Brian Flores’ Lawsuit Against The NFL Will Only Damage Black Head Coaches
Flores’ unfounded accusations against the NFL of ‘systemic racism’ will set back the relationship between owners and black coaching talent.
Let’s ask the obvious question as it relates to Brian Flores’ discrimination lawsuit against the NFL, the New York Giants, Denver Broncos, and Miami Dolphins:
Has Flores damaged the job prospects and work relationships of his black coaching peers?
No doubt, Flores is a hero to Nate Burleson, Mike Greenberg, Stephen A. Smith, Elle Duncan, Ryan Clark, Shannon Sharpe, and countless other blue-check sports media figures whose job is to goad and then celebrate emotional and non-strategic behavior from black men.
Flores is following in the footsteps of Colin Kaepernick, George Floyd, and Jacob Blake. He’s acting as an emotional trigger, a justification for chaos, animus, and protest. On Thursday, former NBA star Chris Bosh vowed to quit watching NFL games until the league hires more black coaches and general managers.
Will they?
Dolphins owner Stephen Ross ran the “blackest” organization in the NFL. At one time, his head coach, general manager, assistant general manager, defensive coordinator, and several members of his ownership group were all black.
Brian Flores’ accusations against Ross could get Ross removed from NFL ownership. Flores claims Ross offered him money to lose games in 2019 and that Ross tried to arrange an illegal meeting with a veteran quarterback under contract to another team.
Flores is a snitch. He snitched on the owner who followed the social justice/Black Lives Matter playbook.
Flores also seemingly betrayed the mentor, Bill Belichick, who put him in position to rise to head coach. Belichick’s accidental text messages seem to be the foundation for Flores’ claim that the Giants treated him in a discriminatory fashion. Flores worked for one organization — the Patriots — before landing the head job with the Dolphins. In 2004, he landed a job as a scouting assistant with New England. He spent 15 years working for Belichick.
Flores’ lawsuit could potentially force investigators to seek access to Belichick’s cell phone records.
Brian Flores’ sense of entitlement to an NFL head coaching job has taken precedence over any sense of gratitude and loyalty toward the people who helped him land the Dolphins job. Belichick and Ross were part of the solution for Flores until the moment Flores decided they were part of the problem.
Belichick and Ross are now enemies, and Flores’ allies are the two white liberal lawyers who crafted his Twitter-approved lawsuit.
As a white owner or head coach, would you be nervous about hiring the next Brian Flores?
Shahid Khan, the owner of the Jacksonville Jaguars, committed to hiring Doug Pederson yesterday. Khan can fire Pederson tomorrow without fear of being smeared as racist. The same is true for Raiders owner Mark Davis and his new coach Josh McDaniels. So far this off-season, the NFL has hired five new coaches. All of them are white.
Let me repeat: Stephen Ross ran the blackest organization in the NFL. Brian Flores is attempting to get Ross removed from the league. Stephen A. Smith, Ryan Clark, and the rest of ESPN’s BLM gang are assisting Flores in his effort to kick Ross out of the league.
Brian Flores is hurting black coaches.
The race-bait idiots at ESPN won’t say this. Flores makes their job easier. This is all just a re-enactment of Colin Kaepernick’s national anthem kneeling. Kaepernick’s protest did not advance the cause of black people. It simply heightened animosity toward police, promoted the counterproductive “defund the police” movement, and increased the racial divide. All of it led to elevated violent crime rates in black neighborhoods.
Black NFL players have made it quite clear they want to inspire change on behalf of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Jacob Blake, Rayshard Brooks, and other high-profile victims of alleged white criminal misconduct.
Black football players enthusiastically appointed themselves experts on criminal justice reform, systemic racism, housing discrimination, and pay inequality.
During televised commercial breaks, current NFL players preach about “where they’re from” and how people who look like them are over-policed and over-incarcerated and will earn $10,000 less than their white counterparts.
That’s why I expect the next batch of “inspire change” commercials to feature former Dolphins coach Brian Flores. Surely the courageous freedom fighters speaking on behalf of George Floyd will lift their voices in support of Brian “Harriet Tubman” Flores.
As qualified as football players are to speak on local policing issues, it pales in comparison to what they know about coaching football. As the New York Times, ESPN, and Flores’ white attorneys have repeatedly pointed out, 70% of NFL players are black. These black players are eyewitnesses to the racism endured by Flores and countless black assistant coaches.
If they’re willing to take a knee for George Floyd, I’m sure black Dolphins players would be more than happy to support Flores’ lawsuit.
And this is my problem with the Brian Flores controversy and the repeated allegations that NFL owners refuse to hire black head coaches. NFL owners will do pretty much anything the players demand they do. Cowboys owner Jerry Jones took a knee during the national anthem because the players demanded he do so. Jones’ billionaire peers across the league did the same thing.
The players control the league. The players forced the owners to hand over nearly $100 million to finance the “Players Coalition,” a vanity project for current and former players to build social media brands as social justice warriors.
If NFL players wanted more black head coaches, more black offensive coordinators, they would demand it and it would happen overnight.
Players create the hype and buzz around assistant coaches. When a talented and charismatic assistant coach reveals himself on a staff, it’s the players who start gossiping about his impact, his ability to connect, and his relentless work ethic.
Brian Flores doesn’t need a lawsuit to get a head coaching job. He needs the support of black NFL players. The same is true for Chiefs offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy.
But black people have been taught to prefer the charity of white people over the support of their own. This preference for charity played a role in Flores getting fired. Dolphins owner Stephen Ross figured out that Flores isn’t ruthless enough to win at the highest level.
If you believe Flores’ narrative, Ross tried to forge an alliance between Flores and an established NFL quarterback. Multiple outlets have reported that the established quarterback was Tom Brady. Ross is a Michigan grad and one of the school’s top boosters. Ross has known Brady for years.
Flores refused the meeting because it would violate the NFL’s tampering policy. Flores’ refusal violated common sense. Flores reportedly did not like Miami QB Tua Tagovailoa. Ross was offering Flores a solution, a path to a proven franchise quarterback. Ross was trying to put his head coach in position to win immediately.
That wasn’t racism. Ross was bending the rules to favor his black head coach. Proving again that no good deed goes unpunished.