Mark Madden: Brian Flores' case has merit, but proving guilt will be challenging

The Brian Flores lawsuit against the NFL has many sidebars, some of which Flores should have stifled at least temporarily.

Flores says he was offered $100k per loss by Miami ownership by way of getting a better draft pick. I don’t buy it.

Tanking isn’t done once the game starts. Tanking is done via team assembly and roster manipulation. More bad players, less good players. Coaches don’t tank. Players don’t tank. Owners and GMs tank, sometimes by hiring a bad coach. (Hello, Hue Jackson!)

Miami is denying. There’s no way for Flores to prove his accusation, and it steals headlines from the primary issue, which is coaching hires being skewed by institutional racism.

Flores also compared the NFL to an antebellum plantation, where Black workers destroy their bodies to reap profit for rich white owners.

There’s an element of truth in that. But one report says that the average NFL salary is $2.8 million, so the plantation narrative comes off a bit dramatic and, again, serves to detract.

Flores got fired by Miami despite the Dolphins winning eight of nine to finish the year, thus completing a second consecutive season above .500.

Why did Flores get fired? Why wasn’t he among the first in line to fill a vacant coaching position? Why hasn’t Eric Bieniemy become a head coach? Kansas City’s offensive coordinator, who is Black, has been highly touted to that end for years.

There’s only one Black head coach in the NFL: Mike Tomlin. (It is the Rooney Rule, after all.)

All six head coaching hires so far this offseason have been white.

Since the Rooney Rule was adopted in 2003 to encourage minority hiring, 21% of head coaching vacancies have been filled by minorities. That’s not enough.

But 70% of the NFL’s players are Black. Is there any concern about that disparity?

If it’s assumed to be a meritocracy with roster spots, why is it assumed that’s it not a meritocracy with head coaching jobs? There’s only one Black head coach. But there are zero white cornerbacks.

The NFL’s teams are 32 separate businesses. Do the owners meet under a burning cross and agree to not hire Black coaches? Doubtful.

Flores’ lawsuit will fizzle. He’s got little proof.

Flores may get a settlement from the NFL. But he might not work again in the NFL. That’s what happened with Colin Kaepernick.

The Rooney Rule has been exposed. Its main effect seems to be maneuvering minority coaches into sham interviews to satisfy its requirements. It’s not unfair to say the Rooney Rule enables many of the problems mentioned in Flores’ suit.

Witness Bill Belichick’s texts to Flores that congratulated him on being appointed head coach by the New York Giants. But Flores wasn’t.

The texts were meant for another Brian, Brian Daboll, who had apparently already been hired by the Giants even though Flores had an interview scheduled. The Rooney Rule strikes again.

According to Flores, Denver president John Elway and another Broncos exec showed up for a 2019 job interview with Flores late, disheveled and hung over, and that the tone of the interview indicated no serious interest in employing Flores. The Rooney Rule strikes again. (A white man, Vic Fangio, got hired.)

Elway denies. Miami denies. The NFL denies. Everyone accused denies.

You’ve got to prove guilt. Flores won’t be able to. It’s a shame. His case has merit. But not enough evidence.

Flores came off shaky during his multiple media appearances. He didn’t help his perception by lawyering up on-camera.

Nothing ever will change. Rich, old, white men never will be told who to hire or how to spend their money.

They can’t be blamed. Billions are at stake.

The bigger picture is of no concern to the individual owners. Just how their team does. The decision might be bad or wrongly influenced by prejudice. But it’s theirs to make.