The Flores Lawsuit (And Its Fallout) One Year Later
The big news Wednesday of Tom Brady's Twitter retirement announcement came exactly one year after his original retirement, but it also came on the one-year anniversary of the Brian Flores lawsuit.
While the lawsuit disappeared from public attention a while ago, some ramifications from it still remain — and the most prominent are related to Brady.
The Dolphins are going to be without a first-round pick in the 2023 draft, and that's the result of them being found guilty by the NFL of tampering with Brady when he was under contract and also tampering with head coach Sean Payton.
The tampering involving Brady occurred at two different time periods, and while he wasn't identified by name it's pretty clear the first instance was alleged in Flores' lawsuit as occurring in the winter of 2020.
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WHAT MIGHT HAVE BEEN FOR THE DOLPHINS WITHOUT THE FLORES LAWSUIT
Another consequence of the lawsuit, according to multiple reports, was the disintegration of a plan put in motion early last offseason whereby head coach Sean Payton and Brady would have teamed up with the Dolphins for at least the 2022 season.
Miami would have had to work out trades with the New Orleans Saints to let Payton out of his contract and with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to acquire Brady.
Once the lawsuit was filed, the plan was abandoned, the Dolphins hired Mike McDaniel to be their head coach to replace Flores and they committed to Tua Tagovailoa as their quarterback.
The Dolphins reaffirmed their commitment to Tagovailoa right after they were eliminated from the playoffs last month, in the process effectively shooting down any notion of revisiting the idea of having Brady as their quarterback.
Before Brady announced his retirement Wednesday, speculation around a possible 2023 team included the Las Vegas Raiders (where he would be reunited with former Patriots assistant Josh McDaniels), the San Francisco 49ers (particularly in light of Brock Purdy's serious elbow injury) and Tampa Bay, along with some thought the Dolphins still could be a possibility.
As for Payton, he's now back in the NFL after working as a TV analyst, this time with the Denver Broncos, who gave up a first-round pick in 2023 and a second-round pick in 2024 for the chance to hire Payton and also got a 2024 third-round pick.
Flores, meanwhile, spent the 2022 season as a senior defensive assistant/linebackers coach and he's a candidate to take over as head coach of the Arizona Cardinals.
In fact, he's considered the favorite to land the job, according to BetOnline.ag. Flores is listed as minus-150, ahead of second-favorite Vance Joseph (the former Dolphins defensive coordinator) at plus-275.
Flores, whose lawsuit alleged systemic racism in the NFL's hiring practices, interviewed for the head-coaching vacancy with the Houston Texans last year before the position went to Lovie Smith.
Houston fired Smith after one season and hired 49ers defensive coordinator DeMeco Ryans, leaving Arizona and the Indianapolis Colts as the only two teams still without a head coach.
Ryan became the sixth minority head coach in the NFL, joining Mike McDaniel, Robert Saleh of the New York, Mike Tomlin of the Pittsburgh Steelers, Ron Rivera of the Washington Commanders and Todd Bowles of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
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