The Cleveland Browns have joined the Green Bay Packers in requesting permission to interview New England Patriots de facto defensive coordinator Brian Flores for their head-coaching position, according to Adam Schefter of ESPN.

Flores has been a member of the Patriots organization since 2004, when be began as a scouting assistant for two years. He then served as a pro scout from 2006 through 2007 before joining the coaching staff as a special teams assistant in 2008.

It wasn't until 2011 that Flores started playing a significant role in the defense, as New England named him a defensive assistant for that season. Then, in 2012, he became the Pats' safeties coach, a position he held through 2015.

Flores then became the linebackers coach in 2016 before finally being promoted to de facto defensive coordinator this season, replacing the departed Matt Patricia.

Just 37 years old, Flores played linebacker at Boston College.

The Browns ended their season with a record of 7-8-1, marking their best finish since 2006 when they won 10 games. Cleveland changed head coaches midseason, firing Hue Jackson and replacing him with Gregg Williams, who was the team's defensive coordinator at the time.

Williams proceeded to lead the Browns to a 5-3 record during his tenure as interim head coach, briefly turning Cleveland into a playoff contender.

However, in spite of his success with the Browns this season, Cleveland is apparently not looking to bring him back as head coach and reportedly won't even really be considered for the job next year, a rather strange development considering how well the team played under him.

But, the Browns feel that the sample size was not great enough to commit to Williams moving forward.