Insider Says Vikings Made Brian Flores an Offer He Couldn't Refuse

A huge piece of Minnesota Vikings news dropped on Wednesday evening, with the team announcing that defensive coordinator Brian Flores has signed a new contract to remain with the franchise — pending a couple head coaching searches elsewhere in the league.

Flores' previous three-year deal expired after the season, making him a coaching free agent. That meant other teams could court him to be their defensive coordinator, and he even took an interview with the Commanders for that position.

Now, with this contract done, the only way Flores won't be the Vikings' DC in 2026 is if he's a head coach somewhere else. He's a legitimate candidate for the Steelers' vacancy, having interviewed with Pittsburgh twice. He also interviewed once with the Ravens, though he doesn't currently seem to be among the favorites to land that job. As long as the Steelers end up going in a different direction, it appears Flores will remain in Minnesota.

Brian Flores | Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images

On Thursday morning, NFL Network insider Tom Pelissero said the Vikings made Flores a "huge offer" to convince him to stick around.

"Really, they had agreed to terms last week, but it got finalized and signed yesterday," Pelissero said on KFAN's The Power Trip. "My understanding is they made a huge offer, the type that Flores as a D-coordinator was not gonna be able to refuse."

Dating back to the end of the regular season, Vikings head coach Kevin O'Connell expressed confidence that the team would get something worked out with Flores to keep him around, provided he didn't end up as a head coach somewhere. It took a few weeks, which led to plenty of speculation, including some rumors of behind-the-scenes drama that may or may not have had any sort of legitimacy.

Flores himself said publicly that he's enjoyed his time in Minnesota. But money was always going to be a big factor, and it sounds like he'll be compensated quite well to remain the Vikings' DC. He certainly deserves it, given how essential he's been to the team's success over the past few years.

"He could've said, you know what, it's been a good three years, I'm not getting the head coaching opportunities that I might think that I should be getting, I'm gonna go someplace else and see whether that changes," Pelissero said. "He decided Minnesota was the right place for him. There were millions of reasons for him to decide that it was the right place for him. We'll see what shakes out in those head coaching searches, but right now, it looks like he'll be back in Minnesota."

FLO!!!

The #Vikings have signed Defensive Coordinator Brian Flores to a contract extension.

📰: https://t.co/vQOhYZmNq6 pic.twitter.com/LncdfXrgze
— Minnesota Vikings (@Vikings) January 22, 2026

All eyes in Minnesota are now on the Steelers' search for a head coach. Vikings fans have to hope Pittsburgh ultimately settles on Mike McCarthy, Chris Shula, Nate Scheelhaase, or one of their other non-Flores candidates.

It would be a bit of a gut punch to the fan base if Flores does end up getting the Steelers job, especially with defensive backs coach Daronte Jones interviewing for various DC jobs. A world may still exist where the Vikings need a Plan C at defensive coordinator.

But if Flores does end up being hired by Pittsburgh, the one piece of good news for the Vikings is that they'd receive a third-round compensatory pick in each of the next two drafts, per a 2020 addition to The Rooney Rule. Previously, there was some question about whether or not the Vikings would get those picks if Flores got a head coaching job, considering he wasn't under contract in Minnesota.

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