Speaker 1: What is up, Dolphins, And welcome to the Drift Time Podcast.
Speaker 1: I am your host, Travis Wingfield, and on today's show,
Speaker 1: we are looking at the remaining free agency list. We
Speaker 1: are parsing through some mock drafts. We are doing a
Speaker 1: deep dive. I'm one of the most commonly mocked players
Speaker 1: to the Miami Dolphins, and though I saw plenty of
Speaker 1: questions in the mail bag, I'm going to answer just
Speaker 1: three of those. I will get to more of them
Speaker 1: later on on future episodes. Here of the podcast from
Speaker 1: the Baptist Health Studios inside the Baptist Health Training Complex.
Speaker 1: This is the Drive Time Podcast. Free agency has sloan
Speaker 1: to a crawl, but there are still plenty of names
Speaker 1: out there that I think can help impact football teams.
Speaker 1: We're gonna go ahead and kick this off as we
Speaker 1: are kind of pivoting in towards draft content season for
Speaker 1: the next few weeks. Here on the show, I want
Speaker 1: to maintain the idea of potential veterans improvements and what's
Speaker 1: on the market out there as the Dolphins look to
Speaker 1: round out a few more holes on the roster that exist.
Speaker 1: Right because it is April or I guess it's still
Speaker 1: late March when you hear this podcast. But it's about
Speaker 1: to be April, and we don't play a football game
Speaker 1: for five months, so there's plenty of time to round
Speaker 1: out the roster and get your ninety guys that you
Speaker 1: can carve down to fifty three eventually, and I imagine
Speaker 1: that will include some of the guys not just off
Speaker 1: this list, but off the general free agent list in general.
Speaker 1: So let's go ahead and talk about a few of
Speaker 1: the guys that make sense. I put a couple of
Speaker 1: positions on here that I don't think will be priorities
Speaker 1: in terms of the kind of bargain shopping you're doing here,
Speaker 1: but I just put them on there because, like, you
Speaker 1: can never have enough good football players, and especially the
Speaker 1: two spots.
Speaker 2: That I have outside of team needs.
Speaker 1: I took away tight end, took away quarterback, took away
Speaker 1: running back. I just don't think that's gonna be a
Speaker 1: spot that Dolphins are kicking around. We'll see if that's
Speaker 1: the case or not. But I put the team needs
Speaker 1: and a couple of positions just because the guys I
Speaker 1: think would be good cheap options maybe as like summertime signing.
Speaker 1: Go ahead and start with the spot that everybody wants
Speaker 1: to know about the offensive line. There's still four guys
Speaker 1: out there that I think could either start at one
Speaker 1: of the guard positions, you know, depending on where James
Speaker 1: Daniels lands, or could be valuable backups within you know,
Speaker 1: those roles and tackle capacities as well. And it starts
Speaker 1: with the guy that we have discussed in the podcast
Speaker 1: plenty and Will Hernandez, who is a bigger body, stouter
Speaker 1: player who has a little bit more power and would
Speaker 1: signal more of that kind of adaptable scheme shift that
Speaker 1: I think we are getting and have seen the beginning
Speaker 1: groundwork being laid for that with some of the additions
Speaker 1: you've seen between Pharaoh Brown, Nick Westbrook Akine. Not that
Speaker 1: they aren't outside zone players, but I think that they
Speaker 1: feature something that can give you a one B punch
Speaker 1: to your knockout punch, and that is true for James
Speaker 1: Daniels and for Larry Boram as well, and so Will Hernandez.
Speaker 1: I think his ability to win in short spaces, to
Speaker 1: connect on duo blocks, to be a good pass protector,
Speaker 1: I think that he would be a very valuable starting
Speaker 1: guard for you from day one, for probably pretty cheap
Speaker 1: as well. We just saw Tevin Jenkins go for like
Speaker 1: three million bucks a year, so the market was kind
Speaker 1: of off on his idea or on his contract. I
Speaker 1: think Will Hernandez, with a bunch of experience and snaps
Speaker 1: in this league is kind of in that same frame
Speaker 1: of mind. Speaking of experience, Brandon Sheriff is like, I mean,
Speaker 1: he's played a billion snaps, He's played both guard positions,
Speaker 1: He's been around the block for quite a while. I
Speaker 1: don't think he's the mover he used to be, but
Speaker 1: I think you would feel really good about slotting him
Speaker 1: into one of the starting guard jobs, even if he's
Speaker 1: not the most athletic player at this stage of his career.
Speaker 1: For this offense, I think he's an upgrade over what
Speaker 1: you have. I also think Daniel Brunskill is an upgrade
Speaker 1: over what you have. I also like his game a lot,
Speaker 1: for the fact that he can play literally all five
Speaker 1: positions and he has experience in the scheme. Now, what
Speaker 1: that also could lend itself to is if they've gone
Speaker 1: over the tape and decided we've seen him in this
Speaker 1: offense and we don't like the way it looks like
Speaker 1: where Larry Boram didn't really run this offense, but we
Speaker 1: can project that maybe it's better with the system. Maybe
Speaker 1: you saw brun Skill in the offense and said, like,
Speaker 1: not for me, pass. I don't know, but I think
Speaker 1: that he's an option out there for you among these
Speaker 1: four guys. And last, but certainly not least, this is
Speaker 1: a guy I talked about early on in the process,
Speaker 1: and Joe Noteboom again guard and tackle experience, played for
Speaker 1: the Rams. I think his tape was pretty good. So
Speaker 1: I think there's four guys out there that can really
Speaker 1: help you. I think all four of those guys would
Speaker 1: be favorites to start should you land one of them.
Speaker 1: And I think all five of them are going to
Speaker 1: be less than five million bucks a year, So not
Speaker 1: a bad crop that ILL still choose from for your
Speaker 1: Miami Dolphins ahead of the draft. I have one wide
Speaker 1: receiver on here, and Kyle Kraft is gonna hate this.
Speaker 1: I think most of you probably won't like it very
Speaker 1: much either. It kind of harkens back to my love
Speaker 1: of Brandon Cooks for so long and seeing him go
Speaker 1: off to the back to the Saints I was. I
Speaker 1: sent it to Kyle and said, like, hey, he still
Speaker 1: can play. Look at look at the contract that he got,
Speaker 1: and he thought that was, you know, a good attempt
Speaker 1: at trying to validate my take on Brandon Cooks. Tyler
Speaker 1: Lockett is that guy, and it's mostly because of his
Speaker 1: ability to get vertical, to get down the field, to
Speaker 1: be a real veteran route runner, a guy that can
Speaker 1: you know, separate in the intermedia and deep part of
Speaker 1: the field. I just think that he would be a
Speaker 1: good option to have for like depth and almost like
Speaker 1: an ancillary role in the event that you lose a
Speaker 1: riek or a waddle for a game or two, or
Speaker 1: for multiple games. And that's why I think that he
Speaker 1: would be more of like an August signing, like hey,
Speaker 1: come in here, learn the system. Maybe even a veteran
Speaker 1: practice squad guy that kind of like learns the ropes
Speaker 1: for a little bit, just kind of thinking outside the box.
Speaker 2: I don't know if that's what he's gonna.
Speaker 1: Want to do at the stage of his career, but
Speaker 1: if he's open to it, I wouldn't mind seeing him
Speaker 1: as a depth piece behind all those guys, even behind
Speaker 1: Westbrook a Kine for the third spot on the receiving
Speaker 1: depth chart at.
Speaker 2: A position of bigger need.
Speaker 1: A defensive tackle I think Kalais Campbell is still like
Speaker 1: option one, two and three. If you can get him back,
Speaker 1: everything else kind of seems to fall into place, especially
Speaker 1: with the draft class that I think afford you a
Speaker 1: potential significant role playing snap eater with both pick thirteen
Speaker 1: and pick forty eight, depending on where you go there.
Speaker 1: I think Kenneth Grant from Michigan makes a lot of
Speaker 1: sense at thirteen. I think that Alfred Collins at forty
Speaker 1: eight makes a bunch of cents and guys that would
Speaker 1: both to me play more than half your snaps as rookies.
Speaker 1: So if you can get Kalais and one of those guys,
Speaker 1: all of a sudden, it goes from this group that
Speaker 1: you feel like is kind of lacking to a position
Speaker 1: of strength, or you round it out in the aggregate
Speaker 1: with a Rakwon Davis who signed last year for seven
Speaker 1: million bucks. I think it would be a significant reduction
Speaker 1: to that cost if you were to return Marlon Davidson,
Speaker 1: another rotation guy that was on that list from the
Speaker 1: Titans that I quite like his game in a you know,
Speaker 1: thirty percent snap taking role. And then again, I'm just
Speaker 1: going to emphasize Kalais Campbell kind of is the guy
Speaker 1: that can reset this entire position group for the Miami Dolphins.
Speaker 1: Now off the edge is that second position group I
Speaker 1: was telling you about that I don't think is one
Speaker 1: of need right now. And I saw a mock draft
Speaker 1: that had us taking an edge at thirteen. I just
Speaker 1: can't imagine that happens with what's gone down this free agency,
Speaker 1: with all of the edges they have, the retention of
Speaker 1: Bradley Chubb, with the growth of Chop Robinson, with what
Speaker 1: I expect JP to be this year, on top of
Speaker 1: guys that can play edge as kind of a secondary
Speaker 1: role to their their you know, their day job. And
Speaker 1: Willie Gay is an off ball linebacker compared to an edgebrusher. Like,
Speaker 1: we have so many guys in that spot that I
Speaker 1: don't think you'll see a high draft pick spent there,
Speaker 1: But if you want to like continue to round out depth,
Speaker 1: Travis Gibson was a once upon a time, a Day
Speaker 1: three draft pick that has been around the block a
Speaker 1: little bit, played in the system, has some good pass
Speaker 1: rushing chops. And then John Kaminski from the Lions has
Speaker 1: had some injury issues, which you know, it's kind of
Speaker 1: up our alley, but he's had some good pass rush
Speaker 1: production too from the Lions. So a couple of guys
Speaker 1: to keep an eye out there off the edge if
Speaker 1: you're trying to find like a fourth or fifth guy
Speaker 1: that maybe you feel I can compete with Quintin Bell
Speaker 1: and Mohammed Kamara for depth this season at the cornerback
Speaker 1: in safety spots. There's some names I still like there,
Speaker 1: and you're getting more into the veteran aspect here, and
Speaker 1: I think you can maybe talk yourself out of some
Speaker 1: of these guys that are on the wrong side of
Speaker 1: age thirty, like a Mike Hilton, but he's been a
Speaker 1: kind of a mercenary of a slot cornerback for a
Speaker 1: long time now. I think that he could continue that
Speaker 1: role and bounce around the league or maybe find a
Speaker 1: home for a couple of years. But I wouldn't be
Speaker 1: opposed to signing a veteran presence, a leader in the
Speaker 1: defensive back field that can play multiple spots in Mike
Speaker 1: Hilton Asante. Samuel Junior is the one that I'm most
Speaker 1: intrigued by, but he has a potentially very serious injury
Speaker 1: that he's kind of contending with, and he's been open
Speaker 1: about what happened with that shoulder and how it might
Speaker 1: impact his career. But if that causes a reduction and cost,
Speaker 1: I would be very curious about that. And then Myles
Speaker 1: Bryant formerly of the Patriots, is kind of a depth
Speaker 1: piece there. To just give you another body in the room.
Speaker 1: I think you're gonna have to draft this spot probably
Speaker 1: pretty early if unless the plan is to go in
Speaker 1: and say, between Cam Smith, Storm Duck Ethan Bonner, you know,
Speaker 1: Jason Matrie, Isaiah Johnson, maybe the best man win the job.
Speaker 1: I think that that might be a little bit short
Speaker 1: sighted of an idea, but I could see it being
Speaker 1: the thought because you've invested in that position with those
Speaker 1: players and their developmental tracks. But I think you're probably
Speaker 1: best served to think about, you know, Jday Baron, to
Speaker 1: think about, you know, uh, Jacob Parrish. To think about
Speaker 1: Kobe Bryant in the third round or fourth round. To
Speaker 1: think about Savon Revel in the second round, someone that
Speaker 1: can be a starting cornerback for you right away. At safety,
Speaker 1: there's two players I think are just awesome on this list.
Speaker 1: I'm surprised they're still out there. Quite frankly. Marcus Williams
Speaker 1: is the obvious one because he was on the defense
Speaker 1: that Anthony Weaver coached for a couple of years there
Speaker 1: in Baltimore. He was a signal caller, a post safety
Speaker 1: that had really good ball skills, but he also had
Speaker 1: injury issues that kept him off the field throughout the
Speaker 1: course of the last couple of years for the Ravens,
Speaker 1: you know in and out of the lineup previously with
Speaker 1: the Saints. Is a great player for them too. And
Speaker 1: then Julian Blackman, who again has injury issues too, but
Speaker 1: a great player from depth in terms of playing the run.
Speaker 1: He has good coverage skills, good anticipation, good ball skills.
Speaker 1: I think both those two guys will start in the
Speaker 1: NFL next year. If they are here, I would have
Speaker 1: them both as safety one should they make that trip.
Speaker 1: So a couple of names think about that are still
Speaker 1: remaining on the free agent list. It's not gonna, you know,
Speaker 1: happen overnight. It's far from over, but I think it's
Speaker 1: worth talking about some of those names. Quick pivot here,
Speaker 1: let's go ahead and get into our mock draft roundup.
Speaker 1: We'll go ahead and do that here in segment one,
Speaker 1: and I took a look at a few mock drafts
Speaker 1: out there I think it's good to check by here
Speaker 1: every once in a while. We'll probably do one more
Speaker 1: of these before the draft, just to kind of give
Speaker 1: you a sense of what the experts are talking about
Speaker 1: out there. And I started off with Daniel Jeremiah March
Speaker 1: eighteenth mock Draft when he went cam Ward Abdul, Carter
Speaker 1: Shador Sanders, Travis Hunter, Jalen Walker, Ashton Genty armand Membu
Speaker 1: Mason Graham, Jahad Campbell, Will Campbell, Sorry, both those guys
Speaker 1: go back to back, and then Jaday Baron and Matthew
Speaker 1: Golden the receiver going up top there to the Cowboys
Speaker 1: right ahead of us, which means the big board basically
Speaker 1: gives you Tyler Warren, Malachi Starks, Will Johnson in that range,
Speaker 1: and Kenneth Grant too for that matter. There's a pretty
Speaker 1: big gap on his own fifty rankings, which tells me
Speaker 1: you're kind of choosing from that list of players. And
Speaker 1: he went with Malachi Starks, the safety from Georgia. He wrote,
Speaker 1: the further we get into the evaluation process, the more
Speaker 1: teams I find are in love with Starks' game. He
Speaker 1: would be a plug and player replacement for Javon Holland
Speaker 1: with the versatility to play as a high safety or nickelback.
Speaker 1: And he spelled Javon Holland's name wrong. That's kind of funny.
Speaker 1: I think this makes a lot of sense. You think
Speaker 1: about this Bill Belichick quote that you can't have a
Speaker 1: good defense with dumb safeties. Well, Starks is that dude.
Speaker 1: He is a traffic cop, a certain type of character.
Speaker 1: I mean the references you see from Georgia that he
Speaker 1: was the leader of that unit. You look at Daniel
Speaker 1: Jeremiah's blurp. He sounds the kind of player that you
Speaker 1: set and forget. You don't have to worry about distractions
Speaker 1: in South Florida because he's a football first type of guy.
Speaker 1: And we've talked about how a lot of these free agents,
Speaker 1: you know, were guys that are all ball. They take
Speaker 1: it very seriously, and we heard coaching Chris at the
Speaker 1: end of the season press conference emphasized, you know, a
Speaker 1: tighter leash, tighter parameters, less player, you know, freedom in
Speaker 1: terms of what you're allowed to do with you know,
Speaker 1: kind of writing your own ticket, and how do you
Speaker 1: do that besides bringing in guys that emphasize that for you,
Speaker 1: Guys that you don't have to self police like they
Speaker 1: can do it for themselves. Starks fits that mold on
Speaker 1: top of being a fantastic football player, and in fact,
Speaker 1: I went to start looking in depth at these guys
Speaker 1: that I believe are Round one options day by day here.
Speaker 1: So why don't we go ahead and do that with
Speaker 1: Starks in just a second, But first some more mock
Speaker 1: draft round up stuff. CBS Sports is Ryan Wilson has
Speaker 1: Walter Nolan. I think it's way too high for him.
Speaker 1: I think he's going to be a really good pass brusher,
Speaker 1: but he's a two down player, and I think this pick,
Speaker 1: taking a two down player at pick thirteen is really
Speaker 1: bad business. Yahoo's Nate Tye and Charles McDonald have Starks
Speaker 1: there as well, and then PFF has Calvin Banks, which
Speaker 1: to me is just a total lack of team awareness
Speaker 1: and what they're going to do. But we shall see.
Speaker 1: Maybe I'm the wrong one there, but I don't see
Speaker 1: that happening. ESPN Mike Tannebaum wrote one, and Chris Coffin
Speaker 1: had a great point on Twitter.
Speaker 2: About how.
Speaker 1: He is friends with someone who represents Josh Simmons. I'm
Speaker 1: getting that terribly wrong, but it just doesn't make a
Speaker 1: lot of sense that you're going to, you know, take
Speaker 1: a tackle on the second round that needed a year
Speaker 1: of development. He got that, he got some reps, he
Speaker 1: got a full year of practice in the system, and
Speaker 1: then you're just going to bail on that before you
Speaker 1: even let it come to fruition. I don't see that happening.
Speaker 1: And then Chad Ruder had a four round mock draft
Speaker 1: NFL dot Com where he killed it until the fourth
Speaker 1: round when he butchered it or the rather the third round,
Speaker 1: but he had us trading down with the Cardinals who
Speaker 1: came up for Kelvin Banks at thirteen, and we wind
Speaker 1: up taking a player that I have rated way higher
Speaker 1: than Calvin Banks and Jade Baron the dB from Texas.
Speaker 1: And then he came back with Xavier Wats from nore
Speaker 1: Dame at picked forty eight. I I mean, you've you've
Speaker 1: nailed down your secondary with those two picks. I love
Speaker 1: that start to the draft. And then he comes back
Speaker 1: and gets Elijah Royo in the third round, the pick
Speaker 1: we get from the Cardinals in that trade down with
Speaker 1: the Cardinals for you know, to run.
Speaker 2: Out your tight end room.
Speaker 1: But then he comes back with Daon Walker from Kentucky,
Speaker 1: the you know, three hundred and forty fifty pound defensive
Speaker 1: tackle who say he's gonna run a four to six
Speaker 1: and ran a five to five and has like no
Speaker 1: pop in his legs. Skinny legs doesn't really drive eybody
Speaker 1: off the ball. Got sit up at the Senior Bowl
Speaker 1: by two hundred and eighty pound Willie Lampkin a bunch
Speaker 1: of times. Not intrigued by that quarterback. Dylan Gabriel rounds
Speaker 1: it out, which I think. I don't think they'll be
Speaker 1: quarterback that high. I think Zach Wilson is your young
Speaker 1: quarterback investment.
Speaker 2: We'll see.
Speaker 1: It could be wrong, but that's kind of my take
Speaker 1: on that. The second fourth rounder was part of the
Speaker 1: trade with the Cardinals, so they gave us. They gave
Speaker 1: us pick sixteen and seventy eight, and we gave them
Speaker 1: pick thirteen and one to thirty five. So for three
Speaker 1: spots in round one, you moved up fifty seven spots
Speaker 1: from rounds four to three. I think it's very interesting
Speaker 1: and I'm really curious to see what trades look like
Speaker 1: in this traffic, because I think that fewer quarterbacks up
Speaker 1: at the top of the draft tend to lead to
Speaker 1: fewer trades, and then where we are I just don't know.
Speaker 1: I mean, there are a million and one permutations here,
Speaker 1: but just generally speaking, I'm not sure there's going to
Speaker 1: be a ton of trade down value there. But again,
Speaker 1: never say never, right If a team falls in love
Speaker 1: with the guy and they think that his name is
Speaker 1: about to be called, then all bets are off. But
Speaker 1: then you have to balance is losing a few spots
Speaker 1: in the middle rounds worth a day three trade up.
Speaker 1: It's all very fascinating to me with what could happen.
Speaker 1: Let's go ahead and take a break right there, come
Speaker 1: back and begin our deep dive project here on potential
Speaker 1: picks at number thirteen overall. We'll kick it off with
Speaker 1: Malachi Starks, the Safety from Georgia. That's Next Draft Time podcast,
Speaker 1: your host Travis Wingfield, brought to you by a donation.
Speaker 2: If you thought the People's Court was going anywhere, you
Speaker 2: were sorely mistaken.
Speaker 1: We're talking about some prospects right now, and we'll do
Speaker 1: this through the course of the next month. I want
Speaker 1: to get into the possible options at pick thirteen. I
Speaker 1: want to talk about Day two guys. I want to
Speaker 1: get into Day three. I even want to talk about
Speaker 1: you dfa potential guys that might fit the system and
Speaker 1: be your home for all things Miami Dolphins Draft. I
Speaker 1: know that Kyle krabsfella has a great hairline and some
Speaker 1: pretty good draft takes as well, but we are also
Speaker 1: going to provide you with a different opinion. And Kyle
Speaker 1: and I have a pretty shared aesthetic. I think it's
Speaker 1: a y kbs if you know what I'm talking about.
Speaker 1: We know some football, but there's always differences. I've given
Speaker 1: him crap for a long time about his take on
Speaker 1: xavierst Repro. I told him he was too slow. When
Speaker 1: he said, no, he's a great player, and I said, well,
Speaker 1: he ran a four to seven. So I don't know
Speaker 1: about all that, but I digress. So we're gonna do
Speaker 1: a bunch of that here over the course of the
Speaker 1: next month leading into the draft. In fact, as I
Speaker 1: tape this on a Wednesday, we are one month away
Speaker 1: from the NFL Draft, right? No?
Speaker 2: Was that two days ago? Is it twenty fourth? I'm wrong?
Speaker 2: Four weeks away? Whatever? Who cares?
Speaker 1: La Kai Starks is up today and he's the safety
Speaker 1: from Georgia and I had a chance to watch him
Speaker 1: on tape.
Speaker 2: What a football player he is.
Speaker 1: Man, I start with the play intelligence, and you're going
Speaker 1: to hear me refer to this a lot in the
Speaker 1: next month or so. I talked about it, I think
Speaker 1: already on the show the Belichick quote you'll never see
Speaker 1: a good defense with a dumb safety. And when you
Speaker 1: watch Malachai Starks play, he's kind of the makes it
Speaker 1: right guy, you know, not that Georgia is sitting back
Speaker 1: there banking on blown coverages and missed assignments because of
Speaker 1: their NFL talent defense they have. But he's not really
Speaker 1: a like one snap I have one job type of player,
Speaker 1: and he can be that because he sees concepts before
Speaker 1: they unfold. And you'll hear me talk about this. This
Speaker 1: will be the first thing I talk about with safety play.
Speaker 1: With quarterbacks, it's how well can you see the route
Speaker 1: concepts unfold and play fast? To me, it's the exact
Speaker 1: same thing for safeties. For receivers, it's how well can
Speaker 1: you release half line of scrimmage. For cornerbacks, it's how
Speaker 1: well can you disrupt and feel and get a change
Speaker 1: of direction, how quick change of direction. For pass rushers,
Speaker 1: it's how explosive all your hands and your first step quick.
Speaker 1: There's things I look at initially, and for safeties, it's
Speaker 1: how do you process the routes in front of you
Speaker 1: because you can play from depth position and kind of
Speaker 1: use the information developing underneath you before you make your commitment.
Speaker 1: If you're the smartest player on the field, you can
Speaker 1: make plays before they happen, the same way a quarterback can.
Speaker 1: So that's why I look for for safeties, and it's
Speaker 1: just all over his tape. So I watched another Dame game.
Speaker 1: I watched the Texas game in the playoffs, and I
Speaker 1: watched the Clemson game for this deep dive. In another
Speaker 1: Dame game, they wanted to run these three verticals from
Speaker 1: the strength, which which is the wide side of the field,
Speaker 1: and they wanted to bring the backside receiver from the
Speaker 1: weakness of the formation on a crossing route. And it's
Speaker 1: a very common like third and long play, run three verticals,
Speaker 1: replace that space with a backside crosser and try to
Speaker 1: get a catch and run opportunity for like twelve plus
Speaker 1: yards and move the chains. And since he was a
Speaker 1: split field safety to the field where those three verticals ran,
Speaker 1: he just felt it. He felt all three of those
Speaker 1: guys getting depth beyond him, and he saw the backside
Speaker 1: crossing route and drove on that and cut it off
Speaker 1: at the pass. Usually you'll see guys play that passively,
Speaker 1: sit back on your heels, allow the information to absorb,
Speaker 1: and then the actual action to happen, and then Okay,
Speaker 1: now I'm gonna go because it's one hundred percent where
Speaker 1: if I'm anticipating, maybe it's eighty percent. But I'll take
Speaker 1: the sure thing and you give up the completion and
Speaker 1: then you wind up having to make a tackle in
Speaker 1: the open field. But because he drove on it, he
Speaker 1: didn't give up a completion and tackle him for five
Speaker 1: yards and get off the field.
Speaker 2: He took away the pass.
Speaker 1: Ryley Leonard has to tuck the football on scrambles and
Speaker 1: runs himself into a sax. Rather than punting on fourth
Speaker 1: and five, they're punting on fourth and seventeen. That's twelve yards.
Speaker 1: That's a first down for the offense. You get what
Speaker 1: I'm saying. So he makes plays like that on the
Speaker 1: regular And if you run these generic spacing concepts at him,
Speaker 1: you know, slant flat is the first commindation you'll put
Speaker 1: in the playbook any spring where you run a flat
Speaker 1: route from the inside receiver and a slant route from
Speaker 1: the outside receiver. I confuse the coverage there get a
Speaker 1: natural pick. I can't tell you how many times I
Speaker 1: saw teams run two man route combinations that are designed
Speaker 1: to stretch the hook and the curl flat defender. What's
Speaker 1: the hook defender. It's between the numbers at about you know,
Speaker 1: five to eighteen yards. Depending on what type of offense
Speaker 1: the opposing offense runs, you can stretch that hook zone accordingly,
Speaker 1: the curl flap is outside the numbers, playing that curl zone,
Speaker 1: but also the flap to the run, the throws to
Speaker 1: the running backs, the screen passes that kind of stuff,
Speaker 1: and he adds another hat into the mix consistently against
Speaker 1: those looks. So if you run slant flat, you can
Speaker 1: run your hook flare basically the exact same concept where
Speaker 1: you run a receiver right around the numbers and he
Speaker 1: either slants into the field or comes back down the
Speaker 1: stem and you run your flat route or your flare
Speaker 1: route or your little hook route to the perimeter. And
Speaker 1: that creates this combination that creates natural rubs. And based
Speaker 1: on how those combos looks, Starks knows when the hook
Speaker 1: or sl route plants his foot that there's no longer
Speaker 1: a vertical threat because it would be a wheel route
Speaker 1: from a running back who's probably slower, and by the
Speaker 1: time that unfolds, the pass rush should be getting home.
Speaker 1: So he can pick that out and drive on the
Speaker 1: hook and take it away. And he does it all
Speaker 1: the time. These are like second and ten automatic, you know,
Speaker 1: five yard gains to get yourself into two good third
Speaker 1: down situations. He can turn those third and fives into
Speaker 1: third and tens, or maybe even more in third and
Speaker 1: fifteen by a sack. And if you run those generic
Speaker 1: concepts at him, just good luck. I can't tell you
Speaker 1: how many times I saw him sniff those out. It's
Speaker 1: all over his tape. He's going to be one of
Speaker 1: the smartest players on the field for you from day one.
Speaker 1: I would say, maybe even the smartest you know, depending
Speaker 1: on your team. For here, it's tough to beat Ramsey
Speaker 1: in that regard or Jordan Brooks, but he would compete
Speaker 1: with those guys. And when I think about how those
Speaker 1: defense uses versatility among its front to disguise rushes and
Speaker 1: sim pressures, you can put a lot of stress on
Speaker 1: the back end of your defense to get it right,
Speaker 1: not just by tackling really well in space, but to
Speaker 1: see where the hots are, because if you have a
Speaker 1: heady safety who can drive on the hots against a
Speaker 1: five man pressure and the quarter has to come off
Speaker 1: that and go to a secondary reid, it's probably a
Speaker 1: sack or at least you know, Zach Steeler has a
Speaker 1: run at the quarterback, and if he misses him, you
Speaker 1: know it's gonna happen like once a year, maybe good luck.
Speaker 1: I mean that's the entire crux of this defense and
Speaker 1: most defenses today. So I thought it was awesome. Now
Speaker 1: there are times, because no prospect is perfect, where this
Speaker 1: can burn him. The anticipation offenses can kind of exploit this.
Speaker 1: Like he was in the slot versus Texas and they
Speaker 1: ran this little switch release, which is the inside guy
Speaker 1: goes out, outside guy goes in. Confused your coverage concepts there,
Speaker 1: and it's from a bunch set, so they're right next
Speaker 1: to each other, and Matthew Golden fakes the flat and
Speaker 1: then runs this whip route back across the face, which
Speaker 1: is right behind the original slant and pick route the
Speaker 1: first receiver ran and starks Over commits to the flat
Speaker 1: and gives up a twenty yard catch and run inside.
Speaker 1: But I think that more football that he sees means
Speaker 1: that he'll he'll learn from those mistakes. The same mistakes
Speaker 1: don't happen over and over for him again, so I
Speaker 1: think he'll use those negative reps as learning tools. Even
Speaker 1: you know at you know, as a rookie in the
Speaker 1: NFL athletically, you know this is why player testing is
Speaker 1: not the gospel for me. Don't get me wrong. I
Speaker 1: use it as much as anybody, so I don't shy
Speaker 1: away from it. But he scored just a five to
Speaker 1: one to five relative athletic scorecard with twenty third and
Speaker 1: twenty fifth percent tile shuttle in three cone times. I
Speaker 1: don't think that tracks on his tape, don't. I don't
Speaker 1: see that when I see him playing. In fact, I
Speaker 1: have a rep to talk about on Matthew Bond here
Speaker 1: in just a second. But that and a thirty third
Speaker 1: percent tile vertical, a forty third percent tile weight. But
Speaker 1: he did, however, have an eighty third percentile forty yard dash,
Speaker 1: which that would tract more of what I saw on tape, and.
Speaker 2: All of that aside.
Speaker 1: Just watch the tape, nerd, right, like I know that's
Speaker 1: a convenient way to put it when you don't get
Speaker 1: the metrics you want. But the way that he closes
Speaker 1: and flips his hips and locates the ball and plays
Speaker 1: the football, he's just a stud.
Speaker 2: He had a pick.
Speaker 1: Against Clemson in the opener where he's a man coverage
Speaker 1: in the slot. He squats on the little out and
Speaker 1: up and then turns and gets vertical stays and phase
Speaker 1: and makes this spinning, pure wet interception. Just incredible football play,
Speaker 1: and somebody put on x a list of All Pro
Speaker 1: safe if he's with underwhelming testing numbers like Earl Thomas,
Speaker 1: Brian Branch and Xavier McKinney all had ARAS scores in
Speaker 1: the low fives, just like Malachi Starks did. And then
Speaker 1: there's just the tape right like he would line up
Speaker 1: in man coverage against a bunch as the point man
Speaker 1: and then win the foot race with Isaiah Bond on
Speaker 1: a drag route or his I said Matthew Bond earlier.
Speaker 1: Isaiah Bond, his play speed is so much faster than
Speaker 1: his testing time was. He gets downhill against the run
Speaker 1: super super quickly. He does not jog after the football,
Speaker 1: He sprints after it. They didn't play him down on
Speaker 1: the run fits almost ever, and he only has twenty
Speaker 1: one pass rush reps over twenty five hundred career college snaps,
Speaker 1: which makes me wonder how much they view him as
Speaker 1: a fit here, because you can't be a safety in
Speaker 1: this defensive you know't blitz the quarterback. But I think
Speaker 1: he can do that. It's one of those things where
Speaker 1: just because he didn't do it doesn't mean he can't
Speaker 1: do it. I think his starttop explosiveness, his sheer will
Speaker 1: could make for an impactful blitzer. He's a great tackler,
Speaker 1: just a six percent miss tackle rate, which is a
Speaker 1: great rate for a linebacker. It's exceptional for a player
Speaker 1: who plays mostly twenty yards off the football. My conclusion
Speaker 1: is the fit is just so apparent the Ravens did
Speaker 1: with the Kyle Hamilton, where he plays split field in
Speaker 1: the post, comes down in the box. It's not even
Speaker 1: necessarily how he fits in those roles per se, but
Speaker 1: just how he processes and can take himself to the
Speaker 1: correct position based on his read. I think the best
Speaker 1: way you can describe it is that he kind of
Speaker 1: gives you twelve players on defense, or rather the illusion
Speaker 1: of twelve players. Because he takes away space that he occupies,
Speaker 1: but he's also thinking multiple steps ahead, so the deception
Speaker 1: of your offense kind of goes out the window because
Speaker 1: he's right there with me. Forgive me for the crowd
Speaker 1: that hates comparisons, but to me, it's a kin to
Speaker 1: Zach Thomas. But at safety, I know he's going to
Speaker 1: beat you pre snap from back there just about every
Speaker 1: play because he's smarter than you. I do think the
Speaker 1: limited athletic ability and the fact that he doesn't have
Speaker 1: any pass rush profile are the questions the Dolphins will have.
Speaker 1: It makes me wonder, and with the signing of ifimlafan
Speaker 1: Wu getting Willie Gay, I tend to think they might
Speaker 1: curry favorite to a player more like Nick e Man.
Speaker 1: Worry more than Starks because he's kind of that Jeremy
Speaker 1: Chinn type of chess piece that Derwin James. I don't know,
Speaker 1: it's a tough call neither of them. Maybe it's neither
Speaker 1: of them and it's Lathan Ransom in the third round
Speaker 1: or Billy Bowman in the fourth round. I don't know,
Speaker 1: tough one to figure out, but I think that Stark's
Speaker 1: remains on that short list for me. At pick thirteen,
Speaker 1: but I think he's on the back end of it.
Speaker 1: I'll give you more information as I get to Tyler Warren,
Speaker 1: Jday Barron and Kenneth Grant. So that's my Malachai Stark's
Speaker 1: deep dive. That's the verdict. Let's go ahead and take
Speaker 1: our last break right there, come back and do a
Speaker 1: few of your mail bag questions here on the Draft
Speaker 1: Time podcast, your host Travis Wingfield, brought to you by Autnation.
Speaker 2: Mel to here.
Speaker 1: Oh yes, it is time for the Drive Time mail Bag.
Speaker 1: I put the call out on social media, you reply
Speaker 1: with your questions. I answer them here on the show.
Speaker 1: And you guys went Ham on this this week? Are
Speaker 1: we still saying went Ham? I think I'm showing my
Speaker 1: age with that. But I'm only going to answer three
Speaker 1: on this show because I wound up getting in depth
Speaker 1: Malachi Starks and the mock draft round up and the
Speaker 1: remaining free agents. But guess what, we have plenty of
Speaker 1: shows to come your way in the next couple of weeks,
Speaker 1: so I will do this throughout several shows, and those
Speaker 1: questions will be relevant as we go along. So I'll
Speaker 1: get to your questions. If you answered ask them on
Speaker 1: blue Sky at Dan Pe. As the roster currently stands,
Speaker 1: which position is the biggest area of need for the
Speaker 1: Dolphins Defensive tackles, safety, inside lineback or inside off, interior
Speaker 1: offensive line, close enough, cornerback or other. I think you
Speaker 1: pretty much nailed it in terms of the roster construction,
Speaker 1: and it's somewhat like fitting, isn't it? Like we've been
Speaker 1: over this at least one hundred times on this show
Speaker 1: since the Jets game wrapped and we moved on the
Speaker 1: twenty twenty five. The meat and potatoes positions were where
Speaker 1: this draft was strong, and I think there are starting
Speaker 1: safeties and corners and defensive tackles throughout the top one
Speaker 1: hundred picks of this year's draft if you if you
Speaker 1: get the right guy and you develop them right correctly.
Speaker 1: The interior offensive line might not have that kind of depth,
Speaker 1: but I think there's a lot of convert op there.
Speaker 1: You know, Ariante Esery from Minnesota as a first rounder
Speaker 1: in my book, I don't think I'll go that high,
Speaker 1: but he's a tackle that could be a guard convert.
Speaker 1: But I'm not seeing that is common thought across the
Speaker 1: draft landscape. I think he could be an option. I
Speaker 1: think that Miles Fraser and Jackson Slater from LSU and
Speaker 1: Sacramento State are Day two guys that could be Day
Speaker 1: one stars for you. There's also some free agents out
Speaker 1: there at this spot we covered earlier. But yeah, you
Speaker 1: see the roster really round into form so far in
Speaker 1: training Earth and a free agency. I think you could
Speaker 1: play a game tomorrow with what you've got at most positions,
Speaker 1: but there's probably a couple you have to add some
Speaker 1: bodies out, like across the defensive tackle position, you know,
Speaker 1: maybe cornerback. It depends on how you evaluate some of
Speaker 1: the roster, but I think going into the draft, the
Speaker 1: idea for this team is always to have as few
Speaker 1: needs as possible, and I think that over the next
Speaker 1: month you could see that round more into form here
Speaker 1: as we go ahead. But I think you pretty much
Speaker 1: nailed a defensive tackle with you know, potentially Klay as
Speaker 1: Campbell coming back safety. I think right now you probably
Speaker 1: need another guy to add to that mix, if a
Speaker 1: surefire starter in terms of the competition interior offensive line.
Speaker 1: I think the same thing about safety, and then it's
Speaker 1: really a cornerback too. I kind of feel the same
Speaker 1: way about all four of those spots.
Speaker 2: That you name, So there you go.
Speaker 1: Next one here from at the real Cody, what players
Speaker 1: currently on the roster in positions of need do you
Speaker 1: think can fill the void? Example, could Elijah Campbell or
Speaker 1: Patrick mc morris be the starter this year?
Speaker 2: To me, the areas of need.
Speaker 1: Are defensive tackle, guard, cornerback two and safety. But of
Speaker 1: course talk about whatever holes and players you think of.
Speaker 1: So you and Dan are on the same page in
Speaker 1: terms of the team needs. And I'm with you, right
Speaker 1: there with you. I love this question because I feel
Speaker 1: like we spend this time of year trying to name shop,
Speaker 1: you know, to plug the holes remaining on the roster.
Speaker 1: And it's so funny because you can do this like
Speaker 1: in December, and you can tell yourself like, hey, Stefan
Speaker 1: Diggs is thirty plus years old, he's coming off a
Speaker 1: major knee injury that he suffered in October, and his
Speaker 1: previous team basically auditioned by subtraction to him because he
Speaker 1: was a problem. And you talk yourself out of a
Speaker 1: player through all of that, and then after a few
Speaker 1: months goes by, I'm sure Patriots fans are watching his
Speaker 1: bills tape saying like, oh, we got this star receiver,
Speaker 1: it's like, yeah, from a couple of years ago, and
Speaker 1: I think that you wind up talking yourself into certain
Speaker 1: names even if you know those names aren't what they
Speaker 1: used to be. And that's why I say, like, name
Speaker 1: shopping can get you in such trouble. But I think
Speaker 1: that you know this is across the league, that the
Speaker 1: best way to fill out your remaining holes in the
Speaker 1: roster is with incumbent growth that can turn a good
Speaker 1: roster into a great one. And across the league, like
Speaker 1: there are fans, for instance, of all thirty two teams
Speaker 1: right now that are expecting a second year jump from
Speaker 1: their third round pick or a third year jump from
Speaker 1: their fourth round pick or whatever it is. Just for
Speaker 1: an example, like we all think Patrick Paul is going
Speaker 1: to be like a big time left tackle at least
Speaker 1: if you watched his tape last year, whereas mel Kiper,
Speaker 1: who probably didn't watch any Dolphins games, thinks like, oh,
Speaker 1: his Houston tape is who he is, and so I
Speaker 1: don't feel confident about that. Like there's different percent from
Speaker 1: what we think about other teams and how those teams'
Speaker 1: fan bases feel. And I think you've hit it with
Speaker 1: Patrick McMorris here. I think Elijah Campbell is a really
Speaker 1: good special teams a slash like third or fourth safety,
Speaker 1: but I think mc morris has upside to potentially be
Speaker 1: more than that. He was consistently making plays in training camp,
Speaker 1: he had that outstanding preseason game where he was the
Speaker 1: best player in the damn field. Then he gets hurt
Speaker 1: and goes to that sort of forgotten territory that happens
Speaker 1: with injured players unfortunately right especially ones that have not
Speaker 1: proven themselves yet as pros. I think that he can
Speaker 1: compete with ifatumlafan Wu as they both have similar skill
Speaker 1: sets in terms of what they do best, not that
Speaker 1: they're the same player, but I think they can occupy
Speaker 1: similar roles within this defense. And that's what has me
Speaker 1: excited about this iteration of this build. I think in
Speaker 1: the past you could look at this roster and be like, man,
Speaker 1: if we could just stay healthy, we are loaded. But
Speaker 1: now it's like, well, if this guy goes down, I
Speaker 1: feel pretty good about this guy ready to fill in
Speaker 1: for him. And maybe the top end part of the
Speaker 1: roster isn't as like uphoik is at once, but there's
Speaker 1: no bottom out options unless we just get wiped out
Speaker 1: like we have at the edge position or the cornerback
Speaker 1: position a few years ago. And we aren't even done
Speaker 1: doing it all. So I mean, like, look at the
Speaker 1: Bills last year. They were a team that regressed, right,
Speaker 1: I'm using air quotes. Regressed in terms of their talent. No,
Speaker 1: they just like lopped off from the higher price talent
Speaker 1: that maybe wasn't always available for him and got deeper.
Speaker 1: And they probably had the best version of their football
Speaker 1: team going into that Chiefs game of the playoffs that
Speaker 1: they lost, Like they probably felt better about that team
Speaker 1: than they have any team previous. So we have the
Speaker 1: whole draft to go. I don't think free agency is
Speaker 1: over yet. I doubt we signed our last player from
Speaker 1: now until training camp. But I think that mc morris
Speaker 1: is the best example. I would also include Jalen Wright,
Speaker 1: who is hardly an unknown, but I could see him
Speaker 1: going from sixty eight carries to two hundred. I hope
Speaker 1: that's what happens. I mean, we'll see, but I think
Speaker 1: he's very capable of that. Mohammed Kamara, Grayson Murphy, you know,
Speaker 1: MO saw some action last year. I think it's fair
Speaker 1: to expect a second year jump from him, and I
Speaker 1: am so high on Grays and Murphy. I'm super bummed
Speaker 1: that he got hurt in preseason, but I think he
Speaker 1: could be an impact player. You've got guys like Andrew Meyer,
Speaker 1: Jason Maitre, Isaiah Johnson TOAJ Washington who got hurt in
Speaker 1: training camp or in in in a spring ball last year,
Speaker 1: a few of the guys I'm excited to watch in
Speaker 1: your number two last one here from at Florida Politico.
Speaker 1: I get that right, who who's best? Who is the
Speaker 1: best offensive linean free agent we could reasonably sign. I
Speaker 1: think Brandon Schirf and Will Hernandez and Daniel Brunskill are
Speaker 1: still remaining on that top or on the free agent
Speaker 1: list that could be nice options. I mentioned all those
Speaker 1: guys earlier. I also omitted Mark Glowinski, who's been a dependable,
Speaker 1: versatile piece for the Colts. Shaq Mason got cut by
Speaker 1: the Texans, so he's still out there. There's still plenty
Speaker 1: of guys to look at that could that could maybe
Speaker 1: be your starting left guard or if it's you know,
Speaker 1: Daniels's left guard at the right guard position, or an
Speaker 1: upgrade over Lea Mikenberg. Like, There's still plenty of options
Speaker 1: out there, and I would be surprised. We'll see, I
Speaker 1: don't I don't know anything for sure, but I would
Speaker 1: be surprised if they're done in free agency at that spot.
Speaker 1: Would be pretty surprised by that. All right, there you go.
Speaker 1: That's gonna be my time this edition of the podcast.
Speaker 1: On Monday, we were supposed to have Charles Davis. We're
Speaker 1: having some difficulty getting the scheduling done there, so I
Speaker 1: can't promise you him just yet. We shall see if
Speaker 1: that goes ahead. We also have Mike McDaniel's Monday Owners
Speaker 1: Meeting media availability, which should have some good stuff about
Speaker 1: these free agents. First time we'll hear from the coach
Speaker 1: after these what twelve or fifteen signings and resignings we've
Speaker 1: had so far, So we'll have that on the Monday podcast.
Speaker 1: We'll have Kyle Krabs at some point. We'll continue doing
Speaker 1: these deep dives on potential Pick thirteen prospects plenty to
Speaker 1: come your way here in the Drift Time Podcast. In
Speaker 1: the meantime, you all please be sure to subscribe, rate,
Speaker 1: review the show, follow me on social at Winfield, NFL.
Speaker 1: Follow the team at Miami Dolphins. Check out Seth and
Speaker 1: Juice on the Fish Tank podcast. Check out the YouTube
Speaker 1: channel for Dolphins HQ, drivetime interviews, media availabilities, and so
Speaker 1: much more. Last, but not least, Miami Dolphins dot com.
Speaker 1: Until next time, Finn's up, Caroline and Cameron, Daddy, you
Speaker 1: come and hold