Tag: NFL investigation

NFL will oversee investigation into Daniel Snyder allegations

The NFL will lead the investigation into the latest Daniel Snyder allegations.

Early Wednesday morning, ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported Washington Commanders owner Daniel Snyder was hiring an independent investigative team to look into the allegations made last week by former team employee Tiffani Johnston at a Congressional roundtable.

The investigative team was to be led by Bonnie Jonas and Tiffany Moller of Pallas Global Group LLC. Schefter said Washington was committed to a “thorough and independent investigation” of Johnston’s allegation and pledged full cooperation. At the end of the investigation, the Pallas Group would release the findings to the public.

However, on Wednesday afternoon, Tom Pelissero of the NFL Network said the NFL would lead the investigation — not Washington. Pelissero’s report was courtesy of an NFL spokesman.

The roundtable was held on Feb. 3, the day after Washington unveiled its new team name, logo, and uniforms. Six former employees testified before Congress about their time with the organization.

 

Congress sets deadline for NFL to release Washington investigation findings

Congress gives the NFL a Feb 14th deadline to release all findings into the investigation of Washington’s toxic workplace culture.

If Washington owner Dan Snyder thought a new team name and logo would help everyone forget about the franchise’s past, that’s not the case.

One day after Washington unveiled its new team name, logo and uniforms at FedEx Field, six former team employees testified before Congress at a roundtable concerning the investigation into Washington’s toxic workplace culture under Snyder.

New allegations emerged against Snyder at Wednesday’s roundtable, which Snyder responded to, acknowledging past issues with the franchise, but strongly denied the new claims.

More news was released Friday as Congress has set a deadline of Feb. 14 for the NFL to release everything regarding its year-long investigation of Washington.

More details emerged from Congress’ investigation into Washington, via Tisha Thompson of ESPN. According to Thompson, Snyder must OK the release of the findings:

The NFL may not be able to publicly release the findings of its internal investigation of the Washington Commanders without the explicit permission of owner Daniel Snyder, according to a document released Friday morning by the congressional committee investigating the NFL.

When Washington initially hired attorney Beth Wilkinson in 2020 to investigate the team’s workplace culture, it requested a written report. However, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell “personally instructed that Ms. Wilkinson was to present him with oral, not written, findings in a stark departure from the League’s previous practices,” per a statement from the congressional committee Friday morning.

 

Roger Goodell says Washington owner Dan Snyder didn’t ‘interfere’ in Wilkinson investigation

Roger Goodell says Daniel Snyder did not interfere in the investigation into Washington’s toxic workplace culture.

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One day after a new Washington Post released an explosive report suggesting WFT owner Daniel Snyder attempted to impede Beth Wilkinson’s investigation into Washington’s toxic workplace culture, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell spoke on the matter Wednesday.

From the NFL’s owners’ meetings in Irving, Texas, Goodell said Snyder did not attempt to interfere in the investigation.

“We went through a very lengthy period of investigation and discussions,” Goodell said via John Keim of ESPN.

“The one thing I can say with 100% assurance is that it didn’t interfere with the work that our investigator did. We were able to access all the people that she wanted to access, have multiple conversations with those people. There’s always a little bit of a tug and a pull with particularly lawyers and law firms. That’s something that I think we were able to overcome and make sure we came to the right conclusion.”

Of course, Goodell continues to protect Snyder. Why? Because Goodell and the NFL know there is a lot more in those 650,000 emails, and it would implicate multiple high-profile NFL people. Much more than just Jon Gruden and Bruce Allen.

Members of the House Committee on Oversight and Reform have urged the NFL to release the emails over the last few months. Thus far, the NFL has refused.

Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi, a member of the committee, spoke to ESPN.

They’ve been producing documents; they’ve been doing it on a regular basis. But what we learned yesterday only points to the need for a lot more information from them. … I’d like them to step up the volume and the nature of the documents.

Buckle up, as this isn’t going away anytime soon, much to the chagrin of Goodell, Snyder, and the rest of the NFL’s owners.

Washington Post report indicates WFT owner Daniel Snyder tried to impede recent investigation into team

A new report suggests Washington Football Team owner Dan Snyder tried to impede the recent investigation into the organization.

It seems Washington Football Team owner Daniel Snyder hasn’t changed.

According to a fantastic report from Will Hobson and Liz Clarke of the Washington Post, the mercurial owner of the Washington franchise tried to interfere in Beth Wilkinson’s investigation into the organization’s toxic workplace culture, which featured widespread sexual harassment over the course of several years.

Per Hobson and Clarke, Wilkinson tried to interview a woman who accused Snyder of sexual misconduct back in 2009. That case ended with a financial settlement. When Wilkinson attempted to interview the alleged victim, Snyder and his legal team stepped in.

Remember, Snyder promised to cooperate fully with Wilkinson’s investigation. Check out this excerpt from Hobson and Clarke:

Despite the owner’s public pledge to cooperate “with all aspects of the investigation,” his attorneys attempted to prevent Wilkinson from speaking to Snyder’s accuser, according to a letter the woman’s attorney wrote to Snyder’s lawyers that was filed in federal court.

While the Washington Post did not have access to the letter in question, others did, and they explained what the letter contained.

According to these people, the woman’s lawyer, Brendan Sullivan, accused Snyder’s lawyers of offering his client more money beyond the $1.6 million the team paid in 2009, if she agreed not to speak to anyone about her allegations against Snyder and her settlement with the team.

The report contained much more on Snyder and his alleged interference in the investigation of Washington’s workplace culture, such as hiring private investigators to show up at the homes of some of the women who cooperated with the Washington Post’s initial report back in July 2020.

There’s much more in this story from Washington Post, and it’s a must-read.

Now the question becomes, how much longer can the NFL not reveal the emails uncovered in Wilkinson’s investigation into the team?

Raiders owner Mark Davis believes there should written report of Washington investigation

Raiders owner Mark Davis believes there should be a written report from the investigation into Washington’s workplace culture that cost Jon Gruden his job.

Las Vegas Raiders owner Mark Davis is the first NFL owner to publicly say there should be a written report from the NFL’s investigation into Washington’s toxic workplace.

“Probably. Yeah, I think that there should be,” Davis said Wednesday when asked if he would like to see a written report, per Nicki Jhabvala of The Washington Post. “Especially with some of the things that were charged. Yeah, I believe so. I think people deserve it, especially the people there were ‘victims.’”

Davis was in the lobby of the New York hotel where NFL owners meetings had taken place over the last two days.

Davis, of course, was the owner most impacted by the leaked emails from former Washington team president Bruce Allen. His former coach, Jon  Gruden, sent numerous offensive emails back and forth to Allen when Gruden worked as an analyst for ESPN. Gruden took over as head coach of the Raiders in 2018 and resigned earlier this month.

Davis was asked if he had any recent conversations with Gruden.

“He’s hurt, he’s really hurt. I understand that. But he understands the ramifications of what he said,” Davis said of Gruden, per USA TODAY.

The Raiders have a long history of battling with the NFL that goes back to when Al Davis — Mark’s father — publicly sparred with the NFL for years.

“We’re Raiders. We’re used to this,” Mark Davis said.

NFL commissioner Roger Goodell reiterated on Tuesday the league would not release details from the investigation into Washington.

 

Jay Gruden wasn’t questioned in investigation into Washington’s workplace culture

Jay Gruden was Washington’s head coach from 2014-19 and was hired and let go by Bruce Allen.

Former Washington head coach Jay Gruden spent over five seasons as head coach of the Washington Football Team. Gruden was hired in Jan. 2014 and remained Washington’s coach until Oct. 7, 2019, when he was fired after starting the season 0-5.

Gruden is also the brother of Jon Gruden, who resigned as head coach of the Las Vegas Raiders on Monday after derogatory emails from his past were revealed. The emails in question were exchanged with former Washington team president Bruce Allen. Allen was fired after the 2019 season after 10 years in the organization.

On Tuesday, Jay Gruden joined Chris Russell and Pete Medhurst of The Team 980 and discussed his brother’s situation:

Jay Gruden was questioned on his relationship with Allen while in Washington and said the two mostly got along, despite the normal disagreements between the coach and front office. But Gruden said he mostly stuck to football and wasn’t privy to many things outside of his coaching staff and players.

“No, I tried to stay in my lane as far as football coaching is concerned,” he said. “I know they had the total say over everything. But I wanted to stay in my lane as far as football is concerned and try to do the best I can in that regard and try to make the team better.”

Perhaps the most interesting aspect of Gruden’s interview was when Russell asked if Beth Wilkinson interviewed him during her probe of Washington’s toxic workplace culture.

Gruden said he wasn’t.

“No, I haven’t been questioned, so I don’t even know what the heck is really going on,” Jay Gruden said. “Once I was let go out there, I was let go, and I just kind of backed away quietly.”

That’s indeed interesting.

Gruden spent almost six years in the same building as Allen and owner Dan Snyder, yet was not questioned one time during the NFL’s investigation that lasted around one year?

The NFLPA recently requested that all of the emails be released, but the NFL has declined at this time. It remains to be seen if that changes anytime soon.

Report: NFL teams still interested in trading for Texans QB Deshaun Watson

Multiple NFL teams are still reportedly interesting in trading for Houston Texans QB Deshaun Watson despite the civil suits alleging misconduct.

Houston Texans quarterback Deshaun Watson has had seven lawsuits filed against him alleging sexual assault, and the NFL is even investigating the suits as it pertains to violating their personal conduct policy.

However, the off-field issues are not affecting his interest on the trade market.

According to Aaron Wilson of the Houston Chronicle, multiple NFL teams are still interested in Watson’s services, yet they are also keeping track of the lawsuits.

On March 16, Houston attorney Tony Buzbee posted on Instagram that he was going to file multiple lawsuits against Watson pertaining to the sexual assault allegations. That same evening, Watson took to Twitter to express that he looked forward to clearing his name.

One team that still has its sights set on acquiring Watson is the Carolina Panthers. However, the Denver Broncos, San Francisco 49ers, Miami Dolphins, and New York Jets remain possibilities as those clubs still have ambiguity at the quarterback position.