Brian Flores Had ‘A Great Deal of Respect’ for Tua Tagovailoa; QB Has ‘Bright Future’

Former Miami Dolphins head coach Brian Flores still believes in Tua Tagovailoa as an NFL quarterback.

Appearing on the I Am Athlete YouTube show (starts at 0:30 mark), Flores said there was a “great deal of respect” between himself and Tagovailoa.

“So you hear this crazy kind of narrative that’s out there, but this is a young man who works, who developed, and got better over two years, and I think he’s got a bright future,” he added.

There were reports that one of the reasons the Dolphins fired Flores after the regular season was because of his relationship with key members of the organization, including Tagovailoa. 

Per ESPN’s Jeff Darlington, Flores’ relationship with Tagovailoa and general manager Chris Grier “deteriorated to a pretty bad place.”

Dave Hyde of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel reported Flores and Tagovailoa got into a shouting match at halftime during a game this season.

The partnership between Flores and Tagovailoa led to some success on the field for the Dolphins, though they never made it to the postseason.

Miami has gone 13-8 in games Tagovailoa has started over the past two seasons, compared to 6-6 with other quarterbacks during that span.

New head coach Mike McDaniel told Tagovailoa on a FaceTime call after he was hired that his job is to “coach you to get all that greatness out of you,” per ESPN’s Marcel Louis-Jacques. 

The Dolphins selected Tagovailoa with the No. 5 overall pick in the 2020 draft. He has thrown for 4,467 yards, 27 touchdowns and 15 interceptions and completed 66.2 percent of his attempts in 23 appearances.