Ruth Bader Grier Created a Mess He Shouldn’t Be Given the Chance to Clean Up
Accountability. It’s a funny thing; you are accountable for your actions in all walks of life—in your personal life, your profession, or any time you get behind the wheel of a vehicle.
The only place there seems to be no accountability is the Miami Dolphins front office, specifically for their general manager. No matter what happens or how bad it gets, nothing ever changes.
As the Dolphins sit 1-3 on the 2024 season, with their best young player on defense out for the remainder of the season and their starting quarterback in concussion protocol, it was a rough September for the Fins organization.
While some of it is “bad luck,” many of the Dolphins’ problems we see each week play out before our eyes were avoidable and were caused by poor roster construction and front-office decisions.
Ruth Bader Grier (as I will refer to him now since he seems to have the job security of a Supreme Court Judge) took a Miami Dolphins roster filled with young players who were ascending in their NFL careers and turned it into the oldest roster in the NFL in 2024.
Mind you Grier had a hand in assembling that roster of young and ascending players, but what good is it if you let them all walk out your front door and retain few if any of them?
Most rational, logical, level-headed NFL fans would ask one question: How and why did we get to where we are today?
How and why did this happen? What was the logic behind some of these decisions that Chris Grier made in the offseason?
With the Dolphins at 1-3, their season going off the rails, and little hope of things being corrected this season, it’s fair for Dolphins fans to be upset and ask these questions.
Chris Grier became the general manager in 2016, and while the guys from the 2022, 2023, and 2024 draft classes are so new that I will hold off on any judgment of them, and the guys in the last two draft classes can’t even be extended yet. I am going to look at his drafts between 2016 and 2021. The list is below. How many guys did he draft get a second contract in Miami?
2016
Laremy Tunsil
Xavien Howard
Kenyan Drake
Leonte Carroo
Jakeem Grant
Jordan Lucas
Brandon Doughty
Thomas Duarte
2017
Charles Harris
Raekwon McMillan
Cordrea Tankersley
Isaac Asiata
Davon Godchaux
Vincent Taylor
Isaiah Ford
2018
Minkah Fitzpatrick
Mike Gesicki
Jerome Baker
Durham Smythe
Kalen Ballage
Cornell Armstrong
Quentin Poling
Jason Sanders
2019
Christian Wilkins
Michael Deiter
Andrew Van Ginkel (one-year deal, not an extension)
Isaiah Prince
Chandler Cox
Myles Gaskin
2020
Tua Tagovailoa
Austin Jackson
Noah Igbinoghene
Robert Hunt
Raekwon Davis
Brandon Jones
Solomon Kindley
Jason Strowbridge
Curtis Weaver
Blake Ferguson
Malcolm Perry
2021
Jaylen Waddle
Jaelan Phillips
Jevon Holland
Liam Eichenberg
Hunter Long
Larnel Coleman
Gerrid Doaks
The number of players who got a second contract from the Dolphins is small. Tua, Waddle, and Howard are the three biggest names on that list. Jerome Baker would be the fourth, as he had a nice career in Miami that went beyond his rookie contract. Austin Jackson is an average right tackle who got an extension last year, so that was good Grier retained him.
I can’t get excited about Jason Sanders; he’s a kicker. I mean, it counts, but who cares? Durham Smythe is a backup tight end, so again, there’s nothing to get excited about there.
And Andrew Van Ginkel is tricky. Yes, he technically got a deal with Miami after his rookie contract expired, but it was for one year; he had a career year, and then Miami let him walk, so it almost shouldn’t count, and in my eyes, it doesn’t.
With Jaelan Phillips now rehabbing an Achilles and an ACL in the same leg, who knows if he has a long-term future in Miami beyond his rookie contract, and Jevon Holland doesn’t play a premium position, so we know Chris Grier doesn’t value those and he will probably be more than happy to let Holland walk this upcoming offseason, celebrate getting a compensatory pick (which is a pick at the start of Rd 4 in reality, and then handcuff his 2026 offseason because then he can’t make any big moves to damage that ever so precious compensatory pick.)
Now, look at that list and all of the quality players of starters who Grier drafted that he did not retain for one reason or another.
Christian Wilkins
Mike Gesicki
Robert Hunt
Raekwon Davis
Brandon Jones
Andrew Van Ginkel
I understand you can’t pay everyone, I understand there is a salary cap, but isn’t the goal of a good general manager to
Draft
Develop
and Retain players you draft to have them be building blocks and the foundation of the team that will hopefully win divisions, playoff games, and maybe a Super Bowl?
And if you are going to let these guys walk, shouldn’t you replace them with players in or around the same age who are capable NFL starters?
Not go to the nursing home and sign everyone with an AARP card.
I would rather have Brandon Jones and pay him instead of paying Jordan Poyer and Marcus Maye. Is Jones making more, yes, but again, maybe don’t sign six defensive tackles that you eventually cut and allocate some of that money to keeping a young, athletic safety who has helped you win games for four years.
I would have rather kept Andrew Van Ginkel instead of playing this game of Shaq Barrett/bringing back Emmanuel Ogbah. The money difference here was minimal at best.
I won’t go into Christian Wilkins and Robert Hunt because they got monster contracts on the open market. You can argue maybe Grier should have tried to be more proactive than he was to lock them up before it got too late, but I don’t even want to go down that road since I don’t have all the details.
I do know they should have kept Raekwon Davis, who started 48 games for you, instead of signing (and cutting) Neville Galimore, Teair Tart, Jonathan Harris, Isaiah Mack, and Benito Jones.
The larger point is if you are going to let young players you drafted and developed who are solid NFL starters walk out the front door, you better be doing it for a good reason. You better have guys coming in, replacing them who are at least equal on some level.
That wasn’t the case for the Dolphins.
The Dolphins let these guys go and replaced them with lesser players. Old players. Poor players. Bad players.
And that is why Miami is 1-3 and not a good football team.
When you sign Odell Beckham Jr. and Isaiah Wynn, who are both hurt at the time of signing, one of which is just returning now (when the season is in full disarray), and the other may not play at all this year, it is head-scratching.
What was the plan with the offensive line? Aaron Brewer at center to replace Connor Williams you can sell me, but what about right guard and left guard?
Either you got bad medical info on Isiah Wynn or just didn’t know he wouldn’t be able to play this year.
Was your evaluation of Jack Driscoll in training camp that he was worse than Robert Jones and Liam Eichenberg? Or did you cut Driscoll to save a few pennies and not guarantee his contract?
There is no good answer there no matter what the answer is.
Mike White and Skylar Thompson both played very poorly in training camp and neither deserved a roster spot. You kept one, and the first chance he was asked to play and fill in and step up, he fell on his face.
From reporters to casual fans, everyone who was at the open practices in training camp and who watched the preseason games saw this was a disaster with the backup quarterbacks. How come nothing was done?
I am very optimistic about Jaylen Wright, the rookie running back out of Tennessee. But when we already have speedsters in Hill, Waddle, DeVon Achane, and Raheem Mostert, was another super-fast player needed? Maybe trade that future 3rd round pick to get a pick in Round 4 and take a center or a guard, or a nose tackle. Ya know, someone at a position of need that you need to help you win games now.
Not another fast guy and a luxury pick. And that is nothing against Jaylen Wright, its just common sense.
You see if this was a first-year GM or a newer GM who was just learning on the job, you can maybe turn a blind eye, make some excuses, and cut them some slack.
Ruth Bader Grier has been in Miami since 2000; he has been the General Manager since 2016, and he has been the all-powerful man with total control of everything since 2019.
There is no turning a blind eye to his mistakes now.
There is no more cutting him some slack.
There needs to be accountability in Miami, and actions have consequences.
If this season continues to go wrong, someone will have to be held accountable for this mess.
And that someone should be Chris Grier.
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