On Friday, the Jets will interview three extra candidates for his or her vacant teaching place.
Vikings defensive coordinator Brian Flores spoke to the Jets nearly about their teaching position. Packers defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley additionally talked to the crew on Friday.
Vikings quarterbacks coach Josh McCown can be anticipated to interview for the place.
They would be the thirteenth, 14th and fifteenth candidates to interview for the place since Jets proprietor Woody Johnson fired Robert Saleh in October.
Flores, 43, is possibly probably the most fascinating candidate interviewed up to now. He has earlier head teaching expertise after his three-year stint with the Dolphins (2019-21). A Brooklyn native, Flores led Miami to 2 successful seasons after the crew utterly stripped down its roster in 2019 and completed 5-11. Flores completed with a 24-25 document throughout his three seasons.
With each a normal supervisor and training opening, the Jets want to fill one of many vacancies with an individual with prior expertise. Of Johnson’s final 5 teaching hires (minus interim coach Jeff Ulbrich), solely a kind of (Adam Gase) had earlier teaching expertise.
Regardless of rebranding his teaching picture after leaving the Dolphins, Flores has a number of pink flags. Though his firing in 2021 after a 9-8 document was a shock in league circles, Flores was dismissed primarily due to his deteriorating relationship with Dolphins GM Chris Grier and others throughout the group. Throughout his three seasons in Miami, Flores had 4 completely different offensive coordinators and two defensive coordinators.
Flores and Grier additionally had a strained relationship after a reported energy wrestle between him and the entrance workplace. That included quarterback Tua Tagovailoa, who the crew chosen fifth total within the 2020 NFL Draft.
After being an assistant coach in New England for 15 seasons, Flores has an authoritarian teaching fashion, which rubbed some gamers, together with Tagovailoa, the mistaken approach. After a 10-6 season in 2020 and flip-flopping between Tagovailoa and Ryan Fitzpatrick, Flores appeared prepared to accumulate then-Texans quarterback Deshaun Watson. That 12 months, Fitzpatrick changed Tagovailoa twice throughout the fourth quarter of video games.
Final summer season, Tagovailoa known as Flores a “terrible person” and stated the coach tore him down and harm his confidence.
Final week, throughout his “Fitz & Whit” podcast, Fitzpatrick criticized Flores for dealing with Tagovailoa, claiming he “broke” the younger quarterback.
“I think he’s going to have a really hard time,” Fitzpatrick stated about Flores. “If you’re interviewing him as a head coach, I think in the interviews, he’ll be likable, he’ll be relatable.
“But when people say ‘Give me somebody from Miami that coached under you as a reference, so we can talk to them,’ I think he burned a lot of bridges there. I think he alienated himself from the entire staff. Instead of what you were just talking about, having the humility to ask questions to collaborate, I think by the end of his time here, he became a dictator.
“He ruined a lot of relationships that he built up through the NFL. And his ego grew so big that there wasn’t room for anyone else.”
Fitzpatrick later clarified his feedback in a separate X submit, saying he considers Flores a buddy and believes he has realized so much from his time with the Dolphins.
After being fired from Miami, Flores spent one season because the Steelers senior defensive assistant and linebackers coach earlier than changing into the Vikings defensive coordinator in 2023. This was after he filed a lawsuit in opposition to the NFL and a handful of groups — together with the Dolphins and Giants — alleging racial discrimination and NFL groups providing “fake” interviews to minority coaches. That authorized course of has but to be accomplished.
This season, Minnesota (14-3) completed sixteenth in yards (335.4) and fifth in factors allowed (19.5). Minnesota was first in interceptions (24), tied for first in takeaways (33) and second in rush protection (93.4 yards per recreation).
The Rams defeated the Vikings within the NFC wild card spherical on Monday evening.
Hafley’s resume
Hafley, 45, a Montvale, New Jersey native, grew to become the Packers’ defensive coordinator this season after a four-year stint as Boston Faculty coach. He helped Inexperienced Bay to its finest defensive stats since successful the Tremendous Bowl in 2010. The Packers completed sixth in yards (315.6) and factors allowed (19.9).
That improved from the 2023 season when Inexperienced Bay was seventeenth in yards (335.1) and tenth in factors allowed (20.6). Hafley’s defensive system depends closely on zone protection and his line of defense to generate appreciable strain on opposing quarterbacks.
Along with his time with the Packers and Boston Faculty, Hafley was an assistant coach at Tampa Bay, Cleveland, and San Francisco. In 2019, he was Ohio State’s co-defensive coordinator and defensive backs coach.
After hiring The thirty third Workforce in November, the Jets have solid a large internet of their seek for a brand new coach and normal supervisor following a disappointing 5-12 season. Between the 2 positions, they’ve interviewed 30 candidates.
Ron Rivera, Mike Vrabel, Rex Ryan, Matt Nagy, Aaron Glenn, Mike Locksley, Steve Spagnuolo, Darren Rizzi, Jeff Ulbrich, Vance Joseph, Arthur Smith, and Bobby Slowik have all been interviewed for the Jets teaching place. Vrabel was employed because the Patriots’ coach on Jan. 12.
Initially Printed: January 17, 2025 at 2:47 PM EST
