Speaker 1: You're listening to the Miami Dolphins Podcast Network.
Speaker 2: This is Drivetime with Travis Wingfield.
Speaker 3: Back to throw to a looking clips about a wide
Speaker 3: Dolphin touchdown.
Speaker 1: Tyrick cal uncolievable, just blue by it for a second time.
Speaker 3: Don't know where he was going right away.
Speaker 4: I want to hit that man.
Speaker 5: I'm going to help you.
Speaker 3: Someone will up on his man away Wattle, Wattle to
Speaker 3: a shotgun, back to throw, looking at them up myers touchdown.
Speaker 3: It's Waddle his sixth touchdown, pat of the team.
Speaker 2: Drive Time with Travis Wingfield begins.
Speaker 5: Now let me check your pulse if you're not for.
Speaker 1: What is up?
Speaker 2: Golf fans and welcome to the Drive Time podcast, part
Speaker 2: of the Miami Dolphins podcast Network, covering your team, your
Speaker 2: Miami Dolphins.
Speaker 3: How's it going everybody?
Speaker 2: I am your host, Travis Wingfield And on today's show,
Speaker 2: Miami Dolphins football practice is back.
Speaker 3: Here we go.
Speaker 2: The twenty twenty three campaign is kind of underway. We'll
Speaker 2: hear from head coach Mike McDaniel. We're gonna hear from
Speaker 2: Christian Wilkins, Jalen Waddle. We're gonna hear from Jeff Wilson
Speaker 2: and Austin Jackson and we'll detail the practice in the
Speaker 2: events on the practice field like only you can get
Speaker 2: here on the Draft Time Podcast from the Baptist Health
Speaker 2: Studios inside the Baptist Health Training Complex.
Speaker 3: This is the Draft Time.
Speaker 2: Podcast, Maye Geff first, So we are going to weave
Speaker 2: coach and players sound bites into the podcast here, but
Speaker 2: I think it's worth starting off with a little bit
Speaker 2: of housekeeping, and we do that off the top here
Speaker 2: with coach McDaniel answering a question on Tuesday Mornings media
Speaker 2: availability about two players in the defensive backfield who have
Speaker 2: been very productive here in the Aquaan Orange, both coming
Speaker 2: off unfortunate season ending injuries in twenty twenty two. Let's
Speaker 2: kick off the podcast here with how coach kicked off
Speaker 2: his presser well after he praised both the Miami Heat
Speaker 2: and the Florida Panthers, noting their ability to do what
Speaker 2: a lot of folks didn't think they could do as
Speaker 2: eight seeds here in this postseason. But coach was asked
Speaker 2: about the progress of Brandon Jones and Nick Needham.
Speaker 6: I see Brandon Nick every day. When I say diligent,
Speaker 6: that's what their days are.
Speaker 5: So they are.
Speaker 6: I feel good about where they're at right now? What
Speaker 6: does that mean down the road. I try not to
Speaker 6: get consumed with like, all right, you're gonna be ready now,
Speaker 6: so that you're wearing that anxiety, like we just want
Speaker 6: to stay on schedule and or ahead. And all reports
Speaker 6: have been just that because of the way that our
Speaker 6: medical staff goes about their business and the way they
Speaker 6: attack their their their whole rehabs.
Speaker 5: So I'm excited about them.
Speaker 2: So I thought that was great to hear about two
Speaker 2: players who are going to be important cogs in this
Speaker 2: year's team and their progress back from injuries a season ago.
Speaker 2: Next another player back from injury is Trio Williams, and
Speaker 2: the question was posed a coach about a potential position
Speaker 2: change for him to the safety spot, and he kind
Speaker 2: of had fun with the question but ultimately gave us
Speaker 2: this answer about the power of being cross trained and
Speaker 2: being versatile on defense, especially when trying to learn a
Speaker 2: new system.
Speaker 5: This is the off season. There's a lot of power.
Speaker 6: For players, specifically when you're learning a new system like
Speaker 6: our our defense is currently learning to be able to
Speaker 6: have versatility as always powerful when you're when you're talking
Speaker 6: about being an NFL player and there's no better way
Speaker 6: to understand your responsibility within that said structure of a
Speaker 6: defense than understand what other contributors and how there issues
Speaker 6: apply to your issues. And that cross training stuff will
Speaker 6: always be a part, and it certainly for a couple
Speaker 6: individuals on our defense something that we're trying to attack
Speaker 6: with that versatility.
Speaker 5: So move.
Speaker 6: If you're reporting it to our opponents, you can say
Speaker 6: we're moving guys left and right, but for you know,
Speaker 6: in house, a safe place for you guys.
Speaker 5: It's just versatility is a good thing.
Speaker 2: And then we get out to the practice field and
Speaker 2: as South Florida is wont to do, the heavens opened
Speaker 2: up and gave us. Calling it a shower would be
Speaker 2: understating it a little bit.
Speaker 3: It was.
Speaker 2: It was a nice little downpour there for about twenty minutes,
Speaker 2: but fortunately it only lasted those twenty minutes before the
Speaker 2: sun came out and dried up all the rain. And
Speaker 2: the itsy bitsy Spider the Miami Dolphins came out for
Speaker 2: a football practice to get some playtime in like the
Speaker 2: spider did himself. But how it goes down here, you
Speaker 2: get a downpour of rain all of a sudden, the
Speaker 2: greens dry out in about thirty minutes and you're back
Speaker 2: to normal green speeds. Enough golf talk. Look, there's there's
Speaker 2: never a ton to look at during warm ups or
Speaker 2: IND's and that type of stuff, especially during OTAs in
Speaker 2: the month of May. Real football doesn't start until, you
Speaker 2: know what, four months away from now. But I do
Speaker 2: think it helps create the comprehensive field that I'm going
Speaker 2: for here on the podcast. And this all tracks with
Speaker 2: something that coach said at his press conference, and it's
Speaker 2: an annual thing, Austin Clark having an infectious energy that
Speaker 2: reverberates throughout his defensive line group and then audibly reverberates
Speaker 2: throughout the Baptist Health Training Complex, which has coincided with
Speaker 2: quite frankly, some of the best defensive line play in
Speaker 2: the National Football League the last few years under his watch.
Speaker 2: I mean, you don't wind up being a guy that
Speaker 2: has stuck through you know it for all intents and
Speaker 2: purposes to coaching staff changes. When you think about going
Speaker 2: from you know, twenty twenty one to last season to
Speaker 2: now a new coach on defense, You've essentially had three
Speaker 2: different coaches on defense the last three years.
Speaker 3: And he's still here.
Speaker 2: He's still kicking because his unit performs year in and
Speaker 2: year out, and sure enough, early on you hear Coach
Speaker 2: Clark got there imploring his guys to bring the f
Speaker 2: and juice. And wouldn't you know it, just seconds after that,
Speaker 2: I look over and Randy Charlton, the rookie out of
Speaker 2: Mississippi State, breaks the sled. Coach, I broke it into
Speaker 2: your toy. We'll have an injury update for you guys
Speaker 2: on the sled. On a later podcast, I think it
Speaker 2: was questionable to return for the day. Didn't see it
Speaker 2: come back out. But back to coach McDaniel, here's what
Speaker 2: he said when asked about Isaiah Win, that acquisition, acquisition,
Speaker 2: acquisition and how it might what it means to the
Speaker 2: rest of the players on the offensive line, notably you
Speaker 2: know in Austin Jackson at right tackle where Wyinn has
Speaker 2: played in the past, Aleah Meikenberg left guard, where Wynn
Speaker 2: has played in the past. Here's coach talking about the
Speaker 2: Win acquisition, and I think there was some cedric a
Speaker 2: way he kind of tilted into this as well, about
Speaker 2: the theme of competition you're going to see all summer
Speaker 2: long here in South Florida.
Speaker 6: It's like everything else, we're a product of our environment.
Speaker 6: And when guys are going wait about things the right
Speaker 6: way and have experience playing at a high level in
Speaker 6: the in the NFL, that it raises the urgency, it
Speaker 6: raises the competitiveness, and overall helps every player involved as
Speaker 6: long as people are working together, which you know all
Speaker 6: of our Georgia Bulldogs are good teammates.
Speaker 5: So uh, the he's been awesome.
Speaker 6: He's uh, he's getting work at several spots and has
Speaker 6: the opportunity, uh to win some playing time at several spots.
Speaker 6: But it's also you know, there's only five players that
Speaker 6: play uh each down, and overall, I know the collection
Speaker 6: of the offensive line is best served in this current Envin,
Speaker 6: who those people are? You know that that goes against
Speaker 6: I don't do the magnet slotting, you know.
Speaker 5: I let people.
Speaker 6: In situations, whether they're performing their lifelong dream of a job,
Speaker 6: decide their own fate. So just throw a bunch of
Speaker 6: guys in that fit the bill, and uh, I think
Speaker 6: the Dolphins are best served waiting to see who tells
Speaker 6: us it's gonna be a starter or backup or whatever.
Speaker 2: And Mike, we'll mention here soon, you know, know, Toron
Speaker 2: Armstad no Connor Williams. You're gonna get plenty of work
Speaker 2: for those guys, and guys like Kendall Lamb. You know,
Speaker 2: they've got some playing time last year, Jon Christians and
Speaker 2: there's there's all kinds of players in this offensive line.
Speaker 2: They're gonna have a chance to really prove themselves here
Speaker 2: for a coaching staff that traditionally, you know, going back
Speaker 2: to San Francisco, has found a way to get more
Speaker 2: out of the sum of the parts than I guess
Speaker 2: you might see individually there. You know, looking at just
Speaker 2: the Niners lie couple of years for instance, you know
Speaker 2: last year in particular, they really played the level that
Speaker 2: was above board for what they're they're typically I should say,
Speaker 2: their skill set would suggest I think you can get
Speaker 2: some of that here with the Miami Dolphins, especially as
Speaker 2: you get more and more into the system, identify guys
Speaker 2: that fit that system and fit the environment. Like coach
Speaker 2: talks about, there so interesting stuff there. Then we staw
Speaker 2: have practice. You know, last year it was a lot
Speaker 2: of days that were I guess dominated by the offense,
Speaker 2: and you certainly had you know, your trading of victories,
Speaker 2: but most days it did seem like the Dolphins passing
Speaker 2: attack was the one that would do the damage, and
Speaker 2: that bared out over the season, right, I mean, that's
Speaker 2: not even up for debate.
Speaker 3: And this is you know, an.
Speaker 2: Hour of football in the month of May, largely seven
Speaker 2: on seven. So let's go ahead and make sure we
Speaker 2: put a disclaimer on all of this to not go
Speaker 2: overboard one way or the other. The job is report
Speaker 2: on what we see and that's what we're doing here.
Speaker 3: Sound good.
Speaker 2: So during the first portion of practice, I thought the
Speaker 2: defense really really showed the work they've been putting it
Speaker 2: in terms of getting this defense down, getting coach Fangio's system,
Speaker 2: you know, second nature. I thought, passing off in coverage,
Speaker 2: identifying the correct spots to double team, and filling the voids,
Speaker 2: replacing those vacancies with you know, rotation, the communication on
Speaker 2: the back end, it all looked really good to me
Speaker 2: and it resulted in some coverage sacks or the quarterback
Speaker 2: you know, Patt and the ball and fleeing latterly to
Speaker 2: find offscript action that you have to in this type
Speaker 2: of practice environment, you have to assimilate that where you
Speaker 2: can't get live bullets, you have to just say okay,
Speaker 2: plays over. You got the sack, but continue it and
Speaker 2: let's get the work in. Anyways, and we I mean
Speaker 2: I saw them, you know, number nineteen, last year's playoff starter,
Speaker 2: Scytt Thompson many times not have a chance to throw
Speaker 2: the football because he could identify who was open against
Speaker 2: this defense. And it wasn't that way always, but against
Speaker 2: that particular quarterback, they really kind of had him, you know,
Speaker 2: a little bit confused back there. But there's two parts
Speaker 2: of this that I want to cover. First, the sound
Speaker 2: from McDaniel when he was asked about Andrew Van Ginkle's
Speaker 2: role and coach describes the value of cross training players.
Speaker 2: You know, he mentioned it there a little bit with
Speaker 2: Isaiah Winn. But here are you guys talking about the
Speaker 2: scheme becoming more second nature and getting to know a
Speaker 2: new system by cross training because the best way to
Speaker 2: do it.
Speaker 3: Well, here's what coach has to say.
Speaker 6: I know, from an offensive perspective or an offensive standpoint,
Speaker 6: when you have a edge player.
Speaker 5: That will in packages.
Speaker 6: Or maybe a game or maybe no games, have the
Speaker 6: ability to play off the ball backer that in terms
Speaker 6: of identification for how you pick up protections and those
Speaker 6: things are very important.
Speaker 5: Not to mention the fact that you can.
Speaker 6: You know, position flexibility allows you to have an extra
Speaker 6: human being at each position on game day, you know,
Speaker 6: a little two for one er.
Speaker 5: So I think.
Speaker 6: On top of just understanding all of the defense, it's
Speaker 6: instrumental because because you know, every piece of the puzzle
Speaker 6: has to cover at some point, and then understanding rush
Speaker 6: patterns and all those things. It's just it's beneficial to
Speaker 6: a guy that we thought that led by Vic and
Speaker 6: really just our entire defensive staff thought that he was
Speaker 6: at the point of his career where he could handle that,
Speaker 6: and that's it's advantageous for us, tough for the opponent.
Speaker 6: So sounds like a win full circle.
Speaker 2: It's just funny how it goes in this job sometimes
Speaker 2: because I didn't plan for it to work out this way.
Speaker 2: It just kind of did you know? Coach says that.
Speaker 2: And then my first note, my very first takeaway from
Speaker 2: practice twenty twenty three was how smooth the defense looks now.
Speaker 2: Christian Wilkins to move to the defensive line reminds us
Speaker 2: that it's early and they're still working to.
Speaker 3: Get it all down.
Speaker 1: We got some good stuff, and we got some good
Speaker 1: players on the defense, you know, just we got to
Speaker 1: continue to just grind every day, learn it, pick it
Speaker 1: up as fast as we can our way. Come Minnie Camp,
Speaker 1: Come training camp. We're just find around playing fast, not
Speaker 1: really thinking. We're also really learning this, so you know
Speaker 1: there's got to be mistakes in that, but you know,
Speaker 1: guys still working hard to get it right and playing
Speaker 1: and playing the busts off. So I would you love
Speaker 1: to see that.
Speaker 2: We'll hear more from Christian here. Shortly he gave us
Speaker 2: plenty of good content. There are chew on and just talking.
Speaker 2: You know, the way he articulates the game and his approach,
Speaker 2: it's always so fascinating. I mean, I know stuff about
Speaker 2: Christian in terms of his approach and just the fact
Speaker 2: that the guy like won't even go out to eat
Speaker 2: a meal because he wants to be on his regiment,
Speaker 2: on his schedule. It's it's so impressive to watch that
Speaker 2: guy work and the way he's become, you know, a
Speaker 2: good prospect and a first round pick to now one
Speaker 2: of the best defensive tackles in the National Football League.
Speaker 2: I want to pivot next here to the guys that
Speaker 2: Christian chases the quarterbacks, although it doesn't chase our guys
Speaker 2: because you know, red Jersey don't do that. But we
Speaker 2: heard Mike McDaniel talk about to a tongue of bat
Speaker 2: Loa's off season, what his approach was, to the judo,
Speaker 2: to the jiu jitsu, all the stuff that we talked about,
Speaker 2: and frankly, I'm tired of that subject. It was a
Speaker 2: subject again today in McDaniel's press conference. But I thought
Speaker 2: this sound by talking about to was intent and the
Speaker 2: way he went about basically, you know what, let's just
Speaker 2: go ahead and hear from coach on how impressed he
Speaker 2: was by his quarterback this offseason.
Speaker 6: I've seen a guy that's followed through with his words
Speaker 6: as well as any young young man I've ever I've
Speaker 6: come across in my career.
Speaker 5: He's he.
Speaker 6: Controlling the controllable is something that I would epitomize his
Speaker 6: off season with h you want to talk about, you know,
Speaker 6: going above and beyond, you know, training martial arts so
Speaker 6: much so that he knew the training before he knew
Speaker 6: what it was called. He's I think he's called it
Speaker 6: judo and jiu jitsu is what he was doing. But
Speaker 6: that in terms of helping him progress in his career
Speaker 6: has been phenomenal. The the work that they that he's done
Speaker 6: this off season. It was so obviously beneficial that we've
Speaker 6: incorporated it into some of our drill work that we'll
Speaker 6: do with the quarterbacks too. You know, I think it
Speaker 6: was Teddy Bridgewater made this point to me last year.
Speaker 6: As a quarterback, you go September starts and then you
Speaker 6: get tackled, and then you get tackled for six months
Speaker 6: and then you don't again until September. So how can
Speaker 6: we help train, you know, quarterbacks to stay healthy Because
Speaker 6: it wasn't just too it how do you stay healthy
Speaker 6: in this game and stay available? And that's something that
Speaker 6: that whole off season training has really helped us try
Speaker 6: to take it good step in the right direction for
Speaker 6: how to best prepare players for NFL season.
Speaker 2: And frankly, the reason I wanted to play this, you know,
Speaker 2: I thought in one practice session you could see a
Speaker 2: bit of emphasis on playing a little bit faster, getting
Speaker 2: the ball out a little bit quicker. And that sounds crazy, right,
Speaker 2: because this is a guy who, among quarterbacks who qualified
Speaker 2: in terms of past attempts for this stat last year,
Speaker 2: got the football out faster than anybody else. But on
Speaker 2: the plays when it's not there, those are the plays
Speaker 2: that he got injured on right, held the ball for
Speaker 2: over three three and a half four seconds when read
Speaker 2: one to get to the backside read three and four.
Speaker 2: Those are all covered up and you have to extend
Speaker 2: from there. There are chances and opportunities to do that,
Speaker 2: and understanding in the clock in the back of your
Speaker 2: head when you can do that stuff. But when you're
Speaker 2: in the pocket hunting for plays and they're just not there,
Speaker 2: be a little more decisive and find the checkdown options.
Speaker 2: We saw that in this practice on Tuesday, two instances
Speaker 2: where he just ate the incompleation, just threw the football
Speaker 2: into the ground at the feet of one of his
Speaker 2: checkdown options. Move on to the next play. And I
Speaker 2: think about it this way because this offense is so dangerous,
Speaker 2: so explosive. Right, It works a lot like how you
Speaker 2: hear scouts break down a quarterback like Josh Allen, for instance,
Speaker 2: when he was coming out of Wyoming, it was, you know,
Speaker 2: marvel at his physical traits, find a way to increase
Speaker 2: that completion percentage, and we could start talking about his
Speaker 2: long term progress as a quarterback. But you're more willing
Speaker 2: to live with the occasional misfire or miss layup because
Speaker 2: you have such a penchant for explosives, you'll take a
Speaker 2: couple more strikeouts in exchange for driving the ball to
Speaker 2: the gap and over the fence to get extra base hits,
Speaker 2: you know, opposed to just trying to put wood on
Speaker 2: the baseball and hope to leg out an infield single.
Speaker 2: Like we're not trying to, you know, have an ops
Speaker 2: of six hundred. We're not drive the ball to the
Speaker 2: gaps and have a nine hundred OPS and really impact
Speaker 2: the game that way. Right, So we missed the occasional
Speaker 2: opportunity to run around and hit a positive play. To me,
Speaker 2: the upshot is far fewer hits in your quarterback. And
Speaker 2: when this quarterback plays in this offense, it's one of
Speaker 2: the best offenses in the NFL. And we have a
Speaker 2: team that can go eight to three over a games
Speaker 2: and really eight to no because the other three games
Speaker 2: he didn't play. And knowing that you have that opportunity
Speaker 2: with last year as proof that third and long is
Speaker 2: hardly an improbable conversion opportunity, right, It's more probable than
Speaker 2: it is improbable. And that's the tradeoff I think we
Speaker 2: would all take as fans for this team, right is
Speaker 2: ground the ball on first and second down when it's
Speaker 2: not there and live to fight another day, because if
Speaker 2: we have you in the lineup, anything is possible. Kevin Garnett.
Speaker 2: So with Tua, I saw decisiveness in what he was
Speaker 2: doing in this practice. He had the usual multiple intermediate
Speaker 2: rips for chunk gains finding, waddle finding, Smyth, Wilson Azukama,
Speaker 2: but he also peppered the backs and tight ends in
Speaker 2: the short game and the checkdown game before trouble got there.
Speaker 2: And the innate ability to recognize when it's going to
Speaker 2: happen quickly and to get the ball out fast is
Speaker 2: going to pay major dividends for this quarterback. I thought
Speaker 2: Tua and Mike White really showed their mastery of the
Speaker 2: craft during the on air throwing session. And yeah, it's
Speaker 2: on air, but if you know what you're watching, you
Speaker 2: can always find stuff in football to put it that way,
Speaker 2: but placement and timing was on the money.
Speaker 3: Man.
Speaker 2: I thought two was best throw of the day was
Speaker 2: in the team period, moving to his left and a
Speaker 2: little play action boot with Azukama being tightly covered coming
Speaker 2: across the field with him and Tua just layers this
Speaker 2: touch pass on the over out to the upfield shoulder,
Speaker 2: and it led Azu Kama into a big catch and run.
Speaker 2: And I think about how that can compliment Tyreek and
Speaker 2: Jalen removing the top of the defense, removing the particular
Speaker 2: perimeter part of the defense for that over route from
Speaker 2: the opposite side of the field, if you can get
Speaker 2: Azu Kama, Cedric Wilson going in that area of the
Speaker 2: football field with Devon Ahcha in the checkdown game like
Speaker 2: good luck man.
Speaker 3: So a good start there.
Speaker 2: Despite some of those early coverage sacks, the defense got
Speaker 2: some more production, including a Javon Holland interception where he
Speaker 2: got some depth, drove out of the back pedal, stepped
Speaker 2: in front of a Mike White pass and picked it
Speaker 2: off and maybe ran it back for six the other way.
Speaker 2: Tough to call beyond the whistle, but some good stuff there.
Speaker 2: Let's go ahead and pause for our first break right there,
Speaker 2: and come back on the other side and tell you
Speaker 2: about who else popped in this practice, including a pair
Speaker 2: of rookies who I thought shined super bright. That's next
Speaker 2: Draft Time podcast, your host Travis Wingfield, brought to you
Speaker 2: by Auto Nation.
Speaker 1: Shoes Man Brother can go I don't leave right there,
Speaker 1: so stay tuned you will see him display amen.
Speaker 6: That is.
Speaker 2: Dolphins running back Jeff Wilsone asked about rookie Devon a
Speaker 2: Chain and whether it was the pass game, the running game,
Speaker 2: a chain making plays, Babey, he had a run that
Speaker 2: I thought maybe went the distance thanks to a really
Speaker 2: good block from Eric Saubert. He caught everything he was
Speaker 2: tough to cover in those one on one in a
Speaker 2: phone booth situations. You know, quick breakdown, break it off right, left,
Speaker 2: and leave the defender in your dust. He displayed that
Speaker 2: same smooth rout tree we saw him run in college.
Speaker 2: You know, choice sprouts, texas sprouts inside outside verticals. Whatever
Speaker 2: the case may be super impressive. First day here for
Speaker 2: Devon a Chain, not the first day, but the first
Speaker 2: day we got to see him. I just thought he
Speaker 2: was impressive man, whether it was you know, hitting big
Speaker 2: runs or making big plays in the passing game. I
Speaker 2: lost count. I had him down for three blows the plays,
Speaker 2: and I think I saw two more. Might have been
Speaker 2: one more. So he was either four or five I'm
Speaker 2: not sure, but four or five big plays in one
Speaker 2: hour long practice session.
Speaker 3: As pray good, pray good, as.
Speaker 2: For the other running backs, I thought Raheem Moster looked
Speaker 2: smooth again today. Jeff Wilson had a nice couple of
Speaker 2: runs inside. On balance, I thought the running offense had
Speaker 2: the better day between run offense and run defense. I
Speaker 2: thought pass defense had the better day. Between pass defense
Speaker 2: and pass offense. Raheem and that innate ability to get
Speaker 2: skinny through the gap without without decelerating, I think he's
Speaker 2: a little bit too slept on. Just from a national perspective,
Speaker 2: He's a damn good player at the receiver position. I
Speaker 2: thought Cedric Wilson and Eric Azukama showed you what they're
Speaker 2: all about in terms of how they can compliment this
Speaker 2: roster in that position group. And then Braxon Barrios got
Speaker 2: in on the action late. More on him in just
Speaker 2: a moment. But with Cedric Wilson, he was playing fast,
Speaker 2: he was playing confident. I just thought he looked smoother
Speaker 2: than he did a season ago. And best of all,
Speaker 2: the hands looked smooth and natural. We saw him catch
Speaker 2: that little you know, wheel round again the bills and
Speaker 2: the snow and make a great play on that football.
Speaker 2: You know, Tua Love's finding those quick closing windows, and
Speaker 2: he was Pep Bringham today. But there was one particular
Speaker 2: throw that wasn't two his best. And I love how,
Speaker 2: you know, a bad ball from Tua is still a
Speaker 2: completion other quarterbacks that gets picked off. This quarterback throws
Speaker 2: a bad ball and it's caught. It speaks to his accuracy.
Speaker 2: It's like when a golfer, you know, is upset because
Speaker 2: he didn't hit the right part of the green on
Speaker 2: his one hundred and ninety yard approach out with the
Speaker 2: seven iron, and he's like, I've left a twenty feet short,
Speaker 2: Like yeah, but you're still dancing.
Speaker 3: You're sill putting freegal here.
Speaker 2: But the ball is a smidge behind and a tad
Speaker 2: bit high, and Wilson just reaches up off Rahim and
Speaker 2: snatches that thing and takes off for a big gainer.
Speaker 2: He made a number of plays in this practice. There
Speaker 2: was a little swing route to Jeff Wilson where Cedric
Speaker 2: is that you know X receiver and he kind of
Speaker 2: runs a slant block to wipe out that side of
Speaker 2: the field. And I think about his length and that
Speaker 2: particular ability and how that can compliment you know, Tyreek
Speaker 2: and Jalen talking about how you know, as Zookama on
Speaker 2: the over route takes care of when you run verticals from.
Speaker 3: Those guys, and he can replace the vacancy.
Speaker 2: There similar idea here about taking that ex position and
Speaker 2: removing half of the field and throwing in behind that.
Speaker 2: There's lots of elements you can play with this offense.
Speaker 2: Eric Azukama shined, I thought even bigger than that. We
Speaker 2: mentioned the one earlier. There was a play where he
Speaker 2: caught it closer to the middle of the field, and
Speaker 2: the way he transitioned from route runner to reception to
Speaker 2: ball carrier looked as smooth as I've seen out here.
Speaker 2: He's also got the Isaiah Ford short shorts on and
Speaker 2: dude does not miss leg day. To me, he's the
Speaker 2: most physically imposing looking player of the group. He can
Speaker 2: go pluck it, he can run after the catch. I'm
Speaker 2: expecting big things for him this season. Chosen Anderson got
Speaker 2: his conditioning in today. He must have ran a thousand
Speaker 2: yards and routes, particularly down the field, and it impacts
Speaker 2: the game whether or not he gets the football or not.
Speaker 2: It can impact the game, especially in his past those
Speaker 2: interior alignments. Look out for that in the future. And
Speaker 2: then back to Braxon Barrios, man. He had a nice
Speaker 2: reception on a deep shot from Mike White, and then
Speaker 2: one a one on one matchup against Cam Smith where
Speaker 2: he stacked the rookie and one on a ball from
Speaker 2: Skyler for about twenty yards. Really good stuff. Before we
Speaker 2: talk about the rest of the wide receivers. Here with
Speaker 2: Jalen Waddell, who broke down some stuff on his media availability.
Speaker 2: I want to go back to coach McDaniel here and
Speaker 2: play some sound for you because I thought this was
Speaker 2: maybe the best answer from coach in the entire press conference.
Speaker 2: Here he is talking about the idea of self scouting
Speaker 2: and what he did this offseason we talked about in
Speaker 2: the podcast. A ton clean up, some stuff on penalties,
Speaker 2: some of the third and short stuff, and this offense
Speaker 2: can go from really good to all time great. I'm
Speaker 2: very confident they'll get this stuff fixed because watching these
Speaker 2: games back again, if you just get rid of the
Speaker 2: pre snap stuff, this offense is going to be unstoppable.
Speaker 3: That's a promise.
Speaker 5: You know. It was kind of a critical offseason for me.
Speaker 6: I didn't look at our offense and say, wow, we
Speaker 6: did all this stuff good. I saw all the stuff
Speaker 6: that we could improve upon. Now the stuff that you know,
Speaker 6: the players and coaches did last year. You shouldn't minimize
Speaker 6: that because there was substantial growth to the tune of
Speaker 6: you know, improving quick math twenty five spots in UH
Speaker 6: in your league wide ranking. That should never be minimized.
Speaker 6: But that's not where we're trying to go. So you know,
Speaker 6: I hit UH. You know, the the the coaching staff
Speaker 6: was ready for the players to get back, and realistically,
Speaker 6: players love direction, they love you know, we need to
Speaker 6: be better, only go so far so identifying you know,
Speaker 6: critical things in our game. You know, an easy one
Speaker 6: was pre snap penalties. We were the worst at that,
Speaker 6: so got a lot of a lot of ways to
Speaker 6: improve there. I think it's important in the offseason.
Speaker 5: That you give you know, the season. There's a lot
Speaker 5: of things that into it.
Speaker 6: There's a lot of pressures that you can kind of
Speaker 6: and you're just trying to win the next game. Taking
Speaker 6: a step back I think affords people a little more
Speaker 6: open mindedness.
Speaker 5: And all I've seen is an offense.
Speaker 6: I've seen a team that isn't satisfied with where they
Speaker 6: were at. They say, twenty twenty three is an opportunity
Speaker 6: to really move past where we were last year. And
Speaker 6: that's the way they've approached it, from route running to
Speaker 6: how we block people to everything in between. The consistency
Speaker 6: of our fundamentals and detail has been huge and we've
Speaker 6: had as a result. I mean, the growth that we
Speaker 6: made in Phase one and Phase two relative to last
Speaker 6: year is astronomical. Like, guys really had a comfort level
Speaker 6: of what you know here with the Miami Dolphins. We
Speaker 6: come to work to get better and we don't have
Speaker 6: we don't spend any time or any focus on anything
Speaker 6: but that.
Speaker 5: Uh.
Speaker 6: And and we know that, uh, this game has a
Speaker 6: place for a lot of us individually as long as
Speaker 6: we continue to get better.
Speaker 5: And it's pretty cut and dry, and it should be
Speaker 5: that way.
Speaker 6: You know, the coaches, players, we all have jobs that
Speaker 6: are hard to get and you shouldn't the second that
Speaker 6: you're not trying to get better, there's an entitlement there
Speaker 6: that I don't really think.
Speaker 5: Helps one succeeds.
Speaker 6: So it's been a lot of what we can get
Speaker 6: better at. If you're if you guys are feeling, I
Speaker 6: don't know, up for it, maybe throw me a pat
Speaker 6: on the back because I haven't given myself many this.
Speaker 2: Let's go ahead and hear from the penguin himself here
Speaker 2: before our last break, who I thought again, looked the part.
Speaker 2: Wattle's a stud and absolute stud. But let's go ahead
Speaker 2: and hear from him on year two in the offense
Speaker 2: and how it can benefit him and his fellow wide
Speaker 2: receivers assistant.
Speaker 4: Oh yeah, he's just you know last year, I feel
Speaker 4: like we've learned now we kind of know the details
Speaker 4: and what he's looking for with toward looking for so
Speaker 4: getting to the spots you know, to be man coverage
Speaker 4: things like that. So it's just more knowledge to the offense.
Speaker 3: So I left off before Waddle.
Speaker 2: They are talking about cam Smith and coverage and that
Speaker 2: Braxon Barros has performance there and the catch he had
Speaker 2: against cam Smith. But gosh, Smith looks the part man.
Speaker 2: I was so impressed by just the way he moved
Speaker 2: during rookie mini camp and then today with his first
Speaker 2: rep in seven on seven a pass breakup where he
Speaker 2: matched the pattern, clamped it down, drove down the stem
Speaker 2: and you see the length coming to play with how
Speaker 2: he can extend around the wide receiver without interfering and
Speaker 2: turning him with that backhand and making a play on
Speaker 2: the football. And then later in the day he came
Speaker 2: down and played up in Wattle's face. One of the
Speaker 2: toughest assignments in the national football depressed Jalen Wattle and
Speaker 2: he won. So really excited to watch the way he
Speaker 2: competes all camp long. I mentioned Hollins interception. I think
Speaker 2: there was some good stuff there from rookie Kedrin Smith.
Speaker 2: I saw him and Noah Egunoghni communicate and pass off
Speaker 2: a route really well that I thought was going to
Speaker 2: come open with Wattle screaming down the field coming off
Speaker 2: the line zero to sixty. Let's move back to the
Speaker 2: trenches here a little bit and we'll do that next
Speaker 2: on the other side.
Speaker 3: And here from Christian Wilkins.
Speaker 2: In the day they had I thought the defensive line
Speaker 2: really got after it in this one. But again to
Speaker 2: be fair, no to Ron Armstead, no Connor Williams, and
Speaker 2: the entire d line was there. Let's talk about that
Speaker 2: next round. The Draft Time podcast, your host Travis Wingfield,
Speaker 2: brought to you by Auto Nation. So we did hear
Speaker 2: from Austin Jackson, Cater Kohu, and Andrew Van Ginkel, but
Speaker 2: I didn't get there for those interviews. You have to
Speaker 2: pick and choose in these days, because you get six
Speaker 2: or seven guys and it's really going to be, you know,
Speaker 2: up to you to get out there and get him.
Speaker 2: So I got Christian Wilkins and Jaylen Wattle, a little
Speaker 2: bit of Austin Jackson and Jeff Wilson there. I want
Speaker 2: to go ahead and play some sound here from Christian Wilkins,
Speaker 2: because the guy is just everything he does is regimented
Speaker 2: and very good. I've been watching the end of last season,
Speaker 2: and man, I think you can make a case that,
Speaker 2: regardless of position, team anything like that, that Wilkins from
Speaker 2: the Chargers game on was as good as anybody in
Speaker 2: the National Football League.
Speaker 3: He was dominant, utterly dominant.
Speaker 2: And I remember having conversations with him last year in
Speaker 2: Availabilities about the growth that he was demonstrating, and he
Speaker 2: talked a little bit about his familiarity and the scheme
Speaker 2: and how it allowed him to go outside a little
Speaker 2: bit and make plays when he saw those chances develop.
Speaker 2: So I asked him, how do you start that process
Speaker 2: now in a new defense.
Speaker 1: That's the same process. It's going to take a little
Speaker 1: more work on my end to completely understand the confines
Speaker 1: of the defense and how things are working.
Speaker 5: What it looks like.
Speaker 1: And you know where I can do certain things where
Speaker 1: I can't do certain things. So it's just going to
Speaker 1: take a lot more work on my part and also
Speaker 1: building that rapport with new guys on the defense, you know,
Speaker 1: new different backers and everything like that, and so we
Speaker 1: all got a good feel for each other.
Speaker 2: And of course we know Christian playing on the fifth
Speaker 2: year option this season. We've heard Chris Career talk about
Speaker 2: the desire to get something done. Here's Christian Wilkins talking
Speaker 2: about his motivation coming into a potential contract year and
Speaker 2: how that might motivate him to play this season.
Speaker 1: I'm always I'm always motivated, and motivation comes from within
Speaker 1: not a dollar amount, but it's just my drive to
Speaker 1: be the best and be my best. No dollar, you know,
Speaker 1: changes that changes my mindset whether you know something gets
Speaker 1: done or not. My approachest is always the same.
Speaker 2: We did get Christian to pat himself on the back
Speaker 2: a little bit and say that, yeah, I suppose twenty
Speaker 2: twenty two was my best season, but I thought the
Speaker 2: rest of it.
Speaker 3: Was even better than that.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I guess you could say that, but it's it
Speaker 1: won't be my best. That's the that's the goal. And
Speaker 1: that's my mindset every time I every time, you know,
Speaker 1: I work out, every time, I study film, every time
Speaker 1: I you know, eat and do that whole process. Like
Speaker 1: my goal, my mindset is always to be the best.
Speaker 2: So let's go ahead and finish up here about the
Speaker 2: Dolphins adding so many big personalities. Who better to ask
Speaker 2: about how those personalities meshed into the locker room then
Speaker 2: probably the biggest personality of all. I don't know, Tyreek
Speaker 2: Hill might have something to say about that, but here's
Speaker 2: Christian and all the personalities in that Miami Dolphins locker room.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm already getting tired of Jalen for real. Oh No,
Speaker 1: it's cool. It's definitely just good, you know, and you know,
Speaker 1: it's just good to see just to have those guys
Speaker 1: who've had a lot of success in the league and
Speaker 1: kind of just talk to them. They pour into us
Speaker 1: and you know, just guys you could look to and
Speaker 1: just talk to who've had our success and kind of,
Speaker 1: you know, just take things from them, the process, how
Speaker 1: they approached the game, their mindset. You know, that's always good.
Speaker 2: And that defensive front got after it during the team
Speaker 2: session at the very end, especially, I had Chubb with
Speaker 2: a really nice stack and shed going up against alec
Speaker 2: Ingold early on in practice.
Speaker 3: Man, he thumped him.
Speaker 2: It was a good looking a football play out here
Speaker 2: in the month of May. I had Ogbot with the
Speaker 2: sack early, turning that corner off the left end, and
Speaker 2: then Jalen Phillips kind of went into unblockable mode there
Speaker 2: for a while. I had him with two sacks. But man,
Speaker 2: the rushers this defense has, it's it's really something.
Speaker 3: On top of the fact.
Speaker 2: That you have two guys inside who can three gaps
Speaker 2: so well in Wilkins and Sealer, and what Raykwan can
Speaker 2: do off of note as well, just gonna free up
Speaker 2: those edges even more. Not to mention guys like Josiah Bronson,
Speaker 2: who had himself a hell of a day as well.
Speaker 2: He had a couple of plays back to back where
Speaker 2: it was like, all right, better put ninety five in
Speaker 2: the notes today, I would say the exact same was
Speaker 2: true if Jalen Twyman, who you know, both those guys
Speaker 2: signed future contracts this winter and came out today and
Speaker 2: had really big big days on the practice field getting
Speaker 2: after the quarterback. What else we got here? So Duke
Speaker 2: Riley was in the Orange Jersey wattle war on Monday.
Speaker 2: Oh I saw Savon Achmed catch a pass for a
Speaker 2: big game. Tanner'connor got some action in the passing game.
Speaker 2: He's gonna maybe have a chance to play a lot
Speaker 2: this year. One of the nicer raheem most runs came
Speaker 2: off a really good gap clearing block where Rob Hunt
Speaker 2: had a down block and wiped out the entire b gap.
Speaker 2: I thought, Cedric Away, he really showed you his ability
Speaker 2: to get out in space.
Speaker 3: And Xavier and Howard put the clamps on a couple
Speaker 3: of those.
Speaker 2: Coverage snaps where we had the coverage sacks, I should say,
Speaker 2: where he had to reroute Eric Azukama. That really disrupted
Speaker 2: the timing of the pass and it wound up going
Speaker 2: incomplete on a play that typically for this offense is
Speaker 2: a completion. So all kinds of goods to talk about,
Speaker 2: all kinds of stuff to work on. That's all I've
Speaker 2: got for the notes so far today. I love these
Speaker 2: podcasts so much. We'll have another one for you guys
Speaker 2: next week. We'll have three of them the following week
Speaker 2: after that, and of course round out the schedule with
Speaker 2: an additional podcast.
Speaker 3: Here and there.
Speaker 2: Including Steve Goldstein and Jeremy Tasher from Bally Sports, as
Speaker 2: well as the Dan LeBatard Show for Tasha to talk
Speaker 2: about Panthers and heat, as well as the relationship with
Speaker 2: the Dolphins and all the four major sports teams here
Speaker 2: in South Florida. Fun times in this community, man very fun.
Speaker 2: If Philip fortunate to be a part of it all,
Speaker 2: let's go ahead and call today. But speaking of the
Speaker 2: next few weeks here, Hey Dolphins, Finn's Weekend is back
Speaker 2: and better than ever. This June second through the third,
Speaker 2: join your favorite Miami Dolphins coaches, players, alumni, and cheerleaders
Speaker 2: with a twenty fourth annual Finns Weekend featuring a phishing tournament,
Speaker 2: exclusive parties, and more with all pro seeds benefit the
Speaker 2: Baptist Hell Foundation. Tickets are limited and available for purchase
Speaker 2: at Finnswekend dot com. That's gonna be my time, you all.
Speaker 2: Please be sure to subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts.
Speaker 2: Leave us a rating, leave us a review. You can
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Speaker 3: Episode just dropped.
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Speaker 2: Until next time, Finns Up, Caroline Cameron, Daddy is coming home.