Amid Watson rumors, Flores talks character
Among the many layers to the Deshaun Watson-to-Miami trade rumors, the largest factor may be the concerns of a trade for a player with 22 civil cases and 10 criminal complaints — but not charges — involving sexual assault hanging over him.
In a Monday follow-up after answering a series of Watson questions on Sunday following the Dolphins’ preseason win at Cincinnati, Dolphins coach Brian Flores briefly addressed the balance between weighing on-field talent versus off-field concerns, giving players second chances and public opinion.
Flores spoke in general — not specifically about the Houston Texans star quarterback — and, at one point, turned the discussion more about the looming roster cuts to get down to 53 players by Tuesday’s 4 p.m. deadline. His overall message was that everyone in the Dolphins organization is held to a high moral standard.
“I think with any player on our team or any person in our organization, there is a standard,” Flores said. “We have high standards for the people we have in the organization. I don’t get into last strikes for anything. We want people with high character throughout the building. That’s what we’re looking for.”
And it’s only one of several factors that come into play for any prospective member of the Dolphins.
“There’s a lot of things that we weigh when we’re making decisions — fit on the team, overall talent, salary cap,” Flores said. “But I think when [general manager Chris Grier], myself, the coaching staff are talking about players, we’re always trying to do what’s best for Miami Dolphins and the organization. But there’s a lot of variables there: We want a group that’s tough, that’s smart, that’s competitive, that loves to play, that’s teamfirst.”
Charles Robinson, the Yahoo reporter who set the NFL world ablaze on Saturday with his report naming the Dolphins as the “front-runner” in trade talks for Watson, revealed more information behind the logic of his report in a radio interview with ESPN Houston on Monday.
Robinson said he deduced the Dolphins were the lone remaining possibility based on conversations with other teams previously involved in talks eliminating themselves from the conversation.
He clarified the context of his report after some aggregations inaccurately speculated on the probability of a trade being completed.
“I saw people trotting the words ‘imminent trade.’ I never reported there’s an imminent trade,” Robinson told ESPN Houston. “I said, look, this is where it stands between the Dolphins and Texans right now.”
He went as far as saying he doesn’t even believe the teams are in current conversations with less than two weeks remaining before the start of the regular season and the questions around Watson’s off-field issues unanswered.
“Do I think the Dolphins and Texans are speaking to each other the last couple of days? I don’t,” Robinson said.
On the other hand, NFL agent Drew Rosenhaus believes trade talks are further along, telling WSVN on Sunday night the Dolphins are “absolutely working on this deal with the Texans” and “I wouldn’t be surprised to see Deshaun Watson with the Miami Dolphins for the first game of the regular season.”
Flores, on Monday, again reiterated confidence in Dolphins starting quarterback Tua Tagovailoa — like he did Sunday — as Tagovailoa goes into his second season after an uneven rookie campaign.
Flores noted specific strides he has seen from Tagovailoa.
“He’s much more comfortable with his surroundings here in this area,” Flores said.
“He’s taken a step as far as leadership and working with his teammates to get things right, whether it’s the center and his cadence, receivers, routes, ball-handling with the backs. He’s asking more questions to us as a coaching staff, situationally — ‘Should we take a timeout here? Should we get out of bounds here? How many more yards do we need in a two-minute [drill] for a field goal?’ Making some very good strides, and still a lot of room for improvement.”
As far as his communication with players amid swirling trade rumors, Flore said: “There’s always rumors. There’s always speculation, always some form of distraction. As a team, we always, we block that stuff out and play. I thought they did that [Sunday] . ... We just block it out, ignore it and move on.”