SYSTEMIC (profanity alert):

 The suit says that Dolphins owner Stephen Ross offered to pay Flores $100,000 for each game the team lost in 2019, in a bid to tank to secure the no. 1 pick in the upcoming NFL draft. According to the suit, Flores refused the offer, leading the Dolphins to wins in three of the season's final five games and netting the franchise the no. 5 pick in the draft instead. Ross "was 'mad' that Mr. Flores' success in winning games that year was 'compromising [the team's] draft position,'" the suit says.

The suit also says that after the 2019 season Ross urged Flores to break the NFL's tampering rules to recruit a "prominent quarterback." Flores, according to the suit, refused. The suit then details how in the winter of 2020 Ross "attempted to 'set up' a purportedly impromptu meeting [on his yacht] between Mr. Flores and the prominent quarterback. Mr. Flores refused the meeting and left the yacht immediately."

According to the suit, Flores was subsequently "treated with disdain and held out as someone who was noncompliant and difficult to work with" as a result. That description matches up with the narrative following his recent ouster from Miami, which stunned fans and players given that the team had just won eight of its final nine games to cap off back-to-back winning seasons for the first time since 2002 and 2003.

"We vehemently deny any allegations of racial discrimination and are proud of the diversity and inclusion throughout our organization," the Dolphins said in a statement on Tuesday.

That leads to Flores's experience with the Giants. The 40-year-old was expected to be one of the NFL's most in-demand head-coaching candidates in this cycle, given his on-field record of success with the Dolphins. Flores interviewed with four of the nine teams that had vacancies. But that doesn't mean those teams gave him a fair shake. The lawsuit says that the Giants only interviewed Flores to satisfy the league's Rooney Rule, which calls for teams to interview at least two external minority candidates for open head-coaching jobs. According to the suit, the Giants had already decided who they were hiring before they interviewed Flores.

The lawsuit includes a text thread between Flores and Patriots head coach Bill Belichick that shows how the Giants had selected Bills offensive coordinator Brian Daboll as their new head coach before Flores's interview. Three days before Flores's interview with New York, Belichick texted Flores: "I hear from Buffalo & NYG that you are their guy." Flores asked whether Belichick had meant to text Daboll, to which Belichick replied: "Sorry - I f[****] this up. ... I think they are naming Daboll."

Tweet   @brothersjudd