Leading a team to back-to-back winning seasons for the first time in almost a couple of decades may guarantee job security for a head coach, but that wasn’t the case with current Minnesota Vikings defensive coordinator Brian Flores. Surprisingly, the Miami Dolphins fired Flores after the 2021 season, after he led Miami to consecutive winning records in 2020 and 2021, marking the franchise’s first consecutive winning seasons since 2002–2003.
Watch What’s Trending Now!
The firing prompted Flores to sue the team, along with the Denver Broncos, the New York Giants, and the league itself, alleging racial discrimination in coaching appointments and retaliation.
As the legal battle has been continuing for years, a one-page memo prepared by the recruitment firm Korn Ferry for the Las Vegas Raiders has become public after previously being kept confidential. The memo assessed Flores as a potential head-coaching candidate with both positive and negative observations listed about him.
Front Office Sports obtained the details and reported that the memo lists six points in favor of Flores and seven against him. In the report, FOS shared a couple of points- negative and positive.
“Polished and a good presenter despite growing up in Brownsville, Brooklyn (same as Mike Tyson). He was able to build a strong friendship with a billionaire’s son which gave him opportunities to socialize and learn how to build relationships with white-collar and upper-class individuals,” one of the positive points read in the memo.
That, however, didn’t sit well with Flores’ attorneys. Per FOS, his attorney, Michael Willemin, argued that the language reflects racial stereotypes and appears to treat Flores’ upbringing as an obstacle to professional success, suggesting that he needed a connection to a wealthy person to develop the social skills required for a senior leadership position.
“The recently unsealed documents demonstrate two unfortunate, but unsurprising, realities,” Flores attorney Douglas H. Wigdor said in a statement to FOS. “First, that Mr. Flores’ decision to hold the league and its teams accountable for systemic race discrimination has been met with unlawful retaliation.
“Second, discrimination continues to play a significant role in the hiring process for NFL Head Coaches, as evidenced by the fact that the candidate profile prepared for the Raiders leans heavily on racial stereotypes. We and Mr. Flores are committed to eradicating the institutional racism and retaliation that permeates the league, its teams and their partners.”
At the same time, the memo contained negative comments about Flores.
One point read, “He can fool you with his polish upwards,” while one of the other negative points read, “Chip on his shoulder – can be a dictator with players, coaches, and can even be difficult with ownership. His personality is unpredictable – not sure who is going to show up. Failed in how he hires coordinators and staff because he doesn’t give second chances or see efforts to improve; Needs someone strong at the top to reign in some of his worst behavior. He once threatened violence to his GM and made irrational demands during an ownership meeting. One long-time senior team executive said, “He may have changed since, but he was the worst hiring decision we’ve ever made”. Another President of a club refused to talk about him.”
Meanwhile, Front Office Sports reported another issue involving possible retaliation. Flores’ attorneys argue that the memo’s suggestion that his lawsuit could become a distraction shows that teams may have viewed his decision to challenge the NFL as a reason not to hire him.
The development around Brian Flores’ lawsuit gained traction after he sued the NFL and three teams in 2022. Former head coaches Steve Wilks and Ray Horton later joined the case with claims of their own. The litigation challenges how NFL teams evaluate minority coaching candidates, including whether some interviews were conducted merely to satisfy the league’s Rooney Rule.
Flores, in his lawsuit, alleged that Dolphins owner Stephen Ross offered him $100,000 for every loss during the 2019 season to improve the team’s draft position. He also alleged that the Broncos interviewed him in 2019 without seriously considering him for the job, and that the Giants interviewed him in 2022 despite already planning to hire Brian Daboll.
Flores cited a mistaken congratulatory text from Bill Belichick as evidence, when the former New England Patriots head coach congratulated Brian Flores for the Giants’ head coaching role rather than Brian Daboll.
“Sorry – I f***ed this up. I double checked and misread the text. I think they are naming Brian Daboll. I’m sorry about that,” Belichick later texted.
A couple of days later, the Giants named Daboll as their head coach. Brian Flores, meanwhile, is currently serving as the Vikings’ defensive coordinator, a team that has yet to lose a game in the 2026 season and has the No. 1 defense in the league.