Brian Flores Suing NY Giants and Maybe the Whole League Over Hiring Process

[EDGECRUSHER]

https://twitter.com/tomecurran/status/1488616096378859525

I'm working so I didn't read it fully yet, but it looks like Flores was texting with Belichick 3 days prior to the Giants interviewing him and Bill said the Giants are going with Daboll. This would imply the interview was a sham and they were only interviewing him to satisfy the NFL's Rooney Rule. I don't know what the punishment to the Giants would be if there is any at all, but this is the fault of the Rooney Rule, not the Giants. If they wanted Daboll from Day 1, they get in trouble for not interviewing a black man for the job first so this forces them to setup interviews with no intent on hiring someone. I don't see what else they could've done.

The lawsuit also says "JOHN DOE TEAMS 1-29". Does that mean the whole league?

From a legal standpoint, Flores probably can't prove this either. Doesn't matter what Belichick says, the Giants are the ones who say when Daboll was the one they wanted and if they officially offered the job to him after the Flores interview, case closed.

As far as Flores goes, if he doesn't get a job this offseason I think he is done in the league. Who would want to hire someone who sues teams?

[Fau Teixeira]

This is the actual filing: Filing PDF

This is the excerpt pertaining to the dolphins:

In January 2022, Mr. Flores, who spent three years as the Head Coach of Defendant Miami Dolphins, Ltd. (the “Dolphins” or “Miami”), found himself without a job. He was fired by the Dolphins after leading the team to its first back-to-back winning seasons since 2003. The purported basis for his termination was alleged poor collaboration. In reality, the writing had been on the wall since Mr. Flores’ first season as Head Coach of the Dolphins, when he refused his owner’s directive to “tank” for the first pick in the draft. Indeed, during the 2019 season, Miami’s owner, Stephen Ross, told Mr. Flores that he would pay him $100,000 for every loss, and the team’s General Manager, Chris Grier, told Mr. Flores that “Steve” was “mad” that Mr. Flores’ success in winning games that year was “compromising [the team’s] draft position.” 15. After the end of the 2019 season, Mr. Ross began to pressure Mr. Flores to recruit a prominent quarterback in violation of League tampering rules. Mr. Flores repeatedly refused to comply with these improper directives. Undeterred, in the winter of 2020, Mr. Ross invited Mr. Flores onto a yacht for lunch. Shortly after he arrived, Mr. Ross told Mr. Flores that the prominent quarterback was “conveniently” arriving at the marina. Obviously, Mr. Ross had attempted to “set up” a purportedly impromptu meeting between Mr. Flores and the prominent quarterback. Mr. Flores refused the meeting and left the yacht immediately. After the incident, Mr. Flores was treated with disdain and held out as someone who was noncompliant and difficult to work with. 16. From that point forward, Mr. Flores was ostracized and ultimately he was fired. He was subsequently defamed throughout the media and the League as he was labeled by the Dolphins brass as someone who was difficult to work with. This is reflective of an all too familiar “angry black man” stigma that is often casted upon Black men who are strong in their morals and convictions while white men are coined as passionate for those very same attributes.

If true and this is from Flores, then I don't see how this makes Ross look bad. It was a tanking season on purpose to get the #1 pick. He in fact directed Flores to lose games to get a better pick and Flores won them against his wishes.  Then when they drafted Tua, (instead of Burrow that they could have had) Flores doesn't want to play ball with Tua and undermines him due in part to a situation that he created by his own admission.

If nothing else, what happened in 2019 was justification in firing Flores. Good firing Ross, 100% justified.
I don't see the racism angle here though. He was a crap coach that couldn't manage a game and self admittedly went against the owners specific instructions.

[Phishfan]

He can kiss any other offers goodbye.

[CF DolFan]

Brian Flores is a black and white guy in a grey business. It's a collaboration and few people get to do what they want when they want.

[EDGECRUSHER]

This is the actual filing: Filing PDF

This is the excerpt pertaining to the dolphins:

If true and this is from Flores, then I don't see how this makes Ross look bad. It was a tanking season on purpose to get the #1 pick. He in fact directed Flores to lose games to get a better pick and Flores won them against his wishes.  Then when they drafted Tua, (instead of Burrow that they could have had) Flores doesn't want to play ball with Tua and undermines him due in part to a situation that he created by his own admission.

If nothing else, what happened in 2019 was justification in firing Flores. Good firing Ross, 100% justified.
I don't see the racism angle here though. He was a crap coach that couldn't manage a game and self admittedly went against the owners specific instructions.

You can't bribe your coach to coach poorly and lose games, that's bad and probably cause for the NFL to force him to sell the team. As a fan, I'm all for tanking but in the "start the young QB and see what we got as opposed to the 38 year old vet who might actually win meaningless games that hurt us in the long run" way. Not telling the coach to run on 3rd and Long.

There is no racism angle that is believable either. He was basically fired by the black GM who has been with the team for 26 years. I think the Giants even interviewed Leslie Frazier after Flores too, which if true, just negates this entire lawsuit.

There is definitely some gossip here that I want to know more of, like what QB are we talking about? Watson? Was Flores the one who benched Tua and screwed up the injury stuff or was that a call from above? I definitely want to know more, but it just sounds like dysfunction as opposed to any kind of racism and this basically ended his career in the league.

[EDGECRUSHER]

Brian Flores is a black and white guy in a grey business. It's a collaboration and few people get to do what they want when they want.

I think you nailed it. Everyone has a boss, even Belichick. Some have many. You can't just do whatever you want, everyone has to be on board and sometimes they draft a guy you don't want or tell you to start players you don't want to.

[CF DolFan]

You can't bribe your coach to coach poorly and lose games, that's bad and probably cause for the NFL to force him to sell the team. As a fan, I'm all for tanking but in the "start the young QB and see what we got as opposed to the 38 year old vet who might actually win meaningless games that hurt us in the long run" way. Not telling the coach to run on 3rd and Long.

There is no racism angle that is believable either. He was basically fired by the black GM who has been with the team for 26 years. I think the Giants even interviewed Leslie Frazier after Flores too, which if true, just negates this entire lawsuit.

There is definitely some gossip here that I want to know more of, like what QB are we talking about? Watson? Was Flores the one who benched Tua and screwed up the injury stuff or was that a call from above? I definitely want to know more, but it just sounds like dysfunction as opposed to any kind of racism and this basically ended his career in the league.

Start the guy we traded a second pick for and if we lose I'll pay you money to help you deal with the negativity surrounding it doesn't sound illegal to me. BTW ... why is this in a lawsuit about the Giants interviewing him for nothing?

[Fau Teixeira]

Ross can't "bribe" Flores. It's not "bribing" your own coach, he works for you.  You give him directives and offer a bonus for the performance you want to see.

There is 0 chance that the NFL forces anyone to sell anything. Teams tank all the time. It's purposeful. There's a reason the Colts ended up with Peyton Manning. There's a reason the Bengals ended up with Joe Burrow.  There's a reason that the Jags ended up with Lawrence. That was on purpose. The scandal here is that Flores said "fuck this, I know better" and then was surprised when it didn't work out for him in the long run.

[EDGECRUSHER]

Start the guy we traded a second pick for and if we lose I'll pay you money to help you deal with the negativity surrounding it doesn't sound illegal to me. BTW ... why is this in a lawsuit about the Giants interviewing him for nothing?

You absolutely cannot pay a coach to lose games in the NFL. That's not illegal but that is absolutely against NFL rules. Everyone tanks but they do it on the GM level, they don't tell the coaches to lose on purpose.

[Fau Teixeira]

You absolutely cannot pay a coach to lose games in the NFL. That's not illegal but that is absolutely against NFL rules. Everyone tanks but they do it on the GM level, they don't tell the coaches to lose on purpose.

Sorry .. but I didn't see that anywhere here:
https://operations.nfl.com/the-rules/2021-nfl-rulebook/

[Spider-Dan]

You absolutely cannot pay a coach to lose games in the NFL.

...what?  That doesn't make sense.

Suppose you are an owner and you want the team to lose for the chance to draft (what you believe to be) a generational player.  The GM and HC are putting their own careers at risk by doing this.  So how do you compensate them for that risk?  With, um, money.

The owner can tell the GM to trade away the best players (as, um, Grier did).
The owner can also tell the HC to prioritize playing young prospects over short-term winning (which Flores did not, specifically with Rosen and Fitz).
Neither of those things are against the rules, and I don't see how it could be against the rules for an owner to give his front office financial incentives for outcomes that are against their own personal self-interest.

[Dave Gray]

I think this makes Ross look awful and if this is true, he should probably sell the team.

Skirting the rules to directly ask your coach to fail is bad form.  But outright breaking the rules to try to get Flores to meet with a QB on an active roster is very bad.  Then, pushing Flores out based on his non-compliance, if true -- also BAD.

[Pappy13]

I agree. It's time for Ross to find another hobby.

[EDGECRUSHER]

...what?  That doesn't make sense.

Suppose you are an owner and you want the team to lose for the chance to draft (what you believe to be) a generational player.  The GM and HC are putting their own careers at risk by doing this.  So how do you compensate them for that risk?  With, um, money.

The owner can tell the GM to trade away the best players (as, um, Grier did).
The owner can also tell the HC to prioritize playing young prospects over short-term winning (which Flores did not, specifically with Rosen and Fitz).
Neither of those things are against the rules, and I don't see how it could be against the rules for an owner to give his front office financial incentives for outcomes that are against their own personal self-interest.

You can't purposely lose, you can "rebuild for the future and see what the young kids can do". I'm not saying an owner hasn't or that it isn't beneficial to a team in the long run, I'm just saying you can't pay a head coach financial incentives to basically take a knee on 3rd down and punt in order to lose.   Even if that is not in the rulebook, there will be an investigation into this and if that idiot Ross actually has financial documentation tracing "Losing Bonuses" from him to Flores, the NFL will come down hard on him.

There is no way the league would let that stand and you can screenshot this for if it is ever proven. I will take the heat if I am wrong but I'm more confident of this than I am that we will fuck up our next HC hire.

[MyGodWearsAHoodie]

The sham interview allegations if proven are league rule violations that will draw a half millions dollar fine.  Not a good look but not a serious consideration for a billionaire.

OTOH, offering an incentive to someone to purposely lose a game violates federal anti racketeering laws.  This is big.  Probably the biggest sports scandal in the past 102 years rivaling the 1919 world series.