Brian Flores Claims Racial Discrimination & Sues NFL

The NFL’s race controversies and claims of racial discrimination are not over yet.

Brian Flores, the previous Miami Dolphins coach, filed a lawsuit against the National Football League on Feb. 1, claiming racial discrimination against him and other Black coaches in their hiring practices.

In the 58-page suit, Flores claims that racism is alive and well in the NFL as it calls out three specific teams: the New York Giants, the Miami Dolphins, and the Denver Broncos.

Brian Flores is the ex-Head Coach of the Miami Dolphins and he previously led the team to its first back-to-back winning seasons since 2003.

He was fired for allegedly having poor collaboration after denying the request to throw games to receive better picks during the draft.

His filing in federal court comes just days after Flores was snubbed by the Giants as they named Brian Daboll, who is white, as their head coach before getting a chance to interview Flores.

Flores claims he received a text message from his former boss New England Patriots Coach Bill Belichick which appears to have congratulated Flores for securing the Giants’ job, which he wouldn’t have an interview for until three days after this conversation.

When Flores asked if Belichick had meant for the text to go to Daboll, Belichick said, “I think they are naming Daboll. I’m sorry about that. BB”

He claims that the Giants only offered him an interview to be in compliance with the Rooney Rule, which is a rule that requires all NFL teams to at least interview ethnic-minorities for senior positions such as Head Coach.

After this revelation, Flores still had to attend the interview while knowing they’d give Daboll the job.

The filing is very straight forward in what it’s claiming, pulling no punches when it states, “In certain critical ways, 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.”

In the suit, Flores claims a similar situation happened when he was interviewed for the Denver Broncos.

The Broncos’ Then-General Manager, John Elway, and Chief Executive Officer Joe Ellis showed up to the interview an hour late looking “completely disheveled”, the lawsuit reveals.

“It was clear from the substance of the interview that Mr. Flores was interviewed only because of the Rooney Rule,” His lawyers claim, “and that the Broncos never had any intention to consider him a legitimate candidate for the job.”

In light of the allegations, the NFL denied them completely in a statement that said Flores’ words had no merit and that they would fight the lawsuit.