Steve Wilks, Ray Horton join Brian Flores' lawsuit against NFL, teams, in alleging racism in hiring practices

Lawyers for former Miami Dolphins' head coach Brian Flores, who is suing the NFL for racial discrimination in its hiring practices, added two more former NFL coaches to an amended complaint on Thursday.

Steve Wilks, who was the Arizona Cardinals' head coach for one season in 2018, and Ray Horton, an NFL assistant since 1994 who interviewed for the Tennessee Titans' head-coaching job in 2016, are now part of the lawsuit filed against the NFL, the Dolphins, the Denver Broncos, the New York Giants, the Houston Texans, the Titans and the Cardinals, plus 26 other «John Doe» NFL teams. The Titans, Cardinals and Texans were added to the suit as part of the amendment as well.

Flores' attorneys allege in the amended complaint that the Texans «retaliated» against Flores by removing him from consideration for their head-coaching vacancy «due to his decision to file this action and speak publicly about systemic discrimination in the NFL.»

The amended lawsuit was filed in the Southern District of New York. It asks for, among other things, increased transparency in NFL hiring, incentives for hiring Black coaches and increased visibility for Black assistant coaches.

Lawyers say that Wilks was discriminated against as a «bridge coach» who was «not given any meaningful chance to succeed. Wilks was 3-13 in one season with Arizona before being fired and replaced by Kliff Kingsbury. Lawyers wrote that while Kingsbury has been successful, „Mr. Wilks, given the same opportunity afforded to Mr. Kingsbury, surely would have succeeded as well.“

»When Coach Flores filed this action, I knew I owed it to myself, and to all Black NFL coaches and aspiring coaches, to stand with him," Wilks said in a statement released by his lawyers. «This lawsuit