Denver Broncos Respond To Allegations In Brian Flores Lawsuit

DENVER, CO —The Denver Broncos on Tuesday released a statement that said the allegations made against the organization in a lawsuit filed by former Miami Dolphins head coach Brian Flores were "blatantly false."

In the lawsuit, filed in Manhattan federal Court, Flores accused the NFL and three of its teams —the Dolphins, Broncos and New York Giants —of racist hiring practices for coaches and general managers. The lawsuit sought class-action status and unspecified damages from the league, the organizations named and unidentified individuals, according to the Associated Press.

The 40-year-old Flores, who is Black, was fired in January after leading the Dolphins to a 9-8 record in 2021, the team's second straight winning season. Flores' teams went 24-25 in his three seasons, though they did not make the playoffs.

Among several claims in the lawsuit, was that in 2019, Flores was forced to undergo a "sham interview" with then Broncos' general manager John Elway, President Joe Ellis and others in the organization.

Flores accused the team of interviewing him only to fulfill a racial quota imposed by the Rooney Rule, which requires teams to interview a minority candidate for head coaching positions.

Furthermore, the lawsuit claimed the Broncos executives were an hour late to the interview and were hungover.

"They looked completely disheveled, and it was obvious that they had been drinking heavily the night before," the lawsuit said. "It was clear from the substance of the interview that Mr. Flores was interviewed only because of the Rooney Rule."

The Broncos eventually hired Vic Fangio as their head coach. He was fired last month after going 19-30 in three seasons, none of which ended in a postseason appearance.

"The allegations from Brian Flores directed toward the Denver Broncos in today's court filing are blatantly false," the Broncos said in their statement. "Our interview with Mr. Flores regarding our head coaching position began promptly at the scheduled time of 7:30 a.m. on Jan. 5, 2019, in a Providence, Rhode Island hotel. There were five Broncos executives present for the interview, which lasted approximately three-and-a-half hours—the fully allotted time—and concluded shortly before 11 a.m."

The statement continued: "Pages of detailed notes, analysis and evaluations from our interview demonstrate the depth of our conversation and sincere interest in Mr. Flores as a head coaching candidate. Our process was thorough and fair to determine the most qualified candidate for our head coaching position. The Broncos will vigorously defend the integrity and values of our organization—and its employees—from such baseless and disparaging claims."

Among the lawsuit's other claims:

• That Miami Dolphins' owner Stephen Ross told Flores he would pay him $100,000 for every loss during the coach's first season in order to help the team to get a higher draft pick.
• The New York Giants recently disclosed to third parties that they had decided to hire Brian Daboll for their head coaching position, even before they conducted their scheduled interview with Flores.

"Mr. Flores was deceptively led to believe he actually had a chance at this job," the lawsuit said, according to the AP.

• The lawsuit noted that only one of the NFL's 32 teams currently has a Black head coach, only four teams have a Black offensive coordinator and only 11 have a Black defensive coordinator.
• The lawsuit also discusses the history of race in the league, according to the AP, including the NFL's slow acceptance of Black quarterbacks and the treatment of former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick, who found himself out of the league shortly after kneeling during the national anthem in protest of racial justice.

"This case seeks to level the playing field in the hope that future owners and coaches will be representative of the athletes who are playing this great game," said lawyers Douglas Wigdor and John Elefterakis, who filed the lawsuit on behalf of Flores. "We fully expect coaches and players of all races to support Brian as he embarks on his journey to create positive change."