The Brian Flores case against the NFL and several teams (Dolphins, Texans, Giants, and Broncos) has recently focused on a document produced by Korn Ferry, in connection with a coaching search the company performed for the Ravens.
Korn Ferry and the NFL want the document to remain under seal and, as a result, not available to the public. Flores has challenged the designation.
In most federal civil cases, the presiding judge delegates disputes that arise during the discovery process to a magistrate judge. In this case, the magistrate judge has issued a ruling.
The ruling, as reported by Daniel Kaplan, is also under seal. For now.
The apparent reason for the decision is to give the party that lost the issue a chance to appeal to the presiding judge. And the fact that the decision is sealed doesn’t necessarily mean Korn Ferry lost. In order to issue the preliminary ruling, the magistrate judge likely had to quote from or otherwise describe key aspects of the currently secret document.
If the case goes to trial, the document undoubtedly will be presented and discussed in open court. But that’s a long way away. Securing the publication of the document sooner rather than later could create a bad P.R. look for the league, which could not only spark meaningful settlement talks but also prompt the media, the fans, and those with oversight of the league to sit up and take notice of the manner in which the sausage gets made.
For now, the question is whether the losing party on the issue of the sealed document will appeal within the 14-day time period for doing so. And whoever files the appeal necessarily will have been the losing party.
Giants Clips
Bengals quarterback Joe Flacco is not on the trade block. That he knows of.
Flacco said today that after Giants quarterback Jaxson Dart got hurt, friends of his thought he was going to get traded to the Giants and reunited with coach John Harbaugh. Flacco had to tell them it wasn’t happening.
“It’s obviously not real and not true, but it was good enough to get people, certain friends of mine, to text me, ‘Hey I’ll see you in New York.’ I was like, ‘No, guys, you won’t, that’s not true,’” Flacco told Kelsey Conway of the Cincinnati Enquirer.
Flacco said he’s committed to the Bengals unless and until they tell him they’re trading him.
“It’s not up to me. I’m on the Cincinnati Bengals, and because of that, that’s my focus, is just being here, and doing the things I need to do to get better each day while I’m here,” Flacco said. “I get a little bit of a kick out of it, but it’s kind of out of my hands. . . . I’m a Cincinnati Bengal and I’m doing everything I can to get ready for the Pittsburgh Steelers.”
Last year the Browns traded Flacco to the Bengals after Joe Burrow was injured, and Flacco acknowledged that he wouldn’t necessarily know if a trade was coming.
“I had no idea I was going to get traded last year, so you never know,” Flacco said. “But no, I have no reason to believe that. No.”
Titans running back Tony Pollard (ankle) practiced on Thursday, getting in limited work. Pollard did not practice Wednesday.
He has 21 carries for 99 yards this season, playing 55 offensive snaps (53 percent).
The Titans’ other running back, Tyjae Spears, did not practice again with an ankle injury. He has played 44 offensive snaps and has 14 touches for 94 yards.
The Titans added three players to their injury report. Tight end Daniel Bellinger (illness) did not practice; cornerback Micah Robinson (groin) was limited; and cornerback Marcus Harris (shoulder) was a full participant.
Defensive tackle Solomon Thomas (knee) was downgraded to a non-participant after a limited practice on Wednesday.
Cornerback Cor’Dale Flott (quad) was limited a second consecutive day.
Jaxson Dart’s season is over and the Giants officially moved him off of their active roster on Thursday.
The NFL’s daily transaction report shows that Dart has been placed on the injured reserve list. Dart will have surgery to repair damage to his MCL and meniscus after hurting his knee in Monday night’s loss to the Rams.
The Giants did not fill the opening on their 53-man roster, but it could be used to move quarterback Jake Haener off of the practice squad. Jameis Winston is currently the only quarterback on the team’s active roster.
Head coach John Harbaugh said the team will also be in the market for another addition to the position group, but it’s unclear when that move would come and a new addition would be unlikely to be ready to play against the Titans this Sunday.
Word on Wednesday was that Giants linebacker Brian Burns is likely to miss time with a sprained ankle and Thursday’s practice did nothing to suggest otherwise.
Burns missed practice for the second straight day and it looks like a long shot that he’ll be making it back to full enough health to play against the Titans on Sunday. The Giants will also be without quarterback Jaxson Dart for that game and left tackle Andrew Thomas may be missing as well.
Thomas was limited by a groin injury on Wednesday, but he was out of practice altogether on Thursday. The Giants will provide another update and issue injury designations on Friday.
Cornerback Deonte Banks (calf), defensive lineman Shelby Harris (toe), and safety Tyler Nubin (calf) were limited participants. Right tackle Jermaine Eluemunor (thigh), cornerback Nic Jones (shoulder), right guard Francis Mauigoa (neck), linebacker Micah McFadden (neck), wide receiver Malik Nabers (shoulder), and cornerback Greg Newsome (rib) were all full participants.
Giants wide receiver Malik Nabers returned to Monday night’s loss to the Rams after hurting his shoulder and he gave an update on how he’s feeling at a Thursday press conference.
Nabers, who was listed as a limited practice participant on Wednesday’s injury report, said that he had X-rays done on his right shoulder and said “I’ll be fine” when asked about his outlook for this week.
“Good result. I’m smiling, I’m out there, playing, catching the ball, so good results,” Nabers said, via SNY.
Nabers has dealt with previous shoulder issues, but declined to say if Sunday’s injury was related to anything he dealt with in the past.
The Giants will issue their injury designations for Sunday’s game against the Titans on Friday, but it doesn’t sound like Nabers has any question about his availability.
Giants offensive coordinator Matt Nagy says there’s still a place for wide receiver Odell Beckham in the offense.
Through two games this season, Beckham has played 14 snaps and has yet to have a pass thrown to him. But when Nagy was asked about Beckham today, he insisted that there’s a role for him.
“Odell is — he does a lot of good things well,” Nagy said. “We’re trying to slowly package him into some things offensively. It’s not that he’s just a backup. There’s times when, whatever it is personnel wise, we have it in the game plan and we just didn’t get to it. You’ve got to be ready, one injury away from being in all the time. He knows that, he understands that.”
Realistically, though, the Giants look like a rebuilding team, and Beckham is 33 and several years past his prime. If he doesn’t start contributing soon, it may be time for the Giants to move on, and give his roster spot to a younger player.
It’s no surprise that a game featuring the presumptive preseason Super Bowl champions and a surprisingly 1-0 team from the nation’s top media market performed well in a standalone window.
The Giants-Rams Week 2 Monday night game attracted a total average audience of 19.4 million on ABC, ESPN, ESPN2, and ESPN Deportes.
ESPN claims that Monday Night Football viewership is up 29 percent over the first two weeks of the season.
But it’s difficult to do a true apples-to-apples comparison. In Week 2 of the 2025 season, the NFL staged a consecutive doubleheader on Monday night. The first game, Buccaneers at Texans, started at 7:00 p.m. ET on ABC, ESPN, ESPN2, and ESPN Deportes. The nightcap, Chargers at Raiders, began at 10:00 p.m. ET on ESPN, ESPN Deportes, and NFL+.
The early game averaged 17.4 million viewers. The late game averaged 9.7 million viewers. The average viewership for the two games was 13.5 million.
So, yes, one game starting at the usual time on ABC, ESPN, ESPN2, and ESPN Deportes will outperform by a large margin a six-hour marathon with the first game on a big platform and the second game on a much smaller platform.
In future years, it won’t be an issue, because the NFL has pulled the plug on the Monday night doubleheader experiment. For this year, the fact that there were two games in Week 2 a year ago makes it very hard to credibly claim that there has been a dramatic increase in viewership through two weeks.
The Giants are looking at their options for adding a quarterback in the wake of Jaxson Dart’s season-ending knee injury, but it’s Jameis Winston’s show for now.
Winston replaced Dart when he was injured in Monday night’s loss to the Rams and he’s set to start against the Titans in Week 3. It’s not Winston’s first time in the role and he started two games when Dart was injured in 2025, but he called the prospect of getting almost an entire season in the role for the first time since leaving the Bucs after the 2019 season “a beautiful opportunity” to show what he’s capable of doing.
“This is what I’ve always dreamed of, to be a starting quarterback,” Winston said, via a transcript from the team. “Obviously, my respects and gratitude is just going to be with Jaxson, but at the same time, this is what I dream of. I dream of being what I am right now and executing at a high level.”
Winston did not play well against the Rams, but said he is “very confident in my ability to execute with precision” in the weeks to come. With games against the Titans, Cardinals and Commanders in the next three weeks, the Giants will need that to happen immediately or their hopes of doing more than simply surviving the season won’t be in great shape.
John Harbaugh confirmed Jaxson Dart will need surgery to repair his knee injury, but the Giants coach couched how long the quarterback might be out.
“Regular season at least, I would say,” Harbaugh said, via video from SNY Giants.
Asked a follow-up question about whether he was leaving open the possibility of Dart returning for the postseason, if the Giants qualify, Harbaugh said: “I think I said it. I said it. Regular season. Other than that, how do you know? There’s no way to know. It depends on the recovery. You can’t pinpoint it exactly.”
Dart’s absence, though, decreases the Giants’ chances of getting to the playoffs.
Dart, who was injured in Monday night’s loss to the Rams, will undergo surgery to repair damage to the MCL and the meniscus in his left knee, according to multiple reports.
The Giants initially believed Dart’s injury was not season-ending, but the MRI delivered the bad news, and he will undergo surgery soon.
“It’s a big loss for sure. It’s your starting quarterback,” Harbaugh said.
Dart was in team meetings on Wednesday, while trying to come to terms with the fact that his third season is over after only two games.
“I think he’s determined,” Harbaugh said. “He’s bummed. It’s hard. The season’s not over, but it is for him. We kind of talked about that, too. That was part of it. There’s a certain mourning that takes place.”
Jameis Winston will take over as the starter, though the Giants are in the market for a veteran quarterback to join Jake Haener behind Winston. Harbaugh said his message to the team was “it’s not a one-game man.”
“We need to be the best Giants we can be,” he said.
