{"id":718244,"date":"2026-01-31T04:31:17","date_gmt":"2026-01-31T04:31:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/718244\/"},"modified":"2026-01-31T04:31:17","modified_gmt":"2026-01-31T04:31:17","slug":"nfl-writer-identifies-ex-patriots-assistant-as-possible-2027-head-coaching-candidate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/718244\/","title":{"rendered":"NFL Writer Identifies Ex-Patriots Assistant As Possible 2027 Head Coaching Candidate"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The 2026 NFL head coaching cycle is almost coming to an end, with just two positions available: the Las Vegas Raiders and the Arizona Cardinals.<\/p>\n<p>There were a handful of big-name coaching candidates who didn\u2019t land a job this cycle, despite there being 10 head coaching openings. One notable name is former New England Patriots coach and current Minnesota Vikings defensive coordinator Brian Flores.<\/p>\n<p>Although it\u2019s unlikely that Flores will secure a head coaching position this year unless the Raiders hire him, he could be a strong candidate for the next hiring cycle.<\/p>\n<p>CBS Sports\u2019 Jared Dubin identified Flores <a target=\"_blank\" https:=\"\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">as a potential candidate<\/a> for a head coaching position in 2027.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFlores was a candidate for multiple head-coaching jobs during this cycle but ultimately went back to Minnesota for another season,\u201d Dubin wrote on Friday. \u201cHe runs arguably the\u00a0NFL\u2019s\u00a0most creative and flexible defense. He\u2019s already got experience from his time in Miami and he\u2019s still young enough to be considered up-and-coming.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"nesn-in-content-ad__copy\">Story continues below advertisement<\/p>\n<p>Flores joined the New England coaching staff in 2004, serving in various roles before becoming the Dolphins\u2019 head coach in 2019. He spent three seasons in Miami before being let go after the 2021 season.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s somewhat surprising that Flores hasn\u2019t landed a head coaching job since the Dolphins parted ways with him, but it\u2019s likely he\u2019ll be back as a head coach sooner rather than later.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The 2026 NFL head coaching cycle is almost coming to an end, with just two positions available: the&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":718245,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2050],"tags":[6696,7,1167,249,2326,2094,6,208],"class_list":{"0":"post-718244","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-england-patriots","8":"tag-brian-flores","9":"tag-football","10":"tag-new-england","11":"tag-new-england-patriots","12":"tag-newengland","13":"tag-newenglandpatriots","14":"tag-nfl","15":"tag-patriots"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/115987840105053304","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/718244","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=718244"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/718244\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/718245"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=718244"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=718244"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=718244"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}