Former Dolphins Coach Brian Flores Sues NFL & Teams For Alleged Racist Practices

Former Miami Dolphins coach Brian Flores has filed a lawsuit against the NFL and its 32 teams, alleging not only discriminatory hiring practices against African American coaching and front-office candidates but also sham interviews under the guise of following the Rooney Rule.

Filed in the Southern District of New York, the class-action lawsuit accuses the defendants of violating Section 1981 of the Civil Rights Act of 1866; the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination; the New York State Human Rights Law; and the New York City Human Rights Law.

Flores claims to act on behalf of “all Black head coach, offensive and defensive coordinators and quarterbacks coaches, as well as general managers and black candidates for those positions.”

Flores was fired following the 2021 season—after leading the Dolphins to consecutive winning seasons—and he claims that the league acts like a “plantation”; he says the 32 teams, none of which has an African American owner, profit from the labor of a league that is 70% African American.

He adds that the league refuses to adequately address “racism, particularly when it comes to the hiring and retention of Black head coaches, coordinators and general managers.”

One specific allegation is that Dolphins owner Stephen Ross asked him to “tank” games during the 2019 season to improve the team’s draft position to secure who would eventually be quarterback Joe Burrow, who just led the Cincinnati Bengals to their first Super Bowl since 1989. Ross also allegedly offered the coach $100,000 for each loss that year.

“Then, when the Dolphins started winning games, due in no small part to Mr. Flores’ coaching, Mr. Flores was told by the team’s General Manager, Chris Grier, that ‘Steve’ was ‘mad’ that Mr. Flores’ success in winning games that year was ‘compromising (the team’s) draft position.’”

The lawsuit also alleges Ross asked Flores to violate league tampering rules following the 2019 season to recruit a ‘prominent quarterback’ set to enter free agency—allegedly Tom Brady.

The former coach says that after “he repeatedly refused to comply with these improper directives” Ross invited him to lunch on a yacht where the targeted quarterback “conveniently” arrived in the same marina. He reportedly “refused the meeting and left the yacht immediately.”

Following the yacht episode, litigation says that “Flores was treated with disdain and held out as someone who was noncompliant and difficult to work with.”

More allegations say the Broncos (2019) and Giants (2021) conducted “sham” interviews with him.

Flores claims then-Broncos general manager John Elway and team president/CEO Joe Ellis and others showed up for his interview an hour late and “completely disheveled, and it was obvious that they had drinking (sic) heavily the night before. It was clear from the substance of the interview that Mr. Flores was interviewed only because of the Rooney Rule, and that the Broncos never had any intention to consider him as a legitimate candidate for the job.”

He also has receipts: Flores included a screenshot of a text message with Patriots coach Bill Belichick, who confused him with Bills offensive coordinator Brian Daboll. Belichick congratulated the wrong Brian for getting the job—three days before he was set to interview with New York.