Former All-Pro WR Andre Rison defends Jon Gruden: ‘No one is God’

Former Las Vegas Raiders head coach Jon Gruden resigned from that post in disgrace last October after the NFL’s investigation of the Washington Football Team uncovered emails Gruden sent from 2010 through 2018 that reportedly contained racist, homophobic and misogynistic language. 

While speaking at the Little Rock Touchdown Club in Arkansas earlier this week, Gruden insisted he is “a good person” who is now asking for “forgiveness” and “another shot,” presumably to work in either the NFL or the highest level of college football. 

Former All-Pro wide receiver and one-time Super Bowl champion Andre Rison played under Gruden with the then-Oakland Raiders in 2000 and recently went to bat for his old coach via comments he offered to TMZ Sports.

“No one is God,” Rison explained. “For some reason in today’s time, everybody think they’re God now because social media and whatever other platforms that they can voice their opinions. God gave him the gift to coach and it’s up to him and God if he repents, and forgives for his negatives and his faults and his defaults, I have no problem with it.”

Rison initially told TMZ Sports last October he knows Gruden is “not a racist,” and the five-time Pro Bowl selection reiterated that take this week. 

“For him to be a racist, if he was a racist, he darn sure gave a lot of black athletes chances and opportunities to put food on the table for their families,” Rison remarked. 

It seems unlikely any NFL team would take a flier on Gruden for any role.