Former Miami Dolphins head coach Brian Flores dropped a bombshell lawsuit against the NFL on Tuesday, blasting the league for its racial hiring practices. Flores insists that multiple teams danced around the Rooney Rule, simply bringing him in for an interview in order to meet the NFL's standards. In a particularly scathing section of his lawsuit, Flores divulged that Dolphins' owner Stephen Ross was attempted to bribe him to lose games and secure a better draft pick, via Zack Cox.
There's a lot in here, but this was one eye-popping line: Dolphins owner Stephen Ross allegedly told Flores he'd pay him $100k for every loss in 2019 because he wanted to tank for the No. 1 pick and Flores refused to. https://t.co/pytj2EnmTM
— Zack Cox (@ZackCoxNESN) February 1, 2022
This wasn't your ordinary bribe, either. Ross allegedly offered Flores $100,000 for every game the Dolphins lost in 2019 in hopes of locking up the No. 1 overall pick. Flores refused his demands and the team ended up winning five games that season and drafted fifth overall, where they selected Tua Tagovailoa. Ross was likely hoping to get his hands on Joe Burrow with the No. 1 overall pick, but Flores allegedly put an end to that scheme.
The relationship between Flores and Ross grew sour during the former's tenure as head coach. Flores alleged Ross was keen on gaining a competitive advantage, even if it meant bending some rules. An example of this was when Flores claims Ross set up a meeting for the two of them, only to have Flores pitch him to the Dolphins, which would have been a direct violation of the NFL's tampering policies.
Brian Flores lawsuit says Dolphins owner Steven Ross pressured him to pursue a prominent QB (not named, but not hard to figure out) in 2019 then invited him to a yacht for lunch in winter 2020 where “prominent QB” showed up for impromptu meeting. Flores stormed out, per lawsuit.
— Cameron Wolfe (@CameronWolfe) February 1, 2022
Flores was fired by the Miami Dolphins at the end of the 2021 season and has not yet been hired by another team. His lawsuit suggests he feels he's fallen victim to the NFL's racial hiring policies and is being used as a loophole to get around said policies, rather than enforce them.
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