Brian Flores' Lawsuit Spotlights Racism and Rigged Hiring Practices In The NFL
What a way to start Black History Month.
One brave black man at the top of the NFL, former Miami Dolphins coach Brian Flores, filed a bombshell class-action lawsuit against the NFL, detailing hiring practices reeking of racial discrimination. Emerging with such rigged information under a cloud of scandal, Flores is shining a light on an issue knowing well that he is putting his career on the line, in hopes that racial minorities are granted a fair shot.
First off, we must note that the Dolphins haven’t seen consecutive winning seasons since 2003. But as one of the only active black head coaches in the entire league, Flores made a mark for Miami in his 3-year tenure by leading them to a 24-25 record. Coach Flores saw his last day employed on Jan 10, 2022, stating on his recent ESPN interview that he was unfairly dismissed despite gathering 7 wins out of his last 8 games.
In the heat of firing season, 9 head coach positions were left vacant across the board, and it was only a matter of time until this unfair system dug a hole for itself, revealing the falsehood in its hiring procedures.
Flores was hopefully after landing a Head Coach interview for the New York Giants. However, this is when the dominos started to fall. Previously a Patriots defensive assistant, Flores had questionable news fall on his lap via a text from his former head coach Bill Belichick. The text was actually intended for a different Brian, Brian Daboll.
The text chain exposed that the Giants were already planning on hiring Brian Daboll, a white coach, before they even interview Flores. Furthermore, this incident alleges that Flores interview was held 3 days after Daboll’s contract was finalized, which raises some eyebrows.
The evidence from the text exchanges proves that Flores' consideration was merely an act of a benign gesture, only to tick off the “Rooney Rule” box. This rule was instated in 2003 back when there were 3 minority coaches of in the NFL. The purpose was to reinforce affirmative action measures, but 19 years later there is only 1 black head coach out 32 NFL teams.
Behind closed doors, we learned moreover that Flores and Dolphins owner Stephen Ross had been bumping heads while in working together. Flores, 40, was mainly failing to comply with the boss' demands whereby he offered him a $100,000 incentive for match-fixing in hopes that a loss would rank the franchise favorably for a draft pick.
On top of these rigged tactics, the lawsuit alleged that Ross then coerced Flores to recruit a prominent quarterback in violation of the league’s tampering rules.
As self-sabotaging as coach Flores’ disclosures may demonstrate, his statements made on the recent ESPN interview, the man is clearly doing it for a higher purpose let alone the Black History Month timing.
He reported, “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,”. The release continued stating, “In making the decision to file the class action complaint, 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.”
As if Kaepernick’s case wasn’t impactful, the facts are still clear about the discrimination existing in the NFL. Brian Flores takes this issue upon himself to eradicate all the inequality and hopefully steer the organization towards progression.
