‘I haven’t heard from him.’ Dolphins QB addresses former coach Brian Flores’ comments

MIAMI — 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 up much.

“I haven’t heard from him,” the franchise quarterback said of Flores. “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 due to his comments about Flores, who coached the quarterback during his first two years in the NFL with the Dolphins.

“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?”

Added Tagovailoa: “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, appeared to have taken accountability for his relationship with Tagovailoa.

“Look I’m human,” Flores said Tuesday, later adding that he’s open to reconciling with the Dolphins quarterback. “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 also spoke up in support of Flores.

“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 even admitted to being hesitant when Flores was hired, but it didn’t take long for his concerns to be 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 even 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,” a excerpt from the policy reads.

Even the most modest Fins fan knows Flores wasn’t the biggest fan of Tagovailoa. Not only did Flores reportedly not want to draft the former Alabama star, he initially started Ryan Fitzpatrick over him. Seven weeks into the season, however, Tagovailoa was thrust into the starting lineup, a move that he wouldn’t even speak about on Monday.

“I’m not going to answer that truthfully right now,” Tagovailoa said. “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.”

Then came another question about the sanctity of the relationship between quarterback and coach.

“This is a quarterback league — I 100 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 and you have to find ways to do that.”

And with this being a quarterback league, it’s also worth noting how Tagovailoa viewed the backup situation after the Dolphins cut Mike White on Sunday.

“I have tremendous respect for both of those guys,” Tagovailoa said of both White and Skylar Thompson.