Roger Goodell says NFL will cooperate with Florida AG probe into Rooney Rule and DEI hiring programs

NFL commissioner Roger Goodell was trying to play offense on Tuesday when he spoke with reporters about civil rights issues at the league's spring meeting despite the fact he and the league are clearly in retreat mode.

The commissioner said the NFL is cooperating with Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier after being issued a wide-ranging subpoena last week that orders the league to deliver reams of records related to the Rooney Rule and other DEI programs to the Florida Department of Legal Affairs in Tallahassee on June 12 at precisely 9 a.m.

Goodell also complimented the Accelerator Program — which gives potential future coaches and front office leaders a chance to meet with various club owners — that took place during the meeting, painting a program that before this year excluded white men as one that now promotes the "best of the best," regardless of race.

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"I think we have been very clear about our programs, and we obviously evaluate them all the time, not just for how they get better, but also to make sure that they're consistent with the law," Goodell said in discussing the league's interactions with Florida's AG on the Rooney Rule.

"We're engaging with the Florida attorney general and will continue to. We'll share everything we're doing with them. We think it's certainly within the law, but also something very positive."

Uthmeier last week said in a letter to NFL general counsel Ted Ullyot that "the Rooney Rule and the NFL's 'inclusive hiring' policies — and the NFL's representations of those policies — continue to raise significant concerns under Florida law."

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Under such scrutiny, it's not surprising Goodell has changed the manner in which he describes the Accelerator Program.

What the commissioner previously said about the league's diversity hiring efforts was a full-throated endorsement of those.

"I think we've proven ourselves that it does make the NFL better," Goodell previously said.

That has been modified. Now it's better candidates, regardless of race, make the NFL better.

"There are a lot of candidates up there that are diverse, that are getting the opportunity to improve themselves and to get exposure, to get an opportunity," Goodell said of the Accelerator Program.

"So, the people that are up there are the best of the best and they are a very diverse group, but they are the best of the best. And what we're trying to do here is to make them even better and to give them opportunities. And that's what I heard is that, one, they appreciate the opportunity; two, it was helpful in that."

After previously excluding White men from the program, this year's Accelerator Program included 17 White men in the group of 34 participants whose names were released by the NFL. The program also included one White woman, 14 Black men and two biracial men.

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