Last night, I asked the question: If you had to narrow it down to just one decision, what is the single biggest mistake/dumbest decision that either the Miami Dolphins front office or coaching staff made that helped lead to the horrific season that we just witnessed?
62Lou believes the biggest mistake was not finding a competent backup quarterback. However, he ultimately thinks it all comes down to Grier not doing his job or at least not doing it well. Both are tough points to disagree with!
There are so many mistakes…(sigh) But Grier is the root of this entire mess.
If we just talk about this last season – the biggest mistake is NOT finding a decent backup QB.
Plenty of QBs the last few years were available Baker M, would have easily signed with Miami after he was kicked out of Cleveland – and later taken tua’s job.
The OL is a distant second. Sure they need to be better, but did we have any MONEY leftover after OVER spending on Tua, Waddle, Ramsey, and Hill – NONE OF THEM SHOULD HAVE BEEN extended. Waddle hasn’t been worth his new contract either. I would have “tagged him” for another year.
As to the OL – they played well enough to win 8 games (vs inferior teams) AND we don’t have ANY size at WR, RB or a big TE who can really block……so where is the help for the OL ?
Also – Only T-stead is OVER paid – so you get what you paid for here. I would not have resigned Wilkins or Hunt – too much and neither played up to their new contracts anyway.
you need to sometimes TRADE players you cant afford to resign (1 yr earlier) wilkins and Hunt both fit that category. Holland as well – now he cant be traded.
Grier….
holland182.0 sees the biggest mistake of the season as the giant contract they handed to Tua. Or was it picking him in the first place?
And with the 5th pick of the 2020 NFL Draft the Miami Dolphins select . . . . . .
Then doubling down on that mistake by signing him to an undeserved contract extension in July of 2024
USMCFinzFreak is on the F Grier train, with the F meaning fire or whatever else you want it to mean.
I can name a lot of single mistakes made, but the root of all these mistakes is Grier.
David7777 believes the biggest mistake was not fortifying the OL. I have to agree!
Single Biggest Mistake is Grier not Understanding the Importance of building a powerful O-Line
dolphinfan1323 agrees with David7777.
100 percent not investing in the offensive line it was completely trash you can put anyone back there you want at qb but behind this line it’s going to be a struggle.
DalFinsFan has drafting Tua over Herbert as the biggest mistake although that was several seasons ago. Also threw in some others for good measure.
1) Drafting TT over Herbert, resulting in the Flores QB controversies, Brady flirtations, lost picks and undermining of Tua. Flores, arguably would still be head coach, assuming he could have found a decent OC to work with Herbert.
2) hiring MM who convinced the braintrust he could build an offense around Tua.
3) The strategy of said offense to focus on speed at the expense of a functioning OL unable to convert short yardage running plays or be run by a backup QB.
JKBMia also has a list-
Lack of investment at backup QB.
Failure to replace Hunt.
Failure to resign/replace B Jones/D Elliot.
Take your pick – they probably each cost us at least 1 game a piece, if not more.
dksurf99 either wanted an upgrade at starter or backup. Either way, the depth at QB was not adequate this season.
Biggest mistake was putting all our eggs into our injury prone QBs basket.
Jptapt wanted Grier gone last year. It would have probably been a good idea. Now we get him for at least one more season.
Sticking with Grier.
phinfan413 says ditto to the above.
There are plenty of mistakes but they are all caused by one giant mistake: Hiring and keeping Grier as GM.
DOLFAN1 is like me, bitter over passing on Sewell.
Holland .. u couldn’t have said it better, with the 5th pick but let’s not forget the other two first round picks. I call New York ESPN radio n talk Dolphins Jeff from Howard beach. Bart Scott hates me. But would love to ask Grier if he would still would draft tua over love hurts or Herbert n hear his answer. 42 years a fan and I never felt this LOW ! The one that pains me is not drafting Sewell Even if u suck his worth is tunsil worth even in 5years waddle just another receiver good but dime a dozen
Miami7 is with the rest of us. I am beginning to believe that the owner is the only one who wants Grier to remain at the helm of this sinking ship.
CHRIS GRIER remaining employed
DOLFAN1 is, I assume, on the Fire Grier bandwagon too.
And to the brain trust that drafted tua. Knowing we play in a division that plays outdoors in bad weather and a conference that has kc. Buffalo Baltimore Denver pitts cincy New York so on n so on. Just not smart upper management and it suck’s to be a fan I guess all I have to do is out live Ross He is 80 something
Mshaf300 wishes you could fire an owner.
Single biggest mistake was Ross buying the Dolphins
dedstrk316 sees the biggest issue as giving big deals to the wrong guys.
The poor financial decisions. Tua, McDaniel, Hill can all be lumped together.
Thomas23059 wants a tougher training camp that focuses on the fundamentals.
The biggest mistake was how training camp was run. The team was left unprepared for the season and never really recovered. Better attention to detail would have helped with tackling throughout the season, would have reduced the number of penalties, left the offense more in sync, and shown that Thompson was not ready.
Dolfanjoe believes the front office should have made Tua play on his 5th-year deal before deciding to give him the big contract. Also not happy about giving Hill another deal.
Extending Tua to a new contract was insane ! No reason not to let him play or sit on his 5th year deal ! Option there to franchise him for two years after that. Further buying this franchise into the future for at least 25 and 26. Giving Diva Hill more money, between the 2 Grier should have been let go !
tvegas897 did not like the deal given to Tua or letting key players walk only to see them star elsewhere. So many bad decisions by the GM that we cant count them all.
Where do we start? Has to be the Tua extension. But letting guys like AVG and Brandon Jones go for reasonable paydays was bad too.
Kicking more money down the road to free up cap space follows. It’s a compounding Grier thing. And it is failing miserably
phinette was not on board with giving Tua a giant contract either.
Signing Tua to that ridiculous contract. Our offense is so watered down to accommodate his powder puff arm and protect him from getting touched. It’s absurd.
SlayerNation1 thinks it all comes down to a culture problem.
Toxic Positivity problem #1
Swinging the pendulum too far to overcorrect on the heels of Bullygate, Flo and other PR black eyes.
Toxic Positivity and Toxic Negativity are both negative. In this business, as it pertains to meaningful winning, Toxic Positivity is worse. It forces You to keep your head buried in the sand and getting publicly shamed on the field … all while being forced to smile…
It also keeps you in a loop of bad decisions of extending players before it is necessary or even wise to do so and keeping staff who need to go.
Find a Culture in the meaty middle, skewing towards aggressiveness because this isn’t Ice Dancing.
Well, that’s our random selection of answers for this evening. It seems as if almost everyone is on board with the idea that Grier needs to be gone, even though we now know he’s not going anywhere, at least for this coming season. Many of you were also displeased with the lack of depth at the QB position, meaning that the losses piled up once Tua went down again and again… At least we can all unite in our anger over how poorly things are being run from the top down.
As always, thank you again to everyone who answered the question of the day. We will return tomorrow evening with a new question.