Could Brian Flores leave the Vikings due to behind-the-scenes drama?

What's going on with Brian Flores and the Minnesota Vikings?

While Flores is rumored to be a head coaching candidate for the Raiders, and other teams like the Cowboys could be interested in bringing him in as their defensive coordinator, there is smoke billowing in Minnesota around a potential behind-the-scenes fire that has been burning between Flores and others in the organization.

The concerning report comes from Jon Krawczynski, the longtime Minnesota sports reporter who specializes in covering the Timberwolves and the NBA. In an interview with KFAN-FM 100.3's Dan Barreiro on Monday, Krawczynski indicated that Flores could leave the Vikings in a lateral move as a defensive coordinator because of whatever is allegedly happening behind closed doors.

"The way that I've looked at it and talked to people about it over the last several weeks, it has changed, to me, the temperature of the water in a way. I'll say it in two ways. One is, I was sort of under the impression that, given Brian Flores' lawsuit against the league and given how things ended in Miami and the confrontational nature of that, the chances of him getting another head coaching job was very minimal, with how owners operate. That said, it does seem like there's real momentum toward a job with the Raiders, with Tom Brady hiring him as the head coach and maybe Brian Daboll or something like that as the offensive coordinator. I think that is more real than anything that I expected to be discussed from a head coaching standpoint at this point," Krawczynski began.

"The second part... there does seem to be some sort of murmurings of discontent, of a butting of heads behind the scenes with other people in the organization, that there is some intrigue about, even if he didn't get the Raiders job or another head coaching job, that there still is a real possibility that Flores could leave for another defensive coordinator job."

What is allegedly happening to strain Flores' relationship with Minnesota?

"I can't tell you the exact nature of the conflict, or of the drama behind the scenes, but there is something going on that does lead me to believe that it is not a foregone conclusion that he would stay here to be a coordinator, that he could leave to go elsewhere, which I think would be a disaster for the Vikings, and it would be a terrible look," Krawczynski said.

"But yeah, there is something going on there. Maybe, maybe it's a little bit of negotiating on Flores' part to try and get every last bit of dollars that are coming his way. But there does seem to be some real talk behind the scenes of, you know what, it's not all hunky-dory behind the scenes with Brian Flores and with this organization, and there are some other things that they have to navigate before they could get a deal done with him."

When pressed on the matter, Krawczynski said he and his colleague at The Athletic, Alec Lewis, have been sniffing around the issue for a little more than a week.

"I wish I could give specific problems that are happening, and I don't have them," he said. "I just can't say because I don't have the specifics of it nailed down enough to report it and say it with confidence.

"What I can say is that, yes, there have been conversations around his situation, and just, like, I'll say the whispers that everything is not completely right in that world. And it is more than, it's not just a simple, that if Brian Flores does not take a head coaching job, he's absolutely 100% sure gonna lock down here with the Vikings. There's just more to it. Certainly, Alec and I and others will be looking into that more, but yeah, it's kind of been a talking point around the team that's been circulating for the last 10 days or so."

Clearly, this is a situation that will require monitoring going forward.

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