Brian Flores says he won’t drop racism lawsuit against NFL even if he is hired as a head coach

The messy Brian Flores saga continues.

In case you missed it: The former Miami Dolphins head coach, who was fired by the team at the end of the 2021 NFL regular season despite the team being within inches of qualifying for the playoffs, has decided to file a lawsuit against the league over allegations of racism.

The 40-year old claims that both the New York Giants and Denver Broncos engaged in “sham” interviews with him just to fulfill the league’s Rooney Rule of giving a person of colour an interview during the hiring process of a head coach or General Manager

“Humiliation, disbelief, anger. I’ve worked so hard to get to where I am in football to become a head coach. Put 18 years in this league, and to go on what was a sham interview, I was hurt.” said Flores.

In the lawsuit, he provided proof through text messages with New England Patriots’ Bill Bellichick, who accidentally texted congratulations to Flores instead of Brian Daboll for getting the Giants head coaching vacancy. The problem was Flores’ interview with the Giants hadn’t even taken place yet, and Bellichick knew that the team had already decided to hire Daboll before giving Flores a chance.

Flores also claims the prior to getting the job with the Dolphins, he interviewed with the Broncos. The Broncos front office allegedly showed up to the interview “hungover” and acted unprofessional throughout the process, which gave off the vibe that they already made their mind up prior to the interview.

The offseason isn’t over yet, and there are still a handful of head coaching vacancies to fill. Even if Flores gets hired by an NFL franchise, which is still his ultimate goal, he will not drop the lawsuit against the NFL

“This is about changing the hiring practices in the National Football League, and that’s what this lawsuit is about,” said Flores.

“I want to coach football that’s what I’m called to do.”