A Top Quarterback Unloads on His Former Coach

Miami's Tua Tagovailoa calls Brian Flores a 'terrible person'
By John Johnson,  Newser Staff
Posted Aug 20, 2024 10:43 AM CDT
A Top Quarterback Unloads on His Former Coach
Miami Dolphins head coach Brian Flores, left, and quarterback Tua Tagovailoa talk on the sidelines in this 2021 photo. Flores no longer is with Miami.   (AP Photo/Doug Murray, File)

Bad blood between quarterbacks and head coaches aren't uncommon in the NFL, but they usually don't get aired out in public to this degree. Miami Dolphins QB Tua Tagovailoa delivered a blistering critique of former Miami coach Brian Flores in a podcast that came out on Monday, reports CNN.

  • "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,'" Tagovailoa said on the Dan LeBatard Show. "How would it make you feel listening to one or the other, you see what I'm saying?"

  • "You could be the president of the United States, you have a terrible person telling you things that you don't want to hear or probably shouldn't be hearing, you're going to start believing that about yourself," said the QB. "And so that's what sort of ended up happening."
  • Flores, now the defensive coordinator with the Minnesota Vikings after being fired by the Dolphins in 2022, has not commented. But Vikings coach Kevin O'Connell defended him, reports ESPN. "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 that the players Flo works with, he's got great relationships here."
  • Flores and Tagovailoa were together two years, and the QB has flourished since then. Last year, under coach Mike McDaniel, Tagovailoa led the league in passing yards and earned his first Pro Bowl selection. The Dolphins recently signed him to a four-year $212 million contract, making him one of the highest-paid quarterbacks in the NFL, per the Athletic.
(More Tua Tagovailoa stories.)

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