To say the heat has churned up on the Brian Flores front, especially with the Cardinals, would be an understatement, as the Steelers senior defensive assistant and linebackers coach, who appeared to be more likely to return in 2023, now seems to be trending the opposite way.
Ian Rapoport of NFL Network reports that Flores will have his second interview with the Arizona Cardinals for their head coaching position on Wednesday, thus putting him among the finalists after being reported yesterday that he was not among the ones known.
Brian Flores now joins Mike Kafka and Lou Anarumo in the finalists group. With his connections to general manager Monti Ossenfort, one has to believe that Flores has a chance to land this job. He’s also the only one among that candidate pool with actual head coaching experience.
Meanwhile, the Broncos lost defensive coordinator Ejiro Evero, but not to the Vikings, but to the Panthers. Flores was reportedly the top candidate for the open defensive coordinator job along with the Evero. So, that could put the wheels in motion for Flores to head to the Vikings.
Lastly, Flores still has his interview with the Denver Broncos this week as well. Now with Evero out fo the picture, momentum could pick up for Flores on that front as well. Whether it ends up being Brian Flores to the Cardinals, Vikings, or Broncos, he will have a busy week.
It seems like this will be the ultimate week to deciding if Flores stays on Mike Tomlin’s staff beyond this year only. While that appeared to be the case 24 hours ago, there is now a hot number of suitors for Flores’ services that it appears he could land a promotion in another place.
Should Flores receive a promotion, the Steelers would not receiver any compensatory picks, as Flores has only been on the staff for one season. The rule qualifies itself by saying that the staff member would have to be on the staff for multiple seasons for the team to earn compensatory selections.