The Raiders have interviewed incumbent tight ends coach Bobby Johnson for their head coaching position, according to Adam Caplan of SiriusXM (Twitter link). Johnson is reportedly one of two minority candidates Oakland has met with in order to satisfy the NFL’s Rooney Rule, reports Josina Anderson of ESPN.com (Twitter link).
Oakland, of course, is widely expected to hire ESPN commentator Jon Gruden as its next head coach. But the Rooney Rule stipulates that each team interview at least one minority candidate when going through a coaching search. Johnson fulfills that requirement, as does at least one other unnamed minority coach.
Johnson has been a coach since 1995, when he began his career as a graduate assistant at Akron, and entered the NFL in 2010. Since that time, he’s worked with offensive lines and tight ends during stops in Buffalo, Jacksonville, and Detroit. Per Caplan, Johnson “has command, is a good teacher, and players respond to him.”
This is pointless why waste these people’s time?
If nothing else, there is value for a coach to go through the process so that he can be better prepared for a real interview down the line.
Yes I ageee, so dumb
If Goodell wanted to do one positive thing as commish, get rid of this nonsense.
one positive thing? I bet the the owners would argue he’s done billion$ of positive things.
one positive thing? I bet the the owners would argue he’s done billion$ of positive things.
The Rooney Rule in theory is a good rule but simply can’t be efficiently put into practice in all cases. in the case of the raiders, it’s clearly made a farce of the intent of the rule
OG Bobby Johnson (maybe I’m too young for anyone else to get it)
Rooney Rule taken care of ! Now they can go ahead
and hire Jon Gruden without getting fined!