What a start to the 2021 campaign for the Miami Dolphins. This organization has struggled to put together a winning team for decades now, and it doesn’t seem to have found an end just yet. When Chris Grier took on a full General Manager role and brought in Belichick disciple Brian Flores to lead his roster, things were looking up for the first time in a very long time. Grier began wheeling and dealing, trading young and veteran players for a treasure trove of picks that were supposed to expedite the rebuild. However, those moves are looking more ineffective with each passing Sunday, and the patience is beginning to run thin on South Beach.

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Miami’s 2020 draft selections are failing them. Austin Jackson is not an NFL-caliber lineman, and I’m positive that we don’t need to see any more of him to make that proclamation. Noah Igbinoghene doesn’t even get dressed on Sundays. Tua Tagovailoa has yet to have a coming-out of any sort while he deals with another injury. So far, it looks as if Grier and Flores have squandered the picks that were supposed to be centerpieces in their runs with the organization. Outside of the draft picks, Grier has also made some highly confusing moves in free agency and on the trade block. After handing out big-money deals to Kyle Van Noy, Ereck Flowers, Shaq Lawson, and even Ted Karras, Grier decided the Dolphins had no use for any of them going into 2021 while he sent them all packing. 

Grier and Flores have been so infatuated with young talent that they have completely overlooked the value of having veteran leaders on the roster, and its effect is obvious. Miami’s entire starting offensive line is made up of 7 early-round picks, and they’re struggling unlike any other unit in the league. There has to be a mix of veteran and young presences, especially on the O-Line. How did this regime decide that they were going to bet so heavily on young talent? Then again, they were so confident in the roster they built that they traded their own first-round pick in 2022 to the Eagles in the move back up to select Waddle in April of this year. That pick could very well end up being in the top 5. Not ideal. 

What kind of message did the Dolphins send to future free agents when they made the moves they did with Van Noy, Flowers, Lawson? It cannot be a positive one. Which players would find those moves encouraging and representative of security with the team? It’s a bad look, and it gets worse when we see what they’ve done to replace those players. Cutting Van Noy only to watch him return to the Patriots and misuse Jaelen Phillips for the first three weeks is another example of the ineptitude of these moves. Phillips was a pure edge rusher at The U and a dominant one at that. Without Van Noy, or Bernardrick McKinney (another player Grier traded picks for just to cut him), the Dolphins forced Phillips to play as more of a drop back, outside backer than use him as a threat off the edge. None of it makes any sense. There was much made about the Dolphins having such a young roster, and they often boasted about how few over-30 players they had. It’s not working, and someone, possibly multiple people, may have to pay for these mistakes at the end of the season or sooner. 

The Flores/Grier regime seemed like the turnaround Dolphins fans have been seeking for so long now, but we’re apparently back to square one. The cycle continues. Miami is going to need to have an almost miracle-like finish to this season to inspire any sort of confidence that they have the right men in the building. Here’s to hoping, which is all Dolphins’ fans have.Â