The Chris Grier Firing One Year Later: Revisiting the Former Dolphins GM's Hits and Misses

Halloween arrived Saturday, but for the Miami Dolphins it also marked the one-year anniversary of the firing of Chris Grier as general manager, a move that was met with almost universal approval from the team's frustrated fans.

His eventual replacement, Jon-Eric Sullivan, has on the flip side won over a lot of folks with his early moves in a massive rebuilding project that was almost necessary because of previous mistakes by his predecessors and the other decision-makers in the organization.

While Sullivan's draft class has the looks at this time of a slam-dunk winner with the early contributions of Kadyn Proctor, Chris Johnson, Jacob Rodriguez, Caleb Douglas and Michael Taaffe, though it probably will take some time to offer an accurate verdict, and the same goes for the most involving the veterans (though, again, the Jaylen Waddle trade looks a winner at this time).

REVISITING THE BIG NEWS

Grier's firing came on the morning of October 31, 2025, hours after the Dolphins dropped a 28-6 Thursday night decision against the Baltimore Ravens at Hard Rock Stadium.

Sullivan was hired as GM in January after Champ Kelly finished out the 2025 season as interim GM, making one trade during his time.

That was the move to send Jaelan Phillips to the Philadelphia Eagles in exchange for a third-round pick, a decision that was sound at the time and even more so now after the huge contract Phillips got in the offseason from the Carolina Panthers as an unrestricted free agent.

Grier had taken over that role in 2016 after more than a decade with the organization, though in many ways he assumed true GM duties in 2019 after the Dolphins moved on from Executive Vice President of Football Operations Mike Tannenbaum.

The Dolphins failed to win a playoff game during Grier's time as GM, extending a drought that began in Grier's first year with the team in 2000.

Along the way, Grier oversaw a series of personnel decisions that did lead the Dolphins to the playoffs three times, including his first year in 2016, but also came up way short considering all the financial commitments the Dolphins made.

THE BIG MISSES

In breaking down the Dolphins' personnel decisions, we should point out that the organization always went out of its way to talk about a collaborative approach but as GM the hits and misses should fall on Grier more than anybody else.

And, without question, it's in the draft where Grier had most of his misses.

-- The Dolphins whiffed on too many early draft picks over the past decade, a trend that started with first-round pick Charles Harris in 2017 and continued with Noah Igbinoghene in 2020, Liam Eichenberg in 2021, Channing Tindall in 2022 and Cam Smith in 2023.

-- The Dolphins also missed out on some big-time talent, which happens to every franchise but seemed to happen more often for Miami. Just last year, the Dolphins took Kenneth Grant at number 13, one spot before the Colts took Tyler Warren, and that decision still doesn't look very good 18 months after the fact. But while the final verdict isn't in on that dubious choice, here's a long list of more clear regrettable choices:

• DE Charles Harris over T.J. Watt in 2017 Round 1
• QB Tua Tagovailoa over Justin Herbert in 2020 Round 1 (yes, even though Herbert is struggling badly with former Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniel as his new offensive coordinator this year)
• T Austin Jackson over WR Justin Jefferson in 2020 Round 1
• CB Noah Igbinoghene over RB Jonathan Taylor or S Antoine Winfield in 2020 Round 1
• OL Liam Eichenberg over C Creed Humphrey or LB Nick Bolton in 2021 Round 2
• CB Cam Smith over OLB Tuli Tuipulotu or G O'Cyrus Torrence or TE Tyler Kraft in 2023 Round 2
• OLB Chop Robinson over CB Quinyon Mitchell in 2024 Round 1

-- The Dolphins also made a lot of high-profile trades under Grier when they decided to go all in to try to make a deep run into the playoffs and came up short. In that department, the Dolphins got mostly decent value in most of those trades and it's difficult to complain about Grier's work if the mandate was to go for it.

In retrospect, giving up a first-round pick for Bradley Chubb was a questionable (or bad) move because the edge defender was an impact player for only one season, and that 2023 season ended prematurely because of his Week 17 knee injury.

The Tyreek Hill trade can be debated for a while, but it's impossible to call it an out-and-out miss for Miami.

Likewise, it's difficult to criticize the terms of the Jalen Ramsey trade after getting him for a third-round pick and a backup tight end, but the question is whether Grier should have known his personality could be an issue at some point.

GRIER'S BIGGEST HITS

The reality is that Grier usually got good value in the trades he orchestrated, with the caveat that it helps when the team is willing to make a financial commitment to a player whose team doesn't want to do that.

-- His best trade in terms of value probably was the huge Laremy Tunsil deal with the Houston Texans in the rebuild of 2019 that netted the Dolphins all sorts of high draft picks.

-- The Dolphins also got great value in a draft trade involving picks in 2021 draft when they got two future first-round picks to move down from 3 to 12, but from this vantage point that win was somewhat negated when they turned around and traded one of those future No. 1s to move back up to 6. And then it also says here the Dolphins made a mistake by taking Jaylen Waddle, even though he's a very good wide receiver, instead of Penei Sewell, who has become an elite tackle on his way to the Hall of Fame.

-- Grier did hit on some draft picks during his time, never more than his very first draft when the Dolphins landed Tunsil in the first round and Xavien Howard in the second. Christian Wilkins was a good first-round pick in 2019, and other hits have included Robert Hunt in Round 2 in 2020, De'Von Achane in Round 3 in 2023, Malik Washington in Round 6 in 2024 and Patrick Paul in Round 2 in 2024 as well.

In the end, though, the misses clearly stood out more than the hits and one year later it's difficult to argue against the decision the Dolphins made because it does appear the organization is on the right path, even though it might take a little bit of time to get there.

While he always took more blame that he probably deserved, it's also very difficult to give Grier a high grade as Dolphins GM.

Let's just say his tenure was uninspiring, though not nearly as bad as a lot of Dolphins fans want to portray it.

SULLIVAN'S STRONG START

Sullivan, meanwhile, can do no wrong in the eyes of a lot of fans right now because of the massive contributions of the rookie class, though the caveat must be included is the fact the roster being stripped provided a lot of immediate opportunities for those young players.

That said, it's really difficult to find fault with many, if any, of the moves he has made so far.

One that stands out was the decision to bypass the popular choice of Rueben Bain Jr. with the Dolphins' first of their two first-round picks. While we're not even at the halfway point of their rookie season, Kadyn Proctor right now has the look of a future star on the offensive line — wherever he winds up lining up — while Bain has done nothing to dispell the concern some draft analysts and media members brought up about his shorter arms being a major detriment as an NFL pass rusher.

The Dolphins regulardly have had six or seven rookies in their starting lineup this season, a testament both to the rebuild and to Sullivan's work.

The real test will come in future years when we see how many of those players remain starters.

Again, though, Sullivan is off to a great start. And for some Dolphins fans, the best part is he's not Chris Grier.

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