Former Cincinnati Bengals head coach Marvin Lewis was one of many people who weren’t happy with the NFL’s attempt to try and get minority people hired with a revision of the Rooney Rule.
“It was offensive, definitely offensive,” said former Ravens defensive coordinator and Cincinnati Bengals head coach Marvin Lewis via the Baltimore Sun. “It was like having Jim Crow laws.”
The NFL is made up of nearly 70 percent African American players, but there are only three black head coaches and two general managers.
Lewis, however, does like that the rule changes to where two minority coaches have to be interviewed before a team makes a decision.
“We had come a long way as far as assistant coaches, but we never made any inroads in management,” Lewis said. “This will be a plus requiring more than one minority to be interviewed because it will cause them to take a deeper dive. This will allow more minorities more opportunities.”
Lewis took particular issue with teams receiving higher draft picks for hiring minority candidates.
“Draft picks are like gold,” Lewis said. “That doesn’t make a lot of sense to me. As a head coach, no one wants to be hired or put in that position.”
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The draft pick compensation has since been tabled and will be discussed at a later date.