Mike Tannenbaum, Chris Grier and Adam Gase – January 3, 2018
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Wednesday, January 3, 2018
Executive Vice President of Football Operations Mike Tannenbaum, General Manager Chris Grier and Head Coach Adam Gase
Mike Tannenbaum:
(In light of everything that happened this season … I’m asking about the discipline. Offensive Line Coach Chris Foerster, LB Lawrence Timmons, LB Rey Maualuga and the penalties, was there a discipline problem on the team this year and, if so, how did it contribute to the outcome of the season?) – “The season just ended. We were 6-10 and the three of us are going to take our time and look back at the season – what went well, what we could have done better – and do a comprehensive evaluation and look at everything. We look forward to putting a better product on the field next year and we’re going to look at all aspects of it.”
Adam Gase:
(Hypothetical question for any or all of you. As truthfully as you can answer this one, if QB Ryan Tannehill would have been healthy this year, how do you think the season would have played out?) – “I’m pretty sure you already know my answer to this. Hypothetical, it didn’t happen. It is what it is. We just know we get him back next year, so we’ll have a full slate with spring, training camp and preseason. There was nothing we could do once he got injured. We made the adjustments we had to make to try to put together the season we were hoping to have.”
(In light of how the season went, was signing QB Jay Cutler the right decision?) – “I think so. He was somebody who had been in this system before. We thought that we could get our guys moving in the same direction pretty quickly. It didn’t happen as fast as I was hoping. There’s a lot of good that he personally did. There was probably some games where we wish we could have done some different things. It’s always a … When you look back at it, it’s not like there were a ton of options to find a starting quarterback. We felt like Matt (Moore) was a good option for us, but we felt like having two guys that we knew that could play in a regular season game was our best chance.”
Mike Tannenbaum:
(Do you think this organization is as far from where it wants to be as 6-10 would suggest?) – “I think one of the main things I like about our sport is every year there’s great stories. You look at, I think the NFC in particular, it’s five out of the six teams (in the playoffs this year) weren’t in the playoffs a year ago, so 2018 will be a fresh start. It’s up to us to work with our owner, Steve (Ross), who gives us a lot of great resources to put a better product on the field. I believe in the people in our building, the coaches and how we do things. We’re going to have to tweak some things; but overall, I believe in where we’re going. We’re going to have to make some decisions like every organization; but again, our sport is set up where we can get this thing turned around. A year ago we had won 10 games. We’ve got to learn, again, what went wrong this year and try to get a better product on the field (next) year.”
(You mentioned Owner Stephen Ross, you probably heard what he said after the game Sunday and he dropped an f-bomb. Can you sense the frustration he has as an owner?) – “Steve is a very passionate guy. He loves the Dolphins, gives us great resources to be successful, gives us great support. He was disappointed on the season like we were and, again, where our energy now is trying to evaluate what happened, learn from it and make the proper and necessary adjustments.”
Adam Gase:
(I know there were a lot of disappointments this season. What area or areas exceeded your expectations?) – “I think it’s hard to really pinpoint either way, good or bad, right now. We have some time here to be able to go back and look through everything. When you go through a season, you’re so week to week. I know I’ve talked about this before, but it’s hard to go through an evaluation of any area unless you actually go back through it. During a season, there’s not a lot of time to do that unless you have a bye week. You can have a week, or so, to go through and make those kind of adjustments. Right now, this is a process we’re going through right now. We’ll get to that point where we’ll actually evaluate each group, each position group, scheme and things like that.”
(Do you expect that QB Ryan Tannehill will be your starting quarterback in 2018 and is it a risk to rely on a guy who’s had two knee issue in the past nine months?) – “Yes, I see him as the quarterback next year and that’s any player. Anybody can go down at any moment and really, I don’t look at it as two injuries. I look at it as he had the knee, we were advised and so was he to handle it a certain way and it didn’t work out so that’s kind of the part of the business that’s tough, where we went with an advice that we all felt like was good for us and it didn’t work out. Now next year, we get him back and he’ll probably be stronger than he’s ever been.”
(Do you feel you needed greater insurance at that position?) – “We’ll kind of see how everything plays out. We’ve got a long ways to go with whether it be free agency (or the) draft. We’ll see if one of these young guys that we have develops over that time. I like what David (Fales) did in this last game. I thought he did a good job. He battled for four quarters, gave us a shot and we’re going to kind of see where all this goes.”
Chris Grier:
(As you look ahead to next season, how high on the priority list is getting WR Jarvis Landry re-signed?) – “I think with all of us right now, as Adam (Gase) said, we’ve really just started the evaluation of our team. Through the season, we’re always focused on our opponents and doing that. And the coaching staff, they’ll get that done and they’ll start looking at the players over the season and writing it up; but with all of our players, we’ve talked about the guys that we want to keep are our guys we know we’ve developed and had here. Jarvis is one of many players that we’ll be talking about over the next couple of weeks.”
Mike Tannenbaum:
(How would you describe you level of optimism at the moment about getting a long-term deal for WR Jarvis Landry done?) – “Any negotiation we wouldn’t comment publicly, but as Chris (Grier) said, philosophically we want to draft, develop and keep as many of our own as possible. We’ll see what happens with Jarvis and a few other noteworthy free agents. In a perfect world, we keep them all. There’s a salary cap, so we’ll make those decisions at the appropriate time within the context of what’s best for the organization.”
Chris Grier:
(If I can ask a philosophical question to General Manager Chris Grier first. Philosophically, is it off the table to draft a quarterback in the first round or is it on the table?) – “You’ve been around me for a couple of years now. We’ve said we’ll always take the best player on our board. I’ve talked from Day 1, we’ve talked about the J.J. Watt thing. At (defensive) end we have (Cameron) Wake and whatever; but if J.J. Watt’s on the draft board and we’re picking, we’re not going to pass on J.J. Watt because at defensive end we feel good about. So, all positions, I mean again, we’re evaluating everything. Every positon, it doesn’t matter – quarterback, tackle, defensive tackle, everything’s wide open for us.”
(With the emergence of some of the young players like WR Jakeem Grant and RB Kenyan Drake, does that give you hope that you can turn this thing around rather quickly?) – “I think we all feel good about the young players that got to play and are developing and a good young core. Again, everyone, we’re 6-10. We’ve got to get better. It’s not acceptable. We’re all ultra-competitive up here. You guys know Adam (Gase). He’d kill his own dog if he had to, to go to the Super Bowl. I probably shouldn’t have used that analogy but … (laughter)”
Adam Gase:
“I don’t have a dog.”
Chris Grier:
“At the end of the day, we’ll do whatever we feel is best for us; but we’re happy with our young core.”
Adam Gase:
(Adam, do you have a dog?) – “No. (laughter)”
(Is that the reason?) – “No. (laughter)”
(The question was raised about WR Jarvis Landry and we all know his passion for the game, but do you feel it boils over to a point where it’s negative and that he needs to grow up a bit?) – “I think this last game was probably the … I think that was the pinnacle of what I’ve ever seen with him during a game. I know there’s been times where some of those guys kind of got in the mix a little bit; but I don’t think I’ve ever seen it get to a level where it was extremely bad. Last game, that was about as embarrassing as I’ve seen in a long time. It’s just something that we can’t have happen. Whether people think we weren’t in the game or it was garbage time or whatever it was, all I know is we were in the game and we’re going on our last drive of the game and two of our best players on offense aren’t in there. That was very, very frustrating to watch and standing there, not being able to do anything. We need way better control from our best players in the heat of the moment.”
(How does that factor into deciding his future with the organization?) – “I think you can’t take one isolated incident and overreact. But at the same time you have to make sure that you look at everything we’ve been doing over the last couple of years. That’s where a lot of our decisions are made when you look at the body of work. Then kind of see what direction we want to go in.”
(How likely is some or a great deal of staff change for you?) – “We’re going through that process right now. I’m going to talk with all of these guys and have conversations with Mikee (Tannenbaum) and Chris (Grier), (Owner) and Mr. (Stephen) Ross. We’ll make decisions over the next probably week or so. I know this, we’re in no rush.”
Mike Tannenbaum:
(Quarterback position aside, how do you assess the free agents that you re-signed here, the contracts? Do you still feel good about what you guys did in 2017?)
– “Again, we were 6-10. We’ve got to look at everything. In a perfect world, we want to keep as many of our own guys as possible and we’re going to look at that. The decisions we made, did they live up to the value of what we paid? Why or why not? As we sat here a year ago and talked about the guys we wanted to keep, the Kenny Stills’ and the (Andre) Branches and the Kikos (Alonso), we all felt that that was the right message to send to the locker room coming off of the season we did, how hard they worked, how much they were pushed by the coaches and how they responded. Building a long-term program, that was a key building block for us, to try to reward our own as much as possible and then move forward from there. With that said, not every decision maybe worked out perfectly and we’re going to look at that; but we’re always going to try to lean towards taking care of our own before we look outward. Again, we’ll continue to be opportunistic; but the more we can draft, develop our own, get coached and have the standards that Adam (Gase) has set for the players, that’s really important to us.”
(If you guys look to restructure with DT Ndamukong Suh, do you sense that you guys have a good relationship with him when it comes to those kind of things, like that’s a good conversation you guys could have?) – “We really haven’t gotten towards the salary cap yet. In a perfect world, we try to give ourselves as much flexibility as possible. We’re going to sit down and look at all of our players and figure out what makes sense for us. Some situations, we may have a little bit more flexibility than others.”
(What’s been the level of cooperation between you guys and DT Ndamukong Suh during his time here?) – “He’s been a pro. He’s played well. He helped us win a bunch of games, helped us get to the playoffs a year ago. He’s played well for us and again, we’ll evaluate each player, their salary and what flexibility we have. I appreciate everything he’s done. He’s a hard-worker, does everything he’s asked and he does extra in terms of preparing himself for games; but like I said, we’re 72 hours out after our last game and we have a lot of work to do to evaluate everybody.”
Adam Gase:
(Do you guys have any idea of positions of need during the offseason?) – “We haven’t got there year.”
Mike Tannenbaum:
(Last year it was understandable that you wanted to keep your own. You had a 10-6 team, a playoff team. This year you have a 6-10 team. Why would you want to keep that team together?) – “Like I said, just philosophically, our disposition is to keep our own when it’s appropriate. Again, we’re going to continue to be opportunistic. I think Chris (Grier) and the personnel guys, if you look at it during the season, we continued to try and go add a guy like an A.J. Derby. Again, that might not be noteworthy or headliner; but he may contribute for us for another year or two. I think our approach and … (Owner) Steve (Ross) is constantly challenging us, ‘How can we get better?’ We’ll continue to be opportunistic and look outwards as well; but again, just talking about as much as we can within reason, we want to keep our own. We think that’s the way to have sustainability, to have an identity here, and it’s meaningful to be a Dolphin and if you do the right things, play well, do the right things off the field you’re going to get rewarded.”
Adam Gase:
(You have a number of player who are on the north side of 30 years of age. LB Lawrence Timmons, QB Jay Cutler so forth and so on. Have you gotten any indication or do you know for a fact if any of them will not be returning next year?) – “Certain guys have indicated their plans going forward, if they were still under contract or even if they were a free agent. Really, those are discussions that, as of the moment, I’m not ready to make public. We’ll see how all of this plays out and see if we’ll have to make a move to where we have to do something about it, whether a guy didn’t play as well as we wanted him to. I think this is part of the evaluation process. That’s included in it.”
Adam Gase:
(QB Jay Cutler said that he doesn’t want to be a backup quarterback. You’ve got QB Ryan Tannehill as your starter. So that means Cutler’s not going to be a Miami Dolphin next year right?) – “You could’ve asked me Week 1 if he wanted to be a backup quarterback. I was shocked you guys didn’t have any clue about that. It’s pretty obvious where he stands right now.”
(With WR Jarvis Landry putting up the best stats ever seen before for the first four years of a NFL wide receiver, can you talk about how important he is, just the identity of this team and what will the team look like without him?) – “I wouldn’t go into hypotheticals of what we would look like without him. I know that he’s had a lot of production, done what – as far as what we asked him to do – this offense kind of works with him well and suits him well. We’ve probably wanted to use him in different ways to where we could stretch him down the field a little bit on certain concepts. We haven’t always been able to get to it or I know he has had probably three or four big plays down the field taken away from penalties, whether it be a holding call or something that has gone wrong in those areas. He does kind of fit our system really well. Those three guys work well together, when we’ve got all three of those guys healthy and we’re rolling pretty good. For us, it’s more of a consistency thing and just keeping those guys going right and staying ahead of the sticks, so we can give those guys opportunities.”
Adam Gase:
(The offense struggled during the last season. What’s the missing ingredient?) – “We’re just inconsistent. We’ve just got to figure out a way to develop better chemistry, whether it be in the offseason. I felt good about it going into training camp from what we did in the offseason. I felt good about it when Ryan (Tannehill) was working there those first 10 practices of training camp and when he went down, it was a reset for us. We kind of knew coming into it when Jay (Cutler) came on board that we were going to probably go through some tough times. It probably lasted a little longer than we wanted, and that was frustrating, because you want it to click fast; but it just didn’t happen. That’s what happens, you have inconsistency throughout the entire season.”
(The last two years you had to make moves within the locker room to try to get from what we understand maybe some bad culture out of there, whether it’s the trade of RB Jay Ajayi, some cuts after the Tennessee game two seasons ago. Do you feel like the veteran leadership in that locker room has stepped up enough to be able to get your message out there amongst players?) – “I think it’s probably a work in progress for us. I know that was something that I’ve talked to a lot of guys – especially after the season – about. It’s never going to be the way we really want it and the way we keep talking about it until guys really take control of this thing. There are a lot of things I can do to make things the way we need it; but at the end of the day, player accountability, making sure that everybody is on the same page, you need your leaders to step up, you need them to be vocal, you need them to actually do their part in a leadership role. The hardest thing about that is it’s exhausting. That’s why it’s hard. That’s why there’s not a lot of great leaders when you look at players. There are a lot less than you would think. I’ve watched it. I was around enough really good players and Hall of Fame players that I watched them do it, and I watched what they looked like after the season. It takes a lot of effort and it takes a lot out of them, because not only are they doing that, but they have a job to do and they have to play well. We need our veteran leaders to step up and really take handle of this locker room this year.”
(It’s too soon to evaluate, you’re going to do that in the coming days and weeks; but how about yourself as a coach? Is it too soon to take a deep dive into that?) – “That’s going to be something that’s going to be probably on the front burner for me. I’m going to want to do that. I know I spend a lot of time with these two guys and they’re not shy about telling me when I screw up. I’m sure I (don’t) handle it well at first, but I usually come around. We do need to take some time and just get away from it for a second, because it’s a long season. It didn’t go the way we wanted it to, especially two of the last three weeks where we were battling to try to find a spot, and we need to win one game just to stay alive and we just couldn’t pull it off. It takes a lot out of you because the frustration level goes up when it doesn’t work out the way you want.”
Chris Grier:
(How would you describe the opportunity and responsibility that comes with having such a high first-round draft choice being 11th in the first, second, third rounds; but especially the first pick?) – “For me, the draft, it’s always an opportunity. Like I’ve told you before, I hate when people say, ‘It’s a weak draft in this area,’ and stuff. It’s an excuse because guys don’t want to do the work or try and find guys. So for us, we’ll go through our process. I don’t want to be picking 11th. I know these guys don’t want to be; but it is what it is. We’re 6-10. We’re going to take advantage of it and draft good players. We’ll work through it and find the right person for us.”
Adam Gase:
(This organization has had a lot of turnover at the top over the years and Mr. Ross has obviously opted for continuity here. What do you see as the benefit of stability at the top of the organization going into another year?) – “Personally, I just never even worry about it. I was hired to do a job and that was try to win as many games as possible. We focus on doing all the things we need to do from the first day of the offseason until the end of this season and start it over again. I’ve kept the same philosophy just personally: I’m going to do my job with everything I have until somebody tells me not to. These two guys have the same work ethic and drive. We put everything into this. We’re trying to make sure that we do everything we can to put our players in a great position and then after that, it’s how far can we take it and can we actually play a season and do it the right way and give ourselves a chance to get into the tournament and when we do, can we make some noise?”
