Miami Dolphins moving from Van Noy and now Flowers makes sense
By Brian Miller
Miami Dolphins fans are worried about what the Miami Dolphins are doing and why Chris Grier is considered a good general manager. After all, he has jettisoned two bad contracts on players that didn’t live up to the expectations. Or did they?
Kyle Van Noy was a locker room leader and signed a deal worth just over $50 million. Now, he is back with the Patriots and not really all that happy with the Dolphin’s front office. In that same year, Van Noy was signed, the Dolphins added Ereck Flowers to a contract that would have paid him $10 million this year. Now he is with Washington.
Suddenly, Chris Grier doesn’t know what he is doing but we need to realize, this is not a sprint to recover this Dolphins franchise. It’s a building process and the Dolphins are working to build this team with talent that will improve the roster. Players like Van Noy and Flowers are players that are expendable. One or two-year bridge players to get from point A to point B. Players can help shape younger players until they are ready to take over.
Van Noy, while great in the locker room, was underwhelming on the field comparative to his contract and he was outplayed at times by Andrew Van Ginkel and the Dolphins will get Vince Biegel back this year as well. They added Bernardrick McKinney in a trade with Houston and there is speculation that Miami will target Micah Parsons on Thursday night.
Miami is getting younger and avoiding aging veterans with contracts that are inflated. The Dolphins did a good job by giving contracts they could get out of. They did so with Flowers and took a hit with Van Noy but these are needed moves to get the team’s youth on the field. That is where this team will excel and why we don’t see a lot of big moves in the market opening.
The verdict is still out on whether or not Grier will be a great GM but getting players like Van Noy and Flowers off the roster isn’t as big of an issue as some make it out to be. In both cases, it’s about cap management and these were smart moves that needed to be done. More will likely come this week or in the next month or so.