Cristian Rodriguez

While Brian Flores’ lawsuit is still in the air, there’s already been an impact on the league.

On February 1st, 2022 Brian Flores filed a lawsuit against the NFL for discriminatory hiring practices. Amongst other things, Flores alleged that Dolphins owner Stephen Ross attempted to bribe him to lose games, while the Broncos and Giants only gave him an interview for the sole purpose of fulfilling the controversial Rooney Rule.  The teams have all denied that this was the case, but NFL commissioner Roger Goodell  later released a statement on February 5th that gave Flores’ lawsuit weight and may even lead to changes in the league’s hiring practices.

While Goodell doesn’t explicitly support Flores’ lawsuit, the commissioner understood the concerns Flores expressed. Namely, he cites the less than acceptable number of minority head coaches being hired.

The Rooney Rule was expected to fix this issue when it was invented in 2003. The policy originally stated that “every team with a head coaching vacancy to interview at least one or more diverse candidates before making a new hire.”  Since then, the rule has had some success as 17 minority head coaches have been hired compared to the 8 head coaches before. Despite this Goodell has acknowledged that the league needs to do a better job at giving head coaching opportunities to people of color.

In 2021 the rule was changed so that teams needed to interview two candidates who are “minorities,” but the change was made to no avail. Only one candidate from an unrepresented group was hired to become a head coach this year despite there being 6 openings.  Lovie Smith, who was the defensive coordinator for the Texans, was promoted by the team to become their next head coach.

The NFL is currently seeking outside experts to assist with reevaluating league policies as the Rooney Rule has not met league standards. it would come as no surprise if the league decides to either change or replace the rule completely.

Flores’ lawsuit is still up in the air as it’s in the early stages of development. This will likely be a  long and tiresome process due to the size of the suit. Investigations on the Broncos, Giants, and Dolphins are already in motion.

Despite changes looming, we should not expect cases like Flores’ to vanish. The league has been trying to combat discrimination and Goodell knows there’s more work that needs to be done.