[ad_1]
It appears Brian Flores has his sights on mending some fences.
The former Dolphins head coach stunned the NFL when he filed a bombshell lawsuit accusing the league of racial discrimination in their hiring practices. Among the evidence was a text conversation with Bill Belichick — whom Flores previously worked for in New England — in which Belichick thought he was talking to Brian Daboll, congratulating him on getting the Giants head coaching job before Flores had even interviewed.
Flores believes the team only had him in as a way of checking the box for the Rooney Rule, which requires each team to interview a minority candidate for a head coach or senior football operations position. However, he said on the “I Am Athlete” podcast that he doesn’t blame Belichick – despite claiming the Patriots head coach played a role in the team hiring Daboll over Flores.
“I’m not mad. He sent a text message to the wrong person. I’m certainly guilty of that,” Flores said.
Flores then went on to compliment the coach, who some might argue he threw under the bus by leaking the text messages.
“I think the one thing people don’t know about Bill is he listens. He listens. So if you have — and again, you’ve got to earn the right for him to listen — but if you have an idea, if you have a thought, if you have a person or there’s a matchup you think that we can win, a part in the game, he’ll listen,” Flores said on the podcast. “He may add something to it. He may throw it out. But he listens. I think that’s one of his greatest strengths.”
Belichick has said very little publicly about the situation and has not addressed Flores’ comments. Flores told CNN that he had not spoken with Belichick since the lawsuit was made public, and that the Patriots coach was unaware that the conversation has been leaked.
Flores landed an NFL job not long after filing the lawsuit as a senior defensive assistant and linebackers coach with the Steelers. Pittsburgh is scheduled to play Belichick’s Patriots at home in 2022.
[ad_2]