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This is supposed to be the sweet spot in the NFL calendar. It's the week before the Super Bowl, two teams are making last minute preparations to try and pay off a long and trying season with winning the Lombardi trophy while the rest of the league, the teams, the players and so many of the league partners are getting ready for what is an annual celebration of the country's most powerful AND profitable sport with the 7 day long party that is Super Bowl week. Instead the NFL is now under scrutiny from a massive lawsuit coming from one of it's former head coaches, insinuating that NFL has a racial bias and unethical practices when it comes to hiring minority coaches for head coaching positions and powerful front office jobs.
Brian Flores was a surprising fire by the Miami Dolphins after his 3rd season in Miami, two of which ended up with winning records. Almost everyone not named Dolphins owner Stephen Ross thought this was a ridiculous firing, but the allegations in the lawsuit seem to point out the most ridiculous person in this whole process was Ross himself. Among the most serious allegations in the 58 page class action lawsuit? That Ross offered Flores an extra $100,000 for every game he lost in the 2019 season to improve their draft status and their chance to get Alabama QB Tua Tagovailoa in the 2020 draft. This is shocking in terms of an alleged bribe to lose games, but it was fairly common knowledge that Ross had told Flores don't worry about wins and losses in the 2019 season as they knew it was a rebuilding year and the idea of getting a franchise QB in the draft was worth whatever happened in the season. The slogan " tank for Tua" was a phrase almost everyone working in and around the league was very familiar with at that time. Flores of course didn't take the alleged bribe, and after dropping their first 7 games went 5-4 down the stretch and knocked off the Patriots in Foxboro in the final game of the season. That game ended up giving the Chiefs home field for the AFC Title game that they parlayed into their first Super Bowl win in 50 years, and Miami still managed to get Tua in the draft. Weird, it's like trying was rewarded or something.
If any of this part of the lawsuit is proven true Ross has to be immediately removed as an owner by the league. The NFL goes to great lengths about protecting the "integrity" of the game. What could be more the polar opposite of that than an owner paying a coach to lose? Flores also alleges in the lawsuit that Ross tried to arrange an " accidental meeting" between the two of them and a prominent soon to be free agent QB, which would have been in violation of the NFL tampering rules. Flores, according to the lawsuit, immediately left the meeting place when he heard what was going to happen. Again.. if ANY OF THIS is prove true Ross has to go, period. There's no wiggle room here.
But perhaps the most damning part of the lawsuit is the allegation that so many minority candidates interviews for head coaching jobs are just a sham to fulfill the Rooney rule: a rule put in place to ensure that at least one candidate of color be interviewed for important coaching openings and front office jobs. It was named after then Steelers owner Dan Rooney and adopted by the NFL in 2003. The Flores lawsuit alleges that the rule is doing nothing more than checking a box. In texts from Bill Belichick revealed in the lawsuit, the Patriots coach send Flores a congratulations about getting the Giants job, even though Flores hadn't interviewed for it yet. Subsequent texts show that Belichick mixed up his Brians in his contacts, and thought he was texting Brian Daboll who eventually got the job. But the text to Flores was sent BEFORE Flores even had his interview with the Giants. In other words New York had already made up their mind and were using the Flores interview to fulfill their obligation. No one, and I mean no one, is more tied into the inner workings of the Giants than Belichick who made a name for himself as a part of the Giants coaching staff under Bill Parcells. Long time Bengals head coach Marvin Lewis said the same thing happened to him in 2002 when he heard the Panthers were going to hire John Fox as their new head coach but took the interview anyway. Sure enough, a few days later as he was told, Fox was named Carolina's new guy.
I cannot speak with any certainty that the allegations in the Flores lawsuit are true but I have no reason not to believe them. Currently there is one Black head coach in the NFL, the Steelers Mike Tomlin. Tomlin by the way has never had a losing season in Pittsburgh. In a league made up of roughly 70% African American players that is patently ridiculous. Jim Caldwell took the Colts to a Super Bowl and in 4 seasons in Detroit had 3 winning records... IN DETROIT. Nobody wins in Detroit and Caldwell can't get another job? Josh McDaniels just got the Raiders head coaching job. His first stint in Denver as a HC was a disaster and he was going to be the Colts Head Coach until he essentially left them at the altar at the last second, and he gets another shot? Where are those opportunities for coaches like Todd Bowles and Raheem Morris? It's time the NFL did more than just say the claims in the lawsuit are " without merit". It's time they recognize they have a problem that doesn't let MERIT be the over riding issue in hiring a head coach. Brian Flores in all likelihood will never coach in the NFL again. But he's making damn sure everyone knows how messed up he feels the process is and wants to make sure the coaching hiring cycle starts spinning in a more equitable way for everyone.
