Mike Tannenbaum and Chris Grier – April 18, 2018
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Wednesday, April 18, 2018
Executive Vice President of Football Operations Mike Tannenbaum and General Manager Chris Grier
Chris Grier:
(I’ve got a draft and develop question for you. By my count, over the last three years, you guys have drafted 22 players and 18 are still on the roster. Eight or nine of them could be starters, which is almost half of your starters. How do you think you’ve done as far as draft and develop over the last three years?) – “It’s always an interesting question. I would say we feel good about the players we’ve added to the roster. Obviously the first year here with Mike, Adam (Gase) and I together, we had a great run and we went to the playoffs. It was a good season for us. Last year was a disappointment. Again, we are what we are. Mike and I have been … That’s a saying from one of our mentors. So for us, we’re very happy with the guys (but) they all need to get better. We need to get better. (A) 6-10 (record) is not where we want to be. I think at the end of the day, you’re judged on the results. We’re happy (because) we have some good players; but we just need to get back to where we were two years ago.”
(Can you explain to us a little bit of the process of actually making the pick? When you guys are getting maybe five spots away from wherever you’re picking, what kind of conversations are you having? Specifically, it would be good to know what Head Coach Adam Gase’s role is in it.) – “For us, this past week, all of this week and a little bit of Monday and Tuesday of next week, the three of us (Chris, Adam and Mike) will have talked through every scenario possible, just about. Obviously we don’t know what’s going to happen being at No. 11, but we’ve talked through trade possibilities, who might be there and who may not be there. For us, the big thing is just the communication, talking and working what we think is best for the Dolphins. Adam plays a big role. He coaches the team. Mike and I, we have to get players that he wants and that he feels fits best for what he wants to do offensively and defensively. So we work with the coaching staff as well and our scouts have done a great job, led by (Director of College Scouting) Adam Engroff on the college side. (Director of Pro Personnel) Anthony Hunt has done a great job for us on the pro side as well, through the free agency process. For us, when the pick is coming up at five, we’ll start getting together and looking at the board and see who is there. Most of the decisions have been made by next week before, like I said, on Monday or Tuesday, we’ll kind of know. We’ll have an idea but there’s always a wrench that gets thrown in from someone on draft day.”
Mike Tannenbaum:
“Just to add to that, listening to Bill Polian last night, who did as good of a job as anybody for years, he talked about when he was drafting in the 20s, it wasn’t until they were at 15 that they really had a sense of ‘It’s going to come down to these two or three guys.’ Seeing where we are at 11, it’s the same for us. We could sit here and run through all of these different scenarios with Adam, but until you’re just a couple of picks away, we’re really not sure how it’s going to unfold.”
Chris Grier:
(So when you actually get to that spot, do you have it narrowed down to like maybe three guys or five? How many guys is it and who is making the final call on which one of those players it will be?) – “We go through it. I don’t think it’s … Everyone always wants to know who is making the final call. For us, the three of us work great together. We’ll have discussions before and like last year for instance, we had two guys targeted at our pick and we ended up with Charles (Harris), and Charles was the higher one. We felt good about it. We were going to make the pick and we got two calls from teams below us that did very well last year (and they were) calling to trade up for the pick. In the end, they told us it was for Charles. For us, he was the guy we were going to take; so we were happy to get him. At the end of the day, when it gets there, you’ll always have two or three guys you like and you make that decision on which one fits best.”
(What are some of the things that would cause a player to be completely off your board or significantly moved down?) – “There may be character issues or certain things that … (Director of Team Security) Drew Brooks does a great job of investigating all of the background on players. There are some things … We take each player individually. You never want to say you’ll never take a player that’s done this; but once you spend time and get to know the players, you kind of get a feel for ‘Maybe this guy is not for us and we wish him best,’ and go on. It’s a process. We don’t just jump to any conclusion right away. We go through (the process). For us, at the end of the day, we want guys who we feel comfortable would represent the Dolphins well on and off the field.”
(You mentioned the fifth pick kind of being the zone where you start to get an idea of how the draft is going to unfold. There’s been a lot of debate about some teams moving up into that top five or top six to get a player they’ve targeted. Not saying who you might target if that’s the case, but if there’s a guy at five or six that really is on your radar that you love, do you have enough capital to go get into the top six if you decide to do that?) – “I think there is. You can always make a deal to move up. It’s just always dependent on how much you want to give up. (laughter) At the end of the day, you’ve seen some deals where some teams … We may think they gave up a lot to get up there but then there’s other times where you think they didn’t get enough. If teams want to move up or down, depending on what they want to do … We’ve had a situation here in the past when we made a trade in the first round where we really didn’t give up a ton for a player. At the end of the day, you can move up or down I think fairly easily; but you also still need someone to want that player or want to move out of that spot.”
(You’ve talked about best player available and that’s what you want to do. You want to get the best player available; but you have needs. You don’t have a starting tight end. You don’t have a starting outside linebacker. How do you balance the best play available to fit also needs?) – “Well, when you build your board, you’re always building it for the Miami Dolphins, for your team. So as you’re doing it, you start evaluating each position and you’ll start ranking the players how you think they’re valued in terms of on and off the field. We do our psychological testing if some guys come in for visits. We spend a lot of time with the players to get to know them. So once that process is done, the film obviously takes precedence. That’s going to tell you really what he is. You build all of the other stuff. When you build your rosters, when we say best player available, you’re still looking at your roster because we’re building it for the Dolphins. We’re not just saying ‘Hey, the NFL says this guy is the best player so we’re going to put him up at No. 1.’ There may be … I’m not just saying us but you may have a team that has four quarterbacks and they feel good about their starter and the backup. The quarterbacks here in this draft are good players but they may not have them ranked that high in the draft because they’re building their board for their team needs.”
(So the need is built into the best player) – “Yes, because you’re always building for your roster.”
(How do you perceive the depth and variety of talent at these two positions – linebacker and tight end – this year’s draft class overall?) – “I think it’s balanced. I think there is depth at both of those positions. Every draft you have guys that you like at the top; but I think you can find value and the draft’s always shown there is value through that. I think the tight end group is a deep group this year, and there’s some good linebackers, especially mid-to-late rounds, as well.”
(It seems like Head Coach Adam Gase has been doing a lot of work relating to reviewing last year and planning ahead for next year with scheme and things like that. How much do you bring him in on a lot of the months leading up to the draft, as far as do you give him film on a guy to watch to get his input? How do you involve him in that?) – “You probably know how Adam is. (laughter) During the season, he’s just focused all on our team and getting better and free agency. He likes to work in stages. Once we get through … He’ll start coming in our February meetings. He’ll come in a little bit and sit in for a little bit. From that point on, he’ll ask Mike and I for a list of players. He’ll say ‘Hey, give me five players at this position,’ and he’ll work through it that way. Even now, he’s upstairs watching college players right now, still. He’s in it heavy; but he doesn’t really start dialing in on it until probably mid-February.”
Mike Tannenbaum:
“And really, the process starts going back to the end of the season, where we evaluate our own and figure out who we can keep and also what our needs are. Then we start hitting it in free agency. Obviously the draft is the next opportunity, but that’ll go on through the summer and into the early fall.”
Chris Grier:
(Are the Miami Dolphins comfortable with where you are at quarterback or do you need to come out of this draft with another quarterback?) – “Well, Ryan Tannehill is our quarterback. We feel good about Ryan and we’re excited to have him back. For us, and you’ve heard this before, (it’s about) competition. We’d love to draft (someone) at every position, it doesn’t matter who it is. So for us, if we can come out and find one, then yes; but we’re not going to reach or overextend for something. We’ll make the decisions but we’ll also always keep looking to evaluate the roster. Post-draft, we’ll keep looking. That’s at every position.”
Mike Tannenbaum:
“And I think those two guys give us flexibility. Adam (Gase) has coached both (David) Fales and (Brock) Osweiler before, so his comfort with that was one of the reasons they’re here. It’s good to have depth at any position going into the draft, especially quarterback. We’ll see how things go.”
(Can you give us some insight into what goes on over the last week until the draft? Is your phone ringing off the hook? Is there silence a lot of the time? Are you readjusting things? Just give us a little insight as to what this last week is like?) – “I think we kind of divide the teams up a little bit and we try to get a sense of what’s going to try to happen the best we can, and touch base with as many teams as possible. Like we said earlier, until we’re three or four picks away, you really don’t know what’s going to happen. I think the reason for that is because there are other trades that we can’t project. If we think a team four spots ahead of us has a certain need, but a different team trades up with a different need, that’s going to affect where we’re going to go. As Chris mentioned, I think at this point it’s just crossing the T’s and dotting the I’s, and that goes for security, medical, all of the different areas that touch the draft process. Then, just let it unfold and we’ll be surprised just like everyone else will be in this room. All we can worry about is our preparation and we’ll be ready to go.”
(I’m sure you guys have done extensive research on every possibility with the 10 teams in front of you. How do you feel about the 11th slot, on all of those different possibilities you’ve worked out, getting a guy that you really want?) – “I was joking with Chris about this that if you have the 11th pick, there are eight guys you love. If you have the eighth pick, there are five (guys you love). That’s just one of the axioms. Maybe we wind up trading back. You never know. I think we feel really good about our preparation. We’ll see how it unfolds when we get to 11.”
(What was your reaction to the Jets/Colts swap, as far as the price that it took to move up three spots? Does that set the market higher than you expected?) – “We track it. Our guys do a great job. (Senior Director of Football Administration) Brandon Shore and (Director of Analytics) Dennis Lock, they do a really good job of tracking and value. Obviously, three (second-round picks) for three spots, it looks like one team is targeting something. That doesn’t necessarily affect the rest of the trades. Sometimes trades before the draft have one set of criteria whereas once you’re in the heat of the moment, things … I think my view with that is the trade chart is a great guideline, but at the end of the day, if two teams want to get something done, they’re going to get something done.”
Chris Grier:
(I think we talked to you guys some about the quarterbacks in January. Now, three months later when you’ve done all the homework on these guys, is there any one or two traits that stand out from this class? And you as a franchise, what’s the most important thing? Is it accuracy, arm strength, durability, leadership? What do you judge a quarterback on? What is the one thing you want?) – “I think the biggest thing with getting to know all of these guys is that they’re all very smart kids. They all have personality and they’ve all been successful. I think they all have a chance to be good players in the league. We’ve been fortunate to spend a lot of time with each of them. We like them. In terms of the quarterback … Everyone is looking for the same thing. The leadership, the intelligence, the ability to process information, accuracy, is the guy a winner, is he durable. All of those things, everyone is looking for the same traits in those quarterbacks.
Mike Tannenbaum:
“I think the other thing I would add too is with this class, not just the quarterbacks; but the poise a lot of these first-round players and some of these top players have, they are very polished. You can tell that they are used to the spotlight. I think that’s just the popularity of our sport, be it college football and the way it’s covered now and the number of premium games, because they’re coming in and you look at them like, ‘Wow, these are pros, the way they handle themselves, how they talk, communicate, how they dress.’ You can see for some, their transition will be very easy and they are very polished.”
Chris Grier:
(Would you be surprised if there are six quarterbacks that go in the first round, because there seems to be not a likelihood but a possibility?) – “Nothing surprises (me) with the draft. Not just the quarterback position, but every year there’s always one where everyone is shocked.”
Mike Tannenbaum:
(A lot has been said about improving leadership, culture and so forth on the team and on the roster, this year and going forward. You’ve had to import a lot of those guys in free agency. Shouldn’t you get to the point where you draft those guys and they’re yours instead of having to bring them from somewhere, like a RB Frank Gore or WR Danny Amendola, or G Josh Sitton from somewhere else?) – “I think those guys are also good players. I think it’s hard to lead unless they can produce. I think we’re happy with the players we’ve added and we want to keep adding players. I think there’s a lot of good, young players here that have leadership that maybe hasn’t been covered; but someone like Bobby McCain. And there’s a lot of different ways to lead. Leadership to me isn’t just about giving a team speech. It’s about how you conduct yourself, how you get better, how you hydrate, how you study, do you grab a teammate with you. Maybe those aren’t household or noteworthy names, but I think there are a number of young guys, as Chris alluded to, and we feel good about the process we’ve had over the last couple of years. Maybe it’s not to the forefront yet, but we think there are a lot of young players here that do have leadership attributes.”
Chris Grier:
(So going forward, it’s not that big of a deal?) – “No, I mean you always want to add good people in your locker room. I think with us, what do we have, 35 players under 26 or something on the roster? Danny (Amendola) is a good player. Josh Sitton is a good player. They’ve been in Super Bowls and just to have those guys around such young guys as they’re coming into their own in the league, I think it’s a great benefit. For us, the players we’ve drafted, I think you’ve been around some of them. There’s a lot of them – Davon Godchaux, all these guys – Raekwon (McMillan), you guys haven’t been around him a lot, but if you ask a lot of players, they talk about how mature and what type of leader he is. I’m just throwing those guys out, but all of these guys are all biting at the bit to take over and be leaders on this team, so we’re excited about it.”
Mike Tannenbaum:
(In your first three rounds, would you say that you need two starters? Could you take a starter, a major contributor and a guy to develop? How would you break down your first three rounds?) – “I think you always have to stay away a little bit from the starter label because guys could play a lot and not necessarily start, especially on defense depending on which packages we use; but certainly, our hope and expectation is some of these players are going to come in and contribute right away and Coach Gase will obviously determine their playing time. Especially early in the draft, as Chris alluded to, having Adam as part of the process as intimately as he is, you want to have a vision so early on these guys can contribute and hopefully like in previous years, the first few picks will play a significant amount come the fall.”
(You have a reputation as one of the more active traders in the NFL, even going back to your days with the Jets. What goes into your mind and the thought process, especially on draft day, when you’re proposing or fielding those trade calls?) – “I think for us it’s just, again, being prepared and looking for opportunities like the (Daniel) Kilgore trade. That just kind of popped up and we felt like that was a good opportunity for us. Like I said, Chris and I will work the phones quite a bit between now and next Thursday to get a sense. It’s rare to sit there at 11 and you’re on the clock and then the first conversation of a trade happens, (like) if someone else wants to come up for the 11th (pick). You have multiple conversations. I think, again, you just try and be prepared and look for opportunities. Likewise, if you’re trying to move up, you’re working the phones several spots ahead and saying, ‘Alright, what’s reasonable for us?’ I think a lot of work goes into it and then we’ve got to make the best decision once those opportunities present themselves.”
(Do you make those calls before Thursday?) – “Sure.”
(Or do you make those calls on Thursday? Do you wait for the calls to come to you?) – “I think it happens both ways.”
Chris Grier:
“It’s kind of fluid how it works. Mike will talk to a ton of people and I’ll talk to a few. We’ll talk all the way up until draft day, and then sometimes after the third or fourth pick, someone will start calling us.”
Mike Tannenbaum:
“But to answer your question, those conversations won’t happen … They will start before Thursday. Sometimes it could be a team saying, ‘We can come up for two players.’ And then we try to keep that alive and likewise we’re sitting in the second round, and we call a team 10 spots ahead. ‘We want to come up. If one or two guys are there, we’ll come up and we’ll give you a third. Is that good enough?’ A lot of that has to happen before you actually get to that part in the draft. I think that’s the part that maybe is a little misunderstood, is for every 10 calls you make, you may get one trade done; but very rarely does a trade actually start while you’re on the clock.”
(Going back to the quarterbacks in this draft class, what did you think of their readiness and their ability to play right away, some of these quarterbacks in this class?) – “I think it’ll be, for whatever team that chooses these players, what you ask them to do. There’s always going to be a developmental phase. The college game does things different than the NFL; but I think the one thing that’s impressive about the five or six guys you’re talking about is they’re all very smart, and they’ve played for coaches that have systems that some people may say are simple, but they’re asked to do a lot of stuff. So, I think for us, the good thing here is the guy is going to come in and Ryan Tannehill is the starter. So you’re going to sit and learn behind Ryan and compete with Ryan; but at the end of the day, Ryan is our starter, and he’s going to get a chance to learn.”
Mike Tannenbaum:
(On free agent RB C.J. Anderson, you guys were obviously in it two years ago I guess. Now you have RB Frank Gore in. Does that preclude going back to C.J.? Is that a possibility?) – “We’ll certainly see what happens once we get after the draft with any free agents, and we’ll see where we are. We’ve got to get through the draft here first. That’s the next opportunity and then we’ll look at other things once we get through that.”
