![Eric Dickerson [Mick Powell/Getty Images]](https://images.dailycaller.com/image/width=960,height=411,fit=cover,f=auto/https://cdn01.dailycaller.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/05-05-2015Albinism_NotGhost5-e1452654368288.jpg "Eric Dickerson [Mick Powell/Getty Images]")
Football legend Eric Dickerson said the NFL should address social justice in the league by hiring the first black commissioner.
“We’re being told basically that we’re good enough to play the game, but that we don’t have the brainpower to coach the game,” Dickerson told OSDB Sports on the day of the Los Angeles Rams’ Super Bowl victory parade. The outlet published his comments in a piece Thursday. (RELATED: David Hookstead Is The True King In The North When It Comes To College Football)
“The only way this is going to change is at the top of the power structure,” he added. (RELATED: Buccaneers Remove Head Coach Jon Gruden From Ring Of Honor In Stadium)
Eric Dickerson says one of the first steps the NFL needs to make following the Brian Flores lawsuit is to hire a new, Black commissioner. https://t.co/Y7SJMTFsIV
— TMZ (@TMZ) February 17, 2022
“We need a Black Commissioner in the NFL, and Black ownership for at least a few teams. A shift in power is the only thing that will change the way it is,” the Rams veteran explained. “You’re not going to make everyone happy, and I understand that. That’s not how life works, but we need to make real progress.”
He also said it would be “great” to see more black head coaches “on the sidelines.” There are currently only three black coaches in the NFL.
Former Miami Dolphins head coach Brian Flores recently filed a lawsuit against the NFL, the New York Giants, Dolphins and Denver Broncos alleging racially discriminatory hiring practices. The former head coach accused the Giants of only interviewing him in order to be in compliance with the league’s Rooney Rule. Under the rule, teams must interview at least two minority candidates not associated with their team when they have open head coaching positions, ESPN noted.
The Giants, who later hired Brian Daboll, denied the allegation. In a statement, the team said the “specific claims against the Giants and Mr. Flores’ allegations about the legitimacy of his candidacy for our head coach position are disturbing and simply false.”
The Broncos were named regarding a 2019 interview he had with the team. In the suit, Flores alleged that Elway and several others “showed up an hour late to the interview” looking “completely disheveled, and it was obvious that they had drinking (sic) heavily the night before.”
Dolphins owner Stephen Ross was also mentioned in the suit, and Flores claimed the owner allegedly offered him $100,000 for every game the team lost that season, ESPN noted.
The Dolphins have issued a statement that they “vehemently deny any allegations of racial discrimination.” A statement from the Broncos called the allegations against the team “blatantly false,” according to the Denver Post. The NFL also said in a statement Flores’ claims were “without merit.”