Tagovailoa, however, had also previously hinted at a disconnect he had with the coaching staff that came before McDaniel, namely Brian Flores, the current defensive coordinator of the Minnesota Vikings. But during an appearance on ‘The Dan Le Batard Show’ that aired Monday, Tagovailoa offered the most direct and open assessment he has given to date about the contrast in coaching styles between Flores and McDaniel.
‘To put it in simplest terms,’ Tagovailoa, 26, said during the interview, ‘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 other guy should be here, that you haven’t earned this — and then someone comes and tells you, ‘Dude, you are the best fit for this. You are accurate. You are the best whatever, the best this or that’ — like, how would it make you feel listening to one or the other?
‘You hear it, you hear it, regardless of what it is, the good or the bad, and you hear it more and more and you actually start to believe that. I don’t care who you are. You could be the President of the United States, if you have a terrible person that’s telling you things you don’t want to hear, or you probably shouldn’t be hearing, you’re going to start believing that about yourself. So that’s sort of what ended up happening.’
Flores was the head coach in Miami from 2019 through 2021. He compiled a respectable 24-25 mark in that time, helping build the Dolphins up from previous levels of mediocrity. The team, however, fired him in January 2022, despite an 8-1 finish to the 2021 season.
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In two seasons under Flores, Tagovailoa struggled to find consistency. He completed 66.2% of his passes for 4,467 yards, with a 27:15 touchdown-to-interception ratio.
‘It’s been two years now of training that out of — not just me, but a couple of the guys as well that has been here since my rookie year all the way until now,’ Tagovailoa added.
Under McDaniel, who has encouraged his quarterback to stretch the field and throw the ball deeper, Tagovailoa has completed 67.4% of his throws for 8,172 yards, with a 54:22 touchdown-to-interception ratio. In fact, Tagovailoa’s passing yards (4,624) and passing touchdowns (29) from last season surpassed his combined totals from his first two seasons.
In July, the Dolphins rewarded Tagovailoa with a massive, four-year contract extension worth up to $212.4 million, with $167 million guaranteed.
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