The New York Giants found themselves in the crosshairs of the lawsuit filed on Tuesday by Brian Flores alleging racial discrimination in the team’s hiring practices.
It has led to plenty of debate as to whether or not the Giants did anything wrong, but according to one legendary player the answer is no.
Eli Manning, who is still working with the Giants in a business operations and fan engagement role after his 16-year career with the franchise, told the New York Post that he feels confident the team gives everyone a fair chance.
“I was not involved in any of [the head coaching] process in any way, so I don’t know the details,” Manning said. “I know the Giants organization. I know they do everything possible to give everybody a fair chance. They don’t care minority or not, they are looking for the best possible candidate. They are going to do everything properly to look for that perfect candidate. So, I don’t think there was any wrongdoing there.”
In the lawsuit, Flores provides text messages he received from Bill Belichick that appear to inform him that he has heard the Giants are going with him as head coach. Later in the conversation, Belichick realizes he texted the wrong person and informed Flores that he heard the Giants were going to name Brian Daboll as head coach.
This all happened prior to Flores’ interview with the team, leading him to the conclusion that the interview was a sham, possibly to fulfill the team’s Rooney Rule obligations.
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The Giants did, however, interview a total of three minority candidates, whereas the Rooney Rule requires just one.
Flores also had a conversation with owner John Mara indicating that he was a serious candidate.
The lawsuit is obviously aimed to address and change a much larger systemic issue within the NFL, but the Giants role in it will continue to be dissected in the days, weeks and months to come.
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