Dolphins' Tua Tagovailoa Says He Hasn't Heard from Brian Flores After Viral Comments

Former Miami Dolphins head coach Brian Flores hasn't spoken directly to Tua Tagovailoa after the Dolphins quarterback made pointed remarks about his old coach.

Tagovailoa told reporters Monday he hasn't heard from Flores, who's now the Minnesota Vikings' defensive coordinator, and that he didn't want to expand on his recent comments.

During an interview on The Dan Le Batard Show posted last week, the 2023 Pro Bowler was candid about his experience with Flores, whom he said was overly critical to the point of it being counterproductive:

Tagovailoa may not have been the only player happy to see Flores dismissed after the 2021 season.

Since the coach was largely judged to have done a good job amid a total rebuild, his remarks offered some more context behind a move that left many puzzled. Setting up the franchise quarterback to succeed is part of a head coach's job, and Flores may have been failing in that regard.

Addressing his promotion to QB1 midway through 2020 given what seemed to be Flores' negative assessment of him, Tagovailoa told reporters Monday he "won't speculate" but said he suspects the reasons behind it. His response spoke volumes without him actually saying a lot.

Flores, for his part, addressed the situation head-on last week. He told reporters he's "genuinely happy" for Tagovailoa, who turned a corner under current head coach Mike McDaniel. He added that he was stung by the interview but broadly takes criticism on board as a way to get better.

That Flores hasn't spoken personally with Tagovailoa isn't a big surprise. The regular season is right around the corner, so the coach is wrapped up with assessing the Vikings' defense and getting ready for Week 1.

Maybe the two can hash things out at some point down the line.