Miami Dolphins general manager Chris Grier offered his perspective on the team’s draft next week, his insight into the team’s transformation this offseason and a firm public belief in quarterback Tua Tagovailoa, but wouldn’t answer a question about the reports linking the organization to Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady.
“I appreciate the question,” Grier said in his pre-draft press conference Wednesday, when asked if Brady was ever going to join the Dolphins as a high-level executive, “but I’m just going to talk about the draft, our preparation and getting ready for our excitement right now, minicamp. But I appreciate the question.”
Grier also congratulated other South Florida sports teams on their success, including the start to the Miami Heat’s playoff run and the upcoming one for the Florida Panthers.
Multiple media outlets, including the South Florida Sun Sentinel, have reported that there were conversations between the Dolphins and Brady this offseason to have him join as an executive or potentially play quarterback.
On Tuesday, Buccaneers general manager Jason Licht denied any conversations took place between he and Brady involving a plan.
“No, we haven’t had those discussions,” Licht, whose relationship with Brady goes back to 2002 when Licht was the New England Patriots’ assistant director of player personnel, told reporters. “The only discussions I’ve had, we’ve had, with Tom has been — he came back, and we’re excited about this year and we’re excited to get going.”
The Dolphins, this offseason, publicly took a firm stance in backing Tagovailoa as he heads into his third NFL season after Miami selected him at No. 5 in the 2020 draft. It was a shift from the previous offseason all the way through last year’s Nov. 2 trade deadline, when Miami was constantly in the thick of reported trade conversations with the Houston Texans for embattled quarterback Deshaun Watson, who is now with the Cleveland Browns.
As the Dolphins finished the 2021 season winners of eight of their last nine games and also made a coaching change from Brian Flores to Mike McDaniel, what led to the contrast in approach at quarterback?
“As we finished the season here and we were moving onto the coaching search, I think at the end of the day we just decided, as we were talking to each candidate, they were just talking about how much they had studied Tua and what they liked about him,” Grier said. “All of them felt excited, wanted to work with him and thought they could win with him.
“As you go through that process and those interviews, you kind of know if someone is just saying what you want to hear just because they want a head coaching job, or the level of detail when they talk about things and the history of the research they’ve done to show that they truly, really believed in him — as we do. It was an exciting time, and then once we hired Mike, it was full steam ahead.”
As for the draft itself, which begins April 28, the Dolphins won’t make a pick until No. 102, at the end of the third round late Friday night, after Thursday’s first round. It’s a byproduct of the team trading its first- and second-round picks this year as part of a five-pick package to the Kansas City Chiefs for star receiver Tyreek Hill.
“We were trying to figure out what we’re going to do on draft day. One of the guys said, ‘We’ll just watch Tyreek highlights during the draft, and it’ll make us feel good,’ ” Grier quipped. “It’s unfair to compare any of those kids [in the draft] to Tyreek’s skill set.”
As the Dolphins have begun doing field work this week in their offseason workout program, Grier described a moment where Hill went down to the ground and popped his body back up onto his feet without using his hands in a display of his springy athleticism.
Grier indicated that the trade for Hill was all about acquiring the talent and not necessarily aided by viewing the top of the draft as weak this year.
“For us, trading those picks, really, had nothing to do with how the draft looked,” Grier said. “It was the opportunity to acquire Tyreek Hill, just a special talent for what we were looking for. At the end of the day, every draft will be judged three years from now. … You really got to give these kids three years to develop to see where everything stands.”
Without extremely pressing needs to address on the roster, the Dolphins can opt for the best players available with their four picks, which are at the end of the third round, in the fourth round and two in the seventh.
“When you have as few picks as we do, you’ve got to be right on them,” Grier said. “Obviously, there will be an occasion where if that special guy is there to take that risk on, you will, but I think when you’re picking third, fourth round and two in the seventh, you’ve got to make sure of what you’re getting, who it is and how he’s going to fit on the team.”
Grier noted that offensive linemen were a strong position in the draft, a possible indication of where the Dolphins might look when they’re up first at 102.
While the Dolphins shifted to an aggressive approach of trading away draft picks for an established All-Pro talent this offseason, Grier indicated it doesn’t necessarily mean that will be a new philosophy going forward for the franchise, which has built its roster mostly through the past few drafts.
Miami, once again, has significant draft capital in 2023, with a San Francisco 49ers’ first-round pick and a Patriots’ third-round pick, in addition to the team’s own in the first three rounds.
“Yeah, not going to lie, it was important to us to keep those two picks because we had done so much to acquire those before,” Grier said. “When you make a move for Tyreek like that, you also want to be prepared to have picks for the future. And having those two picks and picking up the pick for DeVante [Parker], five picks in the first three rounds with two ones and two threes. We feel good about that heading into next year and 2023.”
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