Another hug for Chris Grier? With five pickups, Dolphins make the best of a bad situation
Cornerback Cornell Armstrong, drafted by the Dolphins seven years ago, gave Chris Grier a hug when they visited before Armstrong tried out for the Dolphins this week.
Dolphins fans might not want to go as far as giving the team’s maligned, beleaguered general manager a big hug, but give the man his due for making the best of a distressing situation.
Flash back to early June. At that time, the Dolphins knew that Jalen Ramsey wanted out, that Jonnu Smith craved the type of money that the team was unwilling to give him and that Terron Armstead was retiring. Every remaining free agent cornerback had blemishes.
Grier found a solution - an adequate one at the very least, perhaps better than adequate - by flipping Ramsey and Smith for Minkah Fitzpatrick, a former Pro Bowl safety coming off something of a down year but still in his prime at 29.
He found a tight end (Darren Waller) who spent the past year in retirement but has a better career body of work than any free agent at the position, a player that Giants coaches and media raved about during 2023 training camp, before he was injured.
On Tuesday, he signed Daniel Bruskill, arguably the best available center/guard, giving Miami a competent veteran who started 10 games for Tennessee last season and 66 in his career. He’s better than anyone Miami had under contract to replace Aaron Brewer, James Daniels or Jonah Savaiinaea if any of those three starters is injured.
And on Saturday, he augmented what had been the league’s worst cornerback room by signing two decent starters who have experienced success in the league - nickel corner Mike Hilton and Jack Jones, who was beaten too often for the Raiders last season but was very good earlier in this career for New England and young enough, at 27, to be salvaged.
(Grier also added Armstrong, who had some good moments earlier in his career, but he hasn’t played in the league the past two seasons and it’s questionable if he will even make the team.)
Now let’s not get carried away. Josh Allen’s Bills aren’t quivering in their boots after Miami’s five summer additions. This is still a wild card contender, nothing more.
But it’s a wild card contender clearly better positioned than it was five weeks ago, when it appeared that Miami might only be able to secure a future draft pick for Ramsey.
The Dolphins turned to Jones after former Bills starter Rasul Douglas on Thursday again declined a Miami offer that had been on the table for 10 weeks. There isn’t an appreciable difference between the two. Both Jones and Douglas struggled last season. Jones, 27, has the advantage of being three years younger.
Jones was beaten for far too many touchdowns last season (a league-high 10, according to Pro Football Focus; 8, according to Pro Football Reference), but he also intercepted three passes and has seven interceptions and 73 passes defended in three seasons.
His career passer rating against (84.9, per PFF) is good and he held quarterbacks to a sterling 63 rating in his coverage area for the Raiders in 2023. And he permitted just two passing touchdowns combined in 2022 and 2023.
There are maturity questions - he missed curfew a week before the Patriots released him in 2023 - but the ball-hawking skills are unquestioned.And he’s young enough to get his career back on track.
Hilton was the best nickel corner available, and the only question is why Miami didn’t sign him weeks before Kohou left with an undisclosed leg injury Saturday. (Kohou walked away gingerly without a pronounced limp.)
“Mike Hilton has been a damn good slot corner in the league for years now and can defend the run at a high level as well,” Pro Football Focus analyst Ryan Smith said. “He’s getting older but still a difference-maker in the secondary.”
Hilton, 31, wasn’t one of the primary culprits in the Bengals’ defensive unraveling last season. He allowed three TDs, but his passer rating against (92) wasn’t awful. PFF rated him the 16th best cornerback in the NFL last season and the best against the run.
He has 13 interceptions and 56 pass breakups and a very solid 82 career passer rating against, per Pro Football Reference.
He’s a skilled blitzer; in 275 career pass rushes, he has 11 sacks and 11.5 quarterback pressures.
Let’s be real: All of the available cornerbacks at this stage of free agency have warts. Asante Samuel Jr., whom the Dolphins have checked in on over the offseason, is working his way back from a neck injury. James Bradberry has much to prove off a torn Achilles. Stephon Gilmore, 34, has entered his career twilight. Xavien Howard isn’t desperate to return to the game.
Among healthy players remaining in free agency, Jones and Hilton are pretty much as good as it gets.
Corner is still a concern - certainly not a strength. Grier put the Dolphins in this precarious predicament by foolishly failing to sign an established cornerback in March free agent. (With Dolphins executive Brandon Shore establishing a stronger voice internally, the team has become more money-conscious on contracts, according to a source.)
Grier also seemingly whiffed by using a second round pick on Cam Smith, who theoretically should be good enough to start but has been mostly injured and unproductive for two years. (Credit Grier for signing Kohou as an undrafted free agent in 2022, but that was the least he could do after whiffing on first-rounder Noah Igbinoghene.)
But at least Miami has pieced together a potentially serviceable secondary, with Fitzpatrick and either Ifeatu Melifonwu or Ashtyn Davis at the other safety spot and a potential top-three cornerback group of Kohou (now freed up to play on the boundary), Jones and Hilton at nickel.
The young cornerbacks all will get a chance to crack that group, including Cam Smith, Storm Duck, BJ Adams, Ethan Robinson and fifth-rounder Jason Marshall Jr., who had an impressive pick-six on a Quinn Ewers pass Saturday.
The secondary is still a concern, but it’s not the grotesque disaster that it was weeks ago.
The remainder of the defense should be pretty good, especially if first-round defensive lineman Kenneth Grant can become an immediate impact player. The linebacker group (Jaelan Phillips, Bradley Chubb, Chop Robinson, Jordyn Brooks, Tyrel Dodson, Willie Gay Jr. and KJ Britt) could make the case that it’s top-10 caliber when healthy.
Waller is a huge question at tight end; he remains on the physically unable to perform list while working back from a year in retirement. The Dolphins should at least explore free agent Noah Fant, who visited Cincinnati and New Orleans. But for now, they’re invested in Waller, Julian Hill, Tanner Conner and Pharoah Brown.
Has Grier’s summer wheeling and dealing left Miami a sure-fire playoff team? Absolutely not.
But it has left them in a vastly better position than it could have been after Ramsey’s surliness and trade demands left the Dolphins in a compromised position.
At the very least, there isn’t a big difference between the Dolphins’ talent and the remainder of the teams likely competing for three AFC wild card spots – Denver, Cincinnati, the Chargers, Pittsburgh, Indianapolis, Jacksonville and perhaps New England and Cleveland and the Raiders.
You could make the case that the first four of those teams are superior to Miami, but if they are, I wouldn’t say there’s a huge gulf.
The Dolphins figure to field a competitive team that should be “in the hunt” in December. Competing for a wild card spot was hardly the dream when Miami embarked on this rebuild seven years ago. But at least they’re not the Carolina Panthers.
This story was originally published July 26, 2025 at 5:01 PM.
