MIAMI _ It was, as linebacker Jerome Baker acknowledged this week, the "elephant in the room," and it was about time that Brian Flores addressed the matter with his men.
So Flores stood before his players, a couple of weeks ago, and made this very clear amid all the tanking talk:
"He said he's not worried about the draft," right tackle Jesse Davis said. "He's worried about winning games; (that's) what he told us. He was telling us, 'We're trying to win these games, guys. F (expletive) the draft, we're not worried about that. We're worried about the next opponent. We're worried about getting a win.' He's done a good job."
That message was embraced by his players, who have heard all season how the Dolphins deconstructed their roster in part to help them procure an elite quarterback in the draft.
"It was the elephant in the room and he addressed it and cleared things up," Baker said, believing the comment was made before this two-game winning streak. "You hear the outsiders and whatever, but the coach said we aren't worried about next year. He showed he's about winning and said he believes in us, that our focus isn't on next year or the year after that. Our focus is on right now and we have the pieces to win. We believe that."
That message stood in stark contract to the rationale that Cincinnati Bengals first-year coach Zac Taylor conveyed to longtime quarterback Andy Dalton when Taylor informed Dalton that he would be replaced by rookie fourth-round pick Ryan Finley.
Taylor "said he has to think about the future with the draft and let's see what we have with Ryan," Dalton told Cincinnati reporters.
Flores, by contrast, has stuck with Ryan Fitzpatrick over Josh Rosen for one reason and one reason only: He believes Fitzpatrick gives the team a better chance to win.
So even in a year when the Dolphins front office has an eye on the future, Flores is focused squarely on the next game, disinterested in using games for the primary purpose of determining whether these players are longterm pieces. And as Flores showed by benching Rosen after 2 { games, he's also not concerned about determining whether Rosen can become an effective NFL quarterback.
Davis said it's "not our job to sit here and (say) we're going to tank and try to get good players, even though that's what everybody wants us to do. And statistically, we probably should do that, according to the plan."
But Davis said there are good reasons for Flores to not prioritize draft order.
"Flo has mentioned it; he wants to get this team to taste success before we start worrying about future stuff," Davis said. "This team is so young we don't necessarily know what it's like to win two games in a row and go for a third. Where his mindset is, is to challenge us to see what we can do now.
"Coach Flo has done a really good job keeping us aggressive on play calls and in the games. We go into Indy and we didn't necessarily smack them in the mouth but we definitely shocked them, which was good for this team to feel, and our defense stepped up. Part of coach's (message) is this could be a turning point for this young team."
Fitzpatrick also laughed off a Buffalo reporter's question this week asking if anyone had complained to him that he's ruining the tank for Alabama quarterback Tua Tagovailoa.
"No, not yet," he said. "It's an interesting narrative that obviously has been following our team the whole year. But it's been nice to get two wins and to kill the narrative a little bit."
The irony of Flores wanting to win _ and Taylor instead prioritizing the draft and the future _ is that Flores appears to have more job security than Taylor. A high-ranking Dolphins executive has assured that Flores will return next season, which was never really in question anyway.
The other issue in play is that even though general manager Chris Grier would love an opportunity to draft the quarterback of his choice, he has not ordered Flores to do anything to prioritize that objective.
If Grier had done that, this season might have gone differently, because Fitzpatrick was a major factor in the victory against the Jets and did just enough in the win against the Colts.
Flores' approach comes with risks if it cost Miami a franchise QB. But his win-now, damn-the-draft approach could work out if this winning establishes a strong culture and foundation for the future, and if Miami still emerges with a quality QB in the draft.
