Chris Grier, Mike McDaniel discuss Miami Dolphins’ draft, roster, other issues
Highlights from Saturday’s Dolphins post-draft news conference with coach Mike McDaniel and Chris Grier:
▪ Grier said of receiver Erik Ezukanma, the team’s fourth-round pick: “We spent time with him. [New Dolphins receivers coach and former Texas Tech standout] Wes Welker worked him out. He was on with Mike getting a Red Raider receiver in here. We did private workout with him as well. Good kid, tough, he blocks, runs after catch. When we looked at the board, we said we had to take him.”
McDaniel said: “The cool part about Erik is that he competes. It was exciting to watch him play. He fits the energy and skill level we’re looking for. We want guys to [play] fast.”
▪ McDaniel on Kansas State quarterback Skylar Thompson, the Dolphins’ seventh-round pick:
“You can feel his command and his competitiveness. That is something the entire team benefits from. I really like the way he plays the game and how competitive he was. You are excited when you turn on the tape and see a guy with passion playing quarterback.”
Grier, on Thompson: “He is a competitive kid, smart and tough. We’ve all seen him over the years. Every year, Kansas State pulls a big upset and he has a game that people talk about. He’s a guy that has potential to develop and has some upside.”
▪ Asked if he tried to get offensive line help, Grier said he explored trading up but nothing materialized “and we were joking about nobody wanted to do business with us. Mike was antsy.”
▪ Grier, on not adding a center: “We do have some competition [within the] offensive line group. Mike is very excited about the group. We were looking at every position. We follow our board. We don’t reach for people.”
▪ Grier said they were targeting a running back and “Mike fell out of his chair when he got picked by somebody.”
McDaniel deadpanned: “I was composed.”
▪ McDaniel, on his first draft as a Dolphin: “It was fun, an exercise in patience and virtue. I was the closer.”
Asked about overall improvements to the roster over the past two months, he said Grier “recognized a coach needs help [with] good players. I feel very good about the whole team.”
▪ The Dolphins have 72 players under contract, plus four draft picks. Teams can carry 90 players heading into training camp, so Miami has room to sign more than a dozen undrafted free agents if it chooses.
“We’ll be signing players like always. At the end of the day, with the good players that’s left, it always gets very competitive with the money,” Grier said.
Grier expects a large undrafted rookie class.
This story was originally published April 30, 2022 at 6:55 PM.
