At this point, there’s nobody else to blame for the Miami Dolphins' shortcomings as a franchise.
Chris Grier, who is beginning his 25th season with the Miami Dolphins organization, ninth season as the team’s general manager, and sixth as the top football decision-maker, seemingly is entering a make-or-break offseason.
Until now he's been the franchise's ultimate survivor, a master at blame shifting. But we've reached yet another pivoting point, and all the decisions are in his hands.
Grier's likely doubling down on the Dolphins’ live-for-today approach to building an NFL team, which leans on veteran additions more than building through the draft, and soon will ask owner Steve Ross to write substantial signing and roster bonuses to create some spending power, which will be needed to extend the lifespan of this roster.
Grier’s decisions made this spring and summer regarding patch work needed for this Dolphins roster will either validate that what he’s building has staying power, or it will lead to this franchise’s destruction, and an eventual reset because Miami’s decision-makers have made a mess of the team’s salary cap, which is evident by the fact most of this month will be spent trimming payroll.
Grier's biggest challenge this offseason will be to keep it all together, and do so by putting together a roster better than 2023's 11-6 team.
At the end of 2024, the outcome of the season will determine if the roster that Grier built was a success, or a failure based on how far the team makes it into the postseason considering Miami now owns the NFL’s longest playoff win drought, which dates back to 200.
Dolphins will be busy in Indy
That’s part of the reason the Dolphins will be one of the busiest franchises in Indianapolis at the NFL combine because the roster is vacant (44 of 90 players under contract) due to the team’s numerous free agents (28), and the team being in the midst of a cap crisis, which has the Dolphins $37.6 million over the salary cap after last week’s release of pass rusher Emmanuel Ogbah (the cap space saving on cornerback Xavien Howard won't come until June).
More roster purging is inevitable. And a few contract restructures are due.
And tough decisions on what to do regarding Christian Wilkins and Tua Tagovailoa, two of the team’s leaders, top performers, captains, the franchise’s culture-setters are on the horizon.
Wilkins was the first pick of this present rebuild. Miami couldn’t agree on a price for his services before last season because the Dolphins balked at the salary increases his peers were making, and knocked the defensive tackle for not being a sack producer.
Wilkins bet on himself and won, and now Miami is forced to either give him a mega contract, use the franchise or transition tag to retain him for one more season, or expose him to the free agent market and pray it can afford to retain him.
Every one of those decisions comes with a consequence, and it’s Grier who will be forced to justify it to this fan base, whichever route Miami takes.
Which Dolphins is worthy of an extension?
Then there’s the decision of what to do with Tagovailoa, who is seeking a multi-year extension to replace the fifth-year option Miami triggered last offseason.
Redoing Tagovailoa’s deal will create additional cap space, but it will also put the Dolphins on a strict diet in the future, one that's necessary because the quarterback's $40-55 million annual salary eats up 15 percent or more of the salary cap.
The foundation of an NFL roster needs to be built before the quarterback has his hands out, and the way Miami’s finances look, that mission wasn’t achieved because the Dolphins have a laundry list of young players who are seeking raises in the coming weeks.
Players like Robert Hunt, Raekwon Davis, Andrew Van Ginkel, Connor Williams and Brandon Jones, just to name few, are free agents who want to be compensated for their contributions. And then there's a list of youngsters, talents like Jaylen Waddle, Jaelan Phillips and Jevon Holland, wanting a new deal in the near future because their rookie deals are expiring.
Everyone has their hand out this summer, and it's on Grier to figure out who the Dolphins can pay, and who they need to replace. And what player to replace them with.
And there’s a consequence to every deal that gets done, and every deal that doesn’t.
And at this point there’s only one person left to blame if this franchise falls short of everyone’s expectations, and that’s the man who has been around for a quarter of a century and has been in charge of steering this rebuild for more than half a decade.
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