It's been a nearly a week since Brian Flores filed a bombshell lawsuit against the NFL and its teams, alleging racial discrimination in regard to his interview processes with the New York Giants and Denver Broncos, and time as head coach of the Miami Dolphins, which ended in January.
In response to Flores' lawsuit, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell released a memo on Saturday, saying that the league's lack of progress in diversifying the head coaching ranks has been "unacceptable." Goodell also noted that they will begin reevaluating all "policies, guidelines and initiatives relating to diversity, equity and inclusion." Four days before this statement was issued, the NFL said Flores' accusations were "without merit."
"Generally, owners don't get held to the same standard as other individuals. And I don't know what's going to be provable here and what's not, what kind of evidence there is to some of these allegations," CBS Sports insider Jason La Canfora told the Reiter Than You show on Monday. "Short of there being a paper trail, audio trail, or video trail, that's a very difficult allegation to prove, in terms of the $100,000 per loss...
"That's really not the meat and potatoes of what Brian Flores is alleging and what so many others have done for decades without putting their name to it... The Rooney Rule only gets changed when owners agree to change it... I don't think a whole lot of change comes from within, and I'll be watching very closely this offseason to see what sort of political pressure is applied to them by the House Oversight Committee or some law-making entity on Capitol Hill."
During an appearance on "CBS Mornings" last Wednesday, Flores discussed his allegations against the NFL, saying in part, "I'm not the only one with a story to tell. People have come before me, and I know there are others who have similar stories and it's hard to speak out. You're making some sacrifices but this is bigger than football, and this is bigger than coaching."
Although 70-percent of the league's players are Black, none of the 32 team owners are. And at the moment, only one NFL head coach -- Mike Tomlin of the Pittsburgh Steelers -- is African American. Ron Rivera of the Washington Commanders and Robert Saleh of the New York Jets are the only non-Black minority head coaches.
The entire NFL conversation between La Canfora and Reiter can be accessed in the audio player above. Additional information and details about Flores' suit can be found here.
You can follow the Reiter Than You show on Twitter @sportsreiter and @CBSSportsRadio, and Tom Hanslin @TomHanslin.