Washington Football Team defensive coordinator Jack Del Rio directed the harshest criticism of Jon Gruden yet from any member of the NFL coaching fraternity, calling the emails that led Gruden to resign “embarrassingly bad.”
“It was, I guess, shocking,” Del Rio said. “Embarrassingly bad for a person in that position – to have those thoughts and then express them like that. I don’t have a lot of respect for that.”
Del Rio was the Raiders coach from 2015-17, going 23-25 with one playoff appearance before being fired and replaced by Gruden.
Gruden resigned Monday after racist, homophobic and sexist emails he sent as an ESPN employee emerged over the past four days.
Asked whether Gruden’s emails represent league-wide issues, Del Rio said, “I don’t know. It’s not been my experience. Obviously that’s an example of there being a problem. That’s not been my experience. I grew up in a melting pot area. It’s kind of how I’ve lived my life: respecting and love each other. We’re football players and coaches. We’re working together with all types of different people from different walks of life, and it’s about the man within in. Has nothing to do with anything else. That’s always kind of been my approach. That’s always the way I’ve worked at it, and that’s been my experience for the most part in this league.”
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