Flores: Tua 'doing everything necessary' to improve in 2021

The Miami Dolphins will not place their fate next season solely on the shoulders of quarterback Tua Tagovailoa.

Instead, Dolphins head coach Brian Flores is more concerned with Tagovailoa showing improvement ahead of the 2021 campaign.

"I never like to put it on one player," Flores told Peter King of NBC Sports. "I think we've got a lot of young players, and we're looking for all of those players - as well as really everyone on our team - to improve in a variety of ways. If they're putting all the work in, I expect them to improve, get better, and perform better. Tua is obviously at the top of that list.

"He's been working. All signs point to - or I would say based on my experience, he's doing everything necessary to make some improvements. That's really all we can ask for. My thing is, if you put the work in, the results will take care of themselves."

Tagovailoa, 23, is entering his second NFL season after a rocky rookie campaign.

The native of Hawaii took over as the Dolphins' starter after the team benched Ryan Fitzpatrick following its Week 7 bye, passing for 1,814 yards, 11 touchdowns, and five interceptions with a completion percentage of 64%. But the Dolphins pulled Tagovailoa twice in favor of Fitzpatrick during a late-season playoff push.

Flores is confident those decisions won't impact the young signal-caller's growth.

"If he had started the season, we wouldn't have pulled him," Flores said. "We put him in. We're in a playoff chase. ... it's, 'Hey, we've got to do whatever we've got to do to try to win.' But no, my confidence wasn't shaken in him."

With Fitzpatrick now a member of the Washington Football Team, Tagovailoa is the clear front-runner to start under the center for Miami this fall.

The Dolphins will have some new receiving weapons this season after signing Will Fuller in free agency and drafting Jaylen Waddle - Tagovailoa's former teammate at Alabama - in the first round of the NFL draft.