Speaker 1: What is up, Dolphins, And welcome to the Draft Time Podcast.
Speaker 1: I am your host, Travis Wingfield, and on today's show,
Speaker 1: we are getting into the positional capsules, taking a look
Speaker 1: at the Dolphins offseason for twenty twenty five. Up today
Speaker 1: the quarterbacks will take a look at the internals, the
Speaker 1: free agents, and the draft prospects as we have graded
Speaker 1: them accordingly so far. Today also talk about rams and
Speaker 1: vikings a little bit more here from the Baptist Health
Speaker 1: Studios inside the Baptist Health Training Complex. This is the
Speaker 1: Drive Time Podcast. So it is time for the first
Speaker 1: round of capsules, primers, whatever we're gonna call them here.
Speaker 1: Over the coming weeks, we're gonna look at each position
Speaker 1: group internally. We'll tell you who the free agent options
Speaker 1: are and get into the tape on those guys and
Speaker 1: the declared draft prospects. And let's go ahead and start
Speaker 1: where we have literally always started on this. The quarterback
Speaker 1: is that how everybody does it too?
Speaker 2: Like you do?
Speaker 1: You know, the same cadence quarterback, running back, wide receiver,
Speaker 1: tight end, offensive line, defensive tackle, edge off ball, linebacker, cornerback, safety,
Speaker 1: Like every time I do that, just like the same
Speaker 1: as the divisions you know, you start in the AFC,
Speaker 1: you go east, north, southwest, and do the NFC in
Speaker 1: the exact same order creature of habit I suppose. But additionally,
Speaker 1: you know, I've been trying to figure out how I
Speaker 1: want to parse out the prospect stuff, and I was
Speaker 1: thinking about, you know, cramming this Senior Bowl rosters in here,
Speaker 1: and you know, from a time perspective, I didn't have
Speaker 1: enough time to get to all those guys, and I
Speaker 1: want to make sure I'm what's the word I'm looking
Speaker 1: for here, comprehensive on all the entire class, not to
Speaker 1: mention that the Shrine Bowl has a bunch of talent
Speaker 1: there as well. So I think that we'll just go
Speaker 1: ahead and do it as I get to it, and
Speaker 1: we'll update this as we go along. So sound good,
Speaker 1: Because I have like a couple of free agents I've done,
Speaker 1: I've got a bunch of draft prospects I've done, and
Speaker 1: obviously our own internal guys are off top of the dome.
Speaker 1: So let's go ahead and get into this with the
Speaker 1: internal guys are our own quarterbacks, and we'll do this
Speaker 1: like this. The first topic is going to be general
Speaker 1: thoughts on the room, and I wrote this, you prefer
Speaker 1: doing this how we did it in twenty twenty three,
Speaker 1: where there's only one guy to evaluate, right, But this
Speaker 1: year we saw four quarterbacks, three different starters. We hit
Speaker 1: some incredible highs, including one of the best games against
Speaker 1: a Sean McDermott Buffalo Bills team in his entire eight
Speaker 1: year stint with the Bills, which was the second highest
Speaker 1: EPA in a game by a quarterback two against the Bills.
Speaker 1: This year, we've seen a stretch of near perfect quarterback
Speaker 1: play for like a five week span, but also some
Speaker 1: of the more devastating lows, imaginable, absolute stinkers in the
Speaker 1: pivot point games. And I'll be a focus this entire
Speaker 1: offseason for how the Dolphins approach this, and we've seen
Speaker 1: them the injury issues plagued the starting quarterback as well.
Speaker 1: It's rebably the two things you're talking about when it
Speaker 1: comes to this room. And then beyond that, what are
Speaker 1: you going to do beyond the first quarterback because it
Speaker 1: was an abject failure, not just this year, but going
Speaker 1: back to really since Twoa's gotten here, the backup position
Speaker 1: has been a train wreck since the Ryan Fitzpatrick existence.
Speaker 1: So let's go ahead and kick it off with number
Speaker 1: one to a tongue bai loa. I alluded to the
Speaker 1: game in Buffalo in the intro. I think that was
Speaker 1: the best game of his career and again, second highest
Speaker 1: EPA in a game at Buffalo for any quarterback against
Speaker 1: that McDermott defense over eight years, and I fall back
Speaker 1: on that as a way to illustrate Tua's growth. He's
Speaker 1: always had this exceptional recall that we've praised. I'll never
Speaker 1: forget having him on the podcast when I was green
Speaker 1: and terrible, interviewing talking about the game winning touchdown pass
Speaker 1: at Alabama and he broke down the entire play for me.
Speaker 1: But you've also seen him demonstrate the checklist that a quarterback
Speaker 1: must go through with his pre snap process. I even
Speaker 1: asked him about this in a press conference and replied
Speaker 1: to him like it's a lot man, and he jokingly
Speaker 1: said he anybody can play quarterback, brother, which is not
Speaker 1: true too. And look, maybe I'm preaching to the choir
Speaker 1: here that agrees with me, because well, you're on my.
Speaker 2: Show, my channel.
Speaker 1: But I feel like this is a hard point to convey, Like,
Speaker 1: for example, if I have cover two and we have
Speaker 1: a route concept, that needs two and a half seconds
Speaker 1: to remove the half field safety from the perimeter of
Speaker 1: the field from a stagnant position. And then I need
Speaker 1: to sell the underneath cloud corner who makes up the
Speaker 1: underneath part of that cover two to give up his
Speaker 1: outside leverage, maybe match something where he runs inside. And
Speaker 1: all this does is freeze up what looks like the
Speaker 1: most simple throw in football swing route to your running back,
Speaker 1: and it winds up being a neutral PFF grade, right,
Speaker 1: But the quarterback still has to read that coverage, go
Speaker 1: through the process of threatening the flag route, threatening the
Speaker 1: end break route, threatening those players to get them off
Speaker 1: of their positions, to make them believe that they're going
Speaker 1: to have to get to a new position to take
Speaker 1: away a downfield throw. And all it does is freeze
Speaker 1: up the swing route to maximize the run after the catch.
Speaker 1: So the PFF grades don't internal. Don't know that internal
Speaker 1: part of the play. I do because I know how
Speaker 1: the offense works. So that's high level stuff, but you're
Speaker 1: not going to get a good grade for it from PFF.
Speaker 1: It's high level processing with the work being done between
Speaker 1: the ears, and we only grade the physical that we see.
Speaker 1: That is where we miss the Mark, so that paired
Speaker 1: with the accurate downfield shots last year, the added creativity
Speaker 1: this year, which comes with a caveat that has put
Speaker 1: him in peril a couple times. I think this is
Speaker 1: one of the game's best quarterbacks and we should be very,
Speaker 1: very very grateful to have him. Now, he's got to
Speaker 1: stay healthy. And his worst game of the year was
Speaker 1: that Houston game, right, a game that we had a
Speaker 1: chance to if we win that game, you know, the
Speaker 1: hip injury is something else, but you're probably cruising into
Speaker 1: the playoffs if you win that game. And I cannot
Speaker 1: wait to watch this young man have that breakthrough in
Speaker 1: one of these games, because it's coming. You know, as
Speaker 1: we discussed on the wild Card Recap pod, those narratives
Speaker 1: melt like butter in an inferno when they go away,
Speaker 1: Like it goes away in the snap of a finger.
Speaker 1: For instance, on Sunday, either Lamar Jackson or Josh Allen
Speaker 1: are going to erase a narrative one way or the other, right,
Speaker 1: And I think to a will too, hopefully here in
Speaker 1: twenty twenty five. And that's all without even acknowledging. Hey,
Speaker 1: you know, this dude played pretty damn well against Green
Speaker 1: Bay last year in the game against Philly. Go watch
Speaker 1: the first half against the Eagles. Look at his numbers
Speaker 1: and the throws he made in that game, and then
Speaker 1: the drop touchdown pass the Tyreek Hill had in the
Speaker 1: second half of that game, or the aforementioned Buffalo game
Speaker 1: where the numbers were good for through four quarters. Like,
Speaker 1: he's not impervious to big game success. He's had it.
Speaker 1: We've just kind of melted down around him. He's just
Speaker 1: had a few bad ones because hey, guess what, Beating
Speaker 1: great teams is hard to do. Just ask Jordan Love
Speaker 1: or Justin Herbert. And really it's not even a knock
Speaker 1: on those guys. It's just the insane standard that we
Speaker 1: hold quarterbacks to. And when I say we, I'm talking
Speaker 1: about fans on social media and that stuff actually exists
Speaker 1: inside buildings.
Speaker 2: But you get what I'm saying.
Speaker 1: He's had a passer rating over one hundred for the
Speaker 1: third straight year, only Dolphins quarterback to ever do that.
Speaker 1: He has the third highest cumulative passer rating over the
Speaker 1: last three years. Mahomes and Lamar Jackson are the only
Speaker 1: guys higher. I mean, you guys have seen the charts
Speaker 1: top right in every category, right, we are one season
Speaker 1: away from this guy buttoning up two narratives and these
Speaker 1: conversations being strictly about all the good that he has done,
Speaker 1: and I think we'll get there very very quickly. The
Speaker 1: rest of the quarterback room Tyler Huntley number eighteen. A
Speaker 1: lot was asked of Snoop this year. You know, we've
Speaker 1: lead litigated countless times how tough this offense is to
Speaker 1: come in and grasp from the jump, and quite frankly,
Speaker 1: how hard it is to come off the bench and
Speaker 1: play this position in this league. Teams that have to
Speaker 1: start a backup for extended periods of times usually don't
Speaker 1: sustain winning for very long. The Browns game was a
Speaker 1: good snapshot of what he can do where you can
Speaker 1: utilize the run game and in corporate play action off
Speaker 1: that his running ability can generate single high looks, which
Speaker 1: is obviously very attractive when you have the receivers that
Speaker 1: you have. But I just had so many issues with
Speaker 1: what he put on tape, going back to the first
Speaker 1: stint and not processing anything at all, passing up open eligibles,
Speaker 1: a wonky delivery that can get a mechanics off sorts
Speaker 1: and cause for like several misfires in a game on
Speaker 1: layup throws like in the Jets game, for instance, and
Speaker 1: then that's not going to change to the stage of
Speaker 1: his career, and neither will. I think the poor decision
Speaker 1: making we saw in that finale with potentially everything on
Speaker 1: the line. The saving grace with his quarterback is his creativity.
Speaker 1: But it's not special. It's not like he's a Lamar
Speaker 1: Jackson level creator, certainly not special enough to mitigate all
Speaker 1: the misses we see in the passing game, which again,
Speaker 1: you're willing to live with that if you have Josh
Speaker 1: Allen or Lamar Jackson type skills but you don't. But
Speaker 1: you can't be well Zach Wilson or Snoop Huntley and
Speaker 1: have as many misses as he had this year. I'm
Speaker 1: curious to see what the off season brings with this guy.
Speaker 1: For free agency standpoint, I would I would be willing
Speaker 1: to offer him a minimum contract and see if he
Speaker 1: wants to come compete and possibly even you know, if
Speaker 1: you wind up with a Jelen Milroe in the mid
Speaker 1: rounds of the draft, a guy that can you know,
Speaker 1: help a quarterback like that ud be your scout team
Speaker 1: service team quarterback. Like I'm interested as far as that goes.
Speaker 1: But if he comes into if we break camp and
Speaker 1: he's the number two quarterback, I have a lot of concerns.
Speaker 2: Scaler Thompson.
Speaker 1: I had something written out and I erased it because
Speaker 1: he signed to the Pittsburgh Steelers. Hey, best of luck
Speaker 1: in Pittsburgh, Skyler. I thought he was headed for a
Speaker 1: spring league, That's what I wrote down here. But he's
Speaker 1: gonna get a chance with the Pittsburgh Steelers. What this
Speaker 1: room needs. Oh, how the priorities have changed. Man, First
Speaker 1: it was getting in an adult in the room for
Speaker 1: a young Tua.
Speaker 2: Tua, where's dua?
Speaker 1: Then he grew up out of that and went the
Speaker 1: developmental route, right, But you invest nearly as low as
Speaker 1: you can in developmental player in the seventh round. And
Speaker 1: I thought, you know, Mike White's Jets tape had some
Speaker 1: backup upside to it, not true starter upside, but his
Speaker 1: game clearly hasn't evolved at all because he can't crack
Speaker 1: the lineup in Buffalo. You know, massaging the situation with
Speaker 1: Tua was the next kind of move, and you know,
Speaker 1: not bringing in a real challenger. I think that was
Speaker 1: obviously a miss. But you know, I think that this
Speaker 1: was a quarterback who you kind of had to repair
Speaker 1: your relationship with him based upon how he was treated
Speaker 1: under the previous head coach. And I think part of
Speaker 1: that was, you know, not putting a quarterback they would
Speaker 1: threaten his status. And whether or not you agree with that,
Speaker 1: I don't really agree with it, but I think that
Speaker 1: was part of the decision making that led to that
Speaker 1: quarterback room looking like it looked last year. Then you
Speaker 1: get the comp pick stuff, which I think was, you know,
Speaker 1: they were desperately trying to get themselves into this high
Speaker 1: level or high amount of draft picks to kind of
Speaker 1: repair what's been a broken draft haul the last two
Speaker 1: years in terms of the volume of picks that you made.
Speaker 1: And now you knew going into this year that you
Speaker 1: probably needed to get like five contributors on rookie contracts
Speaker 1: from this year's draft class, and that's why you go
Speaker 1: with ten picks and try to make sure you get
Speaker 1: those ten picks.
Speaker 2: But that's not the case this year.
Speaker 1: And I think on top of someone that can win games,
Speaker 1: I think another strong voice in the room could help.
Speaker 1: I also think that you could stand to do a
Speaker 1: developmental type signing, like a Trey Lance or a Zach Wilson.
Speaker 2: I like one of them. I don't like the other one.
Speaker 1: But I think you compare those two things like why
Speaker 1: not it's if it's the reason you weren't a playoff
Speaker 1: team in twenty twenty four and it's not that expensive,
Speaker 1: then let's attack it with a type of vigor that
Speaker 1: gives you assurances, you know, to deal with tragedy or
Speaker 1: you know, whatever you call losing a quarterback to injury.
Speaker 1: Before we get to the additional options here, additional assets,
Speaker 1: this is not a position where you get that right now.
Speaker 1: It's just two on the roster, but that will obviously
Speaker 1: change in the coming months. First break right there, come
Speaker 1: back and talk about the free agent quarterbacks available. We'll
Speaker 1: also do draft picks, and I want to get some
Speaker 1: thoughts on the Rams and Viking game from Monday night.
Speaker 1: That's all next Draft Time podcast, your host, Travis Wingfield,
Speaker 1: brought to you by Autoonation. So I'm parsing through this
Speaker 1: list of free agent quarterbacks and the draft as well,
Speaker 1: and I'm trying to decide for the best way to
Speaker 1: do this, and we're gonna figure it out live here
Speaker 1: on the program. I think i'll list them for you
Speaker 1: and then do the breakdowns, because it kind of seems
Speaker 1: like doing the list first will give it away and
Speaker 1: kind of rud the suspense. Let's go ahead and list
Speaker 1: my quarterback free agent rakings based upon guys that I've
Speaker 1: watched so far, and it goes like this, Number one
Speaker 1: is Sam Donald. I think that's a given, the contracts
Speaker 1: will bear that out. Number two is Andy Dalton. Number
Speaker 1: three is Trey Lance, and that's actually my cutoff. I
Speaker 1: have two targets of interest, and I'm gonna tell you why.
Speaker 1: I don't think Donald is one of them. I think
Speaker 1: it's an obvious one. We'll break it down for you guys.
Speaker 1: And then I get to guys that i'm I'm I
Speaker 1: could be convinced on, but I'm not crazy about, and
Speaker 1: they go like this and this word number four, Justin Fields,
Speaker 1: number five, Marcus Mariota, number six, Jimmy Garoppolo, number seven,
Speaker 1: Jamis Winston, number eight, Drew Locke, number nine, Zach Wilson,
Speaker 1: and some notable other names I have not watched yet
Speaker 1: or done a workup on. I should say as Cooper Rush,
Speaker 1: Joe Flacco, Mac Jones, and Josh Dobbs. I can tell you, right,
Speaker 1: now from watching live copy all season my whole life,
Speaker 1: I'm not gonna be interested in those four guys, so
Speaker 1: we might not even do it. We'll see for comprehensive sense,
Speaker 1: we might have to do it, but we'll see. But
Speaker 1: here's what I do have for you, guys. The first
Speaker 1: guy that I watched is the guy that I want
Speaker 1: the most, and it's Andy Dalton quick game rhythm pro. Obviously,
Speaker 1: he has lots of experience in this league. He was
Speaker 1: drafted back in twenty eleven, so he's been around for
Speaker 1: a millennium. Almost exceptional pre snap at the last scrimmage
Speaker 1: with his cadence getting people where they need to go,
Speaker 1: you can see him actually get guys a line. So
Speaker 1: I think you can say goodbye to some of the
Speaker 1: formational and procedural issues you've had in the past, and
Speaker 1: the stats really bear that out. Last year he was
Speaker 1: plus seven point three EPA on dropbacks under two and
Speaker 1: a half seconds, such your quick game typically. That was
Speaker 1: thirteenth in the NFL, compared to minus twenty six on
Speaker 1: dropbacks over two and a half seconds, which is twenty
Speaker 1: second in the league. So get the all out quick
Speaker 1: and you'll be okay with Andy Dalton. He's poised against
Speaker 1: the blitz, not to be confused with pressure, because he
Speaker 1: does struggle against pressure, and that comes from the comfort
Speaker 1: of knowing how your protectional lines and that you have
Speaker 1: the answer in the route concept, like Okay, I have
Speaker 1: this vulnerability off my left, but I have this route
Speaker 1: off to the right that I can hit with that
Speaker 1: tilted defense. He understands the indicators the defense gives him.
Speaker 1: There's like a little I watched a couple of games
Speaker 1: and he would throw a slant flat to the backside
Speaker 1: to attack a blitzing will linebacker. He sees that he
Speaker 1: stays in the hook and he immediately goes back to
Speaker 1: the swings like all right, I know where you're leaning.
Speaker 1: Let me check to make sure you go there and
Speaker 1: get the ball to that vacancy before it even plays out,
Speaker 1: and it scores. It's a touchdown on the play, so
Speaker 1: really impressive film work there. He can be somewhat declarative
Speaker 1: where he will look it down, which you know some
Speaker 1: of these pocket passers can do that because he probably
Speaker 1: thinks he saw something and kind of maybe a little
Speaker 1: bit stubborn to get off of it. Does not have
Speaker 1: elite anticipation. I mean, we see the best in the league,
Speaker 1: so it's hard to measure up to that. But he
Speaker 1: will miss some throws with accuracy issues and he's not
Speaker 1: going to create offscript. But there's a reason this guy's
Speaker 1: a backup quarterback available to you. The conclusion here is
Speaker 1: a one year, top of the market free agent backup cost.
Speaker 1: No developmental or upside to this quarterback, but I think
Speaker 1: that he provides the most stability of anybody out there.
Speaker 1: Sam Donald is next aphabet alphabetically, but I'm not gonna
Speaker 1: work him up. He's just so far apart from what
Speaker 1: we're looking for, not even on my radar. Onto the
Speaker 1: next alphabetically that is Justin fields, excellent in the design,
Speaker 1: run game, offscript creation, particularly with his legs added hat
Speaker 1: in the run game, makes him a highly efficient red
Speaker 1: zone option. In fact, I think the Steeler should have
Speaker 1: gone to more Justin fields down the red zone, down
Speaker 1: the stretch. And in fact, I would replaced him back
Speaker 1: with Russell Wilson because Russell Wilson fell into all his
Speaker 1: old habits. But that's a different conversation. But he's a
Speaker 1: great short yard conversion rate type of quarterback. Still struggles
Speaker 1: immensely to process and see the field. He can't see
Speaker 1: s dude.
Speaker 2: It is bad. It is tough to watch.
Speaker 1: He's a one read and move off the spot, try
Speaker 1: to bail on the clean pockets and doesn't play through
Speaker 1: the progressions and thus doesn't move coverage and accordance to
Speaker 1: how it should with the offense in terms of how
Speaker 1: it should be executed. He throws with touch and exceptional trajectory.
Speaker 1: That was what made me love him, in addition to
Speaker 1: his legs at Ohio State on those deep passes. But
Speaker 1: it's pretty scattershot in these short to intermediate areas. My
Speaker 1: conclusion is, if you go this route, you're not banking
Speaker 1: on any upside. I think it's done. I don't think
Speaker 1: he's gonna get better. He's played plenty of football and
Speaker 1: demonstrated enough poor field vision that you can't expect it
Speaker 1: to show up. He does, however, again offer you in
Speaker 1: a playing time sense where he's not just your backup quarterback.
Speaker 1: He has a package for himself because of his ability
Speaker 1: to run the football in both short yardage and in
Speaker 1: the red zone. That part intrigues me. Everything else not
Speaker 1: so much. And I'll tell you why. I think you
Speaker 1: can get both those two things here. Jimmy Garoppolo's up next,
Speaker 1: alphabetically razor thin, physical skills that have deteriorated as he's aged.
Speaker 1: He plays on time and in rhythm when the reads
Speaker 1: are clearly defined. Does a great job throwing to space
Speaker 1: off play action and a rhythm based passing attack. But
Speaker 1: anytime he's asked to execute a true drop back and
Speaker 1: decipher the leverage and coverage, you get errors. You might
Speaker 1: get a couple of them, but he'll make a critical
Speaker 1: backbreaking pick and cost your team a big football game
Speaker 1: in a spot, or take a sack and lose the football.
Speaker 1: I think he's an option, but not a great option.
Speaker 1: Plus he gets hurt like way more than two. What
Speaker 1: does So I can't afford to make him QB two
Speaker 1: and not have anybody else behind him and then lose
Speaker 1: him in a preseason game or in training camp. But
Speaker 1: just I can't trust that. The familiarity is one thing
Speaker 1: my conclusion here is the one thing that's attractive about him.
Speaker 1: But at this stage of his career, I think it's
Speaker 1: going to get worse. So I'm passing on this prospect
Speaker 1: or this free agent. Trey Lance extremely comfortable with a
Speaker 1: shifting launch point. You can boot him off play action
Speaker 1: and run him on the move off his own read
Speaker 1: and keeper looks. He throws the anticipation when presented with leverage,
Speaker 1: which I didn't think was on his tape previously. He
Speaker 1: knows where he wants to go, but I think inherently
Speaker 1: struggles to keep his eyes down the field with that
Speaker 1: natural feel for the rush. He lacks feel for the
Speaker 1: rush and clean areas in the pocket, something I feel
Speaker 1: we can get there with more time and experience, because
Speaker 1: he's played the least amount of football of anybody that
Speaker 1: age that I can remember. He has seventeen college starts,
Speaker 1: you know, the pandemic shortened season costs a whole year,
Speaker 1: basically five starts. As a pro, I don't think he's
Speaker 1: making protection changes and calls. Yet he takes sacks that
Speaker 1: you can see coming from a mile away, and he
Speaker 1: does bail in his fair share of clean pockets. But
Speaker 1: I can accept that from a quarterback that has played
Speaker 1: like twenty football games in the last seven years. I
Speaker 1: can't accept that from a quarterback who's played sixty games
Speaker 1: in the last six years. At a certain point, you
Speaker 1: run out of rope, right he struggles to layer of
Speaker 1: the football. Accuracy on touch throws is as unpredictable, like
Speaker 1: as as my buddy JT. Santos's wedge game and golf
Speaker 1: could come out floppy, could come out skullly anybody's guess.
Speaker 1: But I think he can execute our on time stuff.
Speaker 1: He throws a curl against soft Cover one before the
Speaker 1: receiver begins to even throw down back down the stem,
Speaker 1: and that's what has me like, Okay, I can force
Speaker 1: teams into cover one and throw those snoop huntly routes
Speaker 1: in addition to all the run games success I can
Speaker 1: have off of him like there's something to build upon
Speaker 1: there and it's not again, it's not set in store.
Speaker 1: I think there's more to build on this player. I
Speaker 1: think the conclusion here is he replaces your need to
Speaker 1: draft the prospect or a project even multi year contra
Speaker 1: type of player that allows him to grow in your program,
Speaker 1: get the offense down, and maybe in three years he's
Speaker 1: worth a trade chip, or maybe he's the best backup
Speaker 1: quarterback in the league and he has the physical traits
Speaker 1: to me to make that time well invested and well spent.
Speaker 1: Drew Locke is up next, and his ability to rip
Speaker 1: throws from multiple arm angles and drive the ball.
Speaker 2: Down the field is impressive.
Speaker 1: He also has the moxie and the creativity shake free
Speaker 1: from some bad calls and crumbling pockets and make a
Speaker 1: bad call right at times. And he does kind of
Speaker 1: have that like backup quarterback swag in the way Ryan
Speaker 1: Fitzpatrick had, in the way like Gardner Minshew has where
Speaker 1: he can come off the bench and be like it's
Speaker 1: rock and roll dudes in the huddle and all the
Speaker 1: guys like Drew locks out here. I think there is
Speaker 1: value to that, like a player's a guy that players
Speaker 1: like is a big deal for the backup quarterback. But
Speaker 1: his ability to play on time, that's where it runs out,
Speaker 1: is just not there. He's predetermined when he's where he's
Speaker 1: going with the football. Most of the time he'll take
Speaker 1: the sure thing a post, letting the thing rip down
Speaker 1: the field, like he had this third and long against
Speaker 1: the Eagles, where the concept threatened the seam and brought
Speaker 1: the middle of the field away from a lak dabers
Speaker 1: against a deep third player with the comeback route and
Speaker 1: he was wide open. He should have known that was
Speaker 1: a walk in the park first down based upon the
Speaker 1: coverage pre snap, but he never got there and it's
Speaker 1: toad check the football down. My conclusion here is, I
Speaker 1: think we're way off from being in the class that
Speaker 1: we're shopping from.
Speaker 2: Here.
Speaker 1: There was minimal trust from the previous staff, and his
Speaker 1: decision making validated the way they protected him. The Colts
Speaker 1: game was the only time he's ever played like that
Speaker 1: entire life, and even that was like fifty to fifty
Speaker 1: balls down the field and screens to the house. Marcus
Speaker 1: Mariota I think is going to get bridge starter time
Speaker 1: somewhere else. I think price himself out of our range
Speaker 1: because of how he played this year, and I know
Speaker 1: that classes with who he's been his entire career, and
Speaker 1: perhaps those are the spots that don't facilitate his skill set,
Speaker 1: like he's thrived when there's been quality infrastructure in place
Speaker 1: and fallen flat on his face with an with upstart
Speaker 1: BS for lack of a better term, I think he
Speaker 1: still struggles immensely with how he sees the field and
Speaker 1: he will never be an anticipatory thrower, but damn it,
Speaker 1: he adds a fun element as a runner and creator.
Speaker 1: My conclusion here is, I think if you want to
Speaker 1: incorporate the backup quarterback and the run, and this is
Speaker 1: one of the very best options, but in terms of
Speaker 1: the fit, his skill set is so far from two
Speaker 1: was that I fear there's not even a possible option
Speaker 1: in this player.
Speaker 2: Zach Wilson's up next.
Speaker 1: Frenetick in the pocket with an inherent nature to retreat
Speaker 1: against pressure. He has no trust in his protection due
Speaker 1: to the lack of processing power. I'm not sure he
Speaker 1: understands the checkpoints that he has to get through pre snap,
Speaker 1: what presentations look like, and how they're set up to
Speaker 1: get to different looks from that defensive set. He has
Speaker 1: a fun arm, some scramble ability, but he can't even
Speaker 1: maximize that because of the horrible spots he puts himself
Speaker 1: into as a drop back passer like he often puts
Speaker 1: himself into a sack. Perhaps he has developed some of
Speaker 1: the stuff for the first time in his career working
Speaker 1: with a competent play caller and quarterback room and Sean
Speaker 1: Payton with Denver Broncos, but this is really a hard passer.
Speaker 1: My conclusion here is high end trades upside, but Skyler
Speaker 1: level processing that makes me think he's not ready for
Speaker 1: this league or even long for this league. Never got
Speaker 1: to see the snaps in Denver to decipher if he's
Speaker 1: grown under Payton. If he winds up here, it'll be
Speaker 1: the first thing I'm looking for in camp, like did
Speaker 1: he grow in that area with Denver? We'll have to
Speaker 1: wait until April to find out. Though Jamis Winston. No
Speaker 1: team can survive the highs and lows of a player
Speaker 1: like this. It's fun for us to watch as neutral fans,
Speaker 1: can't imagine watching it for your team. He's probably a
Speaker 1: good addition to the room in an instance where you
Speaker 1: need to replacement to come in cold for an injured quarterback,
Speaker 1: but make the same mistakes like perpetuate. If he plays
Speaker 1: for a long period of time, good defenses can tear
Speaker 1: him limb by limb and capitalize in the consistently questionable
Speaker 1: decision making. He has no regard for the football, He's
Speaker 1: not a sharp process, or he doesn't have a lot
Speaker 1: of creativity.
Speaker 2: These are not things I.
Speaker 1: Want in a backup quarterback. I also think he's a
Speaker 1: bad fit as a backup because of the attention he Garners.
Speaker 1: He's just too much bro, He's too extra. My conclusion,
Speaker 1: probably a decent backup option, but to me not a
Speaker 1: good culture fit or locker room fit. I think TUA
Speaker 1: would get tired of him very quickly. So for me,
Speaker 1: Donald is the top guy available, but that's not even
Speaker 1: within our pantheon of options. Andy Dalton to me is
Speaker 1: the next best option, and he kind of fits a
Speaker 1: category that nobody else does here in terms of that
Speaker 1: veteran calming presence who I know can learn the offense
Speaker 1: and basically not make us have to step back into
Speaker 1: rudimentary offenses, which we've learned that the head coach doesn't
Speaker 1: want to do that anyways, So I think he needs
Speaker 1: a quarterback like that to keep the offense on schedule.
Speaker 1: You'd get like a Jimmy Garoppolo, maybe that same vein,
Speaker 1: but I just don't think he's the same quarterback. And
Speaker 1: then Trey Lance is my number three, and this is
Speaker 1: like my cutoff the targets I'm interested in with Lance
Speaker 1: and Dalton, but I think Lance is the kind of
Speaker 1: guy that you bank on more long term upside. Maybe
Speaker 1: you can sign both of them, like why not, you know,
Speaker 1: if it's cheap, why not do it? Then I would
Speaker 1: go Justin Fields is right on the verge. I don't
Speaker 1: like the timing of his game, Marcus married his fifth,
Speaker 1: Jimmy Garoppolo sixth, Jamis Winston seventh, Drew Locke eighth, and
Speaker 1: then Zach Wilson brings up the rear at number nine.
Speaker 1: Some notable names I have not worked up and probably
Speaker 1: won't Cooper Rush, Joe Flacco, Mac Jones, and Josh Dobbs.
Speaker 1: You kind of know who those guys are, right, I
Speaker 1: don't think there's gonna be a lot of changing there.
Speaker 1: So that's the free agency class. Let's go ahead and
Speaker 1: take look at the draft class. Next here on the
Speaker 1: Draft Time podcast, your host Travis Wingfield, brought to you
Speaker 1: by Auto Nation one more time for transparency's sake and
Speaker 1: for a disclaimer's sake, I have a lot more work
Speaker 1: to do on the entire class really outside of Cam
Speaker 1: Schadure and Milroe guys that I've watched several games on
Speaker 1: everybody else, I've watched a couple of games and or
Speaker 1: broadcast copy on those guys. So first, the College All
Speaker 1: Star Games present a new challenge where they have like
Speaker 1: guys going to different games, which sucks.
Speaker 2: I just played in one spot. Man, it kind of
Speaker 2: drives me crazy.
Speaker 1: But the Senior Bowl roster is jaln Milroe, Dylan Gabriel,
Speaker 1: Jackson Dark are all names you probably know. And then
Speaker 1: Will Howard from Ohio State. He's gonna play the National
Speaker 1: Championship game next week. Riley Leonard also gonna play in
Speaker 1: the National Championship game. And then Tyler Shoe from Louisville
Speaker 1: Shrine Bowls roster. A lot of crossover here. Shador is
Speaker 1: going to be at this game NOL Milroe, but Kyle
Speaker 1: McCord will be at this game. Tyler Shoe once again
Speaker 1: will be there. Curtis Rourke from Indian is going to
Speaker 1: be there. And then four quarterbacks. I have not watched
Speaker 1: a single play from Mark Gonnomowski. I hope I got
Speaker 1: that right. South Dakota State, Cam Miller, North Dakota State,
Speaker 1: Max Brosmer Minnesota, Go ghos Seth Hennigan, Memphis. Here's how
Speaker 1: I stack the quarterbacks today, and I've only done five quarterbacks.
Speaker 1: So cam Ward is number one. He features everything you
Speaker 1: want in a franchise quarterback, starting with a non negotiables poise,
Speaker 1: a thirst for knowledge of the game. He asked the
Speaker 1: why behind the concepts versus the coverage. He has accuracy,
Speaker 1: pocket management, and then sprinkling the flash stuff like other
Speaker 1: worldly play creation, easy glide scrambles for first downs and
Speaker 1: home runs on broken plays. There's a story about him
Speaker 1: at Wshu Go Kook's where he had too many fumbles,
Speaker 1: but half of them came from shotgun snaps that he
Speaker 1: just dropped and.
Speaker 2: Picked back up.
Speaker 1: When he was asked about it, he said that he
Speaker 1: wants every fraction of a second afforded to him to
Speaker 1: process the way the defense rotates after the snap. So
Speaker 1: that tells me that his process is great and his
Speaker 1: mind is where it needs to be. He understands leverage indicators,
Speaker 1: the different throws required for different plays and coverages. The
Speaker 1: wind ups a little bit long and loopy, but I
Speaker 1: think he's tightened that up over the last couple of years.
Speaker 1: I think this is a star quarterback and he's holding
Speaker 1: up an otherwise down year for the position. I do
Speaker 1: not agree in the slightest that there isn't a top
Speaker 1: quarterback this year. Cam actually grades out to me more
Speaker 1: favorable than any quarterback of the last five years to me,
Speaker 1: except for CJ.
Speaker 2: Stroud.
Speaker 1: That's probably a knock on me if not having Jayden
Speaker 1: Daniels higher, But we have to be honest here right,
Speaker 1: actually full transparency. That list goes for me Stroud Ward
Speaker 1: number one, number two. Then Trevor Lawrence is number three
Speaker 1: behind those two guys. Jade and Daniels was number four,
Speaker 1: Michael Pennix five justin fields like six, and then Drake
Speaker 1: May seven. Some good So I'm not so good about
Speaker 1: that list, but you know what, like I had Caleb
Speaker 1: Williams lower than those guys, so I feel good about that.
Speaker 1: My current range projection on Ward is first round pick draft.
Speaker 1: In the draft Star quarterback number one overall. Number two
Speaker 1: is Shadur Sanders from Colorado. Exceptional poise and leadership and
Speaker 1: pocket feel and accurate thrower from all arm angles. Not
Speaker 1: a plus creator, nor does he feature a giant arm
Speaker 1: to force the issue, but plenty of zip and enough
Speaker 1: plays with his legs to get to the next level
Speaker 1: or to get by the next level. I should say
Speaker 1: I love his experienced arm in terms of different slots
Speaker 1: and throws that he can make. You can tell that
Speaker 1: he was out in the backyard with Pops whipping football
Speaker 1: and baseball's around in the backyard. He's not robotic in
Speaker 1: his mechanics nor his release. It's all a natural feel
Speaker 1: to him. No one is better at layering the football
Speaker 1: than him, and I think he can be very effective
Speaker 1: under center play action quarterback to support a strong running
Speaker 1: game with a.
Speaker 2: Beautiful intermedia game.
Speaker 1: He's probably the most polished in terms of understanding everything
Speaker 1: that a franchise quarterback has in his hand with each
Speaker 1: snap that he takes. But I do think that he
Speaker 1: big play hunts a little bit too frequently and exasperated
Speaker 1: what was a bad offensive line there at Colorado for
Speaker 1: two years, taking more sacks than he probably had to.
Speaker 1: He's played a lot of football, and I think his
Speaker 1: ability to play immediately make him attractive. He was a
Speaker 1: top ten pick Dallas Cowboys. Maybe we'll see I have
Speaker 1: him as a first round draft pick. I think he
Speaker 1: goes top ten. Number three is Jalen Milroe from Alabama.
Speaker 1: There was a time when I thought Milroe was going
Speaker 1: to elevate himself into a top ten pick this spring,
Speaker 1: but bad tapes made me think he was closer to
Speaker 1: going back to the college game for another year. He
Speaker 1: comes out, it starts with game breaking running ability. We're
Speaker 1: talking about vic Lamar Cunningham type of stuff. He's a
Speaker 1: threat on design runs just as much as he isn't
Speaker 1: scrambled drills, and that alone can change how defenses play him.
Speaker 1: But the reason I thought he was a top ten
Speaker 1: pick was the quick set up and delivery that paired
Speaker 1: with the ability to see the field.
Speaker 2: The loss to Vandy that game.
Speaker 1: You know what I saw on tape was post snap
Speaker 1: rotation identification pair with touch and timing to layer the
Speaker 1: ball in the tight windows over the middle of the field.
Speaker 2: That's how you win at this level.
Speaker 1: He has the gas to push the ball down the
Speaker 1: field and to the perimeter despite tight coverage. But I
Speaker 1: think he needs a lot of work on his feet
Speaker 1: and set up and to demonstrate more consistency as a passer.
Speaker 1: I think the highs the first half versus Georgia outweigh
Speaker 1: the lows his bowl game versus Michigan, because we're not
Speaker 1: judging these players on who they are, but who they
Speaker 1: can become. And I think that he might have the
Speaker 1: most upside besides cam Ward the entire class. I think
Speaker 1: the league might mess up by letting this guy go
Speaker 1: too far. If he's there in the second round, I
Speaker 1: would think very highly, very strongly about it. Maybe it's
Speaker 1: a Jordan Love approach. We shit him down for a
Speaker 1: couple of years, but I think there's the most impressive
Speaker 1: ball of clay in the entire draft is Jalen Milroll.
Speaker 2: He's a Day two pick.
Speaker 1: For me currently probably early second round for my money.
Speaker 1: Number four is Kyle McCord from Syracuse. Stationary pocket passer
Speaker 1: with a lot of big game experience and winning throws
Speaker 1: in tough moments. He's not going to wow you with
Speaker 1: his foot speed or creativity, but he can manage money
Speaker 1: pockets and find space to execute the offense from within.
Speaker 1: Not a super overpowering arm, but I do think he
Speaker 1: has every throw in the arsenal in terms of being
Speaker 1: able to drive the ball, to put some loft on
Speaker 1: it on deep shots, and layer in the intermediate game.
Speaker 1: To me, he projects as a potential developmental backup. I
Speaker 1: have as an early Day three pick. Jackson Dart from
Speaker 1: Old Missus Next for me in the last one on
Speaker 1: the list here. This is going to be a quarterback
Speaker 1: that I don't get this year that other people seem
Speaker 1: to fawn over. He's sloppy as hell in his footwork,
Speaker 1: almost belabored in it. I think he needs a ground
Speaker 1: up rebuild to his mechanics, and it pairs unfavorably with
Speaker 1: his timing. I never felt the footwork matched up with
Speaker 1: the timing of his routes. And you might be able
Speaker 1: to get me with that in the college game, but
Speaker 1: not at this level. Bucko, get ready to speak Skylar Thompson.
Speaker 1: If you do that, you can see the traits that
Speaker 1: I think will make him pop off after his pro day.
Speaker 1: He's gonna have a Zach Wilson prode. He can sling
Speaker 1: the ball across his body, driver it from different platforms
Speaker 1: and really create some magic when he gets off the
Speaker 1: spot and goes His decision making, especially in big spots
Speaker 1: down the stretch last year really had me screaming at
Speaker 1: my screen man. The late turnovers in the Florida game
Speaker 1: was kind of a pivot point. I think athletes can
Speaker 1: take moments like that, you know, two picks in the
Speaker 1: final like three minutes of the game with a chance
Speaker 1: to win the game. Both times can be a learning
Speaker 1: moment or a confidence crushing moment. I do think Dart
Speaker 1: is rather the right way to overcome that. But even
Speaker 1: with forty five starts, I think there's a lot of
Speaker 1: development that has to happen with this player. He is
Speaker 1: a Day three pick right now in terms of my projection.
Speaker 1: So the way I stack him is I probably like
Speaker 1: Jalen Milroe the most because of the upside, but I
Speaker 1: understand that we're probably not in that category just yet.
Speaker 1: I think you can get more more impact players and
Speaker 1: where he had where I think Milroll goes. So Dalton's
Speaker 1: probably my top option. Trey Lance is right at his heels,
Speaker 1: and then a mill Row's in that fixture as well.
Speaker 1: And I have to do more work on day three
Speaker 1: pick because right now I'm not seeing it with those guys.
Speaker 1: I want to close the podcast with some thoughts on
Speaker 1: Vikings and Rams before we go here real quick. So
Speaker 1: five and one on wild card weekend, pretty good. Still
Speaker 1: kicking myself for the Packers pick. I gotta stop going
Speaker 1: against the Eagles. That's a great football team. We'll do
Speaker 1: the divisional picks on our Friday show and probably talk
Speaker 1: about the National Championship as well as episodes that the
Speaker 1: episode that pairs with our running Back capsule, so stay
Speaker 1: tuned there. But man, I just think it's worth mentioning this.
Speaker 1: And you guys know the meme of the man standing
Speaker 1: up in the town hall stating his unpopular opinion. Right,
Speaker 1: I have one of those, and it's I think you
Speaker 1: can have a successful season without winning the championship or
Speaker 1: even making the Super Bowl for that matter. Like I
Speaker 1: think winning fourteen games is a big deal. I think
Speaker 1: a first round blowout exit aside, is still a big deal.
Speaker 1: They lose to two teams this year, and just so
Speaker 1: happen to lose to both teams twice. They and by
Speaker 1: the way, they were owing four against playoff teams and
Speaker 1: fourteen ohoher against everybody else, Like you know, no, that's
Speaker 1: not true. Could beat the Packers. What am I talking about?
Speaker 1: Two and four versus playoff teams. They were literally trailing
Speaker 1: at halftime by a field goal last week with a
Speaker 1: chance at fifteen and two and the number one seed
Speaker 1: at home and home field throughout the playoffs. And I'm
Speaker 1: a strong subscriber to a season being about moments and
Speaker 1: the joy you experience as a fan. It's why I
Speaker 1: appoint to twenty twenty three so frequently and so fondly. Like, yeah,
Speaker 1: it ended really disappointingly, but like as someone who watches
Speaker 1: Dolphins games for fun in the middle of the summer,
Speaker 1: like rewatching them. It used to be a handful of
Speaker 1: games that you could pull up right, like the Wildcat
Speaker 1: Division clincher, the Rams game in twenty twenty, or the
Speaker 1: Cardinals game that year, or the Miami Miracle game. Like
Speaker 1: you're picking out outlier performances where say you're a Patriots fan,
Speaker 1: you have two decades worth of fun playoff wins to
Speaker 1: pick from. But like in twenty twenty three, dial up
Speaker 1: the Chargers, the Giants, or the Panthers or the Broncos,
Speaker 1: the Patriots or both Jets games, or the Commander's game
Speaker 1: or the Cowboys game, Like all those games are fun
Speaker 1: as hell to watch again, and we're even better in
Speaker 1: the moments. So yeah, brutal ending for the Vikings, But
Speaker 1: I still think it was a good season and they
Speaker 1: do have to feel really good about their process. GM
Speaker 1: and head coach are both did a great job. Of course,
Speaker 1: the big shoot to drop there is what they do
Speaker 1: at quarterback with McCarthy waiting. I tend to think you
Speaker 1: tag Darnold and go into the year super secure at
Speaker 1: the quarterback position, But maybe he walks and they go
Speaker 1: with just JJ.
Speaker 2: That's their call.
Speaker 1: As for the game itself, I've been saying that's a
Speaker 1: damn good Rams team. And I was super impressed by
Speaker 1: Chris Shula, and not just for the strong job that
Speaker 1: he got from his grandfather or the insanely impressive hairline
Speaker 1: in a profession that is predisposed to deleting hairlines, but
Speaker 1: also the game that he called, the way they were
Speaker 1: able to create one on one situations against a banged
Speaker 1: up Vikings offensive line who was you know, down Christian
Speaker 1: Darisol all year basically, but then they lose Brian O'Neill
Speaker 1: in this game.
Speaker 2: That's the thing.
Speaker 1: Man. You can usually survive like one loss, but when
Speaker 1: they accumulate at a position, you know how it goes.
Speaker 1: As Dolphins fans, it gets very tough offensive line the
Speaker 1: last couple of years, the edge position, the cornerbacks.
Speaker 2: In twenty twenty two, it's tough.
Speaker 1: They doubled Justin Jefferson create one on ones off the
Speaker 1: edge with their interior stunt game and sim pressure game.
Speaker 1: They play aggressive man coverage underneath. Super commendable. You know.
Speaker 1: Jordan rod Reeg, who is the Rams beat writer for
Speaker 1: The Athletic. She describes the Rams staff with the week
Speaker 1: off as they rested for Week eighteen at very good
Speaker 1: at specifically finding matchup victories and exploiting them, and I'd
Speaker 1: say they did that pretty well. Also, I know the
Speaker 1: defense is better than it's been in like two decades,
Speaker 1: but I kind of like the aggressive approach. Yes, it
Speaker 1: is nice to basically never allow deep touchdowns, but it
Speaker 1: was sort of refreshing to watch a team dictate the
Speaker 1: terms like that, especially against an offense with that kind
Speaker 1: of firepower.
Speaker 2: Divisional round gonna be fun to watch. Man. And my goodness,
Speaker 2: that's Sunday Night, Ravens and Bills game. Go Ravens.
Speaker 1: Man, We're gonna get a game like that one of
Speaker 1: these days, Dolphins fans, it's gonna happen. Until then, though,
Speaker 1: we'll preview all those games. Do the running backs on Friday.
Speaker 1: That's my time. Subscribe, rate review the podcast, follow me
Speaker 1: on social. Go ahead and check out the fish Tank
Speaker 1: Podcast with Seth and Juice the YouTube channel for a
Speaker 1: brand new episode this week of Dolphins HQ, Media Availabilities,
Speaker 1: and so much more, and last but not least, Miami
Speaker 1: Dolphins dot Com until next time. Fins up Carolin and
Speaker 1: Cameron Daddy's Come and Hold