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Key Points Las Vegas Raiders coach Jon Gruden used a racist remark to describe the head of the National Football League Players Association, the Wall Street Journal reported Friday. Gruden used racist, anti-Black imagery to describe NFLPA executive director DeMaurice Smith in an email sent to a team executive on July 21, 2011. The NFL is reviewing Gruden’s status with the Raiders for potential discipline, a source familiar with the matter told the Journal. Las Vegas Raiders coach Jon Gruden used racist language to describe the head of the National Football League Players Association, the Wall Street Journal reported Friday....

As NFL labor negotiations Opens a New Window. loom over the 2019 season, the NFL Players Association is already warning players to save money Opens a New Window. to prepare for a possible work stoppage in 2021. In a Tuesday email, NFLPA Executive Director DeMaurice Smith advised NFL agents to tell their clients to budget their income to account for a player strike or lockout by ownership. The NFL’s current collective-bargaining agreement expires after the 2020 season, and negotiations on the next deal are widely expected to be contentious.

On Friday's Speak for Yourself TV sports talk program on Fox Sports 1, co-host Jason Whitlock (see photo) characterized NFL Players' Association executive director DeMaurice Smith as a "foolish looter burning down his own neighborhood" and demanded his firing. The NFLPA has reportedly hired several lawyers to fight the league's new policy requiring players to respect the national anthem or remain in the clubhouse. Whitlock said, "The NFL Players' Association should fire its executive director, DeMaurice Smith. According to the site Pro Football 'Woke' (officially known as Pro Football Talk), and its editor Mike Florio, Smith and the NFLPA have...

According to OpenSecrets.org, DeMaurice Smith contributed $2,300 to Barack Obama on Election Day, November 4, 2008. Why would someone give money to a candidate on election day? Isn't it a little late to campaign at that point? Curious, indeed.