Former Miami Dolphins head coach Brian Flores is starting off Black History Month with a bang. Flores is suing the NFL, the New York Giants, the Denver Broncos, and the Dolphins for “racism in hiring,” ESPN’s Adam Schefter reports.
Flores filed the suit in the Southern District of New York on Tuesday. In it, he accuses Dolphins owner Stephen Ross of offering him $100,000 for every loss in an effort to tank for the No. 1 draft pick during the 2019 NFL season and includes texts he alleges are from New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick demonstrating that the Giants conducted an interview with Flores while knowing that they intended to hire Brian Daboll as head coach.
The lawsuit alleges that the Giants interviewed Flores only to satisfy the NFL’s Rooney Rule mandate requiring that teams interview minority candidates.
Advertisement
Flores also alleges that when he interviewed with the Broncos in 2019, team executives John Elway and Joe Ellis showed up “disheveled,” as it was “obvious they had been drinking the night before.” The Broncos would go on to hire Vic Fangio.
Flores was fired on Jan. 10 despite recording the Dolphins’ first back-to-back winning seasons since 2003 (10-6 in 2020, 9-8 in 2021). Flores is aware that he might not ever coach in the NFL again but he is determined to shed light on the awful hiring practices or lack thereof for black coaches in the league.