Brian Flores has not been the Miami Dolphins’ head coach since 2022 – but his lawsuit against the National Football League alleging racial discrimination continues. And it now involves just about every team in the NFL.
Court filings revealed this week that Flores’ legal team has served subpoenas to 25 NFL teams and served more than 1,000 discovery requests in an attempt to obtain leaguewide hiring records and communications related to discrimination claims. The court filing didn’t identify the 25 teams.
Front Office Sports reported that the NFL is expected to move to dismiss the subpoenas for the 25 teams that are not directly named in the suit.
In February 2022, Flores, now the defensive coordinator for the Minnesota Vikings, sued the league and three teams — the Dolphins, Broncos and Giants — for being “rife with racism,” in their hiring and promotion of Black coaches. Flores, fired on Jan. 10, 2022 despite leading the Dolphins to back-to-back winning seasons, alleged that Miami owner Stephen Ross offered him $100,000 per loss in 2019 to help with the team’s draft position during the infamous “Tank for Tua” season, and that the Giants and Broncos conducted “sham” in-person interviews with him to comply with the Rooney Rule.
The Rooney Rule was introduced in 2003, requiring NFL teams to interview diverse candidates—specifically people of color and women —for prominent leadership and coaching positions.
Flores later filed an amended complaint, adding allegations that the Texans removed him from consideration for their head coach vacancy because of his lawsuit, and that the Dolphins attempted to get back money they had paid him in retaliation for filing the suit. Black coaches Steve Wilks, former Cardinals head coach, and Ray Horton, former Browns defensive coordinator, joined the lawsuit, alleging they weren’t given genuine opportunities during their respective hiring processes.
Brian Flores fired by Dolphins with 24-25 overall record
Flores, a former Patriots assistant, was hired to help the Dolphins with discipline, organization and structure. He was fired with an overall record of 24-25 with no playoffs in three seasons.
In 2023, a federal judge issued a split ruling in Flores’ lawsuit, sending some claims, including those against the Dolphins, to arbitration while allowing the broader claims that Flores and other Black coaches face discrimination to proceed in federal court. The NFL appealed that decision, but a federal appeals court allowed those claims to move forward publicly, with the court raising concerns in its ruling about the fairness of an arbitration system that could allow NFL commissioner Roger Goodell to serve as arbitrator.
The NFL has since filed a petition about the arbitration issue with the U.S. Supreme Court, which could issue a ruling at any time.
Information from USA Today was used in this report.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Brian Flores’ lawsuit against NFL now includes almost every team
Reporting by Nick Pugliese, Palm Beach Post / Palm Beach Post
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
