Football Coach Brian Flores Sues NFL, Alleging Discrimination

Brian Flores, who was fired last month by the Miami Dolphins, has filed a class-action lawsuit against the NFL, his former team, the New York Giants and the Denver Broncos, alleging discrimination in its hiring practices.

Filed in a Manhattan courthouse on the first day of Black History Month, the case cites a number of accusations, such as Stephen Ross, the owner of the Dolphins, who allegedly offered Flores $100,000 USD for each game he’d tank in the 2019 season to potentially draft Joe Burrow; a text from Bill Belichick, who accidentally messaged Flores congratulating him for getting the Giants vacancy three days before even interviewing — it was actually intended for former Buffalo Bills coordinator, Brian Daboll; along with mentioning a 2019 interview with the Broncos, where General Manager John Elway and President Joe Ellis showed up an hour late, allegedly having been drinking.

Following the news, the NFL made the following statement:

“The NFL and our clubs are deeply committed to ensuring equitable employment practices and continue to make progress in providing equitable opportunities throughout our organizations. Diversity is core to everything we do, and there are few issues on which our clubs and our internal leadership team spend more time. We will defend against these claims, which are without merit.”

According to Flores, however, these statements are the same broken promises that have been said for decades, specifically calling out the Rooney Rule, a measure first adopted in 2003 requiring clubs to interview at least two minority candidates for the head coaching position. “The Rooney Rule is also not working because management is not doing the interviews in good-faith, and it therefore creates a stigma that interviews of Black candidates are only being done to comply with the Rooney Rule rather than in recognition of the talents that the Black candidates possess,” the suit mentioned.

Brian Flores releases a statement following his lawsuit against the NFL, teams.

"I understand that I may be risking coaching the game I love"

More: https://t.co/uoaF7TK4FE pic.twitter.com/2JJ9tUvmtq

— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) February 1, 2022

The Rooney rule is named after the late owner of the Pittsburgh Steelers, Dan Rooney, whose team currently has the only Black head coach in the league. Since taking over the job in 2007, Tomlin has won a Super Bowl and has never had a losing season in 15 years. Numerous analysts and players around football circles were left puzzled when seeing Flores amongst the group of coaches fired at the end of the season. Given his above 500 record, he became a commanding presence in the lockerroom and was brushing close to taking the Phins back to the post-season for the first time in six years (having not won a playoff game in nearly 22.)

Flores understands the professional risk he’s taking, but sees the issue as a larger systemic problem within the culture of pro football that has persisted since the beginning. “The NFL is racially segregated and is managed much like a plantation. Its 32 owners—none of whom are Black profit substantially from the labor of NFL players, 70% of whom are Black,” said the lawsuit.

The Broncos, Dolphins and Giants have yet to issue statements on the matter.

In related news, Tom Brady officially announces his retirement.