The Jacksonville Jaguars have been the talk of the NFL mediascape the past few days. The Jags finally let of 0f general manager Trent Baalke after his presence appeared to cost the organization its chances at multiple top head coach candidates.
However, after Baalke’s dismissal, one of those candidates, Liam Coen, was back in the fold.
The kicker? Coen had already agreed in principle to return to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in a deal that would make him the highest-paid offensive coordinator in NFL history.
As a result, the Jaguars had to conduct their meetings with Coen shrouded in secrecy.
“The secrecy over the visit did serve two theoretical purposes. One, obviously, it would preserve the Tampa offer for Coen, which, again, was contingent on the OC not visiting Jacksonville. Two, it allowed the Jaguars to satisfy the Rooney Rule,” reported Sports Illustrated on Friday.
“Going into Thursday, the Jags only had one minority candidate in for an in-person interview—Saleh’s first was in-person. They needed two to comply, so Graham was slated to come Thursday for the other. But the Jags didn’t want word of their plans getting out, which could cause Graham to cancel.”
Fans on social media reacted to the sinister move.
“Rooney rule making the nfl infinitely more racist is something,” one fan wrote on Twitter.
“The Rooney rule was supposed to bring balance to the force not tear it apart!” one fan added.
“this is totally ridiculous but i also dont know what to do about it. teams flat out dont care, they set their sights on one guy and if hes white theyll do the bare minimum to satisfy the rules and get their guy. bleak stuff,” one fan added.
It’ll be interesting to see if Jacksonville faces punishment.
