NEW YORK — The NFL has shifted its hiring policy in hopes of extending the duration of head-coaching searches.

Teams seeking to interview coaches currently employed by another club will now be prohibited from conducting in-person interviews with those candidates until after the divisional round of the playoffs. The previous iteration of the rule allowed in-person interviews a week earlier, after wild-card games.

The vote passed Tuesday afternoon at the NFL’s regularly scheduled league meeting in New York.

Pittsburgh Steelers team owner Art Rooney II said the league’s last delay — from pre-playoffs, to after wild card — had already proven beneficial as the NFL looks to encourage teams to hire thoughtfully and give coaching candidates increased preparation time.

“Last year we did see that the process, from start to finish, did last longer,” said Rooney, a member of the diversity, equity and inclusion committee that proposed the resolution. “Up from 13 days a few years ago. So the process is slowing down, which is one of our goals."

The league will continue to permit virtual interviews earlier, while also allowing internal candidates, and candidates not employed with a team or the NFL, to interview in person earlier.

Executives believe that the virtual interview caveat will keep tampering and rule violations at bay, executive vice president Dasha Smith said.

The Arizona Cardinals were penalized last offseason after head coach Jonathan Gannon and general manager Monti Ossenfort admitted engaging in contact before league policy permitted it. The Philadelphia Eagles, Gannon’s prior employer, collected the Cardinals’ 2024 fifth-round draft pick and swapped 2023 third-round picks (a drop of 28 spots for Arizona) to settle the violation.

The Cardinals officially named Gannon their head coach Feb. 14, two days after he coordinated the Eagles' defense in a Super Bowl loss.

League executives are wary about delaying head-coaching searches altogether until the postseason concludes, as they balance the desire to inject discipline into head-coaching searches while also allowing head coaches sufficient time to hire their own staffs in a disciplined fashion before the scouting combine kicks off in late February.

While a league release said the policy will “create a more level playing field for head coaching candidates” and “promote merit-based hires,” Smith said increased preparation time doesn’t benefit only diverse candidates.

“If you think about hiring a CEO in a week or two, that would be pretty unusual, right?” Smith said. “So it’s leading to a better process. This impacts diverse and non-diverse coaches, candidly. We really wanted to do is just have a better process for everyone.

“And then the second thing is the data shows that when you have a more intentional process, you actually end up with more diverse results.”

League leadership wants teams to diversify head coach, general manager and senior leadership positions across the league. The NFL currently has six minority head coaches, including Miami Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniel who identifies as biracial. Nine people of color are among the 32 general managers, while 14 defensive coordinators, seven special teams coordinators and five offensive coordinators identify as people of color.

The diversity, equity and inclusion committee cited the rule change’s primary purpose as one that “gives a head coach candidate more time to prepare for an interview.”

The committee’s resolution cited league goals “to promote equal employment opportunity and a diverse and inclusive workforce [to] advance significant league interests, including improved decision making, enhanced business performance, and representing the NFL as an employer of choice that hires and promotes based on merit” as the crux of its argument.

The policy amendment, which is technically now part of the anti-tampering policy, goes into effect this season for a trial period through March 31, 2025.