It took some time, but it finally happened.
The Vikings have announced that defensive coordinator Brian Flores has signed a contract extension. His three-year deal ran through the end of the 2025 regular season.
The Vikings were confident Flores would stay, if he didn’t get a head-coaching job elsewhere.
“Brian has a unique ability to connect with players, understand their skill sets, and put them in positions to maximize their impact on the field,” coach Kevin O’Connell said in a release. “The identity of our defense is a reflection of his leadership and preparation. On a personal level, I’ve really valued the relationship we’ve built over the last three years, and that shared trust, alignment and high standard will continue to be critical to our success.”
Flores interviewed with both the Ravens and Steelers for their head-coaching vacancies. The Pittsburgh interview happened on Wednesday. It’s unclear whether the Vikings’ announcement means he has withdrawn from consideration for either job.
Flores, who coached the Dolphins from 2019 through 2021, also interviewed for the vacant defensive coordinator position in Washington.
The Vikings believed the Cowboys might make a run at Flores for their vacant defensive coordinator job. He was never interviewed, which possibly means the Cowboys knew what he wanted financially, and weren’t willing to pay it.
Regardless, the silence has been broken. The Vikings have a new deal with Flores. They presumably wouldn’t have announced it if they thought he may be leaving.
Ravens Clips
Broncos offensive pass game coordinator/quarterbacks coach Davis Webb is not eligible to interview with teams for their head coaching vacancies this week, as he’s preparing for Sunday’s AFC Championship Game.
But if Webb does end up landing one of the open jobs, there is one veteran coach who may wind up as one of his top assistants.
Per Jeremy Fowler of ESPN, Kliff Kingsbury is a candidate to join Webb as his offensive coordinator.
Kingsbury, who most recently served as Washington’s offensive coordinator from 2024-2025, was Webb’s head coach at Texas Tech from 2013-2015 before Webb transferred to Cal for the 2016 season.
Kingsbury would also bring NFL head coaching experience to any staff, having accumulated a 28-37-1 record as Cardinals head coach from 2019-2022.
Webb, 30, was a third-round pick in the 2017 draft. He started his coaching career as Denver’s QBs coach under Sean Payton in 2023 after ending his time as a player with the Giants in 2022.
The Browns lost a head coaching candidate on Tuesday, but they also completed a second interview with another one.
Ravens offensive coordinator Todd Monken joined Browns defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz as candidates who have had multiple meetings with the team. The interview came on the same day that Mike McDaniel dropped out of consideration for the job in order to become the offensive coordinator for the Chargers.
Monken is also believed to be the top candidate to be the Giants’ offensive coordinator. He was on John Harbaugh’s staff in Baltimore for the last three seasons, so the fit would be an obvious one if he does not land the job in Cleveland.
Chargers defensive coordinator Jesse Minter and Jaguars offensive coordinator Grant Udinski are also scheduled to interview with the Browns this week. Rams pass game coordinator Nate Scheelhaase is also on the second interview list, but cannot meet with the team before the NFC Championship Game.
Well, now we know why Mike McDaniel passed on a second interview for the Browns’ head-coaching job.
Via multiple reports, McDaniel will become the new offensive coordinator of the Chargers.
It gives McDaniel a chance to partner with coach Jim Harbaugh and quarterback Justin Herbert. And it gives McDaniel an opportunity to author the kind of performance that sets him up to potentially become an A-list candidate in 2027.
McDaniel coached the Dolphins for four seasons, with a record of 35-33 in the regular season and 0-2 in the playoffs.
He had drawn head-coaching interest, and it’s apparently possible he could still pivot to a bigger job. As noted by Tom Pelissero of NFL Network, no deal has been signed. He remains in play for the top jobs with the Ravens and Raiders.
For now, however, McDaniel is on track to partner with Jim Harbaugh. Both are quirky. Both are unique. And we can only hope that the Chargers will be the focal point of Hard Knocks in August.
It’s odd, to say the least, that a head-coaching candidate affirmatively withdraws from consideration after interviewing for the job. That’s what former Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel has done in Cleveland.
McDaniel interviewed for the job on January 12. He opted not to submit to a second interview, which had been scheduled for Wednesday.
The report provided no reason. One potential explanation is that McDaniel didn’t believe he’d get the job. Another potential explanation is that he didn’t want it. Which, if accurate, would be a smart move; taking a rebound job with a team that has a habit of firing coaches could result in the second chance not lasting job, while also becoming the coach’s last opportunity.
There’s another possibility. McDaniel remains under consideration for both the Raiders’ and Ravens’ head-coaching jobs. Maybe he believes he’ll be getting one of those two positions.
Regardless, McDaniel is far better off taking an offensive coordinator position with a good team than becoming the head coach of a perennially bad one. For every team, the goal is to hire a coach who has options. And it’s possible that McDaniel has decided he has better options than putting himself in line to be the next coach fired by the Browns.
Special teams coordinator Chris Horton won’t be going from Baltimore to New Jersey with John Harbaugh.
Mike Garafolo of NFL Media reports that the Ravens are blocking Horton from interviewing for lateral moves. Garafolo said the team is expected to do the same for a handful of other coaches as they work to find their next head coach.
Horton has been running the special teams units for the Ravens since 2019. He was the team’s assistant special teams coach from 2014-2018.
Garafolo mentions assistant special teams coach Anthony Levine and senior special teams coach Randy Brown as others who could stick with the team through their coaching change.
It looks like Mike McDaniel will not be the next head coach in Cleveland.
Tom Pelissero of NFL Media reports that McDaniel informed the team that he is withdrawing from their head coaching search. McDaniel interviewed with the team earlier this month and was slated to meet with them a second time on Wednesday.
McDaniel has also interviewed with the Raiders, Ravens, Falcons, and Titans since being fired by the Dolphins after Week 18. The Falcons and Titans have found their new head coaches, so McDaniel will not be landing either of those jobs.
There has also been offensive coordinator interest in McDaniel from teams like the Chargers and Buccaneers. Teams with new coaches could join them as they begin to fill out their coaching staffs, so there are still a lot of potential landing spots for McDaniel as the coaching carousel continues to turn.
The Browns had a second interview with their own defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz. Chargers defensive coordinator Jesse Minter, Ravens offensive coordinator Todd Monken, Jaguars offensive coordinator Grant Udinski, and Rams pass game coordinator Nate Scheelhaase also remain in the mix in Cleveland.
The Raiders have kicked off their second round of head coaching interviews.
Adam Schefter of ESPN reports that Chargers defensive coordinator Jesse Minter has completed his second interview with the team. The Raiders have interviewed 14 candidates thus far, although two of them — Kevin Stefanski and Jeff Hafley — have been hired by other teams.
Hafley was on the list of second interviews with Las Vegas, but his agreement with Miami leaves Panthers defensive coordinator Ejiro Evero as the only other reported candidate set to meet with the team again.
The Ravens and Browns have also scheduled second interviews with Minter, so the Chargers may be looking for a new defensive coordinator in the near future.
Curt Cignetti has come a long way, in a short time.
In only two years of big-time college football — at a previously small-time Big Ten program — Cignetti has climbed to the top of the mountain. The question now becomes whether he’ll try to climb the same mountain again, or whether he’ll look for a new mountain.
Cignetti has recently said he’s “not an NFL guy.” There’s nothing like a giant bag of cash to change a guy’s mind, however.
The first question is whether one of the six NFL teams currently looking for a head coach will make the call.
If it doesn’t happen now, it never will. Cignetti is 64. He has no NFL experience. But what he has done in such a short time at Indiana can’t be ignored.
Owners are looking for quick fixes. Has there ever been a quicker fix than what Cignetti did in Bloomington?
It won’t be cheap, either to buy out his contract ($15 million) or to hire him. He’s in line to get upward of $13 million per year in a place where he’ll likely be able to stay as long as he wants. Although it’s far from easy to keep winning national championships, the money is there to be consistently competitive (thanks in part to alumni like Mark Cuban).
Regardless, Cignetti has proven himself time and again. From IUP to Elon to James Madison to Indiana, the former West Virginia quarterback, whose father (Frank Cignetti Sr.) bridged the gap in Morgantown between Bobby Bowden and Don Nehlen, has seen his ship come in. Will an NFL owner now sidle up with a superyacht?
If an NFL team looking for a coach believes Cignetti could be the answer, and if the owner is willing to write the check to make it happen, why not make the call? Plenty of teams could do a lot worse.
Plenty of teams have. And history tells us that, in the current cycle, plenty of teams will.
Chargers defensive coordinator Jesse Minter remains in the mix for several head coaching openings.
Jeff Zrebiec of TheAthletic.com reports that Minter is expected to have a second interview with the Ravens this week. Minter had a virtual interview with the team last week and would have an in-person meeting this time around.
Minter is also slated for second interviews with the Browns and Raiders after completing his second season as the coordinator for the Chargers. Minter has also been a defensive coordinator under Jim Harbaugh at Michigan and he was on John Harbaugh’s Ravens staff earlier in his career.
Dolphins defensive coordinator Anthony Weaver and Bills offensive coordinator Joe Brady are others who have advanced to the second round of the search process in Baltimore.
