Brian Flores Lawsuit Against the NFL
Earlier today, it was revealed former Dolphins Head Coach Brian Flores was suing the National Football League, and multiple teams for alleged racial discrimination. This comes after the Dolphins fired him, and both the New York Giants and Denver Broncos named their head coaches earlier this week. The whole 58-page lawsuit can be read here. I discuss what I think are the biggest allegations to come out of the lawsuit below.
Brian Flores and Alleged Push for Tanking
During the 2019 season, Flores led the Dolphins to a 5-11 record, winning three of their last five games. On page five of the lawsuit, it’s revealed that during the 2019 season, Dolphins owner Stephen Ross offered $100,000 to Flores for every loss.
he would pay him $100,000 for every loss, and the team’s General Manager, Chris Grier, told Mr. Flores that “Steve” was “mad” that Mr. Flores’ success in winning games that year was “compromising [the team’s] draft position.”
page five of Lawsuit
There’s the first bombshell allegation. Tanking has certainly become prevalent amongst many professional sports teams, but this is the first example we have of it really occurring, with money being offered, and showing Ross’ displeasure after Flores would not deliberately tank.
In addition to trying to get Flores to tank, it was revealed that there was potential tampering after the 2019 season. Again on the fifth page of the lawsuit, it’s revealed that Ross began to pressure Flores into recruiting a “prominent quarterback”, which would violate the league’s tampering rules. Flores refused, and it wasn’t a problem again. Until 2020, when Ross invited Flores to his yacht, and that the aforementioned quarterback was “conveniently” meeting them at the marina. It was not revealed, but we can believe that it perhaps could have been either Tom Brady or Deshaun Watson.
Flores and the New York Giants
The Giants hired Brian Daboll as their new head coach this week, and during a time where they were still scheduled to interview Flores, and was deceptively led to believe he still had a shot at the job. On January 26th, Flores sat through dinner with Giants’ new General Manager Joe Schoen, while knowing the job was already Daboll’s.
Bill Belichick had reached out to congratulate Daboll, only instead of texting him, he texted Brian Flores instead. The texts are below:
It will be up to the judge and others to decide, but this could mean the Giants only scheduled Flores due to the Rooney Rule, which was established in 2003. The whole rule can be read here, but it essentially states that teams must interview at least two diverse candidates from the Career Development Advisory Panel, or a diverse candidate not already employed by the club. More of these allegations with the Giants are discussed on pages five through seven as well.
Brian Flores and the Denver Broncos
It was also revealed in the lawsuit that when Brian Flores showed up to Denver to interview for the head coaching job in 2019, the Broncos representatives were “unprofessional” and “unprepared”. This was mentioned on page eight when the lawsuit reads the following:
“Incredibly, this was not Mr. Flores’ first sham interview that was held only in an effort to comply with the Rooney Rule. Indeed, in 2019 Mr. Flores was scheduled to interviewwith the Denver Broncos. However, the Broncos’ then-General Manager, John Elway, Presidentand Chief Executive Officer Joe Ellis and others, showed up an hour late to the interview.”
page eight of Lawsuit
They appeared “disheveled” and it was obvious that they had been drinking the night prior. Flores felt he was only interviewed to satisfy the Rooney Rule, and that Denver never considered him as a legitimate candidate. Shortly after, Vic Fangio was hired and went 19-30 in three seasons.
What Happens next for Flores and the NFL?
The lawsuit was just released today, and details are still being released by the hour. The texts with Belichick are alarming, and a lot of what’s mentioned in the lawsuit could be vile tactics by all organizations if found true. Following the lawsuit, Flores released the following powerful statement:
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