Former Miami Dolphins coach Brian Flores took two different approaches when dealing with quarterbacks Ryan Fitzpatrick and Tua Tagovailoa in 2020, Fitzpatrick said Wednesday in a conference call with reporters.
Fitzpatrick, speaking on a call to promote Amazon Prime Video’s coverage of Thursday night’s Dolphins-Bills game , was asked about comments Tagovailoa made last month on Dan LeBatard’s show. Tagovailoa blasted Flores for telling him he “sucked.” He inferred Flores was a “terrible person” to him during his rookie season. Fitzpatrick, an analyst for Amazon, was Miami’s starting quarterback for six games in 2020 before the team was handed over to Tagovailoa.
“I would say look, there’s a certain style that Flo coached with and, like, for me, he coached me differently than he coached Tua,” Fitzpatrick said. “I will say the intention of what Flo did was to try to get the best out of Tua and I think when you put the coaching style that he had with Brian Flores and you put it next to what Mike McDaniel came and did, was come in, love him up, tell him how great he was, then it probably made it seem like it was even worse than maybe it was at that time.
“But I’m happy for Tua. I think Flores has said it: He’s happy for Tua. He’s happy for the successes.”
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Fitzpatrick said there are a small group of QBs in the league he considers elite and another group just below that who can become elite. He put Tagovailoa and San Francisco’s Brock Purdy in that second echelon.
“I think it’s been talked about a lot, getting coach McDaniel and getting him in the right system for his skillset,” Fitzpatrick said. “But the biggest growth that I’ve seen out of him, and even just talking to people around the building — and this isn’t just players, but other people that are working around the building — his maturity and now his leadership quality that Tua has. He’s outspoken. He’s giving speeches at halftime. Those are things that I didn’t see and I didn’t know really existed in Tua.
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“But I think with the new contract and the newfound ownership in this football team, he really feels like this is his team and they’re going to go where he takes them. And so that’s been an exciting thing for me to hear about.”
Dolphins reporter Hal Habib can be reached at hhabib@pbpost.com . Follow him on social media @gunnerhal. Click here to subscribe.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Ryan Fitzpatrick describes why Miami Dolphins' Tua Tagovailoa can be an elite QB
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