A pair of NFL coaches have been added to Brian Flores' racial-discrimination lawsuit against the NFL.
Steve Wilks and Ray Horton, two African-American coaches, were amended into the formal complaint on Thursday, with both men asserting they have been victims of prejudicial treatment by NFL clubs.
Wilks, who lasted just one year as the Arizona Cardinals' head coach in 2018, claims the Cardinals hired him merely as a "bridge" coach, and didn't afford him enough time to reverse the franchise's fortunes.
For that lone season, the Cardinals posted a league-worst 3-13 record, which was dire enough to clinch the No. 1 overall pick for the 2019 NFL draft.
Wilks also claims he was obliged to oversee daily personnel moves for the Cardinals' roster, while GM Steve Keim served out his suspension for a DUI arrest.
Additionally, Wilks believes his successor in Arizona, current head coach Kliff Kingsbury, had been given more time to lead the franchise. Kingsbury, who is white, has a 24-24-1 overall record in three seasons with the Cardinals.
However, it's worth noting that Kingsbury, formerly the head coach at Texas Tech, had a pre-existing relationship with Kyler Murray — a Texas native and Arizona's No. 1 overall pick in 2019 — which certainly contributed to Kingsbury getting hired by the Cardinals.
Horton, who last coached for the team currently known as the Washington Commanders in 2019, claims he was part of a "sham interview" with the Tennessee Titans in 2016. Horton alleges his Tennessee interview was solely arranged to comply with the NFL's Rooney Rule, which mandates that at least one minority coach must be interviewed for every head-coaching vacancy.
From Horton's perspective, the Titans exercised "a false willingness to consider a minority candidate for the position."
Also, Horton alleges that Mike Mularkey had previously revealed the Titans' plan of hiring him, but only after two interviews with African-American candidates had been completed.
"Upon information and belief, given that Mr. Mularkey's remarks and admissions have been publicly available since 2020, the NFL has been aware of them but has not done any investigation into the Titans' discriminatory conduct and/or failure to comply with the Rooney Rule," the Horton portion of the complaint reads. "This shows, yet again, that the NFL is either incapable, or unwilling to address the issue of racial discrimination on its own."
Back in February, Flores, formerly the head coach of the Miami Dolphins (2019-21) and now a senior defensive assistant and linebackers coach for the Pittsburgh Steelers, filed his suit against the NFL and three clubs — the Dolphins, New York Giants, and Denver Broncos — alleging race discrimination in hiring practices.
In a prior complaint, Flores claims Dolphins owner Stephen Ross attempted to pay Flores above his signed contract, if Miami intentionally lost games during the 2019 season, with Ross allegedly offering $100,000 for every defeat that year.
For that '19 campaign, the Dolphins finished tied for the NFL's fifth-worst record (5-11). As a follow-up, Flores went 19-14 over the next two seasons, prior to being fired back in January.
Of the 10 NFL head-coaching vacancies that were filled this offseason, three head coaches of color were hired: Lovie Smith (Houston Texans), Todd Bowles (Tampa Bay Buccaneers), and Mike McDaniel (Dolphins), who grew up in a biracial household.
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