Back in October 2021, when the world was digesting the emails of former Las Vegas Raiders coach Jon Gruden and getting intimately acquainted with the opinions he shared when most people weren’t listening (or reading), conspiracy theories were flying in every direction. Someone had leaked sensitive materials from an NFL investigation — with the clear intent of achieving some goal — and now everyone had a hypothesis.
Some pointed a finger at NFL Players Association executive director DeMaurice Smith, who had been the subject of one of Gruden’s derogatory screeds sent to then-Washington team president Bruce Allen.