Why the Grier/McDaniel News Was Not Surprising

The Miami Dolphins are going to be run it back in 2025

Dolphins general manager Chris Grier and coach Mike McDaniel address reporters at the Baptist Health Training Complex. / HAL HABIB / The Palm Beach Post / USA TODAY NETWORK

News that Miami Dolphins owner Stephen Ross was bringing back both GM Chris Grier and head coach Mike McDaniel for the 2025 season didn't exactly play very well with a large portion of the team's frustrated fan base, but should anybody have been surprised?

The answer is an emphatic no, and for several reasons.

Maybe the one that stands out lies in part of the Ross statement that the Dolphins released on social media Sunday night. It's the line that reads, "Their positive working relationship is an asset to the Dolphins."

pic.twitter.com/31i42cJz6F

— Miami Dolphins (@MiamiDolphins) January 6, 2025

Sure, we can roll our eyes as putting a lot of emphasis on Grier and McDaniel working well together and that nice harmony has led to one season with double-digit wins and zero playoff wins in three years, years that should have seen the fruits of the team's rebuilding project showing up.

But it's something that's important to Ross, and it's obvious not just by the statement Sunday, but by what he said after he fired Brian Flores as head coach in January 2022.

“Well, I’ve been looking at this over three years now and watching the organization grow," Ross said then. "I think an organization can only function if it is collaborative and it works well together. I don’t think that we were really working well as an organization that it would take to really win consistently at the NFL level.”

Let's note the key word there, "collaborative."

The Dolphins indeed are very collaborative, which means that Grier may be the GM but it's not like McDaniel doesn't have a say.

We bring back the Calais Campbell example and McDaniel's admission of "throwing an adult temper tantrum" to make sure the Dolphins weren't going to move him at the NFL trade deadline.

And we bring back Tua Tagovailoa's statement after he got his contract extension thanking McDaniel for pounding the table for the Dolphins to get the deal done.

And do we really believe that McDaniel didn't have any influence in the decision to run it back at quarterback with Skylar Thompson and Mike White as the guys to compete for the backup job behind Tagovailoa?

So, bottom line, the personnel moves indeed are collaborative, which is why if the Dolphins were going to make a change because of the disappointment of the 8-9 season — and it was a major disappointment — then it would have needed to be "collaborative" again, meaning everybody goes.

But did anybody expect Ross to sign off on so many new contracts this spring and summer just to blow things up after one bad year, one the Dolphins very well may explain as a result of losing their starting quarterback for four games — never mind the fact they were only 6-5 when Tua started in 2024.

Let's also not forget the mood and vibe permeating the organization following the 11-6 season of 2023 when the Dolphins actually were 11-4 at one point with a shot at earning the No. 1 seed in the AFC playoffs ... until they were exposed as pretenders more than contenders (though, yes, injuries did play a small part in the collapse).

When we look back at those extensions/new contracts, keep in mind the Dolphins didn't need to do anything with McDaniel's contract since he had two seasons left on his deal, Tyreek Hill was signed for another three years, Jalen Ramsey had two years left on his deal, and Jaylen Waddle was signed through 2025 with the fifth-year option.

Even with Tua, the Dolphins could have had him play on the fifth-year option (a debate for another time).

The bottom line here is that there was no need to go on that spending spree for the foundation of a team that was, sure, fun and relevant but still missing that elusive playoff win.

Yet Ross didn't hesitate to sign the checks — well, maybe he hesitated but he still wound up doing it.

Again, did anybody think he'd follow those gestures of showing full confidence in the foundation of the current team and just bag the whole thing after one down year?

Yeah, no.

And whether it's right or wrong, and there can be arguments made either way, the bottom line is that Ross isn't ready yet to blow up the whole thing.

That the Dolphins finished 8-9 against what became the easiest schedule in the NFL (by opponents' combined winning percentage) only made the 2024 season that much tougher to swallow for Ross, especially after he spent all that money because he clearly thought there might be something special on the way.

But maybe he can't be blamed for not wanting to give up so quickly on that investment.

Like it or not.