The Las Vegas Raiders fired Pete Carroll on Jan. 5 and are now looking for his replacement. One of the names in the rumor mill is Brian Flores, who spent the last three seasons as the Minnesota Vikings‘ defensive coordinator.
Flores will be a free agent once the new NFL season begins and will have control over where he wants to continue his coaching career. Moreover, it appears the Silver and Black will consider him for their open head-coaching position.
Nonetheless, Ben Goessling, who covers the Vikings for the Star Tribune, stated that he sees Flores returning to Minnesota despite his name appearing in the rumor mill for this cycle of head coaching hires.
“I would say probably more stays than leaves,” Goessling said during a Jan. 6 appearance on KFAN1003. “I’m probably like 60, 40 on this just because I think the fact that he waited this out was for a reason. I think he does have a lot of intention to say, ‘Let’s see what the market looks like.’
“That could have a lot to do with where he ends up. But we’ll see how that market shakes out for him. I think he may look at it and say, ‘There’s a lot of things in Minnesota that I have that I like; I like working with Kevin O’Connell. I like the way that I get to shape the defense how I want.'”
Vikings Could Want Clarity on Brian Flores Situation
Moreover, the Vikings will hold their end-of-season press conference on Jan. 8, and Goessling believes Minnesota want a clearer picture of the Flores situation by then.
“I think they’d like to have that wrapped up by that point,” Goessling added. “It’s the same thing, where the advantage they have right now is time, because unless he takes a head coaching job, I don’t believe he can talk to other teams until 10 days after the season.
“I don’t know the language in his contract specifically, but that’s typically how this works with coaches: There’s a 10-day exclusive negotiating window for your current team before you can go on to the market.
“Head coaching things obviously change all of that. If he gets head coaching interviews, he can take those at any point. But I think the Vikings would try to move quickly because they have this exclusive negotiating window at this point.”
Raiders Reportedly Want Former Patriots in Las Vegas
It will be interesting to see how this entire situation plays out for the Raiders. Nonetheless, minority owner Tom Brady is likely going to have a significant say on the search, and according to Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio, he has his eyes on a couple of former New England Patriots.
“There’s a rumor currently making the rounds that, once Brady rolls up his sleeves (while also wearing one glove and an expensive-ass watch), he’ll make the case for bringing in Vikings defensive coordinator Brian Flores,” Florio wrote in an article published on Jan. 4.
“As the chatter goes, Flores would be the head coach, and former Giants coach Brian Daboll would be the offensive coordinator. Like Flores, Daboll has extensive experience with the Patriot Way. Daboll was there for the first three Super Bowl wins of the Brady/Belichick era, and for two of the second trio of championships.”
Raiders Get Concerning Brian Flores Take From Vikings Insider