At least one Falcons player wants Brian Flores as the team’s next defensive coordinator

I’m inclined to agree with him.

At least one Falcons player has an opinion about who the Falcons should hire as the team’s next defensive coordinator. Cordarrelle Patterson made it known that he’d like to see Atlanta bring in current senior defensive assistant and linebackers coach Brian Flores to fill the vacancy left by Dean Pees’ retirement.

“Brian Flores to the Falcons would be [fire emoji, fire emoji, fire emoji]” Patterson tweeted.

Flores was fired by the Dolphins following the 2021 season for reasons that were unclear to literally everyone but the Dolphins, apparently. The Dolphins went 10-6 and 9-8 under his leadership, the team’s first back-to-back winning seasons since 2003.

He then made headlines for filing a lawsuit against the NFL, the Dolphins, Broncos, and Giants, alleging racist hiring practices. Per the complaint, Flores alleges that the Giants made the decision to hire Brian Daboll before they interviewed him to satisfy the Rooney Rule. The Broncos allegedly did not take his interview seriously, showing up an hour late and hungover. And the Dolphins, according to the complained, offered him an incentive to tank for a higher draft position and tried to get him to tamper with a high-profile quarterback.

Flores did interview with a few NFL teams for head coach vacancies but wasn’t hired, and ultimately he was brought on to the Steelers’ staff in a role that’s honestly beneath his talent and experience.

Before you say it: This isn’t tampering. Players can express opinions, and Cordarrelle Patterson doesn’t have any say in the Falcons’ hiring process. Generally speaking, teams can be held responsible for tampering, but players aren’t in a position to actually tamper with anything.

Flores has interest from several teams, so it remains to be seen if he agrees with Patterson.

But I’m inclined to agree with Patterson. I think Flores would be a great addition to the Falcons’ coaching staff.