Nick Saban reacts to Chris Grier's ousting from Miami Dolphins

Nick Saban’s time in Miami as the Dolphins coach overlapped with Chris Grier’s start with the franchise. He worked his way up through the front office to become the team’s general manager until he and the franchise opted to part ways on Friday morning.

During the latest edition of The Pat McAfee Show, Saban made his thoughts on the matter known. He has a ton of respect for Grier, and even though he’s the one forced to fall on the sword, he doesn’t think the Dolphins’ struggles fall squarely on the now-former general manager’s shoulders.

“He’s one of my favorites. You know, he was a scout there when I was the head coach many, many years ago. I think Chris Grier does a really, really good job, but I guess, you know, when you look at the product on the field, personnel has to do something about it and be responsible for it to some degree, and the coaches have to be responsible for how they develop it. And everybody’s got to make those decisions internally,” Saban explained.

“… It’s hard. I went through that in Cleveland. In ’93, we were 5–2 and we cut some players at the bye week, and we went 2-7 the rest of the way. There was a little bit of a mutiny in the building. But the one thing that pro players can do and can think of to keep things going is they need to play well to extend their career and to see how much money they can make. So, winning and losing doesn’t necessarily determine that.

“If they keep performing well, they’re still creating value for themselves, and I think that’s important for players to take advantage of, even if you’re not on a winning team. But I think the Dolphins — you know, I have a house in Florida, so a lot of people ask me, ‘What’s wrong with the Dolphins?’ And I can’t really answer that question completely. Obviously, they’ve had some injuries that could affect that, but they haven’t played great on defense, and they haven’t scored a lot of points, so they have lots of issues.”

Now, it’ll be about whether the Dolphins can fight back from their 2-7 start, or if the wheels really start to fall out. Pat McAfee doesn’t think it’ll be on the players if their season becomes a disaster, at least not effort-wise.

“Dolphins fans feel like they’ve been in purgatory throughout this entirety,” McAfee added. “But it wasn’t that long ago that this roster, this money, was like the hottest thing in the NFL. And now it’s the complete opposite of that. And Lamar Jackson comes back to town and does his thing against them.

“Tua — interesting situation, because you talk about having good tape. Like, hey, put good tape out there. Doesn’t matter if we’re going to the playoffs. Some teams have a 2% chance to make the playoffs. They kind of understand what the situation is. But OG’s telling them like, ‘Hey, this is either where you keep your job or maybe make some more money. People are watching this. This isn’t just fans being upset about us not having a hope. This is all like a tryout.’

“They talk about preseason — this is real shit here. So, if you can do good tape — that’s why whenever they say people are tanking for somebody, it’s like, players aren’t. Players aren’t putting shitty tape out there like that. Now, are there schemes being called? Are there people not being dressed? Maybe. Are those things happening? Potentially. Maybe that is happening with teams. I’m not going to rule it out, because I’m an open-minded individual.

“But like, when we were in the ‘Suck for Luck’ campaign, everybody was saying it, and I wasn’t trying to shake balls. I would have got fired. Offensive lines aren’t trying to give up sacks to whoever’s playing quarterback that year because they want to keep a job. So, interesting dynamic that the Miami Dolphins are now staring down.”

It’ll certainly be interesting to see what direction the franchise heads. Their next game is at home against the Buffalo Bills on Nov. 9, and Saban and McAfee both will have their eyes on how the Dolphins respond.