WEBVTT - Brian Flores takes on the NFL and it’s hiring practices 0:00:10.400 --> 0:00:16.360 Climbrate Lewis and this is NFL Inside Report. Huge story 0:00:16.480 --> 0:00:19.360 this week in the NFL as former Dolphins head coach 0:00:19.480 --> 0:00:25.480 Brian Flores suing the NFL and three NFL franchises. We 0:00:25.560 --> 0:00:29.320 bring in our Cameron Wolf to help shed some lights 0:00:29.480 --> 0:00:32.519 on what all this means, where it came from, and 0:00:32.680 --> 0:00:37.839 how both parties will move forward. And let's start with 0:00:38.000 --> 0:00:42.080 the very beginning here, Cam. When did this process of 0:00:42.200 --> 0:00:45.559 Brian Flores, who I know you've covered extensively down in 0:00:45.600 --> 0:00:49.040 Miami during his time there. When did this process of 0:00:49.440 --> 0:00:52.239 his decision to file this suit against the NFL and 0:00:52.360 --> 0:00:57.080 three NFL clubs really begin? Yeah, so you have to 0:00:57.080 --> 0:01:03.680 take this back to last week, Um, when they actually 0:01:03.680 --> 0:01:06.600 decided to follow the lawsuit. Um, we'll talk a little 0:01:06.640 --> 0:01:08.640 bit about it later, but there's a text message sent 0:01:08.760 --> 0:01:13.360 from from Bill Belichick to Brian Floors on Monday of 0:01:13.520 --> 0:01:16.160 last week, which was the last week of January, and 0:01:16.200 --> 0:01:18.520 so that was the first time that they realized, hey, 0:01:18.560 --> 0:01:22.400 we may have evidence that basis a longstanding belief that 0:01:22.440 --> 0:01:24.560 he and a lot of other black coaches have that 0:01:24.640 --> 0:01:27.080 they have been discriminated against. And some of the Rooney 0:01:27.160 --> 0:01:31.160 Rule interviews have been quote unquote sham interviews. So that 0:01:31.280 --> 0:01:33.480 happened on Monday. As far as the text message, I 0:01:33.520 --> 0:01:36.840 was told that by Wednesday they already had drafted up 0:01:37.120 --> 0:01:40.080 the beginning portion of a lawsuit for this happening, and 0:01:40.080 --> 0:01:43.039 they started to make contacts into their media rounds saying 0:01:43.040 --> 0:01:45.280 that hey, we want to share our story at some 0:01:45.360 --> 0:01:48.440 point early next week about Brian Flores and this lawsuit. 0:01:48.600 --> 0:01:51.200 So that started to happen in the middle of last week, 0:01:51.480 --> 0:01:53.040 and so they started to do a lot of different 0:01:53.040 --> 0:01:56.600 information collecting their evidence that they wanted to put into 0:01:56.640 --> 0:01:59.720 this case. And you could clearly tell they spent a 0:01:59.720 --> 0:02:03.320 lot of time on This is a fifty eight page report, uh, 0:02:03.680 --> 0:02:07.120 you know, mentioning everything from the lack of black coaches 0:02:07.120 --> 0:02:09.919 and coordinators in the league, two civil rights leaders. You know, 0:02:09.960 --> 0:02:12.280 they wanted to purposely followed on the first day of 0:02:12.280 --> 0:02:15.520 February to start Black History Month, um, to sort of 0:02:15.680 --> 0:02:17.920 really send a message to the league and really to 0:02:18.000 --> 0:02:21.440 everyone that this was a message and they wanted to 0:02:21.440 --> 0:02:24.400 get out. And Brian Flores is a very principal guy. 0:02:24.440 --> 0:02:26.640 I've covered him for a while and you know he 0:02:26.720 --> 0:02:28.880 has his flaws. You know, this is not really the 0:02:28.880 --> 0:02:31.160 podcast to discuss whether it was right or wrong to 0:02:31.200 --> 0:02:33.919 fire him. But when he mentioned something, he wants to 0:02:33.919 --> 0:02:36.079 stay up for it, stand for stand up for it. 0:02:36.120 --> 0:02:38.200 And I think this was something that he really wanted 0:02:38.240 --> 0:02:40.960 to stand behind and put his name on it and 0:02:40.960 --> 0:02:43.920 put action by it. And he did and again sue 0:02:43.960 --> 0:02:48.359 the NFL, the Broncos, the Giants, and his former team, 0:02:48.600 --> 0:02:53.520 the Miami Dolphins. All three clubs have denied any wrongdoing 0:02:53.680 --> 0:02:56.520 in this as it pertains to this lawsuit, as has 0:02:57.000 --> 0:02:58.800 the NFL, and we'll get to that here in just 0:02:58.840 --> 0:03:02.079 a little bit. But more specifically, as you dig into 0:03:02.160 --> 0:03:07.920 the lawsuit, what is it really alleging in these instances? Yeah? Right, 0:03:07.919 --> 0:03:10.120 you could boil it down to two different situations. There 0:03:10.280 --> 0:03:14.080 is a accusation that they did not have fair value 0:03:14.080 --> 0:03:17.440 and spirit of the Roomy rule, and that comes into 0:03:17.480 --> 0:03:22.160 regard of the Giants not giving what Brian Flores felt 0:03:22.240 --> 0:03:27.320 was an honest interview, and that's what this year. Yes, 0:03:27.400 --> 0:03:29.360 he was. He was scheduled for what would have been 0:03:29.400 --> 0:03:32.800 his in person interview in New York Thursday of last week, 0:03:33.200 --> 0:03:35.920 so he had that interview schedule. He received the text 0:03:35.920 --> 0:03:39.640 message from Bill Belichick that he shared publicly on Monday, 0:03:39.680 --> 0:03:43.560 where Belichick mistakenly sent him a message saying that hey, um, 0:03:43.560 --> 0:03:46.200 I heard that you got the job, and so Flori's 0:03:46.640 --> 0:03:49.960 excited thinking that Belichick heard something different than he heard 0:03:50.040 --> 0:03:52.800 saying what you know, I hope so and and and 0:03:52.840 --> 0:03:56.080 through the back and forth messaging, Flores realized that he 0:03:56.120 --> 0:03:58.400 was thinking he was talking to the wrong guy. So, 0:03:58.680 --> 0:04:00.480 you know, thank you was talking to Brian and Ball 0:04:01.480 --> 0:04:05.560 Flor exactly, and Brian day Ball was named the guy 0:04:05.880 --> 0:04:09.080 named the head coach on Friday. So Flores went into 0:04:09.080 --> 0:04:12.440 his interview on Thursday, UM interview. He initially believed he 0:04:12.480 --> 0:04:15.320 had a very good chance of winning. The owner John 0:04:15.360 --> 0:04:18.159 Merrit he actually said, called him and told him he 0:04:18.440 --> 0:04:20.479 killed the interview and You've got a great chance to winning. 0:04:20.880 --> 0:04:24.960 But he said he was, you know, uh, frustrated, angry 0:04:25.080 --> 0:04:28.640 when he hears this from Bill Belichick and essentially confirms 0:04:29.040 --> 0:04:31.520 that this interview was a sham. I would say, I 0:04:31.560 --> 0:04:36.120 think that those text messages confirmed a lot of what UM. 0:04:36.160 --> 0:04:39.440 A lot of us, you know, black minority coaches already 0:04:39.440 --> 0:04:43.919 feel that a lot of we're going into these um 0:04:43.960 --> 0:04:46.760 and they're shams. They confirmed that a lot of there's 0:04:46.800 --> 0:04:48.719 a belief and you know, look, that was just a 0:04:48.720 --> 0:04:50.880 mistake by Billichick. We've all sent the wrong text message 0:04:50.880 --> 0:04:54.039 to somebody, um, but in this instance, it came to 0:04:54.080 --> 0:04:56.560 me and it was almost you know, it was confirmation 0:04:56.600 --> 0:04:59.679 that that that those back, back, back, back room dealings 0:04:59.680 --> 0:05:02.479 are happen. And for contact for people with asking maybe 0:05:02.480 --> 0:05:06.360 asking why Billy Bill Belichick and the Giants are important. Well, 0:05:06.440 --> 0:05:09.080 he has a relationship with owner John John Mara that 0:05:09.160 --> 0:05:14.200 dates back years and years and he actually recommended right 0:05:14.279 --> 0:05:17.119 and he actually recommended the last Giants that coach Joe Judge, 0:05:17.120 --> 0:05:20.360 who was a Patriot assistant. So it's it's I think 0:05:20.400 --> 0:05:23.440 that's an easy way for Brian Flores to connect the 0:05:23.480 --> 0:05:27.000 dots and say somebody you know clearly told them something 0:05:27.000 --> 0:05:29.160 in the mill. So I think that that was what 0:05:29.279 --> 0:05:32.120 really drove this lawsuit. And then from there he was 0:05:32.160 --> 0:05:35.760 backtracking and getting other evidence and other um, you know, 0:05:35.800 --> 0:05:38.640 parameters of teams that he felt like, you know, we're 0:05:38.720 --> 0:05:41.320 a part of this in their own way, and also 0:05:42.160 --> 0:05:44.679 really addressing the league and some of their long standing 0:05:44.920 --> 0:05:48.080 issues with um black and minority coaches being able to 0:05:48.080 --> 0:05:51.520 get jobs. So he has been open. He did his 0:05:51.640 --> 0:05:55.920 media media run on Wednesday, essentially saying that, hey, I 0:05:56.000 --> 0:05:58.440 know that I'm taking a risk here and there's a 0:05:58.520 --> 0:06:00.679 chance that I may not coach again, but he feels 0:06:00.760 --> 0:06:03.880 like this is for the other coaches, not as much 0:06:03.960 --> 0:06:06.000 for him, but for the other coaches to be able 0:06:06.040 --> 0:06:09.200 to try to make what he calls real change. And 0:06:09.240 --> 0:06:12.560 then the Broncos part of this whole lawsuit and how 0:06:12.600 --> 0:06:15.400 they found themselves here was as a result of an 0:06:15.400 --> 0:06:19.200 interview back in two thousand and nineteen, before Flores took 0:06:19.240 --> 0:06:22.000 the head coaching job with the Miami Dolphins. Right, this 0:06:22.040 --> 0:06:26.600 is when the Broncos were interviewing for a head coaching 0:06:26.680 --> 0:06:30.839 job that eventually went to Vic Fangio. Yes, absolutely, And 0:06:31.000 --> 0:06:33.200 that was the year that Brian Flores and the Patriots 0:06:33.240 --> 0:06:35.520 they won the Super Bowl. That was when Brian Flores 0:06:35.600 --> 0:06:37.919 was the hot candidate. He had just had his first 0:06:38.000 --> 0:06:41.000 successful year as the defensive play caller of the Patriots, 0:06:41.360 --> 0:06:44.320 and so he had done multiple interviews in that cycle, 0:06:44.640 --> 0:06:48.080 and he accused the Broncos of essentially not taking his 0:06:48.160 --> 0:06:51.400 interviews serious enough in the In the lawsuit, he specifically 0:06:51.640 --> 0:06:54.200 alleged that they came an hour late. So I've had 0:06:54.360 --> 0:06:57.880 nine interviews with NFL clubs there's been one interview square 0:06:58.120 --> 0:07:01.760 anyone was late. Um, and it wasn't me that was later. 0:07:01.800 --> 0:07:04.280 It was the interview interview wars who were late. Um, 0:07:04.360 --> 0:07:06.920 that was what the Broncos. He specifically says that he 0:07:07.080 --> 0:07:09.520 they came disheveled and he felt like they were drinking 0:07:09.840 --> 0:07:12.400 the night before, but gave you the impression, if he will, 0:07:12.440 --> 0:07:14.720 that they had been out drinking the night before. Well, 0:07:14.760 --> 0:07:16.679 I mean when you sit at the table with with 0:07:16.680 --> 0:07:19.960 with five people who are interviewing you, um, uh, you 0:07:20.000 --> 0:07:24.760 know who's you can tell, who's um asking questions, who's 0:07:24.800 --> 0:07:29.800 into the interview, and who's uh not necessarily in the right, right, 0:07:29.960 --> 0:07:32.360 right state, I would say, And in that moment, the 0:07:32.400 --> 0:07:35.440 Broncos have denied this. But this is something that he 0:07:35.640 --> 0:07:38.400 felt like was a sign that hey, this was a 0:07:38.400 --> 0:07:41.000 sham interview where they had already made their mind up 0:07:41.080 --> 0:07:43.960 or didn't treat me seriously enough as a candidate to 0:07:44.560 --> 0:07:47.320 give that sort of respect. So uh, he used this 0:07:47.360 --> 0:07:50.000 as additional evidence and part of his lawsuit against the 0:07:50.040 --> 0:07:53.400 Broncos and the rest of the league of just sort 0:07:53.400 --> 0:07:57.040 of how to go about their hiring practices. And then 0:07:57.080 --> 0:08:00.480 the Dolphins piece of this whole thing is really interesting. 0:08:04.840 --> 0:08:07.680 The reasons why he got fired have also been kind 0:08:07.680 --> 0:08:12.720 of mentioned throughout the lawsuit, and then this bizarre story 0:08:13.160 --> 0:08:19.080 of you know, tanking essentially, which everyone outside of NFL 0:08:19.160 --> 0:08:22.560 buildings have kind of casually talked about. There was the 0:08:22.560 --> 0:08:26.160 whole tank for tah movement, you know, before the Dolphins 0:08:26.200 --> 0:08:28.200 actually even ended up with him at the number five 0:08:28.240 --> 0:08:31.920 overall pick, taking him one spot before one spot before 0:08:32.000 --> 0:08:33.920 Justin Herbert in a couple of spots after you know, 0:08:34.000 --> 0:08:36.800 Joe Burrow went number one overall, and that there was 0:08:36.840 --> 0:08:39.480 this meeting between he and the owner of the Dolphins, 0:08:39.480 --> 0:08:42.120 Stephen Ross, and that it had promised him a hundred 0:08:42.120 --> 0:08:45.960 thousand dollars per loss. Have you had you heard any 0:08:46.040 --> 0:08:48.880 of this going on but before it was mentioned in 0:08:48.880 --> 0:08:52.080 the lawsuit, right? No, I didn't, honestly, And I covered 0:08:52.120 --> 0:08:54.920 I covered that team for three years, um, you know, 0:08:55.000 --> 0:08:59.240 including that year, um exclusively, so I I was remember 0:08:59.280 --> 0:09:01.320 that twenty nine team years one of the one of 0:09:01.320 --> 0:09:03.520 the most difficult teams to cover because they were they 0:09:03.520 --> 0:09:05.800 were awful, and a lot of the reason they were 0:09:05.800 --> 0:09:08.000 awful was they traded a lot of players before the 0:09:08.000 --> 0:09:13.520 season the game. Remember that's when they traded Patrick away. Yes, 0:09:13.559 --> 0:09:16.040 they had you know, both Ryan Fitzpatrick and Josh Rosen 0:09:16.120 --> 0:09:18.959 starting that year, and they started off very bad before 0:09:18.960 --> 0:09:21.480 they turned it around in the second half of that year. Um, 0:09:21.600 --> 0:09:24.199 but yes, there, I had heard nothing about it. I've 0:09:24.280 --> 0:09:26.400 learned more about it in the coming days. There was, 0:09:26.840 --> 0:09:29.480 um the word tank thrown around a lot, and Brian 0:09:29.520 --> 0:09:31.959 Flores was adamant throughout the year when he was asked 0:09:31.960 --> 0:09:34.720 continually that he would not lose. He didn't. He didn't 0:09:34.720 --> 0:09:37.000 believe in it. He thought it was disrespectful to even 0:09:37.000 --> 0:09:42.319 bring up. I've never I'm gonna go into every game, Uh, 0:09:42.520 --> 0:09:45.439 trying to win. You know, That's That's always gonna be 0:09:45.520 --> 0:09:47.640 my objective. I'm gonna go on anything I do trying 0:09:47.679 --> 0:09:49.680 to win. I'm gonna try to instill that and every 0:09:49.760 --> 0:09:53.040 every everybody had come across. So no, there's no there's 0:09:53.080 --> 0:09:56.800 no tankking Uh, you can write that over and over 0:09:56.840 --> 0:09:59.360 and over again. So there was there was a whole 0:09:59.360 --> 0:10:03.280 conversation the narrative that coaches and players cannot tank, but 0:10:03.480 --> 0:10:06.320 organizations can can make a decision to do so. So 0:10:06.400 --> 0:10:09.800 there was no hard evidence that, hey, the Dolphins made 0:10:09.800 --> 0:10:12.360 the decision or er what eventually came out, tried to 0:10:12.360 --> 0:10:14.520 pay to make this decision, but there was a belief 0:10:14.600 --> 0:10:16.599 that if anybody in the organization was taking it was 0:10:16.640 --> 0:10:19.440 an organizational decision to get a draft pick rather than 0:10:19.800 --> 0:10:22.520 a coaching or player decision. In Miami, when you were 0:10:22.520 --> 0:10:24.920 the head coach, you will legend the lawsuit that the owner, 0:10:24.920 --> 0:10:27.680 Stephen Ross, approached you about tanking games to get a 0:10:27.720 --> 0:10:30.040 better draft choice and said he would give you a 0:10:30.120 --> 0:10:32.920 hundred thousand dollars for every game you lost. As you 0:10:32.920 --> 0:10:36.520 can imagine, that obviously has enormous repercussions. What could you 0:10:36.559 --> 0:10:39.280 tell me about the specifics of that offer? How specifically 0:10:39.320 --> 0:10:42.040 did he state that to you? You know, that was 0:10:43.520 --> 0:10:48.439 a conversation about not doing as much as we needed 0:10:48.440 --> 0:10:52.600 to do to win football games. Take a flight, go 0:10:52.640 --> 0:10:55.439 on vacation. I'll give you a hundred thousand dollars per loss. 0:10:56.040 --> 0:10:58.840 And those are just, you know, exact words. So when 0:10:58.840 --> 0:11:01.480 I heard this, uh, this news, it was just as 0:11:01.480 --> 0:11:04.120 outrageous for me because I had never heard of an 0:11:04.120 --> 0:11:08.000 owner being accused of paining for for losses essentially, and 0:11:08.040 --> 0:11:10.480 that gets into a whole element of integrity of the 0:11:10.520 --> 0:11:13.520 game exactly. It's a whole whole another kind of worms there. 0:11:13.559 --> 0:11:15.800 I mean, in addition to the discrimination part of this 0:11:15.840 --> 0:11:17.800 whole lawsuit, which is right, you know, right at the 0:11:17.800 --> 0:11:21.840 crux of it, of course, right so and so yeah, yeah, 0:11:22.040 --> 0:11:24.480 So obviously the discrimination part of it is is Brian 0:11:24.520 --> 0:11:27.199 Flores is a big mess that he wants to get 0:11:27.200 --> 0:11:29.680 across in the big mission of change. But this story, 0:11:30.280 --> 0:11:34.120 the Dolphins element of it is obviously I popping element 0:11:34.160 --> 0:11:36.120 for a lot of people who read the lawsuit because 0:11:36.120 --> 0:11:39.040 of the hundred K. There's also an allegation and there 0:11:39.120 --> 0:11:42.160 that you know, the owner, Stephen Ross, um you know, 0:11:42.240 --> 0:11:45.040 kind of pressured or or tried to get him the 0:11:45.080 --> 0:11:49.320 temper um where you know, as far as uh prominent 0:11:49.400 --> 0:11:51.199 quarterback and trying to bring him on. And I've been 0:11:51.200 --> 0:11:53.920 told that the quarterback that they're referring to is Tom 0:11:53.920 --> 0:11:56.600 Brady when he was coming up and becoming a free agent. 0:11:56.679 --> 0:11:59.920 So there was a situation that mentioned in the lawsuit 0:12:00.080 --> 0:12:04.440 that um that that Flora's alleges that owner Stephen Ross 0:12:04.440 --> 0:12:06.880 invited him onto a yacht and all of a sudden 0:12:07.080 --> 0:12:11.280 that prominent quarterback arrives happenstance and Flora's you know, kind 0:12:11.280 --> 0:12:13.760 of storms out and comes through so these are all 0:12:13.880 --> 0:12:17.920 part of Floris's claims that he feels like the accusations 0:12:18.679 --> 0:12:21.560 of tampering that he's making and the accusations of pain 0:12:21.640 --> 0:12:24.320 the tank are the main reason why he's no longer 0:12:24.360 --> 0:12:27.400 the dolphins that coach, and not because of any performance 0:12:27.440 --> 0:12:31.080 reasons or relationship reasons, which is what the message of 0:12:31.120 --> 0:12:35.560 dolphins we're sending out after has felt firing. This lawsuit 0:12:35.640 --> 0:12:40.120 was filed as a class action lawsuit, which means people 0:12:40.200 --> 0:12:44.840 other people can join the lawsuit. In your understanding and 0:12:44.960 --> 0:12:47.800 your reporting on this subject, do you get a sense 0:12:47.840 --> 0:12:50.040 that there are going to be others that are going 0:12:50.080 --> 0:12:53.480 to join? Yes, right, I I do. I actually spoke 0:12:53.520 --> 0:12:56.920 with two coaches last night who wanted to reach out 0:12:56.960 --> 0:12:59.000 to me to see if I could connect them with 0:12:59.120 --> 0:13:01.439 Brian Flores so that they could talk to him about 0:13:01.440 --> 0:13:05.560 potentially getting involved in the class lawsuit themselves. They had 0:13:05.679 --> 0:13:08.480 experiences that they felt like they had receipts of and 0:13:08.760 --> 0:13:10.760 wanted to see if they can get involved. And I 0:13:10.840 --> 0:13:13.400 mentioned it to Brian Flores's team and they mentioned that hey, 0:13:13.400 --> 0:13:16.040 sending the information will vetted and see what we can do. 0:13:16.160 --> 0:13:19.680 So they've welcomed people to join them and We've seen 0:13:19.720 --> 0:13:23.040 even today publicly, certain coaches have come out and shared 0:13:23.080 --> 0:13:26.000 their experience. And then just today Marvin Lewis came out 0:13:26.040 --> 0:13:28.040 and said he felt like he had a sham interview 0:13:28.360 --> 0:13:31.040 with the Carolina Panthers when they hired John Fox. You're 0:13:31.040 --> 0:13:33.199 seeing and this is a big part when I talked 0:13:33.200 --> 0:13:36.320 to black coaches that they were excited about with Flora's 0:13:36.360 --> 0:13:38.839 coming out is that hopefully it opens the floodgates of 0:13:39.040 --> 0:13:42.200 every other coach sharing their experience and making it clear 0:13:42.240 --> 0:13:45.000 that it's not just Flores who may have this, uh, 0:13:45.040 --> 0:13:48.520 this this belief that he's discriminated against, this is something 0:13:48.520 --> 0:13:51.640 that other coaches believe and feel like they've experienced as 0:13:51.679 --> 0:13:54.920 well and want to share. So can We've outlined some 0:13:55.000 --> 0:13:58.000 of the key pieces of this lawsuit that Brian Flores 0:13:58.040 --> 0:14:01.360 has filed in the allegations within it. But now for 0:14:01.400 --> 0:14:04.200 the solution or the resolution that he hopes to come 0:14:04.440 --> 0:14:07.240 from this lawsuit, what are some of the biggest pieces 0:14:07.280 --> 0:14:10.480 there that the change that he's hoping can be made 0:14:14.600 --> 0:14:19.280 so Flores't actually lines out several areas of of actual 0:14:19.400 --> 0:14:22.280 real change. And one element that um that I thought 0:14:22.320 --> 0:14:25.840 was really interesting was the diversification of ownership. There are 0:14:25.840 --> 0:14:30.240 currently no black owners. It's a very rich, white dude 0:14:30.360 --> 0:14:33.200 industry that has been for a while, and so um, 0:14:33.320 --> 0:14:35.600 these are the guys making the decisions. So he outlines 0:14:35.880 --> 0:14:39.120 a path of trying to get owners to be more diversified. 0:14:39.160 --> 0:14:41.560 And that's something that a lot of people in league 0:14:41.560 --> 0:14:43.880 offices have been pushing forward for a while. But I 0:14:43.920 --> 0:14:46.920 think that's one of the main key solutions UM that 0:14:46.960 --> 0:14:50.440 he believes can be helpful for this. He also mentioned 0:14:50.760 --> 0:14:54.360 setting up different town house meetings with black assistance and 0:14:54.400 --> 0:14:57.600 getting them comfortable with meeting a lot of these owners 0:14:57.680 --> 0:15:00.840 and having conversations to get to know each other and 0:15:00.880 --> 0:15:03.480 be able to be more comfortable UM with each other 0:15:03.520 --> 0:15:06.120 because there's often the saying that you you you go 0:15:06.200 --> 0:15:07.880 with what you feel comfortable with, and a lot of 0:15:07.880 --> 0:15:10.240 times for these owners who are white, it's a lot 0:15:10.240 --> 0:15:13.240 of these white assistant coaches. So the hope is you 0:15:13.280 --> 0:15:16.160 get them more comfortable with black assistant coaches and some 0:15:16.200 --> 0:15:19.480 of these hiring um, you know, pass can change. And 0:15:19.640 --> 0:15:21.320 so we talked. We talk a little bit about the 0:15:21.360 --> 0:15:23.400 Rooney rule and and the Rooney rule is something that 0:15:23.440 --> 0:15:27.280 has a lot of UM subjectivity because some people are 0:15:27.320 --> 0:15:29.560 fans of it, some people are not. But the the 0:15:29.560 --> 0:15:32.000 overall core that I hear when I talk to assistances, 0:15:32.040 --> 0:15:34.280 you you can't force people to hire people that they 0:15:34.320 --> 0:15:36.520 don't want to hire. So no matter what the rule is, 0:15:36.560 --> 0:15:39.360 there's always gonna be a way, UM to get around it. 0:15:39.440 --> 0:15:41.560 So I know that a lot of people are are 0:15:41.600 --> 0:15:45.520 watching this case, particularly coaches, and seeing how the NFL 0:15:45.680 --> 0:15:48.880 handles it. If there's some sort of UM rule change 0:15:48.920 --> 0:15:51.040 that comes out of it, whether it's um you know, 0:15:51.200 --> 0:15:55.600 incentivizing teams um you know and not for losses as 0:15:55.600 --> 0:15:59.080 far as you know, a draft lottery potentially UM you know, 0:15:59.200 --> 0:16:02.240 or or you know, figuring out a certain way that 0:16:02.520 --> 0:16:06.720 coaches can be able to get fair chances m despite 0:16:06.720 --> 0:16:08.840 what their skin color is. So that's something that's going 0:16:08.880 --> 0:16:11.960 to continue to be evolving conversation. There's gonna be lawyers 0:16:11.960 --> 0:16:14.920 throughout this whole deal, and so it's early on we're 0:16:14.920 --> 0:16:17.960 talking about this at the very it's a lengthy Yes, 0:16:18.040 --> 0:16:20.520 it's going to be a lengthy process. And I reported 0:16:20.520 --> 0:16:22.720 this on NFL Network earlier, but I was told by 0:16:22.760 --> 0:16:26.160 Brian Floors team that they do not plan to settle 0:16:26.200 --> 0:16:28.680 this case unless they get some sort of real change 0:16:28.960 --> 0:16:31.600 that they outline. So that's what they're saying at this point, 0:16:31.640 --> 0:16:34.000 and that's something that indicates to me, if they're going 0:16:34.040 --> 0:16:35.960 to go through that process, then this is going to 0:16:36.040 --> 0:16:39.160 be long and difficult and a lot of lawyers and 0:16:39.480 --> 0:16:42.840 maybe a lot of legal proceedings. And look, I think 0:16:42.840 --> 0:16:45.600 it's clear there are still some real issues in terms 0:16:45.920 --> 0:16:50.280 of the disparity between minority head coaches in this league 0:16:50.520 --> 0:16:53.000 and white head coaches in this league, with Mike Tomlin 0:16:53.120 --> 0:16:56.600 currently the only black head coach in the league. Now 0:16:56.600 --> 0:16:59.280 there are still some openings right that we have in 0:16:59.280 --> 0:17:01.400 this cycle. But the one positive that I think we 0:17:01.480 --> 0:17:04.399 need to kind of continue to mention because hopefully it 0:17:04.480 --> 0:17:07.240 is something that can influence change, is there has been 0:17:07.240 --> 0:17:11.480 a greater number of minority general managers hired in the 0:17:11.560 --> 0:17:13.879 last couple of years, this year in particular with Quaisia 0:17:13.920 --> 0:17:16.959 Dopho Mensa in Minnesota, with Ryan Poles in Chicago. So 0:17:17.000 --> 0:17:20.000 maybe if that trend continues, then we can have a 0:17:20.040 --> 0:17:23.040 trickle down effect into the head coaching ranks and continuing 0:17:23.040 --> 0:17:25.880 into the coordinator ranks from that point on. So look, 0:17:26.359 --> 0:17:28.399 here's hoping and and of course we'll see and we 0:17:28.400 --> 0:17:31.520 will continue to follow this and we're not done discussing 0:17:31.720 --> 0:17:34.919 this lawsuit that Brian Flores has filed against the NFL 0:17:34.920 --> 0:17:37.920 and against three NFL clubs, all of whom have denied 0:17:38.040 --> 0:17:41.480 all allegations against them. But again, the Rooney Rule is 0:17:41.520 --> 0:17:45.120 at the crux of this. This was created to influence 0:17:45.280 --> 0:17:48.879 more minority opportunities in the NFL, and it's had some 0:17:48.960 --> 0:17:51.240 changes throughout the league. We'll go through that right after this. 0:17:51.560 --> 0:18:08.919 Karen NFL inside report back on NFL and signed report 0:18:09.040 --> 0:18:11.800 with Cam Wolf, you know, our colleague at NFL Network. 0:18:11.840 --> 0:18:14.600 As we're digging into this lawsuit filed by Brian Floores 0:18:14.640 --> 0:18:18.560 against the NFL and the Broncos, the Giants, and the Dolphins, 0:18:18.800 --> 0:18:21.240 and look at the crux of it is the discrimination 0:18:21.400 --> 0:18:24.400 part of it, right which the Rooney Rule was designed 0:18:24.400 --> 0:18:27.080 to combat. Now, the Rooney Rule has gone through some 0:18:27.119 --> 0:18:30.560 adaptations and some changes, certainly since it was instituted years ago. 0:18:31.119 --> 0:18:33.679 How have you kind of seen and understood some of 0:18:33.680 --> 0:18:37.679 those changes? Can? Yeah? I think it's important for us 0:18:37.680 --> 0:18:40.600 to note that the League office, um, whether whether it 0:18:40.720 --> 0:18:43.919 successful or not, has been trying to you know, create 0:18:43.960 --> 0:18:47.560 sort of a better you know, stopping ground area for 0:18:47.680 --> 0:18:50.720 minority coaches to rise, and so the Rooney rule changed. 0:18:50.760 --> 0:18:54.399 The most recent one was changing it to too external 0:18:54.560 --> 0:18:58.160 black candidates or minority or women candidates interviewing for these 0:18:58.200 --> 0:19:01.639 head coach and GM jobs. And so the league noticed 0:19:01.680 --> 0:19:04.200 that a lot of times teams were interviewing internal candidates 0:19:04.520 --> 0:19:06.960 and it would maybe one or two internal candidates and 0:19:06.960 --> 0:19:08.960 they would count that as a running rule. So they 0:19:08.960 --> 0:19:10.920 tried to make a change, and they're trying to adjust, 0:19:11.119 --> 0:19:13.520 and I think some of the adjustments are are effective. 0:19:13.800 --> 0:19:15.800 But I think at the core of this is ownership. 0:19:16.119 --> 0:19:17.919 So owners aretain the ones who are going to make 0:19:17.960 --> 0:19:20.560 the decision. So the League office can want all they 0:19:20.600 --> 0:19:23.600 want to be able to UM have more black coaches, 0:19:23.640 --> 0:19:26.439 have more black owners, have more black gms, but ultimately 0:19:26.480 --> 0:19:29.080 it's gonna take these owners to be able to know 0:19:29.359 --> 0:19:32.480 and make the decisions themselves. So the Rooty rule has 0:19:32.480 --> 0:19:36.600 certainly evolved in how UM is putting pressure on teams 0:19:36.640 --> 0:19:39.240 to have more of an open um you know, wide 0:19:39.280 --> 0:19:43.720 net coaching and GM interview process. But look where we are. 0:19:43.920 --> 0:19:47.639 We're one black head coach halfway through a coaching cycle. 0:19:47.840 --> 0:19:49.960 It's the same way we worked twenty years ago. So 0:19:50.000 --> 0:19:52.000 a lot of coaches are saying, yes, the roomy rule 0:19:52.400 --> 0:19:54.320 may have helped some people get interviews and may have 0:19:54.359 --> 0:19:56.479 helped people get into the room, but as far as 0:19:56.520 --> 0:19:58.640 the coaching rank, the GM is different. Like you said, 0:19:58.640 --> 0:20:01.280 there's been progress, and have to address that. There has 0:20:01.320 --> 0:20:04.720 been real progress for the coaching ranks. Just one coach, 0:20:04.840 --> 0:20:07.520 Mike Tomlin, who is arguably one of the best coaches 0:20:07.720 --> 0:20:10.480 of his era. And you can't tell me that there's 0:20:10.520 --> 0:20:14.280 only one qualified coach who's black out of thirty two 0:20:14.359 --> 0:20:17.040 to be head coach. So where is that coming from? 0:20:17.080 --> 0:20:19.440 Is that implicit bias? Is there something we can do? 0:20:19.600 --> 0:20:22.520 So I just don't know if more rooting rule changes 0:20:22.840 --> 0:20:25.440 are going to truly make a difference in these numbers. 0:20:25.720 --> 0:20:28.399 And we've continued to see these changes happen, but the 0:20:28.480 --> 0:20:32.960 numbers have stayed relatively stegmas. And then you know, one 0:20:32.960 --> 0:20:35.840 of the reasons that Mike Tomlin is the only black 0:20:35.880 --> 0:20:38.880 head coach currently and again there are still openings in 0:20:38.920 --> 0:20:41.600 this year's you know, cycle of head coaching changes, and 0:20:41.640 --> 0:20:43.879 so it is one of the reasons you know that 0:20:43.920 --> 0:20:46.159 again the Tomlin is the only black head coach currently 0:20:46.200 --> 0:20:48.800 is because Brian Flores was fired from the Miami Dolphins 0:20:48.800 --> 0:20:51.000 and the reasons why, you know, we were sort of 0:20:51.040 --> 0:20:53.480 led to believe there were these relationship issues within the 0:20:53.520 --> 0:20:56.440 building with the way that that Flora's maybe have interacted 0:20:56.480 --> 0:20:59.200 with general manager Chris Greer and you know, with other 0:20:59.480 --> 0:21:03.399 with others in the organization. In your understanding of that 0:21:03.480 --> 0:21:06.840 whole situation, how did that unfold and and how were 0:21:06.880 --> 0:21:10.160 those interactions? Yeah, that's an interesting part of this because 0:21:10.560 --> 0:21:13.600 some of it certainly was real. There was a strife 0:21:13.640 --> 0:21:16.560 between Brian Floors and Chris Career. I've been told, but 0:21:16.880 --> 0:21:19.480 I think Flores and his team pointed out in the 0:21:19.560 --> 0:21:22.440 lawsuit and even talking to some coaches on that staff before, 0:21:22.760 --> 0:21:26.600