National Football League

Brian Flores sues NFL, three teams, alleging racist hiring practices

Updated Feb. 1, 2022 8:48 p.m. ET

Former Miami Dolphins head coach Brian Flores has sued the NFL and three of its teams — the Dolphins, Denver Broncos and New York Giants — alleging a pattern of racist hiring practices by the league and racial discrimination during the interview process with Denver and New York, as well as during his tenure with Miami.

The lawsuit, which was filed Tuesday in Manhattan federal court, sought class-action status and unspecified damages from the league, the three teams and unidentified individuals.

Flores was fired last month by Miami after leading the Dolphins to a 24-25 record over three years. They went 9-8 in their second straight winning season, but failed to make the playoffs during his tenure.

Flores' lawsuit alleges the league has discriminated against him and other Black coaches for racial reasons, denying them positions as head coaches, offensive and defensive coordinators and quarterbacks coaches, as well as general managers.

"It was time to stop being quiet about the injustices that are happening," Flores' team said over the phone to NFL Network's Cameron Wolfe. "This was long overdue. There's plenty of racism that need to be exposed."

The NFL released a statement Tuesday, stating it will defend itself against the claims, which it called "without merit."

"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 our clubs and our internal leadership team spend more time."

The suit appears to have been spurred at least in part by text messages Flores received from Patriots coach Bill Belichick. In the texts, Belichick congratulated Flores because he had heard the Giants wanted to hire him as their head coach. Belichick later corrected himself, saying he was mistaken and the team planned to hire Bills offensive coordinator Brian Daboll.

Last week, the Giants disclosed to third parties that they had decided to hire Daboll as their new coach even when they had not yet had their scheduled meeting with Flores, the lawsuit said.

"Mr. Flores was deceptively led to believe he actually had a chance at this job," the lawsuit said, adding that he had to endure a dinner with the Giants’ new general manager knowing that the team had already selected Daboll.

The lawsuit said the firing of Flores was typical for Black coaches who are not given the latitude other coaches receive to succeed. It noted that Flores led the Dolphins to back-to-back winning seasons for the first time since 2003.

According to the lawsuit, Miami Dolphins owner Stephen Ross told Flores he would pay him $100,000 for every loss during the coach’s first season because he wanted the club to "tank" so it could get the draft’s top pick. It also alleged Ross then pressured Flores to recruit a prominent quarterback in violation of the league’s tampering rules, which he refused to do.

Messages left with the Dolphins seeking comment were not immediately returned.

In a statement, the Giants said: "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."

The lawsuit also claimed Flores was forced to undergo a "sham interview" with the Broncos in 2019, when then-Broncos general manager John Elway, President Joe Ellis and others showed up an hour later for his interview.

In a statement, the Broncos said the allegations were "blatantly false."

According to the lawsuit, only one of the NFL’s 32 teams employs a Black head coach, only four of them employ a Black offensive coordinator and only 11 employ a Black defensive coordinator.

The Associated Pres contributed to this story.