On the first day of Black History Month, Former Dolphins Head Coach Brian Flores announced that he is suing the National Football League, the Denver Broncos, the Miami Dolphins, and the New York Giants for alleged racism in their hiring practices and other malpractices.
Flores and his lawyer released a statement early Tuesday evening detailing the multiple instances of alleged racism.
Bill Belichick, Giants Incident
In the statement that Flores’ lawyer released, he shared physical evidence of screenshots of text messages between he and Patriots Head Coach Bill Belichick. In the text messages, you can see Belichick congratulating Flores on being selected to be the next Giants head coach. Belichick meant to send that message to now Giants Head Coach Brian Daboll and upon receiving the message, Flores asked Belichick if he sent the message to the wrong person — adding that his interview wasn’t even set to take place for a few days.
Belichick’s reply:
“Sorry – I f–ked this up. I double checked and misread the text. I think they are naming Brian Daboll. I’m sorry about that. BB.”
Message Exchange Between Bill Belichick to Brian Flores
Flores alleges that he then had to sit through an extensive “interview” with the New York Giants knowing that he was not going to be hired.
The Giants released a statement on the situation shortly after:
“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.”
Statement from New York Giants
Dolphins Tanking Incident
In the statement, Flores and his lawyer also detailed that Dolphins Owner Steven Ross told him in 2019 that he would pay Flores $100,000 for every Dolphins loss. Ross was looking to get the Dolphins in a position to get the number one pick that season, violating the NFL’s anti-tampering rule.
Stephen Ross and the Miami Dolphins have not yet released a statement at this time.
Broncos Interview Incident
Later in the statement, it was explained that in 2019, Flores showed up to a scheduled interview with then Broncos GM John Elway, President and CEO Joe Ellis, and others. Flores said at the interview, they looked “completely disheveled and it was obvious that they had been drinking heavily the night before.”
The statement alleges that Flores’ interview only took place to comply with the Rooney Rule — a rule that requires teams to interview at least two external minority candidates for a head coaching job and at least one external minority candidate for a coordinator job.
Flores said that the Broncos never had any intention to consider him as a legitimate candidate for the job as shortly after, Vic Fangio, a white man, was hired as the new HC of the Broncos
The Broncos, who were officially put for sale this afternoon, did not release any statement on the situation as of now.
UPDATE: The Broncos have released a statement around 6PM EST:
“The allegations from Brian Flores directed toward the Denver Broncos in today’s court filing are blatantly false. Our interview with Mr. Flores regarding our head coaching position began promptly at the scheduled time of 7:30 a.m. on Jan.5, 2019, in a Providence, R.I., hotel.There were five Broncos executives present for the interview, which lasted approximately three-and-a-half hours-the fully allotted time and concluded shortly before 11 a.m.Pages of detailed notes, analysis and evaluations from our interview demonstrate the depth of our conversation and sincere interest in Mr. Flores as a head coaching candidate. Our process was thorough and fair to determine the most qualified candidate for our head coaching position. The Broncos will vigorously defend the integrity and values of our organization-and its employees from such baseless and disparaging claims.”
Statement from Denver Broncos
NFL Statement
The NFL has released a statement on the previous allegations
“The NFL and our clubs are deeply committed to ensuring equitable employment practices and continue to make progress in providing equitable opportunities throughout our organizations. Diversity is core to everything we do, and there are few issues on which out clubs and out internal leadership spend more time. We will defend against these claims, which are without merit.”
Statement via the National Football League
