Fritz Pollard Alliance to Ask NFL to Investigate Washington's Recent Hires

The Fritz Pollard Alliance, which is the independent group that works with the NFL on enforcing the Rooney Rule and helping create environments conducive to diversity and inclusion, will reportedly ask the league to investigate the Washington team's recent high-profile hires.

Jason Reid of ESPN's The Undefeated reported the news, noting the group wants to see if the franchise followed the updated Rooney Rule while hiring Terry Bateman and Julie Donaldson.

Washington hired Bateman as its newest executive vice president and chief marketing officer and Donaldson as its newest senior vice president of media.

Reid explained the NFL's owners approved an expansion of the Rooney Rule on May 19 that says teams must interview "minorities and/or female applicants" and seriously consider multiple candidates before making a decision for team president and "senior executives in communications, finance, human resources, legal, football operations, sales, marketing, sponsorship, information technology and security positions."

While NBC Sports Washington noted Donaldson is set to be the first woman in league history who is a regular part of a team's radio broadcast booth, Reid noted Bateman "has a longtime business relationship with Washington owner Daniel Snyder."

This is yet another off-field headline for Washington.

On July 13, it announced it is retiring its former racist nickname and logo. Then, on July 16, Will Hobson and Liz Clarke of the Washington Post reported 15 women who are former employees of the team said they were sexually harassed by other employees between 2006 and 2019.

With that as the backdrop and how quickly the team announced the hires, Reid reported there is "doubt within the league that Washington conducted thorough hiring processes as required by the Rooney Rule."