A New Precedent in Sports Arbitration: How Gruden and Flores Won Their Day in Court
With the Arizona Cardinals’ hiring of former Los Angeles Rams offensive coordinator Mike LaFleur, the NFL’s 2026 head coaching carousel has officially stopped spinning. A record-tying 10 franchises decided to let go of their head coach this offseason, a stark reminder of how rapidly one’s career can be shaken in the NFL. While some of these coaches fought to get jobs on other teams, Jon Gruden and Brian Flores are two former head coaches who saw their exits turn into battles of the legal kind, both of which still rage on to this day. In 2021, Jon Gruden resigned from his position as the head coach of the Las Vegas Raiders after the NFL released private emails between him and former president of the Washington Commanders Bruce Allen during an investigation into toxic work culture. Gruden used profane, misogynistic, and racist language to describe certain NFL players and executives. Gruden then sued Roger Goodell and the NFL in Nevada state court in November 2021. His claims arose from the NFL collecting about 650,000 emails in …
