Flores began his coaching career in New England.
The New England Patriots are currently set to interview four candidates for their head coach opening. One name not yet on the list: Minnesota Vikings defensive coordinator Brian Flores.
Flores, who began his professional coaching career with the Patriots in 2008, would be interested if his former club came calling.
“I mean, we’re talking about going home where it all started,” Flores told Minnesota reporters on Tuesday. “So I think that’s a place that’s definitely a special place. In talking about my football journey, that’s where it started. So I would say, yes. But at the same time, it’s not up to me as to whether or not they would want to talk to me or anything like that. That’s kind of my thought on that.”
Starting in New England as special teams coach and offensive assistant, Flores first moved over to the defensive side of the ball in 2011 as a general assistant. He was then promoted to safeties coach in 2012 before moving to linebackers in 2016.
While never being given the defensive coordinator title, Flores called plays in 2019 as the Patriots went on to win a Super Bowl — with his defense holding Sean McVay’s Rams to just three points.
Flores then got his first head coaching opportunity the next season with the Miami Dolphins. He held the role for three years and posted two winning seasons while ending his tenure 24-25. After a strained relationship with him and young quarterback Tua Tagovailoa, Flores was fired at the conclusion of the 2022 season.
Less than a month after his firing, Flores filed a class-action lawsuit against the NFL and three different organization for alleged racial discrimination. Flores argued against teams for conducting sham interviews with him as a minority candidate. Additionally, he alleged that Dolphins owner Stephen Ross offered him additional money for tanking games for better draft picks.
Despite the ongoing case, Flores found work the next month as a senior defensive assistant and linebackers coach under Mike Tomlin with the Pittsburgh Steelers. He held that role for one season before being hired as the Minnesota Vikings defensive coordinator.
In Minnesota, Flores has led one of the league’s best defenses over the last two years behind his unique disguises and pressure schemes. This year, the Vikings boast the fifth-best scoring defense in football and are tied for first with 33 takeaways and fourth in sacks (49).
The performance from his defenses has propelled Flores’ name back to the top of potential head coaching candidates — although the ongoing legal situation and past relationship with Tagovailoa may cause hesitancy among teams.
After spending the past few seasons under Mike Tomlin and specifically Kevin O’Connell — one of the best young coaches in the game in developing relationships with players and QBs — Flores, however, has been able to grow from his past approach.
“I was fortunate to come here with [O’Connell], who is one of the best in the business and watch how he schedules, how he works with the quarterback,” said Flores, “how I could bounce questions off him and kind of pick his brain from an offensive standpoint, from his standpoint, from how he sees, how he views offense. So it’s been a great kind of marriage I would say.
“That’s part of that growth. Kind of seeing different ways to do it, taking all that information in, tweaking some things from my standpoint, from a leadership standpoint and applying it and seeing if it works. And I think I like what I’ve seen so far as applying some of those things and what it’s looked like specifically this year.”
The Patriots have currently interviewed, or are set to interview, Ben Johnson, Mike Vrabel, Byron Leftwich, and Pep Hamilton for the head coach opening. If they would like to meet with Flores, they can do so virtually on Jan. 16 due to his Vikings playing in the Wild Card round this weekend.
“These head coaching requests are an honor, certainly, that I definitely don’t take that lightly,” Flores said Tuesday. “I look forward to having those conversations and talking to people about my football journey, my leadership journey.”