Flores Has New York Giants & NFL In Racial Lawsuit Crosshairs

When Brian Flores was fired earlier this month as head coach of the Miami Dolphins, many football fans scratched their head and hoped that the Brooklyn native would head to their favorite team. Several teams, including the New York Giants, interviewed the 40 year-old for their head coaching position. The Houston Texans interviewed Flores and still haven't made their decision yet. Today's development may narrow their pool.

Tuesday afternoon, Brian Flores filed a class action lawsuit in the Southern District of New York, that includes the New York Giants, the NFL and all 32 teams. It even includes allegations that Dolphins owner Stephen Ross offered Flores $100,000 PER LOSS! The bombshell lawsuit claims that the Giants interviewed Brian Flores for their head coaching position, even though they had already decided to go with Brian Daboll. The class-action suit claims that Flores' interview with Big Blue was a “sham.” The NFL’s 'Rooney Rule' states that teams must interview minority candidates for head coaching and GM jobs. Flores claims that is the only reason that the Giants brought him in.

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According to reports by ESPN and Ryan Glasspiegel of the New York Post, “Mr. Flores was forced to sit through a dinner with Joe Schoen, the Giant’s new General Manager, knowing that the Giants had already selected Mr. Daboll,” the suit reads. New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick finds himself smack in the middle of this controversy less than two weeks from the NFL's biggest day. Brian Flores, who was defensive coordinator in New England, allegedly has a text from Belichick congratulating Flores for getting the Giants job. To make the text stranger, it was allegedly sent to Flores prior to his Big Blue interview. The crusty Patriots coach Belichick allegedly corrected himself the next day. “Sorry – I f–ked this up, I double checked & I misread the text. I think they are naming Daboll. I’m sorry about that.”

In a statement, the Giants denied Flores’ allegations. “We are pleased and confident with the process that resulted in the hiring of Brian Daboll. 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.”

With 5 NFL coaching jobs remaining open and with Flores a leading candidate in several, the timing seems incredibly strange to me. I agree, Mike Tomlin of the Pittsburgh Steelers is the only black head coach in the NFL, which has a way higher percentage of black players than 3%, which is the percentage of black head coaches. In fact, according to the NFL, nearly 70% of the players in the NFL are black. 70% to 3% will raise eyebrows in any comparison. However, Brian Flores may have chosen a different venue to make his point.

The verbiage of the lawsuit is nothing less than wild. It will surely be damaging to the NFL, no matter what happens. To me, this is a very damning claim in the lawsuit that the owners will have a tough time defending, given the numbers that they themselves have provided, “The NFL remains rife with racism, particularly when it comes to the hiring and retention of Black Head Coaches, Coordinators and General Managers...the racial discrimination has only been made worse by the NFL’s disingenuous commitment to social equity.”