Miami Dolphins Rebuild Year 2/3!

It was shortly after the firing of Adam Gase as well as VP of operations Mike Tannenbaum moving on that GM Chris Grier decided to hit the reset button and completely tear down this roster and rebuild. That was his first move after getting 100% control of his appointed position in 2016 (I called him the “de facto” GM until 2019) 

Chris Grier started off by hiring Brian Flores from New England, on the surface things seemed to go well as the 2019 season was the beginning of the rebuild, that year it was more about purging the roster and cleaning up what was one of the worst Cap situations in the league. 

Grier made a series of moves that stunned some at the time: 

• Miami Traded Laremy Tunsil to Houston 
• Miami Traded Minkah Fitzpatrick 
• Miami Traded Kenyan Drake 
• Miami Traded Ryan Tannehill 
• Miami Sign QB Ryan Fitzpatrick 
• Miami trade for Josh Rosen 

The goal was to tear this roster apart (Blow It Up) and then rebuild through the draft. They wanted to get the 1st pick in the 2020 NFL draft but as we know “SOMEBODY” was not having it. (That is all I will say about that situation) 

It appeared that it was going to work as the 2019 season started off as the worst beatdown I have ever witnessed in my 53 years as a Dolphins fan.  

2019 Start of the season: 

1	September 8	Baltimore Ravens	L 10–59	0–1	Hard Rock Stadium	Recap
2	September 15	New England Patriots	L 0–43	0–2	Hard Rock Stadium	Recap
3	September 22	at Dallas Cowboys	L 6–31	0–3	AT&T Stadium	Recap
4	September 29	Los Angeles Chargers	L 10–30	0–4	Hard Rock Stadium	Recap
5	Bye
6	October 13	Washington Redskins	L 16–17	0–5	Hard Rock Stadium	Recap
7	October 20	at Buffalo Bills	L 21–31	0–6	New Era Field	Recap
8	October 28	at Pittsburgh Steelers	L 14–27	0–7	Heinz Field	Recap

The Dolphins had a rough season as they started off with the worst defeats in Dolphins History along with an 0-7 start. It was so bad that they were being accused of “TANKING” to earn the top pick in the upcoming 2020 NFL Draft and at that time in 2019 it was Tua Tagovailoa as the season wore on it was Joe Burrow who emerged as the top pick in 2020. Miam ended the season 5-11 and ended with the 5th pick in the upcoming draft. 

Miami Dolphins 2019 Depth Chart: Offense 

QB	Ryan Fitzpatrick*	Josh Rosen*
RB	Kenyan Drake	Kalen Ballage
WR	Kenny Stills	Reece Horn
WR	DeVante Parker	Allen Hurns
WR	Albert Wilson	Jakeem Grant
TE	Mike Gesicki	Dwayne Allen*
LT	Laremy Tunsil	Jaryd Jones-Smith*
LG	Michael Deiter*	Isaac Asiata
C	Daniel Kilgore	Connor Hilland
RG	Jesse Davis	Chris Reed*
RT	Jordan Mills*	Zach Sterup

Dolphins depth chart: Defense 

Pos.	Starter	Backup
DE	Charles Harris	Joey Mbu*
DT	Christian Wilkins*	Vincent Taylor
DT	Davon Godchaux	Akeem Spence
DE	Jonathan Woodard	Tank Carradine*
LB	Kiko Alonso	Andrew Van Ginkel*
LB	Raekwon McMillan	Mike Hull
LB	Jerome Baker	Quentin Poling
CB	Xavien Howard	Jalen Davis
CB	Eric Rowe*	Cordrea Tankersley
CB	Bobby McCain	Torry McTyer
SS	Reshad Jones	T.J. McDonald
FS	Minkah Fitzpatrick	Walt Aikens

That was 2019 when Miami was in Cap Hell and this team was in bad shape thanks to Mike Tannenbaum who did the same thing to the Jets prior to coming to Miami. That is why I still say that misinformed “Dol fans” still blame Chris Grier solely for the decisions made from 2016-2019 when Grier was given 100% control that a legitimate GM should have. 

At the start of the 2020 free agency period, one year after being in the worst cap situation in the league Miami was armed with $94 million to spend and spend, they did!  

• CB Byron Jones
• LB Kyle Van Noy 
• OG Ereck Flowers 
• DE Shaq Lawson 
• DE Emmanuel Ogbah 
• RB Jordan Howard 
• LB Elandon Roberts 
• OL Ted Karras 
• LB Kamu Grugier-Hill 
• SAF Clayton Fejedelem 

Unfortunately, the following year after spending all that money Brian Flores sent most of them packing, something some misinformed fans blame on the GM! 

Miami also had 11 draft picks heading into the 2020 NFL draft including 3 first round picks, and this is the crux of the criticism from the hindsight experts despite the overwhelming reaction from Dolphins Fans when Miami chose Tua on that draft day! 

• Round1·Pick 5 Tua Tagovailoa, QB, Alabama (6′ 0″, 217 pounds) 
• Round1·Pick 18 Austin Jackson OT, USC (6′ 5″, 322 pounds) 
• Round1· Pick 30 Noah Igbinoghene CB Auburn (5′ 10″, 198 pounds) 
• Round2· Pick 39 Robert Hunt T Louisiana-Lafayette (6′ 5″, 322 pounds) 
• Round2· Pick 56 Raekwon Davis DT Alabama (6′ 6″, 311 pounds) 
• Round3·Pick 70 Brandon Jones S Texas (5′ 11″, 198 pounds) 
• Round4· Pick 111 Solomon Kindley G Georgia (6′ 3″, 337 pounds) 
• Round5· Pick 154 Jason Strowbridge DE North Carolina (6′ 4″, 275 pounds) 
• Round5· Pick 164 Curtis Weaver EDGE Boise State (6′ 2″, 265 pounds) 
• Round6· Pick 185 Blake Ferguson LS LSU (6′ 3″, 229 pounds) 
• Round7· Pick 246 Malcolm Perry WR Navy (5′ 9″, 186 pounds) 

As you can see the top 3 picks of the 2020 NFL draft has not fared as well as one should expect for where they have been drafted but all three are still on this roster and still in their rookie contracts and without blaming or making excuses, how much of the offensive lines’ issues and the QB position are the falt of the instability over the last two years at the OC and O-Line coaching positions? 

There is more to consider when it Comes to the excellent work by GM Chris Grier and his staff.  

Players Drafted Since 2019 Still on the roster: 

2019 Class 

•  Christian Wilkins DT, Clemson (Starter) 
•  Michael Deiter G, Wisconsin (Competing) 
• Andrew Van Ginkel LB, Wisconsin (Starter) 
• Myles Gaskin, R, Washington (Fighting for a roster spot?) 

2020 Class 

• Tua Tagovailoa, QB, Alabama (Starter) 
•  Austin Jackson OT, USC 
•  Noah Igbinoghene CB Auburn 
• Robert Hunt T Louisiana-Lafayette  
•  Raekwon Davis DT Alabama (Starter) 
•  Brandon Jones S Texas (Starter) 
•  Solomon Kindley G Georgia (Competing) 
•  Blake Ferguson LS LSU (Starter) 

2021 Draft Class 

• Alabama WR Jaylen Waddle (Starter) 
• University of Miami DE/OLB Jaelan Phillips (Starter) 
• Notre Dame OT Liam Eichenberg (Competing) 
• Boston College TE Hunter Long (Competing) 
• UMass OT Larnel Coleman (Competing) 
• Cincinnati RB Gerrid Doaks (Competing) 

2022 Draft Class 

• Georgia LB Channing Tindall (Starter?) 
• Texas Tech WR Erik Ezukanma (Competing) 
• California LB Cameron Goode (Competing) 
• Kansas State QB Skylar Thompson (PS?) 

There are 22 players on this roster that’s been drafted by the Dolphins GM and his team, and they made the right move to add to this very young roster key Veteran FAs over this time. 

Free Agents Still here since 2019 

• Eric Rowe, cornerback 2019 
• Byron Jones, cornerback 2020 
• Emmanuel Ogbah, defensive end 2020 
• Elandon Roberts, linebacker 2021 
• Adam Butler, DT 2021 
• Duke Riley LB 2021 
• Traded for Tyreek Hill 2022 
• Terron Armstead, OT. 2022 
• Raheem Mostert, RB. 2022 
• Cedrick Wilson, WR. 2022 
• Teddy Bridgewater, QB. 2022 
• Chase Edmonds, RB. 2022 
• Connor Williams, G. 2022 

So instead of obsessing on the three picks in 2020 that has not developed as many would like to look at the overall body of work Chris Grier has done with draft picks and Cap space as Miami was one of the top teams with free agency money this past season and have 2 first round picks next April and the cap for the foreseeable future is in excellent shape for our Dolphins. 

Be careful what you wish for, those of you hating on our GM! He has done a phenomenal job!!!!