The Florida Panthers talked to the Miami Dolphins about winning recently.
Sometimes, every hope can be wrapped in a simple sentence like that.
Dolphins general manager Chris Grier dropped that news on Wednesday in his annual media session, which didn’t deliver the memorable line he offered a decade ago when first named GM.
“The dysfunction stops now,” he said back then.
It never stopped. Last season’s lack of professionalism and this offseason’s purge showed that. It also explained why this is Grier’s last stand, as everyone knows.
The general-manager-for-life is approaching his ninth life and needs a playoff-winning year to stay. You know it. He and coach Mike McDaniel know it.
“Words don’t matter,” Grier said on Wednesday.
With the stakes understood, Grier talked about this season: about leaning on the draft, about the questionable cornerback situation, about the trade of disgruntled Jalen Ramsey and about obvious roster changes.
“We’re younger, we’re faster, but I think it’s a closer unit,” he said.
That led to him mentioning the visit by Panthers GM Bill Zito and forward Matthew Tkachuk with the Stanley Cup.
“They talked about how the uniqueness and closeness of the locker room is so important,” Grier said. “And so hearing that again just kind of reiterated everything that we’ve been talking to the players about, about spending time together. Like you’ve heard the players talk about, of that 10-day road trip, how they grew together on it, like it was the greatest thing that ever happened.”
Every South Florida team should hear the Panthers’ story and hope it rubs off. A tight team is necessary to win at that level and a good message to spread. But let’s be honest. It wasn’t the prime reason for their back-to-back championships, even if the Dolphins don’t want to hear this part.
The Panthers won because Zito built the league’s top roster by rarely missing on a trade, reshaped a finesse team into tough champions by hiring hard-nosed coach Paul Maurice and found players who genuinely like each other and understand why that matters.
Zito is every champion’s first piece. The GM who picks the coach and players and sets the culture is the most important piece in any sport. That’s Grier with the Dolphins. It has been Grier for seven years.
And it’s not fair to compare Grier to Zito. It’s not fair to compare most anyone to Zito right now. His batting average on moves is that high, his work that rare.
So instead, let’s talk about the “standard,” as Grier said, that players must reach this season. His point was they didn’t meet that standard last year, or in any recent season.
Everyone has a standard. The GM, too. The roster has glaring problems every year: cornerback and offensive line depth this year, backup quarterback and offensive line last year.
Grier also made expensive, franchise-shaping trades for Bradley Chubb, Tyreek Hill and Ramsey. The players have been as advertised. Chubb is a pro but injured too much. Hill is a handful on and off the field.
Ramsey was such a headache the Dolphins traded him to Pittsburgh, his fourth team. Like Hill, Ramsey was late for practices. Like Hill, assistant coaches tried to hold Ramsey to a higher standard, and those coaches were fired. So, it wasn’t just players who needed a cultural reset.
“Honestly, I was shocked,” Grier said about getting safety Minkah Fitzpatrick back for Ramsey, tight end Jonnu Smith and $7 million of Dolphins dollars.
Pittsburgh has an ironclad culture with a strong coach. Why be shocked it wanted a difficult but talented cornerback and a good tight end for Fitzpatrick, whose career hasn’t been great of late?
Here’s the larger point: Grier paid a third-round pick and close to $60 million for two seasons of Ramsey. Now the migraine is gone, but no Dolphins cornerback is close to his talent. The entire position is a question. Grier said on Wednesday he is scouring waiver wires for help.
Players acting like pros and getting along is important.
But everything starts with getting the right players. That’s the standard for any GM. Grier hasn’t gotten enough right players. The dysfunction hasn’t stopped, as last season showed. His last stand to get it right has begun.