Brian Flores is making big bets on inexperienced players

Flores talked for the first time this offseason about guys stepping into bigger roles

Photo courtesy Minnesota Vikings

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By Matthew Coller

EAGAN — A grin came across Brian Flores’s face on Tuesday when he was asked about cornerback Isaiah Rodgers.

At the owner’s meetings in Florida, Kevin O’Connell told Purple Insider along with reports from The Athletic, Star Tribune, Pioneer Press and ESPN that Flores had been behind the Rodgers signing. O’Connell admitted that Flores has had so much success in picking out free agents that they follow his lead.

Throughout his career, Rodgers has mostly been a rotational player. Last year he was on the field for 329 regular season snaps with the Philadelphia Eagles and he played 525 and 434 snaps in 2021 and 2022, respectively. He was suspended for the 2023 season due to a gambling violation.

While that isn’t a ton of experience to work with as a sample size, he projects to be a starting outside corner for Flores’s defense this year. During minicamp practice on Tuesday, he worked with the first team. That has been the case each day that is open to the media.

What does Flores like so much about Rodgers that he would be willing to put his trust in the 27-year-old corner on a defense that is stacked with Pro Bowlers?

“Zay's been on my radar since he was at UMass,” Flores said. “Fast, playmaker. I think he's one of these kind of late -round guys who found his way in the league, in the kicking game and got in some games and made some plays.”

Indeed Rodgers has made some plays when given the opportunity. He has three career interceptions and eight pass breakups while allowing only a 86.6 QB rating on throws into his coverage and he’s graded above 70 by PFF in each of the three seasons as a rotational player. He has been particularly physical in the run game, ranking 13th among all CBs with at least 300 snaps in run defense by PFF last year.

Last offseason Flores’s defense made bets on two players that were in their primes and the Vikings believed were on the rise: Blake Cashman and Jonathan Greenard. Both players elevated into bigger roles than they had seen before and played huge parts in the success of the defense. Flores sees Rodgers as another one of those players who can keep getting better.

“I thought he was a good player and was ascending, and an opportunity presented itself that you could maybe acquire him, I was all in,” Flores said. “And I'm happy we got him. He's been a great addition. He's got great kind of football IQ and acumen. That's something that we've stressed really throughout the group at all levels.”

Rodgers is part of a trifecta of players that have both very little experience and very high trust levels from Flores.

Another is Mekhi Blackmon, who was drafted by the Vikings in 2023 and tore his ACL on the first day of training camp last offseason. Following a rookie season in which Blackmon played 434 snaps and picked up eight pass breakups and graded solidly (71.8) in coverage, he was slated to be the starting outside cornerback before going down with injury. Now he is projected to play outside corner along with Rodgers when the Vikings are in nickel packages.

“As a rookie, the quickness, the speed, the acumen, I think he needs to build right on that,” Flores said. “It was unfortunate when he went down last year because we were excited about the possibility of him playing quite a bit….We want guys who love to play, who love the grind of it, who love the practice element, the studying element, the meeting. That's certainly Mekhi.”

The discussion surrounding the Vikings’ cornerback room has largely centered around the possibility of adding someone else. The Packers recently released Jaire Alexander and Miami star corner Jalen Ramsey is reportedly on the trade block. With the Vikings spending top dollar to acquire key defenders like Jonathan Allen and Javon Hargrave, it stands to reason that they would consider these veterans.

However, Flores’s confidence in Rodgers and Blackmon calls into question whether they would actually make phone calls on either available veteran corner. Last year they rolled with players that had question marks surrounding them in Shaq Griffin and Stephon Gilmore and still ended up with an excellent overall secondary.

“We talk about bringing guys in who, as far as building a synergy within the group, ‘how does this guy going to mesh with Murph and Harry and [Josh Metellus]?’” Flores said. “I'm really excited about that entire group.”

The Vikings’ defensive coordinator also name-dropped Jeff Okudah, a free agent signee who was a former top pick of the Lions, as a player who had been meshing well with the group so far. That would be another bet based on small snippets of success.

Flores did note that the minicamp portion of the program is focused mostly on bonding and learning, not evaluating or finding specific roles for players. That might mean that the team is waiting to see how Rodgers, Blackmon, Okudah and 2024 UDFA standout Dwight McGlothern fare in camp before making decisions about bringing anyone else in. If they roll out this group, it will be a testament to the trust they have in Flores’s ability to see the future with rising players.

Another key member of the secondary who has shown flashes in small spurts is Theo Jackson.

“Theo's been great,” Flores said. “That's something we've been saying for two years. He’s steadily built his, his communication skills, his techniques, his fundamentals, his disguises, his play-making ability.”

Jackson has the smallest rep count of any of the (somewhat) unproven defenders that Flores is buying. He has only played 221 downs in the NFL and been targeted 18 times but he has two big interceptions, including a game-winner against the Seattle Seahawks last season. What the Vikings are really banking on is what they have seen behind the scenes. Jackson was arguably the best player in the entire secondary during training camp in 2024 and his intelligence and work ethic are reminiscent of previous safety success stories like Cam Bynum and Anthony Harris.

“He's one of the hardest workers we have,” Flores said. “So look, it wasn't easy to let go of [Cam Bynum]. He was obviously a critical piece. But we also felt confident that Theo could step into that role and play at a good clip and you know he's shown that so far again.”

Another big bet that the Vikings are making this year is on 2024 first-round pick Dallas Turner. They let Patrick Jones and Jihad Ward walk in free agency and did not sign another veteran edge rusher, rather opting to put the pass-rushing role that was split between Jones and Ward on Turner’s shoulders. As a rookie, he went through ups and downs, barely playing during the first half of the season and then showing flashes throughout the second half of the year.

At minicamp, Turner appears noticeably bigger than last season and on Tuesday he made a spectacular pass breakup, flashing his top-notch athletic skills and versatility.

“We talked a lot about him last year and his growth throughout the season last year, and he's just kind of built on that….he's much more comfortable, I would say, in this environment,” Flores said. “He knows what the expectations are. He's got a high standard for himself, and that's a great place to start. But he also knows he's got to work a significant amount to get to that standard…He's come in and really gotten into a routine that I think will allow him to put his best foot forward and put himself in position to have the type of season that he wants to have and the type of season we want him to have. So all positive with him, definitely some growth or a lot of growth from his standpoint and excited to see where this goes.”

While expectations were high for Turner entering last year, the health and success of the players ahead of him on the depth chart played a role in his lack of playing time. Jonathan Greenard set his career high in snaps and QB pressures and Andrew Van Ginkel made second-team All-Pro. Those two stars are still here but Flores is now viewing Turner as part of a trio rather than a backup to his key edge players.

“In that room, I really see it as three starters,” Flores said. “The best thing you can do, and I think Dallas did this [in 2024], is just soak up that information. And the two guys he had, they're very different…Dallas is coming into his own as far as how he's going to contribute. And it can be in a variety of ways as a rusher, as a dropper, on the ball, off the ball, in different packages. So we're excited about, his versatility, but also his growth.”

As the Vikings finish out the spring portion of the offseason, it’s hard to say whether all of their bets will pay dividends. All we have to go on is stints and flashes. But Flores has a lot more than that. He has experience in player evaluation going back to where he started in the NFL with the New England Patriots and a track record with the Vikings of identifying talent even if he hasn’t seen the full picture yet. Players like Josh Metellus, who never cracked 300 snaps before B-Flo arrived, and Ivan Pace Jr., an undrafted free agent who became an instant starter, were similar correct evaluations. He has much more film and time behind the scenes with Rodgers, Blackmon, Jackson and Turner than he had with Metellus or Pace Jr.

Flores also has a unit around these less experienced players filled with talent. The additions of Jonathan Allen and Javon Hargrave only add to the flexibility and dynamic nature of the defense.

How much can it grow?

“Now we have two years of data so you look at the two years of data, what's been good, what hasn't been good,” Flores said. “But it's also tied to the players we have. You try new things out based on what you predict and forecast the skill set of the player is. So we've got a couple of new guys… So what do those guys do?”

Once camp comes around, we’ll start to get a real feeling for what all the new moving parts can do.

ADDITIONAL NOTES

— Christian Darrisaw was practicing for the first time since tearing his ACL in Week 8 last season. He took part in individual drills.

— The Vikings signed Josh Oliver to a three-year contract extension worth $23 million with $11.9 million in new guaranteed money.

— Josh Metellus was still not participating in full-speed 7-on-7s. He did not elaborate after practice about the progress of a new contract extension but did say that he wants to be a Viking long term.

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