When the Miami Dolphins fired Brian Flores over a year ago, there were many whispers and reports about the way he rubbed people wrong in South Florida.
That’s a narrative that he believes was concocted by the Dolphins brass, including owner Stephen Ross, who Flores claimed treated him differently after he refused their bonuses to tank in his first season as head coach.
All of this, along with claims of tampering and racial injustices led to Flores filing a lawsuit against multiple teams in the NFL. Despite that, he spent 2022 coaching as a positional coach with the Pittsburgh Steelers, and this offseason, he joined the Minnesota Vikings as defensive coordinator.
At this week’s combine, Vikings general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah spoke about Flores’ hiring and why they felt he was the man for the job.
“You talk about the leader, the passion,” Adofo-Mensah said (transcribed by the Palm Beach Post’s Joe Schad). “He fits so well in our culture where our culture is positivity, it’s passionate, and he fits really well into that. We need the leader, the football mind, the developer and the personnel guy.”
This is a dramatic shift in how Flores was portrayed in the days following his firing from the Dolphins. And, if he can help turn around the Vikings’ defense (30th in scoring in 2022), he’ll be primed for another shot at a head coaching gig in the future.
