EAGAN, Minn. — Vikings defensive coordinator Brian Flores left no doubt Tuesday. As the NFL’s head coaching carousel ramps up this winter, he wants to be a part of it.
“Look,” Flores said on “The Adam Schefter Podcast.” “There’s only 32 of these jobs, so I would certainly want to be a head coach in this league again.”
The Vikings’ defense ranks No. 1 in the NFL based on DVOA, making Flores one of the NFL’s top-performing assistant coaches this season. But before speaking to Schefter, Flores had left questions about his future largely unaddressed since his controversial ouster as the Miami Dolphins’ coach after the 2021 season.
He subsequently sued the NFL and several teams, alleging discrimination regarding his interview processes with Denver and New York and his firing by the Miami Dolphins. The NFL stripped the Dolphins of their 2023 draft pick, among other disciplinary measures, after an investigation into accusations of tampering that surfaced in Flores’ lawsuit. But the lawsuit itself is still working its way through the legal system and the NFL’s arbitration process.
Flores spent the 2022 season with the Pittsburgh Steelers before joining the Vikings. He confirmed after the 2023 season that no NFL teams requested a head-coaching interview. Since then, he has been forced to address criticism from Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa, who referred to Flores as a “terrible person” in an interview this summer. Another former Dolphins quarterback, Ryan Fitzpatrick, said in 2023 that Tagovailoa “was broken” by Flores’ coaching methods.
Speaking Tuesday to Schefter, Flores said there exists a public misconception of his time with the Dolphins.
“I think a lot of people view the Miami experience as [if] I see it as all negative,” he said. “I really don’t. I think it was a great experience for me and my family. There’s so much that I learned during my time there that’s made me a much, much better coach today … better in a lot of areas. And just in reflecting on that time, there’s things that obviously I would like to do better, but there’s also a lot of things that I would continue to implement.
“But it wasn’t all negative. Obviously, there was some things that I would have done better but I thought it was a great experience and I’ve really, really come out of it in positive way and excited about where I am now. I really learned a lot from him it.”
Flores has spoken often this season about the football and social comfort zone he has found in Minnesota and joked with Schefter on Tuesday that his family might put up “some resistance” to moving away.
“But for me personally,” he said, “I think [being a head coach] is something that I would love to do again.”