When asked about Lynch’s appointment to the NFL, he did not comment on the legal team representing Flores.
The Dolphins sacked Flores in January, and the team announced that Mike McDaniel would be their next coach earlier this month. Flores has been 24-25 in his three years with the dolphins, including a record 9-8 this past season when Miami missed the playoffs.
In his lawsuit against the NFL and three teams — the Dolphins, Denver Broncos and New York Giants — Flores claims that after the regular season, the Giants interviewed him about their vacant coaching job under deceptive circumstances, claiming he discovered three days earlier. From his interview, the Giants have already decided to hire Brian Dabol.
The Giants Organization earlier this month released a statement standing by its operation and decision to hire Daboll.
“We are pleased and confident in the process that resulted in the appointment of Brian Dabol,” the team statement said. “We interviewed a great variety of candidates. The fact of the matter is that Brian Flores was in the conversation to be our head coach until the eleventh hour. In the end, we hired the individual we felt most qualified to be our next head coach.”
The NFL established the Rooney Rule in 2003 in an effort to increase diversity among the training of the NFL president, general manager, and executive ranks. The rule requires each team to interview at least two outside minority candidates for open key coaching positions, according to the NFL Football Operations website.
As of Wednesday, there are only two major NFL coaches — Mike Tomlin of the Pittsburgh Steelers and Luffy Smith of the Houston Texans — in a league where nearly 70% of the players are black.
Three other coaches lead their teams: Washington captain Ron Rivera, of Puerto Rican and Mexican descent, Robert Saleh of the New York Jets, of Lebanese descent, and McDaniel, a multiracial.
After the lawsuit was announced in February, the NFL released a statement calling Flores’ allegations unfounded.
“The NFL and our clubs are deeply committed to ensuring fair employment practices and to continuing to make progress in providing equal opportunity throughout our organizations,” the association said in its statement. “Diversity is at the core of everything we do and there are quite a few issues where our clubs and in-house leadership team spend more time. We will defend against these allegations, which have no basis.”
Flores claims to have had a “sham interview” with Bronco
Flores’ lawsuit files another “sham interview,” this one with the Denver Broncos in 2019. “John Elway, then general manager of the Broncos, President and CEO Joe Ellis and others came late for the interview,” Flores says, adding that the Bronco delegation “looked disheveled.” Absolutely, and it was obvious that they drank a lot the night before.”
The Denver Broncos vigorously challenged Flores’ lawsuit, saying, “The allegations made by Brian Flores toward the Denver Broncos in court filing today are blatantly false.”
“Our process was thorough and fair to identify the most qualified candidate for our lead coaching position,” the team statement continued.
Elway also released a statement rejecting Flores’ allegations.
“I took Coach Flores very seriously as a candidate for our head coach position in 2019 and enjoyed our three and a half hour interview. Along with the rest of our group, I was fully prepared, prepared and engaged during the entire interview as Brian shared his experience and vision for our team,” Elway said in a statement this month.
“For Brian, making an assumption about my appearance and state of mind early that morning was subjective, painful, and completely wrong. If I looked ‘shaggy,’ as he claimed, it was because we had flown in the middle of the night – right after another interview in Denver – and they were going on A few hours of sleep to meet the only window available to us,” Elway’s statement read.
Flores says Dolphins’ owner, Stephen Ross, offered to pay Flores to intentionally lose games in order to secure a higher selection in the NFL draft and encouraged Flores to intentionally violate the league’s manipulation rules. When he refused, Flores says, Ross then led a campaign to treat Flores “with contempt and label him as a non-conformist and difficult to deal with.”
The Dolphins responded to Flores’ allegations, saying in part: “We vehemently deny any allegations of racial discrimination and take pride in diversity and inclusion throughout our organization. To imply that we acted in a manner contrary to the integrity of the game is incorrect. We will refrain from commenting on the suit at this time.”
CNN’s Steve Almassi contributed to this report.
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