Report: Brian Flores having ‘many beefs with people’ led to Dolphins picking Tua Tagovailoa over him

Some interesting information regarding the dynamic that existed between former Miami Dolphins head coach Brian Flores and quarterback Tua Tagovailoa surfaced on Tuesday.

Per Omar Kelly of the Miami Herald, Tagovailoa issued an ultimatum to the Dolphins before the team fired Flores by indicating to Miami that the squad had to pick one of them to keep. But that was just one chapter of the alleged story.

Kelly went wildly in depth about the history on Flores and Tagovailoa, explaining that he “will not allow anyone” to tell the story inaccurately.

“Was Tua forced on Flores?” Kelly posed on X. “Yes and no. Everyone in the organization wanted Tua. They stacked their board and had him in the top 5. They tanked for a year (they did that sh!t) to get him (before the injury).

“BUT….Chris Grier would NEVER give a coach a player he doesn’t want. Not in his DNA. If Flores said, ‘I don’t wanna coach him,’ it would be done.

“Flores did not want [Justin] Herbert. That wasn’t his guy. [Jordan] Love was. He wanted a OT and then Love at 18. They couldn’t risk it like when Miami wanted to draft [Joe] Flacco in 2008 and Baltimore beat them to it.

“Flores went along with the plan, and all the while he did abuse Tua. He started it at the Combine (as @Safid_Deen chronicled at the time.

“Flores started Tua early trying to prove he wasn’t ready, wasn’t good. He benched him for [Jacoby] Brissett thinking he was better. Both backfired on him. Relationship was ruined in Tennessee loss of 2021. Flores made Tua get out of character and Tua told management ‘it’s him or me.’

“Because Flores has sooooooooooooo many beefs with people they picked Tua. Flores sued because team set him up to fail in his opinion. Lawsuit ongoing.

“I will not allow anyone to tell that story inaccurately.”

Flores was allegedly very hard on Tagovailoa, something that didn’t appear to benefit the quarterback. Flores’ departure is seen by some fans as a big moment in Tagovailoa’s career.

The Dolphins had a woeful 2019 campaign before they selected Tagovailoa with a top-five pick in the 2020 NFL Draft. Miami finished dead last in the AFC East division with a record of 5-11, the team’s worst record in a single season since the Dolphins won just one game all the way back in the 2007 campaign.

It’s arguable whether Tagovailoa exactly proved that he was worthy of a top pick during Flores’ time leading the Dolphins. He never really came into his own during Flores’ tenure, and even though the team went 13-8 in his starts during his first two NFL seasons, the Dolphins never made the playoffs during that stretch.

However, fast forward to current day, and Tagovailoa (when healthy) has staked his claim as one of the better players at his position in the NFL. Over the past three seasons under head coach Mike McDaniel, Tagovailoa has put together campaigns where he’s ranked tops in the NFL in statistics such as total passing yards, completion percentage and passer rating.

With any luck, Tagovailoa will finally be able to get over the hump and win a playoff game at the NFL level in the 2025 campaign.