D.J. Swearinger recalls tense exchange with former HC Jay Gruden

The Washington NFL franchise has been under a lot of fire as of late as the Washington Post recently published an article singling them out for a toxic environment that 15 women accused of sexual harassment. This later caused owner Dan Snyder to release a statement in which he promised a new culture.

However, it seems as though the culture wasn’t just toxic as far as the treatment of women goes, but also on the field. On Friday, a former player of the organization, D.J. Swearinger, called out the team’s former head coach and current Jags offensive coach, Jay Gruden, for a tense text exchange between the two. Swearinger posted the iMessage exchange on his Instagram account, stating that Gruden came at him about an interview after someone told the former head coach that Swearinger said some negative things about him.

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#WhatTheyDontSee So Let’s Set The Record Straight on Why & How Things Went South For Me In Washington. To All My Athletes, Imagine Getting A Text Like This From Your Head Coach @ 10 @ night about an interview where you thought you handled It Professionally after getting blew Out 40-16 by Giants. This Is When I Lost Respect For The Washington Staff & Head Coach. He Wanted Me To Act Out But I Handled It Professionally & 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 & he actually agreed with everything I said. Soooo as a player how would you look @ 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?! Being the man I am I couldn’t be myself after this & that is what lead me to my last interview in which I said a few things that were true but not on the right stage or platform. Understand It’s A Cause & Effect To Everything In Life!!! As A Man You Have To Find Your Peace Through All The Negativity & Move Fwd!! I Was Gonna Give The Man A Pass but after what’s going on with that organization with women! They all need to be exposed. I have a daughter to raise!

A post shared by Dj Swearinger (@jungleboi_swaggg) on Jul 17, 2020 at 11:35am PDT

The last interview Swearinger was referring to appears to be one that occurred in January of 2019 where he slammed Gruden by saying Washington would “never win big” because of him.

Gruden joined the Jags on January 22 as they had a vacant offensive coordinator role to fill after John DeFilippo and the team agreed to mutually part ways. Gruden had previously been the head coach for Washington for five full seasons, but was fired during his sixth. Before that, he spent time with the Cincinnati Bengals (2011-13) as a coordinator where he coached notables Andy Dalton, A.J. Green, and current Jags tight end Tyler Eifert.