Brian Flores – March 11, 2021
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Thursday, March 11, 2021
Head Coach Brian Flores
(Opening statement) – “It’s good to see everyone. I hope you and your families are doing well, safe, healthy. Just kind of want to start with a little kind of, let’s call it ‘state of the union’ since we didn’t speak at the Combine this year. A couple quick updates the last couple months – the last time we talked, I want to say at the Senior Bowl and really at the end of the season, I talked about us kind of doing a full evaluation of our team and really, the entire operation – the 2020 season. We did a deep dive on a self-scout from that perspective really across the board – offense, defense, special teams, our operation, scouting. Any and everything that we felt like we could improve on, we kind of talked about. Our goal is to improve at every position – coaches, players, strength and conditioning, nutrition, training. So that’s kind of been what we’ve done the last couple months. (General Manager) Chris (Grier) and our scouting staff – they’ve been great. They’ve been phenomenal. We just actually just got done with our draft meetings last week. With no Combine and quite a few limitations this year due to COVID-19 and the pandemic, really they’ve kind of handled that without any complaint. No issues. They did a really nice job as far as getting background and we had some really good dialogue and a lot of great meetings over the last couple weeks. And that is specific to the draft, but also free agency. Our pro (personnel) department also did a nice job there, so it’s been a busy time, I would say, and we’re going to try to always do everything – any and everything possible to improve our team and have success in the fall. I wanted to give you guys a couple updates just related to our coaching staff. First, we’re going to name Danny Crossman the assistant head coach and special teams (coordinator). Danny – as you guys know – has been instrumental in the development of this team, our coaching staff and I’m just grateful to have someone of his skillset to bounce ideas off of. He’s just been an invaluable asset. We named George (Godsey) and Eric (Studesville) co-coordinators on offense. They’ve both done an outstanding job at their respective positions. Have a lot of respect for both guys – very knowledgeable, very good teachers and I think they both bring a different – they both have different perspectives and we’ve had a lot of great dialogue, really I would say, these last couple months with those two as well as our entire offensive staff. Other offensive coaching staff changes – and you guys will get a press release on this later on today. Mike Judge is going to go from quality control to assistant tight ends and Shawn Flaherty who was also a quality control coach will go to assistant o-line. Defensively, a couple changes there. Charles Burks – he’ll be the cornerbacks coach. Obviously he worked with the corners for the last couple years. He’s done a nice job, so he’s officially the cornerbacks coach. Austin Clark is going to coach defensive line and Robbie Leonard is going to move to outside linebackers. Lastly, I know there’s probably going to be some free agency and trade questions today. I’m happy to take those, but I think you’ve got to understand that per league rules, I can only comment on players who are currently on our team until the new league year begins. With that in mind, fire away.”
(I wanted to get some clarity on the Isaiah Wilson move. I know he’s not – well, you can’t talk about him because he’s not on your team, correct? Yes? No?) – “Can’t talk about him. Correct.”
(Then I’ll shift my question. In terms of play calling on game day with coordinators, how will that be handled? Will one be in the booth? One upstairs? Will it be collaborative effort from the co-coordinators?) – “Definitely collaborative. That’s something we’ve talked about and those are kind of ongoing discussions, so we have, I wouldn’t say, ‘cemented’ a way of how we’re going to do it, but I think – and I’ve always thought this just from a play-calling standpoint – a lot of that, the legwork, is done during the week. I know George (Godsey) and Eric (Studesville), George has called plays in the past. Eric was – with COVID, we had the situation where we had to have a backup at every position, so Eric was preparing to call the game if something happened to Chan (Gailey) the entire year. I think both guys are equipped to do it and we have not cemented a ‘hey, we’re going to do it like this,’ but I think we’ll figure out a way that’s collaborative, but at the end of the day puts our team in the best position to have success offensively.”
(I wanted to ask you a little bit about the quarterback situation. Where do things stand regarding QB Ryan Fitzpatrick and if he’s not going to be your backup, what sort of backup are you looking for whether it be a veteran, a young guy, a mentor to QB Tua Tagovailoa and so forth? What are you looking for?) – “Specific to ‘Fitz’ (Ryan Fitzpatrick), obviously we have a lot of respect and admiration for him. He’s tough, he’s smart, he’s competitive. He loves to play. He really embodies all the characteristics we’re looking for here. Honestly, we’d love to have him back; but I think this is a very unique year from a cap standpoint. Obviously we just had the cap number set yesterday, so those conversations are fluid; but yeah, we’re looking for somebody with those characteristics in the backup quarterback position. Someone who is smart, someone who we feel like – hopefully this doesn’t happen, but if he had to go in, we could still win a ball game. There’s a few guys out there that we’ve taken a look at them all and we’re still kind of putting that plan in place honestly, with just kind of setting the number yesterday. Those meetings are kind of ongoing and couple that with a number of releases that are happening really on a day-to-day basis, we’re almost re-ranking on a daily basis. I wish I had more for you there, but those characteristics are what we’re looking for – tough, smart, competitive, obviously accurate and all the things from a talent standpoint that you need at the quarterback position (such as) decision-making and command of the offense. Hopefully we’ll get that sorted out in some form or fashion, but yeah, that’s what we’re looking for.”
(You’ve talked to us a couple months ago when the season ended about the quarterback situation and QB Tua Tagovailoa. There has been a lot of speculation since then about whether it be QB Deshaun Watson, whether it be the draft and all things regarding that. Has the time since the season strengthened, changed or impacted your view at all about Tua being your guy heading into this season?) – “I’m excited about Tua and this upcoming season. I think that when you think about his situation last year coming off the hip (injury), we kind of through him in the fire there in Week 7 or Week 8 – I’m not sure exactly what week it was. He started nine games. I thought he made a lot of improvement throughout the course of the season. He had some ups, had some downs, like all of the rookies and like any rookie. I’m really excited about this – that Year 1 to Year 2 jump and being more comfortable, even down here in South Florida. He’s got a place. That rookie year, you’ve got a lot going on. You’ve got to get a house, you’ve got to get a car, you’ve got to move to a whole new city. There are so many things that are going on. I thought he handled it well last year, but I’m really excited about this upcoming year. Especially, again he had no OTAs, a different training camp. You guys know me – I’m all about the development of players and helping them develop and helping them get better. I think this time, or an offseason, is really going to be helpful to him and really all of the rookies. I’m really excited about working with him this offseason.”
(When you see this endless speculation, not just here but around the country, about the Dolphins trading for a veteran quarterback to replace QB Tua Tagovailoa. What is your reaction when you hear and see that speculation? And what should Tua’s reaction be?) – “My reaction is I’m excited to work with Tua. I think I just mentioned that after the last question. That’s where my interests are, that’s where my excitement is. I think he’s – again like I said, I think he’s a talented player. I think we here believe in developing players at all positions. I think with an offseason, with OTAs, with more reps, more repetitions; like any player, I think they develop and get better. I think he feels the same way. Tua and I had lunch yesterday. We talked about his family and I think a lot of that is – that development is about building a relationship. He’s doing well. He’s confident. I’m confident in him. I’m looking forward to this offseason.”
(At the top, you talked about a full analyzation of the roster on offense and defense. When it comes to the offense and skilled positions, could you speak on the aggressiveness in regards to wanting to surround not just QB Tua Tagovailoa, but the entire offense with more talent and more playmakers and your approach on coming into next week?) – “You always want the most talent you can get, the most playmakers offensively, defensively and in the kicking game. But at the end of the day, you want – you don’t need 11 stars. You need 11 guys, 11 teammates who will work together and have one goal in mind, and that’s really what we are looking for. Yeah, we want talented players; but we want a good cohesive unit and guys who fit well together. That’s not always 11 stars. It’s almost never that way. So we’ve scoured free agency, the draft and I think we have a pretty good feel for the types of guys we are looking for from a skillset standpoint; but also from a locker room standpoint as people as well. I think that’s important. That’s an important factor that can’t be overlooked. All of those things play a role, but we want to improve really in as many areas as possible, on all three sides of the ball. I think that now is the time for that – free agency and the draft.”
(Twelve months ago, you were about to embark on a pretty expensive spending spree in free agency. This year you don’t have quite as much cap space. I was curious if the organization’s philosophy has changed at all or if you think you have the resources you need to get any player that you might want in free agency.) – “This is a very unique year, a very unique year. We do have some money form a cap standpoint that we can spend; but again, it’s an interesting year. I think I’m going to be playing the song ‘you can’t always get what you want,’ on Day 1 in free agency, to be honest with you, because we may get priced out on some guys we’re looking at that we’d like to have. They may just want to go elsewhere. So I think we’re going to try to do the best we can. We’ve had multiple meeting about this; and again, I would say just getting the cap number yesterday kind of sets the stage for us to at least say ‘we’re going to have this; we can do this, this, this and this,’ and kind of forecast and predict said player, we expect him to get this, which I’d say wipes out this amount or whatever percentage of cash we have to spend. I don’t know if that answers your question. You can’t always get what you want. I try to tell my kids that too. (laughter)”
(You guys have a lot of options you can explore with the No. 3 pick, whether it’s to pick one of the best players available or trade down to get more assets. What do you guys think of the value of that pick overall and what you can do with it?) – “Any time you pick third overall, there’s a number of players and a number of ways you can go. Again, our scouting staff, like I said earlier, I think they’ve done a really great job as far as narrowing down who the top players are in this draft. We have a pretty good idea of who those are. I think everyone – or most people who are kind of analyzing it know who those players are. We’ll have an opportunity to grab one of them at least in let’s call it the top 10; but obviously having that type of pick, there’s a lot of other avenues we could go. I think we’ll explore those also. We’re fortunate that way and hopefully we can take advantage.”
(What are some of the advantages for QB Tua Tagovailoa and other offensive players to have the promotion from within on the coordinators in terms of will you be able to build off of some of the same plays, some of the same language, the familiarity? The second step to that is can you talk about how you plan to blend some of Co-Offensive Coordinator/Running Backs Eric Studesville’s running elements and Co-Offensive Coordinator/Tight Ends George Godsey’s passing elements, and their experiences from Miami, Houston, Denver, Quarterbacks Coach Charlie Frye’s experiences from an Alabama-based offense. Those two things, the advantages and the blending.) – “I think continuity was a big thing as far as for me and making that decision. I think I wanted that for Tua and really a lot of the young offensive linemen and the young players we have offensively. I felt like we had that as well as the acumen and the experience with George (Godsey) and Eric (Studesville), and kind of taking on that role. As far as blending the two thought processes or philosophies, I would say – you mention Eric in the run game and George in the pass game. I think both of these guys are strong just offensively and defensively, honestly. It doesn’t surprise me or really anyone on our staff; but it may surprise you guys when (I say) Eric is skilled or knowledgeable in the pass game, the protection game and the drop-back game and George is equally as skilled in the run game, the protection game. So those conversations are very good. There’s a lot of great dialogue that goes on and has gone on here in the last, let’s call it two months – I’m not exactly sure how long it’s been since we announced that or have gone in this direction. But both guys, as far as blending and all of that, that happens through conversation, which we’ve had a lot of conversations. Again, this is really kind of what terminology are we going to keep the same versus not keep the same? And a lot of it is tied into what we feel is best for the players and Tua specifically, and our overall offensive philosophy and how that works in conjunction with obviously our defense and our special teams.”
(Kind of a personal question – this is the one year anniversary of the NBA getting shut down and then everything kind of followed right after that. Do you remember where you were when that news broke and kind of your reaction to it at the time, and everything that’s happened since?) – “I want to say I was in bed watching that NBA game. I forget which one it was.”
(The Heat were playing so maybe you were watching the Heat.) – “Probably. I was probably watching the Heat. Look, this has been a very different year for a lot of reasons. But I think you – I try to look at the bright side of this past year. I think as a league, as individuals, as teams, a lot of sacrifices were made to play an entire football season, to play basketball as they’re playing now, to even send kids to school. I think it’s showed us that even as crazy as things can get and as scary as things can get, we can kind of push through those things and do the things we love to do. Again, I love coaching. If that means I’ve got to wear a mask on the field and take a test every day, whatever I’ve got to do then that’s what we’ll do to do what we love to do. I think things are changing. I think we’re moving in the right direction. That’s good. My kids are in a flag (football) league. I saw (one of you guys) at a game a couple of weeks ago. It’s just good to watch them get out there and run around. You’ve got parents yelling and screaming. I’m not one of them. Well, maybe I am. (laughter) But it’s good to kind of get back to a little bit of normalcy. Hopefully we just keep moving in that direction. I didn’t realize – I guess it is the one-year anniversary. It’s great to see everyone. I’ll see you in training camp. (laughter)”
