Raiders owner Mark Davis frustrated over when he learned of Jon Gruden emails

Las Vegas Raiders owner Mark Davis expressed his displeasure Wednesday with the timing of when he learned of Jon Gruden’s emails, which led to Gruden’s resignation as head coach Oct. 11.

Davis, speaking at the conclusion of the Fall League Meeting in New York, alleged that the NFL “may have known” about Gruden’s emails “months beforehand.”

“It’s a timing issue,” Davis said. “That’s probably the disappointment that I had. … Well, the fact that they may have known about it a couple of months beforehand and didn’t let us know about that. We weren’t informed until, I guess it was that Thursday (Oct. 7), and we heard it from The Wall Street Journal initially. It was a rumor initially, they wouldn’t give us the email at the time, The Wall Street Journal wouldn’t. We spoke to the league later on that afternoon and by Friday (Oct. 8), they started giving us all the information, I spoke with the Commissioner and those things. But I believed if we’d have gotten the information earlier in the summer when they learned about it, it would’ve been a lot easier for everyone involved.”

Davis was asked if he believes his team had been treated unfairly.

“No, I’m not gonna get into any of that,” he said. “We’re Raiders. We’re used to this. That’s just what our life is about. It is disappointing, just the whole thing with Jon, you know. It’s just life.”

Gruden abruptly resigned as head coach following the publication of emails in The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times detailing the use of racist, homophobic and misogynistic terms reportedly dating back to 2010.

“I’ve never seen Jon exhibit any of those things in practice with the Raiders,” Davis said. “He’s no longer the coach of the Raiders. It’s something that had to be done. It didn’t represent what the Raiders stand for.”

NFL Network’s Judy Battista reported earlier this month that Gruden’s emails were exposed as a byproduct of the investigation into the Washington Football Team’s workplace misconduct. Gruden’s emails were exchanged with former Washington executive Bruce Allen, who used his company email address. Battista reported that at the conclusion of the investigation the league was told it should review 650,000 emails the law firm had uncovered. A team of executives spent a few months doing so, per Battista, and presented the findings to Goodell in early October.

Davis was asked how he felt that his organization became embroiled in controversy as a result of an investigation into another franchise.

“I can’t get into that because the only thing we’ve seen so far is the emails that Jon had and we haven’t seen any of the others and anything else,” Davis said. “So that’s basically again what I said initially was ask the NFL. They’ve got all the answers. We really don’t.”

The investigation into the Washington Football Team, led by independent counsel Beth Wilkinson, resulted in a $10 million fine, and owner Daniel Snyder ceasing to be involved in day-to-day operations with the team. Tanya Snyder, his wife, has taken over indefinitely in his place.

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell told reporters Tuesday that he believes the Washington organization and Daniel Snyder have been held accountable, and reiterated that a full report into the findings from the investigation will not be made public in order to protect to the anonymity of those who came forward.

Cowboys owner Jerry Jones told reporters Wednesday that he was “very satisfied” with how the league has handled the investigation.

Davis declined to comment on specifics of the punishments levied against the Washington Football Team and Snyder, but he did indicate that he would be in favor of seeing a written report.

“Yeah. Probably,” Davis said, “especially with some of the things that were charged.”

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