The 49ers lost Robert Saleh to the Jets on Thursday night, but they added some additional draft capital upon his departure.
In accordance with the NFL’s Rooney Rule revision, which incentivizes teams to groom minority head-coaching candidates and front office personnel, San Francisco receives compensatory third-round picks in the 2021 and 2022 drafts with Saleh accepting New York’s head-coaching position.
“The employer-club of a minority employee who has been hired by another club as its Head Coach or the Primary Football Executive (General Manager) shall receive Draft choice compensation in the form of a compensatory Draft pick in the third round of each of the next two Drafts for an employee as either a Head Coach or Primary Football executive, or for the next three drafts if it has two employees hired for both positions,” 2020 resolution JC-2A states.
It remains to be seen when exactly the 49ers will be picking with their compensatory selection, as there are still other head-coaching hires to be made and compensatory picks for last offseason’s free agency on the horizon. According to Over The Cap, six teams are slated to get third-round compensatory picks in the 2021 NFL draft.
Saleh, who is of Lebanese descent, joins Brian Flores, Ron Rivera and Mike Tomlin as the fourth active NFL head coach of color. He is also the first Muslim head coach and the third Arab American head coach in league history, joining ex-Bears coach Abe Gibron and ex-Jets coach Rich Kotite.
