By Robert E. Wallace Jr, of Thompson Coburn
If you are looking to make headlines, the easiest target to take aim at is the dominant sports league, The National Football League. And that is exactly what Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier decided to do. AG Uthmeier knows that no one will pay much attention to his opinions regarding the Dolphins decision to move on from Tua Tagovailoa or whether Jaquar’s Trevor Lawrence has established himself as a top tier NFL quarterback or whether Baker Mayfield is capable of taking the Buccaneers to the next level and compete for championships.
Instead Uthmeier decided to try and get his moment of national fame by attacking the NFL with a threatening letter regarding its equal opportunity policies, which Uthmeier wrongly characterizes as “its race and sex-based hiring policies.” The Rooney Rule, the cornerstone of the NFL’s DEI initiatives and its related policies, were initiated to “increase the number of minorities hired in head coach, general manager and coordinator positions.” The rule, however, was not and has not operated as a mandate to hire minorities or woman for any of those positions. In fact, this past off-season there were ten head coach openings, and the only one hired that was a person of color was the Tennessee Titans Robert Salah. Further evidence shows there were three general managers fired during or after the 2025-26 season and all three were Black men. The facts clearly demonstrate that the League policies are not creating any type of hiring advantage or inherent job security for men of color or women.
The NFL concluded that opportunities were not as available to minorities as they were to white men. They explained the deficiency to the fact that decision-makers lacked knowledge and familiarity with qualified non-white candidates. Consequently, the NFL took several steps to remove those excuses with programs like the Front Office Accelerator Program to “strengthen the pipeline of diverse candidates” and expose the under-represented to those decision-makers for these positions.
The NFL policies are, again, not a mandate to hire people of color or women, nor does it establish a quota of those that have to be hired. The results in improving its diversity in its non-player ranks, at best, have been mixed and white men have not been discriminated against or penalized by these corrective guidelines. To remain at the status quo or to return to what were truly discriminatory practices is and should be unacceptable.
AG Uthmeier wrongly alleges that a franchise cannot hire a qualified candidate if he “happens to belong to a particular race” (white) He outrageously calls black and brown candidates as members of “certain approved races” and are “guaranteed employment for certain positions.” The NFL current employee pool proves this assertion is not true.
Businesses, and the NFL are clearly one of the most successful ones, make decisions that benefit their business. The NFL long and short-term game plan is to nurture the minority and female populations because the League believes that this demographic will be especially important to the future growth of the NFL. These policies are not discriminatory but instead attempt to expand opportunities by leveling the playing field and opening an inclusive tent to fair and equal employment opportunities.
Commissioner Goodell has, up to this point, been a strong advocate for the Rooney Rule and other equal opportunity initiatives, and it is critical that he remains so and encourages NFL owners to stick with initiatives that promote equal opportunity in their hiring ranks. We can only hope and will closely monitor whether the NFL stands their ground and completely ignores the Florida Attorney General and his misguided attempt to turn back the clock.
