"I just can't see him getting an HC job" - Shannon Sharpe predicts tough NFL future for Brian Flores
Hall of Fame tight end Shannon Sharpe believes Brian Flores will never get another head coaching job again after commencing legal action against the NFL, alleging racial discrimination.
Speaking on the Fox Sports 1 show Undisputed about Flores' circumstances, Sharpe stated that he doesn't think the former Miami Dolphins head coach will return to that role with any franchise in the league.
"I just can't see it, Skip," Sharpe said. "It's just hard. And I get it, I get it, that he's standing up to the very people that he's gonna come and want to come back and work for. So the people at home if someone sues you, you won't give them a job if you're in that position, too. Probably not."
"That's just how it works and I understand that what he's doing and for the greater good, he's willing to sacrifice himself, his ability to potentially coach in the National Football League ever again," Sharpe added.
Sharpe continued:
"I commend him for what he's done, it took a lot of courage to do that, Skip. There are very few people that are willing to sacrifice oneself for the greater cause. It seems to me that's what he's done, he's put his own coaching career on the line so other minorities that come after him will get a better chance, a fair chance.
"It's just hard for me to see a scenario that he gets a job after the course of action which he's taken."
Why is Brian Flores suing the NFL?
Flores has filed a lawsuit against the NFL, the Miami Dolphins, the Denver Broncos and the New York Giants alleging racial discrimination.
In the lawsuit, he alleges that Dolphins owner Stephen Ross offered him $100,000 for every loss in the 2019 season so that they would acquire the No. 1 draft pick, which Flores declined. He also alleges that Ross wanted him to recruit a “prominent quarterback” who was under contract with another team during a meeting on the owner’s yacht. Flores refused as this would have broken the league's tampering rules. He left the boat before the player arrived.
The NFL will investigate the specific allegations that Brian Flores has made concerning Dolphins owner Stephen Ross offering him $100,000 per-loss incentives in 2019 to gain a better draft position, a league source said. Other potential rules violations also will be investigated.
The lawsuit offers evidence in the form of text messages from New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick where he is congratulating Flores for becoming the Giants' head coach. At the time, Flores hadn't been interviewed for the role and Belichick was in fact referring to Brian Daboll, who is now in that role for the Giants.
This particular piece of evidence is to support Flores' claims that the Giants interviewed him despite already knowing they would appoint a white candidate. Flores maintains that he was interviewed to fulfill the Rooney Rule, which requires teams in the NFL to interview at least one minority candidate for head coaching vacancies..
He also alleges two Broncos executives turned up an hour late for his 2019 interview and “looked completely disheveled, and it was obvious they had been drinking heavily the night before”.
Flores has also said the NFL is run "like a plantation" and that the 32 owners, all of whom are white, are profiting off the labor of young, black men.
The NFL, Dolphins, Broncos and Giants have all denied the claims made by Flores.