Report: Vikings’ Brian Flores a possible Bill Belichick successor
If the New England Patriots move on from legendary head coach Bill Belichick after the season, Brian Flores could be a candidate to lead the next era of Patriots football.
Below is from an NFL.com story published Saturday by insiders Ian Rapoport and Tom Pelissero.
If Belichick does move on, speculation has centered on Mayo as his successor. That's not a guarantee, though, and other options -- particular coaches with Patriots ties, such as Josh McDaniels or Vikings defensive coordinator Brian Flores -- shouldn't be ruled out.
Flores is part of the Belichick coaching tree. He coached in New England under Belichick from 2008 to 2018 before the Dolphins hired him as head coach. He went 24-25 in three seasons with Miami and then spent 2022 as an assistant under Mike Tomlin in Pittsburgh before taking over as the defensive coordinator in Minnesota this season.
Flores’s blitz-happy scheme has helped the Vikings go from 30th in scoring defense last season to 10th this season — an improvement so respected that Lions head coach Dan Campbell recently said the 2023 Vikings, who are 7-8, are a better overall team than the 2022 squad that won 13 games.
Flores will undoubtedly continue to hear his name in rumor mills with every team that finds itself looking for a new head coach, but the Patriots also have current defensive coordinator Jerod Mayo ready to lead a team if an opportunity arises.
“Flores should get another shot at being a head coach someday, but if the Patriots want a defensive-minded person to replace Belichick, then Mayo should be the obvious choice,” writes Nick Goss of NBC Sports Boston. “He's already here, he knows the team, he's talented and he's highly respected.”
Title: Bring Me The Sports co-owner, editor Email: joe@bringmethenews.com Twitter: @JoeBMTN Education: Southwest Minnesota State University Location: Minneapolis, Minnesota Expertise: All things Minnesota sports Nelson has covered Minnesota sports for two decades, starting his media career in sports radio. He worked at small market Minnesota stations in Marshall and St. Cloud before joining one of the nation's highest-rated sports stations, KFAN-FM 100.3 in the Twin Cities. There, he was the producer of the top-rated mid-morning sports show with Minnesota Vikings announcer Paul Allen. His radio experience helped blossom a career as a sports writer, joining Minneapolis-based Bring Me The News in 2011. Nelson and Adam Uren became co-owners of Bring Me The News in 2018 and have since more than tripled the site's traffic and launched Bring Me The Sports in cooperation with the Sports Illustrated/FanNation umbrella. Nelson has covered the Super Bowl and numerous training camps, NFL combines, the MLB All-Star Game and Minnesota playoff games, in addition to the day-to-day happenings on and off the field of play. Nelson also has extensive knowledge of non-sports subjects, including news and weather. He works closely with Bring Me The News meteorologist Sven Sundgaard to produce a bevy of weather and climate information for Minnesota readers. Nelson helped launch and manage the Bring Me The News Radio Network, which provided more than 50 radio stations around Minnesota with daily news, sports and weather reports from 2011-17.