The two worrisome patterns that continued early in Dolphins free agency. What the record shows
Like Frank Sinatra, Chris Grier is going to do things his way, consequences be damned.
During the first week of free agency, the Dolphins general manager found good bargains with James Daniels and Nick Westbrook-Ikhine and two safeties who have played well when healthy. He hasn’t overpaid for anyone except maybe No. 2 quarterback Zach Wilson, who will pocket at least $6 million.
But on two fronts, Grier continued a risky pattern that has marked his stewardship of the franchise, often to his team’s detriment.
Front No. 1: As usual, the Dolphins added several players with significant injury histories, including one (safety Ifeatu Melifonwu) who has been on injured reserve five times in four seasons. That has been a constant of the Grier regime, and one he downplayed when asked directly about it in January.
Front No. 2: In two cases, the Dolphins again ignored performance red flags that would be obvious to most anyone with Internet access or a subscription to a metrics website.
There’s a common theme linking those two trends: the Dolphins’ pollyannaish view that things will be different once players arrive here. (Narrator: They often aren’t.)
The continuing embracing of players either coming off major injuries - or with a history of maladies - remains among the most perplexing proclivities of this regime.
Now let’s be clear: Injuries are common in football; it’s difficult to find players who haven’t missed time. And credit Grier for replacing an often-injured linebacker (Anthony Walker Jr.) with a younger, healthier one (K.J. Britt). But the Dolphins generally sign too many players who have missed too much time.
New safety Melifonwu was productive when he played but missed time with a thigh injury as a rookie in 2021; missed seven games with ankle injury in 2022; sustained a broken hand in 2023 but played a full season and was limited to three games last season because of an ankle injury and then a finger injury.
The other new safety, Ashtyn Davis, has missed time with a groin injury, foot surgery, hamstring problem and a concussion.
So that’s 47 games missed over seven combined seasons with the two new safeties — 31 for Melifonwu and 16 for Davis.
New guard James Daniels was a very good signing at his dollar figure (three years, $24 million, none guaranteed after this season) but is coming off a torn Achilles that will sideline him until the early summer.
To be clear: In this case, the move can be justified, even applauded, because Daniels’ injury made him much cheaper than guards of similar quality who signed for far more elsewhere. I can justify the Davis move, too, but Melifonwu has had too many injuries to feel especially hopeful about.
New tackle Larry Borom has missed significant time twice with ankle injuries, including one that sidelined him for 10 weeks last season. I can overlook that but not his play (more on that shortly.)
Also remember that the Dolphins pursued Denver-bound Dre Greenlaw, who tore his Achilles before the February 2024 Super Bowl and played in just two games last season. They pursued 49ers-bound Joey Bosa, who missed 22 games the past three seasons before signing with the Bills. Kudos for not overpaying for either.
Grier has taken his chances with players with injury histories, again and again, and the results often have been what you might expect.
Bradley Chubb arrived with an ACL tear and a serious ankle injury in his past and sustained another serious knee injury here.
Will Fuller arrived here having missed 27 of 80 games and appeared in only two games in his one season here, a waste of $11 million.
Walker Jr. arrived here with a history of injuries and missed three games with hamstring and knee injuries last season.
Odell Beckham Jr. arrived with a history of major recent injuries, then wasn’t ready to start the season after a knee procedure that Miami was aware of. (In this case, that helped Miami get him on a bargain contract.)
Guard Isaiah Wynn arrived having played more than 10 games only once in four years in New England, then appeared in 13 of 34 games in two seasons here.
Terron Armstead, who hasn’t played a full season in 12 NFL years, has missed 13 games as a Dolphin but justified his contract when he played. I don’t view that as a mistake because of his elite play.
The Dolphins gave Tagovailoa a $212 million contract after his only healthy season, then watched him miss six games with another concussion and another hip injury.
When asked in January if the Dolphins need to increase their emphasis on a players’ track record of durability and availability, Grier said: “It’s always a fine line. There’s a 100% injury rate in football. We always talk about that. Mike [McDaniel] has said it numerous times. We always look at it. We always have discussions with our medical staff. We look at guys’ injury history from when they were in college and high school stuff, too, when we go back.”
We’re told Miami studied Daniels’ medicals regarding his Achilles recovery before signing him this week.
“There’s always risk in signing players,” Grier said, “but you also don’t want to miss the opportunity of adding a good player to your roster and being afraid to make a move and missing out on someone that may become a really good player for you because you’re scared of something that happened a couple of years ago.”
Some of the Dolphins’ acquisition of players with a recent major injury have worked out, including Jordyn Brooks, who was very good 18 months off a torn ACL. David Long Jr., who was called a soft-tissue injury “repeat offender” by former Titans coach Mike Vrabel, missed only one game in his year and a half in Miami.
And no team signs a lot of players who have had perfect attendance; it’s a violent sport. It’s also important that the Dolphins have received a discount on some players because of their injury histories, though not with Tagovailoa or originally with Armstead or Chubb, both of whom subsequently took pay cuts after injuries sidelined them.
But if you keep signing players who have had either major or a bunch of less significant injuries in their past, the odds seem higher that they are going to break down again.
Here’s the other odd pattern that continued in Week 1: The Dolphins sometimes overlook the most basic of performance-related red flags.
Of the three veteran backup quarterbacks signed during the offseason in the McDaniel era, two — Mike White (in 2023) and Zach Wilson (this year) — had one thing in common: Each had one of the worst passer ratings in modern NFL history. (The 2022 offseason signing of Teddy Bridgewater and last September’s addition of Tyler Huntley were easier to justify.)
Among active quarterbacks who have started at least 15 games, only Anthony Richardson (67.8) has a worse passer rating either Wilson (73.2) or White (74.7). Including Tim Boyle, the Dolphins have had six backup quarterbacks on their active roster during the McDaniel regime, and three (Wilson, White, Boyle) have three of the 10 lowest passer ratings in the NFL.
(Fun fact: Miami’s final win last season came against the quarterback with the worst active passer rating: Cleveland’s Dorian Thompson-Robinson.)
In the case of new No. 3 tackle Borom, the Dolphins are overlooking the fact that no NFL player who had less than 240 pass-blocking snaps allowed as many sacks last season as Borom, who permitted seven (along with 22 pressures), per PFF. Aside from Philadelphia’s Fred Johnson, nobody who played meaningful snaps was close to as bad in sacks-allowed-per-snap.
The Dolphins weren’t dissuaded by the fact that Borom has allowed 20 sacks and 93 pressures as a part-time player over four seasons.
The Dolphins have glossed over stuff like this routinely. In 2021, they signed Justin Coleman immediately after he had the worst passer rating among every NFL slot cornerback in 2020 (138). No wonder he was benched the next season as a Dolphin.
They signed safety Jordan Poyer after he allowed a 101.5 passer rating as a Bill in 2023 and showed clear signs of decline. No wonder he permitted a team-worst 130 passer rating as a Dolphin. (Pro tip: If the Bills believe you’re not the player you once were, believe them.)
They signed Benito Jones last year after PFF ranked him 124th of 130 defensive tackles, and one of the three worst against the run, for Detroit in 2023. No wonder he ranked 88th of 118 defensive tackles last season for Miami, and 79th against the run.
This is not to say that stat lines and metric sites should dictate personnel decisions. Give the Dolphins credit for knowing that Chop Robinson’s tool set would translate to the NFL, even though he produced just 15 total tackles for Penn State in 2023 and just two sacks against FBS teams.
But there’s some simple stuff — terrible pass coverage metrics or throwing more interceptions than touchdowns, as White, Wilson and Boyle have done — that should be given more weight with decisions as important as nickel corner and No. 2 quarterback.
Perhaps the Dolphins believe that the injuries that happened to players elsewhere, or the shortcomings exposed in previous stops, will not happen here because of McDaniel’s coaching, or the team’s medical staff (Miami spares no expense on this or anything) or Miami Gardens pixie dust or whatever else.
But when you take risks, the chances of poor results typically rise. The Dolphins should know.
This story was originally published March 13, 2025 at 12:37 PM.
