NFL releases official statement on Brian Flores lawsuit

Former Miami Dolphins head coach Brian Flores has filed a lawsuit against the NFL and the New York Giants, claiming they demonstrated racist practices in choosing their next head coach. The document contains personal text messages with New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick and includes a description of a dinner with the Giants front office.

Shortly after the NFL lawsuit became public, the New York Giants issued a statement on Brian Flores’ accusations and the lawsuit at hand. Now, the league office has issued an official statement with a defense of its rules and guidelines.

“The NFL and our clubs are deeply committed to ensuring equitable employment practices and continue to make progress in providing equitable opportunities throughout our organizations. Diversity is core to everything we do, and there are few issues on which our clubs and our internal leadership team spend more time. We will defend against there claims, which are without merit.”

The future repercussions for both sides remain unknown at this time.

Brian Flores lawsuit

In a series of text messages with Bill Belichick, who Brian Flores formerly worked under, it was revealed that the Giants would hire Buffalo Bills offensive coordinator Brian Daboll as head coach three days before a scheduled interview.

“Sounds like you have landed – congrats!!” read the first message from Belichick.

Flores then asked if his former boss heard something around the league he had not, but it was later revealed that Belichick thought he was talking to Daboll and not Flores.

“Sorry – I f*cked this up,” Belichick wrote in a later text. “I double checked & I misread the text. I think they are naming Daboll. I’m sorry about that.”

According to the lawsuit, Brian Flores claims that the New York Giants proceeded with his interview in an attempt to satisfy the NFL’s Rooney Rule before officially naming the coach they already agreed to a deal with previously.

The legal document read, in part: “Mr. Flores was forced to sit through a dinner with Joe Schoen, the Giants’ new general manager, knowing that the Giants had already selected Mr. Daboll. Much worse… Mr. Flores had to give an extensive interview for a job that he already knew he would not get – an interview that was held for no reason other than for the Fiants to demonstrate falsely to the League Commissioner Roger Goodell and the public at large that it was in compliance with the Rooney Rule.”