The Miami Dolphins made a change to their front office Tuesday, and the NFL world swiftly took notice.
Dolphins owner Stephen Ross named Daniel Sillman as Miami’s new head of football operations. Given Sillman is Ross’s son-in-law, the NFL community had a few raised eyebrows over this change in leadership.
Dolphins Owner Stephen Ross Puts Son-In-Law Daniel Sillman In Charge
There’s been a growing dislike of Ross among NFL fans for a while now, whether you attribute it to the Dolphins’ lack of winning in the last couple of decades, their scandals, or simply the dysfunction in their front office.
Now, with a change in management, the NFL world is sharing its thoughts.
Sillman will be taking over for Tom Garfinkel, who some had positive feelings about.
“You can criticize everything off the field for the Dolphins, but they were best-in-class off the field, and very few teams came close to the standards that Tom Garfinkel set for the organization,” Pro Football Sports Network’s Matt Cannata wrote on X.
ESPN’s Jeff Darlington added some words of praise for Garfinkel’s time in Miami.
“Few if any executives have had a more expansive impact on a sports organization’s business-side success over the past two decades than Tom Garfinkel,” Darlington wrote.
“My sense: He’s simply ready for new challenges and chapters. Garfinkel informed Ross a few months ago that he planned to transition out of his role, allowing time to move to new CEO Danny Sillman, who has learned from Garfinkel over the last several years.
“Garfinkel will still oversee F1, among other properties associated with Ross and the stadium. But it’ll be interesting to see what he adds to that.”
PFSN’s Matt Infante took a more direct approach in reacting to the news, pointing out where the biggest change within the organization will come due to the new head of football operations.
“The real story here is that Hafley and Sullivan now report to Sillman rather than Ross,” Infante wrote. “The first test will be how Sillman handles any tough decisions should the rebuild go off the rails. He can’t be any worse than Ross in that position, right?”
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Several other sports figures and fans also shared their discontent with the decision.
“Transformational? 104-109 with zero playoff wins and only 3 playoff appearances in 13 years,” podcaster Gordon Damer wrote.
“‘Transformational years’ 0 playoff wins, Tua $50M per year, 0-3 in the playoffs, Tom Brady tampering violations, now the worst team in the NFL,” another fan remarked.
“Ong. We are even more doomed,” another fan reacted.
“Solidify? Hope it doesn’t become what it is with the Lions and Bears. Incompetency for decades,” another fan wrote in displeasure. “Businesses rarely have success after the first generation. Team should be sold to an owner who is hungry. Not ones looking to expand their real estate holdings.”
One thing was clear: those frustrated with the Dolphins organization and the new move did not feel like the previous regime transformed the franchise. The onus will now be on Sillman as Miami looks to embark on a new era.
