Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - Vikings hire Brian Flores as defensive coordinator

Episode Date: February 6, 2023

Matthew Coller does an emergency podcast reacting to the Vikings hiring Brian Flores as their defensive coordinator. What does it mean for rebuilding the defense? How is he different in style than Ed Donatell? And more fan questions regarding what it means for Eric Kendricks, Lewis Cine and more Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hey everybody, welcome to an emergency podcast. Matthew Collard here as always and Minnesota Vikings have their defensive coordinator. They have hired Brian Flores according to ESPN's Adam Schefter and how much can change in 24 hours or so? Just yesterday when Jiro Evero decided that he was going to sign with the Carolina Panthers to become their defensive coordinator well then of course there was some Viking fan panic as you know look I understand why because he was their reported top candidate and he decided to go somewhere else and so then it was like wait if Brian Flores isn't the guy, then now what ends up happening at defensive coordinator? And there was concern that it was going to end up being,

you know, Mike Petten, that they would have to turn to him because they wouldn't have any other options or go with someone that had no experience whatsoever. But in the end, they end up with Brian Flores. And if you look at his past history, I think it's really important to start here with Brian Flores for why this hire makes a lot of sense. I think that it's reasonable to say we never know whether a hire is going to work out and personnel, which we'll get into, is a big deal. But this isn't the first time that Brian Flores has faced a similar situation. If you go back to Miami, when he first got the job as the head coach of the Miami Dolphins, and it's a well-documented in 2019 that the Dolphins wanted to, you know, tank and draft

a quarterback at the top. And they had the worst defense in the entire NFL in Brian Flores' first year. And they were coming off a season where they were 27th. And he was tasked then after that of turning around their defense. And the results were pretty remarkable in just one year, in his second year as head coach of the Dolphins, but a full year to take down some of the roster, rebuild, and they went from 32nd to 6th. And a big part of that with Brian Flores in charge was the fact that they were able to create some roster space, some cap space, and rebuild the roster. They signed people like Byron Jones, Kyle Van Noy, but Flores was also responsible for developing players and finding players that came from the outside that could be contributors. And it was noticeable as I was going

through the 2020 Miami defense that, you know, there were guys that also were recent draft picks that developed and, you know, improved, you know, guys guys like Jerome Baker who may not be familiar to Vikings fans but you know he had five and a half sacks um that year actually no sorry seven sacks uh and Andrew Van Ginkle another guy that I had never really heard of before but somebody who was a late round draft pick who had five and a half sacks for the Dolphins that the aggressive nature of Brian Flores, I think allowed the Miami Dolphins to make great improvements just in that second season where he was there. And now he comes to the Vikings as the defensive coordinator. And so I think that that history is important and it matters. Also, when we talk about stylistically, sometimes it's difficult to know how different X or Y candidate is going to be when we're analyzing who's going to be a good defensive coordinator.

And in this case, you have a history that Brian Flores has of turning around to defense, but you also have a very clear style. And if you go back to looking at the Dolphins and where they were at in terms of blitz percentage, they were one of the most aggressive defenses in the entire NFL under Brian Flores. So this is going to be a massive difference in philosophy from Ed Donatel. This is a team going from maybe the least aggressive defense in the entire league under Donatello, where, I mean, Kevin O'Connell could not force Donatello to blitz on a first down, for example. It seemed like the only time the Vikings ever blitzed was third down. And even then, they didn't seem to do a whole lot of that to create pressure. They did not use Harrison Smith up at the line of scrimmage. They just sat back in coverage and allowed teams to go underneath, catch passes, create yards

after catch. But this time, now there will be big plays against the defense that's going to be this aggressive. But I also think that the way of the world, as far as defense goes, everyone loves their Fangio systems. And that's totally fair that don't blitz necessarily. But I think those require some things on defense that the Vikings aren't going to have as far as personnel goes. And especially being able to create pressure across the front, as opposed to just with Daniil Hunter or just with Zedaria Smith. Now it's going to be a lot of pressures that are created just flat out through the scheme from Brian Flores. And I read you some of those names, even they went out and got a guy like Shaq Lawson and got a handful of sacks and pressures out of him in 2020 when Lawson has

mostly been a bust. He only has one good year to really look at, and that is under Brian Flores in 2020. So I think that as far as candidates go, you cannot find someone who has a better resume than Brian Flores over a period of time that has the respect that Brian Flores has. Mike Tomlin instantly hired him after everything went down with Miami and he got fired and then there was the lawsuit and everything else. And for him to handle that Miami situation the way he did,

turn around their organization and now work his way to Minnesota, a guy with head coaching experience, working with an inexperienced head coach in Kevin O'Connell, I think should be helpful as well to have somebody else on the staff who has been there. And also maybe somebody who's a little more up to date in what they're doing. But of course, we also have to talk about what Brian Flores is going to inherit. And it's not really 100% clear what he is going to inherit because when you look at the roster, there's so many players who might or might not be here.

And I guess I would be very interested and will be interested when we have our press conference, I imagine this week or next week, depending on if they don't want teams doing these press conferences and they want everything focused on the Super Bowl. But if it does happen later this week, depending on if they don't want teams doing these press conferences and they want everything focused on the Super Bowl. But if it does happen later this week, it will certainly be a question of what is Brian Flores' vision now for this defense. And if you look at, you know,

it's a question of 3-4 versus 4-3. If you look at some of the players that they brought in, they used a lot of the outside linebacker type. So I don't know if it's exactly going to be 3-4 or 4-3 because that's not how anyone plays anymore. This isn't like, you know, 1994 or something where you have the traditional 3-4 or 4-3 on the field. But I think as far as the edge rushers go, that someone like Kyle Van Noy would be a good example of a type of player that's more of an outside linebacker. So they may stick with similar personnel from that perspective, but it is not going to be a similar type of defense at all. This is going to be the exact opposite of what Ed Donatell was doing. So I think that when it comes to this hire, there's very little to find fault in it. But it comes down to how can

they execute whatever Brian Flores' vision is. And a really important part of this, I think, is just time. I think that they have to give Brian Flores time, that they cannot judge this in the same way as with Ed Donatel, where they felt like, and I felt this way too, that even though it wasn't going to be a great defense in 2022, but it shouldn't have been one of the flat out worst defenses in the NFL, that there should have been a better usage of a lot of players, of an Eric Hendricks, of a Harrison Smith, and there should have been more adjustments and so forth. So I don't think that that will be as big of a problem as it was with Ed Donatell. But also, you know, when you're talking about the personnel, I mean, this ship is not going to turn around in one year. They just don't have the cap space to do that or the draft capital to do that. And,

you know, it's mentioned and I'll start calling up some comments and answering them in just a minute. But, you know, even if it is a draft that has a good amount of defensive players, a good amount of corners or, you know, pass rushers for the future or defensive tackles, which they'll probably need or linebackers. I mean, they kind of need everything. This to me is not a one-year project. I mean, I wrote an article about this, including Flores yesterday about how if he ended up as the defensive coordinator, it would be good for them. But I mean, this is a house, the defense that has a cracked foundation, a crumbling roof. It's got creaky doors that need to be fixed. Everything on this defense from all levels needs to be improved before next season,

if they're going to have a massive improvement in defense. So I think we should set the standard at doing things smarter, developing players, which I think Flores was very necessarily foregoed his head coaching interview in Arizona, as it seems that he did. Maybe he had the sense that he wasn't getting that job. I don't know, but he didn't interview with Denver either. He just decided, it seems, to go with the Minnesota Vikings. So what was said to entice Brian Flores? Was it a longer term contract that gives him more time to work with these players? Was it promises of players that he likes that would be coming back? I'm very interested to know how this impacts the personnel that Brian Flores is going to want to bring to

Minnesota. But if you just go on the bigger picture here of the person that they're bringing in, the reputation and the past and what he's been able to accomplish as a defensive mind, and how much they're going to change in terms of just their overall vision and philosophy for defense, as opposed to hanging back and trying to play over the top and giving up a bunch of short passes. It's going to be go after the quarterback all the time. And, you know, I think also when you look at the whole of quarterback play this year, and there were a lot of bad quarterbacks who played. So this may have impacted it.

And the Vikings schedule next year, it can't be ignored, is absolutely brutal. They have Patrick Mahomes. They have Joe Burrow. They're going to face San Francisco. I mean, it's not going to be an easy ride for Brian Flores in the first year. And I guess that's part of this is that I would say patience is needed from everybody. You could be excited about the hire, but it's not going to be an easy season next year. But as far as his philosophy goes, I think that the Giants show us this year with Wink Martindale playing this very aggressive

defense, that there are downsides to that for sure, and that you will give up big plays and there will be times where it's frustrating if the other team figures it out. But also, if you look at the Giants defense, man for man, player for player, it's not a defense that blows you away with talent. They've got a decent corner. They've got a really good defensive tackle, some young edge rushers, but that's not a defense that blows you away. And they were able to create some havoc and be competitive with that defense because of how good Wink Martindale was at dialing up blitzes. And I think that the same thing goes for Brian Flores. So I'm going to scroll back a little bit in the comments and start answering some of the

things that you guys think. Continue to leave them as the Vikings hire Brian Flores as their defensive coordinator. I mean, I think that of all the scenarios that could have played out throughout this off season for the Vikings, they really had this big decision on the coaching staff. This is about the best case scenario that this could have been. And the other thing too is, I mean, it matters a little bit that I think Flores could be here for multiple years. And look, if the Vikings defense is amazing next year, then of course, you know, I'll be very surprised probably like the rest of you that that would be the case. But if it's not, and he can build over a couple of years, I think that

that's a good thing, that it's always a struggle when you have an offensive-minded head coach. And if your defensive guy is bad, you have to fire him. And if he's good, then you're always losing him. But with Flores, and I don't know how this is going to work because he got some head coaching interviews this year. But with the fact that he's got a lawsuit out and everything, I don't know that he's going to get another head coaching interviews this year, but with the fact that he's got a lawsuit out and everything, I don't know that he's going to get another head coaching job. I think that he's

worthy of that, but I don't know that that's exactly going to happen. So we'll just start off by displaying some of the comments if you're watching on YouTube, or I'll read them, obviously, if you're listening on the podcast. Dan says the cornerback class is deep. Go get defensive end, defensive tackle, or cornerback defending on best player available. Yeah, I think that there's a very, very good chance that they go with a corner. And if you think about the construction of his most recent team,

which makes sense to me to focus on just where he was most recently when he was pushing all the buttons and it wasn't Mike Tomlin's defense. Zavian Howard, that was the year he had 10 interceptions and Miami led the entire NFL in turnovers. And I think you got to have that guy. And we saw how effective, and I know that Justin Jefferson had one of the all-time great seasons, so it's not like people really shut him down, but how effective that ace corner can be. And with the corners that they have right now, I know it will kind of feel a little bit like, oh, they're going full Zimmer and drafting another corner, right? But Andrew Booth Jr.'s future is very much up in

the air. We really don't know if he can ever stay healthy in the NFL because he couldn't stay healthy in college football. And then he was injured four or five separate times and was lost for the year. So even though we saw some talent from Andrew Booth Jr. and the high end is there, I think he was a first round caliber prospect that went in the second round because of the injuries. We just don't know if he's going to be that guy that can develop into their shutdown corner, which does put cornerback at more at the top of the list and a Caleb Evans with his three concussions. And that's another one where it's just not really a sure thing.

And he only played in a very small sample to begin with. I don't know if they would go into next year with those two guys. They certainly have to improve from the nickel position. That was an area that was very, very poor for them last year with Chandon Sullivan. In fact, Chandon Sullivan allowed more catches into his coverage than any other nickel corner in the entire NFL. So they're going to have to improve that. And, you know, Dan is on the same page here with cornerback

becoming the number one priority. And you're right. They did go back and Miami did, you know, back up the Brinks truck to get Byron Jones. And if you're going to, and this is a good point by Daniel, if you're going to send and this is a good point by Daniel, if you're going to send cover zero blitzes, which basically if you've ever played Madden is the engage eight. I mean, you're just sending everybody and it's man coverage everywhere. If you're going to do

that, you have to have better cornerback play. I think this is a great question from Ken. Is it going to be a better fit for Harrison Smith? I would say it has to be. And looking at Harrison Smith's contract, I have a really tough time thinking that he won't be here next year. It's not easy to trade. It doesn't create that much cap space to cut. And I still thought that Harrison Smith played pretty well last year, considering the fact that Ed Donatel more or less refused to use him the way he needed to be used.

Now, if you said, did he lose a step from years past where he was one of the best players at his position in the league? Of course. Yeah, of course. I don't think that he's the same player as he was in 2017, but he's still hyper instinctual. It's so good at rushing the passer, so good at playing at the line of scrimmage and making plays in the backfield. And I just don't think that Ed Donatel allowed him to do that enough. And in this case, we'll see Harrison Smith get many more chances, I think, to play at the line of scrimmage. And at very least, at very least, this is it's going to be more fun.

I mean, it's really it was a really miserable experience to watch the Donatello defense because there were just people open all the time and you felt like there wasn't a whole lot of chance to ever get a stop unless it was in the red zone with Patrick Peterson or Harrison Smith getting an interception or unless Zedarius Smith or Daniil Hunter did something special. I mean, I really think that it was about as boring and frustrating of a defense as I have ever seen in my life. And somebody asked not too long ago for a mailbag or something, whether it was the worst Vikings defense ever. And it actually had an argument for that because 2013, when they were dead last, they played a much harder quarterback schedule. And so there was an argument for that being the worst defense we've ever seen.

And even if it has its struggles at times, it's going to be more aggressive. And Miami in 2020 was number one in the NFL, not only in blitz percentage, but also in turnover percentage. If you have at least some of that, you could put up with some bigger plays being allowed and try to even it out with turnovers and sacks and at least make it entertaining because this year was not so much entertaining. This comment here, I hope Flores will stay longer than just one year and develop some players, something we haven't seen since Zimmer's first years. And that's where I think that the answer is probably yes to that. That look, if he pulls off something really amazing and he's able to turn this defense

from the 28th best defense in the league or worst, however you want to phrase that, into a top five defense, then yes, you're going to have a lot of people making that phone call about, you know, potentially hiring him as a, as a head coach, though, I'm still a little skeptical that anyone will hire him as a head coach. The NFL has a tendency to blackball people. I don't know if you've noticed this. And in fact, all credit goes to Mike Tomlin for hiring Brian Flores to be on his staff, making sure that he stayed in the league because you could have seen owners and, you know, other teams being like, no, we don't want that guy. He's going to cause problems or whatever.

But obviously the Dolphins organization has some massive, massive ownership problems. So you understand where Brian Flores was coming from, where he was offered money to tank. If you're going to try to tank, you usually do it with the front office. You don't demand that the coach loses games. And so credit to Brian Flores for not putting up with that and risking his own career. I think showing a lot of courage and coming out. And I think that that brings credibility to being with Tomlin brings credibility.

But Tomlin keeping him in the league, I think, was very important. But I still would be surprised if someone was willing to hire him as head coach again because of that incident. Not that he doesn't deserve it if he turns this around, but just the way of the world of the NFL. But to your point, I would like to see that as well, because what you have here is not a lot of players at this moment that you could make an argument for foundational piece type players. But you do have an argument for if this player, that player, if they develop over the years, then you could have a pretty good defense if you fill in the other pieces in free agency and the draft. And it most notably goes back to that 2022 draft and Louis seen as well. And Louis seen, this is another player that I think assuming he's

healthy enough to play really fits with Brian Flores. He is an aggressive downhill type of player. I remember going back after he was drafted and looking at Louis scenes games in Georgia. And that the number one thing you notice is that when he is rushing the passer, when he is attacking on the short passing game, he's just very, very good. And I think that he has a lot of things to learn about the NFL. But I mean, should we also wonder about the coaching last year that couldn't have him prepared to start at the very beginning of the season? And then both safeties had very down years. I mean, we always have to try to sort through the context

of what players we're dealing with. So maybe Louisine doesn't have it. I mean, we always have to try to sort through the context of what players we're dealing with. So maybe Louis seen doesn't have it. I don't know. But if you're going to give him the best chance to succeed, someone like Brian Flores developing him is probably for the best. Now, this is another point that's brought up here by Skull City Blues of that there is a compensation draft pick for a minority hire if they get a head coaching job. I don't think that that should factor in to the decision, but it is a benefit that there is a third round pick should he become a head coach. And that would go under good problems to have. If they hire Brian Flores and he does a good enough job where this defense

turns around and he's getting head coaching opportunities, well, then he's done a great job. And yeah, getting the draft pick is nice, but I don't know how much that really matters. I just think that it's like a nice little side benefit. So, you know, it might be good for them or it might not. Another point made here by Dan is about Patrick Peterson and how, you know, he played this year in a more of a zone defense. And I think that this probably means that Patrick Peterson is done in Minnesota would be my guess because I just don't know that he can play man over 17 games like he did in the past.

I think that the reason why Patrick Peterson was defensive of Ed Donatell is because it just worked so well for Patrick Peterson. I think that it really did because it allowed him to use his high intelligence to read defenses and, or I'm sorry, read offenses, route combinations and things like that. And he was great at it. But if you're asking him to match up one-on-one with some of the receivers that they are going to face next year, that's going to be tough. A good point here by Ryan about the situation with the compensation that they're only awarded for coaches that were with the team for at least two years. Okay, that's an interesting note. I would expect that to be the case, that Brian Flores

will be here for at least a couple of years. So yeah, not just after next year, but again, it would be very surprising if they were so good on defense that he was getting to be a part of that conversation. So anyway, continue to throw out some of your questions, comments about the hire of Brian Flores. I mean, I think that the comments here are pretty universal of liking this. And I know that generally that's how it is when there's an exciting anything. When anything happens, it's worth getting jacked up about in the offseason because that's kind of how the offseason works. But I think that also you guys just are making good points about how Brian Flores can fit

and what makes him a good defensive coordinator candidate for the Vikings. And now that they've brought him in, I think that we can expect some change. So if we kind of go through the roster though, there are a lot of questions that we can talk about. Patrick Peterson is a great place to start because I don't think that Patrick Peterson will be back. I also think that when you look at the defensive line, I don't know that Delvin Tomlinson is another guy that is going to be back either. Delvin Tomlinson's contract is up. If they are not able to sign him to a contract extension, then they have to pay $7.5 million in dead cap. If they do extend him, then that dead cap gets spread out over a couple of years. But one thing

that has really been missing is a defensive tackle who can penetrate up the middle. Really going back several seasons, 2017, 2018, with Sheldon Richardson, 2018 was probably the last time they had something like that. And when we talk about what Brian Flores is going to need, I look at someone like Christian Wilkins. And if you guys remember, they drafted Christian Wilkins in the first round, Miami did, and he was an immediate impact player for Miami. And if you recall, when the Vikings played Miami, Wilkins was a dominant type of player. And he came from the Clemson team that had Wilkins and Dexter Lawrence. I mean, that was ludicrous, but it turned out both of them, like Jamar Chase and Justin Jefferson, both of them were absolutely fantastic. And I think Wilkins is the type of player that the

Vikings need to look for in the draft, that that becomes a potential high priority is somebody who can get up the middle and create that pressure. Because Delvin Tomlinson improved in his numbers as a pass rusher this year. And I think that he was mildly effective, but that's just not really his thing. He's more of a stuff gaps, push the pocket type of player. And so there might be a change there to be had. Harrison Phillips will obviously remain on the roster, and that's more of a run stuffing guy. Kyrus Tonga can take over that run stuffing role as well. But looking for your Christian Wilkins is a big priority, I think, for Brian Flores and it should be right away. Let's see another comment here from Bradley. Eric Kendricks seems to take a step back

in the 3-4 setting. Will Brian Flores bring back a 4-3 and will we see a revival of Kendrick's game? Now, Flores is more rooted in the 3-4 if you go all the way back with him being the linebackers coach for Bill Belichick. But again, it's not really like exactly a 3-4, 4-3 world. It's more of a nickel world. And really what it comes down now, when we talk about schemes, I just think of it as, are you going to be an aggressive scheme or a scheme that plays back and tries to tackle everybody on short passes and create confusion? Are you a confusion scheme or are you a blitz aggressive scheme? And obviously Brian Flores goes under the category of blitz and aggressive, and he might want Eric Hendricks to stay because of Eric Hendricks' career. An all-pro player,

high intelligence, tremendous leadership, all those things. But he was a horrendous fit for what Ed Donatell wanted to do. And when I would watch back the games on the all 22, the thing that I would see a lot is just Eric Hendricks, always dropping back into coverage, dropping back into coverage into deep zones. And I don't know that that is really his best fit. I think that he was a better fit for locking up on tight ends or even wide receivers or running backs coming out of the backfield and kind of going a little more one-on-one, a little more man. Not that he was incapable in the past of playing zone. He certainly could. Just thought it was a much better fit to have him playing man coverage more often. And he's also a decent blitzer as well. So Flores might like that.

And he might like the fact that Kendrick's history is more in playing man to man, which when you blitz a lot, it does leave a lot of guys one-on-one. And I think that that's going to be a factor. So I don't know how it impacts that decision. I think Flores will really like Brian Asamoah, who showed some quickness, some playmaking that Fumbley caused against the Giants, but mostly just a very aggressive and fast player. I think that he'll really like Asamoah. So will they look for somebody younger to take the spot next to Asamoah than Kendricks or want to leave him and have those two paired together?

I'm assuming that Jordan Hicks is out. He's still under contract, but I'd be very surprised if he remains on this roster, considering the type of defense that they want to play, that they want the aggressiveness, and the fact that they drafted Asamoah to be a starter. How it impacts Eric Hendricks is a very interesting question. And I guess if you're florist, you probably don't want all the veterans to just disappear off this roster, right? Because you're taking this job and you're trying to make an improvement here. But at the same time, I think that it's important that Brian Flores pick the guys

that are going to fit with his defense the best. So if he's looking for guys who are going to be a little bit younger, a little bit quicker than maybe Kendricks is now at this point in his career, then you could see them making a change. But I expect there to be a lot of differences when we're talking about this roster because it is such a significant change. The question is, how are they going to find those players? Is it players that Flores has had his eye on? And I think this would be a great idea because, you know, of course, you guys are snarky in the comments and Jordan says, would it be awkward if the Vikings asked Flores to tank? And yes, yes, that would be very uncomfortable and maybe another lawsuit on the way. But no, I mean, are they

going to ask Flores to rebuild is the question. And I think one of the questions for Flores from them, I doubt that he would tell us in a press conference, would be who have you got your eye on that's a free agent or someone to trade for that's younger, that could be something. So I'll give you a good example of two guys who left the Vikings and actually turned out to be decent players that they should be looking for from other teams. One of them would be J. Ron Kearse. So the Dallas Cowboys and Dan Quinn, a tremendous defensive mind, very aggressive, by the way. Dan Quinn saw J. Ron Curse's unique skill set and said, I can do something with this. And he's turned into a big piece for that defense.

The other one was Mike Hughes, where Mike Hughes was struggling with injuries and so forth. And Kansas City traded almost nothing for him. And Mike Hughes ended up playing a decent sized role and has carried on with his NFL career. And that doesn't mean that, you know, the Vikings completely blew it getting rid of Mike Hughes. But just to say that, you know, one of the skills you can have as a coordinator is being able to spot some of these guys where there might be something there. Great question from Alexander here. Does this change, does this hire change your mind on the probability of Kirk getting an extension versus playing out the contract? As far as change my mind for what I would suggest, I mean, I would suggest still playing out the contract and trying to build toward the future because there's

something that's very important that needs to be mentioned about the 2020 Miami Dolphins and that's that they didn't have an expensive quarterback and when they were able to go out and get those guys like Byron Jones and Kyle Van Noy that turned around the defense they did it with money I mean a lot of times that's what it takes. You don't have to look past someone like Cincinnati for a team that turned around its defense really quick. And they also needed money to do so, to be able to sign players, most notably Trey Hendrickson on that team. But Kyle Van Nooyen and Byron Jones were pretty big hires. And I think that the corners, those are so important with Brian Flores. And a lot of times corners are volatile and hard to figure out who's going to be good,

who isn't. And so they could draft one for sure. But also go out and sign one in free agency when they have the money. So if they kind of created a timeline here of this year, develop that defense. And we've never talked about really tanking for the Vikings in any sort of serious way. So play it out with, try to get a top 10 offense and improve on defense and develop on defense, make long-term plays, try to get players who will be a part of the future future, not one-year fillers like Zedarius Smith or Patrick Peterson, who if they work out, great, but if not, I mean, you're just talking about replacing them the next year. You want longer term players. Try to make improvements this year, compete for the playoffs, don't have a miserable

joke of a year, and then after that, move on from Kirk Cousins, draft a rookie quarterback and rebuild this defense with money. That's exactly what Miami did. And you could see the Vikings following that same exact type of path. But that's no guarantee that they don't extend him. I mean, Kirk Cousins had a very good year. And if Kevin O'Connell says we want him to be our quarterback for the next five years with Justin Jefferson, or if Justin Jefferson says that in their contract negotiations, OK, well, I could see that happening. I don't think that that's a good idea because I don't think that you can have your cake and eat it, too, in the NFL unless you're Kansas City and have Patrick Mahomes, or when Aaron Rodgers was in his prime. But even then, Aaron Rodgers' second prime,

where they won 13 games three years in a row, it still took them getting very lucky on some draft picks and getting a very good head coach. It's just hard to do. And then he had to play like an MVP for two years to make them a 13 win team to work around some of the financial shortcomings. So I think they should play it out. But as far as what they do, maybe part of their plan is going to be similar to what they did last year, which is give them a short term extension so they can make some signings on defense. But I think that it would be smart to learn a little bit from the past, that just trying to grab your Jordan Hicks and grab your veteran players and fill out the roster that way, it's not necessarily the smartest thing to do.

Let's pull up some more comments here from Lambo moon. I think the same as for Kendrick's could count for Lewis scene who should benefit from a more active and aggressive role, probably for booth too. We don't really know about booth. Um, it's, I think that that one is the hardest one to figure out is what Andrew booth jr. Is going to be, but I totally agree with Lewis Seen as far as the aggressive role. And with Kendricks, the concern with Kendricks is twofold. One, it's his contract. There's really, as far as I understand it, there is not much more that they can do with his contract as far as like moving money and things like that. It kind of is what it is, which puts him on the books for, I think,

somewhere around $11 million. That's a lot for a player that you're not sure is going to be the same as he was in the past. They could play it out and see how he fits still, but guys who are older than 30 years old at the linebacker position, that's pretty tough uh this comes from my name is jeff in the comments uh floris is a breath of fresh air old school coach with an old school mentality my fear is that koc uh is too nice and friendly with the players well i don't think that i would have that concern they won 13 games and uh the culture was as good as it's been in a very long time. I don't know if being too nice to the players. I do wonder about Kevin O'Connell and having to do things that are difficult and ruthless, maybe like moving on from Ed Donatel mid-season that he

possibly learned a lesson this year that if something's not working, it's on you to make that change. But as far as Flores being an old school coach with an old school mentality, I don't know. I mean, I think that it is new school to some extent with just, you know, being somebody who is very aggressive and has a lot of these blitz packages because I think the most difficult thing for offensive linemen is when you don't know where the pressure is coming from. That, of course, facing Aaron Donald is the most difficult thing. But the next most difficult thing is when they

have a lot of guys at the line of scrimmage, and Mike Zimmer used this a lot as well, a lot of guys at the line of scrimmage, who's going to go after the quarterback, who's going to drop back. And when you don't know, then it's hard on quarterbacks, right? And sometimes that does result in some big plays against, but I think you'd take that when you get the big plays as well. And when you look at how important sacks are just to the whole thing a sack is almost as bad and sometimes worse in terms of expected points added than an interception because sometimes if you throw a deep interception it's like an arm punt but sacks just destroy drives and this year I mean think about like if I had told you before the year they're gonna get a lot of sacks from two guys, from Z'Darrius Smith and

Daniil Hunter. You'd be like, oh wow, they must be like top 10 in the league in sacks, top five. And yet they still weren't because nobody else contributed. Something that really stood out to me with Miami is they only had one guy that got a lot of sacks in 2020, and they had a lot of players who got a couple of sacks. And that was reminiscent of the 2021 Vikings defense, where Mike Zimmer was very aggressive and Harrison Smith had some sacks and the linebackers and so forth. And I think that it's going to work the same exact way with this and with Brian Flores. Let's call up here, Renee's question. Don't you think the Vikings should just get rid of the old expensive defensive players?

I mean, they could be the worst defense with or without them use the money on offense to try and be an elite offense. Yes. Yes. I completely agree with you that every, I mean, look, if he wants to keep Harrison Smith, that contract is probably not tradable and it's not a big benefit to cut them unless you do it post June 1st, where you can't really spend the money anyway, uh, on free agency. I mean, you can make a last minute signings, but those June 1st ones, they sound great in, in, uh, you know, in theory, but in practice in practice, it's more difficult. So let's say you just keep Harrison Smith and restructure that deal, create some more space that way.

And if they were to move on from the other older players, and maybe this includes Z'Darrius Smith, I don't know. It depends on his health. But Z'Darrius Smith, if they were to trade Daniil Hunter, if they were to move on from Eric Hendricks, would anyone really hate that? I mean, okay, for sure the pass rushers would be upsetting to folks, but if they were to have the youngest defense in the NFL next year, would anybody be really against that? I don't know that they would. And yeah, there's additions that are probably going to be needed on the offensive side.

I mean, where Adam Thielen stands is still a major question. They can use another wide receiver after KJ Osborne was kind of up and down from last year, and they really didn't have anybody else to fall back on. So they need another receiver, probably a veteran running back if they move on from Delvin Cook. Maybe there's an argument for an offensive lineman, though that probably won't happen, but they could still add to the weapons that they have on offense. I don't think it's necessarily like take the money

and spend it over there as it is. Find out who can play. This is maybe what's important is when you go back and look at Vikings defenses of the past, sometimes guys emerge that you just didn't expect because they got playing time. Two guys this year, Kyrus Tonga and Duke Shelley, they were two of the better players that the Vikings had on defense, which does tell you about the defense, but two of the better guys on the defensive side, and both of them were fines. And I'm sorry, I lost the comment, but I think it was Jordan who mentioned in the comments that Brian Flores, his background was in scouting. And that's very important for him to find some of those guys that can play, but you can't figure it out with them sitting on the bench behind ancient other players who probably aren't giving you as much as you think they are if they're not in their prime anymore.

I read an interesting article not too long ago, maybe it was The Athletic, about how a lot of the former five-star players out of high school were becoming the all pros in the NFL and where that wasn't necessarily the case on the offensive side. And a lot of it was just because think about what wins on defense, speed, athleticism, right? Especially in 2023. And last year, did anyone think that they were speedy or athletic on defense? Getting younger, I think, is important, even if they are less experienced.

This comment comes from Derek. Makes me wonder if Kevin O'Connell will be more willing to move on from Adam Thielen and Delvin Cook and use the money for defense. Look at a wide receiver with the first pick and a free agent running back. The market of free agent running backs is flush with capable guys, as it always is, by the way, which is why you shouldn't usually sign them to huge extensions, but that's another podcast.

But sorry, I'll leave your comment up there on the screen so people can read it. But yeah, I mean, that's the interesting situation that they're in here with this hire of Brian Flores is what did they tell Brian Flores about how this thing is going to work? Because if they move on from Delvin Cook and Adam Thielen, you can create a decent chunk of cap space. And then same goes for Eric Hendricks. Same goes for restructuring some deals like Harrison Smith. And if you're

looking at having a big chunk of cap space to spend, are they going to give Brian Flores the blank check and say, go get who you need to get because we think we can win now? I don't necessarily love that approach. I like the approach much more of them taking the slower build. And by slower, I only mean two years. I mean, find out who can play, find out who Brian Flores can scout around the league and bring to this team that might be low key, good players. And then when you've got more cap space in the future, because of the quarterbackumably, this would just be my plan. It's not necessarily what I think they'll do. But then when you get to that 2020 Dolphins situation, you go to free agency with your Brinks truck, you bring in everybody on defense that you can,

then you put together a top 10 defense to go along with your young quarterback. That would be my plan. They could be thinking exactly what you're talking about, Derek. It could be move on from two ineffective offensive players that played a ton of snaps that used to be great and go forward with the defense and rebuild this thing and try to be in the top 10 to 15 next year and hope that some of those draft picks hit. I wouldn't be surprised at all if what you're saying turns out to be the way that they go. But that's what makes this offseason so interesting is, are they living in which world? Are they living in the world where they think, wow, we won 13 games and we are super close.

We need a defensive coordinator and better defensive talent. Or are they living in this world where they're saying, all right, Brian Flores, it is your job to rebuild this over a couple of years. So it's a really interesting situation because they have so many different options of which way they could go. And what I would love to know is what they told Brian Flores, and maybe we'll find this out in this press conference, what they told Brian Flores about what his situation is going to look like and what was attractive to him. Was it the length of the contract or was it the money? I mean, he's not going to say that, but what was attractive

outside of those things? Because whoever was hiring him was paying out the denver broncos just hired sean payton they're run by walmart they've got the money uh arizona would have given him a good i'm sure head coaching contract so what made him want to be here and i think um that bob here with the spongebob avatar uh which is hilarious by the way um brings up a good point is just that flor here with the SpongeBob avatar, which is hilarious, by the way, brings up a good point. It's just that Flores with Asamoah and Louisine is going to be something because there's a lot of speed there. And I think that that's when you're thinking about who you want as your defensive coordinator and what style, you have to consider what you have. And what they have right now is some players with speed and high end potential, but how can you maximize that potential? And that's going to be the job

of Brian Flores. Interesting question from Jordan is how much of a say will Flores have in the timeline slash time horizon as Quasey calls it to rebuild the defense. And this is where I really want to know myself is what they see that as. Do they see that as a short-term, get a good defense by next year and sort of move heaven and earth? Or is it more of a long-term thing? And you could actually see it being attractive to Flores in both ways, because the number one question for me is why this happened so quickly. And he didn't have the interview in Arizona and the interview in Denver when that was reported to happen, because I was sitting here today thinking that there wouldn't be a news about a defensive coordinator hire because he was going to go through those other interviews and that they would have to find out first. So why did he take this job when he did is an interesting question. Is it because they laid out a plan for him to improve quickly? Or is it because they laid out a plan where he could do it over multiple years and do it his way and have control over that? I don't know the

answer to that question, but I do think that if you're being hired as the defensive coordinator, you are really going along with what the organization has already decided as far as their timeline. So Brian Flores probably doesn't have a say. It's more like, this is what we're going to do. Do you like it? Would you like to be a part of it? And how do you feel like it's going to work out? So I think that there's a lot of excitement here. And I'll just read one more from Miles here that Flores is the second coming of Mike Tollin, who was here in Minnesota for a very short time and has gone on to be one of the best coaches in NFL history. But, you know, he was showing signs

already of having that leadership capability in Miami and gave credibility to a franchise in Miami that had had pretty much none and they didn't even have good offenses. And yet still they were above 500 with Brian Flores as their coach. So he comes with a very, very good reputation and a lot of reason to believe that whether it's the short term or the long term, he can really help turn around this defense. And I think if you were laying out before the search, before we knew any of the names, who would be the best possible person for this job? He would have been either your first or second pick. I would say kind of hands down, right? Somebody with that type of background to bring him in.

It does, to me, it hints more at a quick turnaround, by the way, than it does for a long-term thing. I think that that's at least my feeling is that if you're Brian Flores, maybe you don't want to do that, but I don't know. Like I really, I really don't know what was said there. And I think that we'll have to see what they do rather than what they say. It'll be a question in the press conference for sure. But what they do will tell us a lot about how they feel and, and what they sold Brian Flores on with the bigger direction. And we'll find all that out probably after the combine where they have a lot of meetings with the agents and things like that.

And you figure out who's going to be a part of your team. So I'll end with this. This has been a really fun stream. I'm glad we could do an emergency podcast here. I didn't expect to be doing one one day later after we just talked about them not getting one of their top candidates. But Bob says Flores is the perfect complement to Kevin O'Connell. It's going to be some attitude on the defense, and I'm excited for it. And that that is certainly, certainly part of this as well, that Donatello was not as aggressive as a guy,

didn't have the coaching experience in the past like Brian Flores has. And I just think with Ed Donatello, he had his way of doing things and it was going to kind of stay that way. And as part of this interview process, I'm guessing that more of the discussion was about being collaborative because that's where I felt like there was something missing there with knowing what some of the problems were

and not really finding solutions to those problems. And after they had made a promise to do everything they could after that Detroit game to figure it out and make changes, they got worse or just as bad as a defense, and it ultimately cost them in the playoffs. So how they feel about this entire thing, we're going to find out as we go along. But the bottom line is the Vikings got one of the best candidates that they possibly could have gotten for a defensive coordinator,

and I think that they became a more dangerous defense with the blitzes that are going to come. They got someone who has a history of developing players. There isn't really a box that is left unchecked by the Brian Flores hire. And so I think as usual with Vikings fans, you know how every game there were win probability charts and they would go like, oh, the Vikings have a 2% chance to win and they won the game. That kind of feels like that's still carried on to the offseason. It felt like after yesterday, after losing out on their top candidate, like, oh, well, their percentage to get a good candidate here is very low, particularly with Brian Flores taking other interviews and then whoop, they won the game. So we'll see how many they win next year and what they do to form a defense in Brian Flores' vision. So thanks everybody for joining this emergency podcast. Thanks for all the comments and questions. Really great, really energetic stuff. And I'm glad we've started doing this,

going live on YouTube more often because a lot of you engage with your questions and comments. And I really enjoy reading them as opposed to kind of talking to myself if I was just doing a recording. So thanks so much to all of you for joining. And I had a good time and we'll do it again soon. Thanks, everybody.