As the NFL has dealt with the controversy stemming from leaked emails from the Washington Football Team investigation, one major question has come up. Who is responsible for leaking them in the first place?
NFL executives have firmly denied that they have anything to do with the email leaks. That, however, leaves a small pool of individuals who would have access to the information. According to Mark Maske and Nicki Jhabvala of the Washington Post, some NFL officials believe Washington owner Daniel Snyder did so through representatives acting on his behalf.
That belief is strong enough that Tanya Snyder, Dan’s wife and co-CEO of Washington, told her fellow owners Wednesday unprompted that neither she nor Dan Snyder were responsible for the leaks.
Why would Snyder leak emails from an investigation into his own team? In the case of the emails that led to Jon Gruden’s exit, it may have been to deflect from his organization’s troubles and try to demonstrate that there is other troubling behavior taking place in the league. He may have also sought to make the league look bad. Though the emails also paint former team president Bruce Allen in a negative light, Allen is no longer with the organization and Snyder would not be bothered by any damage to Allen’s reputation.
On the other hand, there are plenty who firmly believe the NFL itself was responsible for the leak. The league will deny this at every turn, but until there’s clear evidence pointing to who’s responsible, the speculation will continue.
