After a one-week investigation, the NFL has ruled that the Raiders didn't violate the league's Rooney Rule during the search process that led them to hire Jon Gruden as their head coach earlier this month.
The Rooney Rule was put in place to make sure each team gives a serious interview to at least one minority candidate when there's a coaching job open or a or a high-ranking football operations job available. According to the league, the Raiders fulfilled their obligation after firing Jack Del Rio on Jan. 1.
"The NFL confirmed that its review of the hiring of Oakland Raiders head coach Jon Gruden complied with the Rooney Rule and that the club conducted bona fide interviews with minority candidates as part of its search process," the league said in a statement.
To comply with the Rooney Rule, the Raiders interviewed USC offensive coordinator Tee Martin and the team's former tight ends coach, Bobby Johnson, before signing Gruden to a 10-year, $100 million deal on Jan. 10.
The NFL's ruling that the Raiders complied with the rule will likely raise at least a few eyebrows around the league, especially since Davis has already admitted that the team agreed to a deal with Gruden before Del Rio was even fired. If the Raiders had an agreement in place with Gruden, then it appears they at least violated the spirit of the Rooney Rule, which is why the Fritz Pollard Alliance called for an investigation in the first place.
"As soon as we learned of the reports, we formally requested that the NFL thoroughly investigate the matter to conclusively determine whether the Rooney Rule was violated -- and if it was violated, to impose an appropriate punishment," the alliance told NFL.com last week.
As things stand though, the Raiders won't be facing any NFL punishment after being cleared on Friday.
