MIAMI GARDENS — Tua Tagovailoa opened up on Monday about his relationship with Brian Flores, calling the former Dolphins head coach a "terrible person" for how he treated the young quarterback, and how the arrival of Mike McDaniel transformed his career.

"If you woke up every morning and I told you you suck at what you did, that you don't belong doing what you do, that you shouldn't be here, that guy should be here, that you haven't earned this right," Tagovailoa said on "The Dan LeBatard" show, "and then you have somebody else come in and tell you, dude, you are the best fit for this. You are accurate, you are the best whatever. How would it make you feel listening to one or the other?

"You have a terrible person telling you things you don't want to hear, or that you probably shouldn't be hearing, you're going to start to believe that about yourself. That's sort of like what ended up happening. It's been two years of training that out of, not just me, but a couple of the guys as well that have been here since my rookie year."

Flores was Tagovailoa's coach during the quarterback's first two years in Miami. McDaniel, who replaced Flores in 2022, was asked about Tagovailoa's comments Monday.

More: Tua Tagovailoa couldn't stand playing for ’terrible person' Brian Flores | Habib

As expected, he said he has not thought much about what has happened in the past.

"I'm so laser focused into what this locker room needs and this particular set of circumstances that it's hard for me to really appropriately assess that," he said.

More: Miami Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel gives injury updates on River Cracraft, Cam Smith, David Long

"I'm not spending much time patting myself on the on the back for much. I think there's a lot of players that have grown since I've been here. And that growth is all that I care about and the inherent growth that they've already had. I'm just really focused on pushing guys to be their best selves or the best version of themselves and reach new heights and that's got me plenty occupied. I don't really have time to reflect like that.

"So what does that mean? Today's awesome."

Vikings coach Kevin O'Connell defends Brian Flores

Meanwhile, Vikings coach Kevin O’Connell was asked Monday about Tua's remarks since Flores now works as Minnesota’s defensive coordinator.

“I don’t particularly have a comment on something that took place with another team,” O’Connell told Kevin Seifert of ESPN.com, “or I don’t like to comment on comments of other players on other teams, but I can just tell you I know that the players Flo works with, he's got great relationships here. He really has. I know [reporters covering the team] have heard a lot of them talk about how much they enjoy playing for him, and how much I enjoy working with him every day, and that’s all I can really comment on, and I’d just like to leave it at that.”

Tom D'Angelo is a senior sports columnist and golf reporter for The Palm Beach Post. He can be reached at tdangelo@pbpost.com.

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Dolphins Tua Tagovailoa says former coach Brian Flores told him 'you suck' every day