One of the hottest head coaching rumors around the Raiders right now involves Brian Flores replacing Pete Carroll in Las Vegas and bringing Brian Daboll with him as his offensive coordinator.
The rumor was first mentioned by NBC Sports host Mike Florio over the weekend, and Flores has since become the favorite at Draft Kings to be the Raiders’ next head coach.
Flores is in the middle of a messy court battle with the NFL, which doesn’t help his chances of getting a head coaching gig in this year’s hiring cycle, but the matter of his head coaching stint in Miami might be the biggest issue that still haunts him.
This week, a video resurfaced of a series of comments from former Dolphins quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick, who played for Flores in Miami.
Fitzpatrick’s comments aren’t new, but they should be relevant to any team interested in hiring Flores, including the Raiders.
“Brian Flores has been a really hot name, and I think the further removed we get from his tenure in Miami, the more people kind of forget about how that ended, and the better his name becomes,” Fitzpatrick said on the Fitz and Whit podcast a year ago.
“He went to Pittsburgh and got to learn under Mike Tomlin and see how he led, and now he’s been in Minnesota with Kevin O’Connell. I think the interesting thing with Brian Flores, when I think about him and being able to play under him for a few years, is which version of Brian Flores are we getting? And in year one with Miami, take you back to that year.”
“Miami got rid of every good player they had, and that was jokingly called the ‘Tank for Tua’ year. But I’ll tell you, halfway through that year, we didn’t win a game yet, and there was a shift in the way that he was approaching his job. He was likable, he was relatable, he demanded a lot out of the players, but he was also able to get the best version of his players, and I really appreciated him for that.”
“But as his tenure went on in Miami, he kind of became unrecognizable. A lot of the staff he brought over from New England, that was where, you know, he cut his teeth, and the NFL was there for 15-plus years as an assistant.”
Looking ahead, Fitzpatrick said he has doubts about Flores getting another opportunity as a head coach because of the bridges he burned in Miami.
“I think he’s going to have a really hard time if you’re interviewing him as a head coach,” Fitzpatrick continued.
“I think in the interviews, he’ll be likable, he’ll be relatable. But when people say, okay, give me somebody from Miami that coached under you as a reference so we can talk to them. I think he burned a lot of bridges there. I think he alienated himself from the entire staff. Instead of what you were just talking about, having the humility to ask questions, to collaborate.”
“I think by the end of his time there, he became a dictator, he ruined a lot of those relationships that he built up through the NFL. And his ego grew so big that there wasn’t any room for anyone else. And so that was why he got released at the end of his tenure in Miami.”
The good news for Flores, as it relates to the Raiders, is that he may have Tom Brady in his corner.
Additionally, there have been plenty of media personalities in recent days clamoring for Flores to get another opportunity.
But as some have pointed out… would Flores be the best option for a team about to draft a quarterback with the first overall pick?
Listening to Fitzpatrick’s comments (below), it sounds like it would be a risk to bring Flores to Las Vegas… but is it a risk Brady might be willing to take?
x: @raidersbeat
Safe to say, Brady will bring him in.
The question remains, will the supporting cast actually be supporting or will it be another divisive staff?
No question he’s a top shelf DC. But like McDaniels, he may not ever be head coach material.
Flores would be awful.
He would be beyond awful. I wonder if Brady has one brain cell left telling him that i shouldn’t bring in another Patriot reject. Their coaching tree is a failure
As screwed up as Brady decisions turned out, I wouldn’t be surprised if he brought in Joe Bugel
That would be a feat, since Joe has been dead for over 5 years.
Let’s not do this again, please
Just bring in John Gruden and stop playing Marry go Round.
Please get Raheem, a class act. We need someone with brains and decency who will inspire the players. And fix the website. An ad keeps freezing it.
No thanks!