The Miami Dolphins and general manager Chris Grier have agreed to part ways, the team announced Friday. Miami will not make other moves at this time, meaning Mike McDaniel will remain as the team’s coach for now, per a league source.

Senior personnel executive Champ Kelly will serve as interim GM, owner Stephen Ross announced in a statement.

The news comes one day after the Dolphins’ blowout loss to the Baltimore Ravens, dropping the team’s record to 2-7.

The Miami Dolphins and general manager Chris Grier have mutually agreed to part ways. pic.twitter.com/pEoBprg8cn

— Miami Dolphins (@MiamiDolphins) October 31, 2025

The news also comes days before the NFL’s trade deadline on Nov. 4. With the Dolphins almost guaranteed to miss the playoffs and several high-priced veterans on defense in Bradley Chubb, Jaelan Phillips, Matthew Judon and Jordyn Brooks, plus Jaylen Waddle on offense, Kelly could attempt to shed salary while also stockpiling draft capital.

Grier had been the general manager in Miami since 2016. He has been with the Dolphins organization since the turn of the century, beginning as a scout in 2000 after he spent 1994 as an intern with the New England Patriots and had a five-year run with the Patriots as a scout from 1995 to 1999. Grier served as a Dolphins scout from 2000 to 2002 before being promoted to the assistant director of college scouting. He was the director of college scouting from 2007 to 2015 before being elevated to the GM position in 2016.

Meanwhile, the 42-year-old McDaniel has an overall record of 30-30 and he has failed to notch a postseason victory in his three-plus seasons. After a successful start to his time in Miami, in which McDaniel looked like one of the NFL’s brightest offensive minds, things fell apart in his fourth season with the Dolphins. The team has made more headlines this season for its player-only meetings than for any on-field success.

Ahead of the 2024 season, the Dolphins rewarded McDaniel with a three-year extension, locking him in through the 2028 season. But he dealt with a tough situation at quarterback that year as Tua Tagovailoa was limited to just 11 games with a concussion. Miami went 6-5 in Tagovailoa’s starts, but just 2-4 without him. The Dolphins finished 8-9 and outside of the playoff picture for the first time under McDaniel.

Miami’s 2025 season got off to an even rougher start, with the team looking out of sorts in its 33-8 season-opening loss to the Indianapolis Colts. After the game, the team held a players-only meeting and responded with a better outing in Week 2, though the Dolphins still lost a close game to the New England Patriots. They finally got a win in Week 4 over the winless New York Jets, a game in which they lost receiver Tyreek Hill for the season to a significant knee injury that included multiple torn ligaments.

Miami followed that up with consecutive losses to the Carolina Panthers and Los Angeles Chargers by a combined five points, the latter of which led to Tagovailoa questioning the team’s leadership. Tagovailoa later apologized for his comments after McDaniel said the postgame news conference was not the “proper forum” for the quarterback to issue his message to the team.

A 31-6 loss to the Cleveland Browns in Week 7 may have been the low point. Tagovailoa, at one time viewed as a perfect fit for McDaniel, was benched after throwing three interceptions and replaced by rookie Quinn Ewers. McDaniel left the door open after that game for the benching to be permanent, saying “everything’s on the table” while promising a “tape-driven” process to make that decision. However, Tagovailoa remains the team’s starting quarterback with McDaniel as his coach.

But Grier was not as fortunate. While the Dolphins saw instant results under Grier as GM, making the playoffs in 2016 for the first time since 2008, the success was neither sustained nor consistent over the remainder of his run, with Miami missing the postseason the next five seasons. The Dolphins made the playoffs in 2022 and 2023 in the first two seasons under Mike McDaniel but lost in the wild-card round each year, falling 34-31 to the Buffalo Bills in 2022 and 26-7 to the Kansas City Chiefs in 2023.

Overall, during Grier’s nine full seasons as general manager, the Dolphins made the playoffs three times but still have the NFL’s longest drought without a postseason victory, which extends to 2000. Miami never won the AFC East with Grier in charge, but finished in second place six times.

When Grier became the general manager in 2016, the Dolphins were coming off a 2015 season in which they had fired head coach Joe Philbin after a 1-3 start to the season. Dan Campbell was the interim head coach and went 5-7 the rest of the way.

Grier made Adam Gase his first head coaching hire in 2016. Gase went 23-25 over three seasons, including a wild-card appearance in his first year, before he was fired at the end of the 2018 campaign. Grier then hired Brian Flores in 2019, and he also lasted three years before he was fired in 2021 after three seasons without a playoff berth.

Grier’s final head coaching hire in Miami was McDaniel in 2022, and the Dolphins immediately made those two trips to the playoffs. But they went 8-9 last season, and their well-documented struggles to start this season led to Grier’s departure.