I'm sure this topic has been discussed to death in this sub, but I'm new to Reddit and have a decade's worth of complaining to do, so please bear with me.
Before I rip into him, I'll give him credit where credit's due. He was great at making trades and acquiring draft capital. Just couldn't draft if his life depended on it.
In this post, I'll be going through every draft Chris Grier was GM for the Miami Dolphins and reviewing the picks.
2016: Grier / Tannenbaum / Gase
This was probably Grier’s best draft for us. He and Tannenbaum crushed it. Taking Tunsil, Howard, and Drake speaks for itself. Leonte Carroo was disappointing, but Jakeem Grant a couple of rounds later definitely made up for it.
Grade: A — Great first three rounds and a late-round hit. No notable misses.
2017: Grier / Tannenbaum / Gase
This is where it starts to get rough. They took Charles Harris with the 22nd overall pick. He wasn't complete garbage, it was just an insane reach. I never had a first-round grade on him coming out of Mizzou. I can admit that, at the time, I really wanted Reuben Foster, so I wouldn't have made the right pick there either. I also wanted Forrest Lamp at the time lmao.
In the second round, I really liked Raekwon McMillan. I think his career would've turned out drastically differently if he hadn't torn his ACL in the preseason that year. Can't put that one on the front office. They took a lot of solid depth after that and even landed Godchaux in the sixth round. Besides the first-round blunder, it was actually a decent draft.
Grade: D — Whiffed badly in round one. Got a couple of solid starters and good depth later in the draft. Passed on guys like T.J. Watt, Tre White, and Ramczyk in the first round.
2018: Grier / Tannenbaum / Gase
This was Tannenbaum’s last year in the front office. In the first round, they took Minkah Fitzpatrick with the 11th overall pick. I personally liked Derwin more as a prospect, but it was more of a 1A/1B situation anyway. Lamar would've been nice too, but it seemed like every GM was scared to draft him.
Overall, the pick looks good at face value, until you consider the fact that they traded Minkah away one season later for a first-round pick that ended up being just ok. Gesicki in the second was a good pick, and Baker in the third was great. Jason Sanders in the seventh was a nice addition as well.
If you look at the Minkah pick in a bubble, it's a great draft. But unfortunately, you can't.
Grade: B- — Another first-round mishap, but good picks in the next two rounds. Although, it would've been amazing if we had taken Lamar like Ross wanted.
2019: Grier / Flores
This is the year they really tore everything down to rebuild. Wilkins in the first was a great pick. Really wish he had re-signed him, though, and that he hadn't groped his teammate. Trading the second-rounder for Josh Rosen was worth a shot. I liked the idea behind it, even though it didn't work out.
AVG in the fifth was a home run. Gaskin was great for a seventh-rounder, too. One of my all-time favorite Dolphins. We didn't have as much draft capital this year, but they did well with what they had.
Grade: B — Wilkins, AVG, and Gaskin were good picks. No one I felt like we really missed out on.
2020: Grier / Flores
This is where it gets really messy. We took Tua with the fifth overall pick after the whole “Tank for Tua” season. Although his tenure in Miami didn't end the way we hoped, he was the best QB we've had since Marino. I still think he was the right choice at the time, and I blame Grier for not protecting him, not for drafting him.
Speaking of protection, we took Austin Jackson with the 18th overall pick. He wasn't great in his first two years, but he grew into a solid, serviceable tackle. Overall, pretty mid, but he was the best tackle available.
This next pick makes me want to pull my hair out. With the 30th pick we took Noah Igbinoghene... Not only was he a terrible corner for us, but we passed on countless All-Pro-caliber players. That late first-round/early second-round stretch in 2020 was absolutely full of talent. I personally really wanted Xavier McKinney, but they could've literally taken anybody else.
Robert Hunt was great in the second, and Raekwon Davis was okay. I really liked Brandon Jones and how he was used in the Flores scheme. Solomon Kindley was good depth, too.
Grade: C- — We had three first-rounders, and I don't know if I can say any of them truly hit. Tua's peak was elite, but he was the fifth overall pick, and injuries derailed his career. AJ is about as mid as it gets for tackles, and Igbo was a flat-out bust in every sense of the word. Other than that, Rob Hunt was great, and we got a few other solid role players. We missed on players like Higgins, Swift, McKinney, Winfield Jr., and Jonathan Taylor.
2021: Grier / Flores
Might be an unpopular opinion, but this was the worst draft of Grier's career. This draft is what killed the rebuild. I went into this draft thinking, okay, we just took our QB of the future, he had a promising rookie year, and now he's fully taking the reins. His biggest question mark is his injury concerns, so they need to prioritize protecting him. We can worry about weapons later.
It felt written in the stars that we would take Sewell. Tua's a lefty, and Sewell could play RT. It just made too much sense. Then, with the sixth overall pick, they took Jaylen Waddle...
No disrespect to Waddle; he put up good numbers for us, and he seems like a great guy. But there was zero reason to pass on a generational right tackle for a 5'9" speed-reliant WR who struggles to catch with his hands. I believe that decision alone set this franchise back years.
With the 18th pick, they took Jaelan Phillips. I liked that pick a lot, but unfortunately, injuries derailed his career, too. I liked Jevon Holland a bit, but I would've much rather taken Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah. He was the best linebacker coming out of the draft not named Micah Parsons.
Next, they took Liam Eichenberg over Creed Humphrey... I was sitting in front of the TV like Matthew McConaughey in Interstellar begging them to pick Creed, especially after passing on Sewell. Chris Grier passed on two All-Pro offensive linemen in this draft.
To add insult to injury, they took Hunter Long in the third. Believe it or not, I was extremely high on Amon-Ra coming out of USC. I had him graded as the sixth-best WR in the class. My comp was a more athletic version of Jarvis Landry, and that's exactly how he turned out. I wanted Miami to take him in the third, but obviously, they did not.
Grade: F — To me, it doesn't matter who we ended up with because it doesn't compare to what they passed on. I really do like Waddle, but the value he brings to a team doesn't compare to that of the best offensive tackle in football.
2022: Grier / McDaniel
This is the year we traded our 1st, 2nd, and 4th-round picks for Tyreek. So our first pick of the draft was in the 3rd round, and they took Channing Tindall. Then they took Erik Ezukanma in the 4th. I really liked both of these guys as high-upside prospects, but unfortunately, they didn't pan out. They also drafted Bills legend Cameron Goode and Skylar Thompson in the 7th.
Grade: B — Tyreek was basically our draft this year, and I had no complaints. But the guys they did draft never ended up doing anything.
2023: Grier / McDaniel
This is the year we lost our 1st-round pick due to tampering. Would've been nice to add a guy like Joey Porter Jr. or a TE, but Stephen Ross had to be an idiot. They took Cam Smith in the 2nd round. Didn't mind the pick at the time, but it was another classic Grier reach. Doesn't look any better considering Smith is friends with Grier's son. I really wanted Darnell Washington at the time. Would've been cool to see him in McDaniel's scheme. But it's not like he would've made much of a difference in the end anyway. Then they took Achane in the 3rd. This is probably Miami's best pick in recent memory.
Grade: B — Another weird year due to missing the 1st-rounder. The Achane pick pretty much carries this grade.
2024: Grier / McDaniel
This year, Miami took Chop Robinson with the 21st overall pick. As soon as they announced the pick, it felt like déjà vu. I'm sorry, but Chop Robinson is just Charles Harris with a cooler name. I think we had much bigger holes at DB and OL that needed to be filled. Thankfully, in the second round, they took Patrick Paul. I was, and still am, very happy with that pick. The Jaylen Wright pick wasn't bad, but I couldn't help feeling like they were trying to recreate the Achane pick. Malik Washington was a nice snag in the 6th, and I had hopes for Tahj to be a contributor, but it's not looking like that's going to happen.
Grade: C+ — Although he still has time to develop, as of now, it's looking like another 1st-round miss. Pat Paul and Malik look good, and I still believe in Wright.
2025: Grier / McDaniel
Finally, this was Chris Grier's last year as GM. Harder to grade this class because it's still so recent. I liked what they were going for with the Kenneth Grant pick. His rookie year was underwhelming, but he still has time to develop. I was honestly very happy with the Jonah Savaiinaea pick at the time. He had a very bad rookie year, but I still think he has a lot of potential and room to grow. Jordan Phillips and Jason Marshall Jr. are very solid for 5th-round guys, and I'm extremely happy with Ollie Gordon II in the 6th.
Grade: TBD — It's just too early to tell. There's a lot of potential here, though.
Thanks for sticking through and reading all that. At the end of the day, I know I'm just some dude on my couch, and there are people who know much more about the sport of football than me. But I'll never be able to wrap my head around how Chris Grier and this front office managed to piss away that many first-round picks.
Curious what you guys think, let me know if you agree or disagree with any of my takes.
