Brian Flores’ Dolphins expertise turned him right into a ‘dictator’: Ryan Fitzpatrick
Brian Flores is likely one of the many names being floated round as a head coach candidate for the approaching yr, however one in every of his former gamers supplied a little bit of a warning to different groups that could be .
Ryan Fitzpatrick spent two seasons (2019 and 2020) with the Dolphins underneath Flores — who was fired after the 2021 season — and mentioned the previous Miami coach had a really hot-and-cold tenure.
Fitzpatrick, talking this week on the “Fitz & Whit” podcast, mentioned that in yr one in Miami, Flores was each “likable” and “relatable” regardless of a 5-11 season.
Nevertheless, Fitzpatrick believed by the point Flores was on the finish of his Dolphins tenure, one thing modified to make him “unrecognizable.”
A lot so in reality that the previous quarterback mentioned that Flores turned akin to a “dictator.”
“However, when folks say, ‘Give me any person from Miami that coached underneath you as a reference, so we will discuss to them,’ I feel he burned a number of bridges there. I feel he alienated himself from the whole workers,” he instructed cohost Andrew Whitworth. “As a substitute of what you have been simply speaking about, having the humility to ask questions, to collaborate, I feel by the top of his time there he turned a dictator. He ruined a number of relationships that he constructed up by way of the NFL. And his ego grew so massive that there wasn’t room for anybody else.”
Flores completed with back-to-back successful seasons in 2020 and 2021 however was finally fired after lacking the playoffs every season.
Based on a report from the Miami Herald on the time of his ouster, Flores had needed extra energy throughout the Dolphins group.
After his firing, he has taken assistant gigs with the Steelers and Vikings, turning into the latter’s defensive coordinator in 2023.
This got here after he filed a lawsuit in opposition to the NFL and a variety of groups — together with the Dolphins and Giants — alleging discrimination and that some groups supply “sham interviews.”
That authorized course of has not but been accomplished.
Flores instructed reporters this week that he’s wanting ahead to talking with any groups.
“It’s an honor, definitely, that I undoubtedly don’t take that calmly,” Flores mentioned. “I look ahead to having these conversations and speaking to folks about my soccer journey, my management journey.”
Fitzpatrick later wrote on X that he’s nonetheless buddies with Flores and believes the coach as “discovered quite a bit.”
“I actually like Brian Flores and contemplate him a buddy….the top in Miami wasn’t fairly however I feel he has grown and might look again on his tenure in Miami figuring out he wasn’t excellent and has discovered quite a bit,” Fitzpatrick wrote.
The Jets, Jaguars and Bears are among the many groups publicly fascinated with interviewing Flores.
