One Minnesota Vikings coordinator predicted to 'make headlines' in 2025
Despite this, his ongoing lawsuit against the NFL is keeping him from getting another head coaching job. That means we can expect more exotic looks to accompany an improved defensive line. That makes Flores one of the five coordinators who can make headlines in 2025, says Trevor Sikkema of PFF.
Since 2023, Flores has been the Vikings' defensive coordinator, and his impact has been undeniable. In 2024, Minnesota's defense ranked top 10 in total pressures (358), with heat coming from all angles and positions in Flores' trademark aggressive scheme. They finished fourth in points allowed per game (19.9) and third in total EPA allowed per play. Efficient, productive and relentless, Flores' defense was a driving force behind the Vikings' success in the win-loss column last season.
What could put the Vikings' defense over the top is if their secondary comes together like the front office and coaches expect. PFF isn't a fan of the secondary, ranking them the sixth-worst unit in their preseason rankings.
But if players like Theo Jackson and Isaiah Rodgers can step up, and Mekhi Blackmon can make a full recovery from last year's ACL injury, the Vikings will have a complete defense that Flores can unleash. And if the Vikings' offense, namely J.J. McCarthy, can build on last year, the sky is the limit for the team.
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Miami Herald
36 minutes ago
- Miami Herald
Another hug for Chris Grier?With five pickups, Dolphins make the best of a bad situation
Cornerback Cornell Armstrong, drafted by the Dolphins seven years ago, gave Chris Grier a 'big hug' when they visited before Armstrong tried out for the Dolphins this week. Dolphins fans might not want to go as far as giving the team's maligned, beleaguered general manager a big hug, but give the man his due for making the best of a distressing situation. Flash back to early June. At that time, the Dolphins knew that Jalen Ramsey wanted out, that Jonnu Smith craved the type of money that the team was unwilling to give him and that Terron Armstead was retiring. Every remaining free agent cornerback had blemishes. Grier found a solution - an adequate one at the very least, perhaps better than adequate - by flipping Ramsey and Smith for Minkah Fitzpatrick, a former Pro Bowl safety coming off something of a down year but still in his prime at 29. He found a tight end (Darren Waller) who spent the past year in retirement but has a better career body of work than any free agent at the position, a player that Giants coaches and media raved during 2023 training camp, before he was injured. On Tuesday, he signed Daniel Bruskill, arguably the best unsigned center/guard, giving Miami a competent veteran who started 10 games for Tennessee last season and 66 in his career. He's better than anyone Miami had under contract to replace Aaron Brewer, James Daniels or Jonah Savanaiinaea if any of those three starters is injured. And on Saturday, he augmented what had been the league's worst cornerback room by signing two decent starters who have experienced success in the league - nickel corner Mike Hilton and Jack Jones, who was beaten too often for the Raiders last season but was very good earlier in this career for New England and young enough, at 24, to be salvaged. 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Jones was beaten for far too many touchdowns last season (a league-high 10, according to Pro Football Focus; 8, according to Pro Football Reference), but he also intercepted three passes and has seven interceptions and 73 passes defended in three seasons. His career passer rating against (84.9, per PFF) is good and he held quarterbacks to a sterling 63 rating in his coverage area for the Raiders in 2023. And he permitted just two passing touchdowns combined in 2022 and 2023. There are maturity questions - he missed curfew a week before the Patriots released him in 2023 - but the ball-hawking skills are he's young enough to get his career back on track. Hilton was the best nickel corner available, and the only question is why Miami didn't sign him before Kohou left with an undisclosed leg injury Saturday. (Kohou walked away gingerly without a pronounced limp.) 'Mike Hilton has been a damn good slot corner in the league for years now and can defend the run at a high level as well,' Pro Football Focus analyst Ryan Smith said. 'He's getting older but still a difference-maker in the secondary.' Hilton, 31, wasn't one of the primary culprits in the Bengals' defensive unraveling last season. He allowed three TDs, but his passer rating against (92) wasn't awful. PFF rated him the 16th best cornerback in the NFL last season and the best against the run. He has 13 interceptions and 56 pass breakups and a very solid 82 career passer rating against, per Pro Football Reference. He's a skilled blitzer; in 275 career pass rushes, he has 11 sacks and 11.5 quarterback pressures. Let's be real: All of the available cornerbacks at this stage of free agency have warts. Asante Samuel Jr., whom the Dolphins have checked in on over the offseason, is working his way back from a neck injury. James Bradberry has much to prove off a torn Achilles. Stephon Gilmore, 34, has entered his career twilight. Xavien Howard isn't desperate to return to the game. Among healthy players remaining in free agency, Jones and Hilton are pretty much as good as it gets. Corner is still a concern - certainly not a strength. But at least Miami has pieced together a potentially serviceable secondary, with Fitzpatrick and either Ifeatu Melifonwu or Ashtyn Davis at the other safety spot and a potential top-three cornerback group of Kohou (now freed up to play on the boundary), Jones and Hilton at nickel. The young cornerbacks all will get a chance to crack that group, including Cam Smith, Storm Duck, BJ Adams, Ethan Robinson and fifth-rounder Jason Marshall Jr., who had an impressive pick-six on a Quinn Ewers pass Saturday. The secondary is still a concern, but it's not the grotesque disaster that it was weeks ago. The remainder of the defense should be pretty good, especially if first-round defensive lineman Kenneth Grant can become an immediate impact player. The linebacker group (Jaelan Phillips, Bradley Chubb, Chop Robinson, Jordyn Brooks, Tyrel Dodson, Willie Gay Jr. and KJ Britt) could make the case that it's top-10 caliber when healthy. Waller is a huge question at tight end; he remains on the physically unable to perform list while working back from a year in retirement. The Dolphins should at least explore free agent Noah Fant, who visited Cincinnati and New Orleans. But for now, they're invested in Waller, Julian Hill, Tanner Conner and Pharoah Brown. Has Grier's summer wheeling and dealing left Miami a sure-fire playoff team? Absolutely not. But it has left them in a vastly better position than it could have been after Ramsey's surliness and trade demands left the Dolphins in a compromised position. At the very least, there isn't a big difference between the Dolphins' talent and the remainder of the teams likely competing for three AFC wild card spots – Denver, Cincinnati, the Chargers, Pittsburgh, Indianapolis, Jacksonville and perhaps New England and Cleveland and the Raiders. You could make the case that the first four of those teams are superior to Miami, but if they are, I wouldn't say there's a huge gulf. The Dolphins figure to field a competitive team that should be 'in the hunt' in December. Competing for a wild card spot was hardly the dream when Miami embarked on this rebuild seven years ago. But at least they're not the Carolina Panthers.
San Francisco Chronicle
an hour ago
- San Francisco Chronicle
Broncos linebacker Drew Sanders carted off practice field with right leg injury
ENGLEWOOD, Colo. (AP) — Third-year linebacker Drew Sanders was carted off the Denver Broncos' football fields Saturday after injuring his right leg during drills. Sanders began hopping around right after the play and then went to the ground in pain. Team medical personnel looked at his right foot and ankle before putting him on a cart and taking him inside team headquarters for an MRI. The injury happened with about 15 minutes left in practice and coach Sean Payton said afterward that he had no update other than to say it wasn't another Achilles tendon injury like the one Sanders sustained in the 2024 offseason. Sanders played in all 17 games as a rookie but missed much of last season after tearing his Achilles tendon in May 2024. He returned in November and played in four games, making eight tackles. Sanders has bounced back and forth between inside and outside linebacker ever since the Broncos selected him in the third round out of Arkansas in the 2023 draft. He's a key backup with Alex Singleton returning from an ACL tear in Week 3 last year and free agent addition Dre Greenlaw returning from a strained thigh this spring and a torn Achilles tendon he suffered in the Super Bowl after the 2023 season, which limited him to two games with the San Francisco 49ers last season. ___
USA Today
2 hours ago
- USA Today
Texas A&M freshman 5-star WR is looking healthy in latest video
Texas A&M's 2025 wide receiver rotation is built on speed and quickness, which should result in consistent separation in coverage after head coach Mike Elko and his staff landed KC Concepcion (NC State), Mario Craver (Mississippi State), and Jonah Wilson (Houston) from the transfer portal, while 2025 signees TK Norman, Kelshaun Johnson and five-star Jerome Myles represent the future rotation. However, after missing a majority of his senior high school season in Draper, Utah due to a knee injury, Jerome Myles is back and 100% healthy with an eye on contributing at a high level during the 2025 season, bringing his notable size at 6'2" and 220 pounds and speed that fits what Elko and OC Collin Klein are looking for to fill the void left by junior Noah Thomas, who transferred to Georgia this offseason. While many worried that health would be an issue after Myles was the last signee from the 2025 class to make it to campus, that is now in the rearview mirror, meaning getting up to speed with the rest of the wide receiver rotation is key to make an instant impact this fall. In a new video from Myles' Instagram, courtesy of On3/Rivals recruiting insider Jaxson Callaway, the Utah native is already looking the part before fall camp officially begins next week. For someone coming off an ACL injury, Myles is looking like a player with a chance to crack the starting lineup, but will more than likely be the No. 4 option for starting quarterback Marcel Reed once he gets acclimated to the speed of college offenses. Either way, this is a great sign for the Aggies, who know that no matter how long it takes, Jerome Myles is destined for stardom. Contact/Follow us @AggiesWire on X and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Texas A&M news, notes and opinions. Follow Cameron on X: @CameronOhnysty.
