Flores Discusses Carryover Effect, Tua and Culture

Dolphins head coach Brian Flores was one of the guest of "Lunch Talk Live" on NBCSN on Monday when he touched on a couple of interesting topics, including, of course, quarterback Tua Tagovailoa.

The big issue surrounding Tagovailoa heading into the 2020 NFL draft was his health, of course, but Flores said the Dolphins did their due diligence.

"Our entire staff did a really good job of getting the information on all of the players," Flores said. "We felt comfortable in the last couple weeks. Obviously, (Tua) is a very talented player and has a lot of great qualities we look for in a quarterback — he’s a leader, accurate, and tough.”

Tagovailoa was the first of 11 prospects the Dolphins selected in the 2020 draft, followed by the team coming to terms with a group of rookie free agents.

Flores was asked how he foresaw Tagovailoa's rookie season.

“Like all of the rookies, they have so much to learn," Flores said. "It’s such a different game — they have to learn new terminology, get to know the guys on the team and know their fellow rookies. There’s a lot that goes in the first year as a rookie.”

Flores sees the same learning process for all the Dolphins' draft class in this most unusual of offseasons.

“We control what we can control," he said. "There’s nothing we can do, and every team is dealing with the same situation. The most important thing is to do a good job from the virtual meetings and lay a good foundation from that standpoint.”

Flores heads into his second season as Dolphins head coach with a franchise that won five of its last nine games, showing tremendous resolves through a litany of roster moves.

Flores said he was hoping for a carryover effect.

“That was a special group to me," he said. "It was a hard-working group and a lot of adversity earlier in the season. They just went back to work, and no one placed blame, pointed fingers, or made excuses…Hopefully some of the energy at the end of 2019 can be carried to this season.”

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Alain Poupart has covered the Miami Dolphins full time since 1989. You can follow him on Twitter at @apoupartFins.