FILE – Then-Miami Dolphins coach Brian Flores stands on the sideline during the second half of the team’s NFL football game against the New England Patriots on Jan. 9, 2022, in Miami Gardens, Florida. NFL lawyers are urging a New York judge to change his mind and allow racial discrimination claims against the league and its teams to go to arbitration rather than trial. In written arguments on Wednesday, March 16, 2023, the attorneys said Judge Valerie E. Caproni should reverse her recent ruling, finding that some of Flores’ allegations were triable. Flores, the Minnesota Vikings’ new defensive coordinator, sued the league and three teams last year, claiming the NFL was “rife with racism.” (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee, file)
The biggest story in the NFL is not Dan Snyder and the Washington Commanders, the officials, Lamar Jackson, Aaron Rodgers, the bending of Thursday Night Football or any proposed rule changes – although those are all worthy of mention in its own right.
The biggest story in football, as the NFL owners’ meetings begin Sunday at the Arizona Biltmore in Phoenix, is that Brian Flores’ discrimination cases against the NFL, Giants, Denver Broncos and Houston Texans are headed to federal court open to a jury.
Mary Jo White’s somewhat incomplete investigation into Snyder also deserves skepticism from the national media. It is astonishing how little accountability there is when there is no public video of the alleged transgressions.
But the potential consequences of Flores’ case are enormous, given that he is now on the path to discovery in the form of collecting evidence from texts, emails and depositions from key figures in the league and at least three of its franchises.
This is the path we expect to continue in the near future.
Currently, attorneys for both sides are filing their own motions for reconsideration, asking U.S. District Judge Valerie Caproni to reconsider elements of his decision of March 1.
Flores’ attorneys, who are filing a class-action lawsuit and filing lawsuits against various defendants, argue that NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell is an unfit and partial arbitrator for the claims Caproni sent to arbitration.
Lawyers for the NFL and the teams, meanwhile, want Caproni to reconsider sending such a large number of claims into public court, where their alleged dirty laundry could be exposed.
A pretrial conference originally scheduled for Friday has been adjourned and delayed while motions are gathered and filed in a process expected to stretch into April.
The judge could possibly reconsider and change her initial decision, but it is more likely that she will stand by her original decision and continue to take the case down the same path.
It is unclear how attorneys for the NFL and the teams will react and proceed once the day comes for discovery to begin.
This does not appear to be a typical trial, in which last-minute settlements often prevent cases from going to court.
This is a class-action lawsuit intended to correct alleged inequities inherent in the NFL’s hiring practices — not to give anyone a salary.
Rest assured, however, that even if the league and its owners do not intentionally make this lawsuit a constant subject of public debate, it is at the forefront of everyone’s minds.
The NFL is presenting its 2023 owners meetings under the title: “A Year to Challenge and Raise the Bar,” with numerous statistics provided to the media on improvements, particularly in the area of ”diversity, equity and of inclusion”.
It all says: you see, we are doing better and we will continue to do so.
However, as Caproni stated in his March 1 decision, “plaintiffs’ descriptions of their experiences of racial discrimination — which are said to be only the most recent chapter in the NFL’s long history of systematic discrimination at the towards black players, coaches and managers – are incredibly troubling. .”
Eventually, this heads to court.
AROUND THE LEAGUE
Regarding Lamar Jackson: Why are all the leaks about the Baltimore Ravens quarterback’s free agency situation coming from the league, the union and the teams? From Jackson’s contract demands to the representation situation to teams’ unusually high-profile lack of interest in the former MVP, there’s a lot of negative information floating around about this elite young player — but very few details come from him. It seems obvious that many of the parties involved would feel more comfortable if Jackson, 26, played this game the comfortable, traditional way — with an agent who has pre-existing relationships with these team executives, within ‘a structure that people can control, with a contract that doesn’t further disrupt the quarterback market beyond Deshaun Watson’s ridiculous, fully guaranteed deal. But it’s up to Jackson to do things the way the league, the union and the agents want. And even though the noise builds on what Jackson is supposedly doing wrong, if you listen closely enough, the real problem seems to be that he’s just doing them differently. …
Raiders free agent tight end Foster Moreau discovered he had Hodgkin’s lymphoma during a routine physical with the New Orleans Saints, he announced this week. He will therefore step away from the game. “Thanks to a miraculous process, this free agency period has changed my life,” Moreau, 25, announced on Twitter. “During a routine physical by the Saint’s (sic) medical team in New Orleans, I learned that I have Hodgkin’s Lymphoma and will be stepping away from football at this time here to fight a new adversary: cancer. I am grateful for the support and grateful to the people who have stood firm by my side. There has not been a single step I have taken without hundreds of “People light the path before me, and I will continue to seek their guidance. That being said, I’m going to kick his ass and get back to doing what I love!”…
The Giants and Jets offseason programs begin April 17. Only teams led by a first-year head coach can start a week earlier. Offseason OTA workouts for the Giants and Jets are then scheduled for May 22, 23, 25, 30 and 31, as well as June 2, 5, 6, 8 and 9. This will culminate for both teams in a mandatory minicamp June 13-15. . Each club will also hold a rookie minicamp after the draft, but those dates have not yet been determined.
THEY SAID IT
“I am the storm.” — Baltimore Ravens Quarterback Lamar Jacksonin limbo, on Twitter
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