Former NFL coach and executive Bobby Grier has died at the age of 82.
He was instrumental in the Houston Texans drafting future Hall of Famer J.J. Watt.
Grier is also credited with being a significant part of the New England Patriots drafting quarterback Tom Brady.
The name Bobby Grier, the former NFL coach and executive who died at the age of 82, is not a name many will know. If you don’t, take two minutes out of your day to learn about him, because you should.
Grier, whose sons Chris and Mike serve as general manager of the NFL’s Miami Dolphins and the NHL’s San Jose Sharks, respectively, was not a self-promoter. He seemed, in fact, to hate media attention. Several times throughout my years covering the league, we’d cross paths, and so many of our conversations involved him praising others. In a league full of people always taking credit, he doled it out.
‘Bobby was the strong, silent type — a leader who could always get the best of you. I had the good fortune of watching him as a coach and later as a personnel guy,’ said former Patriots linebacker and Pro Football Hall of Famer Andre Tippett, who also worked under Grier as a scout, to ESPN. ‘He inspired people to think bigger and do bigger things.’
What you have to understand about Grier is that to a number of Black coaches and executives, he was legendary. Yes, his credentials were unquestioned. Grier started his NFL career in 1981 as an assistant with the Patriots and then later moved into the team’s front office. He’d go on to work for the Houston Texans from 2000-2016, and then later the Dolphins.
But Grier was more than a resume. Along the way, I’ve heard some years ago, Grier became one of the people that Black personnel men went to for advice. Not just about football, but also about how to survive in a sport where Black team executives were rare. (CBS reported Grier was also the the first full-time Black assistant coach in Boston College history.)
For much of Grier’s career, he would be the only Black person in an NFL room. For many people of color, both in and outside of football, that was something they could relate to. I know I could.
As a front office executive, he definitely made mistakes (like all execs do), but his successes were stunning. When it was announced in 2016 that Grier was retiring from the Texans, one story noted how former Texans defensive coordinator Wade Phillips said Grier was instrumental in picking defensive lineman J.J. Watt in the first round of the 2011 draft. Watt would go on to become one of the best pass rushers in the history of the NFL.
Grier has also been credited with being one of the key people who pushed for the team to draft quarterback Tom Brady.
‘He’ll never let me or anyone else know about it or talk about it, but just being around him and talking with my brother, I know that he’s pretty proud of that draft class and Tom in particular,’ Mike Grier told ESPN in 2011.
‘He did his homework, and for me personally, it’s something every time Tom does something and plays the way he does, it puts a smile on my face the way things ended for my dad there in New England. But I think he did a pretty good job. I’m very proud of him for what he did there.’
This is who Grier was, all of him. Just thought you should know.