The Miami Dolphins are now a few days away from making the necessary moves to fill in their roster but do fans have confidence that Chris Grier can get this right?
It's hard to look at what the NFL Draft could bring the Dolphins without being excited. The draft is a lot of fun and it injects youth into a franchise. The Dolphins enter this year's draft with 10 selections including, including three in the first three rounds and five in the first four.
The Dolphins will not have their own third round pick as they traded that to Houston last year to take Jaylen Wright in the fourth round. They will, however, get a compensatory pick at the top of round three for losing Robert Hunt.
Grier has been calling the draft shots since he took over as GM in 2016 but there has always been debate on whether or not Grier or then Executive Vice President, Mike Tannenbaum, ran the draft. Tannenbaum is believed to have controlled the 2016 draft and, at the very least, had a lot of influence, if not control, of the 2017 draft. Because of that, despite Charles Harris being a horrible first-round selection, we are going to leave him off this list.
5. Jaelan Phillips - 2021 - Round 1
With two first round draft picks and a need at the edge, Grier did what Grier always does, he took a risk on a guy with a big injury history and as a result, he has watched his team deal with injury after injury. Phillips is guaranteed his 2025 salary on the 5th-year option, but this could very well be his last year with the Dolphins. Phillips has continued to show promise when healthy, but as soon as he starts to show consistency on the playing field, he heads to the IR. He has missed large portions of the last two seasons.
4. Michael Dieter - 2019 - Round 3
Good GMs will find starters in round three of the draft, Grier consistently does not, and most of the time, he can't find players who can consistently contribute. Such is the case with Dieter, who was a developmental player at best and never truly developed. The Dolphins gave him 4 years to develop and in those 4 years he started 15 games his rookie season and 8 in the next three...but he shouldn't have started his rookie year as he was a liability on the line.
3. Cam Smith - 2023 - Round 2
Smith was the first selection for the Dolphins in the 2023 draft, and he didn't play his rookie season, but he rode the bench most of last year as well. Grier can call him out all he wants about needing to play better, but that only drives home the point that Smith was a horrible mistake. Many still believe that had Grier's son not played with Smith at South Carolina that he probably wouldn't have been drafted. Given the way he has performed the last two years, that might just be accurate.
2. Liam Eichenberg - 2021 - Round 2
Eichenberg can play tackle, guard, and center, but he can't play any of them well. The Dolphins still believe he can start or, at the very least, provide depth and insurance. After four seasons, they opted to bring him back for a fifth this offseason despite saying they need to upgrade the offensive line.
1. Noah Igbinoghene - 2020 - Round 1
It's hard to believe that this former Dolphins bust couldn't cut it in Miami or Dallas but was able to carve out a starting job with the Commanders last season. The fact that they brought him back again this year is also crazy.
In Miami, it had to be coaching, but no matter the reason why he flamed out with the Dolphins, there is still no reason he should have been drafted in the first place. This was one of Grier's worst selections in his career, and the only one that might make him look less than that is if we included Charles Harris on this list.