Another Test for the NFL: Will Anyone Sign a Gay Player?
cut by the Las Vegas Raiders this week. He was released, according to the Raiders, for salary cap reasons. He had a hefty $7 million contract, and his contribution to the team didn’t merit that amount of money, NFL insiders say.At the beginning of this year, the Steelers had the only Black coach in the NFL.
In February, the Houston Texans signed veteran Black coach Lovie Smith, so now there are two.To be a Black head coach, to have one hand, and to be an out gay player are seemingly disadvantages for tenure in the NFL at the moment.
To be very clear, I am not equating a disability with being Black and/or gay, but history says if you have a disability, you have a better chance of landing with an NFL team.The league was caught in a firestorm of controversy when it had only one Black NFL coach at the end of last year.
The so-called Rooney rule, named for the Steelers' late owner Ambassador Dan Rooney, says that each NFL team must interview one Black candidate when hiring a new coach.
