Former Miami Dolphins coach Brian Flores said that reading the text messages he received from New England Patriots GM Bill Belichick was humiliating. The alleged exchange, as per Flores, showed he was called for an interview by the New York Giants only to fulfill NFL’s Rooney rule and the choice of the head coach was already made.

Flores sued the NFL and three teams – Miami Dolphins, the Denver Broncos and the New York Giants – on Tuesday over alleged racist hiring practices for coaches and general managers.  

The suit, which was submitted by Wigdor LLC to the U.S. District Court in the Southern District of New York, contained a  text exchange purportedly between Flores and Bill Belichick. It says that the New England’s coach accidentally told Flores that the Giants had already chosen Brian Daboll for the job, three days before he was set to interview for the position.

Speaking on CNN’s New Day, the former Dolphins coach said that he experienced anger and disbelief on reading the messages. 

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“It was humiliating to be quite honest. There was disbelief, there was anger, there was a wave of emotions for a lot of reasons…”

“Is this real? Am I wasting my time? But, look, I just put my best foot forward. That’s what I’ve always done. … I’ve been a long shot my entire life. So I figured I’d put my best foot forward and interview to the best of my ability, but there was also this sliver of hope that I had. Maybe I’m naive to what really goes on behind the scenes,” Flores said. 

Flores, 40, was fired last month by Miami after leading the Dolphins to a 24-25 record over three years. They went 9-8 in their second straight winning season, but failed to make the playoffs during his tenure.