So, while the entire organization waits for Brian Flores to (hopefully) return, the Vikings will nervously watch as the 2026 NFL coaching carousel drops their free agent defensive coordinator off for job opportunities with other teams.

We’ve been told that there are a lot of teams interested in Brian Flores. Yet, as of Tuesday morning, the only reported interview request Brian Flores has received came from the Baltimore Ravens.

It’s worth noting that the Ravens are casting an extremely wide net (20 reported candidates), as they attempt to fill their first HC vacancy in nearly two decades. Oh, and Baltimore hasn’t actually announced an interview with B-Flo, like they have seven other candidates.

Washington Commanders “hoping” to interview Brian Flores as defensive coordinator

We’ll see if Flores gets his interview with the Ravens over the next day or two. In the meantime, the latest breaking news involving B-Flo comes from another team out East, the Washington Commanders. But it’s not for head coach.

According to Ian Rapoport (NFL Network), the Commanders are “hoping” to get an interview with Brian Flores, for their open defensive coordinator position, under head coach Dan Quinn.

The #Commanders are hoping to interview #Vikings DC Brian Flores for their vacant defensive coordinator job, source said. Flores’ contract is up in Minnesota, so he is able to look at other similar jobs. pic.twitter.com/ie2xaMDPnG

— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) January 13, 2026

We have tracked previous steam, connecting Flores to the Dallas Cowboys’ defensive coordinator position, but this is the first reported DC interest from outside Dallas.

Why Flores to Commanders makes sense…

And this new report is especially interesting because the Commanders chose to bring Dan Quinn back as head coach next season, despite having fired both his offensive (Kliff Kingsbury) and defensive (Joe Whitt Jr.) coordinators from 2025.

So… Brian Flores is determined to be an NFL head coach in the again, but he’s doubting the league’s likelihood to let it happen conventionally, a place like Washington — with a head coach in serious flux entering next season — could be the perfect landing spot.

Dan Quinn managing to scapegoat Kliff Kingsbury with the worst ranked defense in the NFL https://t.co/jFaKPSEq3S pic.twitter.com/9NMTFaKXyP

— Sports Counsel (@sports_counsel) January 6, 2026

After both of his coordinators played fall guy in 2025, Quinn will enter 2026 with his coaching seat hotter than any other in the NFL. If the Commanders were to hire Flores as, let’s just say, “defensive coordinator and assistant head coach”, would he really turn that down?

Because, not only would it be a promotion from his current title with the Minnesota Vikings, but it would pretty much lock him in as the future interim head coach, should Washington move on from Quinn midseason.

Barring a complete organizational meltdown in 2026, Kevin O’Connell isn’t going anywhere… so there really is no chance B-Flo backs into a head coaching opportunity in Minnesota.

MN Vikings NEED Brian Flores to return

For those who might not know, Brian Flores is the Minnesota Vikings’ defense. His taking over as defensive coordinator may have been the most important move this franchise has made since firing Mike Zimmer and Rick Spielman between the 2021 and 2022 seasons, and that includes the hiring of head coach Kevin O’Connell.

Remember, the Vikings defense under former defensive coordinator Ed Donatell, was among the worst in football, during KOC’s first season on the job. It took one year for Flores to make Minnesota’s defense average. By year three, it was elite.

Brian Flores defense ranks (yds per play/EPA):
2019 MIA HC 27th/32nd
2020 MIA HC 25th/7th
2021 MIA HC 13th/8th
2023 MIN DC 14th/17th
2024 MIN DC 11th/2nd
2025 MIN DC 3rd/3rd https://t.co/mvqYIKk7b3

— We Want Dallas (@WeWantDallas) January 13, 2026

Brian Flores (who is a sick and twisted man) shows cover 0 with the safeties on the edges/Metellus in the A-gap, then bails before the motion to get to a two-deep shell, then plays man

Caleb is late to Odunze. Had a chance at the first if he's on time. But lots to think about! pic.twitter.com/fLQQovfjOq

— Benjamin Solak (@BenjaminSolak) September 9, 2025

Donatell’s laid-back, reactive defense cratered any chances the 2022 MN Vikings had at advancing in the playoffs, during a Cinderella 14-3 season that was carried by Kirk Cousins and a fresh new offensive scheme brought by O’Connell and his young All-Star staff of QB-friendly assistant coaches.

Firing Donatell and hiring Flores changed everything for the Vikings’ trajectory under O’Connell, who was essentially allowed to focus solely on Minnesota’s offense, knowing B-Flo would have the defense ready for action, no matter who general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah put on the field for him.

From Waco, Udinski made his debut in the NFL with the Carolina Panthers organization, back in 2020, before being hired by O’Connell when he started as Vikings head coach in 2022.

By 2023, Grant Udinski was promoted to Minnesota’s assistant QB coach. One year later, at just 28, he was named Vikings assistant offensive coordinator. Then last offseason, the 29-year-old was hired away as Jacksonville Jaguars offensive coordinator.

And what a great hire he proved to be. With Udinski at the helm, Jaguars QB Trevor Lawrence finally looked like the no-doubt No. 1 pick he was supposed to be out of Clemson, which helped lift Jacksonville out of the NFL laughing stock, and into the AFC playoff field.

Former MN Vikings assistant Grant Udinski interviewing for Browns head coaching job

In a place like Jacksonville, where the organization has been trying to fix itself for two decades — people notice when your miracle turnaround takes just one offseason.

That’s why it wasn’t a massive shock when, on Monday, news broke that a now 30-year-old Udinski will interview for the Cleveland Browns’ newly vacant head coaching position. If hired, Udinski would become the youngest head coach in NFL history, just younger than Sean McVay when he was hired.

The Browns requested an interview with Jaguars OC Grant Udinski for their head coaching job, per source.

Just 30 years old, Udinski has risen rapidly through the coaching ranks. Now, his first look for a HC job. pic.twitter.com/oZ9Pof8PzP

— Tom Pelissero (@TomPelissero) January 12, 2026

Of note, the boy genius would replace another former offensive coach that grew up in the Minnesota Vikings organization, Kevin Stefanski, who won TWO Coach of the Year Awards in Cleveland, before getting the boot last week.

When the Vikings started out the 2025 season with a 4-8 record, it became clear to the entire football world that their former first round draft pick, JJ McCarthy, was not prepared for the NFL QB spotlight.

Meanwhile, their Pro Bowl quarterback from 2024, Sam Darnold, has continued his ascension out in Seattle, under new head coach Mike McDonald and former MN Vikings offensive coordinator Clint Kubiak.

Is Kevin O’Connell really the QB whisperer we thought he was?

In his one season out West, Darnold has cemented himself as a legitimate MVP candidate, leading the 2025 Seahawks to a 14-3 record, throwing for 4,048 yards and 25 touchdowns.

Sam Darnold needs to be respected and all the hate on his name needs to stop
pic.twitter.com/umMsXorAZM

— DarnoldWrld (@DarnoldWrld) January 2, 2026

Obviously, Darnold’s time with the Minnesota Vikings helped launch his career into a stratosphere that will now be forced to pay him near the top of the QB market. But Sam proved in 2025 that he did not need KOC in his ear to continue his ascension as a football player.

But what we may have also found out during the 9-8, ‘lipstick on a pig‘, 2025 Vikings season — without Darnold and Udinski — is that KOC may have had more help in the QB whispering department, for the first three seasons of his head coaching tenure, than we previously realized.

Who Lit the Match of Panic?

This time, however, our panic has been set off from the outside. The flame was lit by The Athletic on Monday morning. If the Gophers have a successful season, according to CFB insiders Bruce Feldman and Matt Fortuna, Fleck is one of four Big Ten coaches expected to enter the head coaching carousel next offseason.

P.J. Fleck’s squad went 9-4 last season and beat Wisconsin for the second time in four years, a strong campaign that left a feeling of unfinished business after the Golden Gophers inexplicably dropped home contests to Bowling Green and Illinois. Ace OC Kirk Ciarrocca is back after leaving in 2019, and so is QB Tanner Morgan, who already has 39 career starts under his belt. Fleck is just 41, and he signed another extension last season through 2028.

He likes it in the Twin Cities, and he has a $10 million buyout if he were to leave before Dec. 31. While his public persona isn’t necessarily for everyone, his work in revitalizing programs at multiple levels (he took Western Michigan to the Cotton Bowl) is attractive to ADs. And if the 2022 carousel is anything like the 2021 circus, Fleck’s phone will likely be ringing a lot should the Gophers post another strong season.

Bruce Feldman and Matt Fortuna (The Athletic)

How Concerned Should We Be?

If you thought we were safe from the college football head coaching carousel for awhile because of the extension PJ Fleck signed just six months ago then the joke is on you, I guess. The key to head coaching contracts in the NCAA is always the buyout clause.

How much will it cost for School “X” to fire their head coach? How much does it cost for Coach “Y” to break contract and leave for another destination? Unlike in the previous iteration of his deal, Fleck’s new buyout price gradually falls over his first few seasons. On January 1, 2023, it will no longer cost $10 million for PJ to leave Dinkytown. But it will still cost $7 million. If he’s on the same contract come January 1, 2024, the buyout will fall to $5 million.

But let’s be real. If Minnesota has a good enough season, $7M isn’t going to stop interested schools from trying to hire PJ Fleck. And that’s why he’s on The Athletic’s list.

NIL Adds Uncertainty

As mentioned in the article, PJ Fleck likes it in here. He has small kids who don’t know a life outside of Dinkytown. So it will have to be the right school and the right offer to lure him away. PJ has a very strong relationship with Mark Coyle, as well. As long as Coyle is the Gophers AD, Fleck will be open to staying.

But there is one new variable that could factor heavily into Fleck’s eventual decision to go elsewhere. NIL (Name, Image and Likeness) has made it much more difficult for schools like the University of Minnesota to compete in recruiting top high school and transfer portal targets.

The Gopher football program doesn’t have near the financial support from boosters, that other schools do. And 22 years after a bullshit cheating scandal rocked the men’s basketball team, the University is still afraid of angering the NCAA gods by promoting an NIL-friendly environment for boosters to take advantage of.

If Fleck sees the NIL age as a threat on his ability to win consistently at Minnesota, he could be motivated to Row The Boat elsewhere like never before.

Jerry Kill Best Behavior?

Remember, the Minnesota Gophers’ 2022 opener on September 1 is against New Mexico State. The Aggies now employ Fleck’s predecessor at the U of M, Jerry Kill. Previously, Kill has been very vocal in his dismay for PJ Fleck and Mark Coyle.

But Jerry may want to enter Huntington Bank Stadium on his best behavior this fall. Who knows, he may be handing in an application for U of M employment pretty soon…

Eric Strack | Minnesota Sports Fan