With Minnesota’s 2024 season now complete, defensive coordinator Brian Flores is free to interview for head coaching jobs.
Per Albert Breer of SI.com, Flores will interview with the Jaguars on Friday for their HC vacancy.
Flores, 43, has been with Minnesota for the last two seasons as defensive coordinator. Minnesota ranked No. 5 in points allowed and No. 16 in yards allowed in 2024.
Flores was previously the Dolphins head coach from 2019-2021, compiling a 24-25 record as head coach with 10-6 and 9-8 records in his last two seasons.
The Bears and Jets have also put in requests to interview Flores for their head coaching vacancies.
The Jaguars have completed another interview with a candidate for their head coaching position.
The team announced that their interview with former Jets head coach Robert Saleh concluded on Tuesday. It’s the fifth interview that the Jaguars have had since firing Doug Pederson at the end of the regular season.
Saleh was hired by the Jets in 2021 and went 20-36 before being fired five games into the 2024 season. He’s also set to interview for the Raiders as a head coach and he interviewed with the 49ers for their defensive coordinator job. Saleh held that job with the 49ers before being hired by the Jets.
Raiders defensive coordinator Patrick Graham, Lions defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn, Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson, and Chiefs defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo are the others who have interviewed with the Jaguars.
The report came quickly, a day after the Steelers’ season ended with another one-and-done postseason performance.
They’re “not planning” to make a coaching change.
It’s an interesting choice of words. Plans can change. Sometimes, they do. So what would change their plans as to the future of Mike Tomlin?
One thing that could change their plans is an offer they can’t refuse.
Given the widespread belief that Tomlin would immediately find another head-coaching job if he wanted one, why not trade him and get significant value?
The problem with that approach is that coaches can’t be traded like players. The procedure goes like this. A team interested in hiring another team’s coach calls that team and engages in negotiations on compensation, if the team employing the coach has interest in a deal. After an agreement on terms is reached, the new team has permission to negotiate with the coach in an effort to reach a deal. If no deal is reached, there is no trade.
The more practical approach is that the team interested in a coach with another team determines through back channels whether the coach would have interest. If the message from Tomlin’s camp is, “No thanks.” It’s the same result.
Why would Tomlin want to agree to a trade? He could simply refuse, forcing the team to perhaps change its plans in a different way. Then, if the Steelers would fire him, he’d be able to take another job right away unencumbered by his new team giving up a first-round pick or more. Or he could take a year off with full pay and have his pick of open jobs in 2026.
If the report were that the Steelers definitely will not make a coaching change, it would look and feel different. The words “not planning” could be a subtle invitation to the Jets, Bears, Saints, Jaguars, Raiders, and possibly the Cowboys, whose contract with Mike McCarthy expires in two days.
This week, win or lose, Commanders offensive coordinator Kliff Kingsbury will have opportunities to interview for head-coaching jobs. If they win, it won’t be his top priority.
Per a league source, Kingsbury might ultimately decline one or more of the interview requests. (He might even decline one or more if they lose.)
Kingsbury, who coached the Cardinals for four years, has no financial urgency to become a head coach again. His buyout from the Cardinals runs into 2026, at mid-level head-coaching compensation. This allows him to wait for the right spot to open.
Waiting for the right spot to open becomes even more important for coaches who are working on a second opportunity. And it’s easier to wait when the candidate is confident that the window won’t be closing.
Considering what the Commanders have done in the first year of Dan Quinn’s tenure, there’s every reason to think the window will remain open for Kingsbury. Beyond the quick ascension of quarterback Jayden Daniels, the Commanders will have $100 million to work with in 2025. And now is the time to load up with veterans, since Daniels is two seasons away from being eligible for his second contract.
For now, the Bears and Saints have submitted interview requests for Kingsbury. The Jaguars could get involved this week, too. At the end of the day, Kingsbury will be in no hurry to leave. He’ll make head-coaching money into 2026 even if he’s not a head coach. He can wait for the right moment to be a head coach again.
And he possibly could do it after winning a Super Bowl ring with his current team.
During the latter months of the regular season, Jon Gruden’s name was emerging as a potential candidate for a 2025 head-coaching job. A full week into the coaching carousel, however, his name has not been mentioned in any report linking any team to any candidate.
Because he’s not currently employed by any NFL team, the usual procedure of submitting a request for permission to speak to a candidate doesn’t apply. And there can be conversations with Gruden without anyone knowing.
It would still be odd for Gruden to be in play and for no one to leak it, especially at a time when anyone and everyone is talking a blue streak now, Jack. It helps Gruden to have his name out there. If a team is looking for a new coach and it hears that another team is looking at Gruden, the first time might suddenly be interested in Gruden, too.
There’s one caveat to this. As of last week, talk was making the rounds that Gruden’s agent, Bob LaMonte, has been telling people that Gruden already has a job in hand. And while that might be bluster and bluffing, there’s a non-zero chance it’s true — and that at the right time the pursuit will become public.
Still, it’s hard to imagine any team hiring any candidate that no team has been linked to. To date, no specific team has been linked to Gruden.
