Dave Hyde: Who's running the suddenly restrained and responsible Dolphins?

Dave Hyde, South Florida Sun Sentinel on Mar 13, 2025

Published in Football

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Restrained. Responsible. Thrifty. Patient. Disciplined. Calculated. Conservative. Considered.

Who’s running the Miami Dolphins like this?

No, seriously, who?

They worked the margins of free agency this week in a borderline admirable manner considering their too-old, too-hurt, far-too-expensive roster that everything feels changed except the names on the organizational hierarchy.

For the past few seasons, general manager Chris Grier and coach Mike McDaniel have been at the controls spending lavishly and unsuccessfully. Now they’ve done a U-turn to thrifty and patient before the season they make a stand for their jobs? Or is something, and someone, else at work here?

“Operation: Bargain bin,” one NFL scout labeled the Dolphins’ methods this week.

The Dolphins’ big purchase was for James Daniels, a guard who signed a modest three-year, $24 million deal. That’s the kind of money this team spilled over the bar in recent free agencies.

Has owner Steve Ross sent an edict for change? That puts more power in the salary cap calculator of Brandon Shore, the vice president of bean counting? That begins a stark change from this culture of players’ comfort of recent years?

It’s too early to conclude all that. But it’s not too late in free agency to see something has changed again on the inside of this organization. Because, no, the free agent restraint this week isn’t due to a lack of salary-cap money — though, it’s true, they have little.

The old Dolphins, the one as recently as last summer, would have redone a contract to free up some money and made a splash for a couple of players. Look at Kansas City for how easily it’s done. It went from having no salary cap space before free agency to having $49 million by re-arranging the contracts of stars Patrick Mahomes and Chris Jones. They then spent it on help.

That’s what you do when you’re in annual Super Bowl mode.

Breaking news — The Dolphins aren’t in Super Bowl mode, folks. Shocking, I know. But they didn’t even win a playoff game when they pushed all their chips to the middle of the table the past few years. They did, however, create the oldest, most fragile and unnecessarily expensive NFL roster.

Remember how Grier did it? He traded the innards of two drafts (two first-round picks, a second, a third, fourth, fifth and two sixths) and hundreds of salary cap millions for Tyreek Hill, Bradley Chubb and Jalen Ramsey. He then re-did Hill’s and Ramsey’s contracts as they turned 30 to keep everyone happy.

Is everyone happy?

So, this week is either the cost of such moves or the start of a new way. The lack of a big move is telling. They haven’t even signed a cornerback to start opposite Ramsey. Or a starting defensive tackle. And they signed a couple of safeties to open some good competition but not close the conversation on who’s starting. That’s how to do it.

A safety on their wish list, Talanoa Hufanga, signed a three-year, $45 million deal in Denver this week despite an injury history. A linebacker they batted eyes at, Dre Greenlaw, signed a three-year, $35 million deal also in Denver despite barely playing last year.

That’s so-not-Dolphins to pass on these players. Grier has never backed away from signing older, injured players. But Exhibit A of a new way was Terron Armstead. He’s 34, expensive, talented, can’t practice he’s so hurt and was demoted to a minimum contract for now.

One idea is the classy pro will be thanked and released, that the Dolphins are doing what good organizations do in betting on second-rounder Patrick Paul. Another idea is the Dolphins aren’t done debating this internally, that Armstead is needed to patrol the locker room and Paul isn’t completely trusted to start. Stay tuned.

Something’s changed, though. It was just last training camp Tua Tagovailoa was praising McDaniel for “pounding the table” to get his contract done. He wasn’t pounding it to convince Grier, considering, well, Grier doesn’t need pounding to be convinced of much.

Shore, though, has more inside power than people know, a source said. He runs the contracts, meaning he can set philosophy — well, he can as long as Ross is on board.

Whoever has the Ross’ ear always has run this franchise. It’s changed through the years, too, sometimes to people behind the curtain: Mike Dee, Matt Higgins, Mike Tannenbaum, Tom Garfinkel … and now, who, Shore? Garfinkel and Shore?

The restrained and responsible Dolphins had a disciplined free agent week as fits their position. No, they didn’t fill their many and varied holes or make some splash to start another mythical Super Bowl run.

They got some help, some depth, some bargain bin maybes. They also got a new way of saying they’ll build through the draft in a manner they’ve neglected in recent years. It’s OK to be jealous of New England signing all those names.

The Dolphins had a disciplined, even admirable week, for their needs.

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