As the NFL hopes to promote racial diversity with its head coaches, top assistants and front office executives, the league can look to one game this week as a shining example of why more work is needed toward the effort.
Sunday's game between Miami Dolphins coach Brian Flores and Los Angeles Chargers coach Anthony Lynn — two of the NFL's five Black coaches and six minority coaches in the league — will be the only matchup between Black head coaches during the 2020 season.
The NFL passed a proposal earlier this week that provides incentives to teams to cultivate minority candidates for top level positions in front offices and coaching staffs. If those minority candidates are hired away, teams would be compensated with future draft picks.
The effort sounds appealing in theory. But both coaches know getting one of those positions comes down to having the opportunity to interview, get hired and prove themselves.
"I've always said there are many, many worthy minority coaches in this league that have leadership qualities, that are smart, are great teachers and can help young people, or young men, become the best versions of themselves," Flores said this week.
"I see that on a weekly basis when I talk to coaches on the field pregame and postgame. They are out there. They just need an opportunity. Thankfully, I was afforded one. I think there are plenty of minority coaches out there who would take advantage of the opportunity if it presented itself."
The Dolphins remain the most diverse team in the NFL with Flores, general manager Chris Grier and assistant general manager Marvin Allen in top roles.
Grier was the NFL's only Black general manager before the Cleveland Browns hired Andrew Berry last offseason.
Along with Flores and Lynn, Pittsburgh Steelers coach Mike Tomlin and Washington's Ron Rivera were the NFL's only other minority coaches before the total rose this season.
The Atlanta Falcons named Raheem Morris, 43, as their interim coach, while longtime and respected coach Romeo Crennel, 73, was named as the Houston Texans' interim coach.
Morris, who is 3-1 since taking over, and Kansas City Chiefs offensive coordinator Eric Bienenemy, who helped groom star quarterback Patrick Mahomes, and Buffalo Bills defensive coordinator Leslie Frazier are among some top Black candidates who could be hired as head coaches at season's end.
Tomlin, who passed Tony Dungy earlier this month for most wins by a Black coach (141), and Rivera, who is of Puerto Rican and Mexican descent, will coach the only other game between minority coaches this season when Pittsburgh and Washington meet in Week 13.
Still, the disparity between Black and minority coaches and top front office executives and their counterparts remains widely apparent.
The NFL altered its Rooney Rule earlier this year, which now requires teams interview at least two external minority candidates for head coaching openings and at least one minority candidate for any senior football operations positions, general manager jobs or a coordinator job.
The NFL also hopes its proposal, which will reward teams with compensatory draft picks if minority assistants or personnel executives become head coaches or general managers elsewhere, can help.
"I know our league and our owners, they are for diversity and they want that in the National Football League," Lynn said. "This is going to help qualified, minority candidates to get opportunities that they never wouldn't have gotten. I'm all for it."
Flores and Lynn, who met roughly two years ago at a coaching symposium, shared their mutual respect before Sunday's matchup.
"I think he has leadership qualities that are out of this world," Flores said of Lynn, whose Chargers are 2-6 and have lost all six games by a touchdown or less.
"His teams are tough. They are physical. And there are a lot of things that I took from him that I try to bring here, that I try to implement here. A lot of respect for him."
Both coaches also met last season, when Lynn's Chargers beat Flores' Dolphins 30-10 in Week 4 of Miami's extensive rebuilding effort in 2019.
Lynn is preparing for a different Dolphins team Sunday, one that sits second in the AFC East and is in the AFC playoff picture for the first time since 2016.
"I'm not surprised at all that he's turning that organization around. He's a leader. He's a helluva football coach. And he's going to be around for a long time. We're going to have to deal with him in this league," Lynn said of Flores.
"He's doing an outstanding job right now. I cannot say enough good things about him. I'm happy for him. But at the same time, after Sunday I want to be the happy one and not him."
