Kelly: Everyone associated with Dolphins in survival mode | Opinion
I actually had to look up the phrase “like rats deserting a sinking ship” Tuesday morning.
I have heard it used so often, but never understood its origins.
How do rats know a ship is sinking?
Where do they go once they abandon the boat?
Can rats swim?
It’s a metaphor that describes people abandoning a failing situation quickly, and in large numbers. It’s used to illustrate a mass exodus, an abandonment of people who are often perceived to be part of a failing enterprise, individuals who are leaving before it completely collapses.
Sounds much like the 2025 Miami Dolphins offseason.
That’s the best way to explain the unraveling of the roster general manager Chris Grier and head coach Mike McDaniel have spent three seasons, and a ton of resources and money, building.
The latest is Jalen Ramsey being placed on the trade block less than a year after he strong-armed the Dolphins to sign him to a lofty, and lucrative extension, which will pay the cornerback and team captain $25.1 million in 2025, which is fully guaranteed, this upcoming season.
According to Grier, the two camps have been talking for weeks, and ultimately came to the conclusion it was best to part ways.
Grier claimed Ramsey didn’t request a trade, and that this impending divorce isn’t about money.
So what’s it about?
“It’s in the best interest for all parties to move forward,” Grier said during his annual predraft news conference. “These decisions aren’t done quickly and taken lightly. We spent a lot of time this offseason working through this, talking [about it].”
The Dolphins don’t have a trade worked out, and are fielding offers for the seven-time Pro Bowler they acquired for a third-round pick in 2023, and tight end Hunter Long.
The Dolphins will take a $8.5 million cap hit if Ramsey, 30, is traded before June 1. A trade after June 1 will give the franchise a cap savings of $9.9 million, but that would mean it would have to be for a veteran player, or a future draft pick, not one in next week’s upcoming draft.
“Trades come together at all different times,” Grier continued, attempting to explain the divorce without specifying the reasons, possibly to avoid lessening Ramsey’s trade value. “Before the draft, during the draft, after the draft. When it happens it will happen, and if it doesn’t we’ll deal with it then.”
So that means there’s a small chance Ramsey returns like receiver Tyreek Hill, who Grier reiterated isn’t being moved unless some team “offers two first-round picks.”
Clearly he’s exaggerating, but it’s clear that Hill is in this team’s plans moving forward, and Ramsey isn’t.
Ramsey is known as an NFL mercenary. He has abandoned two teams — Jacksonville and the Los Angeles Rams — before this one.
I’ve heard about Ramsey’s desire to jump ship for weeks, and there has been internet speculation about an impending trade since this past weekend.
Clearly the leak of a mutual parting of ways, which is how it’s being sold, is either the Dolphins trying to improve the offers they are getting or Ramsey’s camp making sure the world knows his time in Miami has concluded.
He’s the latest Dolphin to jump off this ship since most of Miami’s leadership from last year either signed elsewhere as free agents (Calais Campbell and Jevon Holland), retired (Terron Armstead), are seeking a contract extension that feature raises (Zach Sieler and Jonnu Smith), or have gone silent (Tua Tagovailoa).
Nobody is saying it out loud, but it seems the players McDaniel empowered — giving full control of the locker room and the team last season — have turned on him. Now McDaniel and Grier — the duo who built this franchise through trades, free agent signings and a few productive draft picks — are left holding all the broken pieces in their hands, and encouraged to piece it back together, delivering owner Steve Ross something better than “the status quo,” which he openly said won’t do.
But how?
How do you change the fact that your workforce seemingly doesn’t believe in what you’re building, how the organization is conducting business, or the likelihood that they’ll field a competitive team?
History says you don’t.
You just put on a brave face and hope a crop of 15 to 20 rookies brings energy, enthusiasm and hunger, keeping what’s left of this team from bleeding out.
Grier talked about forecasting this draft a year ago, and admitted he intentionally left starting spots at cornerback, defensive tackle and offensive guard vacant with the understanding that Miami must find “NFL-ready players” with the 10 draft picks Miami holds.
“We just have to be right on the person and the character,” Grier said.
Based on this team’s recent history, that’s as likely to happen as a rat swimming to shore from the middle of the ocean.
This story was originally published April 15, 2025 at 11:19 AM.