Jim Trotter, the former NFL reporter who sued the league for retaliation, announced his retirement.
Trotter made the announcement on his BlueSky account, saying, “There's no better way to spend the first full day of retirement.”
Throughout his long journalism career, dating back to 1989, Trotter was known for asking serious questions and addressing serious issues within the game.
That included arguably their most famous interaction in 2023 when Trotter, who was an NFL Media employee, asked Commissioner Roger Goodell about the lack of diversity within his own newsroom at a pre-Super Bowl press conference.
Then Trotter's contract expired about six weeks after he asked that question.
That led the journalist to file a lawsuit alleging that the league racially discriminated against him and retaliated against him for asking that question.
Former NFL Media reporter Jim Trotter appears to have announced his retirement
Trotter asked Commissioner Roger Goodell about the racial makeup of the NFL newsroom. He then filed a lawsuit against the league alleging racial discrimination when his contract expired.
In the lawsuit, Trotter claimed that his contract was not renewed because of the question he asked, and that Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones and Buffalo Bills owner Terry Pegula made racial comments to him, about which They told him not to report.
Trotter announced months ago that it had reached an agreement with the NFL ending his lawsuit. The NFL denied Trotter's allegations.
Trotter began his career in sports media in 1989 with the San Diego Tribune-Union. In addition to the NFL Network, he spent time with ESPN, Sports Illustrated and, most recently, The Athletic.
The last article he published for the outlet came out on December 6 and was a column about San Francisco 49ers defensive end Nick Bosa interrupting a postgame interview while wearing a cap supporting Donald Trump.
Trotter went public that the site's editors had “watered down” that column, adding: “I was not allowed, in my opinion, to adequately contextualize the meaning and consequences of the moment because, I was told, I would be breaking the law.” journalistic standards (of the New York Times) in sports and politics.
He then clarified that the directive was issued by The Athletic and not by the New York Times (the parent company of the sports media).