The NFL owners have voted and announced new incentives for teams to hire more minorities into upper-level leadership positions...but it comes with a LITTLE catch. If a minority candidate from one team is hired into a GM or head coaching role on a new team, the original team the candidate worked for (not the team actually doing the hiring) will be awarded 3rd-round comp picks in the 2 drafts to follow.

Confused? Let's put it this way. If the Cowboys hire a great minority coach that previously worked for the Giants, the GIANTS get 3rd round draft picks for the next 2 drafts, not the Cowboys. The competition is actually rewarded for your efforts to promote a minority, thereby de-motivating anybody from wanting to promote any minority coaches. It's crazy.

Don't get me wrong, I understand the NFL is going to pursue diversity in the coaching forum regardless of what any of us think, but why not incentivize the teams that are actually doing the hiring, instead of their rivals? That would seem to make sense, right?

The NFL said that the goal is to increase the talent pool, more than it is to increase the actual promotions. Basically, it's a great incentive for teams to hire and develop young minority assistants, but potentially a terrible incentive for a rival team to hire the candidate you trained and developed and then give the rival two 3rd round picks.

The NFL had four minority head coaches and two minority general managers when the 2020 season began. Troy Vincent, the executive Vice President of football operations discussed the new incentive with ESPN, saying:

"That just complements part of the overall collection of the things that we're doing, to try to increase mobility among in particular Black coaches and females as well in the coach and the GM front. I'm looking forward to seeing what the offseason has to bring in the hiring cycle."

NTB has received exclusive live footage showing the Patriots scouting out their additional 3rd round picks: