Brian Flores Sends Clear Message About Caleb Banks' Early Role With Vikings

There's still plenty of time for the preseason to change things, but Brian Flores wasn't afraid to speak clearly on his expectations for Caleb Banks.

Caleb Banks at a recent Vikings practice | Alli Rusco, Minnesota Vikings

When the Minnesota Vikings drafted Caleb Banks, they knew that his ramp-up to the 2026 NFL season was going to take some time. As we approach the first game of the preseason, we may have to adjust expectations for how often he is going to be on the field as a rookie.

Banks missed most of the 2025 college season at Florida due to injury and then reaggravated a foot injury at the NFL Combine. He was not able to physically participate in OTAs or minicamp. His participation in training camp has not been limited, but he has only taken a handful of full-speed reps each day.

On Wednesday, defensive coordinator Brian Flores was asked about the progress of Banks and fellow rookie defensive tackle Domonique Orange. He indicated that he is always going to take it slow with young players.

“I’m a patient guy with rookies,” Flores said. “I think we’ve got to give them time to really get their feet in the ground ... literally on the field and figuratively just as far as understanding the pro game, the routines, the habits that they’ve got to build to really reach their optimum potential. So I think [Caleb Banks and Domonique Orange] are doing a really good job, but there’s a lot of meat left on the bone.”

Not a new approach from Flores

Flores’ track record matches his words. In 2024, first-round draft pick Dallas Turner only played 302 snaps as he developed behind Jonathan Greenard and Andrew Van Ginkel. Other players who are currently in the mix for starting jobs, like Levi Drake Rodriguez, Ty Ingram-Dawkins and Jay Ward were also not used much in their first seasons as Vikings.

Banks was talked about as a project type player coming out of college because he did not have huge production or experience at the college level. But the Vikings cut two veteran defensive tackles in the offseason, which seemed to indicate that they were going to lean on Banks’ size and raw tools right away to fill the void. That might not end up being the case from the jump.

“I know that it just takes time for most guys to get comfortable in the NFL game,” Flores said. “It’s probably 99% of players that need to develop, improve, get better, and the 1% are the guys who are All-Pro as a rookie. But oftentimes, every rookie player is putting those expectations on themselves and maybe hearing it from other people, but they’re not going to get it from me.”

If there might be a slower curve for Banks being ready to play, that wouldn’t be unusual for rookie defensive tackles. Last year, only three DTs played more than 500 snaps and one of them was fifth-overall pick Mason Graham of the Cleveland Browns.

It sounded from Flores’ comments that he will be weighing the performance of the rookie DTs in the preseason heavily into his assessment of how much they can contribute right away.

“It’s hard to play D-line in the National Football League,” Flores said. “We’ll really see more of what this is in game. But based off of what we’ve seen, they’re moving in the right direction.”

Other options will need to step up

If Banks and Orange aren’t impact players from the jump, that means that defensive tackles Ty Ingram-Dawkins and Levi Drake Rodriguez will take on a heavy workload. They have been the starters on the D-line alongside underrated standout DT Jalen Redmond.

Flores said that Ingram-Dawkins and Rodriguez have improved in their confidence coming into this year’s camp.

“They’re much more comfortable,” Flores said. “They’re much more comfortable in their techniques and fundamentals. They know their strengths.”

Last year Rodriguez played a total of 461 snaps and had 11 QB pressures and 2.0 sacks while playing the majority of those reps as a run defender. Ingram-Dawkins played 250 snaps with 174 of those coming against the run.

If Banks and Orange aren’t ready to contribute with heavy workloads right away, those numbers and roles are likely to grow.

“We’re constantly talking about and then trying to put them schematically in those positions where they do the things they do well,” Flores said.

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