Giants call Brian Flores' claims 'disturbing and simply false' in new statement

The New York Giants are none too happy about the allegations made by former Miami Dolphins head coach Brian Flores. 

In a class-action lawsuit filed on Tuesday, Flores alleges, among other things, that the Giants had already decided to hire Buffalo Bills offensive coordinator Brian Daboll as their next head coach and only spoke with Flores to comply with the Rooney Rule, which says teams must interview minority candidates for positions such as head coach. Big Blue initially denied this claim and said "Flores was in the conversation to be our head coach until the eleventh hour," but the club went one step further with a new statement released Thursday. 

"Brian Flores has raised serious issues in the filing of his complaint. The specific claims against the Giants and Mr. Flores' allegations about the legitimacy of his candidacy for our head coach position are disturbing and simply false," the Giants said. 

Flores claims New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick mistakenly texted him believing he was Daboll to congratulate him on earning the Giants job days before Flores met with the team for what Flores views as a "sham" interview. 

"The allegation that the Giants' decision had been made prior to Friday evening, January 28, is false," the club responded. "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.

"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."

New Giants general manager Joe Schoen told reporters Wednesday Flores "was one of the finalists" for the job, and it was implied last month team co-owner John Mara had Flores as his top choice when the hiring process began. 

"John Mara called Mr. Flores two days after he was dismissed in Miami," the Giants said Thursday. "Mr. Mara expressed to Mr. Flores in that January 12 call that once we had our new general manager in place, we would begin the process of hiring our head coach and we wanted to meet with Mr. Flores because we considered him a serious candidate for the position. Mr. Mara and Mr. Flores then had their first formal conversation in a 25-30 minute Zoom call on January 18 (at Mr. Flores' request) to further discuss his candidacy.

"In between those initial conversations and Mr. Flores' in-person interview on January 27, there were several other communications between Mr. Flores and members of our organization. This included a dinner with our newly hired general manager, Joe Schoen, the night before Mr. Flores' in-person interview. The consensus from within the Giants organization after this dinner remained that Mr. Flores was an outstanding candidate, and we looked forward to sitting down with him in person the next day." 

The Giants then insisted they hired the individual who won the job. 

"In his CBS interview yesterday, Mr. Flores was asked if 'clubs have the right to hire the person they think is the best qualified for the job or the person they feel is right for them?' Mr. Flores responded 'They do. That's very reasonable to me . . .". That is exactly what we did.

"We hired Brian Daboll as our head coach at the conclusion of an open and thorough interview process. No decision was made, and no job offer was extended, until the evening of January 28, a full day after Mr. Flores' in-person interview and day-long visit to the Giants." 

The Giants also included a full itinerary for Flores' day at the team's facility. 

Denver Broncos president of football operations John Elway and Miami Dolphins owner Stephen Ross, both named in the lawsuit, have suggested in statements they may pursue legal action against Flores over his allegations. Meanwhile, the Houston Texans reportedly have Flores as one of three finalists for their head-coaching vacancy.