EAGAN, Minn. -- Brian Flores is embracing his return to the NFL's coaching carousel, three years after his tumultuous firing as coach of the Miami Dolphins.
As he nears the end of his second season as the Minnesota Vikings' defensive coordinator, Flores said Tuesday that he will take every interview requested. ESPN's Adam Schefter has reported requests from two teams so far: the Chicago Bears and the New York Jets.
Flores admitted he also has interest in the New England Patriots' open position, after spending the first 15 years of his NFL career there, and explained some of the ways he believes he has grown -- particularly in how he would handle an offense -- since his time in Miami.
"It's an honor, certainly, that I definitely don't take that lightly," Flores said of receiving interview requests. "I look forward to having those conversations and talking to people about my football journey, my leadership journey."
Flores, 43, took multiple head coaching interviews in 2022 after the Dolphins fired him. But he received no offers and subsequently sued the NFL and several teams, alleging discrimination regarding his interview processes with the Denver Broncos and New York Giants, and his firing by the Dolphins.
The NFL stripped the Dolphins of their 2023 first-round draft pick, among other disciplinary measures, after an investigation into accusations of tampering that surfaced in Flores' lawsuit. The lawsuit itself is still working its way through the legal system and the NFL's arbitration process.
The lawsuit claimed that some NFL teams conduct "sham interviews" that are scheduled solely to comply with the league's Rooney Rule, which now requires teams to talk to multiple candidates with diverse backgrounds. Flores did not directly answer Tuesday if he would try to gauge whether requests for him are genuine or intended for rule compliance.
"I plan on taking them all," he said. "I plan on sitting down and having conversations with any team that's interested in talking to me about that position."
Per NFL rules, the earliest the Jets or Bears could interview him is next week, after the Vikings' wild-card game Monday night at the Los Angeles Rams. He left no doubt, however, about his interest in the Patriots' job, should owner Robert Kraft decide to interview him.
"I mean, we're talking about going home where it all started," he said. "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."
Flores has burnished his defensive credentials during his tenure with the Vikings. During the team's 14-3 regular season, Flores' defense ranked second in the NFL in defensive EPA, tied for first with 33 takeaways and tied for fourth in sacks (49). But after spending the 2022 season as a defensive assistant with the Pittsburgh Steelers, Flores said he intentionally sought out jobs working for offensive-minded head coaches like the Vikings' Kevin O'Connell.
Flores' offenses in Miami had the NFL's eighth-lowest scoring average (19.9 points per game) during his tenure there. And his inability to develop a relationship with quarterback Tua Tagovailoa drew headlines as recently as this summer, when Tagovailoa called Flores a "terrible person" in a podcast interview.
"I was fortunate to come here with [O'Connell], who is one of the best in the business," Flores said, "and watch how he schedules, how he works with the quarterback, how I could bounce questions off him and kind of pick his brain from an offensive standpoint, from his standpoint, from how he sees, how he views offense. So it's been a great kind of marriage I would say.
"That's part of that growth, kind of seeing different ways to do it, taking all that information in, tweaking some things from my standpoint, from a leadership standpoint and applying it and seeing if it works. And I think I like what I've seen so far as applying some of those things and what it's looked like specifically this year."
Flores has spoken frequently this season about his comfort level in Minnesota, and his family's assimilation into the local community. So before ending his weekly meeting with Minnesota reporters Tuesday, he reiterated that his time there has been "fantastic" and added: "It would have to be the right situation for me to leave for me, myself and my family."