Tanking accusation also an important part of Brian Flores' lawsuit

The central focus of Brian Flores’ bombshell lawsuit against the Giants, the Broncos, the Dolphins and the NFL was to draw attention to the lack of Black head-coaching hires, especially in recent years. And there’s no question that issue has been a major point of emphasis in the league, which has attempted to improve the chances of diversity hiring but has gotten poor results.

But an equally compelling part of Flores’ claim revolves around his accusation that Dolphins owner Stephen Ross offered to pay him $100,000 for every loss during the 2019 season. Flores claimed that Ross wanted the team to lose as many games as possible to secure the No. 1 overall pick in the 2020 draft.

Flores said he has corroborating evidence to back up his charge. Ross has denied making such an offer. In the end, if there is sufficient reason to believe that Ross did in fact propose that arrangement, it would be grounds for a severe penalty — up to and including the forfeiture of his right to own the team.

It remains to be seen whether Flores can prove his claim, and Ross certainly will have the right to defend himself. But if it is proved that Ross indeed made the request, it will amount to an attempted bribe, one that goes to the heart of the integrity of the game.

Teams have been accused of tanking to get a better draft choice, but we have never seen this kind of financial arrangement. Teams can trade away prominent players and thereby take away the means by which to compete on game day, and that certainly has happened. But for an owner to promise money to his coach to basically throw games? It simply can’t happen.

Long snapper Taybor Pepper, who played on that 2019 team, said he was mortified to hear of Flores’ claim.

"Finding out that this was possibly happening while I was playing there makes me absolutely sick to my stomach," Pepper, who now plays for the 49ers, tweeted this week. "2019 was the worst year of my life. I had NEVER thought about quitting football until that season in Miami. I have been filled w/rage since I learned about this."

If Pepper feels that way now after hearing about it, imagine how Flores must have felt when Ross allegedly proposed the deal. Flores said he refused, and after an 0-7 start in 2019, the Dolphins finished the season with five wins in their last nine games. They wound up with the fifth overall pick in the draft and selected Alabama quarterback Tua Tagovailoa.

The Bengals had the first pick. They took Joe Burrow. He’s playing in next week’s Super Bowl.

Rooney Rule regression

The NFL first introduced the Rooney Rule in 2003 as a way to increase diversity hiring among head coaches by requiring at least one interview for a minority candidate. The rule, named after Steelers owner Dan Rooney, was introduced after the firings of Black head coaches Tony Dungy in Tampa and Dennis Green in Minnesota.

There was a period of initial success in terms of increased hires among diversity candidates, especially after an important ruling handed down by then-commissioner Paul Tagliabue. When the Lions hired former 49ers coach Steve Mariucci without interviewing a minority candidate, general manager Matt Millen was slapped with a $200,000 fine.

"To me, the signature event that became a pillar [of the Rooney Rule] was in 2003 when they fined Matt Millen," said civil rights attorney Cyrus Mehri, who collaborated with attorney Johnnie Cochran to create the Rooney Rule. "What followed was record-breaking use of the Rooney Rule."

That included Dungy and Bears coach Lovie Smith becoming the first Black coaches to participate in the Super Bowl, with Dungy’s Colts winning the game and the coach eventually being inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Mehri believes the recent lack of diversity hiring can be traced to the league’s failure to discipline the Raiders for their hiring of Jon Gruden in 2018. When Raiders owner Mark Davis introduced Gruden as his new coach, he acknowledged that he essentially had reached agreement on his hiring before Christmas. That led to charges that the Raiders had circumvented the Rooney Rule requirement, and Mehri called for an investigation. The league declined to issue a penalty, and Raiders general manager Reggie McKenzie said he had interviewed two minority candidates before Gruden’s hiring was announced. McKenzie, who is Black, subsequently was fired and replaced by Mike Mayock.

Since the 2018 hiring cycle, only four minority candidates have been hired — Steve Wilks in Arizona, Flores, David Culley in Houston and Robert Saleh with the Jets. Wilks and Culley were fired after one season, and Saleh, now in his second year with the Jets, is the only coach still employed.

Mike Tomlin of the Steelers is the only Black head coach among the league’s 32 teams. Minority coaches make up approximately 34% of the league’s overall number of coaches.

"What was the signature event of the Rooney Rule was when the league did not put the hammer on them," Mehri said of the Raiders. "It removed a pillar underneath this. Since then, the numbers have plummeted."

Snyder’s entanglement worsens

If the NFL thought its investigation into workplace misconduct involving the newly named Washington Commanders was over, a congressional hearing this past week revealed new information that the league will examine.

In testimony before the House Committee on Oversight and Reform, a new accusation from a former team employee was leveled at owner Daniel Snyder that the league said it will investigate.

Tiffani Johnston, who had worked in the team’s marketing department, told the committee that Snyder acted inappropriately with her at a work-related dinner. Snyder denied the allegation in a statement after apologizing for previous misconduct associated with his team.

The NFL needs to examine Johnston’s story, and if there is credible evidence to suggest that Snyder engaged in abusive behavior, further sanctions must be considered. The league then needs to determine whether Snyder’s behavior rose to the level of former Panthers owner Jerry Richardson, whose acknowledgment of inappropriate behavior toward his employees resulted in his ouster from the league.

"The NFL is reviewing and will consider Ms. Johnston's allegations as we would any other new allegations regarding workplace misconduct at the Washington Commanders," the league said in a statement Friday. "We will determine any further action as appropriate."

But the league itself faces continued blame for its shoddy handling of the investigation into workplace misconduct within the Washington organization. Investigating attorney Beth Wilkinson delivered only a verbal accounting of the misbehavior, not a written version, which is typical in these cases. And as it was pointed out during the hearings, the league disingenuously included much of the information secured by women who had worked for the team in an attorney-client privilege arrangement that would hide their testimony, including incidents of sexual harassment.

The attorneys for 40 former employees, Lisa Banks and Debra Katz, told The Washington Post that they would not have allowed their clients to participate in the inquiry if they had known of this arrangement.

The NFL now must answer the congressional committee’s further questions, and league officials — up to and including commissioner Roger Goodell — need to understand that protecting the league’s interest over the former Washington employees was hypocritical and unacceptable.

And Snyder’s fellow owners must be willing to hold him to account the way they did Richardson and decide whether he deserves to remain the team’s owner.

Pederson inherits a quality situation

Out of the failed Urban Meyer experiment in Jacksonville comes a unique opportunity for the Jaguars to emerge from years of futility.

Meyer didn’t even make it through a full season before being fired because of a series of missteps — on and off the field — but after a long and at times circuitous coaching search, Doug Pederson is a viable choice to move the franchise forward. It’s especially good news for last year’s No. 1 overall draft pick, Trevor Lawrence, who gets to work with a uniquely gifted offensive coach and now can concentrate on improving his skills and not putting out all the brushfires from the Meyer era.

Pederson got a year off after his last-place finish in 2020. Now he hopes to do for Lawrence what he did for Carson Wentz and then Nick Foles, who won the Eagles’ first Super Bowl title after the 2018 season.

Is that really it for Harbaugh?

The Vikings interviewed Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh on Wednesday, but after no offer was made by the team, Harbaugh informed Michigan that he is returning to the school for good. He told athletic director Warde Manuel that "this will not be a recurring theme every year," according to the Detroit Free Press. "This was a one-time thing."

We’ll see about that.

Since leaving the 49ers for Michigan after the 2014 season, Harbaugh has been considered for several NFL jobs. If the Vikings had offered him the position, Harbaugh would have been gone. At 58, he still has several quality coaching years left in him. It therefore would not be a surprise to see him ponder other offers down the road — and possibly take one in the not-too-distant future.

By Bob Glauber

Special to NewsdayBobGlauber

Bob Glauber retired in 2022 after covering the NFL for nearly 40 years. He was selected in 2021 for the Bill Nunn Career Achievement Award by the Pro Football Writers of America, and is a three-time winner of the New York State Sportswriter of the Year by the National Sports Media Association. President of the PFWA for the 2018-20 seasons, he is the author of “The Forgotten First” and “Guts and Genius.”