Brian Flores has filed a lawsuit against the NFL, accusing the league of racism in hiring.
Flores names three teams in the suit, including the Denver Broncos. Flores alleges that Broncos president/CEO Joe Ellis and then-general manager John Elway showed up an hour late to his head coach interview in 2019 “completely disheveled, and it was obvious that they had drinking heavily the night before.”
Flores also alleged that Ellis and Elway interviewed Flores “only because of the Rooney Rule, and that the Broncos never had any intention to consider him as a legitimate candidate for the job.”
Denver responded to those claims on Tuesday, releasing the following statement:
The allegations from Brian Flores directed toward the Denver Broncos in today’s court filing are blatantly false.
Our interview with Mr. Flores regarding our head coaching position began promptly at the scheduled time of 7:30 a.m. on Jan. 5, 2019, in a Providence, R.I., hotel. There were five Broncos executives present for the interview, which lasted approximately three-and-a-half hours—the fully allotted time—and concluded shortly before 11 a.m.
Pages of detailed notes, analysis and evaluations from our interview demonstrate the depth of our conversation and sincere interest in Mr. Flores as a head coaching candidate.
Our process was thorough and fair to determine the most qualified candidate for our head coaching position. The Broncos will vigorously defend the integrity and values of our organization—and its employees—from such baseless and disparaging claims.
The NFL also released a statement on Tuesday, stating that the league will “defend against these claims, which are without merit.”
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