Brian Flores is an active NFL defensive coordinator, helping the Vikings into a top-five defensive ranking last season. His discrimination lawsuit, stemming from his Dolphins dismissal and time on the HC interview circuit, remains ongoing. And the veteran staffer scored a big victory Thursday.
The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan upheld a prior ruling indicating Flores will be permitted to put the NFL on trial. Flores can take the league and the three teams he sued — the Broncos, Giants and Texans — to court, according to an ESPN.com report. A federal appeals court found “insurmountable flaws” with an NFL arbitration process that would have permitted Roger Goodell to be the arbitrator in this case. Rather than the deck being stacked against Flores, the third-year Minnesota DC is on track to proceed with his claims in a true courtroom.
Circuit Judge Jose A. Cabranes wrote Thursday NFL rules forcing Flores to take his claims to arbitration before Goodell represented “arbitration in name only.”
“The significance of the Second Circuit’s decision cannot be overstated,” Douglas H. Wigdor, David E. Gottlieb and John Elefterakis (Flores’ attorneys) said in a statement. “For too long, the NFL has relied on a fundamentally biased and unfair arbitration process — even in cases involving serious claims of discrimination. This ruling sends a clear message: that practice must end. This is a victory not only for NFL employees, but for workers across the country — and for anyone who believes in transparency, accountability and justice.”
Although NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy countered by saying the league disagrees with the panel’s ruling and that it will “seek further review,” an active assistant being set to take the league to court is a landmark ruling. Flores filed his suit in 2022, upon being fired from the Dolphins, and various legal developments have unfolded since.
The topic of Goodell potentially serving as arbitrator in this case dates back to mid-2022. Flores had initially included the Dolphins in his suit, but Judge Valerie Caproni ruled in 2023 he must pursue that discrimination claim through arbitration. Flores initially filed his suit Feb. 1, 2022. After a lengthy delay, he will operate in a rather unusual dual role: active defensive coordinator and plaintiff in a high-profile case. Flores, 44, also figures to land back on the HC carousel in January. An actual trial taking place could reinsert a hurdle in his path to such a job. It was thought Flores would see his coaching aspirations blocked while he pursued this case, but the Steelers hired him as linebackers coach in 2022. That propelled him to the Vikes’ DC gig a year later.
When Flores accused the quartet of teams and the NFL of discrimination, he was coming off a firing after back-to-back winning seasons with the Dolphins. The firing represented a shock at the time, as the Dolphins went from an overmatched 2019 roster — one that generated a Flores tanking accusation against owner Stephen Ross, one that did not lead to NFL punishment — to a 10-6 season in 2020. Flores accused the Giants of conducting a “sham” interview with him in the wake of his Dolphins firing; his Texans accusation also comes from 2022. His Broncos accusation stems from a 2019 interview.
The Cardinals have interviewed Flores for a head coaching job since, though he backed out of a second meeting about the position in 2023. He became a much more attractive candidate after the Vikings’ defensive improvement last season. After Minnesota’s defense climbed to fifth in scoring, Flores met about the Bears, Jaguars and Jets’ jobs. None of those teams are included in the suit, and Flores is still positioned as the architect of Kevin O’Connell‘s Vikes defense.
Regardless of what we think of Flores’ claims, it seems like a good thing that the NFL won’t be able to stifle any further proceedings in an in-house legal process.
Goodell being the arbitrator was wild. I’m glad they’re gonna sort it out for Coach either way.