Chris Grier – March 28, 2022
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Monday, March 28, 2022
General Manager Chris Grier
(You’re a guy who’s been known to love building through the draft and now you’re not picking until No. 102. One, is that going to strange for you? And two, what was the thinking that led to that?) – “I think the last time I was involved in that was when we didn’t pick until the third round years ago and took (Seth) McKinney from Texas A&M years ago. It was a pretty boring Day 1. (laughter) But we have building here for a while since we took over just trying to acquire picks and cleaning up salary cap and stuff, and so I think it was the opportunity to add a good player, a very dynamic player – one that we feel is one of the best players in the league. And when those opportunities come, you can’t pass on it and I think we’d spent the last few years, like I said, building and getting the roster to a point where we feel like we can start competing. And at the end of the day, being able to add a player of his caliber, we just felt it was too good to pass on it. And to do deals like that you always need good support from ownership – from Steve (Ross), Tom (Garfinkel) and then Brandon (Shore) working with the agent as well to finish up the deal.”
(When did you realize that was a reality to get WR Tyreek Hill?) – “I would say it was probably – we had first heard it was last Friday, I believe it was – the previous Friday. And we reached out and we were like, ‘there’s no way we can do this,’ you know? And then as we looked into it and talking it over with – again – Steve (Ross), Tom (Garfinkel), Brandon (Shore), we were like, ‘we can find a way to make this work.’ So we looked in and obviously to make a deal like that, you have to have great partners. So Brett Veach and Coach (Andy) Reid were tremendous in dealing with over – it was about a five-day period trying to come together. We were fortunate and thank them for their patience as well and we feel good about adding Tyreek (Hill).”
(One quick thing – I was going to ask you about inside linebacker and safety. A couple fans have asked me to ask you if you all are pursuing S Tyrann Mathieu, if that’s an option, and then the decision to come back with this inside linebacker group? Your thinking on that with LB Elandon Roberts, LB Duke Riley, LB Jerome Baker obviously…?) – “No, we’re not pursuing Tyrann (Mathieu). Good player. I think he’ll be a good addition for any team in the league, but no, we’re not pursuing him. Inside linebacker – Elandon (Roberts) is a leader on the team. We’re still a young defense and his presence and his communication skills, and he and (Defensive Coordinator) Josh (Boyer) are on the same page in terms of thinking about how to run the defense. So that was a huge part of it. And then Duke Riley had done a great job for us in his role competing for playing time and on special teams and in terms of what he added on and off the field. He’s a quality person and then bringing (Brennan) Scarlett back as well. So they’re all guys that are tough, competitive, smart, good kids. So we felt good about adding the group, bringing them back together.”
(So you were building for several days with the WR Tyreek Hill trade and then ultimately it came down to a phone call or text or whatever – take us through the minute when you found out, yeah, he’s ours? What was that like?) – “I was at the Ohio State Pro Day, and I told Tyreek (Hill) he was wasting my time here. That I was watching these two receivers from Ohio State. (laughter) So I go, ‘he owes Mr. Ross some money’ for that flight and that hotel room overnight. But very excited. (Offensive Coordinator) Frank Smith was there with me. We kind of fist-bumped and then a bunch of coaches were around us, and they cursed and were congratulating us on the great move, so we were very happy, thrilled. Very excited. Tyreek was very excited on the phone. We talked to him, so again, we felt blessed that we had the opportunity to add him because he’s such a tremendous player and person.”
(Can you touch on the lineman you added – T Terron Armstead, OL Connor Williams and the fits for them here?) – “Yeah, I think Mike (McDaniel) has assembled a really good staff and it’s very heavy on offensive line coaches. I think he’s done a great job in terms of communicating that vision the way he wants, and so I think for us, we feel good about the young players we have, as does Mike and the staff talking about them. They understand they need to play better and can get better, but I think this scheme is also very friendly for offensive lineman. And I think Terron (Armstead) had mentioned that in his press conference and wanting to play in this scheme and Connor Williams was another one that we felt excited about because we think he’s a very good run player and also he’s very athletic and can pass block. I think like anything, they can all keep working, improve and get better and so we’re very excited about the group overall.”
(What’s the thought process at center? C/G Michael Deiter entering the final year of his contract. Obviously he’s had a pretty up and down career here in Miami. Do you feel like there’s still development and upside for him?) – “Yes, we do. Mike (Deiter) really developed as kind of a leader. He became much more vocal. He had an injury last year that was kind of a freak injury. Our doctors had said they hadn’t really seen anything like it when they were kind of going through that with him once he got hurt, so he really hasn’t played a ton of games at center still. The interesting thing about him is that every year (in the) offseason we’ve had teams call – multiple teams call – and offer us picks for him. So he’s thought of pretty well around the league still as a player. He knows there’s still a developmental window for him to go, but he’ll have competition at that spot as well.”
(The WR Tyreek Hill contract – what was the thinking because he’s obviously the highest-paid wide receiver now in league history? How did you come to the point where you were comfortable with that contract?) – “I think it’s like anything. As the other moves were being made around the league, you start seeing the structures and stuff of those contracts. At the end of the day, it was about adding the player. He’s such a unique talent and for what Mike (McDaniel) and I were talking about what we needed on our offense for those dynamic catch-and-runs – obviously with (Jaylen) Waddle, we added Cedrick Wilson and then arguably Tyreek is the best run-after-catch receiver in the league. So the opportunity to add to the offense for what he does and the skillset we were looking for, we couldn’t pass on and obviously to do a deal like that, it’s talking with ownership and Steve (Ross) and Tom (Garfinkel) were fantastic in terms of what we were looking for and then Brandon (Shore) did a great job of working through with the agent to finish up the deal.”
(What is your vision for returners? Who do you see competing at that spot and will you find a punter in the draft? Are you waiting for the draft to find a punter?) – “In terms of returner, we have multiple guys now. Tyreek (Hill), the first thing he said was, he goes, ‘I want to make sure I’m back there getting a couple of returns in every game.’ (laughter) We’re fortunate with him, (Jevon) Holland, (Jaylen) Waddle. So we have guys that can do it. They’re all big contributors on their side of the ball as well. We also have a couple of guys too that can return. We’re not really worried about the return game and we’ll see how that all sorts out. With the punter, we’re still looking. There’s a lot of veteran kickers out there like there always are so we will go through that process as well as the draft process.”
(What was the thought process on franchise tagging TE Mike Gesicki and do you expect that he’ll play on the tag as opposed to continue potential long-term contract discussions?) – “Well, I think the one thing with Mike is that at the end of the day, I think you saw a bunch of tight ends got tagged with that market. Mike’s a good player and our intentions are to keep good players. We don’t like to let them go. Mike is a very competitive person, as you guys know that have been around him. He’s going to play and we’ll have some discussions with his agents at some point in the future but I have no reservations that he’s going to not play because he’s too competitive, he’s too good of a person and he loves football.”
(You have had 11 picks in the top-100 in the last couple of years and now you have no picks in the top-100. You used those resources on WR Tyreek Hill and a lot of those 11 players are some of your biggest producers. Does that have a correlation to the ability to be so aggressive this time around and use those premium resources to collect WR Tyreek Hill?) – “Yeah, like we talked about, we’ve been building here for the last few years. The chance to get aggressive and adding a talented top player at a position is something we just felt was too good to pass up. We feel good about the players we drafted but the great thing about all those guys is that they’re all very competitive and they know they can still get better and work. It’s been exciting to watch those guys. They’ve been all offseason working and they pop by the office. They’re young guys that love football and they all want to keep working to get better.”
(Is there any update on visiting CB Xavien Howard’s contract? Do you have a timeline for when you’d like that to be addressed and avoid what happened last summer?) – “Yeah, we’ve had conversations with Xavien and his agent. We had them a couple of weeks ago in-person. I’ll keep those conversations to ourselves. We don’t negotiate through the press. But hopefully we’ll get to a resolution sooner than later. Xavien has done a lot of good things here for this organization. I’ve known him for years. I was here when we drafted him. He was my second draft pick here. I’m looking forward to him being here and helping us win.”
(Three years have passed since you made the T Laremy Tunsil deal. I don’t think you could have imagined all the picks that have come from it or all the players that have come from it and how big of an impact that deal has had on your tenure here. When you think back on the T Laremy Tunsil trade and everything that came back to it this year, what does it mean to you to be at this point now?) – “Well, I still remember the day we traded him, I was crying. (laughter) We both were because he’s such a good guy and every once and a while he’ll text me just like, ‘Hey.’ We made that trade and you find a young, franchise left tackle – which everyone is looking for those. In terms of the return, I never would have guessed that it would have led to all of this and I still don’t follow the whole – I think someone told me the other day what we ended up acquiring based off of it but at the end of the day, you just keep trying to do what’s best, you hope, for the organization and what we feel good about in terms of trying to build a team that competes for Super Bowls here.”
(Regarding WR Tyreek Hill, can you describe the type of background work that the organization did relative to any off-field incidents that may have occurred in his past?) – “Going forward, we feel good about it. We talked to a number of people that have been around Tyreek, especially in Kansas City the last few years. For us, we’re comfortable moving forward and the expectation, like him, will be for every player on the roster – it’s to be a good teammate and a good citizen in South Florida.”
(On the crowded receivers room and if he intends for WR DeVante Parker to be on the roster in 2022) – “We like having good players, you know? We feel really good about that receiver room. The expectation is he’ll be here but we always listen. I’ve always said here, and the guys that know me, we’ll always listen for all players on the roster.”
(Have you gotten any calls this offseason about WR DeVante Parker?) – “Yes, I have.”
(You’ve talked about being aggressive and this was a time with a player to be aggressive. Why do you think it’s that time or was it just the player?) – “No. I think it’s kind of what we talked about in Indy. This was not a rebuild. This was finding the right players, right pieces, right time and I think we’ve acquired a lot of young talent coming in but you can find good, veteran players that are not only good players but leaders as well. People talk about Tyreek’s (Hill) leadership there in Kansas City. The Saints have all raved, you hear Mickey Loomis stopped me again and said (Terron Armstead is) one of the best human beings you’ll ever be around. I think for our roster, if you can add however people – blue-players, as people call those top players at positions in the league especially if they’re great leaders and veterans. For these guys, I think it’s a great opportunity for us so we just felt this was the right time to really be aggressive.”
