Sean Desai Withdraws From Vikings DC Search: Down to Brian Flores and Ejiro Evero?

Seahawks associate head coach/defensive assistant Sean Desai has withdrawn his name from consideration for the Vikings' open defensive coordinator position, according to Mike Klis of 9NEWS in Denver. Desai is set to interview with the Broncos for their DC vacancy.

Not only have Broncos requested interview for Seattle associate HC Sean Desai for DC but Desai has withdrawn from consideration for MIN DC job, per source.
Desai interviewed w/Vikings last wk. Wants to concentrate on DEN. Vic Fangio recommended Denver to Desai. #9sports
— Mike Klis (@mikeklis) February 3, 2023

Desai was one of four candidates the Vikings interviewed last week, and is now the second who is no longer in the mix. Ryan Nielsen was hired to be the Falcons' defensive coordinator.

That leaves Brian Flores and in-house option Mike Pettine, plus Ejiro Evero, who the Vikings are hoping to interview. Pettine feels like more of a fall-back plan, which could mean the Vikings' goal is to land either Flores or Evero. Still, that's no sure thing.

Flores, who was spotted chatting with Minnesota GM Kwesi Adofo-Mensah at the Senior Bowl earlier this week, is in the mix for multiple other jobs. He's in the running for the Arizona Cardinals' head coaching vacancy, with one sportsbook recently listing him as the odds-on favorite to land that job. Flores is also now a candidate for the Broncos' DC opening under Sean Payton.

Evero is also a hot commodity. He's interviewed with both the Cardinals and Colts for their head coach openings, and if he doesn't land either one, Payton and the Broncos may push for him to return. It seems like Denver has ended up with three current or former Vikings candidates in Flores, Desai, and Evero.

It'll be interesting to see how this plays out and how each domino affects the rest of the landscape. If Flores gets the Cardinals job and Evero goes to the Colts or stays as the Broncos' DC, the Vikings will suddenly either have to promote Pettine or re-open their search to new external candidates. That's also true if Evero gets the Colts or Cardinals job and Flores ends up in Denver.

In those situations, the Vikings' plan seemed to be Desai. But now he's withdrawn, so that's no longer an option. You have to wonder if he felt like he was just a backup plan for Minnesota after interviewing a week ago.

There's also the matter of defensive personnel. The Broncos would seem to be a more appealing DC position, given the state of their roster and the state of Minnesota's. The Vikings had an awful defense last year. There are numerous expensive, past-their-prime veterans on that side of the ball who may or may not be back in 2023, and there's not much proven young talent waiting in the wings. It doesn't help that basically all of the Vikings' rookie defensive players got injured last season.

The Vikings' hope has to be that neither Flores nor Evero are hired for one of the two final head coaching vacancies. Let's say the Cardinals hire Lou Anarumo or Brian Callahan or Mike Kafka and Colts owner Jim Irsay gets his way and hires Jeff Saturday full-time. That means even if Evero or Flores get the Denver job, the other one might decide to join the Vikings.

This remains a fascinating ongoing process.

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