The Miami Dolphins franchise has finally held down the power and home bottom for 5 to 10 seconds, rebooting South Florida’s NFL franchise.
Control, Alt, Delete.
Steve Ross did the easy thing after watching Miami’s third embarrassing loss of this 2-7 season, a 28-6 beatdown the Baltimore Ravens gave Miami in front of a national audience.
The Dolphins’ owner removed Chris Grier, the man who has been with the franchise for 26 years, served as general manager for the past nine years, run the football side of the organization for the past seven years and assembled this lackluster roster.
During his tenure as the team’s top decision-maker on the football side of the organization, Grier created more problems than solutions.
Nobody trusted Grier’s talent evaluation, and that’s the most important part of his role as general manager, chief grocery shopper for the franchise.
Miami Dolphins general manager Chris Grier looks on before the start of their NFL game against the New York Jets at Hard Rock Stadium on Sunday, Dec. 8, 2024, in Miami Gardens, Fla David Santiago dsantiago@miamiherald.com
Now it’s time for Ross to do the hard part, which is to go deeper.
Ross needs to lean into purging this franchise of its mediocre ways, which has turned a generation of South Florida fans away from football.
No half measures this time.
The Dolphins need a full scorched-earth restart, a cleanse from the head to toe, allowing whatever grows from this point to have a chance at being healthy.
It doesn’t have to be now because I doubt removing coach Mike McDaniel makes things with this dysfunctional, injury-depleted roster better in the remaining eight games.
But Ross can’t do what he has always done, which is change one component, and force another on whoever he decides to hire as his new general manager or head coach.
That’s the mistake he made in 2011 when he fired Tony Sparano and forced whoever he hired (Joe Philbin) to work with Jeff Ireland.
He did the same thing when forcing Dennis Hickey to work with Philbin, who clearly had no business being a head coach.
A year later, Ross hired Mike Tannenbaum to be both of their bosses. Tannenbaum hired Adam Gase in 2016, and when their three-year run together ended he made Grier, whom Tannenbaum elevated to general manager in 2016 after shanking Hickey, to become the top executive.
Grier hired Brian Flores, whom the organization fired after three seasons because of his alleged insubordination, and difficulty working with people, and then hired McDaniel after the franchise shot their shot and missed on Sean Payton.
Jan 13, 2025; Glendale, AZ, USA; Minnesota Vikings defensive coordinator Brian Flores against the Los Angeles Rams during an NFC wild card game at State Farm Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images
During those 18 years there have been coaches, executives, scouts and players held over. There are some executives and scouts who survived three decades, even though this franchise hasn’t won a playoff game in 25 years.
It’s time Ross held down the start button for 20 seconds, rebooted the team.
Control, Alt, Delete.
In fairness to Ross, all of his hiring cycles have been painful. He has been turned down multiple times for multiple openings, and has had to settle on coaches, or executives too often, even though everyone in the NFL knows he’s one of the league’s biggest spenders.
At this point, either the Dolphins aren’t an attractive job, nobody wants to work for Ross, or the fact a coach or executive can’t come in and start fresh is a major turnoff.
Seeing as how the Dolphins have one of the ideal destinations in the NFL, it can’t be the city. Ross typically spares no expense as an owner, so we need to do what’s necessary to rule out the other variable, making this general manager job attractive.
Give whoever replaces Grier carte blanche, complete freedom, a blank slate, to do whatever the person desires with the organization. No restrictions.
Don’t force them to give McDaniel one more season.
Don’t demand they make it work with Tua Tagovailoa, or take on the defensive coordinator, or special teams coach.
Let them pick their own director of football operations, scouts, trainers and lawn crew if so desired.
While there are plenty of talented people who work for the Dolphins organization, there’s one thing they all have in common, and that’s the fact they have all been riding the mediocrity merry-go-round for far too long.
It’s time Ross hired someone who knows how to make the ride stop, allowing the Dolphins to finally get off.