He wasn’t calling any shots, he was just doing the dirty Gm work for tannenbaum. Just like Ireland wasn’t calling any shots when parcells was here. Grier is judged from 2019 forward
The truth is that fans are not equipped to separate where Ross, Grier, Tannenbaum, Flores or McDaniel operate independently.
Any fan who thinks they know is lying to themselves saying things like,
'this move was Flores' or
'that move was Tannenbaum.' As fans, we simply don't know the truth. No offense but getting older gives you the perspective to sit back and see it as part of a longer storyline.
In the end, fans trying to sort out who to blame ends up being a way to blame the past guy and provide hope that the current guy is actually now free to steer us towards our true destiny of being that great team we should be. But that's just imagination.
For instance, conventional thinking is that the
'impulsive Mike Tannenbaum' was responsible for splashy moves like the signing of Ndamukong Suh for $114M. But has Chris Grier not done the same with guys like Byron Jones (the top DB in 2020 who cost us $82M)? What about Bradley Chubb who we traded a R1 pick for and signed to a $110M deal? Or what about Tyreek Hill who we signed to a $120M deal after giving up picks in R1, R2, as well as a couple in R4? Those are as splashy as it gets!
If we're attributing stuff to Mike Tannenbaum, does he deserve credit for the
good picks during his tenure like Laremy Tunsil & Xavien Howard in 2016? What about Minkah Fitzpatrick in 2018? Those are commonly cited draft selections offered in defense of Chris Grier hitting on reasonable talent at the top end of the draft. Without those names, Grier's drafting and team-building looks a lot more shaky and often downright impulsive.
What I see in Chris Grier's tenure from 2019 to now is the same type of behavior we had back in the "Tannenbaum era." We plug holes in the draft impulsively. We occasionally gamble with head-scratchers. We routinely trade away high picks (actually something Grier does
more than Tannenbaum). We establish some new big-money deal almost every off-season as if we're that player away from being where we want to be.
The fact is that since Tannenbaum left we have gotten better at
trading away draft assets. Meanwhile, we've quietly become a franchise more constrained by the owner's will than ever. The owner tampered and cost us picks. The owner has run afoul of players. The owner thought things could be "fixed" with a complete rebuild / tank. Is that really how the NFL works? Do you not need to hit on picks regardless of where you're at in the draft? Does more picks mean more assets to trade away? Do you not need strong-willed people in positions of power to demand the owner sit back and let football people run the show? Do we actually just have an owner who's promoted a GM who's willing to act in accordance with the Owner's will so long as he's rendered blameless?
What I've seen is a team that makes splashy moves, signs flashy players when in need of a mood-lifting promotion, trades away draft picks, tampers behind the scenes, runs afoul of any coach with experience or vision...
...I'm not the only one beginning to notice what the Dolphins have turned into since 2019. You think they're about to turn the corner. Perhaps they are? But there's also a very compelling case that Grier is a continuation of a longer trend that is part of why the Dolphins don't rise to the level of the elite teams. They don't draft well. They aren't stable year-to-year. They can't identify talent consistently enough to build something with an identity and culture.
Truth is, the Dolphins are the team that trades for and sign other people's draft hits. The Dolphins are a team that has ended up with a GM who hasn't brought any obvious identity to the team in 5+ years on the job and a young HC who's in no position to demand more authority than he has--both of whom leave a lot of questions unanswered.
When you look around the NFL you find that the best teams are able to build rosters by drafting key players. You MUST draft that core. Miami's best players are mostly brought in from outside: DB Jalen Ramsey, LB David Long, DE Bradley Chubb, OT Terron Armstead, C Conner Williams, RB Raheem Mostert, WR Tyreek Hill.
Our best players in virtually every area are brought in. That's not how you build a culture. Teams like Baltimore, Cincinnati, Buffalo and KC have been much better at finding core players in the draft. Every one of those 4 teams has also found a QB in the draft who the market seems to have determined is more valuable than ours.
Every one of those teams has rising stars they've acquired through good drafting. That's how you create value--not by spending money and trading picks. That's just cashing in one asset for another. And when those teams do go to FA they're one step ahead of the competition because they're doing it selectively. Look at how KC gave away a WR (they had drafted) and fixed their OL instead which led to a team that got better over the course of the season.
