Giants deny Brian Flores' claim that interview was a 'sham'

The Giants on Thursday night denied Brian Flores’ claims that their interview with him for their head-coaching position was a "sham" and that they already had decided to hire Brian Daboll before meeting with Flores.

Flores, who is Black, is suing the NFL and the Giants for what he alleges was racial discrimination in the hiring process. Flores also is suing the Broncos and Dolphins in the class action suit.

"Brian Flores has raised serious issues in the filing of his complaint," the Giants said in a lengthy statement that was released via email at 5:54 p.m. "The specific claims against the Giants and Mr. Flores’ allegations about the legitimacy of his candidacy for our head coach position are disturbing and simply false."

In the lawsuit, Flores included a Jan. 24 text exchange with Patriots coach Bill Belichick (before either Daboll or Flores had an in-person interview with the Giants) that congratulated Flores on getting the job.

When he realized that he was texting with Flores — he thought he was communicating with Daboll — Belichick apologized to Flores for the misunderstanding.

"The allegation that the Giants’ decision had been made prior to Friday evening, January 28, is false," the team’s statement said. "And to base that allegation on a text exchange with Bill Belichick in which he ultimately states that he ‘thinks’ Brian Daboll would get the job is irresponsible.

"The text exchange occurred the day before Coach Daboll’s in-person interview even took place [he was interviewed Tuesday, Jan. 25]. Giants’ ownership would never hire a head coach based only on a 20-minute Zoom interview, which is all that Mr. Daboll had at that point.

"In addition, Mr. Belichick does not speak for and has no affiliation with the Giants. Mr. Belichick’s text exchange provides no insight into what actually transpired during our head coaching search."

Flores had been fired by the Dolphins earlier in January despite a second straight winning season as their head coach.

In addition to Daboll and Flores, the Giants interviewed their own defensive coordinator, Patrick Graham, and Bills defensive coordinator Leslie Frazier, both of whom are Black; Cowboys defensive coordinator Dan Quinn and Bengals defensive coordinator Lou Anarumo.

In the statement, the Giants detailed Flores’ itinerary when he visited their facility for the Jan. 27 interview, which included a meeting with team co-owners John Mara and Steve Tisch, senior vice president Chris Mara and new general manager Joe Schoen. Daboll was named Joe Judge’s successor the next day.

"After we interviewed six exceptional and diverse candidates," the statement said, "the decision on who we would hire as head coach was made on the evening of January 28, one day after Mr. Flores spent an entire day in our offices going through his second interview for the position, meeting with ownership and other staff members, and receiving a tour of our facility. There is additional concrete and objective evidence to substantiate we did not make our decision until the evening of the 28th."

They also said Flores was a "serious candidate," as evidenced by John Mara calling him two days after he was dismissed by Miami to tell him they would interview him after they hired a general manager. That was on Jan. 12.

The Giants said Mara and Flores had a 25-to-30-minute Zoom call on Jan. 18 to discuss his candidacy — and that the timing was at "Mr. Flores’ request."

The Giants hired Schoen as general manager on Jan. 21. He spent the previous five years as the Bills’ assistant general manager, working with Daboll.

"In between those initial conversations and Mr. Flores’ in-person interview on January 27, there were several other communications between Mr. Flores and members of our organization," the Giants said. "This included a dinner with our newly hired general manager, Joe Schoen, the night before Mr. Flores’s in-person interview.

"The consensus from within the Giants organization after this dinner remained that Mr. Flores was an outstanding candidate, and we looked forward to sitting down with him in person the next day.

"Our hiring process and, most certainly, our consideration of Mr. Flores was serious and genuine. We are disappointed to learn that Mr. Flores was under the mistaken impression the job had already been awarded."

The Giants weren’t the only team that issued a Flores-related statement on Thursday. Broncos president of football operations John Elway issued one that called allegations that he "looked completely disheveled" when he interviewed Flores for the team’s head- coaching position in 2019 "false and defamatory."

In the lawsuit, Flores alleges that Elway and team CEO Joe Ellis "showed up an hour late to the interview. They looked completely disheveled, and it was obvious that they had [been] drinking heavily the night before.’’

The lawsuit also claims that the interview was a "sham’’ and "that the Broncos never had any intention to consider him as a legitimate candidate for the job.’’

With Anthony Rieber