By Omar Kelly
The longer someone is in a respected field of work the easier that job should get, especially if that person has been in the same role for say a decade.
Or in Miami Dolphins general manager Chris Grier’s case, 10 NFL drafts, which is what he’s embarking on when the 2025 NFL draft kicks off Thursday night.
But if said job isn’t getting any easier then you’re probably not very good at it, or you are being set up for failure.
When owner Steve Ross meets with Grier and head coach Mike McDaniel before the draft to go over the Dolphins’ plans to rebuilding, reloading, replenishing (whatever you want to call it) this Dolphins team, then sits alongside them for the next three days as Miami makes its 10 draft selections, in the back of his mind Ross needs to be formulating which side of that discussion he sits on.
Does Miami land the players it is targeting, and fill the holes they intend on addressing this week?
Ross will know the truth, and this week’s decision-making should indicate if Grier’s good at team building, since we’re clearly doing it again, rebuilding the offensive line, defensive line and the entire secondary now that Jalen Ramsey’s on the trade block?
Or is Ross setting Grier and McDaniel up for failure — or as he has called it “the status quo” — somehow?
Last year’s 8-9 season fell apart because Tua Tagovailoa got hurt (early and late, missing six and a half games), Miami didn’t have a decent backup quarterback, and the offensive line was dog poop most of the season, mainly because it wasn’t properly addressed in prior offseason, and the lack of starting talent stifled the run and passing game.
The Tagovailoa conundrum is what it is. Miami drafted the quarterback hurt, knew he had durability issues, and then handed him a massive contract last offseason after he completed his lone season fully healthy.
Tagovailoa isn’t going anywhere anytime soon. But it’d be ideal to provide fragile quarterback adequate protection, and linemen who can get Miami’s run game back to its 2023 status, when the Dolphins rushed for 2,308 rushing yards and scored 27 rushing touchdowns.
If the Dolphins are yet again negligent when it comes to addressing the offensive line Ross shouldn’t allow the people in charge to finish the season.
Not properly addressing the offensive line last year, and then mocking the media and fan base about it, was an embarrassment.
Doing it again for a second straight draft should be considered football treason, especially when the predicament Miami’s about to be placed in is predictable.
I’m told that there are only 10 offensive linemen talented enough to become rookie starters in this draft.
I wasn’t given a list of names, but we can assume most of those players — LSU’s Will Campbell, Missouri’s Armand Membou, Texas’ Kelvin Banks Jr., North Dakota State’s Grey Zabel, Alabama’s Tyler Booker, Ohio State’s Josh Simmons and Donovan Jackson, Oregon’s Josh Conerly Jr. and Arizona’s Jonah Savaiinaea, to name a few — will be taken in the draft’s first two rounds.
That means Miami has two shots — pick No. 13 and pick No. 48 (second round) to find what Grier calls “NFL-ready players.”
If Miami opts to address other glaring needs (say cornerback and defensive tackle) first, and waits till pick No. 98 (third round) the organization will likely put themselves in another Liam Eichenberg conundrum.
And I’m not just referring to Eichenberg being in the driver’s seat to remain a starter, which is this fan base’s worst nightmare.
Back in 2021 the Dolphins saw a run on offensive linemen taking place and traded their own second-round pick (50th selection), and a 2022 third-round selection to the New York Giants to move up eight spots to select Eichenberg, a former Notre Dame standout who was then viewed as one of the more polished offensive linemen in that draft.
According to the trade value chart that trade resulted in a loss of 105 trade points, which is the equivalent of a late-third round pick. And that doesn’t even factor in the actual third-rounder Miami gave up.
And all this for a mediocre NFL starter who has wrecked games, if not seasons.
If history repeats itself and Miami’s struggles on the interior of the offensive line leads to a stagnant run game, and or contributes to Tagovailoa getting hurt, this regime’s fate is sealed.
Or at least it should be.
Under Grier’s watch the Dolphins typically don’t go into the draft with a laundry list of needs.
This is a foreign approach to how he has operated all these seasons because Grier typically sets the team up to draft the best available player by filling every need with a solid veteran, someone capable of holding the position down.
That allows the Dolphins to often select premium positions — quarterback (Tagovailoa), offensive tackle (Laremy Tunsil, Austin Jackson, Robert Hunt, Eichenberg and Patrick Paul), receivers (Jaylen Waddle), pass rushers (Charles Harris, Jaelan Phillips and Chop Robinson) and cornerbacks (Xavien Howard, Cordrae Tankersley, Noah Igbinoghene and Cam Smith) — early, which is Grier’s modus operandi.
That’s the right approach to take when building a healthy, talented roster. But this year the decision-makers have left the Dolphins as thirsty as a fish, and say this approach was taken because they like how the 2025 draft matches up with Miami’s positional needs.
Well, it better show by Saturday’s conclusion of the draft or this season could be lost before it even starts.
This story was originally published April 23, 2025 at 2:02 PM.
K
Omar Kelly
Miami Herald
