Tagovailoa on reaction from Flores, his ex-coach: ‘I haven’t heard from him’
With Tua Tagovailoa set to speak Monday for the first time in more than a week, the No. 1 question on everybody’s mind was about his Brian Flores comments.
Tagovailoa, however, didn’t offer much.
“I haven’t heard from him,” the franchise quarterback said of Flores, his former head coach with the Dolphins. “I haven’t seen his comments publicly. There’s nothing more that I’d like to add to the conversation.”
This was Tagovailoa’s first time addressing the Miami media after his interview on “The Dan LeBatard Show with Stugotz” went viral last week due to his comments about Flores, who coached Tagovailoa in 2020-21, his first two years in the league.
In his original comments, Tagovailoa said he had received harsh criticism from Flores compared with positive reinforcement from coach Mike McDaniel, who took over in 2022.
“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,” Tagovailoa said. “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 it make you feel listening to one or another?”
Tagovailoa had added: “If you have a terrible person that’s telling you things you don’t want to hear or that you probably shouldn’t be hearing, you’re going to start to believe that about yourself.”
The following day, Flores, now the Minnesota Vikings’ defensive coordinator, said he was accountable for his relationship with Tagovailoa.
“Look I’m human,” Flores said last Tuesday, later adding that he’s open to reconciling with him. “That hit me in a way that I wouldn’t say was positive. I’ve got to use that and say how can I grow from that? How can I be better?”
Several Vikings players spoke up in support of Flores, who joined the team last season.
“We just love him, man,” safety Josh Metellus told Sports Illustrated. “He’s been great to us. I know everybody else has their own opinion, but as long as he’s been a Viking, he’s been good to the team.”
Defensive tackle Harrison Phillips said he had concerns when Flores was hired but that they were soon alleviated.
“It might’ve been the first three or four weeks here, Coach Flo invited the entire defense over to his home to meet his wife, meet his family, meet his kids, shoot hoops, play foosball, play Call of Duty or whatever guys are doing,” Phillips told Sports Illustrated.
“Getting up in front of the team and sharing stories about who we are and adversity we’ve had to overcome in our life. It really brought us together.”
The idea that Flores could reach out to Tagovailoa midseason, however, is dubious at best considering the NFL’s strict anti-tampering policy.
“To avoid potentially embarrassing situations and possible disciplinary actions, clubs are reminded that any contact by members of one organization with players of another organization could potentially interfere with an employer-employee relationship of the second club, even if the circumstances surrounding the contact may appear to be innocent,” an excerpt from the policy reads.
Even the most casual Fins fan knows Flores wasn’t the biggest admirer of Tagovailoa. Not only did Flores reportedly not want to draft the Alabama product, he initially started Ryan Fitzpatrick over him. Seven weeks into the season, however, Tua was thrust into the starting lineup. On Monday, Tagovailoa didn’t want to discuss that change.
“I’m not going to answer that truthfully right now,” he told reporters. “But I think I know why. I won’t speculate or give anyone any speculations on that. Whatever you want to create to think, think that but, other than that, I think that’ll stay here with the organization.”
Tagovailoa then was asked about the sanctity of the relationship between quarterback and coach.
“This is a quarterback league — I a hundred percent think” that the coach needs to support quarterback, Tagovailoa said. “Without a good quarterback, I don’t think you can do much in this league. Sure, you can have a good defense [but] there’s really good offensives in this league and you got to put up points . ... ”
Tagovailoa also commented on the Dolphins’ backup-quarterback situation, with Mike White being cut Sunday, leaving Skylar Thompson as the No. 2 passer.
“I have tremendous respect for both of those guys,” Tagovailoa said.
He also praised Thompson, who was drafted in 2022: “To see his growth from his rookie year to this point has been something really cool.”
Tagovailoa didn’t shut the door on White’s return — albeit to the practice squad.
“We’ll see who we end up grabbing if we don’t get Mike back,” Tagovailoa said.