LAS VEGAS — When the Brian Flores lawsuit rocked the NFL world Tuesday, the most prominent angle was his complaint that the league isn’t doing enough to discourage discriminatory hiring processes when it comes to head coaches. But the more explosive allegation may well be that his own boss, Dolphins owner Stephen Ross, tried to pay him to lose on purpose in 2019 for a better draft pick in 2020.
For an organization that defends the shield at all times, the NFL may need to take that accusation — and a similar one made by former Browns coach Hue Jackson a day later — even more seriously than any potential failures with adherence to the Rooney Rule. The league reportedly will investigate those claims, which call into question the integrity of individual games throughout a season and, accordingly, whether fans could be shelling out cash to go to games their franchises aren’t even trying to win.
“I would never be a part of something like that,” Steelers star pass rusher T.J. Watt said Thursday before Pro Bowl practice at Las Vegas Ballpark. “When you have guys that are so competitive, there’s no way I could possibly do that.”
