Raiders owner Mark Davis has responded to the NFL’s decision to discipline the team for violations of the league’s COVID-19 protocols.
The Raiders have been fined $500,000 and a sixth-round draft pick will be taken away. Head coach Jon Gruden is being fined $150,000 as a result of protocol violations related to right tackle Trent Brown’s positive test. Gruden and the team had previously been fined for the coach’s failure to wear a mask, the team has been fined for having unauthorized people in the locker room and players were fined for gathering without masks at an indoor event in non-work hours.
Davis said “Jon and those guys are working their asses off every day” and that no one is “willingly violating protocol.”
“The fines are draconian,” Davis told Paul Gutierrez of ESPN.com. “But we will appeal them. Outside the organization, people have the wrong impression about the Raiders. We take it seriously. It’s unfortunate that certain things outside the protocol are the things being focused on, rather than the positive steps we’ve taken as an organization. You’ve been in the building. You’ve seen it.”
Gruden didn’t comment on the nature of the penalties and reiterated a previous comment that the team is “on the cutting edge of being the best in servicing players.”