NFL reportedly increases Rooney Rule stipulations

The NFL established the Rooney Rule in 2003, requiring teams to interview
minority candidates for all head-coaching openings. The league expanded the
rule in 2009 to include senior football operations jobs.

According to a Monday report from NFL Network's Tom Pelissero, the altered
rule would mandate that teams must interview two or more external minority
candidates for head-coaching openings, and they must talk with at least one
external minority candidate for vacancies at offensive coordinator, defensive
coordinator, general manager and senior football operation roles.

The news comes days after multiple media outlets reported that the NFL is
putting forward another rule change that would reward draft-pick compensation
to teams that made hire minorities.

Under the proposal, teams would move up 10 places in the third round of the
draft ahead of the second year under a newly hired minority GM. For newly
hired head coaches of color, teams would get a six-place jump in the third
round of the draft before his second season.

Should a team hire a minority head coach and GM in the same year, the rise
would be 16 places in the third round -- potentially into the second round.

Teams also would get a five-spot bump in the fourth round ahead of the third
season of diverse head coaches or GMs. Also, if a minority quarterbacks coach
is retained beyond one season, his team would get an additional draft pick at
the end of the fourth round.

The NFL also is looking to eliminate the rule that allows teams to block
assistant coaches from moving to another team to take a coordinator job. The
change is viewed as helpful for minority head-coaching applicants, as teams
generally want candidates to have coordinator experience.

The draft-pick proposals reportedly will be discussed Tuesday during the
virtual owners meeting. At least 24 of the 32 teams must vote in favor for the
changes to be enacted.

However, according to NFL.com, the Rooney Rule proposal would not need the
owners' approval to become official.

In the current offseason, only one of five head-coaching vacancies went to a
minority candidate, with the Washington Redskins hiring former Carolina
Panthers head coach Ron Rivera. Just three of the past 20 head-coaching
openings were filled by a person of color, per NFL.com.

--Field Level Media