The NFL is attempting to use Brian Flores’ contract with the Pittsburgh Steelers as a way to force Flores’ lawsuit out of the court system and into arbitration. That’s according to Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio, who wrote about the situation Wednesday morning. Florio also includes an interesting nugget current Steelers GM Omar Khan sent at the time Flores was hired in February 2022.
From Florio and PFT.
“The NFL and multiple teams have argued that his contract with the Steelers forces his pre-existing legal claims into arbitration.
That wasn’t supposed to happen, based on the understanding between Flores and the Steelers. As part of the litigation, Flores’s lawyers have submitted a February 19, 2022, email from Steelers G.M. Omar Khan (at the time, he was the V.P. of football and business administration). The Khan email attached a copy of Flores’s contract and included this important message: “This employment agreement is not intended to infringe in any way on the lawsuit filed by Coach Flores in February 2022, which is currently pending. The Club and Coach Flores do not intend for anything in this employment agreement to infringe upon Coach Flores’ right to prosecute the pending lawsuit, and neither does this agreement infringe upon the rights of the NFL or any party to the lawsuit in asserting any defenses in the lawsuit.”
Bottom line. The Steelers were aware hiring Flores could be perceived as impacting his lawsuit against the NFL and attempted to put language in his contract to avoid that becoming an obstacle. Unfortunately for Flores, the league is attempting to still use it against him.
Beginning in February 2022, Flores filed lawsuits alleging racial discrimination and unfair league hiring practices. Flores was fired as the Miami Dolphins’ head coach following the 2022 season and was seemingly frozen out of being hired by any other teams. The Steelers hired Flores as a defensive assistant/linebackers coach. Mike Tomlin would later admit he didn’t plan on hiring Flores but wanted to give him a coaching opportunity once he realized no other team would hire him, even if Flores was “overqualified” for his role as an assistant.
Speaking about the Brian Flores hire earlier this year, Tomlin said he was proud of the decision.
“It was an honor for me to have an opportunity to keep him in the business,” he said during a recent conference. “To show people that he is employable and to help him continue in his coaching journey. It’s an awesome opportunity for me, but I also view it as a moral obligation, given the fact that countless others have helped me.”
In a 2022 interview with The Pivot, Tomlin said the decision to hire Flores was his. After speaking with Flores several times, Tomlin went to Art Rooney II to ask if he could hire Flores, not even knowing the title he’d give him. Rooney quickly gave the go-ahead.
Flores’ stint in Pittsburgh lasted one season. He was hired to be the Minnesota Vikings defensive coordinator in 2023, a role he still holds heading into 2024.
Since filing the lawsuit, the NFL has attempted to avoid trial and push the suit into arbitration, one that would be technically led by Roger Goodell (or someone appointed by Goodell). It would increase the odds of a more favorable outcome for the league while taking the suit out of the public eye and behind closed arbitration doors. Previously, a judge ruled that Flores’ suit against the Dolphins must head to arbitration but his suit against the Denver Broncos, New York Giants, and Houston Texans could proceed to trial.
While I am clearly no lawyer, the NFL seems to be capitalizing on any angle to get the suit out of the court system. Presumably, its argument is that because Flores was hired by another team in Pittsburgh, his allegations lack merit and should be handled through the NFL’s arbitration process instead of the court system.
Per Florio, the Steelers declined to comment.
To be clear, there has been no ruling on the league’s argument. And it’s probably one of several the NFL is attempting to make. Florio indicates an appeals court would have to consider and take up the NFL’s argument. If accepted as having merit, it would get kicked down for the lower court to rule on. To summarize, it’s a situation that probably won’t be resolved for awhile longer.
