A newly unsealed recruiting report on Brian Flores has his legal team charging the NFL with racial stereotyping and retaliation for his 2022 discrimination suit.
For Black coaches across the global diaspora watching the NFL, a newly unsealed document is the kind of receipt that fuels an old argument. Brian Flores' lawyers say a recruiting report prepared for the Las Vegas Raiders' 2024 head coach search is packed with racial stereotypes, and they call it proof that the league's hiring culture hasn't changed.
The report, produced by the search firm Korn Ferry and made public on Tuesday, lists six strengths and seven weaknesses for Flores. His attorneys argue that the assessment leans on tired tropes about Black coaches. They also say it amounts to unlawful retaliation against Flores for taking the league to court.
That court fight began in 2022, when Flores sued the NFL over discriminatory hiring practices. His suit challenged the league's record of giving Black candidates few real shots at top coaching jobs, even though so many of its players are Black. His lawyers now say this report shows the same bias at work in how candidates are described and judged.
The filing adds fresh fuel to one of the biggest off-field storylines in American sports. The NFL's coaching ranks have long been scrutinized for who gets the interviews, who gets the jobs, and what language gets used to size up candidates. Flores' team says the document answers that question in black and white.
