The Dolphins And Brian Flores Are Talking Past Each Other Now

One of the most interesting approaches the side representing former Dolphins coach Brian Flores has taken since their client instigated a lawsuit against the NFL and its 32 teams, is have the former head coach go on something of a media tour.

That tour continues Tuesday night when Flores appears on a taped segment of the HBO show Real Talk with Bryant Gumbel.

And on that show Flores says he was offered and refused a non-disclosure agreement from the Miami Dolphins in exchange for being paid the final two years of his contract. That contract is worth multiple millions of dollars.

Flores declined to sign the NDA despite the fact, according to him, Dolphins owner Stephen Ross himself requested it.

Here's the exchange on the show per HBO's excerpt released to the media between Gumbel, Flores and Flores attorneys John Elefterakis and Doug Wigdor:

BRYANT GUMBEL: How much-- how much money did you wind up leaving on the table by-- by choosing to not sign that agreement?

BRIAN FLORES: A lot.

BRYANT GUMBEL: A good-- a good amount.

BRIAN FLORES: A lot-- a lotta money.

BRYANT GUMBEL: What's a good amount?

JOHN ELEFTERAKIS: It was millions of dollars.

DOUG WIGDOR: It was two years-- it was two years-- it was a contract, and-- and he-- you know, to-- to-- to Coach Flores' credit, you know, he wasn't gonna sign that, because he wanted-- it wasn't about the money. If it was about the money he would have signed it. What he did instead was he filed this lawsuit so that he could help other coaches, now and in the-- and in the future.

DOUG WIGDOR: But in terms of the NDAs, I mean this is-- this is how they run their playbook. So if a coach in--

BRYANT GUMBEL: They being the owners?

DOUG WIGDOR: The owners. So-- so if-- if a contract-- if-- if a coach is terminated with a couple years or a year left on their contract, they don't get paid, to John's point, unless they sign a waiver, an NDA, confidentiality, and non-disparagement. So they buy their silence.

BRYANT GUMBEL: It was Steve Ross who asked you to sign the NDA. Ultimately, the owner of the Dolphins. You chose not to.

BRIAN FLORES: Uh-huh (AFFIRM).

Well, the Dolphins weren't happy with Flores saying Ross himself asked the coach to sign the NDA. So they released a statement:

“This latest assertion by Brian Flores that Steve Ross mentioned an NDA to him is categorically false," the statement reads. "This just did not happen and we simply cannot understand why Brian continues this pattern of making unfounded statements that he knows are untrue. We are fully cooperating with the NFL investigation and look forward to all of the facts coming out which we are confident will prove that his claims are false and defamatory.”

So ball in their court, the Flores attorneys released their own response:

And so what do we know?

Well, it seems the Flores attorneys are not responding to the actual issue which is that Flores is claiming Ross himself asked for the NDA and Ross is vehemently denying this.

Did the Dolphins themselves ask for the NDA? Absolutely.

The evidence is in the law firm's tweet but, frankly, this practice is standard among many NFL teams.

Bottom line: Lawyers are going at it fighting over Flores inartfully saying, "uh-huhh," to a direct question on television.

And now you understand why many litigants in a lawsuit simply let the evidence speak on their behalf.

Follow on Twitter: @ArmandoSalguero