Chris Grier – November 3, 2021
Wednesday, November 3, 2021
General Manager Chris Grier
(Why did the team pursue QB Deshaun Watson, which obviously was widely reported? Why did Steve Ross ask for permission to speak with him and why ultimately did you not make the trade?) – “I would say it’s my job as general manager to always investigate every avenue of players that potentially may or may not be available. First of all, it’s no different. We’ve done that from Day 1. That is no mandate from anyone. It’s just how we operate and I think that’s how every team in the NFL operates. In terms of what discussions were had and what people asked for permission and all of that stuff, at the end of the day, no trade was made. As an organization, we decided not to make a deal. Basically at the end of the day, you go through these processes and you talk through things, no decision was made and we’re moving forward with the team that we have.”
(What does that interest say about how you feel about QB Tua Tagovailoa?) – “I don’t think it’s any different than any player on the roster, honestly. Because if a player is available around the league that is viewed as being one of the top players in the league at any position, I think you look at it and go for it or try to go for it. Investigating a player at any position, whether it’s wide receiver, d-line, o-line, linebacker – if it’s a good player, we’re going to investigate it and look at it and do it. We’re very happy with Tua. We think he’s developing well. Brian (Flores) has been very consistent in his message and we have been as well. He’s working hard, he’s showing a lot of improvement and we think he’ll continue to develop and be the player we think he can be.”
(Why did you think it was a plausible path to pursue a guy who has 22 pending civil lawsuits and an ongoing criminal investigation?) – “Again, we’re doing background work and investigating everything. Just because you do that doesn’t mean we’re going to do a deal. Again, we’re investigating good players and again, every situation is unique. This was a unique situation. We did our due diligence and decided not to pursue a trade.”
(Did the team or representatives of the team request for the women to sign non-disclosure agreements?) – “I think any suggestion that this organization would be dealing behind the scenes and try to influence decisions is absolutely ridiculous and categorically false. To say that we would be involved in that is just flat wrong. It pisses me off. I’m sorry.”
(QB Deshaun Watson is still available. He’s going to be available after the season and there will be other quarterbacks available after the season. Do the rules apply after the season as well? Are you going to be looking for quarterbacks after the season?) – “I think again, you always evaluate the roster. You go through it once the season is done. Right now our focus is trying to win as many games as we can in the second half of the season, and we’ll evaluate it and go through it and then we’ll deal with free agency and the draft once the season is over.”
(If you could, this whole situation, have dealt with it differently – if you could go back given all the cloud that’s been hanging over QB Tua Tagovailoa and the team for the last six months or so with these rumors, would you do this differently? Would you handle some of the things differently?) – “I think the one thing, as Brian (Flores) and Tua have mentioned, that has been very consistent, is communication with Tua as well. I’ve had talks with his agent behind the scenes. Again, a lot of the stories that came out about how all of this stuff has gone are false. I would say 90 percent of the stuff. We spent time. We believe in Tua. Brian has been consistent in the messaging. At the end of the day, we feel good about the communication and where it’s been. But again, how all of this stuff has transpired, a lot of it has been false.”
(How often were you in contact with Houston?) – “Again, I’m not going to get into how often, who and when. But a lot of the stories that have come out about it, about as many times as people have reported we’ve been talking to it, are false.”
(Why would you let another team use you guys as maybe leverage or put out other statements that may not be true?) – “Because I can’t come out here every week and start denying and saying this is false, false, false. It doesn’t do any good to keep coming out. So for us, I’ve never commented on anything. I don’t deal publicly in the media with stuff. You guys know that. This is rare for me to speak during the season because I always like to talk to you guys after the season when we have the total picture of everything. But at the end of the day, for us to keep making statements every time someone makes a comment or stuff, because we’ve been involved in a lot of trades, talking with people and looking at stuff. I’ve had agents say every trade that’s involved, they seem to say, ‘are you guys involved in it?’ Our name is involved and some of it is true and some of it is not true. You can’t just come out every week and just keep denying and denying because people won’t believe you anyway.”
(How can you say you believe in QB Tua Tagovailoa but you spent time looking to potentially replace Tua with somebody else?) – “Because as I told you, if there was a player there that is considered a top player in the National Football League, I think you always have to do your homework. It has nothing to do with not believing in Tua.”
(Are you worried about your relationship with QB Tua Tagovailoa because of this pursuit?) – “No. Tua is a great kid, strong-minded. He understands. I’ve been in communication, as I’ve told you, with his agent. We’ve been clear. We’re investigating and looking at all avenues and players. It was just kind of a unique situation.”
(QB Deshaun Watson isn’t just another player. We all know the allegations that are surrounding him. How concerned were you and the organization over pursuing a player with those kind of allegations? How concerned are you with how that looked to the community and your fan base?) – “Again, I respect the question. We did our due diligence behind the scenes, trying to figure out – to gather as much information as we can. At the end of the day, we decided not to pursue a trade. We’re just investigating and going through our process like we do. We decided as an organization not to pursue a trade.”
(There’s no concern that he would get charged criminally?) – “There’s a lot of unknowns with it and that’s all a part of it. But at the end of the day again, we decided not to pursue a trade.”
(Do you expect in the offseason to revisit this whole thing?) – “I would say you get through the season, like we do. We’ve got to finish up here and we’ll keep evaluating the entire roster. It’s not just Tua (Tagovailoa). We want to see improvement from everybody across the roster and keep developing. Then once the offseason comes, we’ll approach it and make decisions then.”
(You made a very important decision on your starting quarterback last year with the fifth pick. With the sixth pick, the Chargers picked QB Justin Herbert, who seems to be a better player. Did you miss on that pick?) – “I would leave that for you to judge. At the end of the day, we went through our process with everyone and it was a process and we felt good about Tua (Tagovailoa). There were a lot of things we liked about Tua. We liked Justin too. He was a good player. We spent time with both players and at the end of the day, we chose Tua and we feel he’ll be a good player in the league. He’s developing and we’re happy with where he’s at right now.”
(How much of a factor was what the inevitable outcry would have been, particularly from women, who like this team, in not pursuing this trade?) – “There were a lot of factors as you go through all of that. We talked through all of those things as an organization. Like I said, we came to a conclusion as we got to it that we ultimately decided not to pursue a trade.”
(Amid the allegations, did you ever address the rumors of the trade with the women in this building, just to make sure that they knew that work was always going to be a safe place for them?) – “No because we never got to a point where anything was going to be realistic in terms of happening. It was still us just doing our due diligence, just talking through things. Again, we never got to a point where anything was that close to happening and of course, if that was happening, we definitely would have thought about that and done something.”
(How much influence does Head Coach Brian Flores have on the roster with you in decisions like this?) – “It’s important that you have communication and that we talk through things and make sure there’s alignment on things. In this case, as we’re just doing due diligence, Brian is focused on coaching the team and working through it. He was aware, but limited. We would update him as things were going on. But his focus was coaching the football team as we were doing our background work and trying to decide where we were on any potential deal that may or may not have been done.”
(The move from three to 12 to six, did you ever ask Philadelphia to take the 49ers first-round pick next year instead of your own? Was that something that you asked them to do or were you confident that your pick would end up lower than San Francisco’s?) – “The conversations we have with other teams on stuff, I’ll keep private because I don’t know if they’re comfortable with me sharing information. We had conversations about it when we did it. I would say those conversations were good conversations. Howie (Roseman) was good as we worked through it. But those conversations I will keep internal between he and I.”
(Why not just stay at three, pick the best player and keep your own first-rounder next year? Is that a regret you have right now? It looks like right now it might end up being hurtful.) – “For us, when we made the decision at the time, we thought it was the best decision for us as we went through it and talked through it. At the time when we made the decision, we felt good about it and doing it. I’m not going to sit here and – it’s easy to go hindsight and second-guess right now. But we made the decision at the time, felt good about it, and Jaylen (Waddle) has been a good player for us. We’re happy with him and we think he’ll continue to be a very good player. We’re happy with where he is so we’re excited for his future.”
(How would you assess how the team has done in the draft in recent years?) – “We’ve added some good young players. I think last year we won 10 games and this year has been not where we’re happy. Being 1-7, no one’s happy. We’re all frustrated. We’re trying to turn this thing around in the second half of the season. But we’ve added good young players. We’re happy with where they are and we think they’ll keep developing and look forward to them all being good contributors in the future.”
(There was a report from CBS a few weeks ago that said that when the Dolphins made a decision on their quarterback at No. 5, that Head Coach Brian Flores wanted QB Justin Herbert and you picked QB Tua Tagovailoa. Is that accurate?) – “That is not accurate. I’m just saying all of our decisions we make as a team, but I’m not going into who wanted what. That’s speculation that people are just trying to give. When I see things come out that are basically wrong, that is one of them.”
