"Got my slingshot right here" - Brian Flores committed to pursuing racism lawsuit against NFL
Brian Flores, the former head coach of the Miami Dolphins, made waves when he filed a class-action lawsuit against the NFL for allegedly racist hiring practices.
On the podcast I Am Athlete, co-hosted by former wide receivers Chad Johnson and Brandon Marshall, Flores spoke about his pending lawsuit. Johnson commented that Flores is facing an uphill battle when taking on the NFL, and Flores had a response to Johnson’s observation.
Chad Johnson provided an analogy to Flores's current legal action against the league.
“I see it as somewhat David and Goliath," Johnson said. "The NFL shield is extremely powerful.”
Brian Flores replied in the same spirit of the analogy.
“I got my slingshot right here,” Flores said.
Brian Flores provides further details on pending lawsuit against NFL
On the podcast, Brian Flores explained some of the major reasons why he filed the lawsuit alleging racist hiring practices within the NFL. Flores alleged that as a black coach, he was given tasks that would not have been required of a white head coach. Additionally, he felt that his reservations to these challenges provided the fodder for the perception that he was “a difficult person to work with.”
“I think race played a role in my firing," said Flores. "What I mean by that is, there were things I was asked to do. There were conversations that were had.”
“I was made out to be a difficult person to work with," the former Dolphins head coach added. "I think my white counterparts wouldn’t have been asked to do the things I was asked to do.”
Flores did not explain the difficult things that the Dolphins asked him to do. In a separate interview with ESPN, the head coach previously mentioned that the Dolphins’ team owner offered him $100,000 for each loss in the 2019 season to acquire a top draft pick in the 2020 NFL Draft.
Flores was recently hired by the Pittsburgh Steelers as a senior defensive assistant coach. With the Steelers, Flores is now working with head coach Mike Tomlin, who is one of only three minority head coaches in the league, including Lovie Smith of the Houston Texans and Mike McDaniel of the Miami Dolphins (McDaniel belongs comes from a biracial background).
Pittsburgh general manager Kevin Colbert indicated that hiring Flores was based on his track record. During his time with the New England Patriots as a defensive assistant coach, Flores won four Super Bowl rings. Additionally, he called the defensive plays during Super Bowl LIII in 2019 when the Patriots held the Los Angeles Rams to three points in the lowest-scoring game in Super Bowl history.