South Florida Sun-Sentinel (Sunday)
Grier needs to be desperate for QB
Hasn’t everything the Miami Dolphins have done this past, painful year — from deconstructing the roster to accumulating draft picks — been because they’re desperate for a franchise quarterback?
So why is general man- ager Chris Grier backing off that idea now?
Why did he tell The Ringer this past week: “Mistakes are made because you have to have it. You say, ‘We’re going with this guy,’ and you put all your eggs on this one, even though, in the back of everyone’s mind, it’s ‘Well, maybe it’s not quite the guy.’ ”
No, no, two decades of a failed franchise no.
Mistakes are made when general managers don’t do their work, fall in love with the right quarterback and are too fearful to make the big move. The loser’s path of what-ifs this franchise has slunk down says as much.
Who do you want to talk about? Dave Wannstedt and Drew Brees? Bill Parcells and Matt Ryan? Let’s talk Jeff Ireland. The failed general manager loved Russell Wilson. Loved him. But he didn’t draft him because, according to two former Dolphins officials, he was fearful of a small
quarterback who didn’t fit the traditional prototype.
Tall, prototype-perfect Ryan Tannehill was drafted instead.
Grier’s words are sane, rational and understandable in a normal context. But what’s normal about this season that ends Sunday?
This franchise was desperate enough to tear the roster down to the dirt foundation, desperate to throw away any chance to compete this year and desperate to trade away some of their scant, elite talent to have flexibility to draft a franchise quarterback.
It is Grier’s job coming up to be desperate enough for a quarterback that he does the work and falls in love with the right one. If not, what’s all this about? The left tackle from Iowa?
“We’re going to do everything we can at every position,’’ Grier told The Ringer. “It’s not just quarterback; we need to get better at a lot of positions. Quarterback is obviously a very, very important piece, and we know we need to add competition there, and we’ll do everything we can to find the right guys.”
Again, very sane. Again, very rational. But, again, it doesn’t fit what’s at work here. The Dolphins had
scouts double- and tripleteam games in a manner that an opposing scout said, “no one else does,” to view quarterbacks. Owner Steve Ross even attended the quarterback-rich AlabamaLSU game.
Then Alabama’s Tua Tagovailoa got hurt, LSU’s Joe Burrow rose to No. 1, Oregon’s Justin Herbert and Georgia’s Jake Fromm disappointed — and what? The Dolphins plan sunk?
No, it just wasn’t the lay-up everyone hoped.
History says there are other franchise quarterbacks being dismissed right now. It’s Grier’s job to find which one. Is Tagovailoa healthy enough? Is Herbert good enough? Does he trade all three, first-round picks up for Burrow — or double that first-round haul by trading into next year’s draft and maneuver for Clemson’s Trevor
Lawrence? (Could he?)
The one constant disease in this franchise’s front office is maybe-he’s-notthe-guy-itis. Fear runs rampant in the face of a big decision, you see. The safe pick is always defensible in the moment.
The only general manager to look smart for doing this in 20 years is the only one run out of town after one season. Randy Mueller drafted receiver Ted Ginn
Jr. with the ninth pick in 2007 rather than quarterback Brady Quinn. Fans howled. Headlines rose. Quinn is a TV analyst today. Ginn is still playing.
The more common story is one of being double dumb. Not just drafting the wrong guy like Chad Henne or Tannehill. But “putting all your eggs” in his basket by staying with him even when everyone knows it’s time to move on.
That’s why the Dolphins watched Kansas City trade up for Patrick Mahomes and Houston trade up for DeShaun Watson in 2017. It’s why they watched Buffalo trade up for Josh Allen and Baltimore did for Lamar Jackson in 2018.
You see, the Dolphins franchise has been governed by voices telling why they shouldn’t risk too much on a quarterback. And that voice is always there — for every GM on any quarterback. How do you think Jackson dropped to the 32nd pick?
Sunday is the final game of this season. Thank god. Then Grier takes center stage. Sixty percent of Grier’s job is to get a franchise quarterback — as it is for any GM without one.
He can say in an interview how it’s not prudent to be desperate. But he better be desperate. Players were traded and this season deconstructed to help get one. His job is to desperately fall in love with the right one.