The Arizona Cardinals are included in the racial discrimination lawsuit that Brian Flores filed against the NFL last year.
Over a week has passed since the news broke that the Arizona Cardinals had interest in interviewing Brian Flores for the team’s vacant head-coaching position. The Cards had to get permission for the sitdown from the Pittsburgh Steelers, the organization that employed Flores as a senior defensive assistant/linebackers coach this past season.
At the time of this writing, no meeting between the Cardinals and Flores has been scheduled. That’s not to say that it won’t happen, but one has to wonder what could be standing in the way of the two sides getting together. Is it possible that Flores could be steering clear of Arizona on purpose?
It’s not as if Flores isn’t making the rounds. This past week, the 41-year-old met with the Atlanta Falcons about their defensive coordinator vacancy. The Minnesota Vikings have also requested to talk to Flores about commandeering that same job on their coaching staff.
There could be a reason that the Cards have crapped out in their efforts to talk to Flores. Back in February of last year, the former Miami Dolphins head coach filed a class-action lawsuit against the National Football League. Flores alleges that the Dolphins, New York Giants and Denver Broncos discriminated against him and other Black coaches in their hiring practices.
Arizona Cardinals are a part of Brian Flores’ lawsuit against the NFL
Two months after Flores set those wheels in motion, a former head coach of the Cardinals decided to get involved as well. Steve Wilks joined the lawsuit, alleging that Arizona’s hierarchy used Wilks as a “bridge” until they could find a better candidate to lead the squad.
The veteran assistant also complained that Steve Keim stayed employed in the desert. Despite the fact that the former GM was suspended and did jail time for an extreme DUI back in 2018.
Monti Ossenfort, the Cards’ newly-appointed general manager, has ties with Flores from their time together with the New England Patriots. That connection has made Flores the odds-on favorite to replace the departed Kliff Kingsbury. All of that is just pure speculation, however.
One has to wonder if Flores would accept a job offer from a team that is included in his well-publicized lawsuit against the league. What would that say about Wilks’ charges against the Cardinals if he did? Where Flores decides to coach in 2023 will ultimately provide an answer to that question.
Want your voice heard? Join the Raising Zona team!