On Tuesday, Brian Flores filed a class-action lawsuit against the NFL and all 32 of its teams. The suit claims that the league is discriminating against black head coaches and executives. And he has filed it in the Southern District of New York. It all started with a text from Bill Belichick.
Flores claims that the interview was bogus, and the Giants have already selected Brian Daboll. They only interview him for the league’s “Rooney Rule”. Before all of this went down, the New England Patriots GM Bill Belichick texted Flores. He accidentally congratulated the former Dolphins HC thinking it was Daboll. This is how Flores found out something was wrong.
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Bill Belichick congratulates Brian Flores before he even interviewed for the Giants
Brian Flores was going to do the interview with the New York Giants on Thursday, January 27, 2021. Flores thought that he had a shot at getting the job. He was confident about it. But even before the date of the interview arrived, it looked like the Giants had already hired someone else.
Before Brian Flores sat down with the Giant’s new General Manager, Joe Schoen, for dinner, he received a text from Belichick. In the message, Bill congratulated Brian for landing the Giants job. Flores got confused for a second and asked the Patriots’ HC if he heard something that no one else has? Bill replies “Giants!?!?!?” Flores texted him back saying that he has the interview on Thursday and believed he would get the job. Belichick then replied, saying that he has heard from many sources that Brian was their guy. Flores said he hopes so too.
Belichick realizes he texted the wrong ‘Brian’
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Texts from Bill Belichick to Brian Flores, congratulating Brian for landing the #Giants job.
Belichick thought he was texting Brian Daboll. He was texting Flores by mistake. pic.twitter.com/Y686XcjYC3
— Dov Kleiman (@NFL_DovKleiman) February 1, 2022
Brian Flores thought there was something off, so he decided to ask Bill if he was texting Brian Flores or Brian Daboll? Belichick realized he had been texting the wrong Brian. “Sorry — I f*cked this up,” his text reads. “I double checked & I misread the text. I think they are naming Daboll. I’m sorry about that.”
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The messages by Bill were the first hint Flores got about the situation. He said that the entire interview was a “Sham.” And the Giants were only trying to follow the protocols of the league. The Rooney Rule asks the NFL teams to interview minority candidates for HC and other executive positions. According to Flores, the Giants never intended to hire him.
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