Tua Tagovailoa (right) talks to Brian Flores (left) during a Miami Dolphins preseason game against the Atlanta Falcons in 2021.
Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa was candid in his thoughts of Brian Flores during an interview which aired on Monday, labeling his former head coach a “terrible person.”
Speaking on the “Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz,” the 26-year-old QB outlined the difference between Flores’ coaching and his current head coach, Mike McDaniel.
“To put it in simplest terms, if you woke up every morning, and I told you that you suck at what you did, that you don’t belong doing what you do, that you shouldn’t be here, that this guy should be here, that you haven’t earned this right, and then you have somebody else come in and tell you: ‘Dude, you are the best fit for this. You are accurate, you are the best whatever, you are this, you are that’ – how would that make you feel, listening to one or the other? You see what I’m saying?” Tagovailoa said.
“And then you hear it and hear it – regardless of what it is, the good or the bad – and you hear it more and more, you start to actually believe that. I don’t care who you are. You could be the President of the United States. [If] you have a terrible person that’s telling you things that you don’t want to hear or probably shouldn’t be hearing, you’re going to start to believe that about yourself.
“That’s sort of what ended up happening. It’s basically been two years of training that out of, not just me, but a couple of the guys as well that have been here since my rookie year all the way until now.”
CNN has reached out to Flores and the Minnesota Vikings, his current team, for comment.
Now going into his second season as the Vikings’ defensive coordinator, Flores was the head coach of the Dolphins when Tagovailoa was drafted with the fifth overall pick of the 2020 NFL Draft.
Flores looks on during a Dolphins game against the New York Jets on November 21, 2021. Robert Deutsch/USA TODAY Sports/Reuters
The pair spent two years together in Miami, with Tagovailoa playing in 23 games, throwing for 4,467 yards, 27 touchdowns and 15 interceptions. During that stretch, the quarterback battled injuries and consistency issues as the Dolphins missed the playoffs in both seasons.
Flores was fired in January 2022 after three seasons with the team and was replaced by McDaniel. Under the new head coach, Tagovailoa has excelled.
He threw for 3,548 yards, 25 touchdowns and eight interceptions in 13 games in McDaniel’s first year at the helm. Tagovailoa missed four games because of multiple concussions but earned his first Pro Bowl selection.
Then last season, Tagovailoa started all 17 games for the first time in his career, leading the NFL with 4,264 passing yards, completing 69.3 percent of his passes with 29 touchdowns and 14 interceptions. Miami has made the playoffs in the two seasons with McDaniel holding the reins.
Although the Dolphins are 0-2 in the postseason in the last two years, Tagovailoa’s progression has been evident and he was rewarded last month when he and the team agreed to a four-year contract extension, reportedly worth $212.4 million.
On Monday, Vikings coach Kevin O’Connell defended Flores, telling reporters: “I don’t particularly have a comment on something that took place with another team, or I don’t like to comment on comments of other players on other teams, but I can just tell you I know the players Flo works with, he’s got great relationships here.
“He really has. I know you guys [reporters] have heard a lot of them talk about how much they enjoy playing for him, and how much I enjoy working with him every day. And that’s all I can really comment on, and I’d just like to leave it at that.”
