Vikings defensive coordinator Brian Flores has subpoenaed 25 NFL teams—in addition to the six he is suing—for information about their hiring practices as part of his long-running discrimination lawsuit against the NFL, a new court filing shows.
That brings nearly the entire NFL in some fashion into his case, likely omitting only his current employer.
The move comes as he is set to file a new amended complaint Wednesday, the second time this year he’s added to the charges in his original 2022 discrimination suit that rocked the NFL with allegations of systemic racism in head coach hiring.
“The proposed Third Amended Complaint also improperly purports to add a brand new claim for retaliation against the NFL that in no way responds to, let alone cures, the deficiencies in the Second Amended Complaint,” the NFL wrote last week to the judge overseeing the case. “In any event, that claim too—asserting supposed retaliation based upon the NFL’s enforcement of its arbitration provisions in employment agreements that this Court found to be binding upon the parties, is meritless.”
Flores filed the lawsuit Feb. 1, 2022, after the Dolphins fired him, listing the Dolphins, Giants, and Broncos as defendants. The Giants and Broncos had interviewed him for their head coach position in what Flores dubbed sham processes designed to meet the requirements of the Rooney Rule, the NFL policy that requires teams to interview minorities for top positions.
