The Miami Dolphins have tried to be clear with their intentions. They keep emphasizing that the “tanking” concept doesn’t necessarily apply here. That the Dolphins might stink, but they’ll stink because it was necessary to strip the bad contracts and bad attitudes, not because it was intentional.
This organization has spoken at length about how they’re looking to “build the foundation” of the team. For a layman, that may read quite a bit like “be terrible and draft foundational talents”, much like what the Cleveland Browns did with Myles Garrett, Baker Mayfield and Denzel Ward.
Certainly, losing football games is the easiest way to assure you’re getting top talent. But it isn’t the only way and it doesn’t sound like it’s the way that Chris Grier is hoping to see these efforts go.
“From Day 1, when we made the change, we talked about building the foundation and building it up the right way. So that’s all it is. There’s no tanking…if we win eight games then it means we’ve drafted well with a lot of good, young players playing…but also next year we have, I think, 11 or 12 picks right now with stuff going on still.”
Ah, there it is. The magic number for the Dolphins isn’t necessarily losses. It’s draft picks. Staying a year ahead with your capital to ensure you have the flexibility to be aggressive as you see fit. Aggressive moves could including trading draft picks for players, like the Patriots did with Brandin Cooks the other year, or say…trading up to draft a quarterback in the draft.
Could Chris Grier be lying through his teeth? Sure. But this is the right mentality for the organization to take. Measure their successes in how they use their draft picks and their ability to collect and spend them to bring young talent to Miami at all positions. Remember, Philadelphia traded twice to move from 13 to 2 to draft Carson Wentz.
The Los Angeles Rams traded up from 15 to 1 to draft Jared Goff.
The Texans and Chiefs each traded up 13+ spots in the draft order to land Deshaun Watson and Patrick Mahomes.
Miami’s success five years from now won’t be defined by going 1-15 in 2019. It will be defined by finding a quarterback, however they choose to do so.
