NFL Notes: Rooney Rule, Jets, Packers

January 21, 2018

Rooney Rule

According to Mark Maske of the Washington Post, the Fritz Pollard Alliance will seek stricter future enforcement of the Rooney Rule and will ask the NFL to implement other reforms related to employment opportunities for minority coaches.

“The goal for us is strengthening the rule and everything around it, the whole equal opportunity effort,” said Cyrus Mehri, an attorney for the Fritz Pollard Alliance.

Mehri said that they don’t want to change the rule as much as they will push to have it more stringently enforced going forward.

Another area of focus for the Fritz Pollard Alliance is to have the league “redouble the effort” to improve the diversity of the NFL’s offensive coordinators, which happens to be a position that tends to lead to more head coach hires.

“We’d like to use this to really push hard to strengthen the rule and strengthen the opportunities,” Mehri said.

Jets

Rich Cimini of ESPN would be surprised if the Jets cut WR Robby Anderson loose after his second arrest in as many seasons.
Cimini adds that his sense is that HC Todd Bowles will give Anderson another chance to redeem himself if he shows remorse and demonstrates a willingness to make changes in his life.
Although, Cimini admits there’s likely zero tolerance from here on in terms of any other issues with Anderson.
If the Jets target a receiver in free agency and stick with a West Coast offense, Cimini suggests Allen Robinson as the best fit for them.
Even so, Cimini says that the Jets have so many roster needs right now that he’d be surprised if they made receiver a high priority.

Packers

Pete Dougherty of PackersNews.com writes that the Packers could make a splash in free agency by targeting a tight end.
Dougherty mentions that HC Mike McCarthy clearly values the tight end position, but they don’t have much on their roster outside of Lance Kendricks and Richard Rodgers, who will be a free agent in the coming months.
The most notable free agent tight ends this offseason are Jimmy Graham, Tyler Eifert, Trey Burton, Ed Dickson and Luke Wilson.
We have most of these tight ends featured in our Top 100 – 2018 NFL Free Agents list.