Chris Grier and Brian Flores – December 30, 2019
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Monday, December 30, 2019
General Manager Chris Grier and Head Coach Brian Flores
Chris Grier:
(You guys won five games and got the No. 5 pick in the draft. Was this season a success to you?) – “Yes, absolutely. I think from Day 1, we talked about Brian (Flores) coming in and creating the culture and setting the expectations for the organization and for us, I think we’re very excited about the future. I think yesterday was a culmination of the guys’ work throughout the season. They improved each week, got better and better, and so I’m excited for the future.”
(A year ago at this time, Stephen Ross ordered a rebuild. How would you describe the progress you made in 12 months?) – “Very good. I talked about laying the groundwork and the foundation of trying to build something that would win for sustained success; and for us, it was very important to do that. I think Brian (Flores) and the coaching staff have done a great job of laying that foundation.”
(You have a lot of money and a lot of draft picks to work with this offseason. Do you expect to spend the free agent money this year big or are you going to invest it in the future and build with draft picks or both?) – “Brian (Flores) and I have had conversations with (Vice President of Football Administration) Brandon (Shore) and (Vice Chairman, President & CEO) Tom (Garfinkel) and the big thing for us is we’re going to be smart about it. We’re going to build it the way we feel right and yeah, we have money and cap space, but it doesn’t mean you have to spend it all. We’re going to try to bring in a lot of players here – good players here – and keep building the roster. We’ll be very smart in how we do it.”
(I know quarterback is going to be the topic that everybody wants to talk about. When you guys look at that from the draft and free agency standpoint, how do you look at what you need to do in 2020? Do you have to get a new one or do you look at it a different way) – “No. We’re going to talk about the roster. The season just ended yesterday, so we’re going to go through it with the coaching staff and scouts. We’ll talk about it and we’ll look at everything. Like we talked about all fall, every position is important. Quarterback, we understand that’s the focus for everybody but we’re going to go through the process and make smart decisions and work through it and do what’s best for the organization.”
(Is finding a franchise quarterback the priority?) – “Like I said, it’s finding pieces everywhere. Again, I’m not trivializing the quarterback position. We’re going to investigate that hard just like every position in the draft and free agency.”
(Do you anticipate QB Ryan Fitzpatrick and QB Josh Rosen coming back next season or being on your training camp roster at least?) – “Yeah, right now. Both of those guys – ‘Fitz’ did a great job for us. Josh has worked hard, just like Brian (Flores) has been saying. We see improvement every day in practice and his growth; so yeah, we’re excited about both of them.”
(How high on the list is upgrading both lines? Do you feel like you need multiple new offensive line starters?) – “Again, we’ll go through the process here. I think we want to get better everywhere. It’s not just o-line, d-line. It’s all positions.”
(How do you view the QB Josh Rosen trade at this point? Can you consider that a success?) – “I don’t know what you consider a success or a failure. For us, we’re excited. We took an opportunity on a young player that has dealt with a lot of change throughout his college and pro career. For us, watching him grow and improve every day has been good for us. We’ll always take chances if we think it makes sense for us to try and improve the roster.”
Brian Flores:
(In general, do you have an opinion on high-priced veteran free agents? We know that a lot of those guys can contribute and help get you better faster. Do you have a general opinion on that?) – “I think anyone who can help this team get better and win, we’ll take a look at. But like Chris (Grier) said, we’ve had many conversations regarding – look, everyone thinks we’ve got all of this money to spend and blow. We’re going to be judicious and responsible with our salary cap. We’re going to make smart decisions. We’ve got a process that we go through. People see a number and they don’t really understand that there’s draft picks that are part of that. You’ve got to save some for injuries. It’s not ‘we’ve got 100 million dollars and we’re going to spend all of it.’ That’s just not how it works. So we’re going to be judicious and responsible. Chris (Grier) and Brandon (Shore), they do a great job of trying to forecast and predict the different ways we can do that. I think we’re going to make the best decisions – or try to make the best decisions – for this organization.”
Chris Grier:
(I know at one point you had said you have the tools to do whatever you want moving forward. You have the capital to do whatever you want. Are you comfortable at No. 5 or how likely are you to look to moving up or down?) – “We’re very comfortable with where we are. For us – again, we’ve made a lot of moves and again we can do a lot of stuff in free agency and in the draft. We’re excited here to get going through the offseason process and upgrading the roster.”
(Can you talk about how you worked this fall? We kept hearing there were two Dolphins scouts at this game and at that game. That’s something we haven’t heard before; I hadn’t heard before. Can you talk about – did you scout more with 14 picks or did you change plans any?) – “No. I scouted the same still. I think with that – Brian (Flores) and I had talked about it – you have 14 picks, but you still never know what’s going to happen. For us, it was for the scouts to get our eyes on as many good players as we could around the country and have multiple looks. Our scouts do a great job of going out on the road in the fall and finding guys and looking at guys. For myself and (Assistant General Manager) Marvin Allen, just getting out and seeing some of the top players throughout the fall was a pretty normal protocol.”
(What are your thoughts on potentially drafting a player who may have suffered an injury recently or may be injury-prone. Would you be reluctant to draft a player like that or would you like to get him in the program and see how he can develop when healthy?) – “That’s always a tricky one, just because we are so far away from having all of the information. I don’t want to speculate on that because you have to go through all of the doctors and (Head Athletic Trainer) Kyle (Johnston), (Dr. John) Uribe, (Dr. Michael) Swartzon and (Dr. Gautam) Yagnik, they all do a great job of providing us information, the medical stuff. For us, we’ll investigate everything and if it gets to that point where we have to make a decision, we’ll be well-versed in what we need to do.”
Brian Flores:
(Do you expect to retain all of your assistants? Do you have any update on Assistant Head Coach/Quarterbacks Jim Caldwell? Do you expect him back?) – “We’re evaluating everything – players, coaches. I’m evaluating myself – I probably should’ve thrown a couple more red flags over the course of the season. Everything is being evaluated. I think that’s the right approach you need to take after a season, just to reflect and make sure you’re doing things the right way and in the best interest of the Dolphins.”
(As you build this team, is there a specific point where it needs to start from here – whether it is offensive line, defensive line or quarterback? Or is it just the best available talent and you do it like that?) – “Chris (Grier) and I, we’ve had a lot of conversations centered around exactly what you mentioned. I think it starts with the culture and bringing the right kind of guys in. Character means a lot. As far as o-line, d-line – Chris mentioned it: we’re going to try to bring in good players at all positions and try to build this thing the right way with good players who put the team first and love to compete.”
(What can you tell us about your message to the team after the season wrapped up?) – “I told them I was proud of them. It’s very similar as to what I talked about in my media session yesterday. I was proud of the way they dealt with adversity throughout the course of the season. I love the way they worked in practice, in meetings, in walk-throughs, and how towards the end, they really started trusting the process. I thought they really worked hard and they saw some of the fruits of their labor, not only yesterday, but the latter stages of the season. This team knows how to deal with adversity or they learned how to deal with adversity this season. I also mentioned that every season is a little bit different. This team is going to be different than the team we’ll have next year. That’s the business of the National Football League. I think we laid the right foundation and need to try to build on that moving forward.”
Chris Grier:
(Where do you expect to be a year from now?) – “Just keep getting better and improving each game. Trying to win every game. Again, it’s a process for us, and Brian (Flores) has laid out a great plan and vision for it, so just excited for the future.”
(Is there any expectation of being a playoff contender next year? I know you’d probably say yes, but in terms of just rebuild, Stephen Ross has spoken of multiple years. Is Year 2 of a rebuild realistic to expect to be in playoff contention?) – “We’re just going to – like Brian said – we’re just going to keep trying to bring as many good players here as possible and whatever happens, happens.”
Brian Flores:
“I would say we’re just going to take this thing one day at a time. No one’s thinking about anything – we’re just trying to improve and get better on a day-to-day basis and just try to improve and get better.”
Chris Grier:
(What can you tell us about Head Coach Brian Flores’ involvement in the 53-man roster during the season, and then as you go ahead in free agency and the draft, will it be more than head coaches that you’ve worked with previously – as much or a little bit less? How would you characterize that?) – “No, Brian (Flores) will be heavily involved. Again, I think Brian does a great job of talking about the types of players he wants. Again, even the players that we brought in throughout the season, Brian has been very open to working through the roster and waiver wires and claims we’ve been doing. Like I told you guys from Day 1, I don’t think it works without having a collaboration of working together. He’ll be very involved, as he has been through everything we’ve done.”
Brian Flores:
(I’m writing a story on the American Football league back in Honduras, and I wanted to ask you – they think you’re a role model – what do you think about that and do you think of possibly maybe you going down there and doing a clinic or something like that?) – “Well, I didn’t know they played football in Honduras. (laughter)”
(They’ve got a league.) – “They’ve got a league? All right. Well as far as being a role model, I think it’s an honor to be called that. I’ve been to Honduras many times. I love that country. It’s obviously where my parents were born, and I do plan on going back pretty soon, hopefully this offseason. So maybe we can work something out where – I love to coach, so I’ve got no problem (with that). We might have a little language barrier. My Spanish isn’t that good. (laughter) That might be something we can do.”
(What pleased you the most from what you saw this season?) – “I’ve been asked that question a few times, and I always – and I kind of mentioned it a little bit yesterday. We dealt with a lot of adversity. I really think when you deal with defeat, when you deal with disappointment; again, it either breaks you or makes you stronger, and I think this team got stronger. And I think when early in the season, when a lot of people thought we were broken, we were actually building and strengthening as a team. That’s really what, to me, the one thing that I was very, very pleased with. And I don’t think a lot of people knew that was happening. I think only the people in the building knew that, which is why I speak so much about us as a team, just blocking out anything from the outside and just really spending time just locking in on the things that are happening in the building.”
(What do you consider the turning point of the season?) – “Probably when we put ‘Fitz’ in the game (against) Washington – the fourth quarter of the Washington game. I think he really gave us a spark, drove us down the field for two touchdowns, gave us an opportunity to win at the end. We didn’t finish that game off, but I would say if there was one moment, it’s probably that one.”
(I know it’s super early in the process but I’ve got to ask about CB Xavien Howard’s arrest this morning. How does that impact you guys to start the offseason, having that happen?) – “I think we’re still gathering information on that. We take situations like that very, very seriously. We’re gathering information. It’s unfortunate. How does it impact us? It does impact us. Again, we take these things very seriously. We’ll gather all of the information and do what we feel is best for the organization.”
(Do you still anticipate CB Xavien Howard being on the team next year?) – “Look, we’re gathering (information). Again, like I said, it’s too early to tell. I haven’t even talked to him. We have a process here. We’ll go through that process. Chris (Grier), myself, Brandon (Shore), Tom (Garfinkel), we’ll talk through this. We’ll have a conversation with ‘X’ (Xavien Howard) and make a decision once we get all of the information.”
