Did Brian Flores Tell Tua Tagovailoa Miami Should’ve Drafted Mac Jones?

Brian Flores wished he had Mac Jones as his Miami Dolphins quarterback rather than Tua Tagovailoa, according to one former New England Patriots executive.

Michael Lombardi, who worked for the Patriots in 2014 and 2015 and alongside Bill Belichick in Cleveland in the 1990s, said Thursday on his “GM Shuffle” podcast that Flores directly told Tagovailoa this season that he preferred Jones.

The Dolphins fired Flores on Monday.

“If you’re really honest (in a head-coaching interview), are you going to sit there and say, ‘I can build a team around Tua’?” Lombardi said. “Because that’s what (Dolphins owner Stephen) 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 (a 34-3 Dolphins loss in Week 17) — 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 knew 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?”

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Of course, Jones was drafted a year after Tagovailoa, whom the Dolphins took fifth overall in the 2020 NFL Draft. The larger second-guess for Miami has been its decision to select Tagovailoa over Justin Herbert, who went one pick later and has flourished with the Los Angeles Chargers.

Could Lombardi have been referring to Herbert but mistakenly said Jones? Perhaps, though he did use the name of New England’s rookie quarterback multiple times.

Lombardi wrote on Twitter that he “misspoke” but did not specify which aspect of his comments he was referring to. He added: “… those were my words for Flores, not his.’ “

Regardless, it’s clear Lombardi does not believe the Dolphins can succeed with Tagovailoa behind center. The 23-year-old Alabama product completed 67.8% of his passes this season, averaging 6.8 yards per attempt and finishing with 16 touchdowns and 10 interceptions in 13 games.

“You say well, (the next coach is) going to run an offense that suits what Tua does,” Lombardi said. “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 (Bills offensive coordinator 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.”