Giants Among Accused Refuting Brian Flores Discrimination Claims

The New York Giants issued a statement late Thursday that refutes the claims filed via lawsuit in Manhattan Federal Court by former Miami Dolphins Head Coach Brian Flores that he was discriminated against by three NFL teams because of race.

The Giants refuted the allegations, saying the process to hire a head coach was done legitimately, adding that a decision on who would be the Head Coach was not made until the evening of January 28, one full day after the Giants spent an entire morning and afternoon with Flores at the team's East Rutherford facility on January 27. The Giants also hit back on the allegation that inside information was exchanged outside the organization, which refutes Flores allegation that he found out that Brian Daboll got the job through a text message exchange with Patriots Head Coach Bill Belichick.

"The allegation that the Giants' decision had been made prior to Friday evening, January 28, is false. And to base that allegation on a text exchange with Bill Belichick in which he ultimately states that he "thinks" Brian Daboll would get the job is irresponsible. The text exchange occurred the day before Coach Daboll's in-person interview even took place. Giants' ownership would never hire a head coach based only on a 20-minute zoom interview, which is all that Mr. Daboll had at that point," the statement reads.

The Giants add that Flores was a serious candidate for the job, and that owner John Mara was interested in his candidacy once Flores was released by Miami.

"John Mara called Mr. Flores two days after he was dismissed in Miami. Mr. Mara expressed to Mr. Flores in that January 12 call that once we had our new general manager in place, we would begin the process of hiring our head coach and we wanted to meet with Mr. Flores because we considered him a serious candidate for the position."

The Giants also included a full itinerary of their meeting with Flores that occurred on January 27. According to that itinerary, Flores spent over six hours at the Giants complex for his in-person interview.  Read the full statement on the Giants Twitter link below.

The Giants weren't the only ones to hit back. Denver Broncos executive John Elway called Flores claims that the two-time Super Bowl Champion and Hall of Fame quarterback was late and "completely disheveled" to their meeting in 2019 as "false and defamatory."

Elway said that he and front office staff had flown overnight from Denver after conducting more interviews the day before to meet with Flores, and were only on a "few hours of sleep."

“I took Coach Flores very seriously as a candidate for our head coaching position in 2019 and enjoyed our three-and-a-half hour interview with him. Along with the rest of our group, I was prepared, ready and fully engaged during the entire interview as Brian shared his experience and vision for our team," Elway said in his statement.

Meanwhile the Miami Dolphins and their owner Stephen Ross could be in hot water if the allegations by Flores that the Dolphins tried to pay Flores $100,000 per loss to lose intentionally for draft position proves to have legs. According to sources the NFL is investigating. Ross has also denied the allegations made by Flores.

Meanwhile former Cleveland Browns coach Hue Jackson, who went 3-36-1 in two-and-a half seasons in Cleveland, claimed that Browns owner Jimmy Halsam had a pay-to-lose system. Those allegations have also been denied.

Flores who went 24-25 with no playoff appearances in three seasons at the helm of the Dolphins is said to still be considered a serious candidate for the Houston Texans head coaching job. He has already interviewed with the New Orleans Saints position.