Loretta Lynch: First Black female AG in US history to defend the NFL in racial
When asked about the NFL hiring Lynch, the legal team representing Flores did not comment.
The Dolphins fired Flores in January, and the team announced Mike McDaniel as their next head coach earlier this month. Flores was 24-25 in his three years with the Dolphins, including a 9-8 record this past season when Miami missed qualifying for the playoffs.
In his lawsuit against the NFL and three teams — the Dolphins, Denver Broncos and New York Giants — Flores alleges that after the regular season, the Giants interviewed him for their vacant head coaching job under disingenuous circumstances, claiming he had found out three days before his interview that the Giants had already decided to hire Brian Daboll.
The Giants organization earlier this month issued a statement standing by its process and decision to hire Daboll.
“We are pleased and confident with the process that resulted in the hiring of Brian Daboll,” the team’s statement read. “We interviewed an impressive and diverse group of candidates. The fact of the matter is, Brian Flores was in the conversation to be our head coach until the eleventh hour. Ultimately, we hired the individual we felt was most qualified to be our next head coach.”
The NFL instituted the Rooney Rule in 2003 in an effort to increase diversity among the NFL’s head coaching, general manager and executive ranks. The rule requires every team to interview at least two external minority candidates for open head coaching positions, according to the NFL’s Football Operations website.
As of Wednesday, there are only two Black head coaches in the NFL — Pittsburgh Steelers’ Mike Tomlin and Houston Texans’ Lovie Smith — in a league where nearly 70% of the players are Black.
Three other head coaches of color lead their teams: Washington Commanders’ Ron Rivera, who is of Puerto Rican and Mexican descent, New York Jets’ Robert Saleh, who is of Lebanese descent, and McDaniel, who is multiracial.
Following the announcement of the lawsuit in February, the NFL issued a statement calling Flores’ allegations meritless.
“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,” the league said in its statement. “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…
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