Is Grier a good GM? | Page 6 | FinHeaven - Miami Dolphins Forums

Is Grier a good GM?

After seeing a few haters online claiming that Grier is trash, I got to thinking about what the expectations should be for a GM and how Grier has performed. It seems that he has managed the salary cap pretty well as the team goes through a tear down and rebuild phase. With a young team full of rookie contracts he has a lot of flexibility for the next couple of years. I don't have a great grasp on his management free agency, but it does seem like he has been careful not to overpay for free agents. Even the Byron Jones contract looks pretty good in light of contracts that other CBs got since then. I think we can all agree the Tunsil trade was a huge win for Grier.

I will preface this next part by saying I know the draft can be quite a crapshoot and everybody is just making their best educated guesses based on the teams needs at the time, but I think we can still ask how good is our GM at making those educated guesses? With that said, here's a look at Miami's drafts since Grier became GM in 2016.
2016: 8 picks total, Tunsil, X. Howard, Drake and Grant (say what you will about Grant as a WR, but his value for a 6th round pick has been very good). WR Leonte Carroo (12 career receptions) was drafted in the 3rd round. Notable players drafted after him include Tyler Higbee, Dak Prescott and Tyreek Hill. I think it's fair to say Grier hit on 4/8 picks, with a big dud in the 3rd round.

2017: 7 picks total. Not going to be a very memorable draft. Charles Harris #22 overall. (Tre'Davious White was #27, TJ Watt was #30). Raekwon McMillan in the 2nd, Davon Godchaux in the 5th, Isaiah Ford in the 7th. Notable players in this draft: Kamara, Kupp and Hunt all in the 3rd, Kittle and Aaron Jones in the 5th.

2018: 8 picks total. This was a very successful draft with 6/8 players becoming stars at best, decent contributors at worst. Minkah, Gesicki, Baker, Smythe, Ballage and Sanders all in this class. Chase Edmunds was drafted 3 spots after Ballage. Zach Sieler was pick #238, coming after ALL of Miami's picks. The Gase era ends. Praise Jesus!

2019: 6 picks total, no 2nd rnd and no 4th rnd. I think this is a solid draft, but it must be noted the 2 O line picks were disappointing. Wilkins at #13 overall. Time will tell if he is worthy of being selected that high. Personally I love the guy but the jury is still out on the value returned on the pick. Dieter in the 3rd has been disappointing although it may still be too soon to call him a bust. Nate Davis (same position) was drafted 4 spots after Dieter. He started all season for the Titans and is credited with giving up only 1 sack. AVG was our 5th round pick and looks like a steal. Isaiah Prince and Chandler Cox didn't pan out. Myles Gaskin was #234 in the 7th round. He was great this year and very likely will enter 2021 at #1 on the depth chart. D.K. Metcalf was the last pick of the 2nd round and the 9th WR selected.

2020: 11 picks total! Grier has to be given some credit for cutting deals that allowed him to stockpile 12 picks, one of which landed us Matt Brieda via trade. Obviously it's way too early to give this draft a fair grade but we can say that Grier made a huge effort to rebuild the O line after drafting what will hopefully prove to be our franchise QB at #5 overall. And while there were a few people who were convinced the team would stay at #5 and that Tua would be the pick, there was quite a smoke screen going and plenty of rumors surrounding what the Dolphins might do. Credit Grier with correctly deducing that he could get Tua at 5 without having to trade up to outmaneuver other teams. The offensive line picks show promise despite struggling in their first year. Raekwon Davis and Brandon Jones did fairly well as rookies on the defensive side, Strowbridge has apparently struggled to make the leap to pro ball, time will tell if he can or not. Weaver in the 5th round was a lost pick. I will be interested if he will progress in Cleveland and stick around in the league. Given the high quality of the special teams play the first 15 weeks of 2020, Ferguson proved himself worthy of being selected in the 6h round. Malcolm Perry has managed to hang on to a roster spot through the season although perhaps that was just for insurance as an emergency QB with the covid situation. A nice pickup adding Bowden during camp after the Raiders couldn't find the right fit for him. The Dolphins and Grier have a lot riding on their choices in this draft, particularly the selections of Tua and Igbo. There were A LOT of quality players available when Grier selected Igbo at #30 so if he does not become at least a reliable every down player, that will be seen as a huge mistake. Jonathan Taylor, Cam Akers, Chase Claypool and JK Dobbins were all still available when Hunt was selected in the 2nd round. I will forever wonder if Dobbins would have become a Dolphin if he was not taken 1 spot before our #56 pick. Antonio Gibson was still available at that point, but maybe have been a reach at #56.
It's worth remembering that Stefon Diggs and D-Hop both got traded this off season and Grier missed out on both. It's a bit unclear how much BOB shopped Hopkins around considering the price he got and the fact that there was no suspicion of it outside the league until after the deal was made. Looking at both trades it's hard to imagine that Miami could not have made a very competitive offer for either superstar WR. Brandin Cooks also got traded, catching 81 balls for over 1100 yards while trying to fill D-Hops shoes in Houston.

Outlook for 2021: Currently own 7 picks, 4 of those in the top 50 starting with #3 overall. With that draft capital plus having the 8th most cap space to work with, Grier can operate from a position of strength this off season. He has to figure out how to deal with the DPOY feeling undervalued because he's not the highest paid player at his position on his own team. Grier must do his due diligence exploring the possibility of adding Deshaun Watson to the roster. He needs to find a new offensive coordinator (the 3rd OC paired with Flores in 3 years) and he must determine which free agents are worthy of pursuing and at what price in a year with a shrinking salary cap and a number of other teams will have their hands tied by being over the cap already.

I would love to see what other fans think of Grier, particularly his handling of free agency so far and his personnel moves.

He is doing very well the last two years, which are the only ones he had full control of.

He advanced with Flores and has been the best in creating opportunity in the draft. It's hard to judge the offense with yearly changes in the OC. He took a disastrous cap situation and got it under control. His trades have been superb.

I expect his drafts will look better as our offensive coaching team stabilizes. The defense doesn't seem to have any problems with his draft picks.

I am more then satisfied with Grier's performance.

I suspect those not happy with him feel that way because they feel their selections, made without the restrictions of cap space and coaching input, would always be better.

My advice to them is " take a deep breath, hold it, and find out where all that gas is going". - LOL
 
He's been solid but he needs to do better.

One that stings for me still is passing on Taylor, Swift and Dobbins.
 
He has been the worst GM until last season a year ago he hit on free agency a little bit and struck gold in a trade with HOU. So now he is on uptick, due to free agency, not draft.
 
He has been the worst GM until last season a year ago he hit on free agency a little bit and struck gold in a trade with HOU. So now he is on uptick, due to free agency, not draft.
It’s still way too early to judge his draft right now.

Tua, Jackson, Kindley, Hunt, Davis, Noah, Jones and even Bowden all had a good amount of playing time year one on a 10-6 team... Yeah they had some inconsistencies but they’re rookies. Every single one of them also showed some good flashes as well.
If anything year 2 and 3 will determine A LOT about this class but as of now. As of now I’m completely satisfied with the rookies we brought in. Most of them showed a lot of potential, let’s hope they can take the next step!
 
Grier has done some good things and some bad things. Anyone that says he's been perfect or horrible imo is wrong. He's made some good trades but some bad ones. He's made some good draft picks and he's made some bad ones too. He's done a nice job with the cap.

That's just being honest. He hasn't been great but he hasn't been horrible either and people should stop taking the extreme sides with him.
 
He's been solid but he needs to do better.

One that stings for me still is passing on Taylor, Swift and Dobbins.
what about Justin Jefferson? he went 4 picks after Austin Jackson. So, lets pretend we picked him last year- when WR was a big need for us- it would have opened us up at 3 to select the BPA. Whether that be an O lineman, WR etc. The jackson pick hurt us more than meets the eye.
 
Average at best!! Drafting has been this franchise problem for the past 23 years. It has been below average period! Grier hasn’t proven jack to me except we still have a average team on the field that can’t win big games when it means something. Draft impact players!!!!! End Rant.
 
I don't think thats all on Grier, we have an entire scouting department that provides reports on what Grier makes the call on. While the final call does rest with him, I'm not sure who gets the lion's share of the blame for the actual talent evaluation.
Remember Charles Harris? I believe 99 % of fin heaven was like WTF. Grier is average at best and if Flores is smart he’ll make Ross upgrade to someone better.
 
Average at best!! Drafting has been this franchise problem for the past 23 years. It has been below average period! Grier hasn’t proven jack to me except we still have a average team on the field that can’t win big games when it means something. Draft impact players!!!!! End Rant.
If I remember my middle school math correctly, average is 8 -8. 10-6 is not average. Where did you go to school?
 
Everyone wants to tout our last draft. But guess what? Someone had to fill the holes that Grier created while blowing things up. I give more credit to the coach who gets what he does out of a roster that is still void of talent.

We have 2 Pro Bowl players on the roster and 1 is a kicker. He had a ton of picks to get difference makers in the last draft. We got serviceable starters, not difference makers. I hate that he will once again run the next draft. Probably trade down and get a bunch of Jags, ala Odrick and Misi. My biggest fear. Fans thinking we will do a “slight” trade down and still get a Smith/Chase will be let down.
Fear the grier! I hope Flores is the one drafting
 
Back
Top Bottom