Brian Flores willing to share evidence with NFL for Stephen Ross tanking investigation

Posted by Michael David Smith on February 22, 2022, 12:18 PM EST
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Former Dolphins head coach Brian Flores is willing to aid in the NFL’s investigation into whether Dolphins owner Stephen Ross offered Flores a bonus to lose games.

In an interview slated to air on Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel, Flores’ attorney, Doug Wigdor, said Flores and his legal team “definitely have corroborating evidence” to prove Flores’ claims about Ross. And Wigdor said that evidence will be shared with the NFL, separate and apart from Flores’ lawsuit.

“We definitely would share it with them,” Wigdor said, according to a transcript provided by HBO.

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell has vowed that the NFL will investigate whether Ross encouraged deliberate tanking. If the evidence is strong, Ross could be forced to sell the Dolphins.

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82 responses to “Brian Flores willing to share evidence with NFL for Stephen Ross tanking investigation”

  1. What will the usual suspects say when his legal representation produces corroborating evidence?

  5. One situation really has little to do with the other. One accusation can be true without the other being true.

  6. This just makes me more skeptical about Flores! If his evidence was any good why wouldn’t he just give it to the NFL to begin with. Why would it need to be a process? This is probably going to turn into Steven Ross told a joke and Flores is trying to say he was given a offer.
    Still not good for Ross, but does Flores really want to turn that into something it isn’t because he got himself fired. Keep in mind his own GM an African American supported his firing. Ross is a terrible owner but forcing him to sell a team without an actual offense is wrong. Cancel culture won’t stop at coming for white guy,in the end it comes for everyone.

  8. Ruh-roh Stephen. If true he’d be better to sell now to maximize profit because if it’s a forced sale the valuation drops.

  9. Flores will be punished as well if the allegations are true, unless he maintains ignorance of the Sports Bribery Act. He should have reported it at the time, unless he did to his attorney who either gave him bad advice on not going to law enforcement/NFL security or wanted to use the allegations as a form of employment blackmail, which doesnt work with owners.

  11. Steelers play at Miami this year.

    Maybe Dolphins should bring back that old water “tank” for this game.

  12. “forced to sell the Dolphins.”
    ————————

    Just stop inflating this into some earth-shattering news. Many teams have done this – ie 76ers “The Process”.

    The other 31 owners are not stupid to push for this, otherwise any little “controversy” and they could be the next victim. And real fans don’t care, because there’s nothing worst than a team stuck in mediocrity. Not bad enough for a Top 5 pick and not good enough to win a playoff game.

  13. All he needs is one witness, but that still won’t be enough for some of the more “enlightened” PFT readers.

  15. Some of you folks are clueless. If Ross was willingly to pay Flores to lose do you think he’s beyond ordering Grier to fire him after he refused? Do you think he would have told Ross no?

    Everyone was stunned when Flores was canned go back and read the articles. It was because he had that team moving in the right direction. The team was decimated in the first year and had nothing to work with. Look what he did the next two. It makes more sense that he was fired for his refusal.

  16. Make the evidence public, so we can either confirm that Ross is a scumbag, or that Flores is a liar, who’s trying to drum up a false narrative.

  17. Nothing will happen from this lawsuit. He said and then he said. Zero proof of anything he was hired by the Phins and he’s black correct? So how are they a racist org exactly? he got fired for a reason and he wasn’t good enough that’s it.

  18. That’s the problem with the majority of the league being owned by REALLY old white guys. They are severely out of touch. If the NFL really wants to matter in 10, 20, 30 years, its time for these glorified robber barons to invite some diversity in the ranks.

    There is no way Flores ever finds a job in the league again unless he has some airtight proof. How this is handled is going to matter an awful lot more than paying grandpa Eminem to kneel at the half time show

  19. Sad that I need a disclaimer, but its 2022 and everyone gets triggered immediately, I am not a Trumper, repeat, I am not a Trumper. Is Flores’ evidence against Stephen Ross going to be better than the (apparently non existent) “very compelling” evidence that Adam Schiff had on Trump regarding Russia? Still waiting for that evidence Adam.

  20. While I don’t doubt Ross did what he did, I’m bothered by the fact that we’re acting like Ross is a schmuck and Flores is a saint for exposing him. Flores kept this a secret from 2019 until the time of his firing. If this was such a blow to his morals and principles, why was he ok taking money from this guy for 3 more years!? I don’t find anything moral or compelling about suing someone out of vengeance.

  21. Hopefully this means share “copies” of the evidence. Otherwise, the evidence is likely to go the way of post-deflategate ball pressure test results.

  24. When you bring this kind of accusation the evidence must be accurate and specific. Anything less will could lead to a counter suit of defamation.

  27. I’m thinking the WFT (can’t bring myself to type the stupid name they chose) should once again change its crest – this time put a pic of Dan Snyder on it and 1999-2022.

  29. Is the NFL going to go to the ping pong balls now? That’s really the only thing that could possibly prevent tanking.

  31. This whole “scandal” is ridiculous. Bad teams tank to improve their draft position. Everyone knows it, whether it’s officially condoned or not. This very website had an article castigating the Texans for having the audacity to win a late season game last season when they should have been tanking. What’s the difference?

  32. Flores now believes racism was the reason he was fired by the Dolphins.

    “What I mean by that is, there were things I was asked to do. There were conversations that were had. I was made out to be a difficult person to work with. … I’m a strong personality. I know that played a role.”. “I think my white counterparts wouldn’t have been asked to do the things I was asked to do.”

    Other than the Steelers virtue signaling, no one will else hire this cancer ever again.

  33. Corroboration is going to be an inside member of Team Flores saying he heard the conversation.

    Someone with motive – which really isn’t Corroboration.

    That’s the most likely thing here, agents and lawyers taking big.

  34. Isn’t it funny how roughly 60% of the roster spots that pay millions are consumed by a group that is whining about fewer available coaching spots? Compare the number of slots they consume as players compared to all of the available slots as coaches. You’ll see racism is not an issue as they claim; there is a cause of action to start bringing the player proportion closer to their makeup in the real world population of same age range males.

  36. Patrick H says:
    February 22, 2022 at 12:59 pm

    There is no way Flores ever finds a job in the league again

    ————————————————————————–

    Uh, Flores has a job in the league.

  37. If it were actually true he would have come out with it a long time ago before he was fired. Not only that but I find it strange he did not have the moral character to bring it up when it was actually supposed to have happened. Guess all is good with cheating as long as he has his coaching position. So he has already proven his morals depend upon only how he comes out in the end. Just as he wants the NFL to hire more black coaches…As long as they are named Brian Flores…It is not about doing the right thing or the NFL doing the right thing. It is all about him.

  39. Wow. A lawyer claiming to have clear-cut evidence. Haven’t heard that before.

    My money says this “evidence” is a big nothingburger.

  42. Patrick H says:
    February 22, 2022 at 12:59 pm
    That’s the problem with the majority of the league being owned by REALLY old white guys. They are severely out of touch. If the NFL really wants to matter in 10, 20, 30 years, its time for these glorified robber barons to invite some diversity in the ranks

    ———-

    What does a person’s race or age have to do with anything? But here is an idea…..get one of your chosen “diversity” owners to put up the money and purchase a team from one of the existing owners

  43. Is the media at large offended by being lied to by Pro sports figures? Its funny, your entire career depends on what someone else does. Your value (perhaps your very survival) to your employer hinges upon you being glean information from someone else. To do that you must create and grow positive, 2-way, trusting relationships with pro athletes, especially, but owners, agents, coaches, trainers and staff as well.

    So when a player or pro sports figure decides to hedge on what they reveal to you, you come out acting like it’s a major affront to your fragile sensibilities and society at large.

    The media knows better than anyone that pro athletes are liars as are coaches, staff and everyone else involved w pro sports. They are expert liars. They’ve been forced to become just that due to over-zealous, deep-prying, over-reaching, speculative, truth stretching, fable-constructing media types.
    Media should spare their audience (us) the fake, self-righteous indignation when they catch someone in a lie. You know they lie. We know they lie. Lets move on with our lives.

  44. If there is evidence, why is there this need for an “investigation”?

    So pathetic how Goodell just lies to the customer over and over. If there is a smoking gun, present the smoking gun.

  45. Getting rid of Ross would be awesome!!!!!!! He is clueless. Flo was the best thing that the Dolphins did since Shula but he must have said NO to the boss. Byby

  46. Flores is of such high integrity, that it only took three years and him getting fired in order to scream about this from the tallest mountain tops. Now, all of a sudden, he’s incredibly offended……

  47. I love Flores the Head Coach.

    I think he was incorrectly fired.

    However, we have also seen his definition of ‘evidence,’ and what constitutes as ‘evidence,’ often falls under the correct definition of ‘hearsay.’

    So I’ll believe he has evidence when we actually see what the evidence is.

  49. And Stephen Ross only did this because Flores is black……………………………..

    That’s right, Flores, burn it all down and then YOU can be the victim. smdh

  50. And then people openly wonder why he didn’t land another head coaching job.

    Looking past his marginal record of 24-25 and zero playoff berths in 3 years, as a small business owner, if I know an interviewee has sued one of my competitors, let alone 4 of them, I’m not touching this guy with a ten foot pole. On top of that, he’s exposing company secrets openly in his quest to sue the world…..anyone with an ounce of sense would know for those reasons alone, he is never going to land a prominent job in this field again.

    I know, I know, the media LOVES to stoke the race argument. But that is not why he isn’t getting another head coaching job and common sense should be enough to point that out quite clearly.

  51. Owner wants to tank, which a large part of the fan base supports. Employee talks only after losing his job a couple years later. Apparently only a legal issue due to the concerns of gambling interests.

    Not much to feel good about here. Frankly, I don’t like anyone involved.

  52. Patrick H says:
    February 22, 2022 at 12:59 pm

    There is no way Flores ever finds a job in the league again unless he has some airtight proof.

    _________

    He was recently hired by the Steelers. Google is your friend. Don’t be afraid.

  53. purpleguy says:
    February 22, 2022 at 12:48 pm
    All he needs is one witness, but that still won’t be enough for some of the more “enlightened” PFT readers.
    ===================================================================================
    I agree. Because never in the history of court proceedings has anyone ever paid someone else to testify in a way that would benefit them…

  54. shootahcowboy says:
    February 22, 2022 at 1:13 pm
    Is the NFL going to go to the ping pong balls now? That’s really the only thing that could possibly prevent tanking.

    ——————-

    The Knicks were about to beyond irrelevant and the NBA NEEDED the Knicks NY market. Enter the Ping Pong Balls and Patrick Ewing, saving the franchise.

    The ping pong balls give the NFL control of who gets the first few picks. So even if it is luck and not a scam, many a fan will be screaming scam when the 8th seed gets the first pick.

  55. It could all come down to who did the wash of truth. I think most have lied’ or close to it. Bill

  58. The only evidence we have is that he was a lousy head coach who took particular pleasure in belittling people and elevating himself.

  59. Once the team is eliminated from the playoffs most fans want their team to tank. This isn’t a secret, many “star” players end up on IR late in the season and lesser known players get to play. If he withheld evidence for three years that he now wants to use then he is no better than Ross. I really don’t understand the big deal here.

  60. All the doomsday “throw Ross in prison & lock him up crowd” are totally uninformed. Any one of you out there could be accused of really really bad things, maybe by your next door neighbors children. How many of you judges out there will want a fair trial then? All the while the uninformed mob wants to do terrible things to you. Ross deserves a fair hearing. Cut the cloak & dagger crap. It just may happen to……???

  61. If he has evidence, what would be the reason for NOT sharing it? I don’t understand all this legal bs.

  63. I thought Flores’ lawsuit was all about the lack of black head coaches? Yet the two people most implicated in the suit are Stephen Ross and Bill Belichick. Ross the only owner, I believe, to hire a black GM and a black coach in the last few years, and Belichick who has had two black assistants, Romeo Crennel and Flores, and almost a third Jerod Mayo, become head coaches. I think Flores is being lead around by his lawyers, the whole point he claimed for bringing the suit doesn’t fit the accusations being made.

  64. akira0724 says:

    February 22, 2022 at 12:45 pm

    “forced to sell the Dolphins.”
    ————————

    Just stop inflating this into some earth-shattering news. Many teams have done this – ie 76ers “The Process”.

    The other 31 owners are not stupid to push for this, otherwise any little “controversy” and they could be the next victim. And real fans don’t care, because there’s nothing worst than a team stuck in mediocrity. Not bad enough for a Top 5 pick and not good enough to win a playoff game

    —————–
    That’s not correct to compare it to the 76ers process. What the 76ers did is draft players with injuries in consecutive years and sit them for their entire rookie season to stay down(and yes to get the player healthy) but EVERYONE knew those players weren’t playing. By not playing Noel and then Embiid the following year they were worse but that’s different than Flores allegation against Ross. If Ross had said he was going to draft or sign some players coming back from injury and sit them a year THEN it would be the same.

  65. If true, and it turns out. Ross has no buisness in the NFL. He just slapped ever Miami fan in the face

  66. I would hope that there could be no way Flores would announce “tanking” without having proof. Ross’ $MM legal team is already preparing countersuit6s.

  68. This is simple. Ross asked Flores to tank. Flores said no, was disturbed by it, but thought that was the end of it.

    Instead, he got into Ross’ doghouse over it and then got fired for it.

    For the people asking why he didn’t report it earlier – because the Dolphins didn’t tank – Flores made sure of that. But then get got fired (retaliation), likely with some racial undertones / overtones.

    Flores is going to produce reciepts. And he’ll produce receipts on Ross and he’ll have to sell the team.

    If you dont’ enjoy the comeuppance there, you don’t have a soul. Flores got fired for ????????? questionable reasons after ending the season on a HUGE win streak and a DEMOLISION of the Rival patriots. Got fired anyway.

    If his actions force Ross to sell, thats justice in and off itself in terms of the wrongful termination.

  69. Beginning to wonder if AB and BF are cousins or related somehow. Why would he do that? For whatever it’s worth, I hope he has credible witnesses and irrefutable evidence!

  71. I’ve read a few other places that Ross and Grier both told Flores several times to drop his always bringing up how the Dolphins needed Watson, they told him they were not going to pursue DeShaun with all of the unknowns that came with him and Flores wouldn’t listen and just kept up with it which means the owner and GM were on the same page and Flores wasn’t, he was in a completely different paragraph and you can’t have a team where the HC isn’t onboard with the game plan of the direction of the team so Flores had to go! The HCs job is to coach the players the GM gets, not to endlessly try and push for the players he wants.

  72. flaccotoboldin says:
    February 22, 2022 at 5:14 pm

    For the people asking why he didn’t report it earlier – because the Dolphins didn’t tank – Flores made sure of that. But then get got fired (retaliation), likely with some racial undertones / overtones.

    Flores got fired for ????????? questionable reasons after ending the season on a HUGE win streak and a DEMOLISION of the Rival patriots. Got fired anyway.

    ========

    That’s not a very good answer to why he didn’t report it earlier. If it’s wrong now, it was wrong then. Getting fired isn’t what makes being paid to tank wrong. Only reporting it when you can no longer benefit by covering it up is not noble in the slightest.

    As for “ending the season on a HUGE win streak”, yeah, sure – after the team started 1-7 and effectively eliminated themselves by the midpoint of the season. They missed both the playoffs and good draft standing, accomplishing effectively nothing. Those Patriots they “demolished” still made the playoffs anyway.

    Flores was decent, but the team wasn’t progesssing. Both Gase and Sparano took the team to the playoffs in their respective first seasons, and they lost two more games this season than last season. That isn’t progress.

  73. If he had evidence him and his lawyers would have produced it during their media tour. My guess they will ask the mailroom guy to say he heard them say it.

  74. Flores is everything I hope my child does not become.
    He’s suing the NFL while he’s taking their paycheck. Very nice.
    The NFL must not be too racist.

  75. The tanking stuff is really not a big deal. Teams have tanked in all major sports is various ways. If you are Dolphins fan you should be happy there was some kind of plan. Many teams stay at 7 – 9, 8 & 8 etc for 20 years because they fool themselves into thinking just 1 more player, every year. I don’t think Flores should have discussed this item.

    The real issue is race based concerns brought forth. While there is no rule you can put into place to fix it, continued discussion and an elevated awareness of biases will keep moving us forward. Changes are never fast enough for those impacted but we must look at the progress which has been to understand the value in the progression.

  76. Honest question. The NFL did an investigation already into the Dolphins taking in 2020. NFL stated they found no evidence. Did the NFL not ask Flores any questions or did he withhold the evidence?

  77. Not that he would but I’d love to see Stephen Ross driving himself home, stops to buy a six pack. A homeless man reading the sports section on the curb just looks and laughs his ass off. “Hey Stevie you sure stepped in a big pile of bleep. I wouldn’t want to be you!

  78. Flores is everything I hope my child does not become.

    ————————————————————————————–

    What, opinionated? Black?

    As for Tanking “not being a big deal”, there’s a difference between an owner directing someone, lets say, to start a backup QB at the end of the season to see what he has, and overtly offering 200k a game or something to throw losses. The later is REALLY bad because you dont know if that owner has a proxy betting for him big on games, and you also have fans paying to see players perform.

    As for why he didn’t do it earlier, he prevented the tank. That he got fired for not tanking just shows how serious Ross was about it.

  79. Flores needs to get hot or go home! So far it appears he is lying and a troublemaker. Prove me wrong! Not many are friends of Ross, but your case is troubling!

  80. Well I’d surely hope so. Being willing to provide huge evidence kinda goes hand-in-hand with making huge accusations.

  81. I’ll tell you exactly what he did your honor. He made me a head coach and paid me millions of dollars. I demand justice.

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