Dez Bryant speaks out on NFL following Brian Flores lawsuit
Brian Flores was fired by the Miami Dolphins in a puzzling move just about a month ago, but many thought the head coach that helped turned around the Dolphins poor start to the season would have little trouble finding a new job.
Evidently, that was far from the case. Flores interviewed with multiple NFL teams — including the New York Giants during this hiring cycle, and the Denver Broncos in a previous hiring cycle — but came away without a job offer. The hiring practices of those teams, in conjunction with questionable behavior displayed by Dolphins owner Stephen Ross, created grounds for Flores to push legal action, and he’s now doing just that; last week, Ross sued the National Football League, Broncos, Giants and Dolphins, alleging racism throughout both the hiring and vetting processes.
Now, Dez Bryant, a former NFL All-Pro wide receiver, has taken issue with the NFL, expressing his support towards Flores in the impending litigation process.
“I’m going to be real this give me courage to speak on my personal situations dealing with the NFL,” Bryant wrote on Twitter. “I never liked how my name got falsely slandered.. my narrative was controlled and I had no real guidance…. I’m with Brian Flores!”
A fan then responded in the comments asking about the abrupt ending to Bryant’s career. A first-round pick in the 2010 NFL Draft, Bryant was a star in his eight-year stint with the Dallas Cowboys, making it to three Pro Bowl rosters and once being named a first-team All-Pro; however, after that, he signed with just two more teams — the New Orleans Saints and Baltimore Ravens — and was eventually pushed out of the league at age 30. He’s still only 33 years old, and he never officially retired from the NFL.
“Politics,” Bryant said on Twitter, when asked why he was out of the league at such a young age. “I’m not afraid to voice my opinion. I share my voice and I am not afraid to speak on difficult topics at any given time. The reality is the NFL is a business first & if you don’t stay within the lines of what is accepted within that business & its construct you’re muted.”
More info on Brian Flores’ lawsuit
Former Miami Dolphins head coach Brian Flores has filed a lawsuit against the NFL and the New York Giants, claiming they demonstrated racist practices in choosing their next head coach. The document contains personal text messages with New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick and includes a description of a dinner with the Giants front office.
In a series of text messages with Belichick, who Flores formerly worked under, it was revealed that the Giants would hire Buffalo Bills offensive coordinator Brian Daboll as head coach three days before a scheduled interview.
“Sounds like you have landed – congrats!!” read the first message from Belichick.
Flores then asked if his former boss heard something around the league he had not, but it was later revealed that Belichick thought he was talking to Daboll and not Flores.
“Sorry – I f*cked this up,” Belichick wrote in a later text. “I double checked & I misread the text. I think they are naming Daboll. I’m sorry about that.”
According to the lawsuit, Brian Flores claims that the New York Giants proceeded with his interview in an attempt to satisfy the NFL’s Rooney Rule before officially naming the coach they already agreed to a deal with previously.
The legal document read, in part: “Mr. Flores was forced to sit through a dinner with Joe Schoen, the Giants’ new general manager, knowing that the Giants had already selected Mr. Daboll. Much worse… Mr. Flores had to give an extensive interview for a job that he already knew he would not get – an interview that was held for no reason other than for the Fiants to demonstrate falsely to the League Commissioner Roger Goodell and the public at large that it was in compliance with the Rooney Rule.”