South Florida Sun-Sentinel Palm Beach (Sunday)
Grier must draft better for his bold plan to work
New era. New blueprint. New coach. New staff. New systems. New quarterback. New personnel structure. New patience. New mantras being recited at new Dolphins practices like, “Early is on time, on time is late and late is forgotten.”
One thing that’s not new? Same general manager running the Dolphins draft.
By far, the one Dolphin this new regime needs to be great is Chris Grier, who isn’t new at all.
By far, the most common question about the Dolphins after the rhetorical tank-of-no-tank (seriously?) is this: Why was Chris Grier promoted to king-of-hisworld powers when his drafts seem mediocre the past three years?
The answer arrives with the idea that either:
A) Grier is the inspired choice by owner Steve Ross, who knows things about the involved decision-making on the inside the past few years that anyone on the outside simply can’t.
B) This makeover is doomed before it starts.
That’s it, one or the other, good or bad, elevator going up or elevator stuck between floors just as the past two decades. Any slip-up now comes with increased pain, though.
The Dolphins, you see, broke things down like never before this offseason. A great draft won’t change the coming season. It’s part of an ambitiously planned U-turn,. though. The risk is with bad decisions the planned oneyear slide descends into a yearslong abyss.
“Everyone respects Chris,” Ross answered when asked in January why Grier was the only leader on the football side retained from last season.
That’s true, too. Everyone inside the Dolphins respects Grier in a manner they didn’t always his predecessor, Mike Tannenbaum, or even more, Tannenbaum’s predecessor, Jeff Ireland.
Then again, Grier has never been the boss. Or more accurately: The Boss. Capital letters. With emphasis. No one has had this kind of power inside the Dolphins since Bill Parcells realized he’d failed and quietly skipped town
before the 2010 season.
Grier smartly has surrounded himself with veteran advisors like former Oakland Raiders general manager Reggie McKenzie, former Buffalo Bills national scout Marvin Allen and, as much for the coaches, a Super Bowl coach in Jim Caldwell.
Grier also smartly understood the 2018 roster wasn’t one offseason away from anything consequential and discarded old and expensive players accordingly.
Now comes the hard part. Now it’s time to build. Grier said the goal of this draft, as with any draft, is to find three starters. That won’t mean as much on the Dolphins this year, considering the low bar of talent across the roster.
Grier (and Tannenbaum) did something notable in the past three drafts. Stars were found in left tackle Laremy Tunsil, cornerback Xavien Howard and defensive back Minkah Fitzpatrick.
It’s the questions that are equally telling, though. You can go down the young players drafted with high picks who seem in peril: Charles Harris, Mike Gesicki, Cordrea Tankersley, Raekwon McMillan.
And the prime problem for 20 years at quarterback? If they pass on one this year, the Dolphins will take a systemic approach. They’ll plan to lose their way to a top pick in the 2020 draft with Tua Tagovailoa appearing the early prize.
That nimbly side-steps two NFL truths: 1) If you’re not smart enough to find a franchise quarterback without a top pick, you’re not smart enough to build a team around him; and 2) Organizations make quarterbacks, as Hall of Fame coach Bill Walsh constantly said.
You see, the quarterback hasn’t been the prime problem of this franchise. It’s the guy picking the quarterback. There’s no need to go chapter and verse on Dave Wannstedt not drafting Drew Brees, Nick Saban to not signing Brees or Parcells not drafting Matt Ryan.
Consider the past three years. As the Dolphins stuck with Ryan Tannehill, other teams with different vision made trades this franchise easily could have for Carson Wentz, Patrick Mahomes, DeShaun Watson, Josh Allen and Lamar Jackson.
None of which involves this Dolphins draft. But it’s the backdrop to so much change in this Dolphins offseason. So is this: Grier, the one constant and most important piece, must be better than he has been for this bold plan to work.