Speaker 1: Drive Time with Travis Wingfield begins.
Speaker 2: Now, let me check your pulse if you're not far though.
Speaker 1: What is up? Dolphins? And welcome to the Draft Time Podcast,
Speaker 1: part of the Miami Dolphins podcast network covering your team,
Speaker 1: your Miami Dolphins. How's it going? Everybody? I am your host,
Speaker 1: Travis Wingfield, And on today's show, I have to be
Speaker 1: honest with you guys.
Speaker 3: I'm back.
Speaker 1: We're gonna smoke the Jets on Sunday, We're gonna beat
Speaker 1: the Cowboys the following Sunday, and we're gonna be back.
Speaker 1: That's my takeaway. And we're gonna talk to Kyle Krab
Speaker 1: today about this team about how they can get over
Speaker 1: that hump, about how they can learn from that loss,
Speaker 1: how they can learn from last year. We'll lost talk
Speaker 1: a lot about the college football season and the draft
Speaker 1: coming up in April for your Miami Dolphins, first first
Speaker 1: round draft pick in three years. All of that in
Speaker 1: a heck of a lot more from the Baptist Health
Speaker 1: Studios inside the Baptist Health Training Complex. This is the
Speaker 1: Draft Time Podcast.
Speaker 4: Maggie Daffy sh.
Speaker 1: Feieling Silly, feeling ready to go for Sunday. It's Friday,
Speaker 1: that means the Variety Show. Let's go ahead and welcome
Speaker 1: in my guest today for not one, but two segments.
Speaker 1: Kyle Crabs making his fifteenth Variety Show appearance.
Speaker 3: We have fifteen weeks.
Speaker 1: I think might have missed a couple weeks, though maybe thirteenth, fourteenth.
Speaker 1: I don't know who cares anymore. But first time on
Speaker 1: the front end of the Variety Show, Kyle Crabs, Kyle sup.
Speaker 4: I didn't realize this was my first time on the
Speaker 4: front end. I guess I'm better bring the juice today,
Speaker 4: be fired up.
Speaker 1: Maybe I'm doing it backwards because you know, we've had
Speaker 1: like Lewis Riddick, We've had like Kevin Harlan, and like
Speaker 1: you close the show typically, So maybe I'm doing that wrong.
Speaker 1: But maybe that means you just are like the Dave
Speaker 1: Chappelle of podcasting, and you always are the ones that
Speaker 1: close the club down.
Speaker 4: Coffee's for closers. So I'll myself a cup and we'll
Speaker 4: knock this thing out. Speaking of coffee, I like mine iced.
Speaker 4: Some folks likes there's let's do a temperature check real quick.
Speaker 4: You like that transition, so you know I do this.
Speaker 1: Often, Kyle, where like after a big loss the last
Speaker 1: couple of years, all like monologue to kick off my
Speaker 1: Sunday recap show and just kind of try to connect
Speaker 1: with Dolphins fans. And even though I was the meme
Speaker 1: of that girl who's crying yet dancing through the tears
Speaker 1: during that monologue on Sunday or Monday, rather, I want
Speaker 1: to present a I wanted to present a force for
Speaker 1: the trees viewpoint, but I kind of want you to
Speaker 1: do the same thing, because man, and look like I
Speaker 1: think we learned that no game is a gimme, even
Speaker 1: though our calling card was we don't lose games we're
Speaker 1: not supposed to. Maybe that's why fans are so upset now.
Speaker 1: But I see, like I've seen tweets like they're gonna
Speaker 1: finish nine and eight, miss the playoffs, they have no
Speaker 1: chance to beat the Jets, a team that we beat
Speaker 1: by twenty one points just three weeks ago. And I
Speaker 1: mean people that pick these games think Miami is a
Speaker 1: clear favorite in it. So my question, finally, what would
Speaker 1: you say to that obviously very emotionally invested but very
Speaker 1: upset Dolphins fan after the Monday night collapse in the
Speaker 1: end of the game.
Speaker 4: I think everybody who is emotionally invested in the team,
Speaker 4: walks away from a game like that and they're upset
Speaker 4: and distressed that the Dolphins were in the position that
Speaker 4: they were in and a very rare level of collapse.
Speaker 4: But Mike McDaniels talked in recent weeks about eight and
Speaker 4: three last year versus eight and three this year and
Speaker 4: the scars of that team and the lessons that they learned,
Speaker 4: and we're going to find out, you know, because they
Speaker 4: got four games left to play, they have an opportunity
Speaker 4: to achieve all of the goals that they set out
Speaker 4: for themselves throughout the regular season. Everything that they still
Speaker 4: have a game and a half lead in the AFC
Speaker 4: East with four games to play, including a head to
Speaker 4: head matchup in Week eighteen against the team that they're
Speaker 4: looking to close out.
Speaker 3: You have two divisional games left. We'll see what comes.
Speaker 4: But to be that upset this early in the process,
Speaker 4: I think is just leaning back into some of the
Speaker 4: heartbreak that this team has provided fans in the past,
Speaker 4: which has really nothing to do with this year's team.
Speaker 1: That's that's exactly how I always feel about that argument.
Speaker 1: Like we're Dolphins fans, we have PTSD from December collapses
Speaker 1: in the past, like the four or not the four.
Speaker 1: That's a bad example, the O two Dolphins. It doesn't
Speaker 1: mean anything to the twenty twenty three Dolphins. So I
Speaker 1: never get that argument, But I do understand the emotional
Speaker 1: investment because, like you know, the reason that it's that
Speaker 1: hard is because it's that fun when you have those
Speaker 1: big fun wins like the game in Baltimore last year.
Speaker 1: I'm sure Ravens fans felt the exact same way when
Speaker 1: Miamedia race to twenty one fourth quarter deficit to win
Speaker 1: that game. So I think we both came away from
Speaker 1: the Titans game and the tape study thinking they had
Speaker 1: a pretty good plan Kyle defensively, and I opined this,
Speaker 1: how this might be a good thing to get on
Speaker 1: tape here, and OJ talked about in the post game
Speaker 1: show as well, So I was I was curious to
Speaker 1: hear his viewpoint on that or even a loss that
Speaker 1: can maybe even like hone them in the rest of
Speaker 1: the way. So I'll ask this question to you too
Speaker 1: pronged here. Number one, is it a positive to have
Speaker 1: a game plan that was effective against you like that
Speaker 1: on tape going forward? And then the follow up to
Speaker 1: that would also be is a wake up call a
Speaker 1: real thing, and then that football league, I think it
Speaker 1: can be.
Speaker 4: And I think for the Dolphins specifically, you've seen them
Speaker 4: go on these runs of winning games and then they
Speaker 4: have a disappointing outcome, and then they've bounced back all
Speaker 4: season long, whether it was Buffalo or whether it was
Speaker 4: Kansas City or whether it hopefully now is Tennessee, you're
Speaker 4: going to have a bounce back opportunity, and this time
Speaker 4: of year, especially when you're so close to the end,
Speaker 4: I think it's a very healthy reminder to be talking
Speaker 4: about what might McDaniel talks about how today's the most
Speaker 4: important day of our lives every day and just take
Speaker 4: that day and focus on that opponent. I think you
Speaker 4: heard some concessions from the team that are a couple
Speaker 4: of players in the post game that they had heard
Speaker 4: a lot of scenarios in the build up to the
Speaker 4: game and then you get up fourteen points and you
Speaker 4: blink and it's all gone. So I do think it's
Speaker 4: potentially a healthy refocusing for this team. And I don't
Speaker 4: know if it's healthy to get a game plan like that,
Speaker 4: but I think the more things that you can experience
Speaker 4: that you would anticipate or how teams are going to
Speaker 4: try to defend you when you start playing for keeps
Speaker 4: here and you're trying to close out a division title
Speaker 4: and you're trying to clinch a playoff berth, and then
Speaker 4: when you get into the postseason, having exposures to as
Speaker 4: many different ways that they attempt to defend you can
Speaker 4: only help you to try to have as many answers
Speaker 4: for once you get into a game.
Speaker 1: That's a really good point. And I'm thinking about last
Speaker 1: year because off of the Charger game that I think
Speaker 1: was kind of the analog to this game in terms
Speaker 1: of the performance and the offense just kind of being
Speaker 1: stuck in the mud for the majority of the sixty minutes.
Speaker 1: Then after that you got you know, thirty points whatever
Speaker 1: it was in Buffalo and a first half against the
Speaker 1: Packers where two to three for over two hundred yards.
Speaker 1: I think there was twenty plus points in that first
Speaker 1: half as well, until things went the other direction in
Speaker 1: the second half of that game, and then you lose
Speaker 1: your quarterback and the rest of the year is a
Speaker 1: struggle offensively. But I think that might be you know,
Speaker 1: history is instructive. Sometimes maybe that can be the case
Speaker 1: here for these Dolphins heading into this pivotal stretch right
Speaker 1: against the Jets, Cowboys, Ravens, and Buffalo Bills. And I
Speaker 1: do think the performance against the Jets will tell us
Speaker 1: exactly how this team is wired. And I've felt all
Speaker 1: year that is wired the right way, So I do
Speaker 1: think we'll get one of their best performances of the year.
Speaker 1: That's kind of the way I see it. Kyle, one
Speaker 1: more here before we pivot to the college game and
Speaker 1: the draft. I think the emotional revolt is a fabricated thing.
Speaker 1: It's not tangible. I also implore fans to recognize that
Speaker 1: the reason that you can be that upset is because
Speaker 1: you have been that thrilled. Like I mentioned earlier the
Speaker 1: Chargers game Opening Day. Remember how you felt about your
Speaker 1: team after Opening Day and that very fun victory. And
Speaker 1: you probably thought before the Titans game that this team
Speaker 1: had a chance to win the Super Bowl. Maybe now
Speaker 1: you don't. And I think that perspective is important to
Speaker 1: maintain with where your emotion is as a Dolphins fan
Speaker 1: covering this aspect of this team. That's a good team
Speaker 1: you were super excited about a few days ago.
Speaker 3: That's my die.
Speaker 1: I try My question is this is the injuries are
Speaker 1: a tangible thing. Every team has them, some to their
Speaker 1: quarterback and it wiped out their season for good. But
Speaker 1: for Miami, we finally get stability at quarterback for the
Speaker 1: first time in about eight years, but otherwise are the
Speaker 1: most injured team in the National Football League. So my
Speaker 1: question finally after all that is injuries are essentially just
Speaker 1: another problem that coaches have to solve, right, how can
Speaker 1: Miami scheme around the losses they've accrued the last few
Speaker 1: weeks in this entire season. I think you look at
Speaker 1: what you have on the defensive side of the ball,
Speaker 1: and you feel better about that group kind of rallying
Speaker 1: and getting everything back together. I admire the effort that
Speaker 1: Duke Griley's put forward in the absence of Jerome Baker,
Speaker 1: but you need to We've heard some of these assistant
Speaker 1: coaches talk about how these safeties are the quarterbacks of
Speaker 1: this defense and they call, you know, it's a safety
Speaker 1: feature defense. So between Deshaun Elliott and Javon Holland, we
Speaker 1: need to see those guys get themselves right physically and
Speaker 1: be out there for this defense to be the best
Speaker 1: that it can be. And I think if you have
Speaker 1: that the communication breakdowns that you saw Miami experience and
Speaker 1: and you're late in the game against Tennessee, you feel
Speaker 1: like you probably can avoid a little bit of the
Speaker 1: frequency of that if those guys are back out there
Speaker 1: for you offensively. I will be interested to see how
Speaker 1: the run game evolves. We've seen this running game without
Speaker 1: Connor Williams for stretches of the season. We've seen it
Speaker 1: without Robert Hunt for stretches of the season. We've seen
Speaker 1: it without Tron Armstead for stretches of the season. We've
Speaker 1: seen it without Isaiah win for the last half of
Speaker 1: the year. Like, you've had to endure so many moving
Speaker 1: parts that you get a sense for the skill set
Speaker 1: of the guys that are going to be in these spots.
Speaker 1: And I think for Miami what will be really interesting
Speaker 1: is so much of their perimeter run game success came
Speaker 1: because you have these athletic offensive linemen that are getting
Speaker 1: up in space and getting on linebackers and cutting off
Speaker 1: horizontal flow.
Speaker 4: Does that change? Do you run a little bit more downhill?
Speaker 4: Do you challenge teams? Do you run the toss action
Speaker 4: but it's a designed wind back, or you're expecting the
Speaker 4: back to stick his foot in the ground instead of
Speaker 4: pushing to the edge, and he's hitting between the tackles
Speaker 4: where you've seen them have success with some of those runs.
Speaker 4: You think about the two runs that they took against
Speaker 4: Kansas City late in that game when they were trying
Speaker 4: to run the two in an offense. Those were runs
Speaker 4: that were toss action, but they didn't hit outside on
Speaker 4: the edge. They stuck their foot in the ground and
Speaker 4: got north. So I think things like that are gonna
Speaker 4: be really interesting to watch for this run game, because
Speaker 4: I do think the key to all of this is
Speaker 4: to stay balanced offensively. Anytime that you regardless of who
Speaker 4: your quarterback is, your skill players are your offensive line.
Speaker 4: When you get one dimensional, and that's when teams can
Speaker 4: really dictate terms to you. And I think for Miami,
Speaker 4: being able to consistently run the ball is going to.
Speaker 1: Be the key. I love that point because I think
Speaker 1: that one thing that gets kind of lost in the
Speaker 1: sauce as far as like coach McDaniel's expertise in this
Speaker 1: offensive staffs expertise and of course the players who execute it,
Speaker 1: is the variety in the running game and the different
Speaker 1: just kind of action and scheme schema that you run
Speaker 1: in the back of some of those tosses that wind
Speaker 1: up going as inside runs, like you talk about the
Speaker 1: wind back runds, like there's a lot of plays in
Speaker 1: the playbook for lack of a better term, they can
Speaker 1: go to and perhaps you do have to alter that
Speaker 1: with different personnel up front on the offensive line. Really
Speaker 1: really good point there, my friend Kyle's. While we're having
Speaker 1: the podcast here, we also having the podcast here to
Speaker 1: talk about the NFL drafts. We're gonna go ahead and
Speaker 1: pivot off of current Dolphins and look ahead as you've
Speaker 1: done all year long.
Speaker 3: But there are.
Speaker 1: Are bowl games this weekend, yeah, Saturday, a couple of bowls.
Speaker 3: Bollseason has begun.
Speaker 1: Indeed, all right, well that's coming up, but we don't
Speaker 1: have the usual college sleigh, so we're gonna change the
Speaker 1: way we do this portion of the podcast here. And
Speaker 1: I just want to hear you know, I guess your
Speaker 1: December fifteenth expectations for the fact that the Dolphins have
Speaker 1: a first round draft pick for the first time since
Speaker 1: twenty twenty one, and think about what could possibly be
Speaker 1: on the board there in that twenty two to thirty
Speaker 1: two range. Hopefully this is a thirty second pick you
Speaker 1: could be picking at this year. But I'm wondering, what
Speaker 1: position groups do you think have the goods in this
Speaker 1: year's class at that point of the draft. Who's a
Speaker 1: guy or two or three that you like as fits
Speaker 1: at whatever position group you want for the Dolphins in
Speaker 1: that range in the first round.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I think you can take this conversation to the
Speaker 4: trenches and there's a lot of names that I think
Speaker 4: are really relevant.
Speaker 3: There's some offensive tackles.
Speaker 4: We've talked about the depth of this offensive tackle class
Speaker 4: in prior shows that we've done together, Travis. But some
Speaker 4: of these guys have positional flexibility and can play inside.
Speaker 4: And some of these guys, if they're penciled into the
Speaker 4: inside players, that's going to probably put them in that
Speaker 4: stratosphere just positional value wise, they're not going to be
Speaker 4: prioritized quite as early in the draft. And when you
Speaker 4: think about Miami with Isaiah Wins an expiring contract, that
Speaker 4: left Garden will be coming off of an injury, and
Speaker 4: Connor Williams is an expiring contract at center and he's
Speaker 4: unfortunately just had this season ending injury that he endured
Speaker 4: last week. And Robert Hunt currently does not have a
Speaker 4: contract beyond this year, Like the entire Intier trio is
Speaker 4: generally wide open. So that for me is whether it's
Speaker 4: Troy Fittanu from University of Washington. Some people think Talis
Speaker 4: Fuaga from Oregon State is an inside guy. Some people
Speaker 4: think that Ram Barton could play all five spots. He's
Speaker 4: from Duke on the offensive line, Jordan Morgan from Arizona's attackle,
Speaker 4: he's going to the Senior Bowl. I think he could
Speaker 4: play multiple spots, including playing inside. Like you have this
Speaker 4: embarrassment of riches in that section of the draft that
Speaker 4: I think for Miami, if they choose to kind of
Speaker 4: reset from a salary perspective and bring a rookie contract
Speaker 4: in for somebody who's expected to be a starter. You
Speaker 4: don't want to put all your eggs in that basket
Speaker 4: prematurely because then you kind of box yourself into draft
Speaker 4: for need. But if the board falls that way, that
Speaker 4: is an area where I think there's some good depth.
Speaker 4: I also think interier defensive line is an area where
Speaker 4: there's some appropriate depth in that stage of the draft.
Speaker 4: That's really fascinating for Miami too.
Speaker 1: I think you've probably just checked all the boxes as
Speaker 1: far as what a Dolphins fan wants to hear with
Speaker 1: regards to building to the trenches, and like, that takes
Speaker 1: me back to a comment that McDaniel made back when
Speaker 1: he was with the forty nine ers talking about the
Speaker 1: nature of those Niners offensive lines that hadn't didn't have
Speaker 1: high draft picks across the board, and he was like, well,
Speaker 1: ideally you have you self engineer six ' eight, four
Speaker 1: hundred pound linemen that can move like a guy like
Speaker 1: Austin Jackson does or Tron Armstead, and so it sounds
Speaker 1: like there are options of plenty in that regard. So
Speaker 1: I think that the Dolphins would have plenty of options
Speaker 1: that way. But also, like you mentioned, I don't like
Speaker 1: boxing yourself in in ahead of the officers, and so
Speaker 1: really curious see what that looks like going forward. But
Speaker 1: like we talked about earlier, a lot of games left
Speaker 1: to go. Kyle, do you have one more segment and
Speaker 1: you're here to talk more draft with me?
Speaker 3: Yeah, let's do it.
Speaker 1: Second segment with Kyle Crabs coming up next. The co
Speaker 1: host of Locked On NFL Scouting and the solo host
Speaker 1: of Locked On Dolphins Drive Time podcast, your host Travis
Speaker 1: Wingfield brought to you by it.
Speaker 3: I don't nation.
Speaker 1: Back here with my guest today, Kyle Krabs locked on
Speaker 1: NFL scouting, locked on Dolphins. So we touched on the
Speaker 1: first round prospects there, and I want to go through
Speaker 1: this segment just a little bit faster in terms of
Speaker 1: Actually that was pretty fast, so I guess you don't
Speaker 1: have to speed it up at all. But with our
Speaker 1: current structure of our roster, expiring contracts, draft picks, things
Speaker 1: you touched on there, all things considered, just some players
Speaker 1: that you think could wind up on Miami's radar and
Speaker 1: specific spots. For example, first round quarterback probably not likely, right,
Speaker 1: I mean, they're going to be picked off the board
Speaker 1: by that point. You have a really good one here
Speaker 1: in your building already, but maybe you begin to entertain
Speaker 1: the idea in the middle rounds that makes sense, right,
Speaker 1: So let's go there. Tell me about quarterbacks that could potentially,
Speaker 1: conceivably five months out makes sense for the Miami Dolphins.
Speaker 4: What's fascinating about the quarterback class is, with nil and
Speaker 4: the transfer portal being what it is, you really don't
Speaker 4: have a middle class, and you generally haven't had a
Speaker 4: middle class beforehand. With quarterback play. But this year in particular,
Speaker 4: when you're thinking about guys like Quinn Uher's going back
Speaker 4: to school, cam Ward going back to the transfer portal
Speaker 4: and looking to play elsewhere, Riley Leonard from Duke, there's
Speaker 4: a slew of guys that you thought, hey, these might
Speaker 4: be mid round guys based on how many guys go
Speaker 4: up at the top of the class that are all
Speaker 4: back in the college portal or in the college world
Speaker 4: in realm for another year. I think from a injury perspective,
Speaker 4: the player who is really fascinating is Michael Pennix from Washington.
Speaker 4: I think his tape is probably first round tape. Not
Speaker 4: a left handed quarterback, but he's had a kind of
Speaker 4: a laundry list of medical issues throughout the course of
Speaker 4: his career that has led to him being there or
Speaker 4: being in college for an extended period of time. And
Speaker 4: he's got big time accuracy. He's got the ability to
Speaker 4: push the ball down the field. He's used to throwing
Speaker 4: vertical shots. They got three NFL wide receivers there at Washington,
Speaker 4: so I think penis as far as guys that would
Speaker 4: be Day two quarterbacks, probably based off of medicals, that
Speaker 4: would probably be the one that I would look to.
Speaker 1: I mean, I told you I love his game so much.
Speaker 1: I just love guys that can put the ball where
Speaker 1: they want. I think the proverbial tires wing. I think
Speaker 1: he is that guy most of the time. And you
Speaker 1: also talked about cam Ward. He's currently on his tour
Speaker 1: right now of the Florida schools. I think Miami and
Speaker 1: Florida State are on his list, and I kind of
Speaker 1: want him to come here selfishly so I can just
Speaker 1: watch him play football. But that's an interesting point about
Speaker 1: the middle class because I remember back in the day,
Speaker 1: like I would, you know, we do the mock drafts
Speaker 1: that like the twenty nineteen season, right, everyone's like a
Speaker 1: mock draft, mock draft, mock draft, and it was like
Speaker 1: take a quarterback in the second or third round, like
Speaker 1: that's you almost almost not always, almost always waste a
Speaker 1: pick because they either can't start for you or you
Speaker 1: can't get them on the football field for a proper evaluation,
Speaker 1: and then it winds up being a pick that can't
Speaker 1: get special teams reps or backup offensive guard reps, whatever
Speaker 1: the case may be. So that's a great point there,
Speaker 1: and the transfer portal windling that down even more not
Speaker 1: great for that position in terms of how it gets drafted,
Speaker 1: but maybe later on you have your Tommy DeVito's of
Speaker 1: the world who can come in and make an impact.
Speaker 1: Let's move on to the eligibles here, Backs, receivers, tight ends.
Speaker 1: What do you like in that group? I know last
Speaker 1: year tight end was like the class everyone was all
Speaker 1: excited about. But Dolphins running back room has uncovered a
Speaker 1: pretty dangn good rookie where he moster has found the
Speaker 1: fountain of youth. The receiving corps here is pretty good
Speaker 1: as well. What you look at in this year's group
Speaker 1: of eligibles. Yeah, so the wide receiver classes loaded. So
Speaker 1: if Miami ends.
Speaker 4: Up with a little bit, probably a little bit more
Speaker 4: mid round picks at their disposal, they could probably go
Speaker 4: there in the middle rounds and get a player that
Speaker 4: in a vacuum, would be off the board a round
Speaker 4: or two earlier.
Speaker 3: Just based off the amount of talent.
Speaker 4: There's like legit twenty one wide receivers that have legitimate
Speaker 4: arguments for being like top one hundred picks. It's just
Speaker 4: an obscene amount of wide receiver talent, which is a
Speaker 4: testament to kind of the seven on seven culture. Where
Speaker 4: guys play their their high school seasons and then they're
Speaker 4: seven on seven that they're so involved in ball, and
Speaker 4: it really has helped develop that position. I look at
Speaker 4: running back and I think that's an interesting one from
Speaker 4: Miami just because you do have Jeff Wilson and Raheem
Speaker 4: Moster are expiring contracts after the twenty twenty four season,
Speaker 4: so they'll be here next year or they're currently scheduled
Speaker 4: to be. And Raheem's been outstanding. He's been everything you
Speaker 4: ever hope that he would possibly be. But if you're
Speaker 4: looking at the long term outlook of that position, probably
Speaker 4: having another younger player to pair with Devon ah Chan
Speaker 4: is probably the long term play beyond the next couple
Speaker 4: of seasons for Raheem. Does that make it a position
Speaker 4: that you draft now?
Speaker 3: Maybe not?
Speaker 4: But I love Bucky Irving from Oregon. He might be
Speaker 4: my favorite back in the entire class. He's declared. Trey
Speaker 4: Benson from Florida State is super explosive. Braylan Allen's kind
Speaker 4: of everything that is the polar opposite of what you
Speaker 4: have in Devon ah Chan is Braylan Allen is this
Speaker 4: six foot three, like two hundred and thirty pounds absolute bruiser,
Speaker 4: but like probably runs four or five, and Wisconsin's got
Speaker 4: a pretty nice pipeline there of running backs to the NFL, so.
Speaker 3: They got different options and directions that they can go.
Speaker 4: I like the tight end group, but I think the
Speaker 4: tight end group is probably more of a top sixty.
Speaker 4: Four to one hundred is where the range is for
Speaker 4: getting good value in that group, and there's some all
Speaker 4: different kinds of body types. I think that's one of
Speaker 4: the more fun position groups to eval every year, just
Speaker 4: because there's such a wide array of players at that spot,
Speaker 4: whether it's Tavian Sanders at Texas who's a flex tight end,
Speaker 4: big time, high weight speed guy, or Kate Stover is
Speaker 4: this smaller inline blocker type.
Speaker 1: You touched on the offensive line briefly there, So let's
Speaker 1: go ahead and talk about the interior defensive line because
Speaker 1: you kind of said that was an area that this
Speaker 1: is a deeper group, but we didn't get into the
Speaker 1: names of that position in particular. And Miami's you know,
Speaker 1: in good shape with Zach Steeler. We'll see what happens
Speaker 1: with the Christian Wilkins long term. Ray Kwon Davis also
Speaker 1: coming up, but as a group that you know, they've
Speaker 1: Deshaun Hand, They've signed some guys in the practice squad.
Speaker 1: Like the depth there hasn't like it's not as glaring
Speaker 1: as it has been at other positions on this football team.
Speaker 1: So maybe it's a way you look to kind of
Speaker 1: build for the now and the future. What do you
Speaker 1: like on the interior defensive line this year's class? There
Speaker 1: are some good players that big time programs look at.
Speaker 1: Chris Jenkins junior University of Michigan, and that's if the
Speaker 1: name sounds familiar, it's yes, the son of Chris Jenkins'
Speaker 1: former NFL long time Intoier defensive line starter, so that
Speaker 1: that family blood line is quite strong. Johnny Newton will
Speaker 1: probably be long gone by the time the Dolphins picked
Speaker 1: from Illinois, but he's far and away the most disruptive player.
Speaker 1: He hasn't wrung up a huge number of sacks this year,
Speaker 1: but he is a bowling ball with contact balance and
Speaker 1: really fun to watch. I point to Leonard Taylor from
Speaker 1: University of Miami, who also hasn't had the production come,
Speaker 1: but he's as physically gifted as any interior.
Speaker 3: Defensive lineman in the class.
Speaker 4: And I think from a penetration standpoint, that's really where
Speaker 4: you'd get the best version of him. So getting acclimated
Speaker 4: to this Dolphins defensive system, hypothetically, if he were to
Speaker 4: be a target of their's a little bit more of
Speaker 4: a developmental place. So he probably want some veterans in
Speaker 4: the building to help you there. But one guy that's
Speaker 4: not going to need any help acclimating quickly is to
Speaker 4: and Andre Sweat from Texas. This continues to be one
Speaker 4: of my all time favorite prospects in this year's cycle.
Speaker 4: He is like the six foot seven, three hundred and
Speaker 4: sixty pound mountain of a man that has three down
Speaker 4: disruptive qualities. He plays in the gaps, but he can
Speaker 4: play in the B gap. You can play a high
Speaker 4: snap volume, and for those big guys like that to
Speaker 4: have the ability to eat space but also eat snaps,
Speaker 4: I think is a really fascinating player. And I think
Speaker 4: he may get dinged a little bit because he is
Speaker 4: primarily an o's tackle type player, But that's a player
Speaker 4: that I think would be a plug and play starter
Speaker 4: for any offen or any defensive unit.
Speaker 1: I was gonna say it sounds like a first round
Speaker 1: draft pick just by the tape or by the measureables,
Speaker 1: I should say, but yeah, that's a I guess one
Speaker 1: of those situations where position of value can depress fore ego,
Speaker 1: because someone like Kyle Hamilton should not have fallen to
Speaker 1: fourteenth in the draft this year to the Baltimore Ravens,
Speaker 1: and that's what happened. Now he looks like at all
Speaker 1: pro even though he's banged up right now. But I
Speaker 1: digress on that point. Let's move to linebackers, both edge
Speaker 1: off ball. What do you think about that group, because
Speaker 1: I mean, you mentioned Duke earlier in the show. Duke's
Speaker 1: playing some good ball. David Long's looked awesome for us
Speaker 1: this year. Jerome Baker, you know, banged up right now
Speaker 1: but played well this year as well. And then off
Speaker 1: the edge like loaded at the edge group when you
Speaker 1: have JP back here, what are you looking at at
Speaker 1: that position for this year's draft cycle. I would not
Speaker 1: be surprised if Minmi brings somebody in just because JP
Speaker 1: and the timeline for an Achilles and his return. You
Speaker 1: have Andrew Vyn Ginkless expiring contracts, so it's kind of
Speaker 1: hard to know what you're gonna have there at the
Speaker 1: start of the year. If they don't bring back Van Ginkle,
Speaker 1: so I'd be surprised if they didn't bring somebody in.
Speaker 1: That is a position where I could see it going
Speaker 1: one of two ways. You could wait till post June
Speaker 1: first and get a vet and usually those guys come
Speaker 1: relatively cheap.
Speaker 3: They're they're pretty good bargains.
Speaker 4: Or you draft a guy on a rookie contract and
Speaker 4: bring a guy in who you're gonna.
Speaker 3: Have several years of control for I like Braylen Trice
Speaker 3: from Washington.
Speaker 4: I think he's a big bodied, physical guy, like Jack
Speaker 4: Sawyer from Ohio State. As far as guys that are
Speaker 4: probably day two type targets, Jonah Ellis reminds me a
Speaker 4: little bit of Andrew Van Kingle, just as far as
Speaker 4: the effort. If you're looking for an Emmanuel Odwa type
Speaker 4: body type, Brandon Dorless from Oregon stands out. I think
Speaker 4: Chop Robinson from State is a twitchy, bendy, explosive guy,
Speaker 4: but maybe not somebody that would get a lot of
Speaker 4: run in early downs as far as against the run
Speaker 4: game early on in his career. So you got like
Speaker 4: different body types that can fit into different roles. And
Speaker 4: then at stack linebacker, Peyton Peyton Wilson from North Carolina
Speaker 4: State is the guy for me. He's an absolute stud.
Speaker 4: There's medical questions there that may cause him to slide,
Speaker 4: but he's the same caliber of a player of Jack Campbell,
Speaker 4: who just went in the top twenty to Detroit last year.
Speaker 4: I'm a huge fan of Jeremiah Trotter junior. If that
Speaker 4: name sounds familiar, he asked, that's Jeremiah Trotter. Yeah, it's
Speaker 4: his kids playing at Clemson, and he is a baller.
Speaker 4: He's not a super league, super big player, but he
Speaker 4: is very instinctual. He's pretty explosive in short spaces. And
Speaker 4: then the other name that I would throw out there
Speaker 4: is Cedric Gray from North Carolina. I think that's definitively
Speaker 4: a Day two early Day three type prospect, but I
Speaker 4: like a lot of the qualities that he brings to
Speaker 4: the table as well.
Speaker 1: And Wilson tape is fun.
Speaker 4: Man.
Speaker 1: I've enjoyed Wathington since you kind of put me on
Speaker 1: too him a couple weeks back. Good stuff. There one
Speaker 1: more group here, we have a few minutes left. Kyle
Speaker 1: defensive backs. It's been a deep group from Miami this year.
Speaker 1: Like you mentioned, the safety spot the communicators have been
Speaker 1: key in this defense. Obviously Ramsey X and co who
Speaker 1: have had good years. What do you think that group
Speaker 1: brings us in terms of the Stuart draft class.
Speaker 4: Well, I think the good news here is I like
Speaker 4: the safety group better than I like the corner group.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Nice.
Speaker 4: So for Miami, obviously they just invested a second round
Speaker 4: draft pick last year on a corner. They got a
Speaker 4: couple big money contracts. They have cater Cohu locked it
Speaker 4: in on a rookie contract as well. So I look
Speaker 4: at safety where you have Deshaun Elliott is an expiring contract,
Speaker 4: and whether it's Cole Bishop from Utah who I think
Speaker 4: is he's a tackling machine and he's had some really
Speaker 4: nice ball production. A big high upside guy would be
Speaker 4: like Andrew mccooba from Clemson. Tyler Nuban from Minnesota is
Speaker 4: probably my favorite fit for the Fangio split zone scheme
Speaker 4: that they run so much of, as far as the
Speaker 4: zone match and these two high presentations and all of
Speaker 4: the variations that they run off of that. He's at
Speaker 4: University of Minnesota. I like Javon Bullard as well. He's
Speaker 4: a little bit of a different type of players. Is
Speaker 4: a little bit of a smaller player, but he gives
Speaker 4: you some positional flexibility to move him around on the
Speaker 4: back end as well, So there's a lot of options.
Speaker 4: I didn't mention Cameron Kinchins from University Miami. I would
Speaker 4: be surprised if he's not a first round pick. But
Speaker 4: he's a little bit more of the true center field
Speaker 4: free safety if you're going to play a lot of
Speaker 4: middle of the field closed coverage where you need a
Speaker 4: guy to just kind of roam the center field and
Speaker 4: the high post by himself. And I don't know that
Speaker 4: that's something the Dolphins will continue to do a ton
Speaker 4: of as they continue to press forward this coaching staff.
Speaker 4: But he's an absolute stun in his own right. And
Speaker 4: safeties you get most years, these first round caliber safeties,
Speaker 4: they're not off the board till the mid thirties. It's
Speaker 4: another one of those positional value propositions where that's an
Speaker 4: area that I look at and say, for Miami, okay,
Speaker 4: there may be some good better than regular return on
Speaker 4: investment because of the positional value and how that makes
Speaker 4: those guys it available a little later in the draft.
Speaker 1: One of the benefits of I think a conversation you
Speaker 1: and I had this offseason talking about how Miami's stacked
Speaker 1: up in all the premium spots in terms of, you know,
Speaker 1: the tackle position, the pass rushers, the receivers, the quarterback,
Speaker 1: the defensive backs. Good spot to be in, right there, Kyle,
Speaker 1: great stuff. As always, we always get smart when it
Speaker 1: comes to the draft talking to you. Just real quick
Speaker 1: expectations for Sunday against the Jets. What do you think
Speaker 1: we see? I think this team gets back on the horse.
Speaker 4: I think they're remind everybody that last year's team is
Speaker 4: last year's team and this year's team is a different one.
Speaker 4: You know, you do keep in mind that this is
Speaker 4: a team that's a little bit banged up. They're going
Speaker 4: to look to try to get themselves healthy for the
Speaker 4: stretch run here, So I would not be surprised if
Speaker 4: it's a scrappy game. But nevertheless, I do think Miami
Speaker 4: takes care of business. I think the defense balances back
Speaker 4: in a big way, and I think the offense continues
Speaker 4: to find the balance that they're going to want to
Speaker 4: have down the stretch.
Speaker 1: It'll be a weather game as well. They're supposed to
Speaker 1: ran the next five days here in South Florida. But
Speaker 1: Sunday or four days rather is the last of that, but.
Speaker 3: It could move.
Speaker 1: It does sometimes seventy percent chance of rain in Miami gardens. Kyle,
Speaker 1: you're the man. Appreciate your time today, Locked on Dolphins,
Speaker 1: locked on NFL, skying with the great Joe Marino at
Speaker 1: grinding the tape on Twitter.
Speaker 3: You're the man, Kyle, thank you, thanks for revs.
Speaker 1: And away he goes. Let's go ahead and take our
Speaker 1: last break right there. Come back on the other side
Speaker 1: and hear from head coach Mike McDaniels. That's next Drivetime podcast,
Speaker 1: your host Travis Wingfield, brought to you by Auto Nation.
Speaker 1: All right, so we heard from head coach Mike McDaniel
Speaker 1: on Friday morning, who gave us the injury updates for
Speaker 1: the game on Sunday against the Jets, and let's be
Speaker 1: quite honest about it. Going to be a skeleton crew
Speaker 1: for your Miami Dolphins, potentially, although we could potentially see
Speaker 1: a somewhat healthy lineup, we do know that obviously Connor
Speaker 1: Williams will not play for the rest of the season
Speaker 1: and Rob Hunt is out. So you're starting center, You're
Speaker 1: starting right guard. Both going to be down is Liam,
Speaker 1: Mike and Berg gonna go. Sounds like he'll be questionable
Speaker 1: for the game. It sounds like to Ron Arms, I'll
Speaker 1: be questionable for the game. Tyreek Hill as well. We
Speaker 1: will be without Deshaun Elliott on the back end. On
Speaker 1: Holland should be questionable also. So there are scenarios where
Speaker 1: you could have a lot of guys back, could be
Speaker 1: scenarios where you have almost nobody back. And coach would
Speaker 1: not commit to who's going to play in the game
Speaker 1: on his press conference because he doesn't know. He has
Speaker 1: to find out through the course of practice on Friday
Speaker 1: and of course to the rest of the weekend in
Speaker 1: the pregame workouts on Sunday. So that's your injury updates.
Speaker 1: I'll have the full injury report for you guys on
Speaker 1: Friday afternoon as I record this right around noon on Friday,
Speaker 1: but you kind of have an idea of what's going
Speaker 1: to look like already. I want to play one sound
Speaker 1: by here from head coach Mike McDaniel. I'm punting on
Speaker 1: the assistant coaches media availabilities because I just it was
Speaker 1: kind of the same questions and they're talking a lot
Speaker 1: about Monday and quite Frankly, I'm over Monday. I don't
Speaker 1: want to know about the Monday process. I want to
Speaker 1: know about how it impacts this team and affects this
Speaker 1: team for the game against the Jets on Sunday. And
Speaker 1: if you guys can hear Carolina in the background, she
Speaker 1: came to work with me on Friday because we shot
Speaker 1: a thing that's going to go up on the video
Speaker 1: boards for the Christmas Eve game against the Cowboys, and
Speaker 1: she was a great little actress for us. So she
Speaker 1: is with me in studio today taping the podcast. But
Speaker 1: I want to play this one sound by here from
Speaker 1: head coach Mike McDaniel, who was asked about the response
Speaker 1: from the game on Monday, because again, that's all I
Speaker 1: care about Monday's history.
Speaker 3: It can't be changed.
Speaker 1: No matter how many times I look at the scoreboard
Speaker 1: behind me on the breakdown video and see Miami twenty seven,
Speaker 1: Tennessee thirteen. It ain't changing, baby. I want it to,
Speaker 1: but it ain't gonna happen. But what you can change
Speaker 1: is your record on Sunday and get back to ten
Speaker 1: and four, and if you get a Dolphins win over
Speaker 1: the Jets on Sunday and the Bills lose to the Cowboys,
Speaker 1: your magic number becomes one to win the division, which
Speaker 1: means you can beat Dallas, Baltimore or Buffalo to win
Speaker 1: the division. I love our odds to take care of that.
Speaker 1: If Dallas does or Buffalo does beat Dallas. On the
Speaker 1: other hand, the division most likely most likely will come
Speaker 1: down to Week eighteen. So be the team we.
Speaker 3: Thought you were.
Speaker 1: That's what it comes down to, right, That's why I
Speaker 1: wanted to play this sound by here from coach and
Speaker 1: talk a little bit more about this. Let's hear from
Speaker 1: McDaniel on the response this team has show him this
Speaker 1: week and what he expects on Sunday against the Jets.
Speaker 2: I think that all has to do with the collection
Speaker 2: of individuals. I think, as you know, a coaching staff,
Speaker 2: we try to do our best to kind of you know, yeah,
Speaker 2: into game and there's so many things that happen. Individuals
Speaker 2: think about this play this way, with this play, and
Speaker 2: then quite naturally you're like, how did this happen? I
Speaker 2: think as a coaching staff, we kind of look at
Speaker 2: things and then you deliver a mindset message on like okay,
Speaker 2: well this is how we can kind of categorize that,
Speaker 2: and then it takes a bunch of like minded individuals
Speaker 2: who are interested in things much beyond themselves, who are
Speaker 2: strong minded with will to to listen to that and
Speaker 2: then decide, hey, you know what, collectively, this is the
Speaker 2: way we're going. This is how we agree that we
Speaker 2: can file this under in this envelope and say okay,
Speaker 2: that's what that was and learn from it. And that's
Speaker 2: why I love the locker room because they are not blinking,
Speaker 2: feeling sorry for themselves. They are one hundred percent focused
Speaker 2: on the jets, which you have to be in this league.
Speaker 2: That's another reason, another example that will always present itself
Speaker 2: in every NFL season of why you have to come prepared.
Speaker 2: Everyone gets paid and there's a lot of teams that
Speaker 2: win games that.
Speaker 3: Beat Vegas as odds.
Speaker 2: So all of that being said, I think the bottom
Speaker 2: line is none of it matters unless you have the
Speaker 2: right human beings as players. You know, my expectation is
Speaker 2: that as coaches, we we funnel the information appropriately because
Speaker 2: that's our jobs. But I can have the I could
Speaker 2: be Newt Rockney, and if I have the guys that
Speaker 2: aren't about about each other and focused on the right
Speaker 2: things and committed to this team and organization in the city,
Speaker 2: it didn't matter. So I would say it's a credit
Speaker 2: to the to the locker room that has been built
Speaker 2: up in the individuals in it.
Speaker 1: And that right there is exactly what I was hoping
Speaker 1: to hear from head coach Mike McDaniel, what I expected
Speaker 1: to hear from him, and it aligns with what I
Speaker 1: talked about in the podcast all week. Because good teams
Speaker 1: lose games all the time, there are blips on the radar.
Speaker 1: The Packers, for instance, were red hot, right and they
Speaker 1: had a schedule that was favorable to them, that looked
Speaker 1: like they could possibly run the table and compete for
Speaker 1: the NFC North and put themselves well within striking range
Speaker 1: of a wild card position as well, and they lost
Speaker 1: to the New York Giants on Monday Night Football. And
Speaker 1: they're going to have to find out if they are
Speaker 1: a team that is that red hot squad that won
Speaker 1: a couple of games ahead of that, or are they
Speaker 1: the team that dropped a game to a team they
Speaker 1: should have beaten. And for the Miami Dolphins, they've responded
Speaker 1: to every loss this year with an emphatic win on
Speaker 1: the other side of that loss. For a lot of
Speaker 1: good teams. That's how it goes. Like the Eagles bounced
Speaker 1: back after their Jets loss against US, the Chiefs bounce
Speaker 1: back after a loss they had against the Broncos. Against US,
Speaker 1: the Bills came out of the gates and stormed basically
Speaker 1: everything we did defensively and beat the crap out of us.
Speaker 1: But we responded to that game with an ephatic win
Speaker 1: over the Giants. So you can find out about your
Speaker 1: team and the week after a loss. You know, it's
Speaker 1: not playoff time, it's not where a loss is fatal.
Speaker 1: That loss is gonna hurt us. It's probably gonna hurt
Speaker 1: us in the standings most likely. Right, we'll see what
Speaker 1: happens over the course of the final four games with
Speaker 1: this team. Like teams lose players. All the Titans were
Speaker 1: without Christian Fulton and Jeffrey Simmons in that game, their
Speaker 1: two best defensive players they probably have on that side
Speaker 1: of the football, and they dominated the Dolphins offense. Like
Speaker 1: you can win games without injuries. I trust this coaching
Speaker 1: staff to find their contingencies, to find what works with
Speaker 1: what they have. Go win a football game against a
Speaker 1: bad Jets team and put yourself right back in the
Speaker 1: conversation not just for the AFC East, but for the
Speaker 1: first seed, which if you win this weekend and the
Speaker 1: Ravens lose the Jaguars, you're back in that one seed.
Speaker 1: So keep winning, keep pushing forward, and we'll see where
Speaker 1: the chips fall. In week number eighteen, that's my time
Speaker 1: of the podcast here. We'll come back and recap the
Speaker 1: game on Sunday, and like I said, if they lose
Speaker 1: that one, all bets are off. You can tell me
Speaker 1: how bad this team is all you want, because they'll
Speaker 1: be earned at that point heading into that final stretch.
Speaker 1: But even then they'll have a chance to prove themselves
Speaker 1: again over the final three games. But you can't afford
Speaker 1: to lose. You cannot afford to lose this game. So
Speaker 1: that's where my mindset's at. Let's go ahead and get
Speaker 1: to the weekend. Subscribe, rate review, follow on social, check
Speaker 1: out the fish Tank podcast, check out the YouTube channel
Speaker 1: for Dolphins Today, media availabilities, and so much more, and
Speaker 1: last but not least, Miami Dolphins dot Com Until next time.
Speaker 3: Fins up.
Speaker 1: Caroline and Camper and Daddy just coming home. Caroline, say
Speaker 1: bye bye. Figure out