Lawsuit against NFL and teams

On February 1, 2022, Flores filed a class-action lawsuit against the NFL, Giants, Broncos, and Dolphins organizations, alleging racial discrimination. The suit claims that text messages he received from New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick, as well as media reports, show that the New York Giants decided to hire Brian Daboll as head coach before interviewing any minority candidates. The Giants, who scheduled an interview with Flores for January 27, had allegedly decided on Daboll by January 23. Flores also accused John Elway and Broncos management of conducting another sham head coach interview with him in 2019, arriving an hour late and appearing hungover. Elway responded by stating that five Broncos officials flew overnight from Colorado to Rhode Island to work around the only interview time that worked for Flores, that they had interviewed him for 3.5 hours, and that they took and still retain detailed notes proving their genuine interest in hiring him. The lawsuit additionally alleges that during Flores’ tenure with the Dolphins, team owner Stephen Ross pressured him to tank (deliberately lose games), offering him $100,000 for each game he lost in order for the Dolphins to get better draft picks for the following season, and to tamper with a quarterback before free agency. When Flores refused to tank, achieving two consecutive winning seasons, and refused to tamper, Ross fired him and lied about why. The Palm Beach Post reported that the quarterback was Tom Brady. The lawsuit seeks damages and injunctive relief in the form of changes to hiring, retention, termination, and pay transparency practices for coaching and executive positions in the NFL.

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