Brian Flores lost his job with the Dolphins this year. And, it seems, he’s having a hard time finding another one. Flores is a great coach, and ended the year on a 7-1 run, just missing out on the playoffs. Now, sure, there was a 7 game losing streak in there first, but the way that he was able to turn that team around in the face of adversity was admirable.

Sadly, it seems that Flores, as well as nearly every other black coach in the NFL, is still being blocked from getting a Head Coaching position. It’s absurd, and disheartening, that we’re seeing so many jobs continuing to skip over black coaches who are outstanding candidates.

Because of this, Brian Flores is suing the NFL. It seems abundantly clear that the Rooney Rule is pushing teams to be sure to set up interviews with black coaches, without the intent of actually hiring them. And that’s a huge problem. According to ESPN, Brian Flores claims Dolphins owner Stephen Ross attempted to incentivize him to “tank” or purposely lose games shortly after he was hired in 2019, with Ross offering Flores $100,000 for every game the team lost that season.

What makes me even more angry is the fact that Flores even needs to file this lawsuit in the first place. It seems as though he’s going to shut himself out of any potential future coaching job by doing so. However, the point of the lawsuit is not just for his own benefit. It’s to help pave the way for other coaches moving forward.

Flores is bringing the receipts, and it’s hard for any of the defendants to have a leg to stand on. Despite the Giants’ attempt to look past this and brush it off as nothing.

This is bad.

On so many fronts. Brian Flores is trying to break the mold, and he should have everybody in the sport behind him. I can’t imagine this is going to go well. It will be dragged out, and I worry about the defendants understanding the breadth of the issues and moving to institute legitimate change.

But for Flores, Eric Bieniemy, Byron Leftwich, and others who are pushing for their chance to take the helm of an NFL team, this is a launch point.

It’s well past time that we and the NFL listened. And it shouldn’t be lost on you that today is the first day of Black History Month. We have so far to go.