The writing on the wall in South Florida − some of it, anyway − became official Friday morning.
The Miami Dolphins and general manager Chris Grier, who had worked for the team for more than a quarter of a century, have decided to mutually go their separate ways.
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“As I assessed the state of the team and in my discussions with Chris, it became clear to both of us that change could not wait,” owner Stephen Ross said in a statement distributed by the team.
“We must improve − in 2025, 2026 and beyond − and it needs to start right now. Champ Kelly will serve as interim general manager effective immediately, and we will begin our search process for a new general manager. I want to thank Champ for stepping up and his commitment to the Dolphins success this season. There is a lot of football left to play and we all need to fight even harder.
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Did one of these NFL trade deadline deals ruin your fantasy league team for the year?
The NFL trade deadline is quickly approaching. Some teams could make trades that boost their playoff and Super Bowl odds, but others will make bad deals that hamper their rosters. There’s no way to know which trades will turn out the best until one is able to look back with the benefit of hindsight. However, several deals from the past have not aged so well in the years since they happened. More than a few bad moves happened midseason at the trade deadline. The following five trades have aged exceptionally poorly and could be considered among the worst trade deadline deals in NFL history.
1 / 23
Did one of these NFL trade deadline deals ruin your fantasy league team for the year?
The NFL trade deadline is quickly approaching. Some teams could make trades that boost their playoff and Super Bowl odds, but others will make bad deals that hamper their rosters. There’s no way to know which trades will turn out the best until one is able to look back with the benefit of hindsight. However, several deals from the past have not aged so well in the years since they happened. More than a few bad moves happened midseason at the trade deadline. The following five trades have aged exceptionally poorly and could be considered among the worst trade deadline deals in NFL history.
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Did one of these NFL trade deadline deals ruin your fantasy league team for the year?
5. Buffalo Bills acquire Kelvin Benjamin from Carolina Panthers (2017) The 2014 first-round pick never quite lived up to the potential he showed in his rookie season with the Carolina Panthers. After catching 73 passes for 1,008 yards and nine touchdowns his first season, Benjamin missed the entire 2015 season after tearing his ACL in training camp.
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Did one of these NFL trade deadline deals ruin your fantasy league team for the year?
After a 2016 that saw a moderate drop in the wideout’s production, Benjamin played the first half of the 2017 season for Carolina on pace to put up similar numbers to what he did in 2016. After eight games, the Panthers traded him to the Buffalo Bills for 2018 third- and seventh-round picks.
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Did one of these NFL trade deadline deals ruin your fantasy league team for the year?
The former Panther played just six games for the Bills that year after tearing his meniscus, and his production was hampered after he tweaked the knee injury following his return. Buffalo made the playoffs but lost its wild-card matchup with the Jaguars. Benjamin had just one catch for nine yards in the game.
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Did one of these NFL trade deadline deals ruin your fantasy league team for the year?
Benjamin began the 2018 season playing on his fifth-year option for Buffalo since Carolina had exercised it the year before, but the receiver didn’t even make it through his first full year with the Bills. The team cut him after just 12 games in which he caught 23 passes on 62 targets, a 35% catch percentage, a league-worst mark that year. He finished with 354 yards and one touchdown.
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Did one of these NFL trade deadline deals ruin your fantasy league team for the year?
4. Chicago Bears trade for Chase Claypool (2022) Chase Claypool enjoyed two seasons of solid production with the Pittsburgh Steelers after the team made him its second-round pick in 2020. Across 2020 and 2021, the Notre Dame product had 121 catches for 1,733 yards and 11 touchdowns.
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Did one of these NFL trade deadline deals ruin your fantasy league team for the year?
In his third season, Claypool’s role in the Steelers’ offense diminished slightly after the team selected receiver George Pickens in the second round of the 2022 draft.
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Did one of these NFL trade deadline deals ruin your fantasy league team for the year?
After Week 8 of the 2022 season, the Chicago Bears were 3-5 after a loss to the Dallas Cowboys on the road. Seeking a boost for its passing offense, Chicago traded its 2023 second-round pick for Claypool, matching the Packers’ offer for the Steelers wideout.
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Did one of these NFL trade deadline deals ruin your fantasy league team for the year?
The British Columbia, Canada native never played a full season for the Bears. In seven games in 2022, he caught just 14 passes for 140 yards. The next year, Claypool played in just three games, tallying four receptions for 51 yards and his only Bears touchdown before expressing frustration about how the team was using him to the media. He never played another snap for the Bears before they traded him to Miami in Week 5.
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Did one of these NFL trade deadline deals ruin your fantasy league team for the year?
Chicago went on to lose every game after making the trade for Claypool in 2022, and the second-round pick it gave up was the first pick on the second day of the 2023 draft. Pittsburgh drafted cornerback Joey Porter Jr. with the selection, and he went on to finish fifth in the Defensive Rookie of the Year voting.
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Did one of these NFL trade deadline deals ruin your fantasy league team for the year?
3. Indianapolis Colts send first-round pick to Browns for Trent Richardson (2013) Trent Richardson tallied 950 yards and 11 touchdowns on the ground, 367 receiving yards, and one touchdown catch as a rookie in 2012. At the time, he seemed the lone bright spot in an otherwise brutal year for the Cleveland Browns. First-round quarterback and 28-year-old rookie Brandon Weeden had the fourth-worst passer rating in the NFL. Cleveland finished 5-11 and in last place in the AFC North.
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Did one of these NFL trade deadline deals ruin your fantasy league team for the year?
So, when the Browns traded Richardson just two games into the 2013 season, it was a bit of a shock to the NFL world. The shock faded once the Indianapolis Colts got their hands on Richardson in his second year in exchange for a first-round pick.
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Did one of these NFL trade deadline deals ruin your fantasy league team for the year?
By Week 12 at the beginning of December, Indianapolis had already demoted Richardson to a backup role after nine games, averaging fewer than three yards per carry and just two touchdowns.
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Did one of these NFL trade deadline deals ruin your fantasy league team for the year?
The Alabama product was only slightly better in his first full year with the Colts in 2013, and the team waived him the following offseason. He never played another regular-season snap in the NFL. Thanks to a solid second year from Colts quarterback Andrew Luck, the pick Indianapolis sent to Cleveland ended up in the back third of the first round. That year, the Browns traded up from that 26th pick to take another swing at a franchise quarterback: Johnny Manziel.
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Did one of these NFL trade deadline deals ruin your fantasy league team for the year?
2. Green Bay Packers think John Hadl is their franchise quarterback (1974) In 1973, a 33-year-old Hadl played in his first season with the Los Angeles Rams after 11 years with the San Diego Chargers. By the end of the year, the former Kansas Jayhawk earned a sixth Pro Bowl nod to go along with his first-team All-Pro honors (a career first) and second-place finish in MVP voting behind running back O.J. Simpson.
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Did one of these NFL trade deadline deals ruin your fantasy league team for the year?
The following year, Hadl started the Rams’ first five games before being benched in the fifth game in favor of James Harris, who became the first African-American quarterback to start an NFL playoff game later that year.
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Did one of these NFL trade deadline deals ruin your fantasy league team for the year?
Seeing an opportunity to bring in a battle-tested veteran quarterback, the Green Bay Packers sent five draft picks (two first-round picks, two second-round picks, and a third-rounder) to Los Angeles in a midseason trade for Hadl in 1974. The deal only came about because a similar trade attempt for New Orleans Saints quarterback Archie Manning fell through.
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Did one of these NFL trade deadline deals ruin your fantasy league team for the year?
Hadl was a disaster in Green Bay. During his one-and-a-half years with the Packers, he led the team to a 7-12 record while throwing just nine touchdowns to 29 interceptions. Meanwhile, the Rams went on to win six straight NFC West division titles and made a Super Bowl appearance with the help of some of those draft picks. Both cornerbacks Monte Jackson and Pat Thomas, second-round picks for the Rams in 1975 and 1976, earned multiple Pro Bowl nods with Los Angeles.
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Did one of these NFL trade deadline deals ruin your fantasy league team for the year?
1. Minnesota Vikings trade their future for Herschel Walker (1989) The Minnesota Vikings’ trade for Herschel Walker is among the worst trades in NFL history, midseason or otherwise. It even has its own Wikipedia page. Walker had established himself as Dallas’ best player by 1988, his third season as a pro.
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Did one of these NFL trade deadline deals ruin your fantasy league team for the year?
The year before, the former Georgia Bulldog led the NFL with 1,606 yards from scrimmage on 269 touches and earned Pro Bowl and second-team All-Pro nods. In 1988, he rushed for 1,514 yards and five touchdowns and caught 53 passes for 505 receiving yards to put him at 2,019 scrimmage yards. It was enough for another Pro Bowl appearance, second-team All-Pro honors, fifth place in MVP voting, and a sixth-place finish for Offensive Player of the Year.
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Did one of these NFL trade deadline deals ruin your fantasy league team for the year?
It was enough for a Vikings team fresh off of two straight playoff appearances to make a blockbuster deal for the running back five weeks into the next year. In October 1989, Minnesota received Walker and three future draft picks for five players, three draft picks, and additional picks conditional on the Cowboys cutting those five players.
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Did one of these NFL trade deadline deals ruin your fantasy league team for the year?
Ultimately, Dallas didn’t play any of the players it acquired in the trade. As a result, the Cowboys got the Vikings’ first- and second-round picks in 1990, 1991, and 1992, as well as Minnesota’s sixth-round pick in 1990 and third-round pick in 1992.The Cowboys eventually used those picks to make several additional trades, landing five other players, including running back Emmitt Smith and safety Darren Woodson, to build a roster that dominated the 1990s. Dallas won three Super Bowls between 1992 and 1995.
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Did one of these NFL trade deadline deals ruin your fantasy league team for the year?
Meanwhile, Walker played just two full seasons for the Vikings and never exceeded 850 rushing yards in a season. Minnesota missed the playoffs in all but that first year, 1989, with its new running back.
“I have always been and remain committed to building a winning team that consistently competes for championships. I am incredibly proud of our leadership as an NFL organization and our continued commitment to the community, but our performance on the field and our team-building process have not been good enough. There are no excuses. I want to thank the fans for their continued support and passion for this team. You deserve a championship-caliber team you can be proud of. There’s much work ahead to return the Dolphins to sustained success, and that work begins now, finishing the season strong, evaluating all areas of our football operation, and moving forward with a clear vision for the future.”
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The final straw clearly occurred Thursday night, when the Dolphins lost 28-6 to the Baltimore Ravens in a nationally broadcast game. Miami fans vocally expressed their displeasure with the team and many could be seen leaving Hard Rock Stadium early in the fourth quarter.
Grier and head coach Mike McDaniel, who remains employed, have been under the microscope for months and more. However, per ESPN’s Adam Schefter, McDaniel will remain in his role through the end of the season.
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Ross gave Grier and McDaniel a vote of confidence in January in the aftermath of Miami’s disappointing 2024 campaign, which ended with an 8-9 record and shy of playoff qualification for the first time since McDaniel was hired in 2022. The Dolphins have not won in postseason since the 2000 season, the longest active drought in the league.
“(C)ontinuity in leadership is not to be confused with an acceptance that status quo is good enough,” Ross said after the 2024 season. “We will take a hard look at where we have fallen short and make the necessary changes to deliver our ultimate goal of building and sustaining a winning team that competes for championships.”
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The Dolphins almost certainly won’t do that in 2025, their 2-7 record dropping them to 14th place overall in the AFC.
Grier was hired by the team as a scout in 2000. He worked his way up to the general manager’s seat in 2016. The team went 77-82, playoffs included, during his tenure. More recently, he and McDaniel had built a team that was often exciting in recent years, headlined by quarterback Tua Tagovailoa and wideout Tyreek Hill, linchpins of an offense that was often explosive. However Miami consistently struggled to beat good teams or win games, especially late in the season, staged in colder weather away from the temperate confines of Miami Gardens.
Grier’s trades for high-profile players like Jalen Ramsey and Bradley Chubb have yielded limited returns while stripping him of draft capital. Even the deal for Hill, who will miss the rest of this season with a knee injury and seems likely to be released next year, ultimately hasn’t pushed the team much closer to its first Super Bowl appearance in 40 years. Tagovailoa’s health and consistency have also been significant issues, though didn’t stop Grier from signing him to a four-year, $212 million extension last year − and the structure of that pact will effectively time to the organization through at least the 2026 season.
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The culture around the franchise has also been a major issue of late. Hill, a team captain at the time, infamously quit on the club during last season’s regular-season finale against the Jets in New York, where the Dolphins were routed with a playoff berth potentially at stake. Tagovailoa openly spoke of Hill needing to regain his teammates’ trust during training camp and more recently questioned the accountability of other players amid the 2025 club’s spiral.
Grier, 55, is the brother of Mike Grier, currently the GM of the San Jose Sharks and the first Black man to hold such a role in the NHL.
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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Dolphins, GM Chris Grier part ways, but Mike McDaniel expected to stay