Giants Dismiss Bill Belichick's Text Messages From Brian Flores Lawsuit As 'Irresponsible'
By Michael Hurley, CBS Boston
BOSTON (CBS) -- Two days after Brian Flores filed suit claiming racial discrimination within the NFL's hiring practices, the New York Giants have pushed back against claims made by the coach while also dismissing the purported knowledge of Patriots head coach Bill Belichick.
Belichick's mistaken text messages sent to Flores are central to the lawsuit, as they indicate that the Giants had already decided to hire Brian Daboll as their next head coach before even interviewing Flores, thus leading Flores to conclude that his interview was only taking place to satisfy the NFL's Rooney Rule.
But the Giants say that Bill Belichick had no inside knowledge of the hiring process, and that using his text messages as evidence is "irresponsible."
"The allegation that the Giants' decision had been made prior to Friday evening, January 28, is false," the Giants said in a statement released on Thursday evening. "And to base that allegation on a text exchange with Bill Belichick in which he ultimately states that he 'thinks' Brian Daboll would get the job is irresponsible. The text exchange occurred the day before Coach Daboll's in-person interview even took place. Giants' ownership would never hire a head coach based only on a 20-minute Zoom interview, which is all that Mr. Daboll had at that point."
The statement continued: "In addition, Mr. Belichick does not speak for and has no affiliation with the Giants. Mr. Belichick's text exchange provides no insight into what actually transpired during our head coaching search."
The statement began by saying that Flores' allegations "are disturbing and simply false." The Giants concluded by saying that they did not hire Daboll until Jan. 28, "a full day after Mr. Flores' in-person interview and day-long visit to the Giants."
Of course, Belichick does not work for the Giants, but he did work for the team from 1979-90, he holds the team in exceptionally high regard, and he maintains relationship with the ownership group. Additionally, the previous head coach of the Giants -- Joe Judge, an assistant coach under Belichick -- was hired after receiving a major endorsement from the Patriots' head coach. Daboll, like Flores, is also a former Belichick assistant, so it's reasonable to surmise Belichick might have offered a similar endorsement during this hiring process as well.
Whether or not Belichick actually had inside information on the Giants' hiring process is, at this point, a matter of hearsay and speculation.
What would and could solve the matter would be if the case enters the discovery phase, where an examination of text messages going out of and coming in to the Giants' organization could answer many questions raised in Flores' suit. Such a step is unlikely to take place, based on the NFL's legal strategy history. For now, the parties involved in the lawsuit -- the Giants, the Broncos' front office, Dolphins owner Stephen Ross -- have wholly and fully denied the allegations levied by Flores.