Brian Flores Responds To Tua Tagovailoa ‘Terrible Person’ Remark

Minnesota Vikings defensive coordinator Brian Flores has responded to the “terrible person” comment made by Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa.

What Did Tua Tagovailoa Say About Brian Flores?

In an interview with The Dan Le Batard Show on Monday, Tagovailoa opened up about his tumultuous relationship with Flores, the former Dolphins head coach from 2019 to 2021. Flores selected Tagovailoa with the No. 5 pick in the 2020 NFL Draft and coached the Alabama product for two seasons.

Tagovailoa had a contentious relationship with Flores in Miami and opened up about the major difference between Flores and his current coach, Mike McDaniel.

“To put it in simplest terms, if you woke up every morning and I told you, ‘You suck at what you did, that you don’t belong doing what you do, that you shouldn’t be here, that this guy should be here, that you haven’t earned this,'” Tagovailoa said. “And then you have somebody else come in and tell you, ‘Dude, you are the best fit for this, like you are accurate, you are the best whatever. You are this, you are that.’ Like how would it make you feel listening to one or the other?”

Tagovailoa’s continued his candid conversation about Flores, going so far to all him a “terrible person.”

“You hear it — regardless of what it is, the good or the bad — and you hear it more and more, you start to actually believe that,” Tagovailoa added. “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 that you don’t want to hear, or that you probably shouldn’t be hearing, you’re gonna start to believe that about yourself.”

Flores was fired after the 2021-2022 season. The dysfunction between Flores and Tagovailoa was one of the reasons for his dismissal.

Brian Flores Responds To Tua Tagovailoa

On Tuesday, a visibly shaken Flores addressed Tagovailoa’s eyebrow-raising comments.

“Look, I’m human,” Flores said in response to the terrible person remark. “So that hit me in a way that wasn’t … positive for me. But at the same time, I’ve got to use that and say, ‘Hey, how can I grow from that? How can I be better?’ And that’s really where I’m at from that standpoint. Do I feel like that’s me? No. But how can I grow from that situation and create a world where that’s not the case that anyone says that about Brian Flores?”

Flores admits that he could have done things better during his Miami tenure.

“I think part of coaching is correcting,” Flores said. “I’m always going to correct. I’m always going to have a high standard. And I think, look, I’ve done a lot of reflecting on the situation, reflecting on the situation and communication. I think there’s things that I could do better for sure, and I’ve grown in that way, and I’ve tried to apply the things that I could do better and the things that I’ve learned over the last two, three years.”

Vikings safety Josh Metellus and defensive lineman Harrison Phillips stood by Flores at the beginning of his speech for support.

Flores wished “nothing but the best” for Tagovailoa and will now focus his attention on the Vikings’ upcoming season.