mysoginistic, and racist”.? The emails also apparently contained sexist memes disparaging women in the NFL and singling out specific players and coaches with slurs and degrading language.

Gruden already had a reputation for making problematic comments so by the time the story about the emails broke, it was the end of the line. Gruden handed in his resignation privately and it was broadcast via Twitter (of course) within minutes.?

Let the Hypocrisy Begin

I am not here to condone Gruden’s actions or make judgement for or against his forced resignation, but in 2012, Sammy Watkins was arrested for possession of marijuana as well as two pills of Vyvanse and Adderall. He was ultimately charged with possession of a controlled substance and was suspended for two games in the 2012-13 season.?

Upon his return, Watkins continued to party hard and make life difficult for his coaches and teammates.? He routinely complained he wasn’t getting enough play time and even fans began to openly jeer him on the field and online.? Watkins found it difficult to ignore and lashed out on Instagram, commenting "get a life and go to work ... and forever will be losers most of you just wish to be in this position so continue working y'all little jobs for the rest of y'all lives."

So while Gruden was being nailed to the wall, Watkins was on the field playing.

Thought Crimes vs. Violent Crimes

There’s no denying the behavior of Jon Gruden was out of line for this day and age, and the reaction from NFL representatives and fans was swift and warranted. Bigotry should have no home anywhere, especially not in one of America’s most popular and oldest sports institutions.

But while Gruden is being banished from the NFL for thought crimes, there are players past and present who continue to enjoy themselves in spite of their own unacceptable and sometimes criminal behavior, let alone criminal convictions.?

If the NFL has a problem with bigotry, it is dwarfed by its problem with violence.

To read the entire article complete with details about violent criminals playing in and being rewarded by the NFL, follow this link to the original article on Medium.