Tuesday was quite the day for NFL news, as it started with Tom Brady officially announcing his retirement and ended with the league getting hit with a class action lawsuit for discriminatory hiring practices by former Dolphins coach Brian Flores.
via: Hot97
ESPN reports, according to Flores, he claims Dolphins owner Stephen Ross attempted to “incentivize him to tank or purposely lose games shortly after he was hired in 2019, with Ross allegedly offering Flores $100,000 for every game the team lost that season. Flores says that as the team won games late in the season, Dolphins general manager Chris Grier told him Ross was ‘mad’ that Flores’ on-field success was ‘compromising [the team’s] draft position.’” Flores also claims Ross put pressure on him to recruit a “prominent quarterback” at the end of the 2019 season, which Flores refused so he wouldn’t violate the NFL’s rules on tampering, the outlet reports. It continues,
“Ross then allegedly invited Flores onto a yacht for lunch in the winter of 2020, where he informed Flores that the ‘prominent quarterback’ was ‘conveniently’ arriving at the marina for an impromptu meeting.” Flores reportedly refused and left the yacht. Flores claims afterwards, he was “treated with disdain and held out as someone who was noncompliant and difficult to work with.” Flores was fired on Jan. 10, despite recording the franchise’s first back-to-back winning seasons since 2003 (10-6 in 2021; 9-8 in 2021), ESPN reports.
In addition, Flores claims the Giants interviewed him last month for their head-coaching vacancy for no other reason than compliance with the NFL’s Rooney Rule, which requires teams to interview minority candidates for their open positions. The report says, “Flores claims he interviewed with the Giants on Jan. 18, prior to the team hiring former Buffalo Bills assistant general manager Joe Schoen as its GM on Jan. 23. He claims the next day, Schoen finalized his interview date for Jan. 27 and Giants co-director of player personnel Tim McDonnell texted Flores and said he hoped he would ‘come in and win the f-ing job.’” Then, later on Flores claims he received text messages from Patriots coach Bill Belichick, under whom Flores worked for 10 years in New England. Belichick told Flores that “he had heard from ‘Buffalo and NYG that you are their guy.’”
The suit says, Flores asked Belichick to clarify whether he meant to talk to him or former Bills offensive coordinator Brian Daboll, who was also in the running for the Giants’ job. Belichick admitted his error and informed him that the Giants wanted Daboll. “Sorry — I f***ed this up. I double checked and misread the text. I think they are naming Brian Daboll. I’m sorry about that,” Belichick texted.
Flores alleges that his interview with the Giants was a “sham.” New York hired Daboll several days later. Flores also claims the similar thing happened when he interviewed with the Broncos for a coaching job in 2019. Flores alleges that then-Denver general manager John Elway, among others, arrived to the interview an hour late and hungover — as he claimed they had been “drinking heavily the night before.”
The former Dolphins coach also made a specific statement through the Wigdor firm.
“God has gifted me with a special talent to coach the game of football, but the need for change is bigger than my personal goals,” he said. “In making the decision to file the class action complaint today, I understand that I may be risking coaching the game that I love and that has done so much for my family and me. My sincere hope is that by standing up against systemic racism in the NFL, others will join me to ensure that positive change is made for generations to come.”
In a statement, the Giants said:
“We are pleased and confident with the process that resulted in the hiring of Brian Daboll. We interviewed an impressive and diverse group of candidates. The fact of the matter is, Brian Flores was in the conversation to be our head coach until the eleventh hour. Ultimately, we hired the individual we felt was most qualified to be our next head coach.”
NFL made a statement and said they will defend against the claims.
The Dolphins also made a statement:
In the lawsuit, Flores’ law firm, Wigdor Law LLP, said the coach hopes to “shine a light on the racial injustices that take place inside the NFL.” These are the areas he said he’d like to see addressed:
• Increase influence of Black individuals in hiring
• Increase the objectivity of hiring/terminating GMs, head coaches and coordinators
• Increase the number of Black coordinators
• Incentivize hiring/retention of Black GMs, head coaches and coordinators
• Transparency of pay for GMs, head coaches and coordinators
