Former Miami Dolphins head coach Brian Flores filed a class-action complaint in the Southern District of New York, claiming that he and several other potential Black head coaches have been denied opportunities to advance in the NFL due to the league’s racist hiring practices and flagrant violations of the Rooney Rule.
In the lawsuit, three teams in the New York Giants, Miami Dolphins and Denver Broncos, are mentioned.
The Buffalo Bills are not directly involved, however, there is a very interesting mention.
First and foremost, part of the allegations has to do with former Bills offensive coordinator Brian Daboll. He was hired by the Giants as their next head coach and the lawsuit alleges that, via text messages from New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick, that Daboll was set to be hired before Flores even finished interviewing for the job.
Here’s an explanation of this part of the lawsuit via Touchdown Wire’s Doug Farrar:
Flores also claims that the New York Giants and Denver Broncos engaged in sham interviews with him, knowing full well that those two teams were planning to hire other head coaches. Flores’ claim includes what is purported to be text messages from Bill Belichick, for whom Flores worked as a scout, assistant coach, and de facto defensive coordinator from 2004 through 2018. In the complaint, Flores claims that Belichick congratulated him on getting the vacant Giants’ head coach position, when Belichick was actually trying to text Brian Daboll, the former Buffalo Bills offensive coordinator who got the Giants’ job. (expletive deleted by author)
If this is true, it means that the Giants had made the decision to hire Daboll before interviewing any minority candidates, a clear violation of the Rooney Rule.
Additionally, former Buffalo assistant general manager, Joe Schoen, was involved in the hiring process. Schoen was named New York’s GM eventually playing a large role in the team’s hiring process.
Directly pertaining to the current Bills coaching staff, there is a footnote referencing Daboll and Buffalo head coach Sean McDermott.
As pointed out by Bills Wire’s Nate Mendelson, the bottom of page 37 in the suit mentions a growing rift between McDermott and Daboll. Per the legal document, had Daboll not been hired as head coach, he might have still wanted to leave the Bills anyway.
Here’s what it reads:
Ironically, during their January 11, 2022, text exchange, Mr. McDonnell also suggested that if Mr. Flores were hired as the Giants Head Coach, Brian Daboll might be interested in leaving Buffalo to serve as his Offensive Coordinator (“Heard Daboll isn’t happy with Sean [McDermott] in Buffalo . . . might be able to get of if he doesn’t get a head job. . . thoughts?’”).
The referenced “Mr. McDonnell” is Tim McDonnell, the Giants’ co-director of player personnel. Evidently he had some kind of knowledge that there might be some bit of a rift between the Bills’ coaching staff which might allow New York to land both Flores and Daboll.
As the story went, that did not happen, but even just the suggestion is noteworthy.
On Tuesday, Buffalo promoted Ken Dorsey from quarterbacks coach to replace Daboll as offensive coordinator.