[dirk digler]

Originally Posted by OnTheWarpath58

Who we could have interviewed this week, as they were on a bye - and didn't.

Telling?

I think we were all wrong about the NFL policy. I was under impression they could interview them during the bye week at least but the NFL has confirmed that club execs can't be interviewed at all until their teams season is over

Tony Grossi of the Cleveland Plain Dealer originally reported on Tuesday that McKay would be interviewed this week. Grossi explained that the Browns are “able to interview McKay while the Falcons are still involved in the playoffs because club executives are not subjected to the same league restrictions as coaches.”

The reality, however, is that front office employees are off limits until their current teams’ seasons end.

NFL spokesman Greg Aiello quoted the rule for us on Tuesday, and he reiterated its general application to all front-office employees in an e-mail exchange today. (We had promised Greg that we wouldn’t bother him on New Year’s Day. So much for the New Year’s resolution that, moving forward, we will always keep all promises.)

As Aiello told us on Tuesday: “There is a general prohibition on contacting a club about one of its employees during the season. It states: ‘Unless otherwise provided for in this Policy, no club may request permission to discuss employment with a non-player, non-coach employee of another club, whether or not that employee is under contract, during the employer club’s playing season, defined as the period from the opening of preseason training camp through the club’s final game of the season, including postseason if applicable.’”