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The NFL has hired a law firm that includes former U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch to defend it and its teams against Brian Flores’ racial discrimination lawsuit.
Flores, who is Black, was fired as Miami’s coach last month despite back-to-back winning seasons. Even still, he was available and interviewed for head coaching vacancies during the latest hiring cycle, yet remains unemployed.
Flores named the league and three teams, the Dolphins, Denver Broncos and New York Giants, in a class-action lawsuit earlier this month, alleging unfair NFL hiring practices.
Brian Flores treks this road alone.
Though a proven and winning head coach, Flores will likely remain without a job from the league he’s currently litigating against. Now over two weeks since filing suit, Brian Flores soldiers on as the sole plaintiff in the class-action lawsuit.
With no other Black coaches willing to go on record for fear of reprisal or exclusion, the NFL’s Good Ol’Boy system of hiring will likely continue.
During his annual Super Bowl news conference, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell commented:
“We won’t tolerate racism. We won’t tolerate discrimination. I found all of the allegations, whether they were based on racism or discrimination or the integrity of our game, all of those to me were very disturbing.”
Will Flores be “Kaepernicked” out of the NFL?
There were nine head-coach openings this offseason and two went to non-whites: Mike McDaniel, who replaced Flores in Miami and is biracial, and Lovie Smith, who is Black and replaced David Culley, who is also Black. That brought the total of “minority” head coaches to five. Meanwhile, more than 70% of NFL players are Black.
The Hill said that Bloomberg Law had reported on Wednesday that Lynch had been hired along with Brad Karp, chair of Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison. Lynch joined that firm as a partner in 2019.
Lorretta Lynch will represent the NFL in what’s becoming a stronger defense by the day.