Omar Kelly: Dolphins better be prepared to pay hidden cost of keeping Grier and McDaniel

Omar Kelly, Miami Herald on Jan 14, 2025

Published in Football

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MIAMI — As a developer and CEO of one of America’s biggest real estate companies Steve Ross should be knowledgeable about hidden costs.

Hopefully the Miami Dolphins owner is accounting for the hidden cost of keeping things status quo with South Florida’s NFL franchise.

While general manager Chris Grier and head coach Mike McDaniel each confessed his sins of the season to the media last week, an even bigger sales job is needed in a couple of weeks.

That’s when Dolphins must sell themselves as an organization that isn’t bleeding out, and is a franchise headed in the right direction to an apathetic fan base that patiently waits to see the desperate moves the pair makes in 2025.

McDaniel can’t lose his locker room, especially while the team makes tough decisions on players such Terron Armstead, Bradley Chubb, Raheem Mostert, and others, to create cap space for the upcoming roster enhancements.

If you thought Tyreek Hill’s “I want out” sentiments are isolated you’re truly not paying attention to how fragile an NFL locker room is, and the instability of Miami’s foundation.

This is a “win-a-playoff-game-or-you’re-done” season based on the statement Ross produced at the conclusion of Miami’s 8-9 season when the 84-year-old owner said “continuity in leadership is not to be confused with acceptance that status quo is good enough.”

Those kinds of “save-my-job” situations force the people in charge to do desperate things, take an all-in approach, and maybe be more irresponsible than they already are.

It makes Miami a challenging organization to sell to new coaches (Miami’s shopping for a new special teams coordinator and receiver coach), especially without a huge financial investment.

The free agents and trade prospects they will likely target — and more importantly, their agents — know the Dolphins decision-makers are in a walk-the-plank situation considering McDaniel and Grier join the New York Giants staff as the owners of the hottest seats in the NFL.

None of this is ideal, but here we are, and at this point there is no turning back.

[Push the betting chips into the middle of the table].

This situation reminds me of the moment Ross got caught up in a 37-35 come-from-behind win against the Minnesota Vikings in the second to last regular-season game of the 2014 season, which ended with a second straight 8-8 record, and guaranteed Joe Philbin would be back as head coach the next season.

Problem is, Ross should have checked with Philbin’s workforce — the Dolphins players — because many of them felt that was the worst decision the organization could have made.

After clearing out some of the disgruntled players — primarily the receiver room, which ran a failed December coup on quarterback Ryan Tannehill, lobbying Philbin to replace him with Matt Moore in the season’s final month — the rebranded version of Philbin’s team began the 2015 season 1-4.

Coming out the gate slow cost Philbin his job after a 27-14 loss to the New York Jets in a contest where the team was lifeless.

Because the team didn’t buy in a new voice was needed, and Dan Campbell was replaced as Miami’s interim head coach that season.

I bring up that seldom talked-about Ross misstep as a reminder that history continues to repeat itself with this organization, and as a warning that hidden costs for keeping things status quo must be paid.

We will probably see a cleanout of some non-believers, as McDaniel pushes to bring in more players and people who buy into his player-friendly culture and “everybody’s buddy” coaching style.

And we will likely see the Dolphins do what they have done for most of Grier’s tenure as the team’s top executive, which is to trade or sign big names expected to hit the trade market, such asa San Francisco tight end George Kittle, Las Vegas pass rusher Maxx Crosby or Cleveland’s Myles Garrett.

Is that a healthy approach to building this already top-heavy roster, which is projected to be roughly $12 million over the 2025 salary cap before move one is made?

It’s not, but that’s been the Dolphins way during the McDaniel era, and if it’s not completely broken why not try to get it running again?

At this point, a leopard shouldn’t try to change its spots, and if Ross is going to give Grier and McDaniel one season to get this franchise back on track — with the starting point of winning the franchise’s first playoff game in 25 years — they should be allowed to swing for the fences, pulling out all the stops by working without restrictions.

While that might not be a wise approach to take for the future of the franchise, if we are going to keep things status quo, we can’t put shackles on the people in charge and must give them an opportunity to right the ship the same way they built it.

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