It doesn't matter how Drake or Fitzpatrick or other players perform on teams outside of the Dolphins. A good draft pick is a player who performs well for the team that drafted them or at least contributes to the team that drafted them. The Tampa Bay Bucs GM doesn't get credit for drafting HOF QB Steve Young, Bill Walsh gets credit for trading for him and developing him.
A lot of those players are no longer on the Dolphins and that is the sign of bad drafting.
Just to be clear, I'm NOT defending Grier.
Someone needs to be burned at the stake for how many coaches we've chewed through over the last 20 years, and the constant roster churn that comes with it. Clearly Grier has been a voice in that process, but just because he's been in the building doesn't mean he had any pull. Only the insiders know those stories. We should hold him accountable from '16 or '17 on. And I'm well aware that many here would argue that the inability to draft a star QB is the root cause. If that's your starting position, then the book on Grier just started.
Sometimes, players doesn't fit what the team or coach needs from them, or fails to live up to their draft position -- that's on the GM for picking that player. It doesn't matter if the coach was pounding the table for that player, it's the GM's job to avoid the bust. It's not possible to get this one right 100% of the time, but it simply doesn't matter, it's on the GM. But when the player decides to tell the coach how to play them, that's on the player more than anyone else, especially with round 1 or 2 picks. Lord knows, every team digs as deep as they can on the character and mental fortitude on first round draft choices, and Fitz sure made it sound like he wanted to be a team player, but when the chips were put on the table, he decided his stats mattered more than anything else.
As for players playing well for other teams, it's hard to judge here given the coaching carousel and matching change of schemes we've been going through. I'd judge that a sign the GM did at least part of the job right by identifying a good player. Sometimes a change of scenery changes the player. Looking at some of the players we've let go, sometimes the dollars and cents for that player just doesn't make sense for the team at that moment in time. Drake was a good, not great player, who wanted more money than the team thought he was worth. I applaud those kinds of hard nosed decisions. We haven't been good at them in the past and it looks like we have a way to go to be good at them now, but I shed zero tears for Drake.
The Tampa Bay Bucks GM should get credit for drafting Steve Young. It was a great call. He and the coach should get judged harshly for loosing faith in their evaluation of him and loosing out on the amazing player he later turned into.
Our drafted players playing well on other teams can be a sign of bad drafting, but in our case, it's more likely a result of a constant coaching churn and the scheme changes that come with that, coupled with a major rebuild. That being said, Grier is on my bubble. I don't think he cares very much as I'm not going to be signing his checks anytime in his future.
