There are, I believe, 6 black GMs in the NFL out of 30 available GM jobs (Cowboys and Bengals do not have a GM).
What is the right number?
Is racism still a problem at the GM level or is it just at the coaching level?
I'll cut the meat to the bone.
If there are people here who want to see more black GMs in the NFL, then you need more African Americans in sports analytics in all stages of football.
The New York Knicks are an interesting test case for a long suffering team looking to rebuild. On paper, former CAA power agent Leon Rose is the team president and final decision maker for the Knicks. Scott Perry, on paper, is the GM. But Brock Aller, who runs their analytics, is essentially the most powerful person in the organization. He's the guy who says this move or that move won't work against the cap and against the current CBA. He's the guy who measures out when a potential free agent will likely hit his age related decline phase and how brutal that drop will be in reality. He's the guy calculated the value of trading back and forwarding picks into the future while reducing the cap commitment to a smaller rookie salary slotting.
There used to be a chain of command for the NBA Hornets. Michael Jordan, Rod Higgins and Rich Cho. People stopped talking to Rod Higgins, who got the job for being an old friend of Jordan. He couldn't answer lots of questions that required understanding of the CBA and how the salary cap worked. They just called Rich Cho. So Higgins was forced out because he was obsolete. But no matter how talented Rich Cho was in terms of evaluating players (Look at the Grizzlies now, Cho runs their analytics, it's no accident), Jordan still made stupid decisions.
Was dumping a black guy in Rod Higgins racism? Rich Cho was simply more experienced and more suited for the more fast paced analytics driven NBA.
Speaking of the Knicks. James Dolan hired Phil Jackson, who had no previous front office experience. Insisted on using a complicated offensive scheme that had no practical feeder system at the college level. Had made many enemies in the press and around the NBA as a head coach. To boot, Jackson was close to 70 years old when he was hired. What future was there if Jackson did have a good year?
So the Zen Master, a legendary HOF head coach, failed miserably at running a front office. More proof that just because you are good at one specific job in a professional sport, it doesn't mean you are going to be great at an entirely different role.
You want more black NFL GMs? Start a league supported feeder system that spins out from Daryl Morey's MIT Sloan Sports Conference every year. Start recruiting data scientists instead of former players.
Isaiah Thomas was one of the worst things that ever happened to the New York Knicks front office. Ever. Is it racism that he was a horrifically bad GM? Is it racism he got caught in some sexual scandal with a woman working for Dolan? Is it racism he drove the old Continental Basketball Association into the ground?
Something that doesn't get discussed here is that being black doesn't make you immune from being an idiot. Some people are just idiots. Old, young, man, woman, straight, gay, white, black, yellow, purple, it comes in all kinds of different packages.
I said this over a decade ago in the Shark Pool, and it's true to this day - If you fail at the resource management aspect of the NFL, your team is already a lose cause before it plays it's first snap of the season.
Anyone ever notice that the Patriots and Ravens have historically been the two teams that have gamed the Compensation Picks system the best year after year? Do you think it matters that Belichick is white or black for that to happen? Or Ozzie Newsome to be white or black for that to happen?
If you want more black GMs in the NFL, you need rising stars who understand resource management in a modern sports environment. Stephen Ross is not poaching the best talent he can find at MIT Sloan, that doesn't automatically cast him as a stone cold racist.
Phil Jackson's Triangle Offense had no practical bearing on the NBA's modern Space And Pace style game. Hiring Jackson was not some grand sweeping conspiracy by James Dolan as a super secret KKK Exalted Cyclops. Dolan was just too stupid to hire someone actually trained to be an NBA GM and was young enough to have longevity if he was actually successful with the team.
Stupid isn't racist. It's just stupid.
If Brian Flores wants more black GMs, he should start investing in starting coding camps and math camps and statistics camps for young black kids all over America. That would do more long term good for his goal than this bizarre ill conceived lawsuit.