B-Flo Intro Presser

Me too. I was waiting for some numpty to ask, and they didn't disappoint 

While it does give me hope, I'll wait until after free agency and the draft before I get too excited. Kwesi hasn't impressed me much thus far, but it's only been 1 year.

That would be the ideal scenario. I want to see something like the old Vikings Defense that punched people in the mouth and made them earn every yard.

Thanks for sharing that, Funkytown . I don't think I've heard Flores talk before so I wanted to see how he carried himself with some of the Twin Cities press.

Things I found interesting:

- Towards the end when "B-Flo" and O'Connell were talking about their prior "relationship" in New England (which I'm not sure there was much, honestly), O'Connell mentioned reaching out to Matthew Slater and Jerod Mayo to gauge their opinions on Flores. This is the 2nd time we've known O'Connell to use the approach - last year they did it when they talked to Georgia players (such as bringing in Travon Walker for a Top 30 visit) and asked them who they'd like to play with from that Championship team and most of them said "Lewis Cine". It could be one of O'Connell's "tells"; when they bring-in certain players or talk to certain people, they could be targeting someone other than those players or indivdiuals.

- Really love the "gameplan specific" comments when asked if he will operate a 4-3 or 3-4. Yeah, he said "3-4" at the end but he did mention "gameplan specific" and players being able to play multiple roles earlier in the presser, too...I've been waiting to hear those type of words ever since the 2017 NFC Championship when I first began pounding the table for Zimmer to stop calling defensive plays, focus more on being a complete Head Coach and make some freakin' in-game adjustments before halftime. Other coaches are making adjustments on-the-fly, in the middle of a possession and it's just been like watching paint dry with Zimmer and then Donatell. It remains to be seen if it'll happen, but at least he's saying the right things, IMO.

- Flores talked a bunch about this being the "right opportunity" and how he can "grow" in Minnesota, but he also said that "things change" when he was asked about possible Head Coach opportunities as early as next year. I got the feeling throughout the presser that he's a straight-shooter and he was trying his best to pause and give a more "polished"/"professional" answer, but I'm wondering if that "things change" comment was a bit of himself coming out and saying "hey, I might like it here and may want to continue to be the DC for a while". He did say there are things/goals he'd like to accomplish but then said that "things change" right after that - maybe his personal goals can possible change over a time, and with this family loving Justin Jefferson and the Vikings, perhaps he might want to stay in Minnesota vs becoming a Head Coach somewhere else...

- You do get the feeling that Kwesi, O'Connell, Wes Phillips and now possibly Flores want to build/continue to build something here in Minnesota and see it through. Phillips turned down an offer for an OC job w/ the Chargers and now with Flores there and how he carried himself and spoke about the team/organization, it does give you a sense of "purple hope" (uh, I might drinkin' a bit of koolaid). I'm wondering if that will trickle down to the players and to free agents as they consider the Vikings offer vs the offers from other teams and maybe that "something" they're building could help land a key free agent or two. That's possibly just wishful thinking with free agency a month away, but they did talk about sitting down and going through the roster and "casting a wide net" - you do get the feeling that changes are coming and that net they will cast will be a free agent net after they get through weeding out which players may not be a good fit.

- Another time when Flores' straight-shooter style might have leaked out was when he was talking about Cover 0 blitzes and bringing pressure; there's no hiding it: he's going to be aggressive and he's going to show a bunch of Cover 0 looks and opposing offenses will have to make plays and be prepared for it. And for the Vikings, the "Donashell" era is over; I think of it like Zimmer's comments early in his tenure where he talked poorly about "Tampa 2" CB's and wanted pure press-man CB's and he used to send overload blitzes to one side of the line to completely overwhelm the offense. I do think back to that 2015 defense that took us to the 2015 NFC North title and a time when Zimmer was more aggressive himself...it just won't be a 4-3 alignment with double-A gap blitz looks w/ Barr & Kendricks and instead, it will be everyone standing up close to the LOS on a critical 3rd down and stunting everywhere when the ball is snapped to create mass confusion. Can't wait to see it...

Or maybe he wants to stay in Minnesota and become the HC of the Vikings

B-Flo? is that a thing? Like Beefalo? (which didn't become the thing it was expected to)

I love the hire of Flores its exactly what we need. Its going to be a short term thing if things go well everyone knew that coming in doesn't really matter what his response was I dont blame the guy. It fits right into the Vikings way of things trying to find the shortcut and easy way out (maybe thats why Im a Viking fan never thought of that )

Definitely like the hire. I think his "gut feeling" was more of a strategic move. Not sure the AZ move would have been smart, and being in Miami it should be very clear what a bad HC opportunity looks like. His next HC move will likely be his last, so he's got to be smart about it. This allows him to have a very nice data point on his resume and put him as a high choice for when a good opportunity pops up.

On that same point, I think another area that will greatly benefit the Vikings (hopefully) is scouting. I'm not sure many Viking fans know this, but Flores' initial job within the New England organization was a Scouting Asst/Pro Scout in 2004 (he might have mentioned that during the presser, not sure). But I do remember reading somewhere recently that Flores is a really strong scout/talent evaluator and has a keen eye/knowledge for targeting specific college prospects to the NFL. Like Tomlin in Pittsburgh, Flores has been known to attend the college All-Star games in-person and go to as many Pro Days as he can (he coached the National team at the Senior Bowl in 2021 while he was still with Miami and we all know he was at the Senior Bowl last month when media spotted him talking with Kwesi).

It's no secret that recent Viking Draft classes haven't exactly been stellar and while the GM (sometimes in collaboration with the HC) have the final say on player personnel decisions, I'm wondering if the Viking Scouting Dept needs some a fresh set of eyes in there. With Flores hopefully providing his knowledge to Kwesi & O'Connell, perhaps Kwesi can take that and perhaps rethink the Scouting approach.

It's not unreasonable to think that not only can Flores help coordinate the defense once we get to September, but also really help player personnel decisions from February thru April, as well.