Vikings

Brian Flores Is the Lewis Cine Hire

Photo Credit: Matt Krohn-USA TODAY Sports

The Minnesota Vikings ended their anxiety-inducing search for a new defensive coordinator on Monday afternoon. Former Miami Dolphins head coach and recent Pittsburgh Steelers linebackers coach Brian Flores always appeared to be the unanimous fan favorite throughout this process. Therefore, the hire of Flores earlier this week was universally celebrated — and not just by fans of the Purple and Gold.

After going a combined 19-14 in Year 2 and Year 3 as Miami’s head coach, the Dolphins fired Flores following the 2021 season. Before landing his first head-coaching position, Flores spent 15 years as a scout and position coach under Bill Belichick.

Flores has been part of a base 3-4 defenses for the entirety of his 19-year career in the NFL and will bring this scheme with him as the Vikings’ defensive coordinator. His propensity for bringing consistent pressure makes Flores’ defense unique, stemming from his time as head coach of the Dolphins. Below are the blitz rates for Flores’ defenses in Miami.

  • 2021 — 39.6% Blitz Rate — second-highest in NFL
  • 2020 — 40.8% Blitz Rate — second-highest in NFL
  • 2019 — 31.6% Blitz Rate — 11th-highest in NFL

Under Ed Donatell, the 2022 Vikings defense blitzed at an 18.9% rate, which was 24th in the league.

It gets interesting when you go deeper down the rabbit hole of Flores’ blitzing tendencies. His starting safeties in 2021, Brandon Jones and Jevon Holland, led all NFL safeties with 93 and 65 pass rushes, respectively. They combined for 7.5 sacks and 33 pressures.

This past season under Donatell, Harrison Smith ranked 49th among NFL safeties with only 12 pass rushes. From 2014 to 2021, Smith averaged a little over 38 blitzes per year while playing in Mike Zimmer’s defense. Unlike Donatell’s fairly passive scheme that allowed opposing offenses to play on their terms, Flores unapologetically plays the role of aggressor with his exotic pressures.

Now that Smith’s future with the Vikings is in question, this type of scheme from Flores will likely prominently feature 2022 first-round pick Lewis Cine — assuming he makes a full recovery following the gruesome injury that cut his rookie season short in Week 4 against the New Orleans Saints.

Unlike Smith under Zimmer, Cine was seldom asked to blitz under Kirby Smart at the University of Georgia. In 2021, Cine only blitzed on 11 snaps. But Smart and the Bulldogs were methodical with their safety blitzes, saving them for critical moments against blue-blood opponents in Clemson, Auburn, and two games against Alabama.

At the 1:06 mark in the clip below, you’ll see Cine blitzing on consecutive plays when Alabama’s offense was in goal-to-go from the National Championship game. On the first blitz, Cine helps keep Alabama running back Brian Robinson from reaching the end zone. And on the next play, he jumps in the air and deflects a Bryce Young pass intended for the flats.

Georgia’s National Championship defense from 2021 didn’t necessarily need to blitz too often with a front comprised of first-round NFL draft picks Travon Walker, Jalen Carter, Jordan Davis, and Devonte Wyatt. Therefore, Cine’s lack of blitzes as a Bulldog isn’t necessarily an indictment of his inability to do so. It’s more a case of Kirby Smart playing to his strengths by consistently creating pressure with four while dropping seven in coverage.

With Cine as the foundational piece that the rest of the defense will (desperately) need to be rebuilt around, Flores has to be giddy at the thought of unleashing him the same way he did with Jones and Holland during his final season as the Dolphins’ head coach. With Cine’s ability to fly around the field with 4.37 speed and strike fear into opposing ball carriers with his ability to lay the wood, Vikings fans can expect the former Georgia Bulldog to be used all over the field and near the line of scrimmage.

Now that Flores is the man running Minnesota’s defense, does that increase Harrison Smith‘s chances of returning in 2023? After all, throughout his career, Smith has been one of the better safeties in the league when called upon to blitz. And having Cine and Smith as pieces for his exotic blitz chess game has to be enticing for the new defensive coordinator.

If Smith returns for his age-34 season, where does that leave Camryn Bynum? This past season, Bynum was one of four NFL defenders who played 100% of their team’s defensive snaps, along with Chuck Clark, Demario Davis, and Quandre Diggs. The Vikings must feel a certain way about the former 2021 fourth-round pick considering he never left the field in 2022.

Regardless of Smith’s fate this offseason, Cine will be called upon to be an impact player in Flores’ defense (health permitting). And for a unit that needs a serious influx of speed and physicality, the former Georgia Bulldog is exactly why general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah made Cine his first-ever selection in the NFL draft.

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