NFL owners voted to approve a plan on Tuesday with the hope of strengthening diversity in the league. The idea is to encourage the development of minority coaching and front office candidates among NFL clubs.
Upon NFLPA approval, resolution 2020 Resolution JC-2A will see teams compensated with future draft picks when minority members of their coaching or front office staff are hired into new positions as head coaches or general managers.
Here is a look at how it’ll work according to USA TODAY’s Jarrett Bell:
“A team that loses a minority assistant coach who becomes a head coach or loses a personnel executive who becomes a general manager will receive third-round compensatory picks in each of the next two drafts.
“A team that loses two minority staffers to head coach and general manager positions would receive three third-round picks.”
If you’ll recall, the NFL originally proposed a plan which would reward teams for hiring minority coaches. That proposal was met with criticism, but this one has been more well-received. The NFL already rewards teams for developing players who enter the free-agent pool and become contributors elsewhere, so why not coaches and general managers?
The Kansas City Chiefs certainly stand to benefit from this plan, mostly because this is something they’ve been doing already. Andy Reid has historically been one of the great developers of coaches within the league. His coaching tree is vast and his offensive coordinator happens to be overdue for a head-coaching job. Eric Bieniemy is the hottest head-coaching candidate out there. You’ve got fans from the Falcons, Jets, and Texans clamoring for their team to hire him on a daily basis and the season hasn’t yet ended.
But Bieniemy isn’t the only staff member that Kansas City has groomed for a high-level position. Tim Terry (Director of Pro Personnel) and Ryan Poles (Assistant Director of Player Personnel) are both candidates to become general managers in the future. One could even follow Bieniemy to his next gig.
If this resolution can help the NFL become a more diverse space, while simultaneously supplementing draft capital, it’ll be considered a great success from within and outside the league.
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