Big Cat Country
What makes Brian Flores an attractive candidate?
For the third time in five years, the Jacksonville Jaguars are searching for a new head coach.
Big Cat Country’s Jaguars head coach hiring process tracker is constantly being updated — but to provide more information on the top candidates being interviewed, we’ll be releasing in-depth profiles throughout the search.
Other head coach candidate profiles:
Next up: Minnesota Vikings defensive coordinator, and former Miami Dolphins head coach Brian Flores, whom the New York Jets, the Chicago Bears, and the Jaguars have all requested interviews with.
After starting his football career as a linebacker at Boston College in 1999, Flores at age 23 would begin his NFL career as a scouting assistant for the New England Patriots in 2004. After a promotion he would become a professional scout for the team through 2008, when he would take on his first NFL coaching role as the special teams coaching assistant. The promotions would continue in New England through the 2018 season when he would eventually move from defensive assistant, to safeties, to linebacker's coach. All said and done, Flores would leave New England with four SuperBowl rings in five appearances and the honor of calling defensive plays throughout his final season that featured the lowest scoring SuperBowl in NFL history - a 13-3 victory over the Los Angeles Rams.
Flores was then hired by the Miami Dolphins to be their head coach in 2019. After a rocky 5-11 rookie season as head coach, he would lead the dolphins to a 10-6 record in his sophomore year. However, despite reaching 10 wins, they would not make the playoffs. The following season the team would go 9-8 again not making the playoffs, though achieving the Miami Dolphins’ first back-to-back winning seasons in 17 years. Flores was then fired by the Miami Dolphins after the season, with a later NFL investigation conducted into Dolphins owner Stephen Ross for impermissible communication with both head coach Sean Peyton and quarterback Tom Brady during Flores’ employment.
After his time in Miami, Flores would take a role with the Pittsburgh Steelers as their senior defensive assistant and linebacker's coach in 2022, then secure his current role as the defensive coordinator for the Minnesota Vikings in 2023. After his initial season where the team would rank 13th in points surrendered, Flores' unit would improve to fifth in 2024.
2022 Lawsuit
Per a lawsuit subsequently filed by Flores after his termination, he and the rest of the class sued the NFL, the New York Giants, the Denver Broncos, and the Miami Dolphins for racial discrimination in hiring practices. Additionally, the lawsuit alleged that Flores was pressured by Ross to lose games for better draft picks throughout his tenure and pressured to meet quarterback Tom Brady illegally...
