After spending the last two seasons as the the Minnesota Vikings defensive coordinator, Brian Flores is currently in the running for multiple head-coaching jobs around the NFL. So far, the Chicago Bears, New York Jets, and Jacksonville Jaguars have put in requests to meet with Flores about possibly becoming their next head coach.
Recently, The Athletic's Zack Rosenblatt predicted that Flores will end up with the Jets job, and in his prediction, he also connected two other current members of the Vikings to New York.
"Flores hasn’t interviewed for the Jets job yet (he will this week) but I think when he does, he’ll win them over with his plan for turning things around, just as he won over Vikings players and turned the defense into one of the NFL’s best.
...The Jets would likely add Vikings executive Ryan Grigson as general manager if they hired Flores, and the two already have a positive working relationship.
...It’s believed Vikings quarterbacks coach Josh McCown, a former Jet, would be a top candidate to be Flores’ play-caller."
Brian Flores predicted to leave Minnesota Vikings for New York Jets in 2025
Losing Flores to the Jets would arguably be the biggest departure for the Vikings this offseason, and McCown and Grigson joining him in New York would certainly make things even tougher for Minnesota.
In the last two years, Flores has transformed the Vikings defense into one of the best units in the entire NFL. If he leaves, then Minnesota will have a lot to figure out during the next few weeks when it comes to their defense.
Decisions will not only need to be made about who can be brought in to replace Flores, but the Vikings will also have to figure out if they want to continue to run a similar defensive scheme in 2025, and if not, then they might have to find a find a number of brand-new defenders this offseason to fit their new scheme.
Losing McCown this year would be significant for Minnesota as well. He played a vital role in the re-birth of quarterback Sam Darnold this past season and the hope is that he can help J.J. McCarthy succeed as well, who is expected to take over as the Vikings' starting signal-caller for the 2025 campaign.
With an offensive-minded head coach like Kevin O'Connell, Minnesota needing a new defensive coordinator every few years isn't something that should come as a surprise. The opposite happened when the Vikings hired a bunch of different offensive coordinators when Mike Zimmer was the team's head coach.
Selfishly, Minnesota would like to keep Flores and McCown around for at least one more season. But the Vikings know the chances of that actually happening aren't as high as they would probably like.