The NFL reportedly let the Oakland Raiders go free and clear on the Rooney Rule because of their interpretation of a contract offer that wasn’t.
The league made clear Friday that, in their eyes, the Raiders did not violate the Rooney Rule during a hiring process that started and ended with Jon Gruden. In a further explanation to ProFootballTalk’s Mike Florio on Saturday, the league said that they were satisfied that the Raiders conducted “bona fide interviews.”
“The club conducted bona fide interviews with minority candidates as part of its search process,” the statement said. “The Rooney Rule requires NFL clubs consider at least one minority candidate for the head coach position as part of the hiring process before extending an offer to any coach. We concluded that happened in this case.”
There was one remaining sticking point — namely, that owner Mark Davis admitted he had a commitment from Gruden before he fired Jack Del Rio. That Christmas Eve conversation, league sources told Florio, was determined to not have been a formal contract offer. In essence, the Raiders were allowed to reach a handshake agreement with Gruden, fire Del Rio, interview minority candidates, and then formalize the agreement with Gruden.
With that in mind, there’s no surprise that some NFL employees weren’t terribly happy with the league’s enforcement — or lack thereof — of the rule. It’s clear that the Raiders violated the spirit of the rule, if not the letter, and that sets a troubling precedent going forward.
