Speaker 1: That keeps booking Miami n What is up, Dolphans And
Speaker 1: welcome to the Drive Time Podcast, part of the Miami
Speaker 1: Dolphins podcast network, covering your team, your Miami Dolphins. How's
Speaker 1: it going everybody? It is Wednesday. I am your host,
Speaker 1: Travis Wingfield, And on today's show, we're gonna revisit the
Speaker 1: trade trades from Friday, with the details from Peter King's
Speaker 1: weekly column, the value the Dolphins pulled on their side,
Speaker 1: the crazy Chris career trade numbers and data, and the
Speaker 1: player he says the Dolphins moved back up to number
Speaker 1: six four plus, we're turning our attention completely to the draft.
Speaker 1: All eleven free agent interviews are in the can, and
Speaker 1: we're taking a look at sleepers and positional prototypes with
Speaker 1: Ben Fannel of the NFL Network. All of that and
Speaker 1: a whole bunch more. This Wednesday, March the thirty one
Speaker 1: edition of the Drivetime Podcast. So before we get to
Speaker 1: my guest today, Peter King dropped his mega column on
Speaker 1: Sunday night, and you really should read this thing every
Speaker 1: single week because, frankly, it's the best in the business.
Speaker 1: But it was especially interesting this week for Dolphins fans
Speaker 1: because of last week's big trade Big Trades. We covered
Speaker 1: that thing comprehensively in the last Drift Time podcast. But
Speaker 1: how about some supplemental notes here from King. First, there's
Speaker 1: a blurb about why San Francisco was motivated to move
Speaker 1: up this early one month out, and you might recall
Speaker 1: the Jets and Colts trade from and that one also
Speaker 1: occurred weeks before the draft, and King right simply that
Speaker 1: Miami gerald manager Chris Career has proven adept at maximizing
Speaker 1: compensation for his assets, so going up now ensured someone
Speaker 1: didn't swoop in with a better offer than the forty
Speaker 1: Niners offer, according to Peter King. But that's not to
Speaker 1: say that the forty Niners got some kind of bargain deal.
Speaker 1: They did not. Friday, we told you about the halls
Speaker 1: the previous trade downs provided the team moving back and
Speaker 1: all the players they got from those trades. Well, Miami
Speaker 1: maximized this one big time. The Patrick Mahomes trade up
Speaker 1: back in sev k C to Buffalo from to ten
Speaker 1: to fall back seventeen spots, they got a first round
Speaker 1: draft pick and a third round draft pick. That's it.
Speaker 1: Miami got two first to go down nine spots compared
Speaker 1: to Buffalo going down seventeen spots the Julio Jones trade
Speaker 1: inven the Browns got a first, a second, and two
Speaker 1: fourth rounders to go from six to seven. They got
Speaker 1: less than Miami going down nine spots by going down
Speaker 1: twenty one spots. Not bad at all, Chris Career not
Speaker 1: bad at all, and King also notes that Greer's ability
Speaker 1: to wheel and deal has put Miami in position to
Speaker 1: continually restock the cupboards with eight first round draft picks
Speaker 1: over a four year period and a quick aside Albert
Speaker 1: Brier tweeted out on Friday, the Dolphins won ten games
Speaker 1: last season with just three of those eight picks made,
Speaker 1: and Sam Monson of Pro Football Focus also a lot
Speaker 1: of the trades saying the Dolphins are doing whatever the
Speaker 1: hell they want right now, which Brian Flowers and Chris
Speaker 1: Greer I both said they can do whatever the hell
Speaker 1: they want without the hell part in there with all
Speaker 1: this draft capital, and most are saying that. In fact,
Speaker 1: Rich Eyes and anyone from the NFL network, you might
Speaker 1: see all these tweets praising this trade because the Dolphins
Speaker 1: absolutely maximize their value. They wind up going down three
Speaker 1: spots at the end of the day, for an additional
Speaker 1: third round draft pick and an additional first round draft pick.
Speaker 1: Also in this column from Peter King, he mentions the
Speaker 1: idea that scouts and teams and decision makers might be
Speaker 1: more inclined to push assets into future draft because of
Speaker 1: the uncertainty of this year's draft. So many players in
Speaker 1: this class did not play a football season in there's
Speaker 1: no live in person medical, no live in person meetings
Speaker 1: on the white board. All that stuff doesn't exist this
Speaker 1: year and next season we should have a full college
Speaker 1: football season, a full compliment of the scouting combine, Pro Days,
Speaker 1: and all the out of fun stuff. As the world
Speaker 1: gets back to normal, it makes more sense to have
Speaker 1: more picks in those future years than maybe it does
Speaker 1: this year. Back to the article real quick, and this
Speaker 1: is from Peter King, and it's not new for Chris
Speaker 1: Greer to do this kind of thing. He's now made
Speaker 1: eight trades involving first round draft picks since he took
Speaker 1: the job over in two thousand and sixteen. And King
Speaker 1: praises Career for being an outside the box thinker and
Speaker 1: says it has put the Dolphins in tremendous position with
Speaker 1: another great trade, maximizing the Larry mit Tons will trade
Speaker 1: back from twenty nineteen and continuing to milk that resource
Speaker 1: for additional premium assets. Finally, the final point that King writes, actually,
Speaker 1: let's go ahead and make this the penultimate point about
Speaker 1: quarterback flexibility. You know, if you listen to this podcast,
Speaker 1: you know what I think about two a tongue of
Speaker 1: by Lowe. I've always thought about two a tongue of
Speaker 1: by low is ability to play at this level. And
Speaker 1: I think we're gonna see that this season with with
Speaker 1: what I think he can be. But let's just say
Speaker 1: for one second it doesn't go that way and they
Speaker 1: have to go back into the quarterback market. Well, Miami
Speaker 1: now gives themselves future appital in case they have to
Speaker 1: circle back and explore either a veteran quarterback trade or
Speaker 1: a trade up to the draft to get a quarterback
Speaker 1: in those future drafts. Maybe it's to find a veteran,
Speaker 1: proven player to supplement to his offense as he is
Speaker 1: at the controls. Dolphins have just given themselves ultimate flexibility
Speaker 1: at the quarterback position and every other position across the board.
Speaker 1: And finally, our last point, let's just go ahead and
Speaker 1: lead this read this last part verbatim, regarding the logic
Speaker 1: of the second trade, it has to come down to
Speaker 1: one thing. King writes, Miami had to have wanted certainty
Speaker 1: that it couldn't have one of the four great pass
Speaker 1: catchers in this draft tight end Kyle Pitts or white Out,
Speaker 1: Jamar Chase, Jalen Waddle or Davante Smith. That's possible at twelve,
Speaker 1: that's certain at six, he writes, And knowing how smart
Speaker 1: a personnel guy Chris Greery is, it would not surprise
Speaker 1: me now knowing he was in position to get a
Speaker 1: great receiver if he tried to move one of his Whiteouts,
Speaker 1: maybe even DeVante Parker if the compensation were right. So
Speaker 1: Kings just kind of spitballing there. But he talks about
Speaker 1: those four playmakers. I want to go ahead and touch
Speaker 1: on that before we get to our guest here on
Speaker 1: this one's the edition of the Drive Time podcast. So
Speaker 1: if you go after one of those targets at number six,
Speaker 1: what does that make the offense look like from Miami? Well,
Speaker 1: we start there with Jalen Waddle. We've talked about this
Speaker 1: on previous podcast. If you want to defend the speed
Speaker 1: of a Jailan Waddle and a Will Fuller on the defense.
Speaker 1: Just go look at what teams had to do to
Speaker 1: Houston with Will Fuller and Kenny Stills. You had to
Speaker 1: play two high safety because both those guys could take
Speaker 1: the top off the defense on either side. They could
Speaker 1: split your safeties. You had to account for them vertically
Speaker 1: down the football field. It incorporates more flexibility for the
Speaker 1: R P O game because you influence the linebackers and safeties,
Speaker 1: and all of a sudden, all you have to do
Speaker 1: is win a two way go inside because the ball
Speaker 1: handling of TA takes care of the linebackers sucking up
Speaker 1: as he rides that mesh point and the speed backs
Speaker 1: the safeties off, creating that vulnerability, that soft spot in
Speaker 1: the middle of the field. And of course you have
Speaker 1: to hit some of those deep shots to maintain that
Speaker 1: level of respect. And if I may just go onto
Speaker 1: another tangent here, can we stop with cementing narratives as
Speaker 1: some unchained idea with a sample size smaller than a
Speaker 1: week's worth of at bats, as it were. I mean
Speaker 1: what I mean by that is, remember when Ryan Tannehill
Speaker 1: couldn't throw the deep ball. And I'm using air quotes here,
Speaker 1: and the only reasoning behind it was because the numbers
Speaker 1: just weren't there. And the numbers weren't there because Mike
Speaker 1: Wallace was the smallest, most precise deep target in the
Speaker 1: history of deep ball targets. I mean, he had no
Speaker 1: problem hitting Brian Heartline and Charles clay In stride down
Speaker 1: the field. Then he goes to Tennessee and guess what.
Speaker 1: Now he's got a j Brown and he's tossing up
Speaker 1: forty plus yard touchdowns every other week. It seems so
Speaker 1: scout the ability, not the box score, and I'm convinced
Speaker 1: the only way to arrive at the whole air quotes
Speaker 1: again to I can't throw the deep ball end air
Speaker 1: quotes idea is if you just haven't seen the kid play,
Speaker 1: because I posted a clip of him tossing a dime
Speaker 1: to Jillen Waddle at Tennessee, which, by the way, Waddle
Speaker 1: caught twenty one of twenty six passes twenty or more
Speaker 1: yards down the football field in his college career, an
Speaker 1: absurd deep ball producing machine, and all of those Alabama
Speaker 1: the highlight videos are just bomb after bomb. Who do
Speaker 1: you think through him those deep passes. Waddle only played
Speaker 1: four games this year, so most of those deep balls
Speaker 1: came from the lefty. And I'm actually looking at an
Speaker 1: article right now titled to a tongue volois passing chart
Speaker 1: shows just how insane his downfilled passing has been. So
Speaker 1: I don't know it's it's therefore you look at and
Speaker 1: Waddle can do that. He's electric with the ball in
Speaker 1: his hands. He's dominant as a punt returner. He can
Speaker 1: turn swing screens and flats into touchdowns. And he finally
Speaker 1: gives you a dangerous option on over routes and drags
Speaker 1: those shallow crossers, those intermediate crossers. I think he checks
Speaker 1: a lot of boxes this offense could use for this
Speaker 1: young quarterback. In general, Kyle Pitts, the middle of the
Speaker 1: field presence that he presents would be invaluable to a
Speaker 1: young quarterback. We saw to attack down the middle of
Speaker 1: the field successfully to Mike Gatsicki last year. We've seen
Speaker 1: him drive those slants, those digs, those square in and
Speaker 1: work between the underneath hook and curl defenders. Those linebackers,
Speaker 1: play off of the leverage of defensive backs and manipulate
Speaker 1: the accuracy of his throws based upon the look of
Speaker 1: the defense. Well, this is an area where Pits can
Speaker 1: take those types of throws to another level because he
Speaker 1: threatens leverage, he threatens your understanding of what is open
Speaker 1: and what's not open, and he also has the athletic
Speaker 1: ability to get open and to create separation. There just
Speaker 1: aren't that many clubs that can get this athletic six
Speaker 1: six body into a nasty split, which a nasty split
Speaker 1: is just a little bit detached from the offensive line
Speaker 1: and run r p O from there. The Dolphins utilized
Speaker 1: Gassicki in that regard a little bit. Having both would
Speaker 1: make things tricky and for more than just the r
Speaker 1: p O threat, the matchup ability this would create. You
Speaker 1: could go empty with Gassicky, Fuller and Parker, or Fuller
Speaker 1: and another speed merchant on the field. If that's where
Speaker 1: you go at receiver with a running back that can
Speaker 1: also function as a route runner, and that's where I
Speaker 1: look to go with Kyle Pitts. How can I just
Speaker 1: be indefensible with a twelve personnel package that can line
Speaker 1: up balanced with two in line tight ends and run
Speaker 1: the ball down your throat, or we can spread it
Speaker 1: out and go empty. There's not a defense on Earth
Speaker 1: equipped to match up to that. To me, it's revolutionary
Speaker 1: Davante Smith. If there's anybody in this draft that screams
Speaker 1: Dolphin more than Smith, I have not seen him. The character,
Speaker 1: the fact that he's already praised for his knowledge, understanding
Speaker 1: and approach and the field for the game of that
Speaker 1: of a ten year veteran is just outstanding. And he's so, so,
Speaker 1: so good as a route runner. I think if you
Speaker 1: have Smith, you call plays where it's basically just if
Speaker 1: DeVante has a one on one, that's where the ball
Speaker 1: is going, because you know he's going to deconstruct that
Speaker 1: cornerback in a way that one makes it easy for
Speaker 1: the quarterback to make the read and the quarterback has
Speaker 1: an easy decision because of the separation created and to
Speaker 1: it creates big plays after the catch ability because he
Speaker 1: wins by so much and gets so many dbs on
Speaker 1: their heels and turned around. Go watch his tape and
Speaker 1: the defensive backs in the SEC they're having a hard
Speaker 1: time finding out which direction he's going. They're on their
Speaker 1: heels a lot. He really puts them in a bind.
Speaker 1: I don't think DeVante is as specialized as the other two,
Speaker 1: but he's the best route runner and I feel like
Speaker 1: he's the most sure fire player of this group in
Speaker 1: terms of his floor, but his ceiling is also incredibly high.
Speaker 1: To Daniel Jeremiah on the Move the Sticks podcast the
Speaker 1: other day, I was talking about the wide receiver class
Speaker 1: and Smith in particular, and I was actually thinking about
Speaker 1: this myself, as I seriously have one hell of a
Speaker 1: time separating he and Waddle. I go back and forth
Speaker 1: with Smith and Waddle all the time. But he said,
Speaker 1: every time they go back and look at their draft
Speaker 1: hits and misses, the one thing he always regrets not
Speaker 1: valuing higher is route running and the craft. And that's
Speaker 1: Davante Smith. Fourth, and finally, Jamaar Chase, big physical speed guy.
Speaker 1: Now you don't see the speed and quickness at the line,
Speaker 1: but where it really shows up is when you get
Speaker 1: down the field. He has this ability to run away
Speaker 1: once he builds up that speed, and that combination is
Speaker 1: pretty rare. But here's the thing. In a way, it's
Speaker 1: almost redundant to what Davanta Parker does, and that could
Speaker 1: be great for some offenses, but I don't think it
Speaker 1: is for this team. For this quarterback. We've talked about
Speaker 1: the timing, the rhythm, the precision of two hitting his speed. Guys,
Speaker 1: his game isn't the yolo ball into coverage the way
Speaker 1: it was with Ryan Fitzpatrick. Now, if Fits was the quarterback,
Speaker 1: I'd say, yeah, let's go ahead and replicate Davante Parker
Speaker 1: and go crazy all year with him Parker and Gisicky.
Speaker 1: But that's just not the construction of this offense. In
Speaker 1: my opinion, Chase might give you something you need. It's
Speaker 1: a weapon from the inside. At five ft eleven, he
Speaker 1: has the ability to both press slot corners with a
Speaker 1: mixture of physicality and vertical playmaking, which is a dangerous
Speaker 1: thing to defend against in today's NFL. But I'm just
Speaker 1: not sure if that's what fits best. We're gonna find
Speaker 1: out soon enough. Here. Draft is less than a month away,
Speaker 1: and I cannot wait. Let's turn this thing over now
Speaker 1: to my guest on today's edition of the Drivetime Podcast.
Speaker 1: He produces draft content for the NFL Network. He's on
Speaker 1: the Journey to the Draft podcast on the Eagles Podcast
Speaker 1: Network with Fran Duffy. He is Ben Fanelle and joining
Speaker 1: me now on the Drivetime Podcast is Ben Fanelle and Ben.
Speaker 1: We're a month out, man, Christmas morning is almost here, right?
Speaker 1: Or is this entire process kind of Christmas morning for you, Well,
Speaker 1: let's really turned into this three animals. So it's getting close.
Speaker 1: We're definitely in December if we're looking forward to that
Speaker 1: Christmas and opening presents as we're uh, just about a
Speaker 1: month away from this draft in Cleveland, and it's been
Speaker 1: a long process and it's been a unique process in
Speaker 1: this cycle in particular, and I'm kind of just excited
Speaker 1: we're almost at the finish line, which just starts another
Speaker 1: race for aside from the combine and general human interaction,
Speaker 1: one of the things I missed the most is your
Speaker 1: on field shots on Saturday at college campuses, but also
Speaker 1: your scenic shots. Like you've shared the b y U
Speaker 1: photos so many times and I love it every time
Speaker 1: because it's it's so gorgeous. What's the one thing you
Speaker 1: miss most about being on campus being in a stadium
Speaker 1: on Saturdays in the fall. Well, it's gonna be tough
Speaker 1: to list just one thing. Just a reminder, I didn't
Speaker 1: go to a college with a football team. I went
Speaker 1: to a city school with a lot of sidewalks and
Speaker 1: concrete jungle. So being able to go out to these
Speaker 1: meccas a college football I soak it all in. So
Speaker 1: I love the flying in the random airports and drives
Speaker 1: from major cities and going to that random lunch spot
Speaker 1: that's in there for eighty years, and all the father
Speaker 1: daughters on game days, and the pageantry and the history,
Speaker 1: the culture. I love it exponentially more than NFL games.
Speaker 1: I feel like NFL games, you're in a cookie cutter city.
Speaker 1: You fly into that city, stay in a corporate hotel. UM.
Speaker 1: There's some challenges with college obviously. Sometimes you go to
Speaker 1: Tuscaloosa and the only place to stay is a holiday
Speaker 1: in UM. But if you're not too picky, you get
Speaker 1: to see some really unique areas of the country. So
Speaker 1: it was very disappointed I wasn't on the road this
Speaker 1: past season due to COVID and this world falling apart,
Speaker 1: but I hope to definitely pick it back up in
Speaker 1: college football is it's to me, it was it was
Speaker 1: the sport that suffered the most from the lack of
Speaker 1: fans and the lack of the you know, the environment
Speaker 1: is really really so important, so crucial to the entire sports.
Speaker 1: So I man, I can't wait for this season and
Speaker 1: hopefully things are more back to normal this year. And
Speaker 1: speaking of that, we've got some protas going off. You
Speaker 1: mentioned you were kind of picking off in the corner
Speaker 1: of your eye here during you know, before we got
Speaker 1: on the air. Here good at the Alabama Pro Day
Speaker 1: right now on NFL Network. I want to go ahead
Speaker 1: and start there and talk about the Pro Day process. Like,
Speaker 1: you know, we've seen all these times that have been
Speaker 1: posted that are to me substantially better than what we
Speaker 1: get at the combine every year by considerable amounts. Before
Speaker 1: your dashes are lower, the jumps are longer and higher.
Speaker 1: What do you make of the way the Pro Day
Speaker 1: process is played out? And when we get to this
Speaker 1: I guess. And on the second part of the question,
Speaker 1: who do you think has really helped themselves the most
Speaker 1: in the Pro Day process? Well, I feel like the
Speaker 1: scores are on par with Pro Days of the last five, ten,
Speaker 1: twenty history of Pro Days. They're just you know, much
Speaker 1: more controlled environment. The players are more comfortable. Yes, there
Speaker 1: are maybe some tricks and trends of the world that
Speaker 1: you know have alluded to some better times or some
Speaker 1: notorious thirty nine yard tracks down wind down hill that
Speaker 1: always produced slightly better UH test scores that have been
Speaker 1: running jokes in the scouting community, but it's really just
Speaker 1: a comfortability factor of the schools and the lack of
Speaker 1: a streamlined baseline testing process is gonna lead to high
Speaker 1: variants results. And that's the beautiful thing of a combine.
Speaker 1: It's a much more controlled atmosphere by outside third parties
Speaker 1: and everything is kind of streamline and the same situation
Speaker 1: for every player, and I think that's why the scouting
Speaker 1: community values the combine. At the end of the day,
Speaker 1: this process is just very interesting this cycle, and it
Speaker 1: all started last cycle with the lack of pro days,
Speaker 1: and it's really the pro days that start the process
Speaker 1: for next class and not having the pro day circuit
Speaker 1: last year, in combination with not having scouts on campus
Speaker 1: for the most part in the fall, the scouting community
Speaker 1: is just behind the eight ball. With general vetting of
Speaker 1: the players. You can watch every snap these players have
Speaker 1: ever played and figure out the player. Now we just
Speaker 1: need to figure out the person, the potential co worker,
Speaker 1: the teammate, the member of society, and being around the
Speaker 1: player on campus pro days, you can talk to the
Speaker 1: position coach and his academic advisor and strength and conditioning coach,
Speaker 1: maybe some teammates and start to put together all the
Speaker 1: pieces about the person, and as we both know, the
Speaker 1: person you're drafting has become just as important as a
Speaker 1: player you're drafting, and some may say it's even more important.
Speaker 1: The success and failures in the NFL are rarely for ability.
Speaker 1: These guys are all very talented, very athletic, very strong,
Speaker 1: But what separates is typically the player and the employees.
Speaker 1: So these pro Days and even the Combine, Travis, we
Speaker 1: have to remember why the combine was created medicals. Then
Speaker 1: we said, hey, if we're getting them all here in
Speaker 1: one spot, let's work them out. Hey if we're working
Speaker 1: them out, we might as well interview them. But all
Speaker 1: we see on TV is the workouts, so we think
Speaker 1: that's the most important, just like Pro Days we see
Speaker 1: the times we see the workouts, we think that's the
Speaker 1: most important. But it's really what goes on behind the
Speaker 1: scenes and just the general vetting, people, talking to people, doctors,
Speaker 1: poking and proud in the cattle. All that stuff I
Speaker 1: think has so much more value then the on field
Speaker 1: workouts and what's in front of our faces. Yeah, you
Speaker 1: talk about the medical aspect of Indie. Just last year
Speaker 1: was my first combine and I was so we talked
Speaker 1: about Christmas morning. I was kid in a candy store,
Speaker 1: just kind of bruising the entire convention center, going from
Speaker 1: podium to podium and the central location of everything in Indie.
Speaker 1: The skywalks, Man, I love that city, even there one time.
Speaker 1: I absolutely loved that. I hope we get that back
Speaker 1: in the near future. We had good weather last year too,
Speaker 1: we got to use those skywalks when we had blizzards
Speaker 1: and we literally cannot step outside. Yeah. I also was
Speaker 1: a late ad to, so I had to get one
Speaker 1: of the hotels that was not like I wasn't a
Speaker 1: j W or anything like that. I was off to
Speaker 1: the side, so I kind of had a distance walk.
Speaker 1: So I was definitely in the in the skywalks because
Speaker 1: I don't do I don't do below fifty very well.
Speaker 1: But that's why Miami is a great place for me.
Speaker 1: So so that was that was fun. I hope I
Speaker 1: get back to that. You mentioned, you know, getting know
Speaker 1: the person. I think we both can talk about last
Speaker 1: year's twenty ninth pick in the draft. I thought for
Speaker 1: sure you're going to mention him. Well, we'll leave it
Speaker 1: at that. Clearly the person is very important when it
Speaker 1: comes to to you know, what you get in the player.
Speaker 1: But you also mentioned these proteins again, and we're gonna
Speaker 1: go back to this because you know, I watched the
Speaker 1: Ellerson Smith and Spencer Brown from northern Northern Iowa or
Speaker 1: the Penn State guys that just Michael Parsons and Jason
Speaker 1: Oh wait, who just blew this thing up. You talked
Speaker 1: about how those have been consistent with the pro day,
Speaker 1: you know, the Pro days of the past. But who
Speaker 1: do you think has really helped themselves the most in
Speaker 1: this in this run to the draft, in the pro
Speaker 1: day process, these multiple pro day schools are having who
Speaker 1: has really helped themselves the most above anyone else? You think? Yeah?
Speaker 1: And I guess my final point just on the importance
Speaker 1: of the pro days are there are some players with
Speaker 1: major gray areas and question marks that we haven't seen
Speaker 1: on the field in because they opted out or maybe
Speaker 1: injuries or um so getting general measurables and some things
Speaker 1: on players that we haven't seen in a while is
Speaker 1: also very important. And it feels like we're drafting players,
Speaker 1: you know, at a high school to the NBA. You know,
Speaker 1: when you have guys like gregor Rousseau, that's have barely
Speaker 1: five dred snaps in their college career, or Walker Little
Speaker 1: hasn't been on the field in two years, or really
Speaker 1: interesting prospects with medical concerns like Tallenoa who founda just
Speaker 1: the boom or bus aspect. There are so many prospects
Speaker 1: that just have so many gray areas and uncertainties. But
Speaker 1: you have to remember that's where you get the star
Speaker 1: players too, That's where you get the Kobe Bryants and
Speaker 1: Kevin Garnett's um. Even though there are a lot of
Speaker 1: bus out of high school as well. So just that
Speaker 1: boom or bus factor in this class is just seemingly
Speaker 1: dominating a lot of prospects. But the pro day workouts, yeah,
Speaker 1: this is a great opportunity for guys to show off
Speaker 1: the height, weight, speed and explosiveness you start. You mentioned it.
Speaker 1: Those Penn State guys track speed all over the place
Speaker 1: of that roster. Michael Parsons Jason Oway always one of
Speaker 1: the more interesting players in that heightweight, speed potential upside.
Speaker 1: Boom bus player with very little production, very little nuanced
Speaker 1: to his game, very little technical aspect to his game,
Speaker 1: but he looks the part and this brings a lot
Speaker 1: of God given abilities that defensive line. Coaches think, hey,
Speaker 1: we can't teach that. I get teach them the rough
Speaker 1: to pass her. I can't teach you to be too
Speaker 1: or run four three. So it's all kind of figure
Speaker 1: out what can we do with these players as far
Speaker 1: as developing them. But there's players at every workout, whether
Speaker 1: it's the big heightweight, speed receiver Nico Collins at Michigan
Speaker 1: running the four fours at nearly to twenty, the athletic
Speaker 1: tackles Brady Christensen, I'm so happy, had a great workout
Speaker 1: for b y U. Zach Wilson, rightfully so, has stolen
Speaker 1: a lot of the buzz and the thunder at a
Speaker 1: b y U. That old line that's a run first offense.
Speaker 1: They blocked their butts off and blocked their butts off
Speaker 1: forever when Zack Wilson was running around making plays and
Speaker 1: nobody got their name called. This year it was all
Speaker 1: Zack Wilson, Wilson, Wilson, rightfully so. As the quarterbacks get
Speaker 1: the love and the attention and the criticism, but Brady
Speaker 1: Christensen and some of those other guys on an old
Speaker 1: line really good players. Some corners Greg Newsome at a
Speaker 1: Northwestern Robert Rochelle both extremely high end testers, high end athletes,
Speaker 1: and one sleeper that has kind of been getting some
Speaker 1: bu is at the end of the season and completely
Speaker 1: took off on his pro day Milton Williams at Louisiana Tech.
Speaker 1: Kind of a defensive end defensive tackle hybrid with just
Speaker 1: oozing explosiveness and length for days. So a lot of
Speaker 1: guys that have been able to take their pro days
Speaker 1: and create a little buzz as far as the draft stock.
Speaker 1: That's why I want to get you on here because
Speaker 1: we have you know, we we've covered the top parts
Speaker 1: of the draft so so in depth for the run up.
Speaker 1: You mentioned the twelve month process that is the draft.
Speaker 1: I mean, we have so much time to go over
Speaker 1: you know, the SEC and watch the top of the
Speaker 1: line guys, the Kyle Pitts versus Patrick Sir Tan matchup,
Speaker 1: that type of thing, and it's fun to do that.
Speaker 1: But I also love getting into Day three stuff here too,
Speaker 1: which we'll circle back here and come back to that.
Speaker 1: But I want to play this game with you, and
Speaker 1: maybe it's one guy, maybe it's two guys. I won't
Speaker 1: limit you to to a number here, but I want
Speaker 1: to play prototypes by position of need. And I'll go
Speaker 1: ahead and tell you the prototype here of what I
Speaker 1: think the Dolphins have done or what they've what they've
Speaker 1: kind of assembled in terms of their ideal prospect at
Speaker 1: these positions, and we'll start a running back. I think
Speaker 1: most folks agree that running backs the need for the Dolphins.
Speaker 1: And I didn't really of a general Dolphins team here.
Speaker 1: The only one I had that was that was evident
Speaker 1: of Brian Flores here in Miami, was that they typically
Speaker 1: go with a back what game to game, even whether
Speaker 1: it was Savan Akhmed or Miles Gaskin or Jordan how
Speaker 1: whoever might have been, they usually get. They usually go
Speaker 1: plus Workloade with the number one back. So that's kind
Speaker 1: of my first thought. And then also going back over
Speaker 1: coach Studentsville, Eric Studisville, the run game coordinator and now
Speaker 1: co offensive coordinator here in Miami. He's always had two
Speaker 1: plus pound backs, Travis Henry, Willis McGahee, Marshawn Lynch, No,
Speaker 1: Sean Marino, on and on and on, a physical pounder
Speaker 1: that can kind of do it all. So if that's
Speaker 1: your prototype you're looking at the running back position, Ben,
Speaker 1: who's that guy? Maybe two guys Yeah, some really good
Speaker 1: needs on the team. I definitely could see their need
Speaker 1: for kind of a bruiser between the tackle guy to
Speaker 1: beat you up. I want to see Miami commit more
Speaker 1: to the run game there twenty six in the NFL
Speaker 1: as far as running the ball and first and ten
Speaker 1: not nearly enough on first down and running the ball
Speaker 1: in the first half. That's purely volume. Just not committing
Speaker 1: to the run enough. With a young quarterback that came
Speaker 1: from a run first offense in college, put him in
Speaker 1: a position to be successful and replicate his success, Let's
Speaker 1: run the ball. So you can definitely see a need
Speaker 1: for a bruiser back. Can definitely see the need for
Speaker 1: a scat back and a guy that really excels on
Speaker 1: third down that's a pure pass catching threat out of
Speaker 1: the backfield. But looking at these two found backs, there
Speaker 1: aren't many in this class, and they're kind of a
Speaker 1: dying breed in college football. They're not the ones that
Speaker 1: are high production guys. There aren't guys that are going
Speaker 1: to test particularly well, and they're rarely the guys that
Speaker 1: contribute in the past game. I think it's kind of
Speaker 1: slipping people's mind that Naji Harris is two thirty pounds.
Speaker 1: But outside of him, it's not a whole lot. I mean,
Speaker 1: Trey Sermon is pushing to twenty, Kyle and Hill to fifteen,
Speaker 1: Larry Rowntree at Missouri to fifteen, or Madre Stevenson at
Speaker 1: Oklahoma is probably, but none of those guys are particularly
Speaker 1: high end testers, so they're not going to be the
Speaker 1: four four type of backs. He's gonna be those bell
Speaker 1: how guys that you want to move the pile and
Speaker 1: give it to him on first down and hopefully set
Speaker 1: up a game and finish a game in the fourth quarter.
Speaker 1: Those those type of presence in the backfield, not a
Speaker 1: whole lot to choose from. Um, So you know, it's
Speaker 1: kind of slim pickings out there, and they aren't the
Speaker 1: sexiest type of players to talk about. Yeah, it'll be
Speaker 1: interestacy where the Dolphins go given the fact that there
Speaker 1: is so much RPO, you know, incorporated in the offense
Speaker 1: with two a tongue of by Low and kind of
Speaker 1: how those guys work off of each other in that
Speaker 1: run pass game on offense. Now now to get that
Speaker 1: good balance of the RPO like he had him Bama,
Speaker 1: the bruiser back between the tackles and that shifty slot
Speaker 1: receiver to run the in breakers and slants behind them,
Speaker 1: and then it's a pick your poison defensively commit to
Speaker 1: the run, stop the shifty slot receivers. Couple of pieces
Speaker 1: away from both of those aspects, but I think they're
Speaker 1: working their way to replicating that type of offense, and
Speaker 1: that's where we go next year. The receiver position, I'm
Speaker 1: curious because you know DeVante Parker for what he what
Speaker 1: his sizes. People forget that he does kick inside and
Speaker 1: play slot quite a bit, so mostly in the slot.
Speaker 1: And then you've got a collection of guys Albert Wilson,
Speaker 1: Lynn Bowe, and Jachem Grant, guys that typically play inside. Uh,
Speaker 1: I guess the pro type I would go with here.
Speaker 1: This is the one position where I don't really have
Speaker 1: a complete data set for you, but I will say
Speaker 1: that guys that can play multiple spots. So who is
Speaker 1: the best looking prospect in this class that can play
Speaker 1: inside outside and not lose production on either position. Well,
Speaker 1: I think this team could really use a more segmented
Speaker 1: true slot receiver. I think Davante's warned the hat of
Speaker 1: being the big slot or even that move tight end
Speaker 1: on the inside. I think will Fuller's an interesting speed option,
Speaker 1: and they clearly have a desire to find some sort
Speaker 1: of slot gadgety player, whether it's Jeachem Grant, Lynn Bowden.
Speaker 1: Don't forget Kirk Merritt at Arkansas State is a very
Speaker 1: much an explosive gadgetty player as well. I think he
Speaker 1: was a D one transfer if I'm not mistaken, that
Speaker 1: ended up in Arkansas State. But anyways, this this draft
Speaker 1: has tons of dynamics slot receiving options that I would
Speaker 1: love to see paired with the speed of a full
Speaker 1: bowler and with the size of a Parker, whether that's
Speaker 1: Caldarius Tone here, Elijah Moore, a Maori Rodgers, Shy Smith,
Speaker 1: Immerse Smith, Marsen d screens, There's all these guys that
Speaker 1: are four four receivers that don't have tons of size,
Speaker 1: but that's okay. They're great for the RPO game, the
Speaker 1: quick game, the screens, the manufactured yards after catch. Put
Speaker 1: the ball in their hands anyway possible and let them
Speaker 1: do the dirty work. And I think Toah needs more
Speaker 1: weapons around him like that of easy offense. To say
Speaker 1: this is a five yard throw that could turn into
Speaker 1: a sixty yard touchdown. We need someone to take the
Speaker 1: small and make it a big play. And in this draft,
Speaker 1: do not pass on one of these guys on day two.
Speaker 1: I think one of these guys would be a great
Speaker 1: plug and play option, even if it is a round
Speaker 1: del Moore that people say, oh five seven at a
Speaker 1: slot receiver. Put him in the backfield all my running back,
Speaker 1: for all I care, you allow to catch passes from
Speaker 1: back there. Alvin Kamara and Christie McCaffrey and those guys
Speaker 1: have done a pretty good job doing it. So I
Speaker 1: think the Dolphins can definitely use us player like this.
Speaker 1: It might be able to knock out, you know, two
Speaker 1: birds at one stone by grabbing that slot receiver that
Speaker 1: could also win from the backfield on third down, like
Speaker 1: we just talked about. I've been talking about Ron del
Speaker 1: Moore since that freshman season debut against Northwestern my one
Speaker 1: of my favorite college football performances of all time. He
Speaker 1: was electric that night. And you also mentioned that kind
Speaker 1: of size concern. Just real quick, I just saw this
Speaker 1: to to at will a hundred and fifty five pounds.
Speaker 1: That blew me away. I've been high on two two,
Speaker 1: but one that's louder than I that's that's louder than
Speaker 1: I am, and I'm not a big guy. That's I think.
Speaker 1: I looked it up. He was one and it's high
Speaker 1: school recruiting page. That's crazy. Yeah, it's interesting that football
Speaker 1: was his choice at that size, but he certainly can
Speaker 1: played the game. So we'll see that. That makes the
Speaker 1: That makes the argument so much more fun when you're
Speaker 1: gonna go against these traditional prototypes. So speaking of prototypes,
Speaker 1: going to the offensive line, you're talking about kind of
Speaker 1: rounding out this offense for two A tongue by Loa
Speaker 1: and this this young group that led the National Football
Speaker 1: League and snaps for rookies and on the offensive side
Speaker 1: as well. And it seems like the Dolphins have prioritize
Speaker 1: athletic ability but also size above all. And I go
Speaker 1: back to a sign they made in twenty nineteen out
Speaker 1: of the American of the a F I forgot what
Speaker 1: it stands for. They brought over. They brought over a
Speaker 1: guy Jared Jones Smith, who had like an inch wings band,
Speaker 1: was like six ft seven. He was the first guy
Speaker 1: I saw on the field my first day at training camp,
Speaker 1: and I was like, oh my god, that is a
Speaker 1: grown man right there. So they've gone after Eric Flower,
Speaker 1: Solomon Kinley, Robert Hunt, Austin Jackson, and most of those
Speaker 1: guys are bigger offensive linemen. A couple of them have
Speaker 1: the athletic traits like an Austin Jackson, So wingspan, athletic ability,
Speaker 1: sheer size. Who do you think checks those boxes in
Speaker 1: this year's class? So when I look across the board
Speaker 1: here some of those names just mentioned, Robert Hunt, Solomon Kinley,
Speaker 1: Eric Flower is currently three out of the five starting
Speaker 1: offensive linement at the moment. They're all certain type. He's
Speaker 1: are a burly, big mauling type that want to go downhill.
Speaker 1: We don't always talk about downhill offensive lineman. These are
Speaker 1: people movers. You want to get vertical displacement as opposed
Speaker 1: to the popular adderal and outside zone game where you
Speaker 1: have offensive lineman moving east and west with really good
Speaker 1: quickness off the ball. The Dolphins have it tough, have
Speaker 1: a type. They want to go north south and bang
Speaker 1: you up vertically. So you have to make sure you
Speaker 1: find someone that can bang vertically in the draft, and
Speaker 1: there's definitely different types. Some of those guys we talked about,
Speaker 1: Samuel Cosmi, Brady Christiansen at tackle may not be for
Speaker 1: the Dolphins, they're gonna want more of that heavy type.
Speaker 1: Maybe that Tevin Jenkins out of Oklahoma State, maybe a
Speaker 1: James Hudson out of Michigan. A lot of these types
Speaker 1: that you're projecting. Maybe the slide into guard um. Maybe
Speaker 1: it's a Deonte Brown at Alabama who's pushing three fifty.
Speaker 1: Doesn't look good, won't be for every scheme. But if
Speaker 1: you're a vertical team, if you're a power team like
Speaker 1: the Dolphins, like the Ravens, those types of offenses, like
Speaker 1: the Steelers, like the Browns, they're gonna be great fits.
Speaker 1: So I think when you look at run styles and
Speaker 1: the type you're looking for really really important when projecting,
Speaker 1: and the Dolphins kind of ebbing way when the rest
Speaker 1: of the league is looking for much lighter, much more
Speaker 1: athletic offensive linement. Yeah, certainly a point of the investments
Speaker 1: last year is they went heavy on the offensive line.
Speaker 1: Two premium picks than Solomon Killy in the fourth round,
Speaker 1: who wound up starting Opening Day, and I think it
Speaker 1: was thirteen or fourteen games for this Dolphins team last season.
Speaker 1: So we'll see where they go this year. And then
Speaker 1: another position that I think there could be some more
Speaker 1: investment in is the I guess we'll call it defensive
Speaker 1: line because this Dolphins defensive line there really isn't much
Speaker 1: of an edge and interior distinction. I mean, Zack Steeler
Speaker 1: kicks out and plays and Christian Wilkins kicks out and
Speaker 1: plays end at that three hundred pound three d plus
Speaker 1: pound you know, body type, and it kind of reminds
Speaker 1: me of the old Patriots with Ty Warren. I think
Speaker 1: that's my best example for a guy that kind of
Speaker 1: plays that five tech three tech and can even kick
Speaker 1: out in the four man front and rush from outside. Now,
Speaker 1: the one true edge we do have was a dominant
Speaker 1: player last year who was heavy both and weight in
Speaker 1: his hands two hundred and sixty pounds heavy handed, Emmanuel Ogball.
Speaker 1: Length also crucial. They signed Shack loss In last year
Speaker 1: thirty two and a half inch arms, but og Ball
Speaker 1: was the one who really eld in the scheme and
Speaker 1: checked in with the thirty five and a half inch arms.
Speaker 1: So guys that can that can play inside but moonlight
Speaker 1: outside guys are a big, heavy handed who fits that
Speaker 1: bill in this year's draft class, I think I have
Speaker 1: an idea of one guy in particular. So if we're
Speaker 1: looking for somebody like a Manuelgba, heavy handed, a little
Speaker 1: bit on the heavy side for an edge you Guya
Speaker 1: can slide inside, but some of the negatives of a
Speaker 1: stiff hipped in the lower half. But he's able to
Speaker 1: win because he's so strong, he's so relentless, doesn't have
Speaker 1: to come off the field, which you look at a
Speaker 1: lot of these light edge rushers kind of liabilities on
Speaker 1: early downs and they're really just subpackaged players. Do you
Speaker 1: find find guys that can play every down? Typically more
Speaker 1: productive players. So if you want a guy that represents
Speaker 1: and reflects ogba skill set, maybe in the first round
Speaker 1: with a quiddy pay out of Michigan is a similar
Speaker 1: type of player. Explosive but a little stiff in the
Speaker 1: lower half, you know, but absolutely relentless player that can
Speaker 1: slide inside. Boogie Basham had a Wake Forest is one
Speaker 1: of my favorite, very similar player. He's two. This type
Speaker 1: of player is what I love, Travis, because there's nothing
Speaker 1: finesse about them. They're gonna play the run, They're gonna
Speaker 1: look to go through you. They can win inside, outside
Speaker 1: through you with that three way go. They're not what
Speaker 1: I call runaround types and what I mean by runaround
Speaker 1: speedy edge rushers. They just want to run around tackles.
Speaker 1: They have no problem playing with physicality and brute strength
Speaker 1: at the point of attack. And maybe on day three
Speaker 1: a camera and sample is a similar type of guy.
Speaker 1: Doesn't look good. He's six to maybe two seventy five.
Speaker 1: He's got a big butt, tree trunk legs, doesn't have
Speaker 1: that wiry athletic frame that we get excited about off
Speaker 1: the edge. But that's okay because he plays so hard
Speaker 1: and he's so strong, and I'd maybe like to see
Speaker 1: more of a complimentative piece on this front. So as
Speaker 1: much as we look at the ad bus and now
Speaker 1: we have an arctic McKinney, whill probably rushed off the
Speaker 1: edge a little bit, like to see a little bit
Speaker 1: more of a complimentative skill set to maybe somebody with
Speaker 1: a little bit more twitch to their game, maybe somebody
Speaker 1: to threaten tackles high side and then flush out that
Speaker 1: quarterback to the big guys up front. So if they
Speaker 1: maybe want to go away from the two seventy five
Speaker 1: guys and go down to the two forties, maybe a
Speaker 1: Quincy rochet at of Miami the Temple transfer, Chris rumped
Speaker 1: the second at a duke probably can't play on first
Speaker 1: and second down in the NFL because he's two thirty pounds,
Speaker 1: but one of the loosest, twitchiest edge rushers in the
Speaker 1: class Shaka Tony At a Penn State. Long story short,
Speaker 1: Travis Miami Dolphins were top ten in sacks, hits fresher
Speaker 1: last year. They don't need production. I think they need
Speaker 1: some more personnel. Too much blitzing last year gave up
Speaker 1: way too many plays out the backside. So what am
Speaker 1: I saying? Fine, players that can win for themselves, win
Speaker 1: one on once, get after the quarterback without always halving
Speaker 1: to dial up blitzes. So I want guys that can win.
Speaker 1: So whether it's the quitty pays, bash them samples, or
Speaker 1: maybe some of the twitched up guys, I think they
Speaker 1: definitely have some personnel needs up from That's a great
Speaker 1: segue into our our next position group here talking about
Speaker 1: the the position that really did kind of drive the
Speaker 1: pressure in the scheme of you know, the scheme up
Speaker 1: pressure in that linebacker group and then playing all the
Speaker 1: cover zero and the press mound. The on the back
Speaker 1: end there, like you mentioned, is these multiple linebackers we
Speaker 1: see Kyle Van noug go by the wayside, and Jerome
Speaker 1: Baker has done so many different things in his career
Speaker 1: here in Miami, whether it's you know, off ball, He's
Speaker 1: even played some edge and and rushed the pastor he
Speaker 1: does so much blitzing from the a gaps mugged up
Speaker 1: in there and that a gap pressure look. And then
Speaker 1: we see Bernardrick McKinney come in here and he kind
Speaker 1: of does that similar thing in terms of rushing inside,
Speaker 1: but he's a different player right, much heavier. So I
Speaker 1: look at this group as just versatile players that can
Speaker 1: do multiple things. The land and Roberts another one of
Speaker 1: these guys that can play stack linebacker very well, but
Speaker 1: just sheer versatility at that linebacker spot. And if it
Speaker 1: is going to be more of that scheme pressure like
Speaker 1: you mentioned there, Ben who kind of fits that mold
Speaker 1: best in this draft class, you know. And the Dolphins
Speaker 1: are a great example of how they use their personnel.
Speaker 1: This is a linebacking group that moves forward. So they
Speaker 1: like the bigger types, the run plugging types, and in
Speaker 1: sub packages they're gonna be rushers, They're gonna be pass rushers.
Speaker 1: We want to get our nickel dime even dollar out
Speaker 1: there to cover the backs and tight ends of the world.
Speaker 1: So this fallacy out there of when we talk linebacking
Speaker 1: prospects and the first question that comes out, oh can
Speaker 1: they cover? It's a pass NFL. They don't ask their
Speaker 1: linebackers to cover, and there's a lot of teams in
Speaker 1: the league that don't put coverage responsibilities, particularly man to man,
Speaker 1: on their linebackers. And that's okay. So it's just really
Speaker 1: important to note what they're asked to do and what
Speaker 1: we're looking for at the next level. But to fill
Speaker 1: that Van Noi role, that Bernardic McKinney roll, that off
Speaker 1: ball guy that's gonna come play off the edge, that's
Speaker 1: sam backer. That's really who Michael Parsons is at the
Speaker 1: top of the draft, and that's who Zavin Collins is
Speaker 1: at a Tulsa similar six four to sixty off ball
Speaker 1: guy that's gonna rush and blitz on third down. Got
Speaker 1: news for you, the Dolphins probably are gonna be in
Speaker 1: the market for you that those guys are probably gonna
Speaker 1: be first round type of players. It's gonna be tough
Speaker 1: to get their hands on them. But I've been coming
Speaker 1: around on this. Derek Barnes kid out of Perdue, who's
Speaker 1: a similar type of guy who's six one to fifty,
Speaker 1: can play off ball at early downs and is actually
Speaker 1: a really good pass rusher on third downs off the edge.
Speaker 1: Strong player. It's one of these guys that isn't particularly big,
Speaker 1: but he has his barrel chest in really long arms
Speaker 1: and he's explosive. It's the perfect three tier traits that
Speaker 1: you want out of this position. So Michael Parsons, Davin Collins,
Speaker 1: and Derek Barnes, get your hands on one of those guys. Yeah,
Speaker 1: Micah Parsons playing defensive end early on coming out into
Speaker 1: college's defensive end, that pass rush arsenal. He's a fun
Speaker 1: player to watch and before he got the Penn State
Speaker 1: some of the camp series at defensive end, I mean, whooping,
Speaker 1: the who's who of tackles, whether it's Jeddrick Wills, Walker,
Speaker 1: Little Um, you know, Alex Leatherwood, all these who who
Speaker 1: players and they're in the shorts and T shirt, which
Speaker 1: is just really fun to watch. He was a prolific
Speaker 1: pass rushing threat at high school. And if these backers
Speaker 1: are not the drivers of the defense, it's definitely the
Speaker 1: defensive backs. I mean, I would argue that it is
Speaker 1: the DBS and and for my money, the best the
Speaker 1: best outside cornerback tannem in the National Football League, and
Speaker 1: Byron Jones and Xavian Howard, but with Eric Row and
Speaker 1: Bobby McCain and Brandon Jones and Nick Needham and all
Speaker 1: these guys that contributed. You mentioned the dollar defensive package. Ben.
Speaker 1: It's so nice to talk to a non Dolphins related
Speaker 1: entity that knows that because it's so rare that people understand.
Speaker 1: It's not always three four four three, it's usually those
Speaker 1: are your sub packages in So, we talked about the
Speaker 1: defensive backs, and again the hallmarks of Brian Floors defensive
Speaker 1: back at cornerback, athletic long speed press skills and Byron
Speaker 1: and x are stylistically similar, but athletically they're not. Noah
Speaker 1: Igbnogeny certainly was a freak athlete coming out. But then
Speaker 1: it's safety, and that's kind of where I'm more focused here,
Speaker 1: because I think at cornerback, between Egbnogeny, Jones and Howard
Speaker 1: and Needham and Justin Coleman, I think you're probably for now, Okay,
Speaker 1: I will never doubt Brian Floors taking a cornerback in
Speaker 1: the draft because he loves the position so much, But
Speaker 1: I think it's the safety spot. A Row and Bobby
Speaker 1: McCain were so adept at communicating, but they also were
Speaker 1: former cornerbacks that can come down and cover. And Brandon
Speaker 1: Jones at Texas was was his best position to me
Speaker 1: was slot in that in college, so he comes here
Speaker 1: he plays safety. All three of these guys are studious
Speaker 1: players that are always well prepared. They communicate their leaders.
Speaker 1: So in this class at that safety group, who is
Speaker 1: the best in terms of guys that can come down
Speaker 1: and cover in the slot, Guys that can communicate and
Speaker 1: rotate and play multiple spots Like who fits the dolphin's
Speaker 1: bill in the defensive backfield? Yeah? I love that. Justin
Speaker 1: Coleman pick up, I thought he was a great piece
Speaker 1: for the uh Lions the past couple of years. Really
Speaker 1: Feiste Nickel. It's a really big nickel too. But if
Speaker 1: you want a safety that can come with some coverage skills,
Speaker 1: that can play the back in and not a liability
Speaker 1: and run support, which is really what everybody wants, that
Speaker 1: undersized nickel third corner is really a dying breed because
Speaker 1: he was getting picked on now in the perimeter blocking,
Speaker 1: here's a liability and run support. Everybody's still playing nickel.
Speaker 1: But they want three safety, So what does that mean.
Speaker 1: We want a safety that can cover, just like you
Speaker 1: talked about converting all these corners to the middle of
Speaker 1: the field. There's a couple in treating options. I love
Speaker 1: Divine Diablo at a Virginia Tech former four star receiver
Speaker 1: at six three Travis I swear he ran the wrong
Speaker 1: route one day and they kicked him out of the
Speaker 1: receiver room and say go to the dB roomer he
Speaker 1: dropped the pass in the jugs machine or something. Because
Speaker 1: he is a very impressive football player, guy with good
Speaker 1: coverage skills, ball skills, good size. Anyone that's playing that
Speaker 1: kind of cover four scheme or that safety is triggering
Speaker 1: down the hill, playing over number two and the tight
Speaker 1: ends quite often. And Richie Grant at a Central Florida
Speaker 1: I think is a complete package at safety. Now, the
Speaker 1: issue with Richie Grant, He's not this all world tester
Speaker 1: that we want at safety. He's not Jamal Adams or
Speaker 1: Earl Thomas or Derwin James or Buddha Baker and running
Speaker 1: four fours and lifting two times. He's not that type
Speaker 1: of guy. He just checks every box in like a
Speaker 1: B plus sense at the safety position. He and play
Speaker 1: the post. He could play half field. He can be
Speaker 1: a robber, really tough and run support and put on
Speaker 1: the one on ones against Senior Bowl. He's locking up
Speaker 1: slot receivers and outside receivers like no problem. Um. I
Speaker 1: think him and his teammate Aaron Robinson, the Alabama transfer
Speaker 1: at UCF, another interesting player. He's a little bit more
Speaker 1: of a true nickel, but another guy that's been tough
Speaker 1: and over the middle of the field. But as we're
Speaker 1: talking about scheme, and just like I said, I would
Speaker 1: like them to dial the blitzing back a little bit.
Speaker 1: I want them to dial the man coverage back a
Speaker 1: little bit too. It's just a very very stressful scheme
Speaker 1: on the defense. It's a proactive scheme. So they make
Speaker 1: some plays by being aggressive, but way too many liabilities
Speaker 1: and back in uh confusion bus plays over the top,
Speaker 1: and I feel like some of the best defenses in
Speaker 1: the NFL are starting to dial things back into a
Speaker 1: more of a archaic vanilla type of defense up saying
Speaker 1: we don't really know how to stop offenses right now.
Speaker 1: Let's play way back, force the ball in front of us.
Speaker 1: Let's rally to the football and make tackles, but we
Speaker 1: have to limit explosive plays. And I think zone coverages
Speaker 1: are dominating the NFL right now, and the best defenses
Speaker 1: are playing yet, whether it's Tampa or l A or
Speaker 1: the Packers or Indianapolis, seems like these zone coverages are
Speaker 1: the safer defenses. So I'd like to see the Dolphins
Speaker 1: kind of mix up their schemes and uh general philosophies
Speaker 1: just a little bit in That's definitely fascinating. I haven't
Speaker 1: really heard that approach, but it makes it makes sense
Speaker 1: that we explain it, So I would be curious to see. Well,
Speaker 1: like Travis, listen to Nick Saban's quote that went around
Speaker 1: earlier this week, and he talked about you can't just
Speaker 1: run the ball and play defense anymore, and defenses are
Speaker 1: really at a loss for how to stop offenses on
Speaker 1: Saturday's and Sundays. I think the rules need to help
Speaker 1: them a little bit with r p O s and
Speaker 1: things like that, but it's almost like a until we
Speaker 1: can figure this out, we're gonna go with the safe
Speaker 1: vanilla coverages prevent the ball from going over our head.
Speaker 1: We're gonna dare you to go ten twelve plays on us?
Speaker 1: And when you watch Steve Sarkiesian do his clinic, the
Speaker 1: offense coordinator Obama I went to Texas. He said, we
Speaker 1: have to generate explosive plays because I can't go ten
Speaker 1: twelve plays. One of my guys will screw up. So
Speaker 1: it's funny to have that kind of conflicting style of
Speaker 1: saying offenses want explosive plays, don't allow it from a
Speaker 1: defensive perspective. So spending this back to the Dolphins heavy
Speaker 1: man coverage, heavy pressure scheme, you dictate the action, but
Speaker 1: it's very risky and it's a very high variance way
Speaker 1: to play defense. It might be more of the week
Speaker 1: to week game plan idea because you go back to
Speaker 1: the season, Jared Goff, Jimmy Garoppolo, the Joe Flacco court.
Speaker 1: You know those teams that came to Miami. They got
Speaker 1: a whooping on this defense. When we saw Patrick Mahomes
Speaker 1: or Josh Allen, the story was different. Even though even
Speaker 1: though we turned over Mahomes four times, they still had
Speaker 1: the explosive plays. Like you mentioned, and every defense has
Speaker 1: pros and cons. If there was something that covered everything,
Speaker 1: everybody would play on every down. So you know, I
Speaker 1: sit here, I do a lot of stuff for Indian
Speaker 1: Green Bay play a lot of zone. What happens in zone,
Speaker 1: you give up a lot of completions. So on third
Speaker 1: and five when you give up six, yeah, social media
Speaker 1: is on fire saying get up there and press them
Speaker 1: disrupt Why are we not playing press? And then the
Speaker 1: press teams are saying, can we, you know, keep the
Speaker 1: ball in front of us? Can we prevent it from
Speaker 1: going over our head one of these plays? So everything
Speaker 1: has frozen cons to it. You mentioned the Packers there.
Speaker 1: I know you work with the Eagles too, and you're
Speaker 1: wearing the ACME Packer. Sure, I know that's that's your team,
Speaker 1: that's the that's the team you root for. But uh,
Speaker 1: I wanted to finish with this because we mentioned you
Speaker 1: do do the Journey to the Draft podcast with with
Speaker 1: Fran Duffy. Great stuff you guys do over there. And
Speaker 1: you know the Dolphins recently struck a trade with the
Speaker 1: Eagles to go back from to go up from twelve
Speaker 1: to six, and you and I talked about this how
Speaker 1: both the Dolphins and Eagles have gathered future draft capital
Speaker 1: based upon their picks this year and I was curious
Speaker 1: to get your take on the idea of fully falling
Speaker 1: back into future drafts when we talk about the uncertainty
Speaker 1: of this year, how there's so much boom bus potential
Speaker 1: because of the nature of this year's draft class, not
Speaker 1: getting to know the person you know with all those
Speaker 1: in person visits. So what do you take on the
Speaker 1: Dolphins and Eagles both getting future draft capital and what's
Speaker 1: your general takeaway on that trade. So I've heard different
Speaker 1: sentiments from different scouts and some people that work with organizations.
Speaker 1: Some feel that there's a lot of hesitation with this
Speaker 1: draft that they would rather stockpile picks or excuse me,
Speaker 1: which looks like a much deeper draft class as you
Speaker 1: have a lot of these seniors given a free year
Speaker 1: of eligibility that went back that probably didn't need to.
Speaker 1: Next year's crop is going to be much deeper. Give
Speaker 1: them more time to vet the players and figure it out.
Speaker 1: But I've heard the sentiment the other way of saying,
Speaker 1: there's room for steals in this draft. There's room for
Speaker 1: teams to make mistakes and other teams to capitalize. So
Speaker 1: I see some looking at this draft as kind of
Speaker 1: an opportunity to maybe get some steals on players, and
Speaker 1: there's so many gray areas. Um, you know, player like
Speaker 1: Walker little like we talked about from Stanford, hasn't about
Speaker 1: the field in two years. Travis. He could go in
Speaker 1: the first round and I'd be like, okay. He could
Speaker 1: go in the fifth round and I'll be like okay.
Speaker 1: So there's a lot of guys like that that I
Speaker 1: think some teams are gonna think they're the smartest people
Speaker 1: in the room and go run a card up on
Speaker 1: a guy that everybody else has in a later round.
Speaker 1: So uh, to spend this back to the Dolphins, the Eagles,
Speaker 1: the top ten of this draft. I could have told
Speaker 1: you two months ago, if you don't need a quarterback,
Speaker 1: you should be putting up billboards. So the rest of
Speaker 1: the NFL to say, come trade with us, come get
Speaker 1: your guy. And I think the Cincinnati Bengals are sitting
Speaker 1: there looking left and right and saying, shoot, you know,
Speaker 1: we kind of missed our opportunity to get out of
Speaker 1: this number five spot because we don't need to be
Speaker 1: there if we don't need a quarterback. Um, and they
Speaker 1: also have a left tackle they just took two years ago,
Speaker 1: and Jonah Williams, so is Penny Sully have been an
Speaker 1: option there, so I would be putting out ads in
Speaker 1: the paper saying, come trade with us. And I'm not
Speaker 1: even certain that the Dolphins are done trading out of
Speaker 1: that spot. I even think, what are they at six
Speaker 1: right now that they could end up eating back further
Speaker 1: and still getting this similar player that they were looking at.
Speaker 1: And that's kind of the conversation with the Eagles at
Speaker 1: six in the market for Pitts Smith, Chase Waddle should
Speaker 1: be a couple of those options available at twelve as well.
Speaker 1: Maybe it's a little bit more into the cornerback market
Speaker 1: of J. C. Horn and sur Tan, But I would
Speaker 1: be shocked if all those receivers and pits all went
Speaker 1: in the top twelve. Is just not possible with it
Speaker 1: projecting to look like you're gonna have five quarterbacks go
Speaker 1: in the top eight picks um. And I know there's
Speaker 1: some teams like Carolina at eight in Washington and New
Speaker 1: England that are sitting there saying, shoot, if we need
Speaker 1: a quarterback, we better go get one, we better trade up.
Speaker 1: So I think the movement is just beginning. It one
Speaker 1: month out from the draft and it all begins. Man,
Speaker 1: It's It's as if NFL Draft need to become any
Speaker 1: more interesting. I think we've already accomplished that this year.
Speaker 1: Ben Finel, you said it all. He's at Ben Fanel
Speaker 1: Underscore NFL on Twitter, does work for NFL Network, the Eagles, ESPN,
Speaker 1: your every where. Ben. Appreciate your time today, man. We'll
Speaker 1: do it again soon and uh and and have fun
Speaker 1: the rest of this draft season. And we'll see you
Speaker 1: at the end of April. Thanks Drafts and the Way
Speaker 1: he goes. What a fun podcast that was. We both
Speaker 1: joked a little bit afterwards and we went long. But
Speaker 1: who cares like it's it's more content for you guys,
Speaker 1: More more audio for you guys to get here on
Speaker 1: the Drivetime Podcast. We're gonna continue doing this all draft
Speaker 1: season long, three shows a week, will probably pick it
Speaker 1: up for five shows a week the week of the draft,
Speaker 1: and of course have recaps each day after the draft
Speaker 1: as well. So plenty of content coming your way. Plenty
Speaker 1: of draft content here on the Drivetime Podcast. As for
Speaker 1: today's time, that is gonna be my time you all.
Speaker 1: Please be sure to subscribe to the podcast on Apple, podcast, Spotify,
Speaker 1: wherever you get your podcast from. Go ahead and leave
Speaker 1: us a rating, leave us a review. Check out the
Speaker 1: Audible and the Fish Tank podcast. Follow me on Twitter
Speaker 1: at Wingfield NFL. Follow the team at Miami Dolphins and
Speaker 1: of course, Miami Dolphins dot com. Until next time, fins up.