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This NFL draft we find what Miami Dolphins general manager Chris Grier thinks. Last draft was about if he can pick a quarterback and put enough big nasties on the lines to anchor the future.
Those questions still await an answer. But this draft is about something more. It’s about how Grier helps his chosen quarterback, Tua Tagovailoa — about what he believes is most important to winning football.
Does this team need a dynamic receiver, as many think (raising my hand)? Does Grier want another top offensive lineman, as many mock drafts littering the landscape say? And would he take a running back in the first round?
You can find a winning model to back your idea. Bill Walsh, for instance, won Super Bowls in San Francisco by building inside out on offense. Receivers were the final pieces. They were dependent on everyone else, he said.
Jimmy Johnson won Super Bowls in Dallas the other way. He invested in playmakers in the first round and drafted cogs like offensive linemen later. Dynamic talent goes fast while linemen can be developed, he thought.
Building a team is the architect’s prerogative. And, yes, we’re about to find Grier’s prerogative. One former GM who liked the Dolphins trading down from the No. 3 pick to No. 6 points out it might cost them the top playmaker in the draft — or maybe both Florida tight end Kyle Pitts and LSU receiver Ja’Marr Chase. That’s the risk, he said.
Still, two top receivers in Alabama’s Devonta Smith and Jaylen Waddle would be available. If we know one thing of Grier, it’s that he likes Alabama players (Tagovailoa, Raekwon Davis, Minkah Fitzpatrick …)
What we don’t know is Grier’s philosophy toward team building. He comes from Bill Parcells’ school of football. Brian Flores comes a successful off-shoot — the Bill Belichick school. One common thread: Neither valued taking receivers high in the draft.
Parcells was so upset when New England drafted receiver Terry Glenn with the seventh pick in 1996, he delivered his famous line: “They want you to cook the dinner, at least they ought to let you shop for some of the groceries.”
Parcells left New England after that season. He also won one playoff game in his combined 13 years as coach or football czar with the New York Jets, Dallas and the Dolphins after a successful stint with the New York Giants. Coincidence? Or a changed game?
Belichick has drafted one receiver in the first round in his two decades with New England. That was the unnoticable N’Keal Harry with the 32nd pick in 2019. Belichick has won six Super Bowls. He also won them with quarterback Tom Brady, who left upset over his supporting cast before winning another title in Tampa Bay. Is there a lesson there?
Plan A for Grier last year was Tua and three rookie offensive linemen. We’ll know Plan A looks in trouble if this draft goes in an unexpected manner and Grier uses another first-round pick on a lineman.
Read into mock drafts what you will. An NFL.com mock had the Dolphins taking Northwestern tackle Rashawn Slater at No. 6 and Alabama running back Najee Harris at No. 18. Would the Dolphins be better? Sure. But is that the way to build a champion?
Another ESPN mock as well as former Dolphins vice-president of football (and Grier’s boss) Mike Tannenbaum had them taking USC guard Alijah Vera-Tucker with their second first-round pick. Again, that would improve the team. But is it the best use of resources?
Here’s the over-riding question with investing more expensive resources into an offensive linemen: You don’t need to have the best offensive line in the league to win. You can’t have glaring problems like Kansas City starting two back-up tackles in the Super Bowl.
But you can win big with good. Solid. In fact, having the best offensive line might prevent you from winning considering the investment decisions, as the Dallas Cowboys showed for much of this past decade.
Running back? The question becomes if Grier tempers the obvious need against what history shows. In the past 10 drafts, only three, first-round running backs have had playoff success with their original teams.
The Los Angeles Rams’ Todd Gurley, New England’s Sony Michel and Kansas City’s Clyde Edwards-Helaire were more than pieces in that team success, too.
Grier has done the one thing winning GMs do. He’s multiplied the draft picks. That matters. It doesn’t matter as much as getting the right quarterback, which is 60% of any GM’s job.
Another good chunk is what Grier does coming up. How does he surround Tua with help? What matters to him? Which model does he believe makes a contender? It should start with a dynamic receiver. But finding what Grier thinks is what this draft is about.
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