The Minnesota Vikings have one game left in their 2025 NFL season. However, the offseason is coming early for them, as rumors about defensive coordinator Brian Flores’ future emerge.
On December 27, NBC Sports NFL insider Mike Florio reported, citing a source with knowledge of the situation, that the Vikings are currently working toward extending Flores’ deal. He is currently in his third season as the team’s defensive coordinator and is in the final year of his contract.
The Vikings wanted to get a contract extension done before the 2025 regular season, but Flores chose to wait. That decision ultimately worked in Flores’ favor.
Without a new deal, Flores would have been free to join another staff. Florio’s reporting adds that if the Vikings get an extension in place, Flores would still be able to pursue a head-coaching job elsewhere.
On December 28, Vikings head coach Kevin O’Connell spoke with reporters and shared his thoughts on Flores’ future.
“We have [had contract extension talks]; it goes back a long way before those reports,” O’Connell told reporters. “We’ve had recent [and] very good dialogue. Flo knows I love him. He was the guy three years ago that I identified to bring in here, and the growth, and just our relationship, and what he’s meant to me personally is so massive.
“That’s not even taken into account what he’s been able to do defensively for our team and been such a huge part of helping us daily, minute to minute, weather the different storms we had to navigate this year. Things are in a really positive place right now. I absolutely want Brian Flores to be the defensive coordinator of the Minnesota Vikings as long as we can have him.”
Vikings Want to Keep Brian Flores at All Costs
Moreover, O’Connell knows that Flores has become a popular name in recent weeks, considering how the Vikings’ defense has performed during this four-game win streak. Nonetheless, he noted that they will do their best to keep him in Minnesota.
“I would say this: I do know that he’s demonstrated a lot of things that, having gone through the process of the head coach hiring process before myself, I imagine he’s going to be a pretty popular guy there as well,” O’Connell added. “And rightly so, he’s earned everything. And that doesn’t take away from the route we want to go to make sure our defense coordinator here for the foreseeable future.”
Brian Flores Is Reportedly on Cowboys’ Radar
While the Vikings could be okay with losing Flores to a team to become their next head coach, they might not be fine with losing him to another rival to be their next defensive coordinator.
Nonetheless, in a separate report, Florio reported on December 28 that the Dallas Cowboys see Flores as an option to become their defensive coordinator.
“Dallas seems to be destined to fire defensive coordinator Matt Eberflus, after a disastrous reunion year,” Florio wrote in his report. “And the increasing chatter in league circles is that the Cowboys will be firmly in play for Flores.
“The Vikings, we’re told, are keenly aware of the possibility. And while the Vikings should have exclusive rights to negotiate with Flores until his contract expires, we all know by now that tampering is as rampant in pro football as flopping mouthpieces that never seem to make their way into players’ mouths.”
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