Miami Dolphins general manager Chris Grier has held his post since 2016, but only over the past 18 months have we really gotten a chance to see the vision of Grier — who is the unquestioned architect of the Dolphins’ current rebuild and overhaul. Working in tandem with (or in certain phases, behind) former Dolphins executive Mike Tannenbaum leaves Grier’s pre-2019 resume in murky waters; we don’t really know what was Grier’s call and what decisions were brought about with a different influence.
But based on how the Dolphins are operating now, it seems as though Grier’s vision for his team is unique to what we saw from him prior to 2019. And, in an exercise to rank the NFL’s general managers, using Grier’s body of work from 2019 & 2020 feels like the only appropriate maneuver.
Steven Ruiz of For the Win recently undertook that very task, ranking NFL general managers from 1 to 32. Chris Grier? He ranked 20th.
“Who knows if the results will follow, but Grier has pulled all the right strings since taking full control of the Dolphins front office. He built up the team’s cache of draft picks without an overly embarrassing tank job and he’s used his resources to find a young quarterback, rebuild the offensive line and revamp the secondary. It also looks like Grier made a smart choice in picking Brian Flores as his head coach.” – Steven Ruiz, For The Win
If the Dolphins’ momentum advances this season and the team sees young contributors become sturdy starters, it will be easy to envision Grier’s ranking rising even higher when the 2021 exercise rolls around. As Ruiz points out, the plan has been sound — but now comes the most critical portion: getting these talents to live up to their potential. Having coach Brian Flores onboard makes that reality promising, but nothing is guaranteed.