Report: 2 Additional Plaintiffs Will Join Former Dolphins HC Brian Flores’ Lawsuit

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Two more coaches are planning to join ex-Miami Dolphins head coach and Pittsburgh Steelers linebackers coach Brian Flores’ class-action lawsuit against the NFL and its 32 teams alleging racial discrimination in the league’s hiring practices.

Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk said that the plaintiffs will join the lawsuit when Flores files an amended complaint on April 8. The identities of those plaintiffs have not been released.

Florio added more context and information:

“The plaintiffs will alleging discriminatory bias in their failure to be hired for head-coaching jobs. The claims will include allegations aimed directly at the owners of the teams to be joined as defendants to the lawsuit. The two teams in question aren’t currently named as defendants by Flores, who has since become an assistant coach with the Steelers.”

The Dolphins, New York Giants and Denver Broncos were named in the lawsuit. The remaining 29 teams are lumped together in the defendant section of the lawsuit as “John Doe Teams Nos. 1-29.”

Per Florio, two more teams will be named in the lawsuit after it’s amended. They are “not necessarily” teams that brought on coaches during the 2022 coaching cycle.

Flores made numerous claims in his lawsuit, including that Dolphins owner Stephen Ross offered him $100,000 per loss during the 2019 season to encourage tanking and obtaining higher draft picks.

He also said the New York Giants chose Buffalo Bills offensive coordinator Brian Daboll to be their head coach before bringing in Flores, who was a finalist for the position, for a second interview.

In addition, Flores said the Denver Broncos brought him in for a “sham” interview in 2019 and that team brass showed up late and hungover.

The Dolphins, Giants and Broncos have all released statements denying Flores’ claims.

Flores, who is Black, was only one of five minority head coaches in the NFL in 2021 alongside Washington’s Ron Rivera, the Houston Texans’ David Culley, the Pittsburgh Steelers’ Mike Tomlin and the New York Jets’ Robert Saleh.