Dolphins cutting best cornerback because of his disruptive wife?
The Miami Dolphins are planning to cut Brent Grimes at the start of the league year on Wednesday.
Typically, when you hear such things in the NFL it comes down to age or money. But it’s not as if you can say that Grimes is exceptionally old (he turns 33 in July) or that he was compensated at a ridiculous rate, with an average salary of less than $8 million, placing him on the back end of the top 20 at the position.
In fact, he was easily the Dolphins best cornerback in 2015.
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But it appears that Miko Grimes, Brent’s wife, is considered the problem in Miami. That’s why the Dolphins are going to cut him, get hit with $3 million in dead money and swing a trade for one of the lowest-graded and most overpaid cornerbacks in the NFL last season in Byron Maxwell.
Sure, the Dolphins are working on a salary reduction with Maxwell, but that’s besides the point. Miko Grimes has been a thorn in the Dolphins’ sides for too long now, and it appears she’s hurting her husband’s career now.
Is this unfair to say? The Dolphins don’t believe so, and neither does the Miami Herald’s Armando Salguero. Not after a social media torrent last season in which she took various Dolphins players to task, including quarterback Ryan Tannehill. She also was arrested before a game last season, and it resulted in several meetings between Brent Grimes and team officials over the past few years. After expressing their unhappiness with her, the Dolphins apparently have had enough.
Perhaps landing the younger Maxwell will be a net gain over time, but it’s hard to see a huge difference on the field right now. Off it, however, the Dolphins and a new coaching staff have to feel untrammeled from the distraction of a woman whose tweets know no bounds.
Yes, that’s her threatening the writer after he reported her husband would be cut. No wonder no team is, as Salguero wrote, “loony” enough to trade for the talented Grimes.
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Eric Edholm is a writer for Shutdown Corner on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @Eric_Edholm