The Denver Broncos were one of three teams mentioned in the lawsuit filed by Brian Flores on Tuesday, and John Elway is the latest executive to deliver a strong response.
Flores alleges in his lawsuit that the Broncos conducted a “sham” interview with him for their head coaching job in 2019. Flores says Elway and Broncos CEO Joe Ellis showed up an hour late to the interview looking “completely disheveled” and that “it was obvious that they had been drinking heavily the night before.” The Broncos hired Vic Fangio, and Flores insists he was never considered as a legitimate candidate.
Elway issued a lengthy statement on Thursday in which he called the allegations from Flores “false and defamatory.” The Hall of Famer, who has since stepped away from day-to-day operations in Denver, says he and other Broncos executives enjoyed their three-and-a-half hour interview with Flores, whom they considered a legitimate candidate.
“For Brian to make an assumption about my appearance and state of mind early that morning was subjective, hurtful and just plain wrong,” Elway said, via ESPN’s Jeff Legwold. “If I appeared ‘disheveled,’ as he claimed, it was because we had flown in during the middle of the night — immediately following another interview in Denver — and were going on a few hours of sleep to meet the only window provided to us.
“I interviewed Brian in good faith, giving him the same consideration and opportunity as every other candidate for our head coaching position in 2019.”
Flores filed his lawsuit after text messages from Bill Belichick appeared to show concrete proof that the New York Giants violated the spirit of the Rooney Rule when interviewing Flores last month. He felt the Broncos did the same in 2019. Flores also made serious allegations about how the Miami Dolphins compromised the integrity of the game.
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