Players Grade 2 Vikings Coordinators Among Top-5 in NFL

Getty Head coach Kevin O'Connell of the Minnesota Vikings.

The Minnesota Vikings have built out an impressive coaching staff, and their players have taken notice.

An NFL Players Association survey asked members from all 32 teams to grade their offensive, defensive and special teams coordinators based on performance in 2023. Minnesota’s staff stood out among the results, as Brian Flores earned the No. 4 overall ranking among defensive coordinators and Matt Daniels came in at No. 3 among special teams coordinators, per Dan Graziano of ESPN.

[NFLPA President JC] Tretter said more than 1,700 players responded to this report card survey, which will be released — as it was last year — around the scouting combine in late February/early March. But the union wanted to put out the lists of top five coordinators now, ahead of the annual head-coach hiring cycle, to generate positive attention for some of the coaches who will be candidates.

The NFLPA says 864 offensive players rated their offensive coordinators, 774 defensive players rated their defensive coordinators and 1,025 players who participate on special teams rated their special teams coordinators. The survey ran from late August through mid-November.

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GettyMinnesota Vikings defensive coordinator Brian Flores.

Tretter said that anonymity allows for more accurate polling results. He added that the NFLPA won’t release the full list of coordinator grades until after the playoffs have concluded, so as to protect those coaches and their players from internal issues that could negatively impact locker room dynamics during postseason runs.

“Just about every player, when asked publicly, is trained not to give a negative answer,” Tretter told Graziano. “So we feel, because [we protect the responses], this is a barometer of how players feel about their coaches.”

The No. 1 ranked coordinators, based on the scores they received from their players, are Frank Smith of the Miami Dolphins (offense), Aaron Glenn of the Detroit Lions (defense) and John Fassel of the Dallas Cowboys (special teams).

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GettyDefensive coordinator Brian Flores of the Minnesota Vikings.

Minnesota’s defense has been one of the surprises of the NFL this season after finishing near the bottom of the league just one year ago. Much of the credit for that is due to Flores’ aggressive scheme.

“You’re programmed to think that there’s these buckets of defenses. Everybody has their own styles, but it’s like you’re only allowed to do certain things with 11 guys, and [Flores’ scheme] kind of breaks that in some senses,” Vikings safety Harrison Smith told Kevin Seifert of ESPN on December 1.

Bill Barnwell of ESPN said the analytics back up Smith’s assertion that opposing offenses are struggling with the Vikings’ blitz-heavy packages and unique zone coverages behind them.

“What coordinator Brian Flores has done to turn it around has been remarkable,” Barnwell wrote on November 30. “The Vikings got off to a slow start, but from Week 4 on they’ve ranked as the league’s fourth-best defense by expected points added (EPA), just ahead of the solid [New York] Jets and [San Francisco] 49ers units. Flores’ pass defense has ranked second in QBR allowed, and while he has blitzed at the highest rate, the Vikings have been the second-best pass defense when they rush four or fewer, too.”

Because of Flores’ success and his history as head coach of the Miami Dolphins for three years between 2019-21, analysts consider him a likely candidate for a top job elsewhere in the NFL in 2024. How highly his own players regard him should only cement Flores’ candidacy further.