Now that the season has come to a close, it’s time to break down what are the main improvements the Miami Dolphins need to make this offseason. As always, there’s a long list that needs checking off, but there are certain things that have more priority than others. This column will break down the main things Miami needs to do to ensure that next season doesn’t end on the same sour note this one did, being on the outside looking in.

Later on there will be a position-by-position breakdown detailing every single move the team should make, in this writer’s opinion. But for now, here’s a generalized primer that fits the bill no matter who Miami’s QB is.

1. Buy the offensive line

It’s time to face facts. No matter who is in charge, no matter how many draft picks are invested, the Miami Dolphins simply can’t seem to develop solid offensive linemen. The talent is lacking, and the cohesion as a unit is nonexistent. Coaching is a big part of that. However, there is a simple solution. Do what the Kansas City Chiefs did: buy an offensive line.

According to Spotrac, Miami will have more cap space available than any team in the NFL. That leaves plenty of room for the Dolphins to go on a major spending spree, which should be spent almost entirely on the offensive line. There are some solid left tackle options, as well as some top level veteran guards.

It’s time to give the Dolphins QB – whether it’s Tua Tagovailoa or someone else entirely – an offensive line that isn’t among the absolute worst in the league.

2. Find a legitimate RB

This front office stood on the podium at the end of the 2021 offseason and said they were happy with Myles Gaskin and Salvon Ahmed. Their only real addition was Malcolm Brown, who has spent a large portion of the season injured. It became clear that Gaskin and Ahmed both have real shortcomings as running backs.

Then the Dolphins brought in UM superstar Duke Johnson off the street. He looked much better than either of them. Then the Dolphins added veteran Phillip Lindsay, and he looked better as well. It does not bode well for talent evaluation when two free agent veterans come in midseason and prove to be the superior options.

This season has shown just what kind of a difference even a marginal improvement at running back can do. Two seasons in a row, Miami has opted to ignore the running back position. They cannot do so again. An improved offensive line will definitely help, but all around the league, running backs are making names for themselves. Their offenses are reaping those benefits.

The Miami Dolphins should give contract offers to both Duke Johnson and Phillip Lindsay. But even with them, they should not be content. The Miami Dolphins need a true superstar running back again.

3. Keep the defense together

No question about it. Brian Flores has put together a championship caliber defense. But that means the Dolphins need to do whatever it takes to keep the core together. Emmanuel Ogbah, Elandon Roberts, Nik Needham, and Xavien Howard. They all need new deals in the offseason, and it behooves any GM worthy of the title to make sure these impact players stay in Miami.

Back in 2016, an article was written on phinmaniacs.com regarding whether offense or defense was more important. The research showed some startling results.

Let’s start at the year 2000, that’s a decent place to start right? 16 Super Bowls have been played since then, and of those 16 winners, 10 of them have had a top 10 offense. Ok, now looking at the defense, it would appear that 11 of those 16 teams had a top defense. Again, pretty evenly matched.

So let’s tighten things up again.

Of the 16 teams who have won a Super Bowl since the year 2000, only 4 of those teams have had a top 5 ranked offense. In contrast, 9 of them have had a top 5 ranked defense. Not nearly as even.

For completion’s sake, let’s see how many of those teams had the top ranked offense and defense. Since 2000, only one team has had the top ranked offense and won the Super Bowl, while 6 of them have had the number one ranked defense.

If the Miami Dolphins want to keep any positive momentum, the defense needs to be held together. It’s so rare to reach this kind of plateau on the defensive side of the football. Just keep the existing pieces in place, and the rest of the resources can be used to upgrade the offense.

4. Establish veteran presence

Miami’s painfully slow start can arguably the real reason they aren’t in the playoffs this season. The Dolphins lost a lot of games they had no business losing during their 7-game slide. It took them too long to get back to the style of defense they used last season, and it took them too long to work out other bugs in their fundamentals.

The best way to avoid repeating that mistake is to establish a veteran presence this season. Brian Flores decided it wasn’t important in 2021, but hopefully in 2022 he’ll realize his mistake.

Experience doesn’t need to be incredibly expensive. There are a lot of aging veterans that can be had at reasonable prices. WRs DeSean Jackson or A.J. Green, DE Calais Campbell if he doesn’t retire, OLB Melvin Ingram was given a hard look earlier this offseason. There are veterans to be had that can impart some knowledge and still play an active role.\

5. Assistant coaches must be improved

More than anything, this is on Brian Flores. But there’s no way to know if this is likely to happen. Miami’s assistant coaches, particularly on offense, have little to no pedigree. And it shows. Lemuel Jeanpierre, the offensive line coach, has only been an NFL coach for four seasons including 2021. He’s never been an OL coach before, and that shows as well.

It all makes sense now.
The question asked;
"what improvement have YOU SEEN from the oline this year".
Honestly after watching this I'm SHOCKED Tua hasn't been killed yet. His boss listens to this incoherent rambling EVERYDAY & says to himself, "this is the best guy". JFC!🤷😂 pic.twitter.com/EXYKgrQ2ec

— I Ain't Him (@Phincane) January 4, 2022

Flores needs to find a veteran offensive line coach. Perhaps he can drag Dante Scarnecchia out of retirement for a year, just to get things on track and train a successor in the process. Or, with the recent firing of Vic Fangio, maybe Mike Munchak will shake loose and Flores can make a play for him to fix things up.

Speaking of veterans, it would be coaching malpractice for Flores to not look at some new potential offensive coordinator candidates. The Carolina Panthers are going to interview the likes of Jay Gruden and Bill O’Brien to take over for Joe Brady, who was fired on Dec. 5.

Or, perhaps, Flores can consider Brady for the OC position. He learned under Sean Payton as an offensive assistant, and then was credited with helping Joe Burrow become a superstar at LSU. Perhaps, Brady can help Tua Tagovailoa – or whoever the QB in 2022 is – to find some success with a new offense that will create some excitement.

Loading...

Brian Flores has to know that the product on the field this season was not good enough. If even one of those games – the Jaguars, the Falcons, the Colts – ended in a win instead of a loss, the Miami Dolphins would likely be in the playoffs. Better coaches get better results, and there are some good ones looking for a new home. He has to try and upgrade from what he has on offense.

Luis Sung has covered the Miami Dolphins for numerous outlets such as Dolphins Wire for seven years. Follow him on Twitter: @LuisDSung

******

Thrive Fantasy takes away the hours of research required to make the most out of your fantasy sports experience. Thrive’s featured $100K guaranteed contest is only $20 to enter, and the first-place winner takes $20K.

Go to https://www.thrivefantasy.com/?promo=5Fins and use the promo code “5Fins” to match up to $100 on your first deposit when you sign up, and take advantage of your Dolphins knowledge to win big.

It wasn’t just that the Miami Dolphins failed again with a chance to break out of the “Same Old Dolphins” mold.

The bitter pill in the 34-3 debacle Sunday at Tennessee was in revealing how far the Dolphins are from being a legitimate playoff team.

Just as it was in each of their three playoff appearances since they last won in the postseason 21 years ago.

Sunday in rainy, chilling Nashville was the Dolphins’ de facto playoff game of this season, and the gap was as wide as the score suggested against a Titans team that celebrated a division-clinching win and at 11-5 stands atop the AFC seeding.

A lot of wrath in the Dolphins’ undoing is being directed at quarterback Tua Tagovailoa and the offense — and rightfully so. The real gut punch, though, was seeing the Miami defense, often dominant during the seven-game winning streak, get overrun by the Titans.

Part of that reflects on the inadequacies of the offense putting the defense in an untenable position. Nonetheless, the Dolphins gave up 198 yards rushing to a Titans team still missing Derrick Henry and managed only one sack and little pressure against Ryan Tannehill, who’d been sacked 45 times coming in.

Dolphins stuck in rut of mediocrity

In the biggest moment so far in the Brian Flores era, the Dolphins couldn’t handle the weather, adversity or any challenge presented by the opponent.
So the uplifting seven-game winning streak after a seven-game losing streak is relegated to a footnote in another disappointing Dolphins season.

What a strange, roundabout journey to find themselves at 8-8 and still stuck in the same rut that has defined the Dolphins for more than two decades and counting.

Fitting that the final nail in the coffin of dead Dolphins playoff hopes was put in place by Justin Herbert and the Los Angeles Chargers with a 34-13 win over Denver.

Any mention of Herbert inevitably leads right back to Tagovailoa, who the Dolphins selected instead at No. 5 in the 2020 draft.

The comparison with Herbert is irrelevant at this point. The issue to consider is about what the Dolphins saw in Tagovailoa when they drafted him — clearly the pivotal moment early in the partnership of Flores and GM Chris Grier to pick a quarterback to lead them to contending for championships.

Tua’s future uncertain as Dolphins QB

Two seasons of Tua hasn’t brought a resounding endorsement of the decision. Consequently, quarterback will again be at the forefront of what figures to be an interesting and unpredictable offseason.

“People have their own opinions,” Tagovailoa said after Sunday’s game on the question of his future as the Dolphins quarterback. “I’ve heard this the entire time I’ve been here. At the end of the day, I can control what I can control, which is to be the best version of myself.”

Tua had the chance to do that Sunday. It was right there for a defining performance to shove it to his critics.

Instead, Tagovailoa produced these numbers in the first half: 6 for 16 for 71 yards and a fumble lost when the ball slipped out of his hands while trying to throw, contributing to a 17-3 deficit.

welp pic.twitter.com/UveGacfDjU

— josh houtz (@houtz) January 2, 2022

There was still a chance make a game of it early in the fourth quarter with the score the same. But after hitting Jaylen Waddle on a beauty of a deep strike for 45 yards, Tua took a sack (he fumbled but the Dolphins recovered) on a strange flea flicker and then had a miscommunication with DeVante Parker on a throw to the end zone.

A fourth down pass to Parker that should have brought a flag for interference didn’t, and the moment was lost.

And with it the chance for Tagovailoa to put his stamp on his future with the team was lost.

tua to waddle for a big play pic.twitter.com/EKN5yGTkCD

— josh houtz (@houtz) January 2, 2022

More Deshaun Watson speculation likely

Tua is a likable figure, and I was hopeful he was going to be the answer to the Dolphins’ long search for a championship quarterback. I liked his accuracy at Alabama but was wary of his injury history in college.

He has shown uncanny accuracy — when not operating in rain and high winds — at short range. He also has a tendency for head-scratching mistakes.

Ultimately, the question is, how far can he take this team?

From what we’ve seen, the answer seems to be, to the fringe of playoff contention.

That’s well short of the stated goal of this Dolphins rebuild. Certainly not enough to perpetuate the Flores/Grier regime. Because it won’t satisfy owner Steve Ross, who at age 81 has no luxury of patience.

Any team that starts a season 1-7 as the Dolphins did has multiple needs. The offensive line remains a problem and it’s about time they added a legitimate running back in the offseason.

But quarterback will be a big focus and expect a lot of speculation again about Deshaun Watson in the coming months. Whether it ends up being the exiled Texans quarterback or someone else, look for a changing of the guard leading the Miami offense in Week 1 in September.

Jobs are at stake. What Tagovailoa can control hasn’t been good enough. And the Dolphins are still stuck in the same old rut.

Craig Davis has covered South Florida sports and teams, including the Dolphins, for four decades. Follow him on Twitter @CraigDavisRuns

This year’s Orange Bowl is a titanic showdown between No. 2 Michigan and No. 3 Georgia in a College Football Playoff semifinal. The winner will take on either No. 1 Alabama or No. 4 Cincinnati in the national championship game.

Bu what if the results of the Orange Bowl decided the national championship? That could be a possibility due to the latest COVID-19 outbreak, brought to you by the Omicron variant, which sounds like something from Transformers. 

A new CFP policy was released on Wednesday saying the winner of a semifinal game could be crowned champion due to an opponent forfeiting the title game due to an outbreak. Michigan or Georgia could win the Orange Bowl and win the title by forfeit should Alabama or Cincinnati be hit with an outbreak and can’t field a team, or vise versa. 

If this were to happen in either the Orange Bowl or Cotton Bowl, then the other team simply gets a bye for the title game. If both teams from a single semifinal game can’t play, that bowl game is considered a no-contest and the other seminal becomes the national title game. 

It’s a tricky situation that is already slightly taking shape. Alabama already had two assistant coaches, offensive coordinator Bill O’Brien and offensive line coach Doug Marrone, test positive for COVID, prompting the Crimson Tide to implement 2020-style protocols leading up to the playoffs. Head coach Nick Saban told reporters that more than 90% of players have been vaccinated and received a booster shot.

COVID in issues in other bowls

Outbreak issues aren’t reserved for the high stakes bowls. Miami is in the middle of an outbreak leading up to the Hurricanes’ Sun Bowl matchup with Washington State. It got so bad for Texas A&M that 5-7 Rutgers had to come in and replace the Aggies and take on ACC runner-up Wake Forest in the Gator Bowl. If not Rutgers, it would’ve been Illinois but the Scarlet Knights got first dibs among the 5-7 teams for having the highest Academic Progress Rate. 

The Gator Bowl is a big game for ESPN and its sponsors so somebody has to be the sacrificial lamb for the Demon Deacons in the name of money. Bowl games in general are still an important part of college football. They are the matchups that teams are otherwise too scared to set up on their own. How else do we get UCF vs. Florida without the Gasparilla Bowl?

Leaving nothing to chance

To prevent any issue on their part, Michigan had all its players get a vaccine booster shot on Wednesday, according to offensive lineman Andrew Stueber during his media session on Tuesday. Even with the vaccine, it’s 2020 all over again at Ann Arbor 

“That’s definitely a growing concern of ours,” Stueber said. “We implemented masks in meetings, maintaining social distancing. A lot of people are taking their meals to go, not really sitting too much. But, it’s a lot safer now out there, a lot of students have left the campus.”

Doesn’t have to be 2020 all over again

With the outbreak surrounding all over sports, it feels like 2020 all over again. The NHL is now on a “holiday break” until after Christmas because 10 teams had to pause their seasons. Games had to be moved in the NFL, inadvertently creating the great Tuesday Night Football doubleheader. Numerous NBA players are going through health and safety protocols. College basketball games had to be cancelled due to outbreaks.

It doesn’t have to be like this. The vaccine has become the difference between the coronavirus being a deadly disease and a scarlet letter. Cases may be rising but hospitalizations and deaths are not.

At the end of the day, the future is bright, especially if the Orange Bowl doesn’t get cancelled.

Five weeks ago, Dolphins fans everywhere were calling for the firing of General Manager Chris Grier. His evident failure to utilize the veritable treasure trove of draft picks he’d managed to obtain over the past few seasons left fans justifiably angered over the lack of results. Good results anyway.

However, upon further reflection, it seems that Grier’s sins aren’t as egregious as they feel. Undoubtedly, he deserves criticism for his poor choices in the 2020 draft. He had three 1st-round picks, and arguably has only hit on one of them. Granted, the one that he hit was for the team’s quarterback – Tua Tagovailoa. For many, the jury is still out on whether Tagovailoa will be the superstar everyone expected him to be.

But the real question to be asked is this: Does Chris Grier deserve to be fired for the team’s struggles? Is his draft record truly a result of poor talent evaluation? Or is this merely a case of confirmation bias warping the way we view him? Let’s dig a little deeper and find out.

The Bad

You may be wondering why we’re starting with the bad side of Chris Grier. The simple answer is that at the beginning of the season, his “badness” was at its peak. Miami was on a seven-game losing streak with no apparent end in sight. Not only that, the picks he’d made in the past two drafts and beyond were performing poorly to say the least.

Grier was officially named the GM back in January 2016. Some may cite the presence of Mike Tannenbaum limited Grier’s influence, but it was reported over and over again that Grier was the one in charge of the draft even during the Tannenbaum years. So those years count too. Which means, as of now, Grier has led six different NFL drafts, from 2016-2021. He’s had his ups and downs, but the worst draft he’s ever had, by far, was in 2017.

• 1st Round – OLB Charles Harris
• 2nd Round – LB Raekwon McMillan
• 3rd Round – CB Cordrea Tankersley
• 5th Round – OG Isaac Asiata
• 5th Round – DT Davon Godchaux
• 6th Round – DT Vincent Taylor
• 7th Round – WR Isaiah Ford

This list still raises the blood pressure of Dolphins fans to this day. Without a doubt, the worst pick made that year was the first one. With the likes of T.J. Watt, Reuben Foster and Ryan Ramczyk on the board, Grier instead went off the unbeaten path. He selected Charles Harris out of Missouri, a player that had the entire fanbase crowded in Hard Rock Stadium asking, “Who?”

They continued asking that question during Harris’s entire Dolphins tenure. Only now, several years later with the Detroit Lions, is Harris starting to show some semblance of being a good player. In Miami, he was consistently underwhelming as a pass rusher, and he lost snaps to essentially everyone else on the roster until the Dolphins finally gave up on him in 2020, sending him to the Atlanta Falcons for a 7th round pick.

The rest of this list isn’t much better. Raekwon McMillan is a decent middle linebacker but does not stand out above the crowd. Cordrea Tankersley initially showed promise, but injuries and lack of discipline in his play led to him being washed out. Isaac Asiata never lived up to his expectations and retired early in his career to focus on other things in his life. Davon Godchaux is currently in the New England Patriots’ defensive line rotation. Vincent Taylor was exciting but inconsistent and is currently with the Houston Texans after bouncing around the NFL.

Then there’s Isaiah Ford. Every Dolphins fan knows Isaiah Ford. Ford has been on and off the roster so many times in the past few seasons it’s ridiculous. Miami actually traded him to the New England Patriots for a conditional 2022 6th round pick, and the Patriots waived him without Ford ever playing a game for them. Where did Ford land afterwards? Right back with the Miami Dolphins practice squad. Ford is a decent player, but decent isn’t enough to wow anyone.

Overall, that was his worst draft, by far. Only one player on this list is even on the team anymore, and that’s been on and off.

Then there’s the 2020 draft. Chris Grier had three 1st-round picks to play with thanks to the Laremy Tunsil trade, a stash that any GM would be jumping for joy to have. 2020 had so much top tier talent available, surely Miami would be on the fast track to contention after getting their hands on three blue-chip players.

Grier selected QB Tua Tagovailoa, OT Austin Jackson, and CB Noah Igbinoghene.

As of right now, the only one who looks like there’s potential for the pick to have been worth it is Tagovailoa. Jackson struggles mightily on a weekly basis, whether he’s at tackle or at guard. Igbinoghene is a physical freak who can’t seem to learn the intricacies of the cornerback position and is rarely active on game day.

What makes these picks even more egregious, is reading the list of players who were available when Jackson and Igbinoghene were selected.

Austin Jackson was selected 18th overall. Other players who could’ve been selected include all the top running backs – Jonathan Taylor, J.K. Dobbins, D’Andre Swift, Clyde Edwards-Helaire, WR Justin Jefferson, safety Antoine Winfield Jr., and others.

Granted, many of the better players in this draft ended up falling into the second round, including the running backs. Grier isn’t the only one who missed on top tier talent at the tail end of the first round. But considering the team’s needs at the time, Grier should have been looking for sure things (like Taylor) rather than draft projects like Jackson and Igbinoghene, the latter of whom went 30th overall.

Free agency is another story. Everyone is well aware of the 2020 free agent class. Chris Grier signed veteran players to big money contracts, and now many of them are gone. Kyle Van Noy, Ereck Flowers, Shaq Lawson, all of them contributed in 2020 and then Flores and Grier jointly elected to move on from them after only one season. They are now with new teams (Van Noy went right back to New England, most notably) and are doing relatively well.

It’s difficult to defend the choice in hindsight. Flowers is a much better guard than anyone Miami has put at that position this season. Van Noy’s veteran presence would have been very helpful at the start of Miami’s season. Lawson appears to be the only one Miami doesn’t miss. So why sign these players to big contracts if the plan isn’t to retain them? That’s another stain on the Chris Grier regime.

The Good

Now let’s get to the real point of this column. It’s easy to trash Chris Grier when he makes mistakes, but it’s a lot harder to give him credit where it’s due. And looking at his entire body of work, there’s plenty to give him credit for, even this season.

First and foremost, as much of a failure Grier’s 2020 first round was, his 2021 draft was absolutely stellar. The Dolphins picked WR Jaylen Waddle and OLB Jaelan Phillips with their two 1st-rounders, and both players are proving to be excellent choices. Waddle has already broken the Dolphins rookie record for receptions – previously held by Jarvis Landry. Barring a sudden catastrophic injury, he will inevitably break the most receiving yards by a rookie record as well – currently held by Chris Chambers.

Speaking of breaking records, Jaelan Phillips – as of Week 13 – is now the sole owner of the Miami Dolphins rookie record for sacks with 8.5. Before Phillips, it was a tie between DE Lorenzo Bromell, and DE Bill Stanfill. Stanfill put up eight sacks in 1969, just to give some context as to how long the record has stood. Give Bromell credit for tying it, but a tie isn’t the same as surpassing it.

Loading...

What makes this so impressive is that Phillips wasn’t particularly disruptive at the beginning of the season. In fact, many were getting ready to call Phillips a bust, that the Dolphins should have drafted his fellow Miami Hurricanes pass-rusher Gregory Rousseau instead. Rousseau had a hot start to his Buffalo Bills career, putting up three sacks in just five games. Impressive for a rookie.

Now, Rousseau still has three sacks. Interesting how the tables have turned.

So obviously, Grier’s 2021 first round was a home run. But the fun doesn’t stop there. With the 36th overall pick, Chris Grier selected safety Jevon Holland out of Oregon. Almost instantly, Holland’s presence was felt. His knack for finding the ball and tackling inside the box is giving vibes of Reshad Jones in his prime. He has two interceptions, two sacks, and is making plays all over the field on a weekly basis.

Chris Grier’s first three picks? Excellent ones.

The rest of the class is still up for debate. Liam Eichenberg is struggling, but there’s still hope for his future. Hunter Long has a lot of other players standing in his way for snaps, so it’s hard to get a read on him right now. Larnel Coleman went on injured reserve before the start of the season, but showed promise in training camp. As for Gerrid Doaks, he’s been trapped on the practice squad all season. That will change now, as Miami is desperate for running backs thanks to the outbreak of COVID-19 in that room. Doaks is now on the active roster, along with veteran Duke Johnson. More than likely, Doaks will get his chance.

So the rest of the 2021 draft is unremarkable so far. It’s easy to point to where Grier should have picked someone else, like a running back, or center Creed Humphrey, or OL Quinn Meinerz, both of whom are having phenomenal rookie seasons. But, give credit where it’s due, hitting three home runs is difficult for any general manager to do.

Now, it’s been established that aside from Tua Tagovailoa, Chris Grier’s start to the 2020 draft is a miserable one. But what about the rest of it?

In the second round, Grier selected Robert Hunt. Out of all the linemen on Miami’s roster, Hunt is the best by far. He looks like a hit for Grier so far.

Then in that same round, Grier picked Raekwon Davis, a DT out of Alabama. He’s a giant (literally) force in the defensive line rotation and still has lots of room for improvement. That’s a scary prospect for opposing offensive linemen, and another hit for Grier.

Brandon Jones is next, selected in the third round. Jones is not a superstar on the level of Holland, but he is a very solid player. Not only that, he’ll be called upon to play against the Jets on Sunday with Holland on the COVID-list. Players don’t have to be stars to be considered hits for general managers, especially as the draft drags on. For a third-rounder, Jones is pretty darn good. Chalk up another win for Chris Grier.

There’s a lull with the next three picks. Solomon Kindley’s status as a guard is still questionable. He was disciplined in training camp, presumably for being overweight, and eventually got benched for Austin Jackson. That move hasn’t gone well, but it still happened. Then there’s Jason Strowbridge and Curtis Weaver, a pair of pass-rushers who haven’t panned out. Strowbridge is currently a free agent. Weaver is on the Cleveland Browns’ practice squad.

Now, everyone was shocked when the Dolphins selected a long snapper in the sixth round. Particularly because there was still a lot of good talent on the board. But Blake Ferguson has proved his worth as a long snapper, one of the best in the league. If there’s one thing that’s abundantly clear, special teams still matters in the NFL.

The last pick in that draft is utility player Malcolm Perry. Perry showed immense promise and potential as a gadget player. He could be a running back, a wide receiver, and a quarterback. The possibilities for wildcat trickery seemed endless. Then Miami let him go during final cuts, and the New England Patriots claimed him, as they were always rumored to want him first. Ironically, the Patriots have since let him go, and he is now on the New Orleans Saints practice squad.

Make no mistake, the 2020 draft is a stain on Chris Grier’s resume because of the Austin Jackson and Noah Igbinoghene selections. But even in that draft, Grier was able to find some solid players, and no GM is perfect.

The list continues from there. In 2016, Grier selected Laremy Tunsil, Xavien Howard, and the criminally underused Kenyan Drake. And despite the note he left on, wide receiver Jakeem Grant had a lot of big plays for the Dolphins during his tenure. So that should count as a win for Grier.

2018 gave Miami the likes of Mike Gesicki, Jerome Baker, Durham Smythe, and of course kicker Jason Sanders. If anyone is wondering where Minkah Fitzpatrick is on this list, ask the Pittsburgh Steelers. Grier made an excellent pick with Fitzpatrick, but it was Fitzpatrick himself who made it abundantly clear he did not want to be in Miami, and so Grier and Flores jointly punched his ticket to Pittsburgh. So I still credit Grier for recognizing the talent.

2019 marked the arrival of Christian Wilkins, Andrew Van Ginkel and Myles Gaskin. If you feel so inclined, you can also say that Michael Deiter is improving and could eventually prove to be a long-term win for Grier. That remains to be seen.

Loading...

The Ugly (Truth)

The only reason this is titled the “ugly” truth is because there’s a certain conclusion that needs to be drawn here. When the list of legendary general managers gets read, Chris Grier’s name will likely not be on it. But upon this reflection, to say that he deserves to be fired is a massive overreaction that many, including myself, have fallen prey to. Grier is responsible for some of the best picks Miami has made in a very long time. That cannot be overlooked.

Not only that, there’s something to be said about the quarterback position. True, Justin Herbert is undoubtedly a star in this league. But Herbert, objectively, has more going for him at this time than Tua Tagovailoa. However, Tagovailoa is slowly changing the bad reputation he unjustly earned last season. Among all of the Deshaun Watson trade rumors, talk of his supposedly poor arm strength, and a painful rib and finger injury, Tagovailoa has persevered.

His star isn’t rising as fast as Herbert’s is, but that does not mean it won’t eventually be as high as Herbert’s. Coming out of college, many draft experts compared Tagovailoa to future Hall of Fame QB Drew Brees. It needs to be restated that Brees took about six seasons and a change of scenery to become that Hall of Fame player, and Miami has been kicking themselves ever since for daring to let him leave the building without a contract.

Peyton Manning highlighting Tua Tagovailoa’s efficiency.

Tua’s game will never be the blockbuster play, but these details is what gives me hope for a franchise QB.
pic.twitter.com/tn5UFmeZZA

— 3rd & Juan (@3rdnJuan) December 11, 2021

If Tagovailoa continues to steadily improve, and prove his naysayers wrong, Chris Grier will be credited with drafting Miami’s franchise QB for the next decade. At the end of the day, the QB position is the most important position in the NFL. Teams without one are usually on the outside looking in during the playoff rush. Thanks in large part to Tagovailoa, the Dolphins are still very much in the hunt for the playoffs in spite of their seven-game losing streak. It would be unprecedented for Miami to pull it off, but not impossible.

So give credit to Chris Grier where it’s due. He’s made his mistakes, but he’s also made a lot of good decisions for the team too. Sometimes, a little patience proves to be the difference maker. At the start of the season, the sky was falling. Now, the star is rising.

Chris Grier does not deserve to be fired. If anything, the argument can be made he deserves an extension.

Luis Sung has covered the Miami Dolphins for numerous outlets such as Dolphins Wire for seven years. Follow him on Twitter: @LuisDSung

******

Thrive Fantasy takes away the hours of research required to make the most out of your fantasy sports experience. Thrive’s featured $100K guaranteed contest is only $20 to enter, and the first-place winner takes $20K.

Go to https://www.thrivefantasy.com/?promo=5Fins and use the promo code “5Fins” to match up to $100 on your first deposit when you sign up, and take advantage of your Dolphins knowledge to win big.

In the end, Manny Diaz left Miami the way he came in, unconventionally. The man who spent 15 days as head coach of Temple spent more than a week as Miami’s lame duck coach.

The Canes finally made the only decision they could make, letting Manny Diaz go with Mario Cristobal announced as his replacement shortly after.

For Diaz, the end was slow, excruciating, and inevitable.

An unqualified assistant coach whose level was Temple and who had already worn the fans’ patience thin as Defensive Coordinator would always have a short leash. For Diaz to succeed, he had to be serious, had to be focused, had to instill discipline, and could not waste any time. The nature of his hire, without a search, and his history of being on Miami’s previous staff, demanded quick success. 

Instead, Diaz was much more concerned with media manipulation, putting on a show for social media, coining slogans, not realizing that the only way to placate fans is with the one thing he could not do, win football games.

All Hat, No Cattle

When Diaz arrived back in Miami 2 weeks after accepting the Temple job, he decided to be the player’s coach. To that end, and to the end of his tenure, the players played for him.

The problem is that Diaz failed them. He was to be the adult in the room, the person that provided the mix of comfort and discipline, raising the standard of the program, demanding excellence.

What they received, instead, was the adult trying to be “cool” and be everyone’s friend. He had a responsibility to this program as its steward, and he chose to “have fun with the guys.” I’m reminded of the episode of Saved By The Bell where Principal Belding’s “cooler” brother shows up, charms the kids, but ends up letting them down. They needed the “uncool” brother who was reliable, did the right thing, and took care of them.

Instead, Diaz came up with new jewelry (Touchdown Rings), taped 7-6 to a tackling dummy before promptly going 6-7, seemed more focused on winning social media than football games, and spun that into his inevitable downfall. No amount of being the coolest kid in the class can make up for losses. 

Diaz was having the time of his life while fans suffered through some of the most abhorrent football this hallowed program has ever seen.

The football itself was atrocious, as was his record. His one “good” season involved losing a bowl game and getting blown out twice, including the most embarrassing defensive performance in school history. This is for a school that employed Mark D’Onofrio for 5 years.

For all the absurd narrative around close losses this year (conveniently ignoring that Diaz’s Canes actually made out better in close games than expected), 2020 saw a huge Canes’ 3-game winning streak in the middle of the year where they eked out one possession games. This ran Miami’s record to 8-1, before they predictably imploded. And that was Diaz at his best.

That will be the legacy of Manny Diaz football. Exciting games that ended up close because the Canes mostly superior talent kept them in games, while Diaz’s coaching and lack of preparation made sure that talent advantage was mitigated. All told, Diaz leaves Miami with a collection of several of the worst losses in school history.

He should have been fired for losing to FIU in his first year, something unimaginable. He cemented the obvious by following that loss with losses to Duke, and an unbelievable bowl loss to Louisiana Tech where the team failed to enter the red zone, let alone score. That Diaz somehow managed to keep his job for 2 more years after that is a testament as much to his political savvy, always selling that Miami would be “Next Year’s Champions,” as it was to Blake James complete lack of standards. 2 years after losing to FIU, Diaz would notch his final embarrasing loss, at rival FSU, who had lost to Jacksonville State and would fail to make a bowl game. James was fired immediately, and Diaz would follow him weeks later. The seemingly infinite tolerance had finally run out.

****

Loading...

****

The New Miami

One of the many slogans that Diaz coined was “The New Miami.” See, he was going to fix this program by…well, he never really finished the sentence.

What was the “The New Miami”? He never articulated it because it was empty, much like his game plan after a bye week.

What actually happened is Blake James and Manny Diaz perpetuated a fraud on this community for 3 years. James hooked up his buddy, putting him in a position he had not earned without conducting anything resembling a coaching search. He then backed him through loss after loss. The fans? Not only were they of no concern, but in fact started taking the blame for poor recruiting.

The greatness of sports is that after all the talk stops, the results speak. And Diaz didn’t have the results, and the problem with the Grifter’s Alliance he formed with James is that eventually, the jig is up. You can only spin and deceive so long. We saw this with Al Golden, and now with Manny Diaz, as they kept explaining why it was not their fault that the program they were in charge of was underperforming.

Miami has been there before. We’ve seen this playbook. Fire the coach, bring another cheap hire in, sell hope, keep the new coach way past the sell by date, hire cheap again, repeat. The key to this con is everyone would be so relieved that the previous coach was gone after overstaying his welcome that any alternative would be accepted. 

I’m sure James thought he could keep Diaz at least another year. He was able to retain Al Golden for a 5th season despite a 6-7 4th season that ended on a 4-game losing streak.

But he miscalculated. The community rose up, and overthrew him. Long before James was dismissed moves were being made to move on from his line of thinking. And when he went, so went Diaz’s protector. Miami decided to save Miami, and Blake James and Manny Diaz were not part of that solution. 

Diaz tried to save his job, unleashing one last empty slogan, “Building Something Special.” He pumped out that narrative, ignoring the struggles with a 3-win GT team and a loss to a 5-win FSU team as 2 of his last 4 games, pushed the young player/close games narrative, and tried to rally players to his defense, but no one in power was listening anymore. You can only run a Ponzi scheme for so long.

Miami had already decided to invest in the program, go get their coach (Mario Cristobal), and give him the resources needed to build an elite staff. Diaz couldn’t help himself, with one last, blame shifting, release dripping in victimhood:

pic.twitter.com/ycwU3mSHg8

— Manny Diaz (@Coach_MannyDiaz) December 6, 2021

Ah yes, “Next Year’s Champions,” again. And yet, despite this, people will still say that had he received the backing Cristobal received, maybe he could have done better. The reality is that no serious program that is investing in the way that Miami has decided to finally do so would ever hire Manny Diaz as their head coach. He only got the job in the first place because the school was running on a shoestring budget. 

Far from being victims, James and Diaz were collectively in charge of South Florida’s beloved football program for 3 years despite lacking the qualifications. Woe is them? No, woe is us.

Miami chose to turn the page on James and Diaz’s form of leadership, where the focus was on staying employed, keeping the grift up, and worrying more about public perception of the program than actual performance. Unfortunately for James and Diaz, a New Miami necessitated getting rid of those that came to symbolize 15 years of futility, which somehow managed to degenerate further the last 3 years.

For once, Diaz’s slogan rings true. This is “The New Miami.”  And James and Diaz will rightly play no part in it.

Vishnu Parasuraman is a contributor for @FiveReasonsSports and generally covers the Miami Hurricanes. You can follow him on twitter @vrp2003