Could Dallas Cowboys STEAL Minnesota Vikings defensive coordinator Brian Flores?

Speaker A [00:00:02]:
Purple Daily is daily Vikings entertainment. We just want the Vikings to win a Super bowl before we die. I will ride with this group.

Speaker B [00:00:09]:
Seriously, man, please.

Speaker A [00:00:12]:
And away we go. All right, we got the sports dad in the house. Mackie attempting to fly the plane. And also give takes while not crashing it. We'll see how that goes over the next hour or so. And it's our State of the Vikings edition. So we're kind of. Because it was a weird week. They played on Christmas. They did not play over the weekend. And. And it's kind of a weird week with New Year's Day in the mix. And we're going to. We're going to be giving you content every single day. But we're shuffling a couple things around this week. So today is our State of the Vikings episode. Tomorrow is write that down and quarterback cesspool challenge. And we'll go from there this week. Before we get into the biggest storylines of the week and where the Vikings rank in some key categories here, Judd, Quick Trip is where we're going to start off. Our our Week 18 here in the NFL.

Speaker B [00:01:01]:
As always, the most important storyline, right? Like, you can have your storylines. You keep your cute little storylines. I'm talking about functional. I'm talking about move the ball. I am talking about the most convenient place that you can possibly stop. Breakfast. Perhaps you forgot lunch. Perhaps you want a cup of Karuba coffee. Anyway, all of these things available at Quick Trip, along with a quality gasoline guarantee. In fact, just got a tweet from a guy that moved up here and he arrived and one of the first things that he did was he went and took a picture of himself outside A Quick Trip because he knows that supporting those who support PD is absolutely vital to all of our success at J. Zolged. If you would like to do the same. Quick Trip, absolute convenience. Absolutely the place to stop. And absolutely always reliable.

Speaker A [00:01:52]:
Also always reliable. The Vikings defense lately, which we're going to get into here. A couple interesting nuggets from NFL insiders here, but let's start with the overview. As we do every State of the Vikings episode, we've replaced the playoff odds, which went to zero a couple weeks ago, with the tankathon order. And the Vikings are very much resisting the Tankathon mindset. Some people are pissed. Other people, I think I fall into this category, are more interested in maintaining a winning culture, which is much more important than where you draft. Of course, they haven't really drafted well, regardless of their draft position. But right now, if the NFL draft took place Tomorrow the Vikings based on tiebreakers would have the 17th overall pick. So the way it works is the 18 non playoff teams are all like they're 1 through 18 in some order. And then the wild card round losers are slotted above. 

So you're going to have a scenario potentially where there's a wild card round loser that has a worse record than the Vikings and maybe a couple other teams. Like if the Buccaneers win their division, I think they'd be an 8 and 9 division winner. But because they would have made the playoffs, they would be slotted to draft after the Vikings and some of these other teams. So the vikings are draft 17th. They're tied with three other teams at eight, Nate, the Lions, the Ravens and the Colts who are sending their pick to the jets via the Sauce Gardner trade. And if they beat the packers they will almost assuredly have the the worst draft pick of any non playoff team. Which is a far cry from where people thought this was headed like three or four weeks ago. Where boy maybe if they were to lose to like the Lions and the playoff desperate Cowboys and then the packers, et cetera, maybe they'd have a top seven or eight pick. But that's not going to happen. They're going to pick somewhere between, I think the range is 14 or 15 and 18. Judd right smack dab in the middle.

Speaker B [00:03:55]:
Which is to your point. You know what, you still have to draft well. So. And I never, you know, I was hoping that they would lose more but I never expected them to like tank like, like when you watch, I mean the noon slate on Sunday was awful. Now, now the remainder of the games were great but when you watch the noon slate on Sunday you see teams that have really given up hope and you know, cashed in their chips. The Vikings didn't do that. So am I absolutely shocked that a team that in that a team that has rebounded before with Oconnell as coach did this? No, I'm not. But this also goes back to one thing. I don't care where you draft. You need to draft well and you need to draft and it needs to be depth. Since 2022 you can make an argument that the vikings best non first round picks, Jaylen Naylor in 22, sixth round, Wilson Will Reichert in, in the sixth round as well and I think 23 or 24. But anyway, the point being is I'm more, I am far more concerned about the fact that you get a, a complete draft too. Not a good first round pick, but that you get like three or four picks that hit. Not one. Or it's just like, oh, we, we, we traded back again. No, you actually have to have picks that hit this time.

Speaker A [00:05:20]:
Yeah. So there, there's a, there's a lot more to discuss on that front in the coming weeks and months. And a reminder too, like the season's going to end this weekend. We not only do we not like take a break or time off here on Purple Daily, it is a 365 day, your Viking show. We hit the gas pedal the week after the season, just jumpstarting the off season conversations. We're going to have our first off season blueprint episode on Friday, January 9th and we'll have something cool to announce in and around that as well. Offensive Ranks scoring offense Vikings 25th yards per play offense 28th offensive expected points added 28. So by most key measurements, a bottom 5ish offense in the NFL Defensive ranks, however, scoring defense up to ninth yards per play defense up to fifth and defensive EPA expected points added up to fifth. So the opposite for the defense. This, this team and their wins have been carried largely by a top 5ish defense this season. The biggest storyline let's get into this here because you were actually involved in a back and forth on Twitter with an NFL Insider yesterday. 

The biggest storyline being Brian Flores is a free agent after week 18. Now there is a period where the Vikings have like an exclusive negotiating window. But we'll start with Josina Anderson, formerly of ESPN and CBS and now is doing some digital content for a couple different platforms. And she tweeted out, why would Brian Flores leave one defensive coordinator job for another job with the same title? The Vikings would match any pay raise, basically saying he's not leaving unless he gets a head coaching job. And the sports dad chimed in, came into the room and said, hey, he might have a big interest in what the 2026 Vikings are going to do at quarterback before he commits to stay here, which is what we've talked about. Like you're going to want to know and I'll read you the Florio thing here in a second. All right? I got other teams. It's a lateral job and maybe you would match any pay raise. But like in terms of winning a Super bowl, which I would like to be part of as well, do the Vikings give you the best chance? So Justina then chimed in again and said again, judd. She didn't say the judd part, but she was retweeting you. Brian Flores is not just going to take a defensive coordinator title with any other team count on that, which leads.

Speaker B [00:07:54]:
Me to believe she knows something, which would not be surprising. So, like, what I want to do is like. Like she tweeted it like it was. I didn't get a. I didn't get the commitment I wanted from the first tweet. So I threw out a curveball. I threw a little curveball in there and she. And she hammered it. So what this tells me so. So here's. So here's my first question off of that report then. Okay, Is Brian Flores looking for if he doesn't get a head coaching job, is he looking for, if nothing else, an assistant head coaching title as well? Another title like, like, this is too simple.

Speaker A [00:08:28]:
Vikings could give him that. Doesn't Mike Petton have that?

Speaker B [00:08:31]:
Yes, he does. Exactly right. But. But here's the. So here's what intrigues me. We. It's been reported that Brian Flores actually had a situation where the Vikings have approached him about a contract extension. And he's like, no, no, no, let's hold off. I. E. I'm going to bet on myself. Well, good for him. Well, he did. So why would you get this close to being a free agent? He can go. So the day his contract expires, he can take a D.C. job. He could take a secondary coaching job. He can do whatever he wants. He can be a linebackers coach. He's not going to be. But the point is, he bet on himself to become a free agent. So one is, why would I sign a contract extension now unless it's an unbelievable offer? 

But two is, why is she so certain? And by the way, I'm not doubting her. She's pretty well sourced. I'm not doubting her. I'm saying, why is she so certain of what she said? Which I respect. And then I thought, okay, what's next? Like, okay, if he doesn't get a head coaching job because you would have just signed the contract because no contract. He could sign a contract today if a head coaching job. If a team comes to him with their job, he can leave.

Speaker A [00:09:38]:
So, like, it's a step up the lap.

Speaker B [00:09:40]:
It's a step up. So there's no penalty there. So again, the breadcrumbs here aren't necessarily breadcrumbing yet. And that's where I'm interested.

Speaker A [00:09:48]:
Yeah, I. The phrasing of her final response has me wondering a little how convicted she is in her reporting here. Because she said, again, Brian Flores is not just going to take a defensive coordinator title with any other team. Count on that. Is she saying, like, it's not going to. He's not going to just with any old team is. I kind of read it. I guess the other way to read it is he's not going to take a defensive coordinator title with any team, period, unless there's some other.

Speaker B [00:10:22]:
And that's how I read it the second time. Okay. At first I thought, boy, she doesn't seem certain. And then I thought, or is she saying he's not going to take a defensive coordinator title with any other team?

Speaker A [00:10:33]:
But why would, why would his camp leak that information in the middle of a negotiation with the Vikings? Like, your leverage with the Vikings is twofold. One, well, if you get a head coaching job, like, the leverage doesn't matter, you're just gone. But the other leverage is, well, I could also just leave for another defensive coordinator job. Like, you wouldn't want it out there. Then that, well, I'm not actually going to leave so you can lowball me on an offer. So I'm not like, I'm not trying to discredit her either, because she has been super plugged in for like 15 years in the NFL. But Florio comes in on Pro Football Talk and I'll read you just a, like three or four graphs here from his story. One such team lurking to possibly lure Brian Flores away as defensive coordinator is the Dallas Cowboys. He says Dallas seems to be destined to fire defensive coordinator Matt Eberfluss, which would, which would end one of the great two year tumbles in NFL coaching history after disastrous reunion year in the increasing chatter in league circles is that the Cowboys will be firmly in play for Brian Flores. 

The Vikings, we're told, are keenly aware of this possibility. And while the Vikings should have exclusive rights to negotiate with Flores until his contract does expire, which would be, I don't know if it's like super bowl or what, there's usually a few days of buffer after the season ends. We all know by now that tampering is rampant in pro football. If Jerry Jones decides to give true credence to his periodic claim about the size of the check he'd write to win a Super bowl, he'll put real cash on the table for Flores. This could spark a bidding war for Flores between Dallas, Minnesota and whichever other teams may decide to jump into the fray. The other factor in all of this is whether the Vikings truly want Florida Flores back or whether they want to create the impression that they tried to keep him, which they kind of did with Kirk Cousins, Sam Darnold. We don't want it to end on terrible terms. But for various reasons, we want to go in a different direction. As we learned when canvassing high level personnel with multiple teams. About Flores's head coaching prospects, his Belichickian style hasn't always meshed with with Minnesota. Nice. And it goes on to talk about Kevin o', Connell, who leads with a little bit more of an even hand. And Flores is sort of the. The counterbalance.

Speaker B [00:13:11]:
Reckless speculation. Unmute myself first. So there's a couple of things here that I think are very, very important. So yeah, just a completely recklessly speculate on what this means. First of all, it's very clear in my opinion that somebody is trying to tell the league that, that we are in a Kirk Cousins 2.0 Falcons, which is they're talking to our guy before they can. And in this case it's the Cowboys. In that case it was the Falcons. And we all know that Kevin o' Connell was very upset that the Falcons. He was passive aggressive about it, but he was upset that the Falcons tampered with Kirk, which they did. They didn't get caught. That's fine. And that now it appears that Dallas might be making preliminary inroads to Brian Flores. So that's part one, I think that's being thrown out by the Vikings on purpose to basically say, hold on a second here. Our guy still signed and somebody else is talking to him. What's going on here? 

Let's make sure everybody knows so perhaps we can get a draft pick if Brian Flores were to leave or tampering was proven. The second thing, though, that I find to be equally as intriguing is the seemingly push and pull that you just talked about between the Vikings internally. Okay, so there is another piece lower in that story by Florio on PFT regarding Kevin o', Connell, which I find to be very intriguing as far as what might be going on internally. It reads, still coach Kevin o' Connell will in parentheses or should have plenty of say in the final decision given how much the Vikings will pay to keep Flores, given OConnell's gentler touch when it comes to working with others, Flores provides balance. And if and when the Vikings get their quarterback position figured out, the upside in Minnesota could be higher than it is in Dallas. Now, forgive me if I'm overstepping my bounds here, but that paragraph right there reads like it was written by somebody who works at TCO Performance center and basically emailed it to Florio and said, throw this in your column, buddy boy. This leads me to believe, again, recklessly speculating, way out of line. Here. This leads me to believe that there might be some dissension internally with the Vikings about keeping Flores and about paying him. 

And let me just say this. I don't think o' Connell wants to lose him. So what this leads me. Remember, remember, very important to keep in mind as far as the, as far as the Minnesota. Nice thing. If you recall, it was not, you know, Kwesi was friends with Jim Harbaugh, right? And supposedly it was people on the business side who was like, we can't go down this path. We just had Zimmer. Harbaugh is going to rub people the wrong way. We need touchy feely, we need to play nice. But, but you recall that, right? So what.

Speaker A [00:16:03]:
I really don't.

Speaker B [00:16:04]:
And those people are still. But, but those people are still employed. My point is, what I'm reading here is somebody from the Vikings might be saying, hold on a second here, I'm going to lose this guy because you guys are afraid that he offends people. So I think we're looking at a multi pronged thing here, which might be gumming up the works of floor is being signed or being back. I think there might be some dissension on how this is playing out. And I think the call might be coming from inside the TCO house.

Speaker A [00:16:33]:
I feel like we should, we should almost like back up a step or two here because. And I, I'm going to do that and then pose a question to you because I think there's a lot of audience members here who are just like, they're like rubbing their eyes and trying to like, clean out their ears, wondering what, what, why would you ever let this dude walk out your door? He's clearly one of the best defensive schemers in the world and he has taken. I mean, his resume speaks for itself. A top five yardage defense this year. And now they're top ten in scoring after, you know, they have a couple, couple wonky little periods. They're kind of middle to beginning of the year. Top five scoring defense in 2024, number one takeaway defense a year ago. Now they're back top ten for takeaway rate after six takeaways against Detroit. And even more impressive considering the personnel, which is good, not great. 

They have zero Pro Bowlers on defense, which some of that might be a little bit like Grenard's probably a Pro Bowler. If he stays healthy, he could probably pick Nicks with a couple others. But it's not like you got a Miles Garrett running around here or, you know, they, they've Got a bunch of good chess pieces that he works really well with through his scheme. And it's. It's just one of the great confusing systems for even veteran quarterbacks to decipher. And I can already hear a bunch of our audience wondering, well, sports dad. Sports dad. You guys, this is like. This takes reckless speculation to jump the Shark levels. Why is anyone talking about, if anything, like, shouldn't the conversation be about whether Kevin o' Connell should come back versus Brian Flores, who has, with his defense, especially last two months, has kept this team around eight or nine wins when the season's over? So I think this comes out of left field for a lot of people. 

And, and the best. The best way I can say it is there's been rumblings people that cover the team, people that. That talk to people within the organization. There's been rumblings that it's not been all Kumbaya behind the scenes with Brian Flores. I don't, and I don't want to speak for, you know exactly what all the details are, but there's a reason why Florio is writing what he wrote on Pro Football Talk. There's a reason why Brian Flores is set to become a free agent and he doesn't have a contract yet or didn't have a contract a year ago. Is there any other way that you can contextualize for the people that are shocked? Why would. Why would this even be a thing that. Unless he gets a head coaching job, why would this even be a conversation? What else would you say or add to it?

Speaker B [00:19:10]:
He's abrasive. He's a football guy. He's a defensive guy. They're abrasive. They should be. Zimmer was a very good defensive guy. Abrasive. Rex Ryan, defensive guy. Abrasive. Like, that's how, like, the Brian Flores stuff from the Dolphins is not all. All made up. Brian Flores rubbed a lot of people offensively especially, I think, the wrong way with the Dolphins because he comes from the Belichick culture. Bill Belichick, abrasive. So I think it's very simple, but I also think that it's very nuanced in the sense that I believe there are people in the building who don't like that and they want it to be Kumbaya, which, by the way, in football, I don't believe is possible. Like, I think your locker room can be a good place, but you're. But there's always going to be friction. 

This is pro football, and Brian Flores is not a guy who I think has a lot of time for screwing around. I think he is, I think he is a guy like his personality, he's, he's, he's an alpha, but he's a guy who's going to not be afraid to tell you what he thinks. Now certain quarterbacks don't like that. Tua didn't like it. It hurt his feelings. But the defensive guys love it. Why? Because they play a brutal sport and they do brutal things on Sundays as far as like what their, their living is. So. But I think the Harbaugh comp here is perfect. Like, I think we stop and ask, why was Jim Harbaugh, why did he fly here thinking that he had the job and he didn't get the job? And I think the answer is not quesi. He liked him. They're buddies. I think the answer was there were people on the business side coming out of the Zimmer. You know, no nonsense. We don't say hi on a daily basis. I think there were people on the business side who have a lot of sway with the Wils who were like, we're not, I don't want to go back there. 

And, and yes, to me, that's not a great mentality if you don't know the guy well. But I think we are looking at that again when, when we are looking at signing him probably to a potential multi year, very rich contract extension. But I think, I think if you go to o', Connell, he, he would say, hold on a second here, this guy has done a great job. What are you talking about? I am, I might be a little bit more of, of a people person than Brian Flores is, but at the end of the day, are we here, are we here to run a daycare center for football players or are we here to try to win football games? Go up to your ivory tower, suck it up, shut up and let's play football.

Speaker A [00:21:46]:
And that's the thing. It's like, that's, that's why. I understand why these conversations are happening. Just, I don't, I don't understand all of the why behind the curtain, but I, I feel like we understand enough of the why and the abrasiveness like, okay, like, yeah, okay, I guess this is, and the fact that he's a free market defensive coordinator, like there's going to be other teams bidding on his services potentially, and he deserves to explore that. Contractually he's able to all those things. But like, if he comes back, the thing that you would be the most sure about going into 2026 is his defense. The Thing that has let this organization down over the past 12 months is the offense, the play on the field, the quarterback play, the evaluation and the development of quarterbacks decisions going back 12, maybe 24 months. It's been offense that is letting this organization down. And the overseers of that offense are Kevin O', Connell, by, by extension Wes Phillips, Josh McCown and quesied off Amendson, Ryan Gregson running the front office and making the actual draft picks and personnel moves. 

So to me, if your goal is to win big in 2026, you have so many hard discussions to take place on offense the next three to four months before the off season program kicks back in. Do you really want to add finding a new defensive coordinator to that list? So to me, the easiest and okay, like if there's something bigger that like really warrants, man, we just can't have this dude in the organization. All right, well then I like until that's reported. Or, or is a thing like at this point. Oh, he's a little abrasive. It's football, like you said. Are you trying to, are you trying to win a certain way? You gotta, we gotta win with a bunch of really nice, happy, polite people and that's the only way that we can win a Super Bowl. Or do you want to win a Super Bowl? Because the defense that I'm watching the last two years, the one that we've seen the last two months, the one that we've seen for the majority of the last two years, that's a Super bowl winning defense. 

If you have something other than the 28th ranked offense. So like you got a bajillion things on your plate, you got to clear cap space, you got to figure out your quarterback, you got to figure out your offense, what you want to do schematically going into next year. And a list of other things too, drafting all these things. The easiest thing you can do in the first two weeks of the off season is make that dude the highest paid defensive coordinator. Check. Okay, cool. Defense handled. Now what? Now what's next on our list? I just like, I get why it's a story, but I also at the same time like the Vikings should just squash it by giving him the biggest paycheck of any defense coordinator.

Speaker B [00:24:30]:
Yeah, and I'll go back to what I said before that part of the conversation, which is if I'm him, I'm going to hit the market now. Like I'm, I'm worth how much and, and that's if I don't get a head coaching opportunity, which I think he probably won't, but, I mean, he could. He should be out there for it. And so, yeah, there is just, I mean, this conversation should be, I think, right now about Kwesi's future. Like, like, that's, that's a guy that should be on a very hot seat, especially since the, the drafts haven't worked out great and the free agent Class of 2025 went south as well to a certain large degree. But, yeah, I. Look, the Vikings are the Viking. It's very clear that there are people within that organization who want it to be a certain way. 

And I just don't know that that's going to be always conducive with trying to win. Like, I'm not saying hire really bad people, but I am saying if you're really good at what you do, am I going to put up with a little bit more bs? Absolutely. Because you're really good at what you do. And at the end of the day, it's hard to find people who are good at what they do in these certain jobs. And, and look, I mean, Brian Flores took a train wreck. He took a Ed Donatell 2022 train wreck, and in 23, without great ingredients, he improved it exponentially. And then just like he did with the Dolphins, then it went up more and, and now with guys out with some question marks, to your point, no Pro bowl players, he's done a damn good job. Do I want to flush that down the drain? Because this might be a problem. I mean, at some point in time, you have to show you have to walk a very fine line. Okay. And in my opinion, that that fine line comes with one question. Do you want to win football games or do you want to just be good guys? Yeah. And unfortunately in the NFL, in pro sports, that's a decision.

Speaker A [00:26:18]:
Yeah. Yeah. So really interesting thing to keep an eye on here over the next few weeks. There's a.