Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa has hit out at the "terrible" style of former coach Brian Flores, hailing Mike McDaniel for showing greater belief in him.

Last month, the Dolphins handed Tagovailoa a franchise-record four-year, $212.4million extension off the back of an impressive fourth season with the team.

Tagovailoa posted career-best figures for passes attempted (560), completed (388), passing yards (4,624) and touchdown passes (29) in 2023, though Miami fell at the first hurdle in the playoffs, losing 26-7 to the eventual Super Bowl LVIII champions, the Kansas City Chiefs. 

Tagovailoa has improved season-on-season since being drafted fifth overall by Miami in 2020, with his two best campaigns coming since McDaniel replaced Flores as head coach in 2021.

The quarterback has now hit out at the way Flores – who is entering his second year as defensive coordinator with the Minnesota Vikings – drained his confidence.

He said in an interview with The Dan LeBatard Show: "To put it in the simplest terms, if you woke up every morning and I told you that you suck at what you did, that you don't belong, that you shouldn't be here, that you haven't earned this right... 

"Then you have somebody else come in and tell you, 'dude, you are the best fit for this'... How would it make you feel, listening to one or the other?

"You hear it, no matter what it is, the good or the bad, you hear it more and more, you start to believe that. I don't care who you are. 

"You could be the president of the United States, you have a terrible person telling you things that you don't want to hear or probably shouldn't be hearing, you're going to start believing that about yourself. 

"That's what ended up happening. It was basically two years of training that out of not just me but a couple of other guys as well."

The Dolphins open their 2024 campaign at home to the Jacksonville Jaguars on September 8 before facing the Buffalo Bills, their AFC East rivals, four days later.