It’s Time To Turn Up The Heat!

I do not think that Miami should be looking to fire our current GM or Head Coach, but they do need to turn up the heat on both of their seats, owner Stehen Ross needs to endorse them sometime soon and put an ultimatum on them as well, make the playoffs in 2022 or else! 

How should this be done? It is time to lay down expectations for the 2022-23 season and it should be playoffs or bust! It is that simple. Miami will have completed year 3-4 (depending on how some want to count the start of the rebuild) of their rebuild, there are some nice young talented players on the roster and with a projected 100 million in free agent monies as well as another draft class with 8-9 picks there should be NO EXCUSSE! 

I count 2021 as year two of the rebuild and thus next year (Starting in March) will be year three because the first year was more about tearing down the team and 2020 was the first year dedicated to rebuilding the team. 

Despite false claims that our GM and Head Coach has not done a decent job the facts are they BOTH have done above average to particularly good jobs at their positions and due to many reasons, some have been trying to undermine them and have been behind the scenes calling for their replacement. 

I have kept it real here and put-up undeniable Proof that both GM Chris Grier and HC Brian Flore are doing a particularly decent job. 

Let us start first with the claims some are using to justify firing our GM 

• He has done a poor job of drafting. 
• He has not fixed the O-Line issues despite spend a lot of draft Capital. 
• He has squandered the Owners money on free agent bust. 
• He has been GM for six years 

Well, let us start with the first one and work our way down the list 

Has Chris Grier done a poor Job Drafting? Let us just bundle item 1 & 4 together and clear up this false narrative. Miami GM Chris Grier has been with the Dolphins since 2007 where he started out as Miami’s Director of college scouting and worked his way up the ladder and yes in 2016 he was named Miami’s GM but as I always said back then he was a de Facto GM or GM in name only because he never had full control, or final say as Ross also made Mike Tannenbaum Executive vice president of football operations from (2015-2018 ) a position that was over Chris Grier and thus nobody can put full blame on Chris Grier for decisions made during that time! 

At the end of the 2018 season Miami’s owner made a huge shakeup firing then HC Adam Gase and moving on from Mike Tannenbaum. So, Chris Grier has been in complete control since the start of the 2019 season and for that reason I will only talk about moves made by Grier since 2019. 

The first thing on his agenda was finding a New HC and he plucked Brian Flores straight off a SB win in New England, a move that at the time I did not like because that meant for the 6th time Miami hired an inexperienced person to be the HC of this team. 

• Adam Gase 2016-2018 (Fired) 
• Joe Philbin 2012-2015 (Fired) 
• Tony Sparano 2008-2011 (Fired) 
• Cam Cameron 2007 (Fired) after one awful 1-15 season. 
• Nick Saban 2005-2006 (Resigned and Took the Alabama Job) 

Now that we have had Brian Flores for the last 3 seasons, I am pleased with him and find it crazy that some wanted him fired when in all 3 seasons he has been here his name popped up each season as worthy of being considered for Coach of The Year! He took a team that had no legitimate starters in his first season and won 5 games despite that team being considered the worst team in the league and the way they got destroyed in the first 7 games of that season it truly was a remarkable turnaround!!! 

He coached this team in year two of a total rebuild to a 10-win season and talk surfaced again for coach of the year but the blowout loss to Buffalo at seasons end with the playoffs on the line destroyed that. 

The same thing this year after losing 7 games in a row they turned around and won 7 games in a row and again his name was casually mentioned as a potential COY candidate only to once again this past Sunday get destroyed up in Tennessee. 

Considering where they are in the rebuild, I would say Brian has earned the right to continue coaching this team next year and who hired Flores? Yes, our much-maligned GM Chris Grier so in what was his most important job right off the bat Chris Grier got the HC position right. Brian has his faults, but he is an incredibly good YOUNG HC with the potential to turn this team into a legitimate contender, they are knocking at the door in just year two of the rebuild in fact they wre knocking on that door last year too… Brian’s current record is 23–25 (.479) 

So, what about Chris Grier’s draft record since gaining complete full control of the GM position in 2019? 

2019 NFL Draft picks 

• Round 1 — DT Christian Wilkins (Starter) 
• Round 3 — G Michael Deiter (Starter) 
• Round 5 — LB Andrew Van Ginkel. (Starter) 
• Round 6 — T Isaiah Prince. 
• Round 7 — FB Chandler Cox. 
• Round 7 — RB Myles Gaskin. (Starter) 

2020 NFL Draft picks 

• Round 1, pick 5: Tua Tagovailoa, QB, Alabama (Starter) 
• Round 1, pick 18: Austin Jackson, OT, USC (Starter) Switched Positions 
• Round 1, pick 30: Noah Igbinoghene, CB, Auburn (Jury Still Out) 
• Round 2, pick 39: Robert Hunt, G, Louisiana-Lafayette (Starter) 
• Round 2, pick 56: Raekwon Davis, DT, Alabama (Starter) 
• Round 3, pick 70: Brandon Jones, S, Texas (Starter) 
• Round 4, pick 111: Solomon Kindley, G, Georgia (Jury Still Out) 
• Round 5, pick 154:Jason Strowbridge, DE, North Carolina (NFL Free Agent) 
• Round 5, pick 164: Curtis Weaver, DE, Boise State (NFL Free Agent) 
• Round 6, pick 185: Blake Ferguson, C, LSU (Starter) 
• Round 7, pick 246: Malcolm Perry, WR, Navy (NFL Free Agent) 

2021 NFL Draft picks 

• Round 1 (No.6): Jaylen Waddle, WR, Alabama. (Starter) 
• Round 1 (No. 18): Jaelan Phillips, DE, Miami. (Starter) 
• Round 2 (No. 36): Jevon Holland, S, Oregon. (Starter) 
• Round 2 (No. 42): Liam Eichenberg, OT, Notre Dame. (Starter) 
• Round 3 (No. 81): Hunter Long, TE, Boston College. (Too Early to Tell) 
• Round 7 (No. 231): Larnel Coleman, OT, UMass. (Too Early to Tell) 
• Round 7 (No. 244): Gerrid Doaks, RB Cincinnati (Too Early to Tell) 

I count 14 starters out of 24 players drafted in the last 3 drafts! I do not know if you can get any better and what about how Grier cleaned up the team from Cap Hell in 2019 and had 200 million in cap to spend in 2020 and Miami will have the most money to spend this year in free agency a projected 100 million! 

They are out of excuses from the most positive minded fan (ME 😊) time for expectations to be met!