As the Miami Dolphins prepare for a home game against the AFC East rival New England Patriots, the front office is likely involved in a flurry of behind-the-scenes activity.
General manager Chris Grier and his partner in crime Brandon Shore have been a formidable front office duo and one of the more active administrative pairs in the NFL.
Not only have offseason acquisitions and draft pick trading been in Grier’s repertoire, but he’s also shown consistency in deadline dealing, especially in the last five seasons. Acquiring wide receiver Chase Claypool earlier this month made it the fifth straight year in which Miami’s top man has made an October or even November trade.
Last season, he made a duo of deals, acquiring edge rusher Bradley Chubb from the Denver Broncos and running back Jeff Wilson Jr. from the San Francisco 49ers.
Grier has shown consistency and continuity in his dealings.
He made a 2021 deal with the Chicago Bears, shipping kick returner slash wide receiver Jakeem Grant out in return for a sixth-round pick.
Earlier this year, Grier traded offensive lineman Dan Feeney to Chicago for a sixth-round draft pick, adding more to the consistency theme, as Chicago has been a team he deals with on numerous occasions, including the move for Claypool.
In 2020, Grier made a minor deal acquiring running back DeAndre Washington from the Kansas City Chiefs. The year prior, he made a cap-maneuvering move, acquiring the injured reserved veteran Aqib Talib from the Los Angeles Rams and also shipped out veteran running back Kenyan Drake to the Arizona Cardinals for a fifth-round draft pick.
Of course, each of those teams has been on Grier’s hit list recently, as the Chiefs sent Tyreek Hill over in 2022, and the Cardinals dealt with him in 2019 in the unsuccessful Josh Rosen trade.
Success or not, the purpose here is to find consistency in Grier’s willingness to deal and with whom. Since the systemic rebuild where ground-breaking was arguably the Laremy Tunsil trade, officially, the demolition was on.
Along with the Bears and 49ers, the Texans were a team Grier had been in business with several times.
Grier has made three significant deals with San Fransico in this period of construction which includes that Wilson trade last season as well as the draft pick bonanza deal that led to Trey Lance for the 49ers, and a 2020 draft day deal, shipping running back Matt Breida to Miami.
The Bears and Grier have made four deals since 2020, with the aforementioned moves and the Adam Shaheen trade from that year. The Texans and Dolphins have made a total of three trades in the rebuild era, including the Tunsil blockbuster and a pair of lesser seismic moves – a 2020 draft-day pick deal as well as the Shaq Lawson for Benardrick McKinney swap in 2021.
And, Miami and Houston tried to make another move last season, as the two teams agreed to a trade for Shaheen, but the deal was voided due to a failed physical.
If you want to look at his body of work in this “rebuild” in which he gained full autonomy from past Vice Presidents of Football Operations, another factor helped him. In 2019, he was officially paired with Shore, a salary cap and accounting guru, and it became their show.
Grier, with Shore’s skillful handling of the cap, has been aggressive in all forms of roster building, making 40 trades, including draft weekend maneuvering.
In 2019, he made multiple draft weekend moves and acquired a pick from the New Orleans Saints just to flip that to the Cardinals in the ill-fated Rosen deal. 2020’s draft saw multiple deals as well as 2021’s.
Speaking of multiple deals, Grier has pulled a trigger twice within 24 hours as recently as this summer. The Feeney with Chicago deal and the shipping out of Noah Igbinoghene for Kelvin Joseph happened like Michael Corleone was consolidating power in one day.
In 2022, Grier beat the deadline buzzer with a pair of moves in acquiring Wilson and Chubb, and back in 2019’s week leading to the trade finish line, he made those Talib and Drake moves.
If we’re team tracking now, since 2019, here are the main teams on Grier’s metaphorical speed dial. The amount of deals per team since 2019 is indicated which parentheses.
Chicago (4), San Francisco (3), Philadelphia (3), Houston (3), Los Angeles Rams (2), New England Patriots (2), Kansas City (2), Pittsburgh (2), Tennessee (2), Raiders Franchise (2), Arizona (2), New Orleans (2).
Grier has done business with 11 other NFL teams since once since 2019.
With about a week left to deal, it really shouldn’t be a matter of “if” Grier makes a move. The question just should be, “Who” will he call or “Who” is he waiting to call him?
The smart money could be one of those teams with multiple moves done in the last few seasons, as this is a relationship business. Ideally, an NFC team or an out-of-the-mix AFC team looking to unload should be where the guessing chips should be placed for fans wondering who a trade target could be.
Whatever happens on Sunday, expect Grier and Shore to be putting in overtime in the next week to make sure the roster is as strong as possible heading into the second half of the season.
The areas to watch are middle linebacker, offensive line, even more able-bodied running backs or those who stuff the run on the interior of the defensive line.
