Today, Brian Flores filed a class-action lawsuit against the NFL that revealed some interesting things and implicated multiple teams. Claims in the suit exposed some of the league’s processes that aggravate black coaches in the hiring process. Flores is suing the NFL, the Giants, the Dolphins, and the Broncos for alleged “racism in hiring.” I will tell you what we learned from the claims made in Flores lawsuit against the league and explain why those three teams are implicated.
Dolphins:
According to the suit, the cause of Brian Flores punishment in Miami was being a good guy and doing the right thing.
According to Flores lawsuit against the NFL, Miami Dolphins owner Stephen Ross offered to pay Flores $100,000 per loss during their 2019 tank campaign, and Ross reportedly grew angry at Flores when the team went on a winning streak late in the season. If Flores had given up his integrity and lost as Ross wanted, the Dolphins would’ve tanked to the bottom and gotten the #1 overall pick and taken Joe Burrow. Instead, they built some late-season momentum and ended up taking Tua Tagovailoa 5th. Now, Brian Flores is out of a job.
Ross also tried to pressure Flores into recruiting a prominent quarterback even though it violated league tampering rules at the end of the 2019 season. Flores reportedly repeatedly refused to comply with these directives. Then in the Winter of 2020, Ross invited Flores onto his yacht, and upon his arrival, Ross told Flores that a prominent quarterback was “conveniently arriving at the marina. Brian Flores refused the meeting and promptly left the vessel. Flores says he was treated with disdain after the incident.
If Flores had been willing to break the rules, he would likely still have a job in Miami, but he did the right thing and is out of a job. If you look at the lawsuit, the two things that incited Flores tumultuous relationship with Ross and eventual firing by the Dolphins are inconveniently winning football games and being compliant with league rules. Cold world.
It will be interesting to see if Stephen Ross faces punishment by the league for his alleged comments, but the allegations make the Dolphins head coaching search a lot more interesting. It shows that Ross is willing to do anything to win big.
Giants:
The Giants implication comes because a 70-year-old man doesn’t know how to use technology.
Both Brian Flores and Brian Daboll were considered by many to be serious candidates for the Giants head coaching job. Both are named Brian, and both previously worked under Bill Belichick.
Belichick meant to send a congratulatory text to Brian Daboll, but the old man screwed up. Instead of sending the text to Daboll, Belichick sent the message to Flores three days before Flores was scheduled to interview for the job. The messages reveal that the Giants decided on Daboll days before interviewing Flores, and he was not a serious candidate for the Giants job.
The Giants still went through with Flores’ interview likely because Flores was a pawn in the Rooney Rule, which requires every team with a head coaching vacancy to interview one or more diverse candidates. Whether or not the Giants should’ve hired Flores, they made up their minds before interviewing him and wasted his time.
Broncos:
The Broncos are implicated because John Elway is terrible at his job
Pointless interviews are what is going to bring us into the Denver Broncos portion of things. In 2019 Flores was set to meet with the Denver Broncos; however, he claims that Broncos president John Elway, CEO Joe Ellis, and others showed up an hour late. He also states that they looked completely disheveled, and it was obvious they had been heavily drinking the night before.
The Broncos might want to start showing up sober to their interviews as their last couple searches have yielded Vance Joseph, Vic Fangio, and Nathaniel Hackett.
It’s clear to Flores that the Broncos mailed in his interview to comply with the Rooney Rule and treated it as a joke. But maybe John Elway should start taking his job a little bit more seriously. Since Peyton Manning retired, Elway’s Broncos have gone six years without making the playoffs. Meanwhile, Elway has given Bronco fans the joy of watching Trevor Siemian, Case Keenum, Joe Flacco, Drew Lock, and Teddy Bridgewater. Elway has made firing a coach a regular thing and now has made a coaching search into a mockery of his franchise.
