Korn Ferry document from Raiders’ HC search released
Back in August, Brian Flores’ legal battle with the NFL took an interesting turn when it was reported that a mystery document previously sealed by a judge might contain evidence proving discriminatory hiring practices by the NFL, and specifically in this case, a firm hired by the Raiders to assist in one of the team’s recent head coaching searches.
At the time of the report, NBC Sports host Mike Florio said there was a belief among Flores and his legal team that they possessed a “smoking gun” within the documents produced by the Korn Ferry consulting firm.
The contents of that “smoking gun” remained a mystery for two months, but on Tuesday the document was released to the public.
The Korn Ferry document listed the perceived “strengths and weaknesses” of Flores as a head coaching candidate and made a number of statements on his personal history and suggestions on his character.
Front Office Sports spoke with one of Flores’ attorneys and the claim in their report was that a specific paragraph stood out in the Korn Ferry document.
The paragraph highlighted by FOS can be found at the bottom left of the document (above)…
“Polished and a good presenter despite growing up in Brownsville, Brooklyn (same as Mike Tyson). He was able to build a strong friendship with a billionaire’s son which gave him opportunities to socialize and learn how to build relationships with white-collar and upper-class individuals.”
Raiders appear to be in the clear
The initial report connecting the Raiders to a “smoking gun” in the Flores litigation was obviously not ideal.
It wasn’t long ago the Raiders and Jon Gruden were burned by another series of mystery documents, and with so little information on the Korn Kerry document sealed in court, the imagination was free to run wild.
As it turns out, the document released on Tuesday had little to do with the Raiders and the information presented by Korn Kerry was not a lot more than what has already been reported over the years.
Most were already familiar with Flores’ story along with the ups and downs of his coaching career.
As for any racial bias or potential evidence that hurts the NFL’s case in court, that’s a more complicated conversation that probably won’t be sorted out in court anytime soon.
x: @raidersbeat
