Four Thoughts on the Vikings Landing Brian Flores as Their Next Defensive Coordinator
The Minnesota Vikings made a splashy, exciting hire on Sunday, landing Brian Flores as their next defensive coordinator. 18 days after firing Ed Donatell, Kwesi Adofo-Mensah and Kevin O'Connell have replaced him with someone who will bring a much different approach to the Vikings' defense in 2023.
At least externally, the outlook of the Vikings' DC search was starting to look slightly bleak this weekend. After previous interviewees Ryan Nielsen and Sean Desai dropped out of the running, alleged top candidate Ejiro Evero spurned the Vikings without an interview when he joined the Panthers' coaching staff on Sunday. That meant Minnesota was down to Flores and in-house option Mike Pettine, with Flores scheduled to interview for the Broncos' DC job on Tuesday and the Cardinals' head coaching vacancy on Wednesday.
Instead, before even taking those interviews, Flores decided to join O'Connell's staff — and thousands of Vikings fans across Minnesota and beyond felt a simultaneous sense of relief and elation over this crucial hire.
Here are four thoughts on the Vikings landing Flores as their DC.
He comes with quite the impressive track record
Flores is arguably overqualified to be a defensive coordinator, even though he'll be holding that position for the first time in his career. His track record suggests that this has a strong chance to be a home run hire for the Vikings.
After breaking into the NFL with the Patriots' scouting department, Flores spent 11 seasons as an assistant coach under Bill Belichick. Notably, that means he was on the coaching staff when O'Connell was drafted by the Patriots and spent 16 months there. Flores was an important part of some dominant defenses in New England, spending his final seven seasons with Belichick as a position coach (first safeties, then linebackers). During Flores' tenure, the Patriots made eight consecutive AFC title games and won Super Bowls following the 2014, 2016, and 2018 seasons.
Flores called defensive plays in the '18 season, a year that culminated in the Patriots holding the high-flying Rams offense to 3 points in the Super Bowl. Belichick obviously also played a huge role, but Flores called the plays as Sean McVay and Jared Goff were completely stymied in that game.
In 2019, Flores was hired as the Dolphins' head coach. He took over a team with minimal talent, going 5-11 in year one with one of the league's worst defenses. It didn't take him long to turn things around. In 2020, the Dolphins went 10-6 and shot up to sixth in scoring defense and 11th in defensive DVOA. Despite missing the playoffs by one game, Flores finished third in coach of the year voting. In 2021, the Dolphins started 1-7 but got red hot in the second half to finish 9-8, recording their first back-to-back winning seasons in nearly 20 years. They were 10th in defensive DVOA that year.
Flores was fired after the season and ended up filing a class-action lawsuit against the NFL alleging racial discrimination in hiring practices. It was a messy situation. He spent last year as the linebackers coach and senior defensive assistant on Mike Tomlin's Steelers staff. Now Flores gets to run a defense again — something he has proven capable of doing at a high level.
By all accounts, Flores is an excellent leader who connects with his players and holds them to a high standard. He'll bring a level of toughness to Minnesota that seemed to be missing at times in 2022.
Expect the Vikings' defense to look quite different and be much more aggressive
With Flores in tow, the Vikings will be changing schemes again this offseason. Donatell ran a Fangio-style defense that often sat back in zone coverage looks and rarely sent more than four pass rushers at the quarterback. Flores won't be doing that. The exact details of his scheme will be influenced by the Vikings' personnel, but what we know for sure is that Minnesota will be using more man coverage and sending more blitzes this season.
Aggressiveness is the name of the game for Flores, which will be a welcome sight for fans who thought the Vikings were too passive under Donatell. The Dolphins blitzed 31.6 percent of the time in 2019 (per PFR), which ranked 11th. That number jumped up to 40.8 percent in 2020 and 39.6 percent in 2021, both of which ranked second in the league. For context, the Vikings were at 18.9 percent last season.
The Dolphins ran man coverage over half the time during Flores' tenure, which was among the highest figures in the NFL. The Vikings utilized man coverage very infrequently under Donatell. Flores is known as a master of disguise, using a variety of blitzes, simulated pressures, and other looks to confuse quarterbacks post-snap. In 2020, the Dolphins led the league by creating 29 takeaways. They forced 26 more in 2021, which was still a top-ten mark.
Flores will likely be heavily involved in personnel decisions moving forward
Hiring Flores means the Vikings will now look to upgrade their defensive personnel by keeping and adding players who fit what he wants to do. With the NFL scouting combine, free agency, and the draft coming up in the next few months, it's fair to assume Flores will work closely with Adofo-Mensah and O'Connell on roster decisions regarding the defensive side of the ball.
What might that mean for some of the Vikings' current expensive veterans? Danielle Hunter and Za'Darius Smith figure to be a huge part of what Flores wants to execute in terms of pressure packages. Harrison Smith might also be more likely to return than he would've been in another scheme; he's more valuable as a do-it-all defender who spends time in the box than he is as a simple deep safety. Bringing back Dalvin Tomlinson could make sense depending on the price. Either Eric Kendricks or Jordan Hicks will presumably be gone to make room for Brian Asamoah in the starting lineup.
Cornerback is going to be a big focus this offseason. If the Vikings are going to maximize Flores' man-heavy scheme, they need corners who can thrive in press coverage. That might mean Patrick Peterson, who excelled in Donatell's scheme, doesn't return. The Vikings have some interesting young talent at CB with Andrew Booth Jr., Akayleb Evans, and Cameron Dantzler, but they'll almost certainly add at least one starting-caliber corner via free agency or the draft, particularly considering Booth and Evans have injury concerns.
If he's healthy, Lewis Cine should also benefit quite a bit from Flores' presence. His all-around skill set is a great fit for a Flores defense.
Don't worry about the possibility that Flores goes one-and-done
Flores was a finalist for the Cardinals' head coaching job before ultimately deciding to join the Vikings' staff. He was in the mix for head coaching jobs last offseason, too, after his three-year tenure in Miami. Flores, who turns 42 later this month, could easily end up being a head coach again in the near future, perhaps as soon as next season.
That possibility might be a concern to fans hoping for long-term stability on defense after Donatell went one-and-done. No one wants to see the Vikings' DC position under O'Connell turn into what the OC role was under Mike Zimmer. Still, the potential for Flores to leave next offseason isn't something to worry about. If that happens, it'll likely be because he engineered an impressive one-year turnaround of the Vikings' defense during a successful season.
In an ideal world, the Vikings will have Flores for several years as their defense becomes a strength again and they compete for championships. But if he leaves after this season or the following one, it'll be because he's done his job well. That would be considered a good problem to have.
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