The NFL just announced its annual report of which teams will receive compensatory draft picks for the 2022 NFL Draft.
The NFL awards teams with draft picks to help teams make up for the loss of players during the free agency period of the offseason (hence the word, “compensatory”). But there is another way in which teams can earn compensatory picks, and that is if and when minority coaches on their staff go on to earn head coaching jobs elsewhere.
According to ESPN, six franchises (the Cleveland Browns, Baltimore Ravens, New Orleans Saints, Kansas City Chiefs, Los Angeles Rams and San Francisco 49ers), earned third-round picks for having former coaches fill vacant head coaching or general manager positions.
With all social justice undertones infused within the NFL experience today, one would think that rewarding teams to just get more black coaches in the NFL might be another example of that. Should we be rolling our eyes at the Rooney Rule and chalk it up to be another example of wokeness by the NFL?
For once, we should not be worried about this being another nauseating equity-based gesture.
From the NFL Operations website, we read the reasoning behind forming the Rooney Rule in the first place:
“The Rooney Rule is one part of the NFL’s effort to develop a deep, sustainable talent pool at all levels of the organization. The policy promotes diverse leadership among NFL clubs to ensure that promising candidates have the opportunity to prove they have the necessary skills and qualifications to excel.
Through hiring best practices, the Rooney Rule aims to increase the number of minorities hired in head coach, general manager, and executive positions. This diversity enriches the game and creates a more effective, quality organization from top to bottom."
Obviously, words like “diversity” and equating diversity with making your organization more successful reeks of wokeness. After all, the quality of your organization is not determined by the skin color of the people, but rather by how they work together as a team to achieve a goal.
Nevertheless, a lot has changed in 19 years, and with our current cultural context, many people see the lack of diversity in these power positions as a sign that the NFL is racist (enter Brian Flores), which would potentially make the Rooney Rule seem like a woke solution for a woke problem. But fortunately, the Rooney Rule was created to provide equal opportunity to minority candidates - which is something that all businesses should try to do for their employees -- but it does not ensure an equal outcome. Additionally, the rule was created in 2003, back when we didn’t have to worry about the NFL selling out for the woke agenda.
For once, we should give the NFL credit for how they managed a crisis they deemed they needed to fix. They have quietly found a way to incentivize teams to achieve an outcome they want, and have done so without making it woke.