Apparently a lot of people haven't read this (from the NPR interview)... a Belichick & Flores reunion obviously is NOT happening. Neither one would have any part of it.
WILLIAMS: What cemented your decision? You say you were back and forth. What got you over that hump?
FLORES: Well, it was a text message from Bill Belichick that confirmed a lot of the things that I believed were going on for Blacks, minorities in the hiring process. That was the tipping point for me. And, you know, that confirmation was something that - I felt like I had to say something. I couldn't stay silent because, you know, Dr. Martin Luther King said, you know, a long, long time ago, there comes a time where silence becomes betrayal. I wasn't going to do that.
WILLIAMS: So you get fired from the Miami Dolphins. Your name is being floated around for a multitude of job opportunities, one being here for the New York Giants, which I'm a fan of, by the way. I was pushing for you to be here. I'll just be transparent about that. And so, Joe Schoen gets brought here to run the Giants as a GM from Buffalo, and you get a text message from Bill Belichick essentially congratulating you. Take me through that situation. Explain to me what happened.
FLORES: So the hiring process is - a lot that goes on. There's a lot of phone calls that are being had - agent, myself, teams. So I would say 10 minutes prior to the text message from Bill, I got a call from Joe Schoen saying, hey, we want to bring you in for an interview.
WILLIAMS: So you have not been in for an interview yet.
FLORES: I had not been in for an interview yet. I had just got a call that said, hey, we want to set up the interview for Thursday. So 10 minutes later, I get the text message from Bill saying - I don't have it in front of me, but - oh, it seems like you have landed. Congrats. And I know there was a back and forth. So in that moment, I'm elated. Wow. You know, Bill is having conversations with the Giants, and they must feel strongly about me.
He's in the know which, as we'll probably talk about afterwards, is probably a little bit of - part of the problem. So rereading the text and the Buffalo part of it was - I just didn't - that didn't make sense to me. So I asked him, is this - are you talking to Brian Flores or Brian Daboll? And I got the text message back saying - which said he misread the text, and Brian Daboll was going to be named the coach of the Giants. And this was three days before I would - I was going to interview.
WILLIAMS: It's interesting that Bill would be in the know to that degree. Why do you think that is?
FLORES: I do think that there are back-channel conversations, back-channel meetings that are had that oftentimes influence decisions. And I think that's a clear example of that. You know, here's Bill Belichick. And, you know, his resume speaks for itself. He has influence. I think, to me, that - it was clear that that decision was made with his influence, and that's part of the problem. And that's - that needs to change. There needs to be a fair and equal opportunity to interview and showcase - like I said before, showcase your abilities to lead and earn one of those positions.