The lengthy, detailed article from ESPN regarding the Jon Gruden emails and the question of who leaked them includes reporting regarding Gruden’s curiosity as to why Commanders owner Daniel Snyder “would have had it out for” Gruden.
Per the report, Gruden “recently wondered aloud to associates” regarding that specific point. Was it Gruden’s friendship with former Washington executive Bruce Allen, whom Snyder “hated”? Was it Gruden’s brother, Jay, who “shared some unsavory stories earlier in 2021 about working for Snyder, including telling the [Washington Post] that the owner would ‘come in off his yacht’ and pick players on the first day of the draft and override his coaches, scouts, everyone”?
Then there was an exchange Gruden had with Snyder, when the two bumped into each other at a restaurant several years ago. Here’s the key quote: “Gruden believed Snyder was drunk, and he and Gruden started playfully trash-talking, with Snyder calling Gruden fat and Gruden saying he might ‘dribble his head into the asphalt.’ Both men laughed, but Gruden wondered if Snyder had taken offense.”
Snyder surely has taken offense at far less than being told someone might “dribble his head into the asphalt.” And it’s possible, if not likely, that the actual quote from Gruden was more along the lines of, “How about I f—king dribble your f—king head into the f—king asphalt?”
Whatever the reason, someone weaponized a small handful of 650,000 emails with the goal of getting Gruden forced out of his job with the Raiders. Hopefully, Gruden and the rest of us will eventually find out who did it.