Brian Flores: Steelers job “happened very fast”
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One of the biggest post-Super Bowl surprises happened in Pittsburgh, where the Steelers hired former Dolphins coach (and current NFL agitator) Brian Flores to serve as senior defensive assistant and linebackers coach. The opportunity, per Flores, emerged quickly.
“It all happened very fast,” Flores said in an interview on HBO’s Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel. “I talked to Coach Tomlin Thursday. Little bit more conversation on Friday. Accepted the job on Friday evening.”
Flores said it all unfolded after the various head-coaching doors were slammed on Flores.
“I actually was, you know, calling Coach [Tomlin] really to get some counsel,” Flores said. “I was thinking about the next steps for me just from a coaching standpoint. And then that conversation turned into an opportunity there in Pittsburgh.”
Because Flores refused to sign paperwork that would have muzzled him and prevented him from filing his lawsuit, he had no Dolphins buyout. Thus, his Steelers pay becomes his primary compensation for 2022.
It also fulfills his duty to mitigate his financial damages. In wrongful-discharge cases, employers hoping to deflect attention from their own behavior and/or anxious to paint the plaintiff in a negative light will seize upon an opportunity to suggest that the former employee is malingering or otherwise sitting around and waiting for a legal lottery ticket. Flores, obviously, wants to work — and he’s willing to take whatever he can get, even if it’s a position that doesn’t fully reflect his skills, abilities, and experience.
Thus, the NFL’s lawyers (who will be looking for any way to attack Flores) will have to find another way to throw dirt in his direction.
