Brian Flores' Lawsuit Accuses Broncos of Discrimination & Arriving Hungover to HC Interview in 2019

This is not a good look for the Broncos.

It’s never a dull day in Broncoland. 

With the dust of the coaching search just barely settling, with Nathaniel Hackett winning the job, and the Senior Bowl starting up in Mobile, AL, with a smorgasbord of quarterbacks to pore over, the Denver Broncos found themselves in the NFL headlines on Tuesday as former Miami Dolphins head coach Brian Flores filed a lawsuit against the NFL, the Miami Dolphins, the New York Giants, and the Denver Broncos in a class action complaint.

There are a number of interesting and disturbing details surrounding Flores' complaint, such as New England Patriots head coach Bill Bellicheck. Flores alleges that Belichick, thinking he was contacting Brian Daboll, accidentally texted him to congratulate him on getting the Giants' head coach job, three days prior to Flores’ interview with the team. 

Daboll was eventually named the Giants' head coach

It wasn’t just the Giants that apparently held what Flores' complaint calls a “sham interview” for the head-coaching job but dating back to the Broncos’ head-coaching search in 2019, Flores alleges that Denver similarly discriminated against him as a candidate, citing the only reason for the interview being to satisfy the NFL's Rooney Rule, which mandates that NFL clubs interview at least one Black candidate during a head-coach hiring cycle. 

Flores alleges that Broncos' then-GM John Elway, CEO Joe Ellis, and others, showed up an hour late to their interview with Flores, the same cycle where Denver hired Vic Fangio. Flores also claims that the Broncos' hiring committee arrived obviously disheveled from a previous night of drinking alcohol.

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If the complaint in this class-action lawsuit of Elway and company showing up for Flores’ interview hungover is true, it would be incredibly unprofessional and disappointing at best. Even the allegation is a poor, poor look for Denver, especially in light of Elway's reputation as a drinker. 

How this will play out for the Broncos remains to be seen. Will it impact the impending sale of the franchise? Will the NFL come down on Denver with fines and a potential loss of draft picks? 

It is of the utmost importance to let the legal process play out and see what facts come to the surface as more information comes to light. No matter the outcome, though, in regards to the Broncos allegedly discriminating against Flores, it would be an embarrassing blemish on the Duke of Denver's resume and his tenure in the front office of the Broncos.

It's worth noting, however, that on the matter of discrimination, Elway and Ellis hired a Black head coach in Vance Joseph in the Broncos' previous hiring cycle in 2017. Joseph served as head coach for two years, winning only 11 games and was dismissed at the end of the 2018 campaign. 

Although the Broncos have yet to respond publicly to Flores' allegations, the Giants denied them vigoriously:

"We are please and confident with the process that resulted in the hiring of Brian Daboll. We interviewed an impressive and diverse group of candidates. The fact of the matter is, Brian Flores was in the conversation to be our head coach until the eleventh hour. Ultimately, we hired the individual we felt was most qualified to be our next head coach."

The complaint also names incidents surrounding Flores’ time in Miami involving owner Stephen Ross — a tampering incident in 2019 — and alleges that he offered the coach a $100,000 payment per game to tank in 2019 in order to move up the draft boards to land a quarterback in the 2020 NFL draft.

What does Flores hope to gain from this lawsuit? He's seeking the Federal court to remedy what the coach views as an alleged discriminatory hiring process in the NFL. And of course, Flores is seeking punitive damages from the league and three teams named in the complaint. 

Again, the Broncos have yet to offer up a statement in response to Flores' allegations of events that are three years in the past. 

Update: The Broncos have responded to Flores' incendiary allegations: 

“The allegations from Brian Flores directed toward the Denver Broncos in today’s court filing are blatantly false.

“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, R.I., 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.

“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.”

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