Brian Flores' legal team served subpoenas to 25 NFL teams as part of racial-discrimination lawsuit against league

Minnesota Vikings defensive coordinator Brian Flores filed subpoenas to 25 NFL teams as part of his racial-discrimination lawsuit against the league, according to ESPN.

Court filings revealed that, in addition to those subpoenas, Flores’ legal team has also “served more than 1,000 discovery requests” in an attempt to acquire hiring records and communications from teams. Court filings did not reveal the 25 teams that were subpoenaed by Flores and his team.

The NFL and the three teams included as defendants in the lawsuit — the Denver Broncos, Houston Texans and New York Giants — claimed those requests were “punishingly overboard,” per ESPN. Flores’ attorneys argued the information those findings could produce are necessary to prove discrimination in league hiring practices.

Flores, 45, originally filed his lawsuit against the league and those three teams in 2022. At the time, Flores was weeks removed from being fired as the Miami Dolphins’ head coach. It was a surprising decision by the team. Despite a poor start, Flores’ Dolphins rallied in the second half of the 2021 season, nearly making the playoffs after going 1-7 to open the year.

Though he turned in a promising tenure with the Dolphins, Flores did not get another head coaching job during the offseason. That eventually led to his lawsuit, which claimed the Giants and Broncos interviewed Flores for their job openings despite having no interest in hiring him, among many other accusations. The Houston Texans were later added to the lawsuit after Flores claimed the team took him out of head-coaching consideration after he filed his lawsuit. Eventually, both Steve Wilks and Ray Horton joined Flores’ lawsuit against the league.

In addition to Flores’ recent court filings, Judge Valerie E. Caproni approved a schedule for future briefing and court filings moving forward. Flores was set to file an amended compliant Wednesday. Motions to dismiss will need to be filed June 5. Additional briefs will be due in July and August, per ESPN.

Those filings will determine whether Flores’ claims are strong enough to proceed.

Following his firing by the Dolphins, Flores signed on as a defensive assistant with the Pittsburgh Steelers. After one season with the team, he joined the Vikings as their defensive coordinator. Flores has held that role since 2023, and has turned the Vikings into one of the more feared defenses in the NFL over that period.

While Flores did get some head-coaching interest over the offseason, he eventually signed an extension to remain with the Vikings.