Vikings coach Kevin O’Connell spoke at length at his end-of-season press conference Wednesday about wanting to support Brian Flores as Minnesota’s defensive coordinator pursues head coaching vacancies.
Flores has interviewed for Baltimore’s top job, and could very well be a legitimate candidate for Steelers’ position after Mike Tomlin on Tuesday walked away from Pittsburgh, where Flores served as the linebackers coach before coming to Minnesota.
“I’m really excited for him,” O’Connell said. “I think it’s important that he totally commits to going through this process, especially the head coaching process, and put his best foot forward, which I know he will. He’s been through it before. I’m not surprised people are wanting to talk to him about that role.”
That’s how every professional sports organization speaks of its assistants with the potential to climb the coaching ladder. But what about Flores’ other opportunities — the seemingly lateral ones that exist?
He’s a free agent this offseason, available to land with another team not just as a head coach but also a defensive coordinator.
That’s a rarity in the NFL. Generally, if one of your coordinators is doing a good job, that person is inked to an extension before this point is ever reached. There’s nothing about a coordinator contract with the Vikings that would keep Flores from pursuing head coaching opportunities.
O’Connell insinuated Minnesota has tried to get a deal done with Flores prior to this point, to no avail. He doesn’t take that any type of way, noting his relationship with his defensive coordinator is “super strong” — O’Connell said the two talk “almost every day” — and that, based on their conversations, he has “a lot of confidence we’re going to be able to get something done with him as our defensive coordinator.”
O’Connell noted players like to reach free agency to learn their markets. Perhaps Flores wanted the same in this situation. What better negotiating tactic when hashing out a new deal with Minnesota than to field several lucrative offers for the same position with other teams?
Maybe that’s all this is. But, professionally, it could also make sense for Flores to seek employment elsewhere.
If he doesn’t land a head coaching gig in this cycle, he’ll be able to gauge what the true interest was from teams to acquire his services via the quantity and quality of head coaching interviews. If he was truly on the precipice of landing one of those 32 lucrative jobs, maybe maintaining his status quo makes sense for another season.
But if Flores isn’t pursued to the degree you’d think one of the game’s elite defensive minds should be, he may have to think differently.
He is at a disadvantage because of his ongoing litigation against the NFL. There probably are owners who are hesitant — right or wrong — to hire him to lead their organizations because of how the entire situation in Miami — his prior head coaching job — played out.
Flores may have to establish himself as the clear-cut, undeniably best candidate in a cycle in order to secure a job. Is the path to doing so by staying in Minnesota, where the notoriety isn’t exactly oozing and future success isn’t guaranteed thanks to the Vikings murky quarterback situation?
Nothing is a given in this league, especially for coordinators, who are the often the easiest scape goats. As an offensive coordinator, Kliff Kingsbury guided an explosive Commanders’ offense to the NFC title game a year ago. Now, he’s out of a job.
Flores was brilliant this season, but the shine on his achievements was somewhat muted by the team’s flubs.
But if he went somewhere else — say, Washington or Dallas — and turned around a second defense in a short window, perhaps leading to championship-level team success thanks to the cemented quarterback play on the other side of the ball, that would be impossible for any organization to ignore.
O’Connell vowed the Vikings are being “aggressive” in their pursuit of retaining the defensive coordinator who reimagined Minnesota’s defense in a three-year window. He lauded the relationship he and Flores have established.
That all needs to not only be true, but carry as much water in the mind of Flores as it does with O’Connell. Because the decision facing the veteran coach isn’t clear cut.
The path from where Flores is now professionally to where he wants to be in the near future may not require one direct flight via Minnesota.
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