Ex-Dolphins QB urges extreme caution for teams eyeing Brian Flores as head coach

5 days ago 2

Perhaps no head coach candidate this cycle has come up more in connection with the Raiders than Brian Flores. The current Vikings DC is a hot name in general among this year's group of head coach candidates, but it's because of the 15 years he spent with the New England Patriots while Tom Brady was the quarterback for the team that Las Vegas is coming up as a top destination.

These days Tom Brady holds a 5% stake in the Las Vegas Raiders. Monday the team fired head coach Pete Carroll, and in the announcement made clear that Brady would play a role in finding the new head coach. Many believe that makes Flores the favorite for the job.

We're barely 24 hours from the Raiders' official start of their head coaching search and already there is some rather troubling buzz coming out with regard to Flores's track record as a head coach.

In 2019, Flores leapt right from linebackers coach in New England to head coach of the Dolphins. He went 24-25 in his time there including winning records his final two seasons. And yet the Dolphins fired him.

At the time the loudest criticism was how he alienated starting QB Tua Tagovailoa who the team selected with the fifth overall pick in the 2020 NFL Draft.

Well, today the other QB on the team -- veteran Ryan Fitzpatrick -- came out and had some words of extreme caution for any team considering hiring Flores as their next head coach.

A couple things stood out to me in what Fitzpatrick had to say. First of all, he suggests teams don't just go by how Flores presents himself in the interview, but rather that they do their homework and speak with his former assistants from when he was a head coach. That might seem like a no-brainer for any team looking to hire a new coach, but if Tom Brady is heavily involved here, I would worry they may give Flores too much of the benefit of the doubt.

The other thing Fitz said that caught my attention was the part where he said "I do think he's learned from it". Because that sounds so familiar. Like another recent former Patriots assistant who was hired to be the Raiders head coach who had alienated his players and had a huge ego in his previous head coaching stint but who had supposedly learned from his poor behavior and was a changed man.

Being compared this directly to Josh McDaniels is a huge red flag.

That and the fact that the Raiders are about to take a quarterback atop April's draft, making for a very risky proposition with Flores's track record with quarterbacks.

Then there's the Maxx Crosby aspect of this. Yes, there's a Maxx Crosby element here too.

A couple years ago, in an appearance on the Pat McAfee show, Crosby told the story of when he was invited for a draft 30 visit with the Dolphins.

"For the most part, my trip to Miami, I'm not going to lie, was rough," Crosby said. "All of the coaches were super hard on me. I told my agent after, I'm like 'I don't want to come here. Tell Miami don't draft me.'"

Obviously, Crosby didn't call out Flores by name when saying this, but Flores was the new head coach, so he would figure to be the leader among the coaches who rubbed Crosby the wrong way. Which is seeming like a common theme with those stepping forward to opine on Flores's Miami coaching tenure.

Crosby is already not happy with the Raiders brass for placing him on injured reserve for the final two games of the season. To go out and hire the guy who once turned him off so bad that he was willing to shut down a chance to be drafted by them wouldn't exactly be an olive branch.

As of this writing, the Raiders search for their next head coach appears wide open. Despite speculation about Flores being a top candidate for the Raiders, there has yet to be any reports a head coach interview has been scheduled in Las Vegas, let alone that he would be the frontrunner for the job. But with Tom Brady as part of the process, it seems like Flores will at very least be strongly considered.

This article originally appeared on Raiders Wire: Ex-Dolphins QB urges teams beware eyeing Brian Flores as head coach

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