Following the explosive lawsuit filed by former Miami Dolphins head coach Brian Flores, the NFL has established the Diversity Advisory Committee.
The panel, which was announced on Monday, will look into the league’s club diversity policies, with a particular focus on senior-level coaching and front-office positions. Houston Texans general manager Rick Smith will lead the initiative alongside football, business, academics, and legal analysts who will all lend their expertise to ensure equality within the league.
The commission arrives after Flores accused the organization of discrimination and only interviewing him for coaching positions to meet their diversity criteria. He feels that the NFL does not put Black coaches in a position to be head coaches and that their interviews are simply performative. Currently, the NFL only has five minority head coaches.
Specifically, Flores has accused the New York Giants of only interviewing him for a coaching position to meet their minority candidate quota. He also claims that Denver Broncos General Manager John Elway was hungover when he interviewed for the team’s head coach position. However, Elway has adamantly refuted this. Flores’s lawsuit remains ongoing.
According to NFL.com, the organization is expected to implement other diversity-related reforms before the 2023 hiring cycle that will fuel the success of the Diversity Advisory Committee.
