Hyde: Miami Dolphins were soft at the top with Grier, McDaniel

[CF DolFan]

Dave Hyde wrote a great article calling out the GM and Coach for the problems inside the team. I had forgotten this was an issue under Adam Gase as well.



MIAMI GARDENS — The Miami Dolphins have been NFL outliers the past few years, and proud of it, nonconformists who leant into their progressive ways. Coaches called players, “teammates.” Players got paid who didn’t need new contracts. They worked less rather than more in a culture of equanimity and kumbaya togetherness.

The result was this dud of an 8-9 season. But still Tuesday, in an annual post-mortem talk to media, general manager Chris Grier referred this team that became troubled by unprofessional edges all the way to captain Tyreek Hill quitting on them in the finale, as a, “player-driven team.”

Does that explain the problem? And show what has to change?

It’s not just this team that should get called, “soft,” as various Dolphins who lived in the locker room have labeled it over the past year. It’s those running the team, first and foremost.
It’s not just players who need to be called out for being late to meetings in a symptom of larger problems inside a team.

It’s Grier and coach Mike McDaniel who should be called out first for allowing such nonsense to happen.

Grier is a double offender at this, too. He was general manager when player tardiness in the Adam Gase years became such a problem the offending players’ names were written on the locker-room whiteboard next to the fined dollar amount to embarrass them. We, the media, wrote down the names.

That didn’t correct the problem. Nor did this current Dolphins new-age culture prevent it from happening again. It became such an issue McDaniel addressed it in his postseason meeting, saying players would have to be on time next season.
But how did he let it happen this season?

“One thing I did learn during the course of the season is that fining guys … didn’t particularly move the needle in the way we need to so I’ll adjust as I should as the head coach,’’ McDaniel said.

He could have asked Gase. Or Grier. It’s nice to say you are a “player-driven team,” because that’s the goal. Florida Panthers coach Paul Maurice says he sometimes stands behind the bench at games and doesn’t have to talk to players because they’re saying all the right things themselves. They’re two-time Stanley Cup finalists with a title, too.

These Dolphins have won nothing. Why should the players be given keys of the franchise? People talk of “culture” in sports, but often have no idea what it means. This is it. Something as little as the coach letting players be late for meetings is a porthole into a team’s professionalism and attention to detail that shows up (or not) in games.

The quest for excellence, you see, is found in things big and small. I once asked NBA veteran Shane Battier what “Heat Culture” meant to him.

“If practice starts at noon, everyone’s standing on the line with knee braces on and shoes laced, ready to go, at 11:59,” he said.

Doesn’t that happen everywhere — these are pros, after all?

He laughed. “Usually, at the start of most teams’ practices, guys are shooting half-court shots, running around, not really ready. Here, there’s a culture of discipline.”

https://www.sun-sentinel.com/2025/01/07/dave-hyde-miami-dolphins-were-soft-at-the-top-with-grier-mcdaniel-and-it-showed-on-the-field/

[masterfins]

I agree with this article.  Being a nice guy with the players may make players happy, but it doesn't win playoff games, let alone Super Bowls.  If you want to see .500 win seasons every year then just keep things the way they are. If you want more, then get players that will not complain about working hard, and start coaching with some authority.

[MyGodWearsAHoodie]

The problem is the GM.  Gase and Flores weren't horrible coaches, but the GM scapegoated them when he was the one who is incompetent. 

Dolphin's have a pretty decent HC that is worth hanging onto.  But it is hard to replace GMs and not coaches because GMs always want to bring in their guy. 

[Pappy13]

It's my opinion that McDaniel needs assistance with the disciplinary side of things. Make it a sort of good cop, bad cop thing. The good cop is there to pat you on the back and say everything is going to be alright and then the bad cop comes in and roughs you up a bit while the good cop is out of the room. I don't know who plays the bad cop, but someone who's willing to play that part and McDaniel only needs to make sure that players understand that if there's an issue with that dynamic, it will be the player moving on and not the bad cop. I'm fine with McDaniel being the good cop, but he needs to find someone willing to be the bad cop. I think there are guys out there that would be ok with that. I don't think Grier is a bad cop sort of guy though and I really don't think that's a role for the GM anyway. An assistant coach or someone has to be that guy.

[CF DolFan]

It's my opinion that McDaniel needs assistance with the disciplinary side of things. Make it a sort of good cop, bad cop thing. The good cop is there to pat you on the back and say everything is going to be alright and then the bad cop comes in and roughs you up a bit while the good cop is out of the room. I don't know who plays the bad cop, but someone who's willing to play that part and McDaniel only needs to make sure that players understand that if there's an issue with that dynamic, it will be the player moving on and not the bad cop. I'm fine with McDaniel being the good cop, but he needs to find someone willing to be the bad cop. I think there are guys out there that would be ok with that. I don't think Grier is a bad cop sort of guy though and I really don't think that's a role for the GM anyway. An assistant coach or someone has to be that guy.

He had that in Welker but it didn't appear to work. If he landed Darren Rizzi and made him Assistant Head coach again it just might.

[MyGodWearsAHoodie]

It's my opinion that McDaniel needs assistance with the disciplinary side of things. Make it a sort of good cop, bad cop thing. The good cop is there to pat you on the back and say everything is going to be alright and then the bad cop comes in and roughs you up a bit while the good cop is out of the room. I don't know who plays the bad cop, but someone who's willing to play that part and McDaniel only needs to make sure that players understand that if there's an issue with that dynamic, it will be the player moving on and not the bad cop. I'm fine with McDaniel being the good cop, but he needs to find someone willing to be the bad cop. I think there are guys out there that would be ok with that. I don't think Grier is a bad cop sort of guy though and I really don't think that's a role for the GM anyway. An assistant coach or someone has to be that guy.

Only works if the McDaniels doesn't undercut the disciplinarian. 

[Pappy13]

He had that in Welker but it didn't appear to work. If he landed Darren Rizzi and made him Assistant Head coach again it just might.

Nah, Welker didn't have any voice in the locker room. If he did we wouldn't be letting him go.

[Downunder Dolphan]

Have the players who missed/were late to meeting been named?

I know it's been implied that Tyreek was possibly one of them (which is a massive black mark considering he's a captain) but no one has been really stuck with the tag. 

[Dolfanalyst]

I've said this since McDaniel was hired:

The only way you're going to overcome him in having a winning culture in pro football is by having leaders among the players who essentially take the team over and create such a culture themselves.

The problem there however is that the players most likely to rise to the status of leaders on any NFL team are the ones with personalities similar to the head coach's.  On this team that means you have goofballs as your player leaders, and obviously that won't create the necessary culture.

The pivotal move here was hiring a head coach whose personality isn't much different from Pee Wee Herman's.  That won't work in pro football.

The team takes on the personality of its coach, and it does that by determining the kinds of players most likely to become leaders.  On Dan Campbell's team those will be the tough, driven, and determined guys.  On this team it'll be the goofballs.

[MyGodWearsAHoodie]

McD might fall in the category of great coordinator but lacking as head coach.

Grier shouldn't be a GM

[masterfins]

It's my opinion that McDaniel needs assistance with the disciplinary side of things. Make it a sort of good cop, bad cop thing. The good cop is there to pat you on the back and say everything is going to be alright and then the bad cop comes in and roughs you up a bit while the good cop is out of the room. I don't know who plays the bad cop, but someone who's willing to play that part and McDaniel only needs to make sure that players understand that if there's an issue with that dynamic, it will be the player moving on and not the bad cop. I'm fine with McDaniel being the good cop, but he needs to find someone willing to be the bad cop. I think there are guys out there that would be ok with that. I don't think Grier is a bad cop sort of guy though and I really don't think that's a role for the GM anyway. An assistant coach or someone has to be that guy.

I agree the good cop/bad cop strategy (I just saw an online clip with Bill Cowher saying he did this with Roethlisberger when he was a rookie), BUT it's the head coach that has to be the bad cop.  If the head coach is the good cop then the players would mostly just ignore the assistant that is being the bad cop.

[Downunder Dolphan]

Forget the good cop bad cop stuff... let's just start with basic accountability.

These guys are being paid a lot of money to do their job. Yes, it's more fun than a regular job most of us have, but it is a job. It's a responsibility.

Dare I say, if most of the rest of us didn't show up on time, more-so multiple times, there would be some kind of consequences. The problem is in this case, there were none that seemed to matter.

This is where the coaches have failed. You don't necessarily have to get in someone's face about it. You don't make threats. You make it known that it's unacceptable, and if it continues there will be payback. If fines don't work, then benching. Or suspensions. Or delistings. Jimmy Johnson was far from seen as being a mean coach, but players were terrified of getting cut if they royally screwed up.

[Sibster]

Forget the good cop bad cop stuff... let's just start with basic accountability.

These guys are being paid a lot of money to do their job. Yes, it's more fun than a regular job most of us have, but it is a job. It's a responsibility.

Dare I say, if most of the rest of us didn't show up on time, more-so multiple times, there would be some kind of consequences. The problem is in this case, there were none that seemed to matter.

This is where the coaches have failed. You don't necessarily have to get in someone's face about it. You don't make threats. You make it known that it's unacceptable, and if it continues there will be payback. If fines don't work, then benching. Or suspensions. Or delistings. Jimmy Johnson was far from seen as being a mean coach, but players were terrified of getting cut if they royally screwed up.

JJ was definitely mean at times, but you're right about players being terrified of getting cut.   If you were out of shape or even suffering from nagging injuries, you were on his shit list.   I remember during the June mini camp his first year here, some of the rookies weren't used to heavy running in the oppressive South Florida heat/humidity and were cramping.   He walked up to them and said, "I feel bad for you rookies.  You're cramped up after you just got here and there's vets here in shape and ready to roll."    Then, the eyes turned red and the horns came out and he goes, "Listen motherfuckers!!   This is a job, not college!!   If your ass has cramps at training camp, I'll cut you in a nanosecond!!"

[Spider-Dan]

It's incredibly weird to see people pining for a tough-guy head coach like Brian Flores doesn't exist.

[Dolfanalyst]

It's incredibly weird to see people pining for a tough-guy head coach like Brian Flores doesn't exist.

There's a lot of room on the continuum between essentially Pee Wee Herman reincarnate and Brian Flores.  Just because you don't want Pee Wee Herman 2.0 doesn't mean you want Brian Flores.  There are other options besides those two.