The Pittsburgh Steelers have struggled with hiring assistant coaches throughout the Mike Tomlin era. However, one hire that he absolutely nailed was bringing in Brian Flores to be the linebackers coach and senior defensive assistant. After spending a year with the team and receiving nothing but compliments from his players, he left to become the defensive coordinator for the Minnesota Vikings. While he was just a position coach for one season, Tomlin made sure that he would be able to help get Flores back on his feet.
Screenshot from Steelers.com
Pittsburgh Steelers Head Coach Mike Tomlin speaks with the media while in Phoenix, Arizona for the Annual League Meetings.
While appearing as a speaker on The Next Up conference, Tomlin talked about everything that went into hiring Flores. Flores was seen as a quality defensive mind, but he was allegedly hindered by the NFL because he was suing them. Only one team gave him a chance during that whole process, and it was the Steelers.
"I refused to sit by on my hands and watch [Brian Flores] go through what he was going through. I didn't even have a personal relationship with Brian Flores, but I knew his video; I knew his tape; I knew his coaching resume through that. It was an honor for me to have an opportunity to keep him in the business, to show people that he is employable and to help him continue in his coaching journey. It's an awesome opportunity for me, but I also view it as a moral obligation, given the fact that countless others have helped me."
While Flores did not have a great record with the Miami Dolphins as a head coach, he was still helping to build a culture there and not accept failure. In fact, part of the reason he was fired was because the team wanted to tank, but Flores wouldn't allow them to just lie down and die every game.
After that, he felt he was being used as just a Rooney Rule interview by multiple teams; he thought the interviews were fake to just check him off the list, and he had no real chance of getting a head coaching job.
Karl Roser
Brian Flores spent one year with the Steelers as an assistant coach during his lawsuit with the NFL.
That whole situation led to Flores suing the NFL, which made teams not want to even hire him as a defensive coordinator, let alone a head coach. He was pretty much out of the league until the Steelers gave him a lesser position during the 2022 offseason. He is still the defensive coordinator in Minnesota, and he is probably hoping that someone will give him another chance to be a head coach.
Steelers Felt The Need To Hire Flores
Whether or not Flores' claims were right or wrong, he still had plenty of knowledge about the game of football. He also made sure that the lawsuit would not be a distraction to whichever team would hire him. Despite the fact that he was supposedly biting the hand that feeds, he still had a lot of value to a team, and the Steelers made sure to recognize that.
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Mike Tomlin getting fired up during a Steelers' away game against the Houston Texans in 2023
Tomlin clearly felt that what happened to Flores was wrong. While teams would normally have bidding wars to hire guys like him, the lawsuit changed that entirely. Tomlin felt the need to hire him, and without that, who knows if Flores is employed by any NFL team anymore? Tomlin had a lot of help from guys like Tony Dungy, and he felt it was his turn to help others, which is how The Next Up conference began in the first place.
As long as you have a high football IQ and you're not an active distraction, there is a place for you in the NFL. Tomlin knew what Flores was capable of and added a strong defensive mind to a bare-bones coaching staff. The players obviously appreciated his presence during the 2022 season, and the Vikings found a place for him after the Steelers got him back on his feet.
What do you think about Mike Tomlin claiming to hire Flores out of moral obligation? Let us know in the comments.
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