When former Dolphins coach Brian Flores filed his lawsuit against the NFL and multiple teams in February 2022, the claim of systemic and chronic racial discrimination made it a landmark attack against the league. Flores’s efforts have had, to date, a much more significant impact.
Through a series of rulings during a four-year war over the question of whether the claims of Flores, Steve Wilks, and Ray Horton will be resolved in open court or (as the league strongly prefers) arbitration controlled by the Commissioner, Flores and company have torn down the league’s longstanding method for forcing employee legal claims into a secret, rigged, kangaroo court.
The problem is simple. The league wants civil cases filed against it to be determined not by an independent party but by the league itself. Finally, independent judges with the power to do so are telling the NFL that it cannot do so.
“The court’s decision recognizes that an arbitration forum in which the defendant’s own chief executive gets to decide the case would strip employees of their rights under the law,” attorneys Douglas H. Wigdor and David E. Gottlieb said Friday, after the latest decision scrapping the league’s practices. “It is long overdue for the NFL to recognize this and finally provide a fair, neutral and transparent forum for these issues to be addressed.”
And that’s really the next step. Instead of maintaining its current Hail Mary pass to the U.S. Supreme Court, the NFL should do the right thing and abandon the heavy-handed practice of insisting that lawsuits filed against the league be presided over by the Commissioner.
The Commissioner, who recently defended the practice by saying, essentially, “it was like that when I got here,” shouldn’t want to do it. It’s a hopeless and irreconcilable conflict of interest.
Few if any other companies attempt to stack the deck in such a laughable, third world, banana republic way. Most companies realize it’s more than sufficient to force employees into arbitration handled by one of the various companies (like the American Arbitration Association) that exist for that purpose.
It’s still a much better forum for corporate America than the traditional judge-and-jury process. Especially since the various companies that provide arbitration services tend to skew toward the interests of the businesses that are responsible for creating the system that funnels them so much business.
But that’s not good enough for the NFL. Its longstanding approach to arbitration is proof positive that it wants to completely control anything and everything it can.
Finally, the NFL is losing control over legal claims made by non-players. The consequences sweep far beyond Flores, Wilks, and Horton. Every other team and league employee who is compelled to agree to the arbitration term in their contracts now have a pathway to avoiding a fundamentally unfair and un-American approach to justice.
For that reason, maybe it will be useful for the league to keep pushing its appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court. Assuming that at least five of the nine justices of the highest court in the country see this game for what it is, the end result will be a published opinion that becomes the law of the land as to the league, all of its teams, and every current and future employee who have no choice but to agree to a contract that forces them to allow the Commissioner to have final say over any and all grievances they ever may pursue.
Broncos Clips
The Bills have announced their coaching staff under new head coach Joe Brady and it notably includes a former head coach.
Buffalo has hired former Panthers, Broncos, and Bears head coach John Fox as senior assistant coach.
Fox, 71, led the Panthers to an NFC Championship in 2003 and the Broncos to an AFC Championship in 2013. He was last with the Lions in 2023 as senior defensive assistant.
Additionally, Buffalo announced Rob Boras has been promoted to run game coordinator/tight ends coach, Joe Danna has been promoted to secondary coach, D.J. Magnus has been promoted to assistant receivers coach, Jason Rebrovich has been promoted to senior defensive assistant, Kyle Shurmur has been promoted to assistant QBs coach, and Alvin Vaughn has been promoted to defensive assistant.
Several coachers remain from the previous staff under head coach Sean McDermott: assistant offensive line coach Austin Gund, pass game specialist/game management coach Mark Lubick, running backs coach Kelly Skipper, assistant special teams coach Turner West, and offensive assistant/fellowship coach Milli Wilson.
The club has also hired Terrance Jamison as defensive line coach, John Egorugwu as inside linebackers coach, Bobby April III as outside linebackers coach, Jay Valai as cornerbacks coach, Craig Robertson as defensive quality control coach, Pat Meyer as offensive line coach, Bo Hardegree as quarterbacks coach, and Drew Terrell as receivers’ coach.
Buffalo previously announced Pete Carmichael will be the team’s offensive coordinator, Jim Leonhard is defensive coordinator, and Jeff Rodgers is special teams coordinator.
The NFL’s secret, rigged, kangaroo court is on life support.
In the lawsuit filed four years ago by former Dolphins coach Brian Flores, the presiding judge has reversed a prior order sending some of the claims to arbitration. Now, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York has concluded that all claims will be litigated in open court.
The ruling means that the Flores claims against the NFL, the Dolphins, the Giants, the Broncos, and the Texans will be handled in court, not arbitration. It also applies to the claims made by Steve Wilks against the Cardinals, and by Ray Horton against the Titans.
Friday’s decision flows from last year’s ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, which denied arbitration as to the remaining Flores claims based on the NFL’s insistence that Commissioner Roger Goodell control the process. That same “fatal flaw” (as Judge Valerie Caproni described it) impacts all efforts to compel arbitration.
The league will undoubtedly fight the result. Although Goodell defended the practice during last week’s Super Bowl press conference, it is fundamentally unfair for the person hired and paid by the teams to be resolving legal claims made against his employers. No one in that position can be fair and impartial.
The NFL hates external oversight. It wants to control its business, and it hopes to keep any dirty laundry tightly under wraps.
The league previously filed a petition for appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court on the question of whether the arbitration requirement is legitimate. Whatever the final outcome, it’s long overdue that the highest court in the country examine and resolve whether it’s appropriate for any organization to require employees to submit their legal claims not to an independent party but to the boss.
Multiple former NFL players received presidential pardons on Thursday.
Via ESPN.com, White House “pardon czar” Alice Marie Johnson announced Thursday that President Trump gave pardons to defensive tackle Joe Klecko, offensive lineman Nate Newton, running back Jamal Lewis, running back Travis Henry, and halfback/fullback/tight end Billy Cannon.
None were currently incarcerated; Cannon died in 2018.
“As football reminds us, excellence is built on grit, grace, and the courage to rise again,” Johnson wrote on social media. “So is our nation.”
Klecko, a Hall of Famer, played 11 years for the Jets and one with the Colts. Via ESPN.com, he pleaded guilty to perjury in 1993 for lying to a federal grand jury investigating insurance fraud.
Newton spent 13 years with the Cowboys and one with the Panthers. The six-time Pro Bowler and two-time first-team All-Pro pleaded guilty, per ESPN.com, to federal a drug trafficking charge in 2002, after police found $10,000 in his truck — along with 175 pounds of marijuana in car driven by an accomplice.
Johnson said Newton, who won three Super Bowls with the Cowboys, “personally” got the news from owner Jerry Jones.
Lewis spent six years with the Ravens and three with the Browns. He was the 2003 AP offensive player of the year, after rushing for 2,066 yards. Lewis had seven 1,000-yard seasons. Per ESPN.com, he pleaded guilty after using a cell phone to set up a drug deal, not long after he arrived in the NFL as the fifth overall pick in the draft.
Henry played seven years in the NFL, with the Bills, Titans, and Broncos. He pleaded guilty in 2009 for conspiracy to traffic cocaine, per ESPN.com.
Cannon won the Heisman Trophy in 1959 before spending a decade in the AFL and one year in the NFL. Via ESPN.com, Cannon pleaded guilty to counterfeiting in the 1980s.
No reasoning was given for the decision to grant the pardons.
The Ravens are hiring Keary Colbert as their wide receivers coach, Matt Zenitz of CBS Sports reports.
The Broncos fired Colbert last month after the team’s wide receivers were among the worst in the NFL at dropped passes. Colbert, though, helped Courtland Sutton become a Pro Bowler.
He coached the Broncos’ wide receivers for three seasons, two of those with Ravens offensive coordinator Declan Doyle. Two other new Ravens’ assistants — tight ends coach Zack Grossi and senior offensive assistant Joe Lombardi — also worked with Doyle in Denver.
Colbert, 43, previously coached in the college ranks, including at Florida and USC. He was the assistant wide receivers coach at Georgia State in 2013, when Ravens head coach Jesse Minter was Georgia State’s defensive coordinator.
Colbert has coached Troy Franklin, Jerry Jeudy, Drake London, Amon-Ra St. Brown, Michael Pittman Jr. and Ricky Pearsall.
Last year, ESPN severed ties with Shannon Sharpe after he was sued for sexual assault and battery. Now, Sharpe would like to return.
In a Radio Row interview with Front Office Sports, Sharpe made it clear that he’s interested in mending fences.
“I would love to go back if they were to call,” Sharpe said. “Burke [Magnus], Jimmy [Pitaro], Dave Roberts. That is their call. But obviously, I’m more than willing, I’m more than capable. They see what we do here on Nightcap. They see the numbers that we generate. . . . I still have a fan base. I still have a big following. If a reunion is in order, I’m amenable to it.”
ESPN declined comment to FOS regarding Sharpe.
Sharpe eventually settled the lawsuit, after his lawyer admitted publicly that Sharpe had offered at least $10 million to resolve the case before it was filed.
More recently, Sharpe and his Nightcap co-host Chad Johnson were named in a $100 million lawsuit filed by Lions fan Ryan Kennedy, who claims they defamed him by stating he had provoked a December 2025 altercation with Steelers receiver D.K. Metcalf by using a racial slur and by referring to Metcalf’s mother with a profane and misogynistic term.
Beyond the Nightcap viewership, Sharpe’s ace in the hole could be First Take head honcho Stephen A. Smith.
“Stephen A. never left my side,” Sharpe told FOS. “We still talk. We probably talk more now than we did when I was actually on the show. He’s been great. He’s always been in my corner.”
Whether that’s enough to get ESPN back in the Shannon Sharpe business remains to be seen.
From the moment Lions fan Ryan Kennedy hired counsel in the aftermath of his in-game altercation with Steelers receiver DK Metcalf, it was obvious this was coming.
Kennedy has sued Metcalf and various others, via Christian Romo of USA Today. The lawsuit focused on the alleged assault — and on the statements made about Kennedy following the December 21 incident.
The civil action, filed on Tuesday, targets Metcalf, the Steelers, and Ford Field management in connection with the assault. Metcalf, Shannon Sharpe, Chad Johnson, and Shay Shay Media were sued for defamation.
Johnson said during an episode of the Nightcap podcast that Kennedy provoked Metcalf by using a racial slur, and by using a misogynistic term in reference to Metcalf’s mother.
“The statements were false and reckless,” the lawsuit alleges. “Plaintiff Kennedy did not call Defendant Metcalf the ‘N-word'; did not call Defendant Metcalf mother a ‘c---'; and did not ever use any racial slurs or hate speech whatsoever. . . . Defendant Metcalf provided false information to Defendant Johnson about what Plaintiff Kennedy allegedly said, thereby instigating and authorizing the publication of the defamatory and reckless statements which were intended to harm Plaintiff Kennedy.”
Kennedy seeks $100 million in damages, along with a “full public retraction and correction of defamatory statements” from Johnson and Sharpe.
Broncos left tackle Garett Bolles was named the NFL Players Association’s Alan Page Community Award winner for 2026 at a press conference in San Francisco on Tuesday.
Bolles was selected as the union’s Community MVP in Week 1 of the regular season for his foundation’s role in helping to open the Bjorem + Bolles Childhood Apraxia Training Center in Parker, Colorado. The facility was created to to train speech pathologists in assessing and treating childhood apraxia of speech, which is a condition that makes it difficult to learn and carry out the steps needed for intelligible speech.
Bolles and his wife became involved with the effort to create the center because their son was diagnosed with apraxia.
“I’m beyond grateful to not only have my son be the face of it, but to be able to bring in and save as many kids’ lives as possible,” Bolles said at the press conference. “This work is deeply personal to me and my wife because of my son, but we believe that every kid deserves to have a voice and a platform to be able to talk and to communicate with their peers.”
The NFLPA will donate $100,000 to Bolles’s foundation in recognition of his award.
Davis Webb interviewed for head coaching jobs last month and he was in the mix for offensive coordinator openings around the league, but he will be staying in Denver.
The Broncos announced on Monday that they have promoted Webb to offensive coordinator. Webb had been the team’s quarterbacks coach for the last three seasons and he also had the title of offensive pass game coordinator in 2025.
Joe Lombardi was the Broncos’ offensive coordinator, but he was fired after the team’s loss to the Patriots in the AFC Championship Game.
The Broncos stayed in the organization to replace Webb as the quarterbacks coach. They announced that they have promoted Logan Kilgore from offensive quality control coach to Webb’s former role.
Broncos offensive guard Quinn Meinerz has withdrawn from the Pro Bowl Games, Chris Tomasson of the Denver Gazette reports. Meinerz cited personal reasons.
Meinerz turned down a Pro Bowl invitation in 2025, because he didn’t want to go as an alternate, he told Tomasson. Meinerz was on the initial list of Pro Bowlers for this season and was expected to participate.
Meinerz played in every game for the Broncos this season. He missed part of the Nov. 6 game against the Raiders because of an illness that had not been diagnosed. According to Tomasson, Meinerz later declined to elaborate.
The Broncos still have five players participating in the Pro Bowl Games. Offensive tackle Garett Bolles, wide receiver Courtland Sutton, defensive lineman Zach Allen, outside linebacker Nik Bonitto and cornerback Pat Surtain II are in San Francisco.
The AFC and NFC teams practiced for the first time on Sunday.
The players will participate in a flag football game and other events in San Francisco on Tuesday night.
