Why Has Brian Flores Sued The NFL And Three Teams?

Publish date: 2024-05-18

Brian Flores has recently sued the NFL and three of its clubs for racial discrimination. He has been hired as senior defensive assistant and linebackers coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers.

He has served the NFL all his life. He coached American football and is presently the head coach of the Miami Dolphins of the National Football League.

Brian Francisco Flores

Born on February 24, 1981 in New York City, USA, Brian Francisco Flores’s Honduran parents reared him in the Brownsville neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York City.

Brian Flores’ parents are Mexican immigrants. He is the son of a Durango-born Mexican immigrant father and a Jalisco-born first-generation mother.

Flores started his football career as a linebacker for Boston College from 1999 to 2002 after finishing Poly Prep Country Day School in Brooklyn. He was unable to play in the NFL due to an injury. 

But Flores grew up his career with the New York Giants as well as the New York Mets as his favorite sports teams.

Personal Life Of Brian Flores

Flores’ parents relocated to the United States in the 1970s in order to provide a better life for Flores, his siblings, and their whole family. 

His parents, uncles, and aunts had spent a lot of time in places where they may not have had a good amount of money, but they were certainly wealthy in love.

Flores’ basic principles were instilled in him at a young age, and they have served him well throughout his life, from Poly Prep in Brooklyn through Boston College to his tenure with the Patriots.

When you mix that base with a keen intellect, you have a winning formula, the type that leads to a 37-year-old head coach.

Career

Flores became a scouting assistant with the Patriots in 2004, when they won their third Super Bowl championship in Super Bowl XXXIX. Before joining the coaching staff as a special team coaching assistant in 2008, he began his career as a pro scout in 2006.

In 2010, he was promoted to assistant coach offense/special teams. In 2011, he was promoted to defensive assistant. He was designated the safeties’ coach in 2012. Prior to the 2016 season, he was appointed as linebackers coach.

From 2008 through 2018, he worked as an assistant coach with the New England Patriots. Flores was the defensive play caller for New England during his season finale as a head coach, which ended with a Super Bowl title in Super Bowl LIII.

The Patriots won 4 Super Bowls, fourteen AFC East crowns, plus seven AFC Championships during his time with the team. He is indeed the second former Bill Belichick assistant to be hired head coach of the Dolphins, following Nick Saban.

He coached the Miami Dolphins from 2019 to 2021 after winning the Super Bowl. Alongside Ron Rivera, Tom Fears, and Tom Flores, he had become the fourth Latino head coach in NFL history.

 Flores offered to assist Miami to straight winning seasons in 2020 and 2021, the team’s first consecutive win since 2001, despite the fact that they did not make the playoffs. 

Brian Flores Filed A Lawsuit

Unfortunately, following a conflict with Dolphins management, Brian Flores was sacked after the 2021 season. 

The Dolphins fired Flores after three seasons on January 10, 2022, in a shocking decision ignoring the fact that Flores’ contract had two years remaining.

Following his removal, he filed a class-action lawsuit against the NFL and three of its squads on Tuesday, alleging racial discrimination.

He accused them of racial discrimination in the league’s treatment of minority coaches as well as executives. In the midst of the case, he signed with the Steelers.

Flores claimed in his complaint that Dolphins owner Stephen Ross paid him $100,000 for each defeat in 2019 as part of a scheme to tank for a top draft selection.

Flores also alleged that the Giants that they only interviewed him for their head-coaching opening in January in order to ensure compliance with the Rooney Rule, and that a similar situation occurred with the Broncos in 2019.

The NFL and its teams are also accused of breaking federal and state laws in New York and New Jersey, according to the lawsuit.

To address Flores’ charges, the NFL has recruited a litigation group that includes retired US Attorney General Loretta Lynch.

On February 19, 2022, Flores was announced as the Pittsburgh Steelers’ senior defensive assistant and linebackers coach.

The Pittsburgh Steelers hired the former Miami Dolphins coach on Saturday to serve as a senior defensive assistant. 

Flores will specialize in working with Pittsburgh’s linebackers, a group that includes NFL Defensive Player of the Year T.J. Watt.

Flores told NPR’s The Limits with Jay Williams earlier this month that he believes the lawsuit is a price worth paying. He told:

“This isn’t about me. This is about something that’s much bigger than me, which is a system in the NFL that, in my opinion, is broken as far as hiring practices for Black and minority coaches and minorities in general.”

Flores said that he heard of the Giants’ decision to pick someone else as their next coach through text conversations with Belichick, already before Flores had completed his final interview for the post.

“Interviews that Blacks and minorities were going on, where we weren’t getting a true opportunity in those interviews to showcase our abilities,” Flores added. “To walk into an interview where a decision has already been made, that was the tipping point for me.”

Brian Flores’ Family

Brian Flores’ wife, Jennifer Maria Duncan Flores is a mother of three children. She also prefers to stay out of the spotlight and focus on her children. 

Flores married his longtime girlfriend Jennifer Maria Duncan Flores in an intimate wedding in 2008. They had their first child, a daughter, and two sons. The children’s names, however, remain unknown.

Net Worth

Brian Flores’ net worth is estimated to be $5 million. He has sped up his career as a result of his NFL successes, which he owes to his coaching.

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