Why the Chris Grier seat is getting hot as the Miami Dolphins GM

Becoming a general manager with the Miami Dolphins may be a death notice and Chris Grier could be the next one to hit the unemployment line.

There is a lot of season left and a lot of time for Brian Flores to coach up the players that he has on the roster but one thing is becoming quite clear, Flores may hold the keys to Grier’s future with the team.

If we look back over Miami Dolphins history since the days of Jimmy Johnson we see a bad foreboding trend. GMs lose their jobs and don’t often land on their feet. Dave Wannstedt never actually held the GM title. He, like Rick Spielman were VPs of Player Personnel.

Randy Mueller spent three seasons with the Dolphins and was fired after the 1-15 disaster in 2007. Jeff Ireland spent five seasons in the job and Dennis Hickey got two seasons. None of them have returned to a GM job.

Now we have Grier. Grier has been with the Dolphins organization since 2000 first as an area scout and then worked his way up to Director of College Scouting before assuming the GM role in 2016. The problem? Grier has been with Miami through almost all of those other GMs and Miami wasn’t able to turn around the team or find quality players.

Grier entered his third season this year with Brian Flores as his coach and has had more draft picks than any GM before him. He has had no salary cap problems and was given the go-ahead to dismantle the roster in 2019 but Grier hasn’t succeeded. The talent he has brought in is average at best and there are several players bordering on bust status.

We tend to forget that Brian Flores is in his third season while Chris Grier is in his sixth.

When it comes down to reality, winning trumps being a great person and Grier is supposed to be a really great guy, but…there is always a but.

• 2016: 8 draft picks were made, Grier traded Laremy Tunsil for a bevy of draft picks and Xavien Howard is still on the roster. He is the only one from 2016 still on the roster.
• 2017: 7 draft picks were made. None of those players, including first round mega-bust Charles Harris are still on the roster. (Isaiah Ford is on the practice squad).
• 2018: 8 draft picks made: Mike Gesicki, Jerome Baker, Durham Smythe, and Jason Sanders remain.
• 2019: 4 of six players remain three seasons later.
• 2020: 11 draft picks were made including three first round picks. Tagovailoa, Austin Jackson, and Noah Igbinoghene and none of them may be on the roster in another year or two.

Grier has had time to get players on the roster that can help this team win and so far, he hasn’t. The offensive line is still a mess despite investing 9 draft picks on offensive lineman since 2016. Forget about his ability to sign free agent talent at the position. This year alone he signed D.J. Fluker, Matt Skura, and Jermaine Eluemunor. Skura is playing well as a guard for the Giants and Eluemunor is playing for the Raiders as a starter. Meanwhile, the Dolphins still are playing musical chairs.

We can’t blame Grier for all of it. Coaching is an issue as well but we need to realize that Stephen Ross is more likely to keep Flores over Grier if changes at the end of the season need to be made. That being said, Ross may very well view the two as equally responsible should this not turn around and if that is the case, I think 2022 will be the year Ross makes that decision.

One thing to watch is the Deshaun Watson situation. If Grier trades away a good chunk of the Dolphins future draft capital, he knows his seat is hot because if he fails, he wouldn’t be around to use the picks anyway.