Dolphins GM Grier says team ‘has an idea’ on No. 5 pick in NFL Draft. He better be right | Opinion
Chris Grier is just about a Miami Dolphins lifer as he begins his 20th season with the club and fourth as roster-shaping general manager.
Now, with the team owning three first-round picks in next week’s NFL Draft for the first time, and a league-leading 14 picks overall, Grier has never had a bigger spotlight on him. Or a hotter one.
The opportunity and results will illuminate Grier as a bright, rising young GM if he nails it, or burn him and leave permanent professional scars if he doesn’t.
The coronavirus has limited ability to directly meet with prospects, but that’s true of all teams. There will be no excuse for bad choices. Draft night will be a very different, technological challenge, but, again, no excuses.
“We really don’t have any apprehension about this process,” he said.
Way back when, Grier happened to have majored in journalism at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst. So when he hopped on a coronavirus-age predraft video conference call with media on Thursday, he knew precisely what to do:
Say as little meaningful as possible.
In a 20-minute remote chat with 53 invited journalists, Grier steadfastly offered no real hint, to reporters or to rival teams, as to the Dolphins’ thinking or intentions entering the April 23-25 draft, which also will be done remotely amid the stay-home orders caused by the COVID-19 threat.
Grier wasn’t the general manager Thursday. He was closer to the Minister of No Information.
He did admit, “We have an idea of who we like” for the top pick, but would not acknowledge what most everyone would bet their life savings on — that Miami almost surely will target a quarterback with the No. 5 overall pick, and that Alabama’s Tua Tagovailoa and Oregon’s Justin Herbert (or vice versa) are the primary, likeliest possibilities.
He admitted the onus is on him — and on owner Stephen Ross, coach Brian Flores, new offensive coordinator Chan Gailey and the rest of the Fins decision makers, to get this right. Very right.
“It’s very important for us and this organization — these next two drafts,” Grier said. “We can build a strong team here, we think, for a long time. If we hit it right and make the right picks, we have chance to have a good team for a long time.”
Grier was steadfastly neutral on every attempt to discern a leaning on Tagovailoa versus Herbert.
“They’re both interesting kids, really good people, good players,” he said. “We’ve spent a lot of time on top players. It’s no different with them.”
He said the team’s final draft board would not be finalized likely until Monday or Tuesday, but there would be “eight or nine players we feel really good about” as options with the fifth overall pick.
On the idea of trading up or down: “Teams call, we call teams, everybody is doing due diligence to see what options are out there.”
There has been fanciful speculation Miami could trade up for the No. 1 overall pick and Joe Burrow. Don’t buy it. That they could opt for quarterback dark horse such as Jordan Love or target a different position with their top pick — don’t buy that, either.
Miami will address other position needs like offensive line, edge rusher (though they hit that hard in free agency) and running back later in the draft. The top pick will be Tagovailoa or Herbert unless Miami plans to shock the NFL. The likely decision: Tagovailoa’s greater talent and upside, but injury concerns, versus Herbert’s cleaner track record on health but more modest overall potential.
“We will do what we feel is best for the Miami Dolphins,” Grier said. “I would hope fans have trust in what we’re doing and believe what we’re doing.”
Dolfans want to trust. They have been fed morsels of hope.
But that trust must be earned.
Next week is that opportunity.
This story was originally published April 16, 2020 at 2:41 PM.
