Mike Tannenbaum and Chris Grier – April 28, 2018
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Saturday, April 28, 2018
Executive Vice President of Football Operations Mike Tannenbaum and General Manager Chris Grier
Chris Grier:
(I’m just asking because the fans will be asking … No quarterback. How come?) – “I think for us, we weren’t going to reach for any player. Once you got through the first round with those five quarterbacks, we kind of thought there was a little bit of an order and as they started coming off the board, we were in positon to get a couple and as it always is in the draft, a couple guys went before we picked. We weren’t going to reach for anyone at that point in the draft. There were some players that we liked, but we ended up getting some good players that we think will help us now.”
Mike Tannenbaum:
“Just to add to that, the two other players behind (Ryan) Tannehill are guys that are young, probably younger than they’re perceived to be. We think their best days … They still have plenty of time to get developed. They’re not older. So, that was also a factor.”
(So I guess the idea is you’re comfortable with QB Brock Osweiler or QB David Fales, if QB Ryan Tannehill goes down, taking over the season?) – “Obviously, we have confidence (in them). That’s why we signed them. Obviously, we’re sitting here, it’s the end of April and as we’ve seen in the past, there will be a lot of transactions between now and opening day. To answer your question, we do feel confident with the group.”
Chris Grier:
(No defensive tackle either. Does this say you’re very confident in the group that you already have?) – “Yes, we are. Like we said, we’ll keep exploring opportunities post-draft here. There’s opportunities to add players and there will be some pro free agents that will come open as well after June 1st as they always do. We’re very confident that we’ll keep adding depth at that position.”
(You hit some need positions in the first couple rounds and you were able to address some of those needs that you had coming in without sacrificing any of your future assets, future picks. How important was it to you to hold onto those as you’ve continued to try to shape the roster like you wanted to do?) – “You always like to make sure that you have ammunition next year; but if there was a move to be made that could benefit us, we have trader Mike (Tannenbaum) here to get us going. (laughter) We had to restrain him this year. It was hard for him. (laughter) Really, and it’s a credit to him, is that everyone that calls feels like Mike is trying to get something. They’re like worried about it, because Mike does such a great job working trades with people. For us, we got great value we think with the players that were there. For us, if there was a trade to be made, we would’ve done it. We tried to make a couple. They didn’t work out.”
Mike Tannenbaum:
“Speaking of which, we look at this draft not only did we add eight players, but we feel like getting Robert Quinn with our fourth-round pick was good value and Stephone Anthony with our fifth. As a group, that’s 10 players that we feel like we’ve added to the roster.”
(How do you feel about as a whole now, since the beginning of free agency to now, you have done now to improve this football team?) – “I think it’s still like a work in progress. I think (Head Coach) Adam (Gase), Chris and I sat down with (Chairman of the Board/Managing General Partner) Steve (Ross) after the season and talked about a lot of things. We feel like we’re heading in the right direction. We really like the group here as a whole; but as Chris already mentioned, I’m sure between now and opening day, there will be some other changes. There always are. That’s what our charge is. That’s really the fun part of the job now that this is over. Maybe the media spotlight isn’t as bright, but there will be opportunities to improve. We feel like we’re going in the right direction, but there’s still a lot of work to be done.”
Chris Grier:
(What are the things that excite you about the running back Kalen Ballage?) – “He’s big, he’s fast and he’s (got) upside. Some guys come out with a lot of wear and tear on them. He hasn’t had a lot of wear and tear. I think Senior Bowl week, he went there determined to show people that he was undervalued in his mind. That’s the first thing he said when we called him to tell him he was going to be a Dolphin, he said, ‘I don’t think there’s 11 running backs better than me that went in front on me.’ He’s confident. He understands that he’s going to have to work and improve and earn a spot; but he’s very excited to be here with Kenyan (Drake) and Frank (Gore). For us, the value was important.”
Mike Tannenbaum:
“And the locker room is really important to us. We talked to our punter Matt Haack, who was a teammate of his, and he felt really good about him. That was an important piece to the puzzle just because again, the types of players that we’re adding on and off field is important to us. Having one of his teammates here was good.”
Chris Grier:
(Is there anybody that you got that you were very surprised by the value you were able to get at your location where you just didn’t expect that guy was going to be there that late?) – “I didn’t expect Minkah (Fitzpatrick) to be there, to be honest with you, for the first pick. For me, he was probably – however you put it – one of the top five or six players in this draft. As we got calls after the pick, other teams kept calling us telling us, ‘He was in our top five players in the draft.’ For us, the value at that point was surprising that he was there.”
(What was the approach in terms of doubling down on tight ends, getting one that’s a good in-line guy and one that was an athletic, seam-threat type?) – “We wanted to create competition at that spot. The big thing for us is we spent a lot of time with all of these guys. With Durham (Smythe), we had a really good interview with him. We liked what we saw on film. We saw him play down here versus Miami. For us, adding another guy who can block, another body to the roster to compete with those guys. Having variety and being able to have Adam (Gase) have different chess pieces – whether 12, 21, whatever, 13 personnel – so it just gives you more opportunities and creates competition, which will make all those guys better.”
Mike Tannenbaum:
“If you go back to last year, we added (AJ) Derby during the season from Denver and (Gavin) Escobar last week. So, that was a position that we really wanted to add a lot of, as Chris said competition, but depth. We feel really good about that position now and that’s taken a couple of years that we’re now comfortable … Those are really hard players to acquire and they do fall into two different groups. It wasn’t just over the last 48 hours. It’s been several months in the making and trying to get that group to look like the way it does today.”
Chris Grier:
(What was it about K Jason Sanders that made him stand out above the other kickers?) – “(Associate Head Coach/Special Teams Coordinator Darren) Rizzi and (Assistant Special Teams Coach) Marwan (Maalouf) did a great job spending a lot of time getting to know the kid. He’s got a powerful leg and that’s the one they like. Getting to know him and spending time, they went and worked him out in the spring. To their credit, it’s really driven a lot by them. Our scouts have seen him. They spend a lot of time on the background getting to know the kid. We brought him in on a 30-visit, so he was here in the building, so we got to know him. He was the player that the coaches and scouts identified and they did a great job. We’re happy to have him.”
(Was there a specific point where you thought a quarterback was going to be in your range and went off the board? It seemed like every time, three or four picks before you, a quarterback went. Was there one of those guys you thought might end up in Miami?) – “Not really. We were in the mix with certain guys every time, so it was never where one quarterback was completely there. It was always quarterback and another guy, then the quarterback would go and we were very happy with who was there.”
Mike Tannenbaum:
(You drafted players from a lot of heavyweight programs. Is there a philosophy behind that?) – “Well, we know that the Ohio State players better be really good. (laughter)”
Chris Grier:
“No. (laughter) And really, we took Southern Mississippi today, Ohio University (and) New Mexico. For us, it’s getting to know these kids and if they fit with what we do and they’re productive players in college. For us, we’re just taking the best value for us at any point in the draft.”
(What was it about CB Cornell Armstrong that stood out to you guys?) – “We brought him here on a 30-visit and got to know him. It was his speed. He’s fast. He’s athletic. We think he has great upside. When you get to that point in the draft, we were very excited to add that because we think his potential to develop down the road is good. (He’s a) great kid (and has a) tremendous story to him. We just got to spend a lot of time (with him) and liked him. We liked his film and we just think, for him, he’ll be a good player, or has a chance to be a good player for us in the future.”
Mike Tannenbaum:
(How comfortable do you feel in your offensive line since you didn’t draft a guy there? What are your thoughts on that?) – “We’ve put a lot of time and effort into that, going back to the end of the season. Getting Josh Sitton, we felt that was a great opportunity for us (and) trading for (Daniel) Kilgore, then being able to keep Ja’Wuan (James) on his fifth year option. That was really important to us and some of these other guys, it was a little bit like the tight end position. We feel better about the depth and having Ted Larsen come back and Jake Brendel and Jesse Davis. Eric Smith, we’re excited about him. Zach Sterup played meaningful snaps last year in the Buffalo game (in Week 17). Those guys have played a lot. (Offensive Line Coach) Jeremiah Washburn and (Assistant Offensive Line Coach) Chris Kuper do a good job. We feel better about the depth of that position.”
(How many of your players did you talk to about the other players? You mentioned P Matt Haack with RB Kalen Ballage. I guess with LB Jerome Baker, you talked to Browns CB Denzel Ward and…) – “Well, Raekwon (McMillan).”
(LB Raekwon McMillan, right. How many other players? With S Minkah Fitzpatrick, did you go to RB Kenyan Drake or anything like that?) – “We just kind of do that organically. I know that’s important to (Head Coach) Adam (Gase) and (General Manager) Chris (Grier), as well. It’s just a great information source and the guys that are here, we say it’s a very fundamental question, ‘Do you want to go to work every day with these guys?’ They’re very authentic. It’s confidential. It’s a really important data point, and again, I think that’s something that Adam and Chris feel strongly about, as well. So sure, if Drake has played with Fitzpatrick, that’s important to know. If Raekwon (McMillan) has played with (Jerome) Baker, especially in the same position room, that’s always good information.”
Chris Grier:
(A few of the guys that you selected have sort of freakish measurables in terms of how they jump and how fast they run compared to their speed. Can you describe how you assimilate that into your decision making?) – “Well, at the end of the day, the film will tell us what kind of player he is. Again, we can fall in love with numbers and measurables and you can get in trouble with that. When you get to certain points in the draft, you have to take chances on traits and things you like; but if you’re comfortable with the kid, what kind of makeup he has, if he loves football, that stuff all plays into it. It was just fortunate that a lot of these guys that we liked and spent time with also just happened to have really good measurables in terms of workout numbers. Again, it’s the film that’s going to tell you what type of player they are.”
(With K Jason Sanders, he’s missed a substantial amount of field goals. He’s 25-of-35 in his career. Was that something where it’s a distance issue that you take in as a factor?) – “A lot of it is, again, we really trust (Associate Head Coach/Special Teams Coordinator Darren) Rizzi and (Assistant Special Teams Coach) Marwan (Maalouf), because I’ll be honest with you, (evaluating) kickers is one of the hardest things. You see, every year, guys are drafted and it’s the free agents that make it and the draft guys bounce around a couple of different teams before they make it. In terms of mechanics and all of that stuff, we spent a lot of time talking with Rizzi and Marwan about it. Those guys, as you know covering us for years, they’ve earned it. They do a great job and they’ve found guys every year. This was a player that they really believed in and we really liked the kid when we spent time with him.”
Mike Tannenbaum:
“They went out and worked him out and, not to put words in their mouth, but obviously, they felt very comfortable with him and spent a lot of time on him. Obviously, the numbers are part of the story but it is not the only part.
(Do you expect to bring another kicker in to compete with K Jason Sanders?) – “Yes. Typically we’ll go to camp with two kickers, so we have some work to do.”
