The Miami Dolphins have won between six and 10 games in each of the past 10 seasons. Rather than continue to tread water, they discarded starting quarterback Ryan Tannehill this offseason and are in search of a trade partner for defensive end Robert Quinn in their embrace of a full-on rebuild.
As Dolphins general manager Chris Grier describes it, Miami's front office isn't actively working to lose games this year. The organization simply isn't as concerned with 2019 as it is 2020.
Just don't say the Fins are tanking (pun intended).
"We're going to keep building it from Day 1," Grier said Monday at the Annual League meeting, via the Miami Herald. "We made the change. We talked about building the foundation and building it up the right way. So that's all it is. There's no tanking. You say you want tough, competitive guys who love ball and you bring them in and say, 'Hey let's do it but not this year, let's just relax and enjoy this year? And we'll come back next year and be tough and competitive?' So you draft those types of guys."
That doesn't necessarily start with the Dolphins' first-round pick. Miami owns the No. 13 overall selection but is open for business, according to Grier.
"You always need a partner, to do a move like that," Grier said. "So we're not going to do anything just to do it and say let's do it. And then we come out and it looks bad on a move. All options are on the table. We've talked about looking at this in a two-year window. And we should always look at it in a two-year or three-year window."
After seeing the Arizona Cardinals trade up to No. 10 in last year's draft to select Josh Rosen, the QB-needy Dolphins pivoted and took safety Minkah Fitzpatrick. He, along with cornerback Xavien Howard, are among the few building blocks on a team lacking the talent to be torn down.
For Grier's plan to work, he'll have to restock the roster by hitting on as many draft picks as possible. That means it's unlikely Miami surrenders any to move up in the first round and takes a quarterback.
"We're competing but we're going to build it the right way," Grier said. "We're going to be smart about it. And just acquiring picks is another way to hopefully speed up the process for us."
For now, the fourth-year GM is comfortable with wherever the chips may fall in Year 1 of the Brian Flores era.
"Everyone keeps saying [we're] tanking and we're going to go and be crap," Grier said. "So I don't know what we'll be. If these guys go out and we have some good young players and they play well and we win eight games, we go, 'All right, we've won eight games and we've got right now 11 or 12 picks for next year with the draft still approaching.'"
