The NFL’s Rooney Rule, originally instituted in 2002 to expand opportunities for minority coaches, has expanded and evolved over the past two decades.
Among the changes are the inclusion of top front office positions and a compensatory system that rewards teams who develop minority coaching or executive talent. Clubs who lose a minority coach or executive to another team will receive third-round compensatory picks in each of the next two drafts.
The Bears would seem to fall into that category after losing assistant general manager Ian Cunningham, who took the Falcons’ GM job. However, the NFL initially ruled that Chicago would not receive comp picks since president of football operations Matt Ryan, not Cunningham, is designated as the primary football executive in Atlanta.
The Bears are pushing back. Team president Kevin Warren said (via CHGO Bears) that Chicago has “been in communication” with the NFL regarding the matter. He used some very specific language when explaining the nature of those talks.
“I wouldn’t say ‘change their mind,'” Warren continued. “We’re just trying to follow up with them, just a normal protocol within the NFL to send in a response to say that we feel that we deserve the compensatory picks.”
Warren joined Bears owner George McCaskey and general manager Ryan Poles in a recent trip to New York to make their case directly to commissioner Roger Goodell, per Jason Lieser of the Chicago Sun-Times. With only a few weeks before the draft, a decision will need to come quickly if the Bears are to receive a third-rounder this year.
“We did what the league wants every member club to do,” McCaskey said at league meetings this week. “We identified diverse talent; we recruited him; we created a position for him.”
The Falcons believe the Bears should receive compensatory picks from Cunningham’s departure, as does Cunningham himself. McCaskey noted that the league may be hesitant to set a new precedent that could force them to award comp picks in similar situations in the future.
But refusing to give Chicago those picks would be setting a different and presumably more dangerous precedent. Though the Falcons are supportive of the Bears in this situation, other teams may not be as charitable. They could see a new loophole in which they name someone other than their general manager hire as the primary football executive so that the new GM’s original team does not receive comp picks. Depriving a competitor of extra draft capital would not be out of bounds for a league that is frequently referred to as a business when discussing issues of this nature.
The ‘job title’ thing seems to be variable. Shouldn’t the job description for that position on that club be the deciding factor? Regardless.. The league’s decision seems to go against the spirit of why the rule is there.
I’ve heard of no other situation where the picks weren’t awarded. If somebody knows of one feel free to let me know so I can laugh at that too. Seems to work for everyone except the Bears.
Yeah, especially considering Matt Ryan has no real front office experience and is likely going to rely on Cunningham a lot. It would be one thing if it was hiring a GM under a president of football ops like Howie Roseman. I think the Bears deserve to get the pick.
Matt Ryan has said himself that Cunningham is the GM and making all GM decisions. Both Cunningham and Ryan also agree the Bears should get the picks.
Goodell is going to have a lot of enemies if he causes Unclemike to have a stroke from high blood pressure. The Bears appear to have met the criteria for compensation so provide the draft picks or scrap the rule altogether.
Better yet scrap Goodell.
Hear hear! Agreed
These comp picks based on race related hiring is one of the most ridiculous things this league has ever done.
Can you imagine if we started awarding teams for rostering white CBs? Requiring teams to audition and try out at least 1 white CB before signing a CB?
No because being “x” race isn’t indicative of success in production.
The demand for racism in this country far outpaces the supply.
And when they can’t manufacture enough of it, they try to change the definition of the word.
I agree. the rooney rule needs to go . the NFL requires u to interview x number of black people then said people may sue and I’m pretty sure have done so because the team is satisfying a rule and may not have interest in said people not because of race but because they they may want to hire on people that fit their organization or are better qualified. teams just want to win they will pay whoever they think will help them win
Glad to see zero people standing up for this rule and most people on this side. Wasn’t sure how this comment was going to go.
If there is one thing I’ve learned about the NFL it’s that if you want them to do anything you have to show them that it will cost them money if they mess with you. Sue them, Show them that if you win which is pretty likely it will cost them money and they’ll have to pay the court costs and Bears fees for the trial. Even if the Bears lose it will cost the NFL money in terms of defending themselves from something that’s pretty indefensible. Sue them and see how fast those picks are added because in the long run what would it cost them to give them to the Bears? Answer-Nothing
According to the NFL’s own language of the rule, they deserve the picks. It is ridiculous that the NFL is denying them.
Draft picks based on skin color? Seems ridiculous.
It is ridiculous. Affirmative action doesn’t work. It is virtue signaling and nothing more.
Except it has worked… Because before the rule the their was only one Black Head Coach of note, in the league and almost no Black executives…
And how many are there now? In all that time… no. It doesn’t work. The owner of the business will hire the best person for the job that he thinks is out there. And usually he will be wrong. And that is on him
Completely agree with you. It’s a ridiculous, total BS rule.
The spirit of the rule is to ensure that qualified candidates that are not white males are not excluded from hiring searches for FOs and HC positions.
It is not a rule requiring teams to hire people based on race and gender.
The rule does incentivize teams that do hire people that are not white males, but doesn’t make it mandatory. The issue fans should have are with the teams trying to circumvent the rule by bringing in a token interview candidate just to satisfy the rule so they can hire their buddy, who could be (not is) less qualified than the buddy they hire.
Sorry I meant the last part should read “less qualified that that token candidate”
Why would an organization need to incentivize hiring any candidate qualified or not, based on the color of their skin?