The Brian Flores Situation Shows The NFL Hasn't Changed At All
The Brian Flores Situation Shows The NFL Hasn't Changed At All
I feel obligated to take a detour from what I was planning to write and talk about what is going on with Brian Flores. Flores is a great coach who is not getting a fair chance to get a new job. If you haven’t heard, Flores is suing the NFL, the Dolphins, the Giants, and the Broncos for alleged racism (we have to say alleged because nobody is officially guilty yet). Below is everything he is accusing from each team:
Giants: It is believed that the Giants knew that they were going to hire Brian Daboll as their new head coach before conducting the formal interview with Flores. Bill Belichick texted Flores congratulating him on getting job by mistake. He thought he was texting Daboll. This was three days before Flores interviewed for the job, and Daboll was hired on January 28th. This was after Flores was told the Giants were extremely interested in hiring him on January 11th. More in the Tweet below.
Broncos: Flores says that John Elway showed up an hour late to his interview and that he was hungover. It is said that Elway was only trying to comply with the Rooney Rule and had no intention of considering Flores for the job. Flores is also calling his interview with the team in 2019 a sham interview.
Dolphins: Dolphins owner Stephen Ross offered Flores extra money to tank in 2019. Ross offered Flores $100,000 per loss. General Manager Chris Grier was reportedly mad about the success the team had in 2019. Flores was fired from the Dolphins after a 24-25-1 record citing a “power struggle” with Grier. Keep in mind that his team ran off a seven game winning streak after a seven game losing streak and it looked like the Dolphins were going in the right direction under Flores. Below is another quote from the lawsuit from an article from The Athletic talking about tampering.
"Mr. Flores repeatedly refused to comply with these improper directives," the suit reads. "Undeterred, in the winter of 2020, Mr. Ross invited Mr. Flores onto a yacht for lunch. Shortly after he arrived, Mr. Ross told Mr. Flores that the prominent quarterback was 'conveniently' arriving at the marina. Obviously, Mr. Ross had attempted to 'set up' a purportedly impromptu meeting between Mr. Flores and the prominent quarterback.
"Mr. Flores refused the meeting and left the yacht immediately. After the incident, Mr. Flores was treated with disdain and held out as someone who was noncompliant and difficult to work with."
It’s Not Fair
This is a class action lawsuit. However, Brian Flores recognizes that there are serious repercussions if this doesn’t work out. There is a chance after going through all of this, he may never be able to coach again. The Bears had said that they also loved Flores, but chose to hire former Colts DC Matt Eberflus. He has also interviewed with the Texans twice, and the Saints once.
Teams are still using other factors besides how good a coach somebody is to make decisions on who they want to lead them moving forward. It shouldn’t matter in 2022, but teams are still finding ways to disappoint. Furthermore, if you are upset about the success your team is having because you want a higher draft pick, you are in the wrong line of work.