Brian Flores accused the Denver Broncos in a lawsuit of interviewing him merely to satisfy the NFL’s Rooney Rule when the team had a head coach opening in 2019.
The Rooney Rule today stipulates that NFL teams must interview two ethnic-minority candidates when hiring head coaches. At the time of Flores’ interview with the Broncos — noted to have been with then-general manager John Elway, President and Chief Executive Officer Joe Ellis and others — the rule mandated one minority candidate be interviewed. The Broncos fired Vance Joseph following the 2018 season, and interviewed five candidates to replace him: Mike Munchak, Vic Fangio, Chuck Pagano, Zac Taylor and Flores.
Flores was the only Black candidate interviewed. Fangio got the job and Munchak received a position on his staff. Pagano took a role with the Bears and Taylor became the Cincinnati Bengals’ head coach. Flores was hired by the Miami Dolphins as head coach.
