Clayton: Current head coach hiring cycle is bad for the NFL
Feb 4, 2022, 2:27 PM
After a sloppy and lengthy job search, the Jacksonville Jaguars got lucky and landed Doug Pederson.
Pederson is the perfect coach to work with and develop quarterback Trevor Lawrence. To get him this late in the process was a gift.
But there could be a bad ending to the coaching searches overall. At the moment, four jobs remain. Five have been my hired. My fear is there won’t be a single minority coach hired.
Minnesota is supposed to hire Kevin O’Connell from the Los Angeles Rams. Houston is looking at Josh McCown, a long-time quarterback who has never coached. New Orleans is expected to eventually promote defensive coordinator Dennis Allen. The Miami Dolphins are looking at Kellen Moore of the Dallas Cowboys and San Francisco offensive coordinator Mike McDaniel.
Brian Flores filed a blockbuster lawsuit for the hiring practices of NFL teams. How bad is it going to look if the league went from three black head coaches to only one, Mike Tomlin of the Steelers? That looks bad.
We can only hope something happens in the next few days to change that equation. It may not, though.