The biggest story emanating in the sports world is Brian Flores’ class-action lawsuit against the NFL, Miami Dolphins, New York Giants and Denver Broncos.
The bombshell suit alleges racial hiring discrimination in addition to Dolphins owner Stephen Ross offering Flores $100,000 for every game lost in 2019, the season in which Miami was tanking.
Flores, who went 19-14 in the last two seasons as head coach of the Dolphins, including a 4-2 record against the divisional rival New England Patriots in his Miami tenure, alleges that the Giants interviewed him for their vacant head coaching position when in fact they’d already filled it by hiring Brian Daboll — which would constitute a sham interview to appease the Rooney Rule.
The NFL, Giants, Dolphins and Broncos have all released statements denying Flores’ allegations.
Critically acclaimed author and current Meadowlark Media commentator Howard Bryant joined the Murph and Mac Show Friday to discuss the complex situation.
“I’m proud of (Flores),” Bryant said. “I am disappointed, at the end of the day, that once again another prominent Black professional has to risk their entire career just to go and get an interview. Not even get a job, just to be interviewed. I don’t like seeing that, and I’m not happy about this at all.”
The last major player to take a stand against the NFL was 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick, who claimed to get blackballed by the league after protesting police brutality and racial inequality by kneeling during the national anthem. Kaepernick filed a grievance against the league and its owners alleging collusion when he went unsigned in 2017 and eventually reached a confidential settlement.
Bryant recalled a similar situation to Flores’ in MLB. When he covered the Oakland Athletics, Bryant remembers Black coaches like Ron Washington getting interviews for managerial positions that were already taken.
Bryant also compared Flores’ role as potential influencer to Curt Flood, the baseball player whose legal challenge against MLB reached the Supreme Court and later led to the installation of free agency.
“When you’re Black in this country, you’ve got to decide how you want to survive it,” Bryant said. “Do you want to fight it from the inside, or you say, like Brian Flores, ‘I’m willing to fight it from the outside.’ But you’re always fighting.”
Ross, the Dolphins owner, should be “nervous” about his involvement in the suit, Bryant said. The allegation that he offered Flores a financial incentive to tank, in an era with the proliferation of sports gambling, is “chilling.” But there’s a racial aspect to that accusation, too.
Black NFL coaches, Bryant said, are often put in positions to fail. So when a minority coach like Flores finally gets a chance and is then asked to lose — and can later be scapegoated for losing — his opportunity isn’t as real.
Bryant hopes that Flores doesn’t become isolated amid this situation. Coaches with similar grievances could join his class-action lawsuit to give it even more power. They could make it a movement akin to #MeToo, Bryant said.
“This is going to be a courage moment for a lot of Black coaches who still want a career in the NFL to do the right thing,” Bryant said. “Maybe this is a strength in numbers thing.”
The Rooney Rule, established in 2003, requires teams to consider minority candidates for head coaching jobs. It was an admission that head coaches didn’t represent the NFL — played by approximately 60% Black players — demographically. As of Feb. 4, Mike Tomlin is the only Black head coach currently employed.
So does the Rooney Rule need fixing? Bryant doesn’t think so.
“I think this is the most upsetting part of the entire affair so far,” Bryant said. “(The idea) of ‘we have to change the hearts and minds of people.’ No we don’t! No we don’t! Here’s what we have to do: You set up a rule designed to address an issue because you acknowledge a problem, and you can’t even adhere to that? This isn’t about your hearts and minds. This is about you doing, as a league, what you said you were going to do. And you haven’t done it…if you have to circumvent your own rules, you’re the problem.”
For the full conversation with Bryant, check out the Murph & Mac Show here or subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.
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