NFL proposal would improve teams' draft slots if they hire minority coaches

The National Football League next week will vote on a proposal to give teams more favorable draft slots if they hire minority coaches, an effort to increase racial balance in a league some have argued is too favorable to white men. 

The proposed rule, detailed on the NFL's website, would permit teams to move up six slots in the third round of the draft if they hire a minority coach. A team would leap ahead 10 spots if it hired a nonwhite individual for its general manager. If teams did both, the increase would be a whopping 16 spots. 

The improved slot rankings would go into effect two seasons after a coach was hired. 

The NFL's draft is conducted across seven rounds, with each of the league's 32 teams getting one pick per round. The previous season's worst teams are allowed to pick first, while that season's Super Bowl winners go last. 

The league has been working for years to increase minority representation in the upper echelons of team management. Administrators in 2003 implemented the "Rooney Rule," named after former Pittsburgh Steelers owner Dan Rooney, which stipulated that teams must interview minority candidates when filling head coaching and senior management jobs. That rule does not mandate a hiring quota, however.