Two years in: What’s next for Flores?

Thursday marks two years since Brian Flores was introduced as coach of the Miami Dolphins.

And so far, Flores has stuck to his word. Since his hiring, he has promised to take a regimented, one-day-at-a-time approach to rebuild and improve the Dolphins.

Flores believes if you can get a group of players to band together and trust one another, they’ll prepare and play at a level high enough to win some games.

The Dolphins have done that (mostly last season). But the vision has been clear since Day 1 of the Flores era.

“We’re going to do everything possible to win games and build the culture and build a winner here,” Flores said during his introductory press conference on Feb. 4, 2019.

“I’ll do everything in my power and work as hard as possible to make that happen.”

What has Flores accomplished?

The Dolphins have come a long way since the first two months of Flores’ first season with the franchise. Losses to the Baltimore Ravens and New England Patriots, where the Dolphins were outscored by nearly 100 points in the first two games. A 0-7 start overall in 2019.

The Dolphins’ train of thought was to tear down the franchise to build it back up. And certainly, to not tank or position themselves purposely to gain a higher draft pick.

“I think [2019] was a big learning experience for him, being a first-time head coach

and trying to figure out who he was as a coach. It wasn’t easy. Everybody was talking about the tank job and we were sitting there at 0-7,” former quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick said of Flores this week.

“But there was a distinct change for him about halfway through that year, and he really just decided to be himself, and just embrace his own personality and have us as players play like that, play like he coached.”

The Dolphins finished Flores’ first season with a 5-4 clip in the final nine games, and a 5-11 record overall.

They ended up with the No. 5 pick in the 2020 NFL draft and were still able to draft quarterback Tua Tagovailoa, a player who may have been the top pick before his college hip injury.

The Dolphins kept nine of their 10 other draft picks, signed several key free agents like cornerback Byron Jones, defensive ends Emmanuel Ogbah and Shaq Lawson, and linebacker Kyle Van Noy. Along with star cornerback Xavien Howard, Miami had one of the top defenses in the NFL during the 2020 season.

The Dolphins finished 10-6, worthy for Flores to earn some coach of the year consideration, but one game short of reaching the playoffs in his second season.

Flores may be 15-17 as Dolphins coach, but the bar for the future has been set.

“I don’t think there’s any question that Brian is the Coach of the Year,” general manager Chris Grier said of Flores earlier this year.

“Brian does not like any of that stuff. He hates when I say it. But for what he did with this roster and team, to go through this with the pandemic, the young players, how young we were with no offseason and a completely new roster, to win 10 games with what we have and a rookie quarterback, eight rookie players on offense playing, Brian and his staff did an unbelievable job.”

Flores