Brian Asamoah first met Brian Flores in Indianapolis. Fresh off his junior season at Oklahoma, the off-ball linebacker had been invited to interview with the Pittsburgh Steelers before the 2022 NFL Draft. And now here was, seated across the table from Mike Tomlin and Flores, the team’s intense linebackers coach.
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Asamoah tip-toed through the conversation. He responded shyly to questions. Speaking honestly now, he said he was assessing the Steelers coaches just like they were assessing him.
He noticed Flores sitting quietly and listening intently. During his answers, he even wondered: Is he mean, or is he just being calculated? Does he like me, or does he not?
These thoughts wouldn’t leave his mind. The best way to describe the scene is to envision two men at a poker table analyzing, looking for tells. Even as he exited the conversation, Asamoah remained unsure … but also curious.
That curiosity was only amplified this spring when the Minnesota Vikings tabbed Flores as their defensive coordinator. Hearing the news, Asamoah went back to his memory of their brief meeting: Flores’ intensity, his demeanor. Asamoah whipped out his phone and did some cursory research. Who is this guy? Where has he been? What type of defense does he run?
This guy turned down an office job with the New England Patriots because he wanted a role calling the defense. He became the Miami Dolphins’ head coach and transformed their defense into a tidal wave of aggression. He blitzed his linebackers. He loved getting exotic on third down. He demanded focus on a rep-by-rep basis.
Asamoah completed his research and smiled, wide as always. At the same time, a thought entered his mind: Damn, this is going to be fun.
LIVE: Defensive Coordinator Brian Flores talks to the media at #VikingsCamp https://t.co/v9cXkLD4yC
— Minnesota Vikings (@Vikings) July 26, 2023
Last year, I asked Tim Kish a question.
Kish coached linebackers in college for nearly 40 years and recruited Asmaoah to Oklahoma. So, I wanted to know: When you think about Brian Asamoah, what do you think about?
Kish’s answer had nothing to do with shedding blocks or studying film. Instead, Kish mentioned Asamoah’s smile, his positivity, his energy. Those characteristics, he said, were what pushed him to offer a three-star running back of Ghanaian descent from Columbus, Ohio.
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“He loves life, you know?” Kish added.
His early opinion of Flores’ defense, though? It’s a direct match with what he feels are his foremost skills: playing fast, flowing downhill and racing to smash into the ball carrier.
That description matches with those who evaluated Asamoah before the 2022 NFL Draft. The Athletic’s Dane Brugler wrote that Asamoah “flashes the ability to be a second-level ninja, eluding blockers while keeping his eyes locked on the football.” Vikings linebackers coach Mike Siravo, who in his previous job as the Carolina Panthers’ linebackers coach evaluated Asamoah ahead of the draft, added: “He did some things that people cannot do with their bodies.”
Asamoah could bend and inch his way into tight spaces. He could tackle. His 6-foot, 226-pound frame was a bit of a knock, but Siravo admitted the game has evolved from the days of needing a lumbering, 250-pound linebacker.*
* These aren’t comparisons to Asamoah, but Roquan Smith, for example, is 6-foot-1 and 236 pounds. Fred Warner, meanwhile, is 6-foot-2 and 230 pounds.
Still, Asamoah dropped to the third round, where the Vikings snagged him and added him to a veteran-laden linebacker corps.
Thus began Asamoah’s NFL schooling. The off-ball linebacker must first learn the scheme.
“Not just their job,” Siravo said, “but what all 11 (players) are doing.”
Then, the linebacker must understand how opposing offenses are attacking.
“Now you know the call, but what’s the why behind it?” Siravo said. “What’s the purpose?”
He must learn to identify the intricacies of the offense.
“You’re listening to the sounds within the game for tells about run and cadence and all these different things,” Siravo said.
Before his time in Carolina, Siravo coached at Baylor in the Big 12. The conference is known for its spread formations and features a pass-happy explosion of offense. The NFL is different in that most teams use one-back formations that include play-action and vertical run schemes. Siravo thinks the difference complicates the transition for young players, but he also knows what it is like to acclimate because, well, he’s done it himself.
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Though Asamoah played 121 defensive snaps last season and even forced a fumble against the Indianapolis Colts, he mostly backed up veterans Jordan Hicks and Eric Kendricks. Their experience gave him a leg up with regard to the learning curve, yet Ed Donatell’s system asked its linebackers to operate more as detectives than battering rams.
That will no longer be the case.
Out is passive hesitancy.
In is the free-flowing, decisive attack.
“It’s going to be a fun season, man,” Asamoah, 23, said this week. “Buckle your chin strap, and get ready for a show.”
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Walk past the Vikings’ linebacker room these days, and you’ll hear all sorts of music. Asamoah fields requests, but in the end, he has the final say.
“He’s the DJ,” Siravo said. “And he’s talented.”
The DJ is about to launch his own clothing line. That, too, is a theme inside the room.
“It’s coming out,” Siravo said. “It’s all dropping.”
These are the vibes that prevail while the linebackers are learning another of Flores’ exotic blitzes. Or talking about the techniques to defeat blocks. Or discussing the different ways to communicate which teammates are dropping into coverage and which are going after the quarterback.
Make no mistake: Flores demands that these conversations occur. He holds nothing back if they do not translate into successful reps on the practice field.
Flores’ level of expectation, of urgency, brings Asamoah back in time. Back at the table across from Flores at the scouting combine. Back in a state of wondering: Who is this guy, and what is he about?
Asamoah has learned over these last few months that, sometimes, first impressions are accurate. Flores calculates. He analyzes. He seeks the best.
“(He and I) are super ecstatic when it’s third down, and he calls an exotic call and we’re out there executing,” Asamoah said. “It’s fun.”
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This brings us to Flores’ one quality that wasn’t conspicuous in their initial meeting, a quality relevant to Asamoah and one that might even define this defensive transformation in Minnesota. Above all else, on the field and off, Flores wants his players to feel like they can be themselves.
(Photo: Abbie Parr / Associated Press)
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