Steeler assistant Brian Flores talks to Browns about job opening

On Jan 12, 2023

Pittsburgh Steelers senior defensive assistant Brian Flores, right, watches as the team goes through drills during an NFL football practice, Tuesday, May 31, 2022, in Pittsburgh. (AP Photo/Keith Srakocic)

Pittsburgh Steelers senior defensive assistant/linebackers coach Brian Flores became the second individual to interview with the Browns for their vacant defensive coordinator position on Thursday.

Flores’ meeting came a day after the Browns opened the interview process by talking to Tennessee Titans senior defensive assistant Jim Schwartz. Both Flores and Schwartz bring previous head-coaching experience with them as well.

The Browns still have to arrange interviews with two other known candidates: New England Patriots inside linebackers coach Jerod Mayo and Seattle Seahawks associate head coach/defense Sean Desai. Desai’s schedule is tied up for the remainder of this week due to preparations for an NFC Wild Card game on Saturday at the San Francisco 49ers.

The Browns fired Joe Woods as their defensive coordinator hours after the season finale against the Steelers in Pittsburgh. Woods had been in that position since Kevin Stefanski was hired as the head coach in 2020.

Flores, 41, spent this past season on Mike Tomlin’s staff in Pittsburgh after having been fired from his previous role as head coach of the Miami Dolphins from 2019-21. Despite back-to-back winning seasons his final two years, he was let go after a 9-8 2021 season that left him with a 24-25 overall mark.

Earlier this year, former Miami Dolphins head coach Brian Flores filed a proposed class-action lawsuit against the NFL and three of its teams, alleging racial discrimination by the league's teams in hiring practices.

The Dolphins were one of three teams, along with the New York Giants and Denver Broncos, that were included in a class-action lawsuit that Flores filed last year. The NFL was also named in the suit, which alleges racial discrimination in hiring practices.

Tomlin brought Flores on to the Steelers’ coaching staff after Flores was passed over for head-coaching opportunities last offseason. Flores had an immediate impact on the Pittsburgh defense, specifically against the run.

The Steelers were last in the league against the run in 2021, allowing 146.1 rushing yards a game. This past season, the Steelers, despite losing T.J. Watt for seven games due to a partially-torn pectoral muscle, jumped all the way up to ninth against the run at 108.1 yards a game.

Flores’ previous NFL background prior to being hired by the Dolphins was all spent working under Bill Belichick with the New England Patriots. Much like Schwartz, Flores’ start came not on the field, but in the scouting department, serving as a scouting assistant in 2004-05 before being a pro scout in 2006-07.

The first on-field coaching role for Flores came in 2008, the first of two seasons in which he was a special teams assistant. He spent the following year, 2010, working as both an offensive assistant and special teams coach before transitioning to the defensive side of the ball in 2011.

After one season as a defensive assistant in 2011, Flores was elevated to the role of safeties coach, which he held from 2012-15. He was the linebackers coach from 2016-18, before Miami hired him to be its head coach.

Belichick is seen as the de facto defensive coordinator for the Patriots. However, Flores eventually took on the role as defensive play-caller for New England before he departed for the Dolphins.