League may follow Dolphins’ lead on minority hires

The Miami Dolphins lead the NFL in minority leadership with coach Brian Flores and general manager Chris Grier the only minority tandem in the league.

The NFL could soon influence other teams to follow suit.

Team owners will vote on a resolution that could reward teams for hiring minority coaches or lead football executives with an improved draft pick, according to a Friday report by the NFL Network.

If an NFL team hires a minority coach, a third-round pick in the draft could improve by six spots in the draft order before the coach’s second season. If a team hires a minority general manager or team president, that draft pick would improve by 10 spots.

If a team fills both positions with minority candidates in the same year, the move up in the draft order would result in 16 spots, which could elevate the third-round pick into the second round.

The proposal, submitted by the league’s diversity committee, will be voted on during a virtual league meeting Tuesday. Votes from 24 of 32 owners would be required to pass.

The Dolphins might have a claim to be retroactively rewarded for their minority hires.

Dolphins owner Steve Ross appointed Grier to oversee football operations after the 2018 season. Grier’s first hire was Flores,

who joined the Dolphins in Feb. 2019, shortly after leading the New England Patriots defense to a Super Bowl title.

Grier was the NFL’s only black general manager in 2019. The Cleveland Browns hired Andrew Berry to be their new lead football executive earlier this year.

Flores, who is black and of Honduran descent, is one of three black coaches in the NFL, joined by Mike Tomlin (Pittsburgh Steelers) and Anthony Lynn (Los Angeles Chargers), and one of two Hispanic coaches, joined by Washington Redskins coach Ron Rivera.

Grier and Flores are in the midst of their second season together as leaders of the

Dolphins’ franchise rebuild in 2020.

NFL teams would also be rewarded for retaining their minority candidates, another incentive inspired because the Arizona Cardinals fired coach Steve Wilks after one season in 2018, and Vance Joseph was fired after coaching the Denver Broncos from 2017-18.

If a team retains its minority coach or executive through two seasons, their fourth-round pick could move up five spots in the draft before their third season. Retaining a minority quarterbacks coach after one year would net a fourth-round compensatory pick.

If a team loses a minority candidate to another team, they would be rewarded with compensatory picks, which are typically given to teams who lose valuable players in free agency.

If a minority leaves to become head coach or general manager, a third-round pick would be the compensation. If a minority coordinator is hired away, a fifthround compensatory pick would be awarded to the former team.

The NFL will also table proposals to remove a rule that allows teams to block assistant coaches from interviewing for other teams’ coordinator positions, requiring multiple interviews of minority candidates for head-coaching positions and expanding the Rooney Rule to include coordinator positions, according to the report.

The Rooney Rule, first implemented in 2003, requires every team to interview one qualified minority candidate for a head-coaching job.

NFL commissioner Roger Goodell vowed to improve the league’s lack of minority hires during a press conference before the Super Bowl in Miami earlier this year.

“Clearly, we are not where we want to be on this level,” Goodell said in February. “We have a lot of work that’s gone into not only the Rooney Rule but our policies overall. It’s clear we need to change and do something different.”