On the day Black History Month began, Brian Flores took a stand and delivered a statement that might qualify as historic as it takes direct aim at the mighty NFL in an explosive lawsuit alleging “systemic racism” in hiring practices.
The suit filed in Manhattan federal court seeks class-action status and damages from the league, the Miami Dolphins — who fired Flores last month — the Denver Broncos, New York Giants and unnamed individuals.
One allegation in the suit, if proved true, should lead to Dolphins owner Stephen Ross immediately stepping down from his role running the franchise.
The suit alleges that Ross offered Flores a $100,000 bonus for every game lost in the 2019 season, the coach’s first with Miami, in an intentional effort to “tank” the season and get the overall No. 1 draft pick, and that the owner was angry when the Dolphins won enough games to only get the fifth overall pick.
From the lawsuit: “When the Dolphins started winning games ... Mr. Flores was told by the team’s general manager, Chris Grier, that ‘Steve’ was ‘mad’ that Mr. Flores’ success was ‘compromising’ [the team’s] draft position.”
If true, it would help explain why Ross last month fired Flores despite the coach leading the Dolphins to their first consecutive winning seasons since 2003.
Ross has been a failed owner by most measures including the won-lost ledger under his leadership. His firing of Flores was an unjustifiable disgrace.
But if it comes out in court that he offered his head coach bonus money to, in essence, intentionally lose games, that’s a scandal ranking with any in South Florida sports history.
And the lawsuit and that allegation against Ross together are a scandal-sized embarrassment for the NFL, which prepares for its biggest stage: the February 13 Super Bowl between the Cincinnati Bengals and Los Angeles Rams.
Coincidentally or perhaps not, the Bengals are led by quarterback Joe Burrow, the 2020 No. 1 overall draft pick whom Ross wanted to “tank” to get. It was reported just last week that Miami offered Cincinnati three first-round draft picks to trade up to select Burrow but were turned down, later drafting Tua Tagovailoa fifth overall.
The allegation about Ross is the lawsuit’s stick of dynamite from a Miami vantage, but Flores is taking a bigger, broader aim in essentially alleging that the NFL’s Rooney Rule — created to encourage minority hiring of head coaches and general managers — is a farce or, at best, a failure.
With Flores and Houston’s David Culley both recently fired, the only Black head coach among 32 presently is Pittsburgh’s Mike Tomlin.
Flores’ lawsuit is a brave one because it means he might never work again in the league, which he acknowledges. Though collusion was never proved, you will recall the NFL infamously and collectively turned its back on Colin Kaepernick after his kneeling during the national anthem to protest racial and social injustice.
“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,” Flores said Tuesday, via his law firm. “In making the decision to file the class action complaint today, I understand that I may be risking coaching the game that I love. My sincere hope is that by standing up against systemic racism in the NFL, others will join me to ensure that positive change if made.”
The suit states that Flores was forced to sit through a recent meeting with Giants general manager Joe Schoen knowing that the club had already selected Brian Daboll as its next head coach, and had to give an extensive interview for pretenses just to convey the Giants’ compliance with the Rooney Rule.
Flores says a text exchange with Patriots coach Bill Belichick, his former boss in New England, verifies the notion the Giants already had settled on Daboll before interviewing Flores. (In a strange twist, Daboll was also a top candidate to replace Flores in Miami; the Dolphins still have not hired a new head coach).
The suit alleges the league has discriminated against Flores and other Black coaches for racial reasons, and says, “The NFL is racially segregated and is managed like a plantation. Its 32 owners, none of whom are Black, profit substantially from the labor of of NFL players, 70 percent of whom are Black.”
To some, perhaps many, what Flores is doing may come off as the sour grapes of a coach who got fired. But this man, and his allegations, deserve more of an open mind.
His lawsuit will be vigorously defended by a battalion of NFL lawyers. The case will be easier to settle than it will be to win. Likewise the allegations against the Dolphins’ owner Ross may be difficult to prove.
But it sure feels like Flores is doing something that somebody had to do, eventually.
The NFL’s dubious hiring practices need the hot light of national scrutiny, one shone from a point of anger and frustration..
It felt like just the perfect start to Black History Month: Another reminder that the fight for equality goes on, and on, even amid the cheering for America’s most popular sport.
