Desperation in the NFL can create some pretty strange bedfellows, and there’s no team more desperate to win right now than the Miami Dolphins.
According to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, the Dolphins have hired former Dallas Cowboys quarterback and Pro Football Hall of Famer Troy Aikman as an advisor in their next general manager search after the team parted ways with general manager Chris Grier on Halloween and following a 2-7 start.
Aikman, who won 3 Super Bowls with the Cowboys, is the color commentator for “Monday Night Football” and has been in the broadcast booth since his career ended in 2001.
“The Miami Dolphins have brought on Hall of Fame quarterback and ESPN analyst Troy Aikman as a consultant to advise the organization on its general manager search process, according to sources,” Schefter wrote on January 1. “It is not a permanent role, but he will be an adviser throughout the process for the Dolphins’ next general manager. Miami ownership wanted an outside respected perspective from someone who had strong relationships across the league. Aikman brings this after more than three decades as an NFL player and broadcaster.”
Aikman Might Have Bigger Role Than Advertised
In the world of high-priced consulting fees, it would be interesting to see what Dolphins owner Stephen Ross is dropping on Aikman, who is one of football’s most respected voices.
Whatever Aikman is getting paid, it’s hard to believe he will only be asked to advise on the general manager search and Ross isn’t looking for something more in line with a top-to-bottom look at a franchise. Miami hasn’t won a playoff game since 2000, when they advanced to the AFC Divisional Round for third consecutive year — a time when Dan Marino was still their quarterback.
Aside from hiring a general manager, the Dolphins have major questions to address at head coach, where Mike McDaniel made the playoffs in his first 2 seasons but has missed the playoffs the last 2 years and on the roster, where the team’s best player, wide receiver Tyreek Hill, is coming off a catastrophic leg injury and is due $36 million in 2026 in the final year of a restructured, $90 million contract extension he signed in August 2024.
“I did not have ‘Troy Aikman as a consultant’ on the bingo card — but I do think he helps with one of the things many Dolphins fans are worried about with the general manager search.” Locked on Dolphins podcast host Kyle Crabbs wrote on X.
Maybe Cowboys Should Try and Get Some Advice
The ironic thing here is that the team that could probably use Aikman’s advice the most is the Cowboys. Dallas is also missing the playoffs for a second consecutive season and haven’t played in an NFC Championship Game since the 1995 season, when Aikman was still the quarterback.
Don’t expect that conversation to happen anytime soon. The Cowboys are in a unique situation where 83-year-old owner Jerry Jones also still serves as team’s full time general manager.
Jones selected Aikman at No. 1 overall in the 1989 NFL draft out of UCLA, just 2 months after he purchased the team for $140 million.
“Time zones are crazy,” New York Giants fan account Giants Muse wrote on X on December 31. “Australia is in 2026. America is in 2025. Cowboys fans are in 1996.”
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