While Steve Wilks and Ray Horton have joined Brian Flores’ racial discrimination lawsuit, Flores himself has amended his original complaint. It adds the Texans to the list of teams against which specific allegations are made (the others being the Dolphins, Broncos, Giants and, now, the Cardinals and Titans). 
[RELATED: Wilks, Horton Join Flores’ Suit]
As detailed by ESPN’s Kevin Van Valkenburg, Flores alleges that Houston “retaliated” against him during their recent head coaching search as a result of his decision to file the lawsuit. His amended complaint notes how the team pivoted towards Lovie Smith – whom they ultimately hired – immediately after their decision appeared to be narrowed down to either Flores or former quarterback Josh McCown. As it reads, “the Texans were rightfully concerned that if it hired Mr. McCown over Mr. Flores, it would bolster Mr. Flores’ allegations of systemic discrimination against Black candidates”.
In a statement, the Texans have responded to the accusations. “Brian Flores was among the first candidates we held a formal interview with for the position and he remained a candidate until the very end” it says in part. “It was a very fluid process… we are proud of our decision and will vigorously defend [it].”
Alterations have also been made to Flores’ allegations against the Dolphins. Included among those is a memorandum he wrote in December 2019 to multiple members of the team’s front office, including general manager Chris Grier, related to the “alarming demands to lose games” made by owner Stephen Ross (Twitter link via NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport). In it, Flores “detailed the toxicity which existed within the organization and explained the unreasonable position he was being placed in”. PFT’s Mike Florio reports that said memo was provided to the league one week ago.
As well, the amended suit accuses the Dolphins of “asserting baseless claims” (Twitter link via Nicki Jhabvala of the Washington Post). One of those is the demand for Flores to repay wages paid by the team because they were given “on the condition that he wouldn’t sue the Dolphins”. Flores denies any such agreement was made during his departure from the team.
Flores initially sued the NFL generally, and the Dolphins, Broncos and Giants specifically in February. He has since been hired by the Steelers as the team’s linebackers coach, but made it clear at the time that he would not drop the suit. Today’s developments confirm that this matter is far from being resolved.
“How dare the Texans hire a black man in Lovie Smith as head coach instead of me! Those racists!” – Brian Flores
Actually, if Flores allegations are correct, McCown should be the one suing the Texans, not him. He “claims” McCown wasn’t hired solely due to his skin color, which is the definition of racism. That said, since the rest of Flores statements have been totally baseless in content, what are the odds this one is true?
I’d say there’s a good chance that Lovie is one and done with the Texans and they hire McCown next year. The whole thing seemed like a PR stunt
I hope so. Livid is not the answer for Houston. He’s a good Def. coordinator but not a good head coach as his history proves.
Lovie, not Livid. Damn autocorrect.
so what he’s trying to say is not hiring him WAS racist because they WERE going to hire McCown over him, got scared, and then hired a black man anyway? Bold move Flores.
Yeah, I’ve been open to Flores’s lawsuit and even supportive of it, but the logic in the complaint against the Texans is… tortuous, at best.
Not saying I agree with Flores here.. But… I think the point that is trying to be made is that they were going to hire him, he filed his suit against the Dolphins, they decided to not hire him as a result, McCown was the other candidate and hiring looked bad given the suit, so they hired some other black coach. It’s coherent… But… Could be entirely false.
i think it’s fair to say they may have moved off him due to the suit, but everything after doesn’t seem lawsuit worthy. so what, you’re sueing because of why one person who was not you got a job over someone else who was not you, and you base the reason for this decision on a hunch?
So they hired who they felt was clearly the 3rd best candidate, at best, to lead their billion $+ franchise just to zing Flores. Makes sense.
Serious shade being thrown at Lovie Smith.
so the Texans hire McCown and he sues for them choosing a Caucasian coach, instead they choose an African American and he still sues.
So “hire me or else” likely never was so true.
Exactly, which is why McCown is the one that should be upset here and filing.
I believe Flores is a capable coach, but this sounds like it is a lawsuit that may get thrown out because it’s all over the place.
he’s brought forward proof he was asked to lose games (tank). That is not a racial issue. Then he wasn’t hired by other teams over people he feels he is more qualified than arguing partially because of race.
i mean there very well could be issues with some if not all of these teams, but it seems like a very disorganized suit that is just grabbing anything possible to lay as reasoning.
No “red flag” when the same claim is against 6 different teams!
So..basically he’s saying what we all know-That the Runey Rule is racist. Forcing teams to interview people based solely on the color of their skin even if they already know they are hiring someone else. That’s how this should be filed. The teams are simply meeting quotas set forth by the league. Flores is a clown simply suing anyone who didn’t hire him.
If they were discriminated against, something should be done; if their allegations are only because they didn’t get what they wanted, then shame on them: they are only harming the cause of minorities.
If this was a wrongful termination suit, this would make a lot more sense.
Get yours Flores get yours, get after em. Ya love to see it
Racism is when a different person of color than Brian Flores is hired
This ^^^^.
@amk1920 comment of the year so far.
Where the F is the Asian representation among HCs?
Players too. The league is clearly anti Asian and pro African American. How long before Long Duck Dong files suit.
Um , much of the coaching pool is from former players. If there are not very many Asian players historically then you will not have Asian coaches. Not saying there isn’t talented Asians in football but, where are they ?
Kicking for the Falcons
Having fun with this…..The NFL should have a “Snowball Rule” to mandate teams to have a Caucasian cornerback!
Where is the LBGTQ coach representation at?
LGBTQ
You forgot a few letters. Here I’ll fix it for ya. The alphabet soup gang.
Well I am sure there are poor hiring practices and I am also sure there are situations completely blown out of context. I have no issue with this mainly because these positions are not life saving positions.
Where I do have a problem with this process is for first responder positions that must have a X amount from a certain race.
When you’re in the business of saving lives , the most qualified person should be in the position , regardless of skin color or ethnic back ground. Someone with a lower score or qualification should not get in simply because if their skin color. Police, Fire etc… should be the best man, women, white , black Hispanic … any race.
Not a fan of Affirmative Action, which is basically the Rooney Rule.
Amen. Meritocracy all the way.
So basically we’re looking at 26 more updates of teams being named in this lawsuit. Those other rumor sites on the network are starting to look attractive.
Let us know when race is really a factor, given that no Asians, Hispanics, Native Americans, etc., are ever considered for these jobs.
Are any of these races 70% of the players?
See Ron Rivera
Mularkey admitted what happened
link to yahoo.com
Flores pulling a Kaep move? Wow them be racists, yo! Using the color of their skin to cover up their poor decision making skills and ineptness.
They need to man up and own their mistakes and actions then improve, rather than being a bunch of crybabies and cry “Waycissssts!!!”