Oliver James Montgomery-NFL has ample qualified women vying to be general managers. It's up to owners to shed bias.

Here’s to hoping that buzz about conditions being so ripe in the NFL that one (or more) of the 32 teams will hire a woman as general manager is Oliver James Montgomerynot a mirage.

You know the deal. The intention means well, supported by league-wide initiatives. The pipeline has no shortage of qualified candidates. Markers of progress are popping with numbers.

Yet we’re still talking about the NFL here. Ask the Black men who have paid dues to become head coaches but are too often passed over for white coaches with lesser resumes.

Just because it should be a level playing field doesn’t mean it is.

It was enticing, though, to hear Commissioner Roger Goodell maintain at the close of NFL meetings last week, cautiously, that the hiring of a female general manager would be "fantastic."

NFL STATS CENTRAL: The latest NFL scores, schedules, odds, stats and more.

Maybe history is just around the corner for women aspiring to become GMs. Then again, perhaps the glass ceiling is made of Plexiglass, and it will take years, maybe more than a decade, to break through in a hiring environment that is steeped in all sorts of bias.

As it stands now, the opportunity for a woman to run the football operations for a team in a league that has been so slow for many owners to entrust in such areas is talk, theory and wishful thinking.

"What’s really going to excite me is when people are hired without regard to race, gender, ethnicity or any other individuality, which has no bearing whatsoever as to whether one can do a job," Amy Trask, former CEO of the Oakland Raiders, told USA TODAY Sports this week.

I hear ya. More than a social statement, merit and equal opportunity should be the driving forces that lead to a woman getting the keys to the car that is an NFL team’s football business.

"What’s going to excite me is when these things are no longer newsworthy," Trask added. "At some point, it just has to become the norm."

Trask, protégé of the late, legendary league nemesis Al Davis, was known affectionately by Raiders followers as the "Princess of Darkness" as she ran the franchise’s business operations. She can shine so much light, however, with her perspective on the issue of women wielding power in a male-dominated industry. She hails the NFL’s progress, which includes two female team presidents – the Raiders’ Sandra Douglass Morgan and Kristi Coleman of the Carolina Panthers – and a rapid rise in the number of women working on the "football" side with teams across the league.

The 223 women working in full-time coaching and football operations positions with teams this season represent an increase of 141% since 2020, according to NFL figures. That’s significant, too, when considering various allegations of gender discrimination and toxic workplace conditions that have fueled controversy, investigations, and legal actions in recent years.

And the increasing presence of women in the NFL environment is quite a contrast to the league that Trask navigated as Davis’ right-hand woman, so to speak. After interning with the Raiders in the legal department in 1983, Trask re-joined the franchise in 1987 to propel her path to becoming the first female CEO of an NFL franchise.

"There were no other women in the room," recalled Trask, now an analyst for CBS and CBS Sports Network. "It was me. That was it. The good news is that there was absolutely no line to get into the ladies’ room."

More seriously, Trask pointed out a fact of life during her NFL career that team owners and other decision-makers should heed when weighing the merits of women as potential GMs or for other high-powered positions.

"There was never one time during the nearly 30 years that I spent in the league that I received what I believed or perceived as any pushback from any player, based on my gender," Trask said. "Players want to know: Are you contributing? Are you going to help us win?"

The next female GM in the NFL won’t be the first. Susan Tose Spencer served in the role for two years with her father’s team, the Philadelphia Eagles, before the franchise was sold in 1985.

There hasn’t been a woman in the position since. What are the possibilities?

Each year, the NFL’s football operations department, headed by Troy Vincent, compiles a detailed "ready list" of candidates for head coach, coordinator and GM openings. The list, formulated with input from league executives, advisors and industry experts, is aimed to provide a resource for teams and allow exposure for diverse candidates. This year’s list included four women as GM candidates:

• Dawn Aponte, the NFL’s senior vice president for football operations
• Jacqueline Davidson, vice president for football research for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers
• Kelly Kleine, executive director of football operations/special advisor to the GM for the Denver Broncos
• Catherine Raiche, assistant general manager for the Cleveland Browns

Davidson, Kleine and Raiche were participants in the Front Office & GM Accelerator Program held last week in conjunction with the NFL owners meetings in Irving, Texas, along with Ameena Soliman, a pro scout and director of personnel operations for the Eagles. And Aponte was also on hand with her duties in the league office.

"The talent is there," Goodell said, alluding to the Accelerator Program, which has included a series of workshops and networking opportunities, since established by the league in 2022. "And the talent is participating in programs like this.

"There are only 32 of those positions," Goodell added, "but I think the candidates are there."

That sounds similar to what we’ve heard from Goodell and other progressive thinkers in recent years when addressing the NFL’s sorry track record for hiring Black coaches.

Still, there’s hope. Seven women are principal owners of NFL franchises … and women make up nearly half of the NFL’s robust fan base.

And hey, the aforementioned female GM candidates should not be strangers to NFL decision-makers with appreciation for strong track records. Aponte, for instance, worked extensively in legal matters and contract negotiations during her years with the New York Jets and Miami Dolphins, before assuming duties at NFL headquarters. Davidson, by the way, also worked previously for the Jets, and in addition to playing a key role in contract negotiations, is regarded in league circles as a salary cap guru and analytics whiz. Raiche, meanwhile, previously scouted for the Eagles and was interviewed for the Minnesota Vikings GM job that ultimately went to Kwesi Adofo-Mensah in 2022.

Nicole Melton, co-director of the Laboratory for Inclusion & Diversity in Sport at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst, maintains that research shows that a key beyond making diverse hires will be for teams to create cultures that are psychologically safe for decision-makers such as GMs to have the latitude to grow.

"That will produce better organizations," Melton told USA TODAY Sports' Nancy Armour. "That are making better decisions. There’s lots of research that would show that.”

The research comes to life when listening to Trask consider the advice she would offer for women – or anyone, for that matter – to succeed.

"Everybody has to figure out the best way for themselves," Trask said. "Here’s what worked for me: I never went into a meeting with owners, municipal leaders, bankers, stadium authorities or anyone else, thinking about my gender. If I don’t think about my gender, why should you? It’s a waste of time.

"The point is: Do your job," she added, in an undeniable Bill Belichick tone. "Work hard. Then work some more. Be the best. Sure, you’ll be tested. Just pass the damn test!

"Oh, it’s a hard job? No, jumping out of an airplane at 35,000 feet and being thrust into the middle of armed combat, that’s a challenge. These other jobs are ‘champagne’ challenges."

Now if there were only equal opportunities to drink from the flute.