I will be the first to admit that when I think about Chris Grier’s tenure as General Manager of the Miami Dolphins, my reflexive response is to think about the major draft missteps, recent disastrous contract extensions handed out, and his most infamous refrain of the fans and media being “more worried” about the offensive line than the team is.
All that, coupled with a lack of any playoff success yet continued employment and alleged decision-making authority, makes him a very difficult figure to root for each year. That all being said, I have recently started to reevaluate just how much authority Chris Grier has and yields as General Manager.
Chris Grier has been the official General Manager in Miami since 2016. Even though he was the General Manager, Grier reported to Mike Tannenbaum, who technically oversaw all football operations for the team. The first head coaching hire at that time was crazy-eyed Adam Gase, who openly admitted that he had full control over the Dolphins roster during his tenure. We saw this in the 2016 season when he cut Dallas Thomas, Billy Turner, and Jamil Douglas on the same day following a dreadful performance in the prior week.
When the Dolphins fired Adam Gase in 2018, Chris Grier was elevated to take over all football operations, and Tannenbaum was demoted. Grier finally seemed to have full power and control over the roster. However, the next head coach he brought in from the New England tree was Brian Flores, who was not exactly someone anyone would describe as a “company guy” who would play by the rules if not aligned with his coaching strategies and priorities. In fact, according to reports from the Miami Herald’s Barry Jackson, Brian Flores “was essentially running the Dolphins building” during his tenure as head coach.
Flores apparently had full control over the selection of the coaching staff and signed off on just about everyone on the roster (the Tua pick is a possible exception, and that topic is a separate article). Eventually, Flores even wanted Grier to contractually no longer have sign-off over the draft and free agency transactions. This dynamic eventually turned into a toxic environment, culminating in Brian Flores’ firing.
Then came the Mike McDaniel era, starting in 2022, which was ushered in by a strange press conference in which owner Stephen Ross indicated that Grier would report to and work with team CEO and Vice Chairmen Tom Garfinkel. In that same press conference, while trying to credit Stephen Ross for relying on a thorough and deliberate process for selecting the next head coach, Grier went on to say that he was ready to hire several other coaching candidates before ultimately selecting McDaniel.
Over the last three years, there certainly appears to have been more of a collective decision-making process involving McDaniel, Grier, and Garfinkel’s equal participation. However, the vision behind the team’s building and structure, with a focus on speed and athleticism, seems to be hallmarks of Mike McDaniel’s philosophy and personality versus that of Chris Grier, who previously seemed to look to the New England model of building a strong defense coupled with an efficient but not necessarily dynamic offense.
During the previous offseason, we learned that Mike McDaniel marched into Stephen Ross’s office to advocate for a long-term contract extension for Tua while Chris Grier was (rightfully) trying to play hardball in negotiations. We also learned that Mike McDaniel vehemently protested the trading of Calais Campbell midway through the season, thereby costing the team a mid-round draft pick and potentially tainting Grier’s image of trying to do right by the player by getting Calais Campbell to a real playoff contender.
This brief recounting of recent Dolphins history has me wondering whether Chris Grier has ever really been in charge. Perhaps that power dynamic is a direct result and indictment of Grier’s stated philosophy of working in tandem with the head coach to deliver players who fit the coach’s vision rather than having a vision and strategy of his own. That critique of Grier is more than fair and probably explains a lot.
But also consider that when your spouse sends you out to the grocery store with a specific list of ingredients for a meal he/she plans on cooking and you come back with a set of your own ingredients which may or may not be suitable for your spouse’s recipe, surely you will likely become the target of frustration and complaints, at least temporarily.
Whatever the power dynamic is or is not when it comes to Chris Grier, let’s hope the leadership team hits it out of the park this offseason to potentially save some jobs, season ticket reservations, and, more importantly, the collective sanity and hopes of the fan base.
