Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - EMERGENCY POD: Brian Flores signs extension

Episode Date: January 22, 2026

Matthew Coller reacts to the Vikings signing Brian Flores to a contract extension. He will stay if he doesn't get a HC job. The Purple Insider podcast is brought to you by FanDuel. Also, check out our sponsor HIMS at https://hims.com/purpleinsider Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See https://pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hey, everybody, welcome to an emergency episode of Purple Insider, Matthew Collar, here, the show, of course, presented by Fandul. And here's the news, my friends, Brian Flores has signed a contract extension with the Minnesota Vikings and will continue as the Vikings defensive coordinator so long as he does not get a head coaching job. And he has interviewed twice with the Pittsburgh Steelers. once with the Baltimore Ravens. So it's not out of the question that he could still be a legitimate and viable candidate for the Pittsburgh Steelers head coaching position. But this is an enormous day for the Minnesota Vikings to get this done with Brian Flores. I mean, I think there's no question about it that Flores, his overhaul of the Minnesota Vikings defense

over the last three years, has been one of the most impressive jobs that I've seen, well, covering this team and even if you go around the national football league for a coordinator to have the type of impact that Brian Flores has had on the Minnesota Vikings, on their defense, on their overall success last year and the fact that they were able to get over 500 this year. He is as unique as they come in this league, as valuable as they come in this league. somebody who has been not only an innovator, but also an identifier of talent for guys who fit his defense and will go over what this means for the offseason and how the Minnesota Vikings

will now approach their free agency, their draft, knowing that, again, barring the fact that he could still get a head coaching job, barring a head coaching job that he will go forward here with the Minnesota Vikings. And while it has been very interesting over the last couple of weeks to talk about and to wonder, what is it that made Brian Flores want to seek out potential opportunities for lateral moves, and he did have one interview reportedly with the Washington commanders to take over potentially their defensive coordinator position, it always seemed like there was a good chance that he would come back to the Vikings if you believe the way that Kevin O'Connell was talking about it.

And I had no reason not to believe when Kevin O'Connell said that they were being, quote, aggressive and that they wanted Brian Flores back if he did not get a head coaching job, that this team understands the value of Brian Flores and how difficult it would be to try to replace him. And there was a lot of questions from fans about like, hey, why haven't they interviewed other defensive coordinators? And I guess I wondered as well, like, shouldn't you start preparing for the potential of losing Flores, which again, they still could if he gets hired by the Pittsburgh Steelers. But maybe one of the main reasons that they didn't bring in a Rahim Morris, that they didn't bring in other potential DC candidates is because they were getting closer and closer to locking in. Brian Flores as the defensive coordinator of the Minnesota Vikings. And I was just looking at this yesterday.

And we can really use the data to pinpoint how unique Brian Flores player usage is, how unique his blitzing is, and what the defense was able to do, despite the fact that the Vikings were in the bottom five offensively in time of possession. Now, think about that. The offense was bottom five as far as. how often they were on the field. And yet the Vikings finished allowing only 333 points, which put them on par with the teams that were playing this weekend.

And they were one of the best run and past defenses in the NFL by expected points added. And I think one of the most impressive things that Flores did, along with a long list of impressive things over the years. And we'll go through them and kind of that resume will look back and then we'll look forward as well as the Vikings, if you're just joining, getting Brian Flores back on a contract extension. But if we look through this year in particular, things did not start out necessarily as well as we expected on the defensive side,

in part because of some very serious injuries. They did not have Harrison Smith early in the season due to a health issue. And then Andrew Van Ginkle goes down and Blake Cashman goes down. and those are their three best communicators and most dynamic pieces. So they struggled at times and also with some of the run defense early on, which was, of course, in part because of the offenses struggles. But the adjustment that they were able to make midway through the season to the way that they used Jonathan Allen, Jvon Hargrave and Jalen Redman on the field at the same time,

the way that they ramped up the aggressiveness, even from the typical Brian Flores aggressiveness to a through the roof, Brian Flores aggressive defense toward the end of the season where they absolutely dominated the Detroit Lions. I think the most memorable performance for the defense of the year, where they single-handedly won that football game. You could see the adjustments and the adaptations along the way to fix some of the problems that had ailed them early in the season. And I think if there is one way to really.

define Brian Flores. It is adjustments, adaptations, always changing, and forming a scheme that can adjust and can adapt in ways that we don't always see other defenses be able to do. So if we go back to the beginning of the Flores era in Minnesota, 2003, think about where they were when Brian Flores took over. Like, think about what the roster looked like in 2022. think about what the numbers looked like. They were a bottom five defense across the board. The only thing that bailed them out was kind of like the Chicago Bears this year. They got a ton of interceptions that season in 2022.

But otherwise, across the board were one of the worst defenses in the NFL. They needed an overhaul of personnel. They were expensive. They were old. And in the first year, we saw very quickly about midway through the season that it started to make an impact. and they started to be able to hang in games despite the fact that by the roster, they were not really anywhere close yet to being an elite defense.

And then after one offseason that Flores was here into 2024, that's where you start to see him truly shaping this defense. And one of the things that I've been so impressed by with Brian Flores, and this is a guy who was a scout going back to the very beginning, beginning of his career is that he really seems like he has a next level ability to evaluate players. And I think that goes back to while he played the game as well in college, but it really helps to have that background and learning, scouting because you think, well, all coaches are really good at evaluation and figuring out fit. But I actually don't think that that's the case

across the NFL. I think it is a cheat code that the Vikings have that this defensive coordinator understands how to evaluate pro NFL players and how to figure out which guys will fit the best within his system. That does not mean that they were perfect in doing this. It doesn't mean that every single move that they'll ever make is going to be flawless, but it does suggest that you have an edge. You have an advantage of being able to identify the players that fit the best. And in 2024, in that offseason, getting a lot of,

Andrew Van Ginkle, Blake Cashman, and Jonathan Grenard here was a complete, massive change. And he had his hands in all of those moves. In getting Van Ginkle here, he had coached him in Miami. Blake Cashman, apparently he was neighbors with a gopher coach. And I'm sure that they would have ended up figuring out that Blake Cashman was good anyway. And Jonathan Grenard, being a good fit, where DeNeil Hunter, of course, is one of the best past rushers of the last 10 years, but they felt that Grinard was a better fit. And even when you talk about the development, uh, where you can see that, uh,

Dallas Turner took a step forward. Now, I think that if there's one criticism, that's probably it, that they have not gotten a ton of young players to develop. It's been a lot more from the pro side. Even a youngish player like Jalen Redmond was somebody who was in the XFL, UFL and then came over to the Vikings. But seeing that a player like that or a player like Josh Mattelis, for example, could have a much different role than they had ever had before.

I mean, think about Redmond had been in the NFL with Carolina. They just let him go. And then his first season, he plays, I don't know, 100, 200 snaps. And then this year he becomes a star at that position. I think that's one of Brian Flores other cheat codes, is that he seems to not care at all where you were drafted, what you were paid, what round, all that sort of stuff that instead looks for guys that are the best fit.

And I'll even go back to 2024 on that defense. Jonathan Bullard played a pretty big role in them being a top-notch run-stopping defense. And that was a guy who had been a role player and never really had taken on starting reps. And they decided, you know what? He's a fit for us. Let's do it. Mattelis is another one of his huge success stories that I think we need to see next year, kind of where they go with all of that.

And what this means for Harrison Smith. Now we can get into that. So let's stay on the road of why Brian Flores coming back is so significant. Then we'll get into what it means going in the future because I see a lot of you in the chat talking about like, does this mean Harrison Smith's coming back? Like we'll get into that. But I think that that understanding of these are the pieces. that fit the best with my defense,

and then his ability to coach a defense in a way that can be ultra flexible. If you go back to Bill Belichick, the Patriot way, one of the things that made the Patriots so difficult was that every single game was a completely different game plan. It was not that they just, hey, we've got our system and we play our system, and that's what we're going to do. It was this moving parts. They can make any sort of adjustment at any time.

And he's brought that here and created that type of scenario where the Vikings with their types of players, high IQ players that understand how to communicate, how to make adjustments, they can be out there in a certain look and then immediately change it. And there was a game in particular. I know I mentioned the second Lions game. that was the most impressive, but the first Lions game, when they got Andrew Van Ginkle back, the number of times where Andrew Van Ginkle was lined up in one spot and then made a switch or a change based on what he saw of the offense and then changed to a different spot, how about down

the stretch where Harrison Smith was basically lining up as an edge rusher and then dropping back or blitzing off the edge? How many batted balls or sacks or pressures were they able to create with these deceptive looks. And this really all comes from the style of coaching of Brian Flores, where now the rest of the NFL has been trying to copycat what Brian Flores has done. But I think the hardest part to copycat. And the reason why so many of you in the chat and in Vikings land are very excited by the news here today, is that this would have been really hard to emulate.

if you try to go out and find somebody else, and now there's a realistic possibility they could lose Durante Jones to his interview with the Packers, with the Cowboys, with the Jets. So he's getting a lot of attention when you have a defense like this, and he is a key piece to the operation.

But Flores as the head of the snake, it is really difficult to go out and get somebody else where you could say, hey, they'll just do the same thing as Brian Flores. that they'll just blitz all the time it'll be fine they'll just you know get a safety to do a lot of different stuff it'll be fine that's not really how it works uh in the nfl i mean when you have somebody that is formed such a close-knit connection with his players over multiple seasons to build this thing uh that's where you get into something special as a defense so let's talk about

the the parts now and what it's means to get Brian Flores back with the different pieces and then the bigger picture here with Brian Flores signing a contract extension. And do not know as of this time, Preston in the comments, do not know as of this time contract details like length or, I mean, we usually, I don't think I've ever found out how much a defensive coordinator is being paid. But, you know, maybe that's going to end up out there somewhere. But, you know, either way, I assume that it's a pretty penny.

And I would assume it's over multiple seasons for a contract extension. Usually, I think these things tend to go like two years with coordinators. But we'll see if any of that information ends up out there. We'll also find out, and I don't know as of right now, if there's an addition to his title that could be maybe assistant coach. And as some of you have mentioned, Mike Patton deciding to retire, that kind of opens up. that assistant coach position. But really, I think the way that this thing has operated, another thing to talk about before roster moves,

is just with Kevin O'Connell and Brian Flores. And I know that some folks wondered, and I wondered myself, and it was pure speculation on my part of just, is there a reason? Why did Brian Flores decide not to sign an extension last offseason? Was it the lack of trust in the quarterback position? Was it anything internal where it could be headbutting or disagreements or power or roster decisions and so forth?

And I imagine, and I don't know this detail, but I imagine if I'm Flores and I've got all the leverage in the world, I'm asking for some of those things, right? I'm asking for the world to come back because you know that somebody else would end up hiring him if he ended up deciding to leave me. Minnesota. So it wasn't like he was going to be out on the street and not someone's defensive coordinator. So what he did, and I wouldn't even be that shocked if it's just a matter of Brian Flores being a tactician and knowing I've got this great defense. If I wait a year, think about with like Kevin O'Connell. Kevin O'Connell, they did not offer him a contract extension after 2023. Then he wins 14 games and he ends up presumably getting a lot more money. Maybe that was the simplest explanation with Brian Flores is if I wait another year and I hit the free market,

then I end up with a lot more leverage in negotiation. So it may have just ultimately been a tactical type of move because at least from my perspective, I have felt like the connection with Kevin O'Connell and Brian Flores over the last couple of years has been very, very strong because there doesn't seem to be meddling in the other person's side of the football. it seems like there's a pretty clear line. Not that they're not communicating, but Brian Flores is the head of the snake when it comes to the defense.

And I think that KOC as the head man communicates on those things, communicates on game plans and gives feedback on game plans and tells Brian Flores what he sees in the opposing offense and things like that. But I mean, this is Flores' defense. And he's been able to run it the way that he wants to run it. And I feel like that's a perfect. situation for him as he's been talked about by Ryan Fitzpatrick as well, you know, he was a dictator in Miami, which head coach is so much different than especially someone's first time doing it

than defensive coordinator, but he can have total command of his side of the football in Minnesota. And I wouldn't be surprised now if he has final say on the roster as well, if he didn't already have it. But if he didn't, then he probably does. and maybe more strength in that room about free agents, about draft picks, you know, things like that. So now let's talk about what Flores has going forward, what he has to work with and where they need to fix. And then we'll get to the chances with the Steelers. We'll get to, you know, some of your comments coming fast and furious as you guys are reacting to this big news that Brian Flores is back.

and you know, I was thinking throughout this before we get to kind of what it may mean for the roster, that if they were to lose Brian Flores, it would feel like this situation was pretty bleak. And when I was talking the other day on the show about where things stand right now and how do they get to the top of the NFC North by next year? very clearly they have to have way better, way better quarterback play. It cannot be like it was this year. But if Brian Flores had left, I'm not sure what answer I would really have other than, I guess the next guy needs to perform as well as Brian Flores did. But he sets a floor of the Minnesota Vikings defense that is very, very high.

I mean, this year didn't even start out the best and they still finish as a top five defense. They still finished as a Super Bowl caliber defense. And we go back even to 2023, where they were middle of the league just trying to tape and glue a roster together. I mean, you recall the Marcus Davenport debacle and the secondary was really not solidified yet. The linebacker position was still up in question and they were bringing in Anthony Barr, remember that, and they were still able to have a league average defense. And then they jump to Elite in 2024 and then again this year.

Like that sends a baseline of defense that gives you a chance as we saw this year every single week to compete and every single week to have an advantage. And when I look at the data, there's something that really stands out to me. Well, one, a lot of times with an aggressive defense, it'll get solved, right? And we did discuss that a little bit like, hey, did, you know, Ben John. figure it out and so forth. Did the Rams figure it out? Or, you know, maybe those are just good teams with good quarterbacks and good

talent. And it turned out that, you know, the Lions, it was really about a good offensive line and a good center that helped solve the Vikings defense. But we're three years into this and no one has really solved it. And normally you'd see regression and ups and downs and defense. We have just not seen that with Brian Flores. So if you can get to nine wins, and even if you throw out the last game and call it a 500 record, which is probably more fair, if you call it a 500 record for this season and you get there with some of the worst offense and some of the worst quarterback play in the entire NFL, and you get to that point, I mean, that really says a lot about how good your defense was on a weekly basis. And I mean, you could say that their performance against the top offense in the Dallas Cowboys was incredibly impressive with their third downs and their blitz packages.

They shut out the Washington commanders. Yes, it was a good offensive game that day. But, I mean, they just completely ran Jaden Daniels out of the building. They actually had a pretty hard opposing quarterback schedule. They faced Caleb Williams twice, Jared Gough twice, Jordan Love once. and then let's see. You had, well, you know, Aaron Rogers is just okay.

But I think, you know, the rest of Justin Herbert, Justin Fields, those guys definitely had their moments against the Vikings. But overall, like it was a good quarterback schedule that they were going against

and they were still able to put up numbers like this. So going forward, the expectation is that you walk into next season with one of the better defenses in the NFL. And if you can improve to a, certain level of offense, be the 12th best offense in the NFL that you know you're going to be at a certain level defensively. Yes, Jake Browning. I was skipping over Jake Browning and I was skipping over Dylan Gabriel. So those guys were not the more difficult. And I guess was a Clayton

tune at the end of the season. So not, not all of them, not every single one, but the division's good quarterbacks, you know, they performed very well against twice against Jared Gough, twice against Caleb Williams, overall good performances. And then the defense was doing fine against Jordan Love. But, you know, of course, the offensive side was not, you know, particularly good that day, 87 yards passing. But they didn't have, I think, a super easy schedule. It's not like they face backups all season long.

Dak Prescott gets thrown in the mix. Jaden Daniels comes back to face them. So they definitely had a really big challenge. ahead of them and still finished with elite numbers. So there is a baseline there that just by bringing him back, it creates stability within this defense. It's a lot of the same guys. It could be another year of Dallas Turner developing as we saw a big jump from Dallas

Turner this year, led the team in Sacks, actually had a higher. I know, bring this. I know Jared Verst had a great CZ's great player. But pass rush productivity on a per snap basis. as Turner was a little ever so slightly higher or about equal to Jared verse. So, you know, we saw some, some big gains there. And then let's talk about the roster, like who is on their way out and who's going to stay. And the biggest question here with Brian Flores would be is Harrison Smith coming back.

Now, the way that it looked at the end with Harrison Smith, how emotional he was in the locker room. putting him up on the big board and letting the fans celebrate him, his former teammates, Anthony Barr, Anderson Dejo, Anthony Harris, those guys coming back and celebrating him at U.S. Bank Stadium. It felt to me like that was it for Harrison Smith, and it probably should be. Now, a few of you have mentioned, hey, does this mean that someone told Brian Flores they're trading for Joe Burrow?

Oh, maybe. I mean, if that's the case, if they told, if they told Flores, hey, we've got a deal set up with Burrow, we just got to figure it out. Why don't you just come back? Okay, then, all right, I'm back, maybe. Then maybe we would see Harrison Smith come back for that. I don't know if Harrison has another year in him. As you go forward and being not that different in age from Harrison Smith myself, I could certainly feel like I can't even imagine. in what he is doing to get himself ready to play in the NFL on a offseason basis, on a weekly

basis. And it's very possible that he may just say, look, I want to go out as having played awesome. He was really good this year. I think when he first came back with the illness, it was a slow ramp up for a couple weeks. But by the end of the season, the guy was dominating football games. He was taking the football away. He was getting sacks. He was knocking down balls. I mean, I think that there is maybe something in terms of a part-time role that he could take on. Like if they were to, but that's been talked about for a couple years now. Hey, Harrison, we're going to cut down your snap count. And they never too, because he's so freaking good.

I don't know that Harrison would be interested. I don't know if he would be interested in something on the coaching staff or maybe interested in just being a dad and living his life. but that is one of the biggest decisions right there because Harrison Smith has to let them know before you get into free agency, before you get into the draft. And even then, that other safety position, I think that this year was pretty clear that Theo Jackson is a much better special teamer and replacement player, which is fine. Like, that's good depth to have.

He can clearly start games if you need them to, but is probably not an every single down type of player. Now, I was impressed by Jay Ward at the end of the season, but I also don't think that with Jay Ward, he's someone you would just say, all right, you're good, you're all set at safety. So I think that if they can convince Harrison Smith to come back, it makes it a little easier. Maybe it is in a lower contract and a part-time type role. and you're kind of cross-training Josh Mattelis into that spot because he's had to do it at times, but has not been a full season of Josh Mattelis being that guy.

So maybe you're doing that and signing another safety. But I think more likely is that you sign a key safety that Harrison Smith retires, you sign a key safety. And I think this is going to be maybe the biggest position for Brian Flores to address because are you going to make Josh Metellis into that player where he's the one that's calling out the defense, he's the one that's taking over that role that was so unique and so special between Brian Flores and Harrison Smith,

are you having him do that, or are you going out and looking for somebody else to do that? In the free agent market, there is a good number of free agent safeties. Maybe there's somebody with familiarity with kind of the New England Patriots or Brian Flores way of doing things, but that is one of the biggest now questions on the roster on the defensive side is who is going to be his like eyes and ears out there because to me this is the thing that is so special about the Minnesota Vikings defense under Brian Flores is I don't know too many other teams who have a defensive play caller that calls in the play but it's like that's your starting point. Okay, if you like the play, stick with it.

If you don't, change it and check with everybody, switch the coverages, switch the pressures, kind of do whatever you see fit out there. That's not something that everybody can do. And when we asked Flores about that, he said, yeah, I mean, there's only been a couple players that I've ever had that could really do that. I think he mentioned McCordy. Was it Devin? There's two McCordy's.

Whichever McCordy it was, he said, you know, could do that. but there's not a lot of players who can. So if Harrison Smith is out, then are you training Josh Mattelis all offseason to be that guy? Or are you going out to find someone else or both? Because I could definitely see them really, you know, when we talk about moving parts, having Mattelis take that role of Harrison Smith

where he's kind of box safety, play caller out there on the field or adjuster, and then signing a playmaking safety to kind of take that role of Cam Bynum that was lost. and making Jay Ward that box guy who, because he plays with a lot of physicality and a lot of toughness, but he doesn't have a ton of experience. So I could see him kind of moving into that Mattelis role,

but that moving part in particular is enormous for what this defense becomes. Now, if we move forward on the defense, now that Flores has signed a contract extension, if you're just joining, that's the emergency podcast. But, of course, still up in the air with the head coaching situation, which we will get to. but just kind of going through the defense what they have. And now we know and we have seen enough Brian Flores to where we can project,

hey, this is, you know, what he looks for. This is what he needs to be on his defense. I think that the guy who should maybe have the biggest smile on his face is Eric Wilson. Because Eric Wilson last year went from a guy who played about 600 snaps as a backup with the Packers. and had really not been a starter since his one year of starting with the Minnesota Vikings. So he was kind of, you know, a special team's role, veteran, the good guy to have on your football team. And then early in the season, Cashman goes out, Eric Wilson plays well. Then Cashman comes back.

And I remember, I think it was against Detroit being really shocked by this when I saw Eric Wilson lining up an outside linebacker. I was like, wait a minute. Eric Wilson's not an outside linebacker. like I don't know if what have I ever seen him line up there and of course it worked and he became a top notch pass rushing linebacker him versus running backs was a huge mismatch coming up the middle you remember the game that he absolutely destroyed jimier gibbs but then you know they did it the rest of the year it wasn't just like a one game thing i think wilson is a unique guy because he's really not that big but he is very very quick and he's very very

very, very strong. And if you have that type of guy with great intelligence, instincts, hardworking guy, kind of quiet, but like really hard working guy that is beloved in the locker room and makes a serious impact. Him and Cashman, sometimes he's an outside linebacker, sometimes they play two linebackers, sometimes they get 5D lines, sometimes they got 3D line, like all the different things you can do. I don't know that there's another guy that you can, I mean, you could probably

put other people at that position, but I don't know if there's a free agent where you just grab somebody off the street and say, hey, just be what Eric Wilson was last year. I mean, maybe after half a season or something, but I think that bringing back Wilson becomes really vital for the Minnesota Vikings. Now, as we move forward, I also think that Ivan Pace is probably maybe just going to be a special teamer, and they could use some more depth there at that position. But moving forward to defensive line. This is where it becomes very interesting because the contract for Javon Hargrave really suggests that they should cut Hargrave. And I think that at times, Hargrave was like less than thrilled about his role, but then the second half of the season,

they really figured it out of how to create one-on-ones for him. And as soon as they did, as soon as they got one-on-ones rather than asking Hargrave to fill gaps and they got him matched up, there was a lot of success there. And I would say the same for Jonathan Allen. I would expect Jonathan Allen based on his contract will definitely be back. Hardgrave, though, is a harder one. I mean, can you redo the contract? Can you restructure it? Or are you just looking for another defensive tackle? I really like what happened with Levi Drake Rodriguez, which is another development story that, you know, we don't talk a lot about, but that's a seventh round draft pick who played a lot of snaps for them. But I think a penetrating defensive tackle, somebody who could get in the

backfield, somebody who can win those one-on-ones is really important. That could be in the draft. I also didn't talk about the corners. I'll get to the corners, too. That could be in the draft that they look for a defensive tackle. It could be kind of a part-time. There's a lot of guys out there through the years who have been really good kind of part-time past rusher types. In Minnesota, you know, that would be Tom Johnson as the guy who did that most recently. But, you know, looking for somebody like that if they move on from him. So I think that's part of it. And in year three of Dallas Turner, what we really figured out in year two is that when Turner could just be himself,

when he could be the same guy that he really was at Alabama, which is a defensive end, line up, beat an offensive tackle, get into the backfield, not necessarily this Andrew Van Ginkle dynamic piece, then I think that he can be very, very successful from what we saw last year. His quickness off the defensive line, we see it in the run game a lot of times, like how many times did he track somebody down? How many times was there a screen pass where Dallas Turner rocketed out there

into the flat and made a play? I don't know that he looked like a megastar last year, but through the second half of the season, he did look like a legitimate starting well above average type of defensive end, but not so much that outside linebacker dynamic lineup everywhere. And if you've ever seen Dallas Turner run, move around the fluidity, he could catch a football, like you can understand why they would do that. That was part of the reason I think they drafted him was sort of seeing that Andrew Van Ginkle type. But I think he's much more.

of a Jonathan Grenard. So then you could say, well, what does that mean for Jonathan Grenard? For me, what that means for Jonathan Grenard is that there's a rotation here. And they shouldn't have to ask Grenard or Van Ginkle to play a thousand snaps. That's number one. Also, that Van Ginkle, we talked about Eric Wilson, but we also saw Van Ginkle play linebacker. And he can really do both. So I think that what you try to do is deal with those three.

moving parts where it's, all right, on this snap, Grenard's on the other side and Turner is rushing off the right defensive end and Van Ginkle's playing linebacker or something, right? And then on the next snap, he's on the other side and Grenard's back to the right defensive end or, you know, maybe just Dallas Turner's not on the field, but you're looking for maybe 600 to 700 snaps. People also get banged up. Van Ginkle and Grenard have some injury histories. So, I think that you can figure out a way to do that. And I'd like to see them get one more outside linebacker to be depth because it felt like once you got down to Turner,

there was nobody else. And he had to play kind of the whole game. And I also don't think that's him either. I think he's kind of a Ferrari that goes 110 miles an hour. And then you should get some rest for him rather than like a DeNeal Hunter Mack truck or something. But they're in good shape at that position. Really, really good shape.

It's one of the best outside linebackers slash D-end rooms in the NFL. and rotations are king. So it's good to have. Like, you don't have to go trade Jonathan Grenard. At the same time, if you have to trade Grenard to get Joe Burrow, then, you know, I suppose that you can do that. And the corner back position, this is a reason why you bring back Brian Flores at all cost, which is Isaiah Rogers this year. Now, I think that after a couple of games where he struggled, we all kind of went like, okay, he's a backup. up and he did have some issues with tackling at times.

But at the end of the day, he finished as a PFF top 15 corner. And it's been a while since the Vikings had a top 15 corner by PFF, which I know does not factor in a lot of, you know, different things about like, you know, it's targets and how you performed, but your quality of competition, your role, things like that are not baked into that. but he made a lot of plays for them this year. And especially I thought in the second half of the season settled into that role where you knew that they were going to create quick pressure. And he was very sticky early on in the down.

So he becomes a player who's very important now for the outside corner. And then obviously Byron Murphy is under contract. But where Flores and the Vikings lucked out is, well, one, Fabian Moreau came in and did fine, which, you know, you think about what guys would have been the heroes of 2025 had the Vikings offense been any good and they made the playoffs and then were dangerous, right? Fabian Morrow was one of them, but you really can't rely on that. I think you need to draft a corner fairly high. I think you need to go get somebody that's not just a Jeff Okuda type of swing at something. and there also needs to be an effort to develop that position because

Mackay Blackman did not play well for Indianapolis. Like, let's be clear, he had a bad year. So he did play for someone else, but it was a bad year. Nashon Wright had a very good year when it came to explosive plays, but not necessarily on a play-to-play type of basis. So there's a couple of young guys, though, that were playing for other teams. They just don't have those on this team. Dwight McClothern could not see the field for anything.

and yeah, I mean, Okuda, I think is one of Flores' worst misses, because that was a guy they really bought into. And then when he was out on the field for the short time that he was, he was annihilated. So that was just not a good move at all. And I think that was one of those. I mean, we've called the J.J. McCarthy thing, hubris before.

There might have been a little bit of that, too. Like, we can fix him. We can find something different there that's not been there before. And clearly they could not. And yeah, I mean, I agree with Michael in the comments that the defense was on the field too much, which also caused some of their problems early on in the season. But, you know, not having that depth that corner also was an issue as well. And having Jay Ward sort of emerge as a big nickel type of player, that was helpful for them late in the season. Having Moreau play fine, that was helpful late in the season.

But you need more options. You need a couple of depth type players at a corner. You need, I think to draft somebody, whether it's like middle round, if it's not drafting to try to find a top corner, which I would be okay with. You know, center is important. Running back is important what they do there. Defensive tackle is a position you draft high. But I think drafting a corner in the first round is not out of the question at all

because you'd be talking about Rogers, who's going to be on a contract year. He only signed a two-year contract. Maybe you're developing the guy for the first. first year. We know that Flores believes in slower development with top picks. That makes a lot of sense to me to take a corner early, have that guy rotate in, get a free agent veteran, and then you're much more solid there and not just hoping and praying that those two outside corners stay healthy for the entire season. The one other thing is that Brian Flores contract extension, which is really big, does go along with, and let me know if I forgot anything

along the roster to talk about that could be impacted by Flores. But, you know, defensive tackle and free agency, linebacker, depth, safety to me is the most important. and then cornerback depth is very important as well. But I want to talk about a couple more things, one being the Steelers and that possibility, and then kind of the true big picture of Flores coming back, which, if you're just joining, is unequivocally great for the Vikings organization because why did you guys need some good news, right?

I mean, it just felt like with him looking around, is this really going to happen? And I know that a lot of you asked, like, what would it say if he left? And I think what it would say if he left was that either they didn't want to give him the money, which would be very surprising with the Wulf ownership, because they usually make sure that if they want somebody to stay, they do. And, hey, by the way, just want to toss that out there on a day where the Buffalo Bills owner melted down in front of the media and made that into a whole. whole clown show. Let's, and fired a head coached because he didn't like the locker room vibe or something. But, like, this is why when we talk about the Wilf's, I always try to remind everybody,

you got the top-notch ownership. You really do. It doesn't get much better than this. You can maybe say, hey, they missed on this timeline or something like that. But I think you have as good of an ownership as you're going to find in the entire national football league. And one thing is that they're not insane, right? And they also with this, they didn't play some sort of like stick measuring contest with Flores like, oh, we're not going to let you dictate whatever. Like, let's do everything we can to get this great defensive coordinator

back and continue on the path that won 14 games last year, still finished with a positive record, still finished with an elite defense, and so forth. And yes, you know, Paul, I am sure. shockingly aware that they have not won a championship. I do know that. But I think that doesn't like the bills having really bad ownership with Josh Allen also maybe tell you that the quarterback has something to do with it. Thank you so much, Antonio, for the super chat. And somebody else had one too, but I wasn't looking.

Hold on. I'm going to find it and thank that person before we move on. Where was it? Okay, there it was. Let's see. Oh, Hogarth the ogre. Thank you so much for that. And Hogarth reminds me that it is dependent on him not landing a head coaching gig. That's what I'm going to get to is what are the chances that Brian Flores does still get

a head coaching job with the Pittsburgh Steelers. I don't see it as being that possible that he's going to get the job with the Ravens. They're interviewing a ton of people. And I think what they're looking for is somebody who can be Lamar Jackson's guy. Like they are not going to let go Lamar Jackson. He is their franchise player until the wheels come off. It's one of the best quarterbacks in NFL history. They are not letting that guy walk out of the building.

But it seems like what happened in Baltimore was that they lost the communication with him and Harbaugh. And maybe Harbaugh sided with Todd. Monkin and maybe Lamar wasn't super thrilled with that offense or the play calling or something, whatever it was. And that's what ended up him being out. So it'd be very surprising if they decided to go with Brian Flores, a defensive head coach. And then he would have to hire an offensive coordinator. You might end up losing it.

And then you kind of got the same thing going on. I think they want an HC that is connected at the hip with Lamar Jackson. Pittsburgh, though, does make a ton of sense for. Brian Flores. And they are interviewing a lot of different candidates there as well. And I think it was Shula from the Rams interviewing there, maybe recently. I think one of you mentioned that. So they've interviewed a lot of different candidates there. But he did get a second interview. And there are some reporters there that have been there a long time that are dialed in with the ownership that are saying that he is a very serious candidate. So this celebratory day

for you with Brian Flores coming back could change very quickly. if he ends up going to the Pittsburgh Steelers. And I agree with you scamping around that the Steelers situation overall is not that great. When you look at the roster, when you look at the quarterback situation, it's completely empty at quarterback. I mean, is that going to be Kirk or something? I actually think that might happen with Kirk and Pittsburgh kind of makes a lot of sense. But if you're Flores and you fought so hard, like he was designed.

of head coaching jobs for all of the last three seasons. And you fight so hard to get back to a position where someone's going to hire you as the HC, then you're going to take it, regardless of whether you've got the quarterback. Hey, he won a lot of games, you know, with Fitzpatrick and Tua in Miami. And, you know, they've won a lot of games with defense in Minnesota, as has been pointed out by some people, the difference between the offense and defense and how, you know, often during KOC's time here, they've had great defensive performances drive their success. So if you're him, I mean, you're definitely taking that job.

It's a legendary franchise. It's still an ownership group that is, I think, highly respected around the NFL. It's a great city. I mean, you're taking that. And you're going to figure out the quarterback situation, get that team back to being competitive if you're Brian Flores. and I think that there is a very, very real chance that it happens with him getting that job. And then they could be looking to Durante Jones if he's still available.

He would be the next guy up. So this could all go poof, you know, pretty quickly if he gets that job. But with so many other candidates involved in that race, and it's also possible, too, that signing back with, the Vikings now means, and I'm really kind of reaching a little bit on this one, but could that mean that Brian Flores doesn't feel like he's getting that head coaching job? I mean, it possible, right? It is possible.

There are still a number of teams that are out there that have chosen not to interview him for their positions. It's really kind of the Steelers or he's back here. So the odds have now shifted to it being very possible. and I felt like at a time that when he was interviewing for a lateral position and then we heard that other teams might be interested in that too. It felt like I don't know if there's a good chance he's coming back. So to get him back means I think that he feels very confident in what he has here, but also that maybe to sign it now doesn't think that it's going to happen with the Pittsburgh Steelers. We don't know if he's been told otherwise, but teams are starting to hire their coaches.

That's starting to happen right now. So does Pittsburgh have their guy? I guess we are going to find out very, very soon. So, but that could still happen. And I think that he is a very good fit when you look at what Mike Tomlin was there, what Bill Cower was there. He actually kind of reminds me of Bill Cower, like a really like a gruff, three, four, rooted type of guy that had an intensity.

about him that was really unique, but also what we've seen in Minnesota has formed a really close bond with his players. I think that, you know, both Tomlin and Cowher were those types of guys. And what great defense does for you and Coward did this and Tomlin did this. It gets you in the conversation. If you have a good defense every year, you're in the playoff discussion. And that's how Pittsburgh was always getting into the playoffs, even if they had bad, you know, offense or a bad quarterback play. So they might really like the idea of someone who sets that baseline defensively. And if you can get a quarterback, then, you know, you're going to have a chance to seriously

compete. So I cannot write it off for him in Pittsburgh. But I also think that with so many other candidates, they might be looking to go in a different direction and not stay with the traditional, like, this is the type of coach that we hire. We shall see, though. And then there will be another emergency podcast. where everything is different.

Now, let's circle back to the bigger, bigger picture of the Minnesota Vikings, now that Brian Flores is back. The pressure is extremely, extremely high on Kevin O'Connell to get the offense back to where it was last year and beyond. I mean, sometimes, you know, when I see some analytics thrown out there about last year's offense, I think I get that and the running game was really not good. but at the same time, they were sixth in passing expected points added with Sam Darnold. So it's not like this offense, this passing game cannot work.

And they have revamped the line. They could get a better running back. They can bring in an offensive line coach. They can revamp the run game. And it can look a lot different, right? So I think the offense with good quarterback play has a chance to take a very big step, or at least average quarterback play. But now that Flores is back, now that the baseline is set, the pressure is through the roof

because you know what level of defense this team's going to have. They are going to go into every NFC North game against the Packers, the Lions, the Bears, and they're going to have a chance to win those games. And when you look at their schedule for next year, there's some good quarterbacks on there, but it's not, at least as of right now, it doesn't blow your socks off, who they have on the schedule next year for opposing quarterbacks. Flores is going to get them to a certain level where you can lock it in unless there is a cataclysmic event of injuries,

which there was earlier this year and they still survived it. But unless that happens, they are a top 10 defense. There are very few teams that you could actually say, I'm really sure they're going to be an elite defense. I'm sure they're going to be a top defense. At least top third of the league. maybe even a little bit better. Not infallible, but maybe even a little better.

Could even potentially, with Dallas Turner taking another step, could even be better than they were this year. And maybe you get a little more depth. You know, maybe you solidify some different positions that were up in the air for this year and you end up feeling like you've got one of the best defenses in the league. That puts the onus entirely on the head coach to produce a top 15, if not better offense to make this team a serious contender. And with Flores back, you have to be looking at opposing quarterback options.

By the way, and I know that this is a leverage play for Kyle Shanahan, but they said him and John Lynch, they don't necessarily want to give up Mac Jones after he helped them this year. So, Kyler Murray, if you watch the interview that I had with the cap expert, salary cap expert, he believes that Kaiiard. Michael Murray will sign a contract for $1.2 million because of the offset in his contract. Kyler Murray at $1.2 million. Or maybe a big trade with someone else that we don't see coming.

Or maybe, I don't know, Gino Smith, maybe Kirk is back. Whatever it is that you're doing, maybe it's Aaron Rogers. I don't know. You have to get into the top 15. There are no excuses whatsoever. And if you get there and you look at like the Denver Broncos right now, the Houston Texans, those teams were serious contenders without the best quarterback play that I've ever seen. And I think if you look around the NFL and you look into what we've seen this year,

defense really took back some of the power. Now, the two MVP quarterbacks are still in. So there's that. But I think defense took back some of the power this year. And you know that that's going to get you into the race with the defense you have. so it's all on KOC. Like this is one of those all comes down to this.

You know, I watched on the plane the other day, on a plane, the other day, coming home from visiting my in-laws, I watched the movie F1, which that was pretty entertaining for a plane movie. But what I love about all sports,

movies, dramas, is there's always a, it all comes down to this. This is the last race of the year. And if they win, everybody keeps their jobs. And if they lose, everybody's fired kind of thing, it's what we love about sports.

When there's an overtime, next score wins, or at least it used to be. Here, it comes down to this, this drive, this moment. I feel like we're there with Kevin O'Connell. It comes down to this. You've done a lot of great things, 13 win season, 14 win season. You've built a roster with some really good players.

And now, find the quarterback or get the next step out of the quarterback and make it happen. No more excuses, no more well. We're just developing the kid or whatever. Or we made a bad decision on Sam Darnold or we didn't have the offensive lineman. We didn't have the guards. We didn't spend the money on this. We didn't spend the money on that.

We didn't draft and develop this, that, or no more excuses. They've got the roster to produce a top 10 offense or at least in that ballpark. find the quarterback or develop J.J. McCarthy and make it work. It's all coming down to this because now there's no, well, we lost Brian Flores, so it's not the same on defense. And that's why we actually didn't make the playoffs. Can't be like that. Cannot be like that.

So I think that that is a big picture part of this that has to be mentioned as well. A huge thank you to Jim for the superchats is, do you think the lawsuit will prevent Flores from getting a head coaching job? I have always thought that, yes, I've always thought that it would. But, you know, I think that if it's Pittsburgh, it's just different. Like, that organization carries a different level of cachet that I think they could do it without maybe ruffling feathers around the NFL in the same way that like if, I don't know, the Browns did it.

You know, they already can't stand that owner. And, you know, maybe he doesn't want to break rank again. the way that he did with the Deshawn Watson move or something like that. I think that the, the Steelers are the one team that they could do that. You know, they could make him their head coach. And you wouldn't get a lot of pushback from the other owners because of, you know, the credibility that they have in the National Football League in general. And the fact that they brought him in for a second interview,

the fact that they were the team that kept him around to me says that, says that that's probably the case. So I don't know entirely, but I have always thought that, yes, that lawsuit was going to, you know, keep them or keep someone from hiring someone who's very, very deserving like Brian Flores. One other thing that you guys have brought up in the chat that I wanted to mention, because I didn't want to, you know, necessarily go all night on this subject. I guess we can with a big audience.

but, you know, the emergency pod want to, you know, keep it somewhat concise. But I did see that it was mentioned that by a reporter from San Francisco, Grant Cullen, he mentioned that the 49ers would be interested in trading for Jordan Addison. I could see why, because I think Addison in the 49ers system, you know, is a very, very good fit for them. it's all dependent to me on the price tag and what you're getting back for that. Because if you're trading him for a third round draft pick, that means you're really worried about what just happened and you're really done with him if he's traded for something like a third round draft pick.

But I think right now that's not the move to make. It's not the move to make is to trade Jordan Addison at a very low price. I think that with Flores coming back, you probably want to run back as much as you have and try to add to it and not lop off a major piece. Unless he has more problems this off season, I don't know, then maybe you want to move on. Or maybe the ownership is tired of Jordan Addison making their franchise look bad by being in the headlines. I don't really know. But that, I think, does at least being out there maybe indicate that teams are calling and asking if Jordan

Addison is available. Yeah, I mean, yeah, I guess you could try to, Brandon I, you talk about a guy who's also, you know, problematic. So I don't know about that. And giving him to San Francisco just seems like a death wish anyway that I think he would be very, very good there. When you're talking about someone who's going to get paid $4 million next year, that's not much for the production that you could get with halfway decent, you know, halfway

decent. return. Like you're, you're not going to, I mean, you would think about like four million dollars for him. That's going to be a lot of production for very little money. And you're going to give that away for, you know, the third round pick or something. It just doesn't really, just doesn't really fit for me. And they could just let him go if they don't like what happened and get a comp pick for him. That'd be a third round pick anyway. So the only reason to move on from Jordan Addison would be if there is, I think, further incident this off season. And then you would be saying, all right, there's just absolutely no way that we can keep doing this.

But then even then, the trade value would plummet. So it had to be something really good. Maybe Mac Jones. Maybe that is your trick to get Mac Jones. But even then, like, you know, taking Mac Jones for Jordan Addison, you're kind of adding an average quarterback and giving away a key piece that would have made an average quarterback a lot better. So I don't think that that's going to happen.

But if they feel very, very concerned, because teams have a lot more. intel on what's going on with players than we do, right? So I, you know, maybe. I mean, I, I, I don't know whether that's going to be something that's seriously considered, but I guess the fact that somebody's putting it out there means that there is at least some realistic possibility. I did not throw out a fan duel question of the day, because I couldn't figure out how to relate it to the, you know, Brian Flores news, but how about, how about this? I'll throw this out there. The line is moved on the Denver Broncos from five and a half point favorites to four

or underdogs to four and a half point underdogs. Do you think that Denver has a chance this weekend would be with Jared Stidham as their quarterback? That's the Fanduil question of the day, as the line seems to be moving a little bit more toward Denver as we go down the stretch before this game. So I'll probably just sort of call it here with the show and just have this as a nice little emergency podcast that was focused on Brian Flores. And then I'm thinking, you know, tomorrow we can get in and do, you know, live chat and things like that really dive into some of the stuff. But as far as reactions go, bottom line, this is a very, very big day for the Minnesota Vikings.

It puts a lot of pressure on Kevin O'Connell, not that there wasn't before. but it gives them a legitimate chance to compete next year. And I think it ramps up in further solidifies. If you can get a quarterback, then this thing is not lost. If you can get quarterback play, do you have to get rid of J.J. McCarthy? No, but when you compare the Vikings defense to the championship weekend defenses, it is on par. It was every bit as good as the Broncos.

It was every bit as good as the Rams. It was every bit as better than the Patriots. bit as good as Seattle even. Maybe not necessarily against the run, but against the past. It was every bit as good as Seattle. This is a championship caliber defense and a championship caliber defense of mind. Now find a way on offense to make this thing work or that's going to be the end of the road probably.

And what they do next at quarterback, whether it's to keep, you know, JJ McCarthy and develop him or whether it's to find somebody else and make that big move, it needs to be right. It cannot be wrong or you're going to waste another year of a great defensive mind and a great defense. And then, you know, everybody could be looking for different jobs. So a very, very interesting move for this to happen now. And we will be still on Flores watch with the Pittsburgh Steelers. But it feels like doing this now.

Maybe makes me think that he doesn't believe he's going to get a head coaching job. and decided to come back. And I think it also speaks to the Vikings organization, which they didn't perform to their expectation this year. That's for sure. But as far as the organization goes, being able to bring him back under these circumstances, gets a major thumbs up for the ownership,

the rest of the coaching staff, everything that they have built with the players and keeping players, free agents wanting to sign and everything else like that. So thanks everybody. for watching slash listening and we'll definitely have a lot more to say. I will say that I recorded an episode with Jeremiah Searle before the Brian Flores news.

So that is going to come out tomorrow, but obviously we won't be reacting to the Flores news because we recorded it earlier today. But thanks everybody for your time and we'll catch you all again very soon. And congratulations to all of you Vikings fans for having the top defensive coordinator in the league back in your team's building. We'll catch you later. Football.