This season for the Miami Dolphins appears to be a bit of a roster reset, given the players who are now gone and the ones who have been added. Another notable aspect for this season is that both the head coach and general manager are reportedly on the hot seat. With that in mind, I asked the following question:
What do Chris Grier and Mike McDaniel have to do to get them off the “hot seat” and keep their jobs? What would you have to see from the team this coming season to believe that one or both
ADof them deserve to keep their job beyond this coming season?
Below are some of your thoughts and answers-
stldolfan66 says win the division and a playoff game, or get out.
Win the AFC East title, and then win their first playoff game. Anything less should result in the immediate dismissal of CG and MM. There may be some related front office reorganization. I won’t pretend to be qualified to micro-manage exactly what they should do, that’s on them to earn their big bucks.
TheRoo1 will settle for just the playoff win.
What do they have to do? Win a playoff game. Anything less is a plane ticket for one of them, and based on past history, most likely McD.
And it doesn’t necessarily have to be at season end, I wouldn’t be surprised if at week 12 or so a losing record at that point doesn’t get McD removed so that Weaver can not just be promoted but be signed for several years to keep him off next years coaching carousel.
Dolfanjoe, like most of us, believes that McDaniel is gone without a playoff victory and that Grier is probably not going anywhere, even if it means changing his title and hiring the next person to replace him as GM.
This according to many fan’s is a team that sucks. Others like me see a team with 10 wins at least. Many have McD fired before or after the season ends. Most like me believe whatever happens Grier will survive it even if it means hiring his own replacement as GM ! Moving up the ladder as head of football operations. But with that said, depth is the biggest question mark going into the season and has been for a number of seasons. For years the fan base said we do not have enough stars to get there. Well we have the stars now ! And yes it comes with a price. You cant just get all the good player depth behind your first string as free agents. This takes years of drafting and development. Players drafted and locked in for 4 years waiting to replace the starters. They did over spend at the end of this 5 year rebuild. But at the same time Grier has us set up for a continual rebuild going forward. 2025 is now an interesting year for us. Questionable depth at many positions, but fairly strong at others. Injuries will happen, but where and when ? Could this O line survive two starters missing 6 weeks ? Tua going down for 6 weeks again, do we have enough backup there to win half those games ? Will McD change his pass first game into a power game of running the football, and will it work ? If it does, with the receiving corp. we have we will win games and at times look dominant ! But when that injury bug does hit, will we have enough behind it to survive ? McD will be here next year if we make the playoff’s. Gone if we do not. New GM will want his own Coach, QB and control. We would see another rebuild minus the good young players we already have. Regardless of the outcome going forward i should hope we all enjoy the season. Like McD we are going to be elated, or we are looking at pretty dam good draft picks ! So can we really lose ?
cyberflea believes that Ross’ blind loyalty will save Grier.
If anyone goes, it will be McD. Ross is too loyal to Grier and will more than likely retain his job unless the season is a complete catastrophic failure.
dedstrk316 is another who sees Grier’s gig as safe no matter what.
Grier is safe. McDaniel needs to show that he has control of the team, a culture shift, the offense gets back on track, and show an ability to adjust schemes and game plans. If we come out and can’t convert third and fourth downs, can’t score in the red zone, can’t get plays on time and play undisciplined on offense, and the defense continues to perform well I’d think Weaver gets the job.
phinette believes that they need to get their s**t together come November and December and not give the whole thing away late in the season like they have done so many times in the past.
Just win, baby. In all seriousness, we need to have a winning record in November and December. Over the years this has been our choke period. We can’t have another late season collapse. If it goes sideways, McDaniel and Grier won’t be the only casualties. I suspect we’ll have a firehouse sale.
DalFinsFan sees one metric that McDaniel needs to improve upon.
Simple metrics for MM, Dolphins were the 9th most penalized team last year. That needs to improve 8 spots to be in the top half of least penalized teams, which speaks to team cohesiveness and execution of plays.
CG is teflon.
Dolphster believes that if you want the answers, you need to be able to read Stephen Ross’ mind.
What we think they need to do to keep their jobs and what Ross thinks they need to do to keep their jobs are probably pretty different.
SlayerNation1 believes that the line is drawn with winning a playoff game; the only hurdle to keeping their jobs is doing so.
There needs to be a clear delineation: Playoff WIN or it’s Riddick/Weaver time (for example).
A playoff WIN, would be an accomplishment because let’s face it, it would be a road playoff win.
Time for new vision, new voices. Grier/McD/Tua all share these common threads:
- they have all had more than fair opportunities
- they all seem to have approx 50% proponents and 50% detractors, which is rather the point with all three… they are all 100% Mediocre
I am aware of the old caution “be careful what you wish for” … but I shall take my chances.
I could see Grier surviving. When the stove starts getting hotter, He is turning on McD, out of self preservation. Again, just had too many opportunities to show championship GM skill and hasn’t come remotely close.
Miami7 sees a lot of what people call a rebuild or soft rebuild as necessary, given the mess Grier made of the cap situation.
I’m not sure I feel the same as those stating the Phins are in some sort of soft rebuild. The cap cleanup is not an indication of that, IMO. That very simply HAD TO happen because Grier had put the team on tenuous ground moving forward with poor fiscal mgt/planning/lack of foresight. What is THIS year then? Throw away year? Roll it out & see how it goes and go from there? Hill & Chubb are one more run & done. It’s difficult to even imagine what this team IS without Tyreek?
Their draft suggested a crippled realization that they’d ignored the Interior OL/DL’s far too long, which in no uncertain terms was affected by cap availability (due to Grier’s improprieties) and trade deficits depriving draft picks as well as an AWAKENING that “Hey, we’ve got an immobile injury prone QB and a smaller sized bellcow RB, maybe we should protect & serve”....DUH!!! They drafted out of sheer desperate NEED - while simultaneously doing the same exact GD thing that got em’ in this situation (IGNORING a position group!). Say hello to the shell of Artie Burns skeletal remains that NEVER see the field and those two safeties that’ve never started anywhere before. Now it’s some kinda coup that Grier got Minkah outta the Ramsey/Jonnu deal? REALLY?
If yer ‘actually’ doing a roster rebuild and/or cap cleanup - why in hell would ya do it with the guy that created both problems?
That's our ten random comments for the evening. It seems there's a consensus that McDaniel will need to win at least one playoff game to keep his job. There also appears to be agreement about Chris Grier, with most believing that Ross won't fire him because he's simply too loyal to Grier to let him go. As with every one of these posts, I appreciate each of you who takes the time to answer our question of the day.
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