Flores: “Just signing that separation agreement would have—really silenced me.”
Former Dolphins head coach Brian Flores and his lawyers say he turned down millions of dollars by not signing a non-disparagement agreement that he claims Dolphins owner Stephen Ross asked him to sign.
Flores, who was recently named to the the Steelers coaching staff as the senior defensive assistant and linebackers coach, will join HBO’s Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel on Tuesday, detailing why he did not sign the NDA.
After rejecting the NDA, the 40-year-old filed a lawsuit seeking class-action status against the NFL and three teams alleging discrimination in their hiring practices on Feb. 1. While Flores would have earned millions of dollars in signing the NDA, he felt that it would have silenced him.
“Just signing that separation agreement would have—really silenced me,” Flores said.
Doug Wigdor—one of Flores's lawyers—said on the program that Flores chose not to sign the NDA and wanted to focus on future opportunities for minority coaches in the NFL.
“If it was about the money, he would have signed it... He filed the lawsuit so that he could help other coaches, now and in the future,” Wigdor said.
Within Flores's lawsuit, it stated that Ross offered him a $100,000 bonus for each loss during the 2019 season in attempt to secure the league’s worst record and the No. 1 pick in the 2020 draft. Flores did not comply.
Ross has denied the allegations, saying they were false, malicious and defamatory. When Flores was asked if he had evidence to back his claims, Wigdor said the firm definitely has “corroborating evidence,” and is opening to share it with the NFL to aid in its investigation of the claims made about the Dolphins owner.
“Let's see how this plays out... I’m the one who had the most to lose here… let’s just see how this plays out.”
The Dolphins released a statement shortly after, calling the accusations “false and defamatory.”
“The latest assertion by Brian Flores that Steve Ross mentioned an NDA to him is categorically false,” the statement read, per the Miami Herald’s Daniel Oyefusi. “This just did not happen and we simply cannot understand why Brian continues this pattern of making unfounded statements that he knows are untrue.
“We are fully cooperating with the NFL investigation and look forward to all of the facts coming out which we are confident will prove that his claims are false and defamatory.’
The episode will appear on HBO at 10 p.m. ET on Tuesday night.
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