Brian Flores, in a bombshell discrimination lawsuit against the NFL and its 32 teams, alleges he was bribed to tank games and urged to tamper with another team’s quarterback by Dolphins owner Stephen Ross.
Flores, who was recently fired by the Dolphins after three seasons as head coach, filed a class action lawsuit in the Southern District of New York.
In the suit, which also cites purported texts from Bill Belichick as evidence the Giants initiated a sham hiring process that landed on Brian Daboll, Flores alleges that Ross offered him $100,000 per game to loss in the 2019 season.
The Dolphins — and Giants — have denied the claims.
“[T]he writing had been on the wall since Mr. Flores’ first season as Head Coach of the Dolphins, when he refused his owner’s directive to ‘tank’ for the first pick in the draft,” the lawsuit claims. “Indeed, during the 2019 season, Miami’s owner, Stephen Ross, told Mr. Flores that he would pay him $100,000 for every loss, and the team’s General Manager, Chris Grier, told Mr. Flores that ‘Steve’ was ‘mad’ that Mr. Flores’ success in winning games that year was ‘compromising [the team’s] draft position.'”
The Dolphins finished 5-11 that season. Because the Bengals had the league’s worst record at 2-14, they landed LSU star Joe Burrow, who now has led Cincinnati to Super Bowl 2022.
Flores also alleged he was urged by the Dolphins owner to “tamper” with an unnamed “prominent quarterback.” That quarterback was Tom Brady, according to the Palm Beach Post.
“After the end of the 2019 season, Mr. Ross began to pressure Mr. Flores to recruit a prominent quarterback in violation of League tampering rules. Mr. Flores repeatedly refused to comply with these improper directives,” the suit says. “Undeterred, in the winter of 2020, Mr. Ross invited Mr. Flores onto a yacht for lunch. Shortly after he arrived, Mr. Ross told Mr. Flores that the prominent quarterback was ‘conveniently’ arriving at the marina.
“Obviously, Mr. Ross had attempted to ‘set up’ a purportedly impromptu meeting between Mr. Flores and the prominent quarterback. Mr. Flores refused the meeting and left the yacht immediately. After the incident, Mr. Flores was treated with disdain and held out as someone who was noncompliant and difficult to work with.”
On Tuesday evening, the Dolphins acknowledged the suit, denying all of Flores’ allegations.
“We vehemently deny any allegations of racial discrimination and are proud of the diversity and inclusion throughout our organization,” the team said in a statement. “The implication that we acted in a manner inconsistent with the integrity of the game is incorrect. We will be withholding further comment on the lawsuit at this time.”
If these claims are true, the NFL will likely come down hard on Ross and the Dolphins. While the NFL didn’t address the tanking allegations, it did say in a statement that it will defend itself against Flores’ claims of discrimination, which the league says “are without merit.”
