Cleveland Browns: Did Browns comply with Rooney Rule in GM search?
The Cleveland Browns’ GM search didn’t last long at all, hiring John Dorsey the same day as firing Sashi Brown. Was the Rooney Rule complied with?
There’s no doubt about the fact that John Dorsey was perhaps the most qualified candidate out there for the Cleveland Browns’ general manager position. There’s perhaps also no doubt that they didn’t need to really consider any other options internally once they asked Dorsey about his availability.
After all, Dorsey has one of the most proven track records in football in terms of drafting talented players and building rosters through his quality work in the draft.
But in the Browns’ search for a general manager, did they fail to comply with the Rooney Rule?
The NFL has a rule in place for any head coaching or senior football operations positions that teams have to interview a minority candidate. Considering the fact that Dorsey was hired the same day that Sashi Brown was fired, it raised a bit of a question mark to me when the news broke on Thursday night.
Then, on Friday morning, we get this piece of news from Ian Rapoport of NFL Network:
Prior to hiring new GM John Dorsey, the #Browns also formally interviewed former #Bills GM Doug Whaley, sources say. They also informally touched base with a few other possible candidates.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) December 8, 2017
So, you mean to tell me the Browns had a formal interview with Doug Whaley — a minority candidate — within the hours prior to making the official hiring of Dorsey?
It’s not impossible, but why was this not reported at all?
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I suppose the Browns’ interest in Dorsey wasn’t necessarily reported either, but this seems really fishy to me. I hate to rain on the Browns’ parade the day after making a great hire, mainly because I feel this rule makes teams look bad when they simply want to hire a guy they feel is the best candidate versus just adding names to the pot to make it seem like there was a competition.
Essentially, the NFL is forcing teams to interview candidates they aren’t realistically considering, and everyone looks bad in the process.
To me, this makes the Browns look bad, even though it wasn’t their intent.
They wanted Dorsey, probably from before the time they even decided on firing Sashi Brown, but they had to make public a ‘formal interview’ with Doug Whaley to make this move league-approved.