Vikings’ Brian Flores says he’ll take each interview request

EAGAN, Minn. — Brian Flores is embracing his return to the NFL’s teaching carousel, three years after his tumultuous firing as coach of the Miami Dolphins.

As he nears the tip of his second season because the Minnesota Vikings‘ defensive coordinator, Flores stated Tuesday that he’ll take each interview requested. ESPN’s Adam Schefter has reported requests from two groups thus far: the Chicago Bears and the New York Jets.

Flores admitted he additionally has curiosity within the New England Patriots‘ open place, after spending the primary 15 years of his NFL profession there, and defined among the methods he believes he has grown — notably in how he would deal with an offense — since his time in Miami.

“It is an honor, definitely, that I positively do not take that flippantly,” Flores stated of receiving interview requests. “I stay up for having these conversations and speaking to individuals about my soccer journey, my management journey.”

Flores, 43, took a number of head teaching interviews in 2022 after the Dolphins fired him. However he acquired no provides and subsequently sued the NFL and a number of other groups, alleging discrimination concerning his interview processes with the Denver Broncos and New York Giants, and his firing by the Dolphins.

The NFL stripped the Dolphins of their 2023 first-round draft choose, amongst different disciplinary measures, after an investigation into accusations of tampering that surfaced in Flores’ lawsuit. The lawsuit itself continues to be working its approach by means of the authorized system and the NFL’s arbitration course of.

The lawsuit claimed that some NFL groups conduct “sham interviews” which might be scheduled solely to adjust to the league’s Rooney Rule, which now requires groups to speak to a number of candidates with various backgrounds. Flores didn’t immediately reply Tuesday if he would attempt to gauge whether or not requests for him are real or meant for rule compliance.

“I plan on taking all of them,” he stated. “I plan on sitting down and having conversations with any workforce that is focused on speaking to me about that place.”

Per NFL guidelines, the earliest the Jets or Bears might interview him is subsequent week, after the Vikings’ wild-card sport Monday night time on the Los Angeles Rams. He left little question, nevertheless, about his curiosity within the Patriots’ job, ought to proprietor Robert Kraft resolve to interview him.

“I imply, we’re speaking about going dwelling the place it began,” he stated. “So I believe that is a spot that is positively a particular place. In speaking about my soccer journey, that is the place it began. So I might say sure [to questions about his interest]. However on the identical time, it is less than me as as to if or not they might wish to speak to me or something like that.”

Flores has burnished his defensive credentials throughout his tenure with the Vikings. Throughout the workforce’s 14-3 common season, Flores’ protection ranked second within the NFL in defensive EPA, tied for first with 33 takeaways and tied for fourth in sacks (49). However after spending the 2022 season as a defensive assistant with the Pittsburgh Steelers, Flores stated he deliberately sought out jobs working for offensive-minded head coaches just like the Vikings’ Kevin O’Connell.

Flores’ offenses in Miami had the NFL’s eighth-lowest scoring common (19.9 factors per sport) throughout his tenure there. And his lack of ability to develop a relationship with quarterback Tua Tagovailoa drew headlines as lately as this summer season, when Tagovailoa referred to as Flores a “horrible particular person” in a podcast interview.

“I used to be lucky to come back right here with [O’Connell], who is without doubt one of the finest within the enterprise,” Flores stated, “and watch how he schedules, how he works with the quarterback, how I might bounce questions off him and type of choose his mind from an offensive standpoint, from his standpoint, from how he sees, how he views offense. So it has been an amazing type of marriage I might say.

“That is a part of that progress, type of seeing other ways to do it, taking all that data in, tweaking some issues from my standpoint, from a management standpoint and making use of it and seeing if it really works. And I believe I like what I’ve seen as far as making use of a few of these issues and what it is appeared like particularly this 12 months.”

Flores has spoken regularly this season about his consolation degree in Minnesota, and his household’s assimilation into the local people. So earlier than ending his weekly assembly with Minnesota reporters Tuesday, he reiterated that his time there was “incredible” and added: “It must be the suitable scenario for me to go away for me, myself and my household.”