5 Reasons Why Brian Flores' Racism Lawsuit Against The NFL Is A HUGE Deal

The NFL's racial history is not one to be ignored.

It seems right now we're on the precipice of another movement in the NFL, as former Dolphins head coach Brian Flores has just dropped a bomb in the sports world. Mr. Flores' class-action lawsuit against the league, the Giants, and the Broncos is based on allegations that he feels he was never given a fair chance when it came to interviewing for head coach positions due to the color of his skin, as well as damning accusations against his former team, the Miami Dolphins, whose owner Stephen Ross had allegedly tried to pay him to lose so they could have a better draft position back in 2019.

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Brian Flores served as the Dolphins head coach for three seasons before his recent firing that left the NFL world in shock. He had galvanized the team for back-to-back winning seasons. Although it wasn't enough to be in the playoffs, it gave many Miami fans hope for the future. Though it came as a surprise to many, there was no doubt in many people's minds that he would receive a coaching job elsewhere seeing how he turned around the Dolphins, on top of his DC (Defensive Coordinator) duties under Bill Belichick.

Everyone knows there is racial history when it comes to the NFL, as most of our history here in America is tied to the racism this country has had to overcome. Although there have been changes in the decades that the NFL has been here, there still seems to be an underlying issue with race felt not only by the players but also the coaches. We saw this with Colin Kaepernick just a few years back, and now it seems Brian Flores is willing to make himself the martyr to try to bring more racial equality to the massive football organization, particularly when it comes to Black coaches as well as having more Black executives in the league.

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Now if you know anything of the policies that the NFL has put in place already to make sure there was an even playing field for ethnic coaches, they implemented the Rooney Rule back in 2003 to set the stage for teams to interview minority coaches as a way to give them a fair shot at a head coaching position. Although this was a step to balancing the scales in the league, there were people quick to criticize how teams could simply work around this by giving "bogus interviews" to minority coaches while having the white coach that they prefer already on deck once the quota of the Rooney Rules was met. 

The most recent evidence of this possibly happening is when in last year's Super Bowl you had three Black coordinators that should've been able to lock down head coaching positions, but none were hired for the role. Now personally, I don't believe teams should be hiring solely based on a coach being Black, but if you were to take away the color of their skin and look at their resume just on merit alone, a lot of these Black coaches should have a head coaching job.

So let's get into the reasons why Flores' lawsuit is a big deal for the NFL and its future.

1. Allegations against Miami Dolphins owner Stephen Ross could open a can of worms.

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Let's start with Flores' former team the Miami Dolphins. Flores has recently stated in his lawsuit against the Florida team that owner Stephen Ross in 2019 had attempted to pay Flores $100,000 a game to lose so that they could have a better spot for the upcoming draft. This quickly caught the attention of the public, as it's always been speculated that teams tank at times to try to get a standout player in the draft. But for it to be exposed that an Owner was willing to pay and try to compromise the integrity of the game to better his team will be a huge blow not only to the Miami Dolphins but to the NFL as a whole. This already has led former Cleveland Browns head coach Hue Jackson to come out and speak on his own experience with his former team, and he alleges that he has proof that executives and himself were offered incentives for tanking games. If this is proven to be true, this could open a can of worms when it comes to investigations league-wide. Time will only tell what the truth is, but if any owner is found to be guilty, I'm sure the calls for resignations and ownership changes will be massive.

2. Bill Belichick's text message exposes a potential ugly truth.

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We've all sent a text meant to someone else, but none had more at stake than when Bill Belichick sent a message to Brian Flores essentially congratulating him on the head coaching job for the New York Giants. The only problem was he hadn't interviewed for the job yet. Flores was then quick to correct Belichick as he knew that Brian Daboll, who like him also coached under Belichick, was in the running for the same position. He says after receiving the text he felt, "Humilated and that it was a tough pill to swallow." This is understandable, considering he felt he could do well in that locker room as well as being a Brooklyn native. Although he received the information from Bill Belichick confirming Daboll as the new head coach for the Giants, he went on to the interview regardless, in hopes that he could possibly change their mind — yet knowing that the whole interview was set up with the intention of, in his words, "checking the box." This was then confirmed for him when the very next day they announced Brian Daboll as their head coach, which has driven Flores to seek out change in the NFL's hiring practices toward Black coaches. Now, all these allegations were made by Flores, but there are some questions to be raised as to why this organization that represents a melting pot of a city like New York has never hired a Black head coach. 

3. It could change how the NFL handles the hiring and developing of Black coaches.

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Like I stated before, the Rooney Rule was put in place 13 years ago in order to give ethnic minorities a chance at head coaching and senior football operations jobs. At the moment, the only Black head coach in the NFL is Mike Tomlin. This is an egregious oversight that the NFL and execs around the league should be fighting to change, but it seems as of late that this isn't a priority for NFL clubs. If Flores' class-action suit gets enough supporters in former and current coaches, it could help to get the NFL to sit down and reshape the Rooney Rule, which organizations have been able to skirt by and do disingenuous interviews only to "check the box." Flores is seeking to change the culture of the NFL practices in how they not only hire and fire Black head coaches, but as well as how they are brought up through the system of coaching. He would like to get more Black hires in different coaching positions for those who have put in their time and have the merit to show for it, in comparison to other white coaches who just look like the owners do. He is also trying to make a space for Black owners to be involved in the NFL, which we have never seen. The NFL's roster of players is predominantly Black, and it's a shame that there has never been a Black owner in the NFL. 

4. Colin Kaepernick set the stage.

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We all remember when Colin Kaepernick filed his grievance with the NFL a few years back; it divided people, and his kneeling seemed to be the biggest issue, as people took offense to what they interpreted as his blatant disrespect toward the American flag and the service members who fight for our country. He was really kneeling for the People of Color who had suffered due to police brutality. He believed that he couldn't stand for a flag that doesn't treat people equally. It was a topic of discussion for years and culminated in the NFL eventually settling with Kaepernick for an undisclosed amount. Now granted there was never any clear-cut proof that the NFL as a whole colluded to keep Kaepernick out of the NFL, but the fact that they were willing to settle showed that most likely there was some sort of blackballing involved due to his beliefs. With Colin having paved the way on how to get the NFL and owner's attention, Brian Flores could be following suit, but with even more evidence than Kaepernick had. Flores has already come out and said he is not willing to settle and is prepared to sacrifice his coaching career to fight, so if the allegations are proved to be true, there will be no settlement, and the NFL and owners will have to come to terms with the fact that the way they handle their hiring practices will never be the same again. 

5. Does this prove that Jay-Z's partnership with the NFL was just a publicity move all along?

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When Jay-Z's Roc Nation was first announced to be partnering with the NFL, though primarily handling its events and concerts, it seemed like an olive branch with the Black community. The deal included Roc Nations' involvement with the "Inspire Change Initiative," a collaboration between the NFL and the Players Coalition, a group of NFL players seeking to advance social and racial justice. All in all, it sounds like a great cause. The problem is people will question the validity of the NFL's intention toward racial injustice when you can't seem to address the injustices in your own league. It can damage all the good work that this initiative has done, which is an even bigger problem if the marginalized communities you've helped start looking at you sideways when they see how people that work under your organization are treated. Can we take the NFL's Inspire Change Initiative seriously? I only raise the question because if these were things people had questions about back when the partnership was announced in 2019, imagine what people will wonder now after the Flores lawsuit. It's a slippery slope and one that hopefully the NFL will nip in the bud before the fire gets stoked too big. 

In the end, regardless of what happens with this lawsuit, it has exposed a problem that the NFL needs to further solve when it comes to Black coaches in the league. I hope that this will be the first step in changing things for the better for one of the most popular sports in our country.