As it currently sits, there are just four head coaches of color in the NFL, despite the immense diversity of its players.
Mike Tomlin, Anthony Lynn, Brian Flores and Ron Rivera are the only minorities of the 32 coaches in the league. Just two of the league’s 32 general manager positions are held by people of color.
African-American athletes represent more than 70 percent of the league. And many coaches have had careers in the NFL themselves, so it’s surprising that the numbers aren’t higher for minority coaches and general managers.
The league is self-aware, wanting to increase these opportunities for minorities. And according to NFL Network’s Jim Trotter, owners are considering proposals that would incentivize these hires.
“The call to action grew even louder after only one of the five coaching vacancies during the offseason was filled by a person of color, continuing a trend in which just three of the past 20 openings have gone to a minority,” Trotter on Friday reported. “Now in perhaps its most aggressive and controversial attempt to address the issue, the league will present a pair of resolutions this coming Tuesday during the owners’ virtual meeting that it hopes will level the playing field.”
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The first reported proposal would remove the longstanding anti-tampering rule that prevents assistants from interviewing with other teams for coordinator positions.
The other would encourage minority hires and reward teams who make them with improved draft picks. Here’s how that would work, according to Trotter’s sources:
If a team hires a minority head coach, that team, in the draft preceding the coach’s second season, would move up six spots from where it is slotted to pick in the third round. A team would jump 10 spots under the same scenario for hiring a person of color as its primary football executive, a position more commonly known as general manager.
If a team were to fill both positions with diverse candidates in the same year, that club could jump 16 spots — six for the coach, 10 for the GM — and potentially move from the top of the third round to the middle of the second round. Another incentive: a team’s fourth-round pick would climb five spots in the draft preceding the coach’s or GM’s third year if he is still with the team. That is considered significant because Steve Wilks and Vance Joseph, two of the four African-American head coaches hired since 2017, were fired after one and two seasons, respectively.
