"If I'd have known Tua Tagovailoa was going to be this bad, I would have picked Mac Jones.": Michael Lombardi reveals stunning conversation between Brian Flores and Dolphins QB

Brian Flores and Tua Tagovailoa’s relationship has come out to be sour. And recent rumours may highlight how bad the locker room was.

After a pretty decent 3 seasons in Miami, Brian Flores was shockingly fired by the Dolphins on Black Monday. A career record 24-25, Flores also led the team to an 8 game win streak this season. But miscommunication seems to be the chief reason for his departure, with reported disagreements over key spots like QB.

Number of seasons above .500 for Dolphins

2009-2018: 1
2019-2021*: 2

*Brian Flores head coach pic.twitter.com/wImyBVmz9G

— NFL on CBS 🏈 (@NFLonCBS) January 10, 2022

Brian Flores reportedly believed Mac Jones was better than Tua Tagovailoa

In addressing the various head-coaching openings around the NFL on his podcast, Michael Lombardi spoke about the toxic relationship between HC Brian Flores and QB Tua Tagovailoa.

“The Miami question for me is, which I think they’re going to find out if people are honest in the interview — a lot of people are never honest in the interview; they tell the owners what they want to hear,” Lombardi began. “They tell the GMs what they want to hear. But if you’re really honest, are you going to sit there and say, ‘I can build a team around Tua’? Because that’s what Ross wants to hear.

“That’s what Brian Flores wouldn’t say. We’ve seen all the conversations that Flores basically had with Tua where Flores told Tua at halftime of the Tennessee game — this has all been reported — I don’t think Flores was shy about telling him, ‘Hey, I should have picked Mac Jones.’ I don’t think he was shy about telling him that. In fact, I know that he wasn’t.

“I remember I said there was commentary between the head coach and Tua during the season and I wouldn’t reveal what the conversation was. Well, the conversation was, ‘Hey, if I’d have (known) you were going to be this bad, I would have picked Mac Jones.’

“So the next guy coming in, if Flores felt that way, how is the next guy going to come in and fix it? You say well, they’re going to run an offense that suits what Tua does. They ARE running an offense that suits what Tua does. It’s the only offense you CAN run. It’s the only one you CAN run. You’ve got to run an RPO where he can throw little passes and run after the catch. So if (Brian) Daboll has any other options, I would think he would stay clear of Miami, only because he knows the pitfalls that (Flores) went through.”

Lombardi later took to Twitter to clarify his statements.