Mike McDaniel was formally introduced as the new head coach of the Miami Dolphins on Thursday, and it didn’t take long for a reporter to ask a question about Brian Flores. McDaniel did not dance around the elephant in the room.
Flores filed a discrimination lawsuit against the NFL, the Dolphins and two other teams last week. McDaniel was asked if that raised any reg flags for him, and he emphatically stated that it did not. He also had extremely high praise for Dolphins owner Stephen Ross.
McDaniel obviously wasn’t going to stand at the podium and criticize the man who just paid him millions and gave him his first NFL head coaching gig. Still, he could have said a lot less. The fact that he chose to talk so extensively about Ross’s commitment to winning is a good indicator of McDaniel’s level of comfort with the situation.
In his lawsuit, Flores alleged Ross offered him bonus money to tank for a higher draft pick. Flores also said Ross tried pressure him into a situation that would have constituted tampering.
If McDaniel was truly concerned about those things, he wouldn’t have risked taking his first head coaching gig in Miami. The NFL is going to investigate Ross and the Dolphins, but McDaniel obviously is not overly concerned about the potential outcome.
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