There's a lot of room between Ross pulling all the strings and Ross letting the GM steer the ship anywhere that GM may wish.
Ross has made it very clear he wants 2 things:
(1) A competent person to run the show (Harbaugh, Tannenbaum, Payton, etc.)
(2) A franchise QB who is a star
Ross' actions have always attempted to further those goals:
- Driving out Parcells and chasing Jim Harbaugh was an attempt at #1.
- Drafting RT17 and burning through OCs and HCs to "fix" him was an attempt at #2.
- Handing Flores all the $$$ and picks from the Tank to install a NE-esque culture was another stab at #1.
- Drafting Tua, pivoting to McDaniel and later extending the QB was another attempt at #2.
If '25 goes poorly enough for Ross to fire people I can about promise that his first impulse will be to move heaven and earth to throw a record-setting contract at a "proven" person (likely a HC) to come in and take control.
After all, he was all but ready to extend an offer to Payton making him the highest paid HC in the history of the NFL. The best question is who is out there?
I'd wager that's the conversation Ross is actually having right now with his advisors (people like Bruce Beal who helped him tamper).
Okay, don't insult me...like you, I've been a fan for years and I'm trying to monitor the longer trends that define who the Ross-era Dolphins are.
All Owners are different and their priorities are what define their era. Ross' priorities explain why we consistently fall short. He has a paradigm wherein a "Great HC" or a "hero QB" are what it takes to be successful. He's going to make dramatic moves to try and achieve his most fundamental of goals.
I think the Ross era has been the story of his misguided attempts to 'rescue' the franchise according to those goals:
'12-'18: Draft Tannehill and support him as QB1 replacing HCs as necessary
'19-'21: Tank & Install NE-type Culture (roster stripped down, tons of picks spent everywhere, let Flo define culture)*
'22-'25: Current**
*People forget that Flores was kept on for 2 more years after the tank year. The fact he didn't go along with the tank did not result in his being fired which demonstrates that he had real value to Ross as someone who could install NE's "culture."
**The current era is defined by extravagant spending and big moves aimed at capitalizing on the now: Armstead, Chubb, Tyreek, etc.
Personally, I want to win. I don't much care what that looks like because the winners largely look pretty good however they do it. KC has a star QB. Philly has a dominant team. What I recognize is that the modern success story has largely been those types of solid, capable, Wildcard-level teams stumbling upon improvements at QB who help an already-strong team get to that highest level.
Mahomes, Watson, Wilson, Jackson, Hurts, Purdy and so many others who "worked out"...they all went to good, Playoff-caliber teams. Stafford got a ring quickly going to a solid team. It's happened over and over in this era.
I'd prefer the Dolphins be that type of Baltimore- or Pittsburgh-esque team that's never more than a good QB away from being legit.
Do I think Chris Grier is the type of visionary to build a stable team that's strong-on-defense and tough-on-offense year-in, year-out? Maybe not. I generally think that for a non-coach he's pretty good with defensive talent. He's generally been pretty decent there outside his last couple boundary CB picks. Do I trust him with OL? No, of course not. He should've taken action on the IOL sooner. No question...most of us were expecting that last year when it was already a five alarm fire.
Do I give much of a crap that he didn't prioritize it during a year when we knew the team would be bad anyway with multiple $100M trench players leaving, a bunch of Flores-era defensive talent leaving, a new DC, both edge rushers out or returning from devastating injury, etc.?
Was I calling for a strong '24? No...I'm an honest person. I could see the writing on the wall. We were going to go as far as our offense could drag us and our QB missed 1/3rd of the season AGAIN.
But I honestly don't think the Dolphins are destined for success under Ross because he's a spender who can't seem to find the right product. He wants to throw money at the problem (which is understandable given his background). To be clear, that could work if he found the right HC to hand his franchise to.
If he had landed Harbaugh or Payton,...hey, who knows, right?
But for some reason, coaches have never liked Ross and I don't think they ever will. Parcells ran as soon as Ross took over. I assume Ross wanted control that Parcells recognized wasn't healthy for an Owner to have. Who did Parcells work for prior and complain about? Jerry Jones!
Flores took Ross to court, slamming the Dolphins in the press. He didn't say Chris Grier sucked though. Fangio couldn't wait to get out. I think we can assume a little something about an organization where the Owner doesn't stand up for Vic Fangio. Harbaugh turned him down. Payton was all to happy to sweep under the rug whatever talks had happened between Ross, Beal and him.
At the end of the day, Grier may suck (or he may not) but the reason we fail is because our Owner fails and because people generally don't like whatever it is that he's pitching.
