League’s lowest score in 15 years in terms of racial, gender hiring
The NFL received its lowest overall score in racial and gender hiring practices in 15 years, according a diversity report.
The Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport released its annual racial and gender report card Wednesday, giving the NFL a B for racial hiring practices and a Cplus for gender hiring practices. This gave the NFL a combined Bminus grade for its overall score of 79.3%, a notable decrease from its score of 81.6% last year.
Most notably, the B for racial hiring practices broke a streak of nine years of earning an Aminus or higher. The NFL’s score for race was 82.3%, 6.7 percentage points lower than last year’s score of 89%. The score for gender was 76%, a 2percentagepoint increase from 2018.
“Almost all of this is attributed to drop in head coach of color and general managers of color, because we put additional weight on those positions,” Lapchick said.
Lapchick noted there are only four people of color in headcoaching positions, down from a recordtying eight to start the 2017 and 2018 seasons.
The report notes that more than 70% of the players in the league are people of color, representing a major discrepancy in comparisons with the number of coaches and general managers who are people of color.
“I think the players will have to turn their attention to this if these numbers continue to carry on,” Lapchick said. “If you’re a team that hires a white coach, you won’t think about it. But put it in context of 32 teams, it is notable.”
Mahomes watch: The Chiefs remain hopeful that injured quarterback Patrick Mahomes will be available when they play Minnesota on Sunday at Arrowhead Stadium.
Mahomes dislocated his right kneecap two weeks ago in Denver. He practiced on a limited basis last week before he was declared out on Friday. Kansas City started Matt Moore in his place against Green Bay and lost 3124 to the Packers on Sunday night.
Dalton upset: Andy Dalton disagrees with his benching by the Bengals and the way they waited until shortly before the trade deadline to inform him, leaving no time to see if another team was interested.
Head coach Zac Taylor decided Tuesday to switch to rookie Ryan Finley so the Bengals (08) can start making longterm decisions on the quarterback spot.
“I talked to everybody in the team meeting today and just said I don’t agree with the decision, but I’m here and I’m going to do my part and I’m going to be the same guy that I’ve been since I’ve got here,” the ninthyear veteran said.
Briefly: Washington interim head coach Bill Callahan says left tackle Trent Williams failed his physical because of discomfort trying to put on his helmet. Williams previously had a growth on his head removed, and the dispute that led to his holdout centered on the medical staff and handling of that situation . ... Detroit signed cornerback Michael Jackson, adding depth at the position while Darius Slay is slowed by an injury. The Lions signed Jackson off Dallas’ practice squad and released running Paul Perkins ahead of their game against the Raiders on Sunday at the Coliseum.