There are plenty of questions that remain unanswered regarding the developments that culminated in the resignation of Raiders coach Jon Gruden.
Here’s one to which we’ve recently gotten an answer. Per a source with knowledge of the situation, the 650,000 emails sent to or by former Washington Football Team president Bruce Allen includes more than 1,000 emails exchanged with NFL general counsel Jeff Pash.
The NFL did not confirm or deny the number, but pointed out that 1,000 emails over 10 years would work out to roughly two per week.
Last week, someone with access to the 650,000 emails leaked a few of them to the media. There definitely are more. The question is whether there are more that would be problematic for Pash.
Although none of the emails Pash sent to Allen contain the kind of blatantly offensive content seen in the Gruden emails, there are more subtle concerns arising from Pash’s flippant remarks about the wall on the Mexican border, Allen’s effort to reduce a player’s salary (Pash called it “the Lord’s work), and commentary on whether players exercise their right to vote (Allen guessed it’s one percent, and Pash said “maybe even take the under”). The emails also raise competitive concerns regarding possible favoritism to the Washington Football Team (if so, it didn’t help much).
Obviously, there are many more emails between Pash and Allen than those that have been leaked. All should be released and reviewed. And, yes, it would be very appropriate at this point to explore the text messages between Allen and Pash. As noted last night, text messages were not reviewed as part of the investigation.
They still could be. Maybe they should be. Before that, the NFL should release all of the 650,000 emails, starting with those exchanged by Allen and Pash.
