What Chris Grier should have done in the Miami Dolphins 2021 NFL Draft

The Miami Dolphins will have to make 5th-year option decisions on Jaylen Waddle and Jaelan Phillips who enter the 4th year of their NFL careers in 2024, did Chris Grier make the right choices?

No one is complaining about Waddle or Phillips. They have done very well in Miami since being drafted. They filled needs and have been positive additions to the roster but could Miami have done better?

To recap, the Dolphins owned the 3rd overall pick as part of the Laremy Tunsil trade. Miami traded that pick to the 49ers (it is sad that the 49ers have since traded Trey Lance and still made the Super Bowl before Miami).

The Dolphins slid down to the 12th spot. It was a great trade in hindsight. The Dolphins added another two more first-round draft picks, one in 2022 and one in 2023, and a 3rd rounder in 2022. Grier looked like a genius but then, he decided to move back up.

Miami traded the 12th to the Eagles along with a 2022 first-round pick. The Eagles traded that to the Cowboys. The Cowboys selected LB Micah Parsons, a perennial Pro Bowl player who has had a huge impact on the Cowboys' defense.

But what if Grier took his win with the 49ers trade and held pat at 12?

Miami may still have had a shot at a top WR prospect. Ja'Marr Chase would have still gone number 5 but where would Waddle have been drafted? The Eagles traded up with Dallas from 12 to 6. They took DeVonta Smith.

The Eagles were drafting in the 6 spot, maybe they stay put and take Waddle or still draft Smith at 6. No other WR was drafted between 6 and 12. Could Smith or Waddle have fallen? We can assume that Parsons would still be the target at pick 10 and the next team to draft a WR was the Giants at pick 20, 8 picks later.

The reality is, that the Dolphins could have likely stayed at 12 and drafted either Smith or Waddle. Given the fact the Eagles already had Jalen Hurts and he and Smith were closer than he and Waddle, the Eagles likely would have taken Smith over Waddle and the Dolphins are sitting at 12 taking, you guessed, it Waddle.

We can never know for certain what might have happened and hindsight is 20/20 but Grier, had he stayed put, would have had another first round pick in 2022 (they traded their lone first for Tyreek Hill) and they would have also had another 2021 fourth.

I'm not complaining, just showing a what-if scenario, It is all conjecture and speculation but sometimes, it's better to stay put.