FOXBORO — There came a time in the Patriots safeties meeting room where Devin McCourty, Patrick Chung and Duron Harmon knew just about everything when it came to playing the position in the team’s defensive scheme.
That’s when then-safeties coach Brian Flores had to get creative.
“Flo would search through that film to tell each one of us, ‘Hey, when that comes up, we need you to make this play,’” McCourty said. “It kind of turned into not as much as coaching the scheme, but diving into our opponents. He’d show me different ways to look at our opponents, different ways to read quarterbacks and understand how they’re trying to attack us. To me, that was very key to developing into a better safety.”
You know him as the coach who sent Malcolm Butler into the game in the final moments of Super Bowl XLIX, shouting, “Malcolm, go!”
You may soon know Flores as the next Patriots defensive coordinator.
Matt Patricia, the current coordinator, is reportedly a top head-coaching candidate for the Arizona Cardinals, Detroit Lions and New York Giants. That wasn’t a surprise. The news that Flores is also reportedly set to interview with the Cardinals certainly was.
Flores, now the linebackers coach, has had a career arch with the Patriots that points to the 36-year-old being the future defensive signal caller, if another team doesn’t hire him away first.
With Patricia one of the hottest coaching candidates on the market, Flores’ time may soon arrive.
“He pushed me harder than I could push myself at the time,” Harmon said. “He let me know that I had some unique talents. That I could be a good football player in this league. From the moment I got here, he did nothing but push me. Continued to try to make me better. Challenged me with all my weaknesses and challenged me with my strengths. It’s crazy because he still does it this day.”
After playing linebacker at Boston College, Flores joined the Patriots in 2004. He was a scouting assistant (2004-05) and a pro scout (2006-07) before moving to the coaching staff in 2008 as a special teams assistant.
Flores spent the 2010 season as an offensive and special teams assistant, and was a defensive assistant in 2011. He earned a promotion to safeties coach, where he stayed from 2012-15. In 2016, he was moved to linebackers coach.
His path with the Patriots has been similar to that of Patricia, who was an offensive assistant and assistant offensive line coach before moving to linebackers coach (2006-10). After that, he was moved to safeties coach in 2011, one season before being named the Patriots defensive coordinator.
Coaching both safeties and linebackers has given Flores in-depth knowledge of the two positions that control the Patriots defense. This season, Flores told The Providence Journal that coaching both groups has helped him.
“I think it’s good for that group to hear a different perspective. The secondary perspective and vice versa,” Flores said. “We’re all working together. To me, coaching is about building relationships and connecting with the guys — trying to get them to play at their highest level. To put them in positions to do what they do well. It’s been a good transition.”
In the event the Patriots linebacker coach doesn’t get the Cardinals job, Flores could be the latest coach to be groomed in Foxboro.
The past two summers, Flores has called the defensive plays in the final two preseason games to give him some experience in that capacity. When asked whether he aspired to be a defensive coordinator, Flores, like Bill Belichick, said he was just taking things day by day. He also gave credit to nearly every defensive assistant on the team.
“All those guys are more than capable of calling players. I’m sure they all have coordinator or head coaches in their future,” Flores said. “Me personally, I kind of take it one day at a time. If that’s part of the future, I’ll deal with it then. It’s not really something I’m really focused on right now. I’m focused on this team, trying to get my group better, get them on the upswing and that’s really where I’m at.”