"You ain't going to never hear me say that Jon Gruden is a bad person" - Stephen A. Smith defends former Raiders HC who was fired over homophobic and misogynistic comments

Heading into 2021, Jon Gruden was earning respect for what many thought he was on the doorstep of getting the Raiders to the playoffs. However, it all fell to pieces in the middle of the season when emails from his account were leaked that revealed homophobic and misogynistic remarks. The emails led to his firing.

Almost a year later, the head coach is still making headlines over the emails. Stephen A. Smith, during a conversation about the Raiders on First Take, defended the character of the former ESPN analyst. He went as far as to claim that he will never rake his character over the coals. Here's how he put it:

"We work in an industry. We work in a business where obviously we talk about the importance of second chances. I'm not talking about a second chance for him as a job or anything like that, but you ain't gonna never hear me say that Jon Gruden is a bad person."

He went on to say that the emails were wrong, but refused to question the quality of his character:

"I don't know that. I know that the emails that we discovered were reprehensible and stuff like that, but the man worked at ESPN for years and all of a sudden you're going to have people saying that he's a terrible, terrible person. No, that's not what we got when we were working with Jon."

The Raiders and Jon Gruden

Seattle Seahawks v Las Vegas Raiders

Jon Gruden was talked out of the Monday Night Football booth to become the head coach of the Las Vegas Raiders around the end of the 2017 season. The head coach was added to head a long-term rebuild of the organization. In his first year, the team went 4-12. In 2019, they went 7-9 and in 2020, they went 8-8.

Heading into 2021 with a change to 17 games and no more room to improve without finishing over .500, the season was seen by many as a make-or-break moment. Most expected the team to either finally break through to the winning side or implode under the pressure and return to a well-under .500 team. It turns out that the head coach broke while the Raiders made the playoffs.

Not only did they finish over .500, but they also made the playoffs without their head coach. Rich Bisaccia took over as interim head coach and helped get them to the postseason. Now, as the team heads into 2022 with Josh McDaniels at the helm, expectations are as high as they've ever been. With Davante Adams now also on the squad, many expect to see them alive in January. Will the Raiders break through in their first full season without Gruden?

If any of the above quotes are used, please credit First Take and H/T Sportskeeda.