Florida Picks A Stupid Fight Over The NFL’s Rooney Rule

In a move that perhaps stems from restlessness or jealousy over the federal government getting all the attention, the state of Florida has called for the NFL to get more racist. James Uthmeier, the state’s attorney general, announced on March 25 that he would be sending a letter to the league to demand it get rid of “the so-called Rooney Rule,” throwing into question his understanding of what “so-called” means. Dan Rooney definitely existed.

“The NFL’s use of the Rooney Rule violates Florida law by requiring race-based considerations in hiring,” Uthmeier said in his video statement. “Florida law is clear: Hiring decisions cannot be based on race, and the Rooney Rule mandates race-based interviews and incentivizes race-based decisions.”

This is part of a larger campaign waged by Uthmeier since he was appointed in 2025. With the blessing of Governor Ron DeSantis, the AG has used his position to go after companies with diversity, equity, and inclusion policies. Uthmeier has filed lawsuits against Starbucks and Target, the latter over a 2023 Pride marketing campaign that he claimed was defrauding the company’s investors. Disregard that Uthmeier himself had a key role in the Hope Florida scandal, in which $10 million from a state Medicaid settlement was allegedly funneled into a political committee that he oversaw before the 2024 election. Also disregard that Uthmeier is running for a full four-year term this November.

Because Florida is home to the Miami Dolphins, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and Jacksonville Jaguars, Uthmeier feels he has the authority to threaten the NFL into revoking a nationwide policy that requires minority candidates be interviewed for head coaching and senior front-office positions. The timing of this tantrum is a bit confusing, because the hiring cycle concluded a couple months ago, and the Rooney Rule had minimal effect. Ten head coaches were hired by NFL teams, and only one of them was a minority candidate: Robert Saleh, now of the Tennessee Titans. The league currently has a total of three black head coaches.

Uthmeier did mention the league meeting happening the following week, so perhaps he was looking to force commissioner Roger Goodell to react to it publicly. Goodell’s response at Tuesday’s conference was pretty standard. Via ESPN:

“One thing that doesn’t change is our values, and we believe that diversity has been a benefit to the National Football League,” Goodell said. “We are well aware of the laws and where the laws are changing or evolving. We think the Rooney Rule is consistent with those.”

[…]

“It’s intended to try to help, and it’s been used by industries far beyond football and far beyond the United States to help identify candidates, and a diverse set of candidates bring in better talent and give us an opportunity to hire the best talent, ultimately,” Goodell said.

It’s not surprising that DeSantis and his appointed goon are theatrically attacking some nebulous concept of “woke,” but this specific fight betrays a distinct lack of ball knowledge. If this year’s hiring results weren’t enough proof, the Rooney Rule is already a half-assed way to protect the predominantly Republican NFL ownership class from their worst impulses. The most rigorous part of the policy is that each team was required to hire a minority offensive assistant coach in 2022; otherwise, it’s a firm suggestion to interview non-white candidates for key roles, with no obligation to hire them.

And it still doesn’t work! There have been many instances where an NFL team, looking for a new head coach, clearly has one specific candidate in mind, yet goes through the motions of interviewing some other guys who know they have no chance at the job. It’s already prompted litigation: Defensive coordinator Brian Flores has an ongoing discrimination lawsuit against the league, scheduled to go to court this month. Hell, the Rooney Rule exists because the NFL didn’t want to get sued by Johnnie Cochran and Cyrus Mehri back in 2002, when they pointed out the same problem the league continues to have with its hiring practices to this day. Uthmeier’s dumb ass doesn’t realize that this policy is already very thin ass-covering, intended to not effect any permanent change in how owners pick coaches and GMs. The league is already in lockstep with Republicans on being pro-genocide and anti-anti-racism. What more does he want?