Patriots announcement just gave Brian Flores the help he needed

Minnesota Vikings defensive coordinator Brian Flores should be a hot commodity in the NFL’s head coaching cycle this year. Still, his current lawsuit against the league for discriminatory hiring practices may lead him back to the Vikings for the second straight offseason.

Another step toward that scenario happened on Sunday when the New England Patriots announced Mike Vrabel as their next head coach to replace Jerod Mayo.

While Flores didn’t get the job with a team that he spent over a decade with as an assistant under former New England head coach Bill Belichick, he may have won anyway as the Patriots may have validated his lawsuit.

New England Patriots alleged “sham interviews” similar to accusations toward NFL by Minnesota Vikings DC Brian Flores

A report from CBS Sports’s Jonathan Jones on Sunday revealed how the Patriots came to hiring Vrabel after an in-person interview with Patriots owners Robert and Jonathan Kraft on Thursday. But it also showed a disregard for the league’s Rooney Rule which requires teams to interview two minority candidates for vacant head coaching or executive jobs.

While the Patriots satisfied the rule, they did so by interviewing Byron Leftwich and Pep Hamilton – two black men who have not coached in the NFL since 2022. Jones also stated that Detroit Lions defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn turned down an interview request from the Patriots and earned “praise across the league from coaches and personnel members of all colors who, in conversations with CBS Sports, believed the Krafts were making a sham of the Rooney Rule.”

The Patriots had good reason to hire Vrabel quickly as Dianna Russini of The Athletic reported that all teams with a vacant head coaching opening reached out to the 49-year-old this week. But Jones’s report validates the reason why Flores sued the league in 2022.

Flores was a candidate for the New York Giants coaching vacancy when he received a text from Belichick congratulating him for getting the job. Flores was confused initially as the Giants had not offered him the job at that point, only to find out Belichick’s text was meant for Brian Daboll, who was hired a few days later.

Flores also alleged that the league had discriminated against other black head coaches for racial reasons, denying them positions as head coaches, offensive and defensive coordinators, and quarterback coaches, as well as general managers by engaging in “sham interviews.”

Flores hasn’t been a head coach since being fired by the Miami Dolphins after the 2021 season but spent the 2022 campaign as an assistant under Mike Tomlin with the Pittsburgh Steelers. Flores became the Vikings defensive coordinator in 2023 and in two seasons with the the team, he has helped Minnesota go from 29th in the NFL in points allowed in 2022 to fifth in the same category this season.

Flores recently told reporters he planned on taking all coaching interviews during the upcoming cycle and ESPN’s Kevin Seifert noted that Minnesota's defensive coordinator did admit to having interest in the Patriots job, but it was “not up to him” whether he would get the opportunity.

“I mean, we’re talking about going home where it all started. So I think that’s a place that’s definitely a special place. In talking about my football journey, that’s where it started. So I would say yes [to questions about his interest]. But at the same time, it’s not up to me as to whether or not they would want to talk to me or anything like that."

As it turned out, the Krafts opted to go in a different direction. But while they won the race to hire Vrabel, they may have also given Flores another reference point to win his lawsuit against the NFL and return to the Vikings next season.