The hits keep on coming this week for Washington’s football team. On Friday afternoon, former Redskins safety D.J. Swearinger shared a contentious conversation he head with Jay Gruden over text message.
Swearinger spent two seasons in the nation’s capitol, totaling 132 tackles and eight interceptions. His time with the franchise ended abruptly because the front office didn’t appreciate him publicly criticizing the team’s losing ways. Well, it appears we now have some context as to what went on behind the scenes with Gruden and Swearinger.
Following a blowout loss the Giants in 2018, Gruden texted Swearinger the following message: “Wanna play? Let’s f***ing play.” Swearinger didn’t overreact to the message from his coach at the time and let “cooler heads prevail.”
That being said, Swearinger said his relationship and view of Washington’s football team changed after that day. He could no longer be himself because he felt the coaching staff didn’t treat him like a man.
“This is when I lost respect for the Washington staff and head coach,” Swearinger said. “He wanted me to act out, but I handled it professionally and the next day he told me that somebody told him that I said something about him in the interview but when he watched the interview he realized that person was lying and he actually agreed with everything I said. So as a player how would you look at your coach for the rest of the season? How can you motivate yourself to play for a guy who talks to you less than a man?”
Here’s the conversation that Swearinger said:
Washington parted ways with Gruden during the 2019 season.
This is obviously a concern for Washington, but the bigger issue right now is the team’s investigation into the latest sexual harassment allegations. Multiple women have come out to the Washington Post to share their troubling experience with former scouts and members of team owner Dan Snyder’s inner circle.
The post Former Redskins Player Shares Contentious Text From Jay Gruden appeared first on The Spun.
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