Vikings defensive coordinator Brian Flores* recently amended his lawsuit against the NFL and six of its teams to include a Title VII claim, and now he has amended it again. Per Daniel Kaplan of Front Office Sports, Flores has added a new retaliation count.
The nature of the allegation is presently unclear, but based on the NFL’s response, it appears Flores is arguing the league’s effort to enforce the arbitration provisions in its contracts is itself retaliatory. If that’s the case, sports attorney Chris Deubert tells Kaplan it “makes no sense,” and Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk concedes it will be difficult to prove.
Nonetheless, Flores has scored a series of key wins in this long-running saga, and he is striking while the iron is hot. The trial court has allowed his claims against all six teams (the Giants, Broncos, Texans, Dolphins, Titans, and Cardinals) to proceed to trial rather than remain in the NFL’s arbitration system, and the trial court has also allowed the case to move forward as normal even as the NFL seeks United States Supreme Court review of that issue.
Allowing the case to move forward includes lifting the stay on discovery, so in addition to the amended complaint, Flores has subpoenaed 31 of the NFL’s 32 teams, as Kaplan details (presumably, only the Vikings have not been subpoenaed). ESPN’s Kris Rhim adds Flores has served more than 1,000 discovery requests, which the league has argued are punishingly overbroad.
“They’re obviously going scorched-earth,” Deubert said. “Presuming he’s asking about their employment hiring practices and policies, and even that can be difficult to just to respond to. … But those teams are probably going to object to the subpoenas, probably collectively through the league-friendly counsel, and say it’s not relevant, and there’ll be an interesting sort of fight there.”
The defendants will file a motion to dismiss in response to the latest amended complaint. As Rhim notes, the deadline for that is June 5. Pretrial briefs are due in late July/early August. A trial date likely will not be set until after the court rules on the motions to dismiss.
*Steve Wilks and Ray Horton are Flores’ co-plaintiffs, but for ease of reading, we will simply use Flores’ name when referring to the plaintiffs’ side of this matter.
Yes, of course the Texans are guilty of discrimination. When’s the last time they had a white head coach? Shameful
This is where maybe you consider that Flores’s legal team knows more about what’s what than you do, and perhaps consider the possibility that your view of things is myopic.
The Texans are a *prime example* of how naive many commenters on these boards are when they say NFL owners can’t be racist or make decisions grounded in racism or bigotry because their only motivation is to make money by hiring the best people. Cal Mcnair hired (lol) JACK EASTERBY as the main dude in the front office… a guy whose primary experience was as a team chaplain. If you had made a list of the Top 1,000 front office candidates, Jack Easterby’s name wouldn’t have ever come up. And, yet, that was McNair’s choice. And then McNair wanted to hire (lol) Josh McCown as his head coach, even though McCown had no coaching experience whatsoever. McNair even got caught trying to get some of his fellow owners to interview McCown for their open HC positions just as a way to make his own eventual hiring of McCown seem more legitimate… so that when the public backlash hit, McNair could point to the other teams and say, look, they wanted to hire McCown too! Of course, those teams took a hard pass and wanted nothing to do with McCown as HC. And the NFL- recently presented with the Flores lawsuit- didn’t want McNair doing exactly the kind of thing the lawsuit accused NFL owners of doing… owners going out and not hiring the most qualified people and often making hires of questionable integrity that weren’t based on football merit. McNair hiring Easterby and trying to hire McCown, there was some weird religious angle ot it. It definitely wasn’t hiring decisions based on football wisdom. And while this is merely conjecture, when the NFL office saw McNair was about to hire McCown, they swooped in and told McNair to drop the McCown plans and hire a minority and fast.
Keep in mind, also, that part of Flores’s lawsuit is about how Black head coaches are given way less opportunities to keep their job and improve the team than their White counterparts. The Texans hired and fired Romeo Crennel, David Culley, and Lovie Smith all in successive years. All three were one and dones.
I’m sure Flores’s legal team is excited for discovery and depositions for many NFL owners, and I bet that McNair is at the top of their list.
But, sure, you keep on believing that the Texans and Cal McNair are, instead, some example of the NFL’s benevolence and purity.
Flores does not have a case against the Texans and nothing you just said change that. You’re ranting about crap that’s irrelevant, old and about a man who’s no longer with us. The guy’s dead. Get over it
The Texans did not pass up hiring Brian Flores because he was black. That’s the accusation. It’s absolute crap. The facts prove it.
And yes people sue all the time who don’t have a good claim to do so. They do it because sometimes the people who are being sued realize it’s cheaper just to pay the person to go away than to pay the stupid lawyers to fight the lawsuit
You really would do well to actually read Flores’s lawsuit. Your entire response shows you have no familiarity with it, because McNair/Texans history of hiring is totally relevant to the lawsuit and is a microcosm of problems plaguing the NFL for decades.
If you prefer to remain ignorant of the lawsuit and the history of racism in the NFL, that’s your business. But if you can’t spend the time making yourself knowledgable, then at least spare us your misinformed opinions.
The Houston Texans have hired 4 black head coaches coaches in last 6 years. This is the only fact I need to know
I rest my case
PS: it’s very telling that your conjecture just happens to besmirch a man that is dead and can’t defend himself. That your conjecture assumes someone is a racist bigot who would not hire a black man. You are one hell of a guy 👍
LOL @bass86 It’s not just my conjecture, and the timing of events makes it more than plausible. I’m hardly the first person to comment on it. Also, Cal McNair is alive and kicking. Are you thinking of his father?
Your reponse is pretty wild, and it’s very telling that you totally sidesteped the heart of what I said and the original issue of the Flores lawsuit. However, it’s awesome you dropped the word ‘besmirch’ into a post, so you get awarded extra credit for that lol, even if you got confused over exactly who you claim I was besmirching.
Only a fool would say some NFL owners are not racist. I imagine Jerry would lead the list but could be way off. He might or might not be. I also think most owners will do what is best for the team. Still they might not hire a black head coach. Has Dallas ever had a black head coach?
A guy like Jerry might still believe a Blackman isn’t smart enough to be a QB. I know he has one but he lost a lot of money not signing him early. Could that be because he was looking for a white QB to take his place? Again this is all conjecture but you can see it has some merit to it.
You say “Only a fool would say some NFL owners are not racist”…. wait, what? So you are saying they are all racist and the proof is empirical. So much so it would be foolish to say any of them aren’t racist.
It’s difficult to argue we know for sure what is in a someone’s heart or mind, but I don’t think it’s foolish to say some of the ownyaren’t racist.
If that is what you meant then could you elaborate on why you know they are all racist?
Conjecture has no merit. I challenge you on the definition of both of those words
I wonder how many times a person has sued their employers and it worked out well in the long run? The phrase ” Bite the hand that feeds you” Jump out at anyone? Bite it long enough and hard enough and it will bite back.
It’s worked out quite a lot. It’s one of the main ways labor gains ground. NFL players got free agency because Reggie White sued.
Anti-labor working class people are a trip lol
‘…Flores has subpoenaed 31 of the NFL’s 32 teams, as Kaplan details (presumably, only the Vikings have not been subpoenaed)…’ Novel idea don’t sue your current employer! But he wonders why he doesn’t get more interviews.
I agree that he got screwed in Miami but this bullsh*t has dragged out way to much.
How? He never won anything.
5-11, 10-6, 9-8 in his three years when the owner is telling you to lose. They went 8-1 down the stretch and he got canned. I just don’t agree with that.
Go re-read how publicly awful he treated Tua. He screwed himself, then blames others.
I get that but I also don’t agree with how they made him lose games to draft Tua when he never wanted him to begin with. Your head coach should have a say in his players.
He shouldn’t have taken the job if he didn’t like the direction of the team. Like Bill, he’s a roaring backend, but w/o the resume to get away with boorish behavior.
But that is not discrimination. The front office had a disagreement with the coach on the direction of the team. They wanted a quarterback that he didn’t want. Typically in situations like that the head coach eventually loses their job. They don’t own the team. They don’t get to dictate the direction. If they’re not on board they will be shown the door.
The head coach does have a say but guess what the owner has the bigger and final say unless Flores is paying however much the team is worth to buy it. It like me going to the CEO of the company, hey i dont like the color of the company logo we need this to be changed. They will listen and nod (probably think what am i having for lunch), dismiss me, close the door and laugh to everyone in the room and ask who that idiot is then go about business.
If the head coach/worker doesnt like it, they have options. They adjust their alignment and go along with what the team/company wants, they can quit work else where that aligns with what they believe, or they grumble hoping it doesnt affect their standing because there will be focus on them. This would be regardless of race or religion or what ever discriminatory thing you want to call it.
Great point. And if Flores didn’t know how much sway he would have in the roster building, proves he was unprepared for the interview.
He better hope he wins. If he doesn’t he’ll be paying his own legal bills plus the NFL legal bills
Yeah that’s just not true.
This guy needs to let it go and move the F on.
Absolute facepalm of a comment and attitude.
Why? It’s true. He should move on. In fact the NFL should blacklist him. Vikings should pay a fine for every week he is on the staff.
He’s mad because his attitude lost him a job and he think he is owed something.
He’s never won anything and he keeps blaming others for his own poor situation.
This was always a stupid lawsuit by Flores. Now, he’s way out over his skis. “Everyone is racist”…
Such a 2016 thing to say.
Jackie Chiles representing Flores: “You put the balm on? Who told you to put the balm on? I didn’t tell you to put the balm on. Why’d you put the balm on?”
Where’s the cardigan? I told you to wear the cardigan to make you look more sympathetic. What’s wrong with you?
Just the latest of his many public humiliations
Ought every person that felt they were highly qualified yet passed over by a ‘minority’, (hard to define or clarify in 2026), sue employers for prospective opportunities not realized?
This my people is the other edge of the sword Flores wields. If he wins I’m suing the United States Postal Service for 10B to assuage my emotional trauma for not being hired with a higher testing and aptitude scoring than the ‘minority’ they opted to hire.
Or might I just keep my adult britches on and move towards the next job opportunity?
It’s the new way,be a complete failure but blame racism smh
Very surprised Hue Jackson isnt with Flores on this lawsuit? He got rewarded for tanking games for Haslem with Cleveland. Its been documented.
The NFL have always been a good ole boys organization every since George Preston Marshall the owner of the then Washington Redskins-(the last team to incorporate a African American football player Bobby Mitchell. The NFL was forced to diversify when the NFL merged with the AFL in 1966 due to the efforts of Al Davis- then Commissioner and Tex Schramn of the Dallas Cowboys that incorporated the AFL type of football with the Pittsburgh Steelers in the 70’s the Dallas Cowboys in 1965. With the anti- DEI environment in the WH- It’s going to be hard for Flores to prevail against the plantation that the good Ole boys has developed since 1971.
Is he still crying about this?