Just hours before Tua Tagovailoa’s first start as the quarterback of the Miami Dolphins, ESPN’s Adam Schefter dropped a report that the Dolphins were starting Tagovailoa in part to determine whether or not he was their quarterback of the future over the next 10 games. It was a pretty stunning report to read on the doorstep of Tagovailoa’s debut — and it was pretty clear in referencing the Houston Texans’ draft capital as a motivating factor to begin an evaluation process of the No. 5 overall pick of 2020.
“The Dolphins need to know what they have in Tagovailoa as they enter the 2021 draft with two picks in each of the first two rounds, courtesy of their trade last year that sent left tackle Laremy Tunsil to the Texans,” wrote Schefter.
“”That’s definitely a part of it,” one source close to the Dolphins’ thinking told ESPN, regarding Miami’s recent decision to replace popular veteran Ryan Fitzpatrick with Tagovailoa. “Whoever told you that is right.””
Brian Flores noticed.
And although he and the rest of the Dolphins stayed mum on the topic in the immediate aftermath of the Dolphins’ 28-17 win over the Rams in Week 8, Flores was spontaneously inspired to touch on the subject during his Thursday press availability with the South Florida media. And Flores didn’t just touch on the subject, he dropped the hammer.
“I’m just going to tell you about my thinking: We brought Tua here because we believe in him, same as the other draft picks,” said Flores completely unprompted when asked about a completely different quarterback subject.
“We believe in developing players, and I think you guys have heard me talk about improving players on a daily basis. That would be the opposite of giving someone a 10-game audition.”
Indeed, Miami’s manta to this point has been rooted in catering player development with coaching and the results over the first 20 months of this regime have been spectacular. There’s no reason to think that won’t continue, even at quarterback with a young, gifted arm in Tagovailoa.
“I just don’t see how ‘someone close to Dolphins’ thinking’ could see that, and say that would be a 10-game audition. I’m not sure who or where that came from,” Flores continued.
One thing that is clear is that Flores is not here to tolerate messy subjects that could upend the chemistry of his team and locker room, both week to week and also with a long-term view. And with the trends of the team, it is hard to envision anyone would give him too much push back — he’s been pushing all the right buttons lately to transform the Dolphins from a 0-2 club to 4-3 on the season and a chance to move two games above .500 at the Dolphins’ midway point.