Report: Brian Flores still ‘confident’ Tua Tagovailoa can help make Miami Dolphins championship-caliber team

The NFL trade deadline has come and gone, and the Miami Dolphins ultimately did not trade for Houston Texans star quarterback Deshaun Watson.

Watson, who has several allegations of sexual assault standing against him, will remain in Houston for the 2021 season.

Dolphins owner Stephen Ross reportedly had contingencies that needed to be met for the Dolphins to make the move, and ultimately they decided to stick with Tua Tagovailoa as their quarterback for the remainder of this season.

Despite the rumors surrounding a deal for Watson, Dolphins head coach Brian Flores reportedly believes that Tagovailoa can be the leader of a championship-caliber team.

The Dolphins were 10-6 last season, and they went 6-3 in the nine starts that Tagovailoa made.

He showed some promise as a rookie and finished the year with 1,814 passing yards, 11 touchdowns and just five interceptions.

An injury in Week 2 of the 2021 season has derailed Tagovailoa’s sophomore campaign, but the Dolphins have looked much worse as a whole this season.

Miami is just 1-7 heading into its Week 9 matchup with the Texans, and it’s hard not to put some of the blame on Tagovailoa.

So far this season, Tagovailoa has made five starts. He hasn’t put up great numbers in those games, registering just 1,040 passing yards, seven touchdowns and five interceptions.

After throwing only five picks as a rookie, it is concerning that the former No. 5 overall pick has struggled with ball security this season.

Flores may have confidence in Tagovailoa, but the team’s actions leading up to the trade deadline say otherwise.

It will be interesting to see how Miami proceeds this coming offseason if Tagovailoa doesn’t turn a corner at some point this season.