Yes, the Raiders complied with the Rooney Rule in their search for a new General Manager — much in the same way they did in their coaching search last year.
Before the decision to add NFL Network analyst Mike Mayock as Jon Gruden’s sidekick-as-long-as-things-go-well, the Raiders did conduct a round of interviews to comply with the league’s guidelines which are supposed to create opportunities for minority candidates.
A league source tells PFT one was with former Giants college scouting director Marc Ross, who has gotten a number of G.M. interviews over the years, but was fired when Dave Gettleman took over in New York.
Also, ESPN.com’s Dan Graziano adds that former Eagles personnel man Trey Brown also interviewed for the post. Brown is currently working for the Birmingham team in the Alliance of American Football. Former Giants G.M. Jerry Reese turned down the opportunity to interview for the job.
To run the risk of putting too fine a point on it, there was never any chance either of these two were ever getting the job, in the same way that Tee Martin and Bobby Johnson weren’t actual candidates for the coach opening last year (which wasn’t really open until Gruden accepted it).
Of course, owner Mark Davis has already declared himself immune from the rule, to the extent that he was involved in the process at all. And the league was totally satisfied with last year’s process, in which a college coordinator and a tight ends coach were the candidates for a job that included a $100 million contract.
As the number of minority coaches and personnel men shrink in the NFL, the league continues to have a problem creating a pipeline of valid candidates, and fostering their growth. Until that happens, sending guys in for pro forma interviews only serves to make teams feel good about participating in a bad process.