Giants deny Flores' allegations: 'Disturbing and simply false'

The New York Giants issued a statement Thursday regarding Brian Flores' allegations of discrimination in the hiring process for New York's head coaching position, calling the former Miami Dolphins head coach's assertions "disturbing and simply false."

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

Flores filed a lawsuit Tuesday against the Giants, Dolphins, Denver Broncos, and the NFL alleging racial discrimination regarding hiring practices. The former coach believes the Giants only interviewed him to comply with the Rooney Rule, which requires teams to interview at least two minority candidates for a head coaching vacancy.

Flores has claimed that a string of text messages in which New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick congratulated Flores on getting the job three days before his interview indicates the Giants selected Brian Daboll for the position before meeting with Flores.

"It was humiliating, to be quite honest," Flores said, according to Teresa M. Walker of The Associated Press. "There was disbelief, there was anger, there was a wave of emotion for a lot of reasons."

The Giants denied that Belichick had knowledge of the club's hiring process, stating that the text exchange occurred before Daboll's in-person interview took place.

"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 Giants said. "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."

The team added: "We are disappointed to learn that Mr. Flores was under the mistaken impression the job had already been awarded."