Did the New England Patriots violate the Rooney Rule in hiring Mike Vrabel? Uncover the controversy shaking up their hiring process.

In searching for the successor to Jerod Mayo, the New England Patriots adhered to the ‘Rooney Rule’ — not in practice, but merely in principle.

The New England Patriots reportedly interviewed a pair of head coaching candidates on Tuesday, as both Byron Leftwich and Pep Hamilton were reported to have met with the team about their head coaching vacancy.

The Patriots spoke with an under-the-radar candidate for their head coaching vacancy on Tuesday. Pep Hamilton was in Foxborough for an interview, the team announced. The 50-year-old former offensive coordinator is well-traveled and was most recently the Texans in 2022, but has been out of the league for the past two seasons.

Ryan Clark, former Super Bowl champion and ESPN analyst, criticizes the New England Patriots for their handling of the Rooney Rule during their recent head-coaching search, reigniting debates about NFL diversity efforts.

Super Bowl champion Ryan Clark blasted the New England Patriots on "Inside the NFL" for how they complied with the NFL's Rooney Rule when they hired Mike Vrabel.

The Patriots are scheduled to interview Mike Vrabel on Thursday and are also expected to virtually interview Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson later this week.

The Patriots announced they completed interviews with Byron Leftwich and Pep Hamilton on Tuesday. That makes them the first team to comply with the Rooney Rule, which requires teams to conduct in-person interviews with at least two minority candidates.

This comes two days after New England's owner, Robert Kraft, announced that head coach Jerod Mayo was fired following the team's disappointing 4-13 season.

The New England Patriots announced they have completed interviews with former Buccaneers OC Byron Leftwich and former Texans OC Pep Hamilton for their head coaching vacancy.  Both interviews were today.

The Rooney Rule is an NFL policy that requires teams to interview ethnic-minority candidates for head coaching and senior football operation jobs. The rule was created to help coaches who are minorities but ESPN’s Ryan Clark isn’t convinced it’s effective.

For my Cousin's 50th birthday, I caked him a DJ TURNTABLE! Chocolate cake, Italian meringue buttercream, chocolate ganache and lots of black fondant and gum paste. This cake took DAYS to make, and I almost gave up.