Former Dolphin Ryan Fitzpatrick: Tua Tagovailoa was ‘broken’ by Brian Flores

During Prime Video’s “Thursday Night Football” pregame show, former Dolphin Ryan Fitzpatrick made scathing remarks about former Miami coach Brian Flores and his relationship with quarterback Tua Tagovailoa.

Fitzpatrick, who serves as an analyst for Prime Video’s pregame, halftime and postgame shows, was talking about the regression of New England Patriots quarterback Mac Jones and said the 2021 first-round pick has been “broken.”

He then compared Jones’ early career situation to that of Tagovailoa, saying that the 2020 first-round pick was “broken from Brian Flores, the way that he treated him. The way that he coached him. And what happens? Mike McDaniel comes in, he restores his confidence, he gets it back and now he’s an MVP candidate.”

Fitzpatrick was teammates with Tagovailoa during his rookie season. Flores was fired after the 2021 season, just three years after behind hired to lead the Dolphins.

While Tagovailoa hasn’t said much about Flores since his firing, he has spoken about how the arrival of McDaniel and his staff helped instill confidence in himself and allowed him to be himself as he leads the team.

Tagovailoa on Thursday choked up when speaking about right tackle Austin Jackson’s contract extension and said that there were things that were said about Jackson by the previous coaching staff “that you know aren’t true but they get planted in your head.”

“And then you have someone like Mike and his coaching staff come in and basically build you back up,” Tagovailoa said. “And it’s not just Austin. It’s really everyone that’s been here for some time and [to] kind of give you that renewed confidence in yourself to just go out there and play the way you’ve played.”