Chicago Bears GM calls NFL’s race-based hiring ‘strange’ as league struggles with DEI incentive

An NFL rule that rewards teams for developing talent along racial lines is getting put in the spotlight.

The rule, know as the Rooney Rule, is causing confusion among the Chicago Bears’ C-suite employees, who are expecting compensation for one of their staff members jumping ship to the Atlanta Falcons. In the NFL, if a team develops a “diverse” employee who then lands a certain type of role with another team, the first team is awarded draft picks by the league.

‘I’ll be honest. I think it is a little strange.’

Bears general manager Ryan Poles was asked about the rule, as the team is currently in limbo about receiving draft picks for former assistant general manager Ian Cunningham, who is now the general manager of the Atlanta Falcons.

“I’ll be honest. I think it is a little strange,” Poles told reporters at the NFL Scouting Combine. “I mean, at the end of the day, you should want to develop your staff regardless of the color of their skin.”

“I think that’s important,” Poles continued. “I think we take a lot of pride with the Bears on how we have our setup, and I take a lot of pride in that. So to be compensated for that’s a little strange. I mean, I saw the Chiefs get a pick because of me, and then I watched that player go and play.”

When Poles left the Kansas City Chiefs in 2022 — where he was the executive director of player personnel — to become the Bears’ general manager, the Chiefs received two third-round draft picks simply because he is black, NBC Sports reported.

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The bizarre rule comes directly from the NFL’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee, previously called the Workplace Diversity Committee. The rule states that teams must conduct in-person interviews with at least two “minority and/or female” candidates when hiring for a general manager or head coach, as well as at least one “diverse” person when hiring for senior-level positions.

Teams are even rewarded if their developed talent takes a job at another team. This comes in the form of third-round draft picks if an employee becomes a head coach or general manager.

The rule states that in 2020, “team owners approved a proposal rewarding teams who developed minority talent that went on to become GMs or head coaches across the league. If a team lost a minority executive or coach to another team, that team would receive a third-round compensatory pick for two years.”

The controversy with Cunningham’s move to the Falcons is that the Bears are being told they will not be compensated because his new role is not that of a primary decision-maker.

“The policy for receiving picks pertains to the head coach or the primary football executive,” chief NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy told Fox 32 in a statement.

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Brian Cassella/Chicago Tribune/Tribune News Service via Getty Images

“The primary football executive position was filled by Matt Ryan,” the NFL spokesman added.

Poles stopped short of supporting the rule in his recent remarks, saying that if the league thinks “that’s what’s best to help incentivize, then that’s what they wanted to do.”

He added, “Like I said, that’s not the purpose of why we develop our staff.”

However, according to OutKick, the Bears are still submitting a review to the league in hopes of getting their draft picks, with Poles saying that if the Rooney Rule is in place, then he considers it to be “very clear” in terms of what should happen.

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