Speaker 1: Fail touchdown, Miami Drun. What is up? Dolphins? And welcome
Speaker 1: to the Drivetime Podcast, part of the Miami Dolphins official
Speaker 1: podcast network, covering your team, your Miami Dolphins. How's it going? Everybody?
Speaker 1: It is Friday. I am your host, Travis Wingfield, And
Speaker 1: on today's show, our first big transaction of the off season.
Speaker 1: I'll tell you why Jason Sanders is even more valuable
Speaker 1: to the Dolphins than his position as the first team
Speaker 1: All Pro kicker in the NFL suggests. Plus we'll learn
Speaker 1: a little bit more about the new quarterbacks coach in Miami,
Speaker 1: coach Charlie Fry, and kick off the off season preview
Speaker 1: with the quarterbacks, running backs, and wide receivers. Busy, Busy
Speaker 1: show today. All of that and more on this Friday, February,
Speaker 1: the nineteenth edition of the Drive Time Podcast. Alright, so
Speaker 1: we're about a year into pandemic life, as it were.
Speaker 1: The phrase new normal just kind of feels like normal
Speaker 1: these days. And one of the things that I really
Speaker 1: missed the most is going out to restaurants for dinner, lunch,
Speaker 1: whatever it might be. I told my wife the other day,
Speaker 1: I think the part of going out to eat that
Speaker 1: I enjoy the most, and I didn't really realize this
Speaker 1: until all of this happened. It is just the people
Speaker 1: watching aspect of it. The food is great, the company
Speaker 1: obviously is great, but those are things that you can
Speaker 1: replicate in your own home. It's that social interaction that
Speaker 1: really amplifies things and and makes going out going out.
Speaker 1: And I say this because, and as most of you know,
Speaker 1: I'm doing the podcast now from the Pacific Northwest, back
Speaker 1: home with my wife and my daughter back up here
Speaker 1: for the time being, and my part of the state
Speaker 1: just entered phase two of pandemic reopening to allow for
Speaker 1: restaurants to open of their indoor capacity. So we're going
Speaker 1: to head out to a restaurant tomorrow, our favorite restaurant,
Speaker 1: and I can't remember the last time I've been to one,
Speaker 1: and I'm just a little bit excited about I wanted
Speaker 1: to open the show with that, talking about maybe getting
Speaker 1: things back to to some normalcy one year after the fact,
Speaker 1: after our lives all changed forever. But before we take
Speaker 1: you into the weekend, some news, and it's our first
Speaker 1: big transaction of the one off season. The Dolphins have
Speaker 1: extended the contract of first team All Pro kicker Jason
Speaker 1: Sanders through the six season. And we know about the
Speaker 1: numbers by now. We covered this all season long. Thirty
Speaker 1: six of thirty nine in field goals this season, twenty
Speaker 1: of those from forty or more yards. He tied the
Speaker 1: franchise record with the Lindo mari set back in with
Speaker 1: one forty four points scored the most by a Miami Dolphin.
Speaker 1: He and mare A successful on ninety two point of
Speaker 1: his field goals, and he also rose his career percentage
Speaker 1: to eighty six point five. Both of those are best
Speaker 1: in franchise history minimum fifty career attempts there, and he
Speaker 1: also made all thirty six of his p A t
Speaker 1: attempts this season. But if you go further into the
Speaker 1: context of the numbers, that did make Jason Sanders the
Speaker 1: first team All Pro kicker in the NFL in it's
Speaker 1: the complimentary aspect of a big time kicker with a
Speaker 1: dominant defense that creates this recipe for closing out football games.
Speaker 1: You get a top five or six scoring defense, it's
Speaker 1: gonna keep you in most games, and an accurate kicker
Speaker 1: with the range that Jason Sanders has that's gonna go
Speaker 1: a long way anytime you're in a close football game.
Speaker 1: Go back to alone, a game winner against the Cardinals,
Speaker 1: fifty yards hits, the field goal against the Chargers to
Speaker 1: give the Dolphins a two score lead late in the
Speaker 1: fourth quarter, forty nine yards out on that one. Four
Speaker 1: field goals against the Bengals, four more against the Raiders,
Speaker 1: including the forty four yard game winner. This guy is
Speaker 1: a weapon. And now he signed with Miami through the season,
Speaker 1: and we talk about the range that Sanders has, and
Speaker 1: there's a reason why this guy is the all time
Speaker 1: franchise leader in field goal percentage because he makes his
Speaker 1: field goals pretty much from everywhere. But when you think
Speaker 1: of the phrase take the points, that's always assuming to
Speaker 1: kick the field goal on fourth down because you're guaranteed
Speaker 1: to get three points. Right. Well, in the case of
Speaker 1: Jason Sanders, he is forty for forty one in his
Speaker 1: career from under forty yards, so he doesn't miss in
Speaker 1: the short range. He's extremely accurate in the long range.
Speaker 1: He's reliable on p A T s. He's a fantastic
Speaker 1: kickoff specialist who can give you the touchback, who can
Speaker 1: give you the pooch kick and give you good on
Speaker 1: side kick attempts. He's part of a litany of trick
Speaker 1: plays that have produced first downs and touchdowns and points
Speaker 1: and and so much entertainment for this Dolphins fan base.
Speaker 1: Three years into this guy's career, seventh round draft pick
Speaker 1: out of New Mexico, and this is the kind of
Speaker 1: impact he's having, gets a big contract, gets the big extension.
Speaker 1: Congrats to Jason Sanders, man. This dude earned it, and
Speaker 1: I love watching him kick the football. I mean I
Speaker 1: talked about it all camp long last last season, right
Speaker 1: at every single episode, I don't think I saw Jason
Speaker 1: Sanders missed today and that was the That was the
Speaker 1: case every single day, all the way up to the scrimmage.
Speaker 1: He missed from like sixty two yards and let him
Speaker 1: stretch one out and he missed it left like he
Speaker 1: had the leg. He just like barely missed it left.
Speaker 1: And then of course he misses three kicks in the
Speaker 1: entire season. Jason Sanders well earned contract. I am glad
Speaker 1: he's staying put here in Miami. Alright, And our third segment,
Speaker 1: we're gonna get into the off season preview Part one,
Speaker 1: taking a look at quarterbacks, running backs, and wide receivers
Speaker 1: both on the Dolphins roster. In the draft and free agency.
Speaker 1: But first I want to go back and talk about
Speaker 1: new quarterbacks coach Charlie Fry, who got a chance to
Speaker 1: see our I guess our first look at him during
Speaker 1: the Senior Bowl practices that were televised on ESPN, You
Speaker 1: and NFL Network. But as a player, his career spanned
Speaker 1: five years three teams, Cleveland Brown, Seattle Seahawks, and the
Speaker 1: Oakland Raiders. Took a bit of a break there before
Speaker 1: he got back into the coaching ranks and he coached
Speaker 1: high school football in the state of Florida for a
Speaker 1: couple of years two different high schools. From then he
Speaker 1: winds up in the college level with Florida a director
Speaker 1: of player development for a couple of years there in seventeen,
Speaker 1: then goes on to Ashland where he coaches the wide receivers.
Speaker 1: So you see this pattern here to heveloping for Charlie
Speaker 1: Fry's coaching career post playing career. A guy that's obviously
Speaker 1: been in many NFL offensive meeting rooms, now high school
Speaker 1: as well as the college level and coaching different positions
Speaker 1: doing different things. Director of player personnel, offensive coordinator in
Speaker 1: high school receivers, coach at the college level, and then
Speaker 1: he moves on to his next big job in Central Michigan,
Speaker 1: the Chippawas as the O C and quarterbacks coach for
Speaker 1: two years there twenty nineteen. And and that's where I
Speaker 1: want to kind of focus on the production of the
Speaker 1: Chippawas offense under the tutelage under the direction of Charlie Fry.
Speaker 1: And before we do that, you visit some of the
Speaker 1: quotes and the things that his peers have to say
Speaker 1: about him talking about his ability as a communicator as
Speaker 1: a teacher. Bucky Brooks of NFL Network mentioned that on
Speaker 1: Twitter back when the higher happened. Just these things that
Speaker 1: have been consistent in the approach for Brian Flores to
Speaker 1: develop his coaching staff, to round out his coaching staff
Speaker 1: under that same umbrella, under that same singular vision of
Speaker 1: guys that are teachers. And we heard, for instance, Andrew
Speaker 1: and gink Will talk about Austin Clark's teaching ability in
Speaker 1: the past rush game, and you know, Shack Laws and Emmanuela.
Speaker 1: A lot of the guys pointed to him as well
Speaker 1: there too, the offensive line guys talking about Lemille John
Speaker 1: Pierre and kind of the techniques and the player's perspective
Speaker 1: that he has from that teaching aspect, saw some of
Speaker 1: the similar things about Charlie Fry from his peers, from
Speaker 1: people you know in the media coaching ranks, talking about
Speaker 1: his ability as a teacher. So I mean that obviously
Speaker 1: drives there. But going back to the Central Michigan offense,
Speaker 1: and I think it's always smart to kind of throw
Speaker 1: in the disclaimer of look, you bring in a coach,
Speaker 1: you don't know exactly what the level of impact, of
Speaker 1: the level of influence a certain voice, or a certain
Speaker 1: system or a certain idea will have. And that's why
Speaker 1: I always kind of turn up, you know, turn up
Speaker 1: my cheek at the idea that a certain coach had
Speaker 1: a certain level of production from a certain position group.
Speaker 1: Therefore them going to a new spot will have the
Speaker 1: same the same production or same ideas. Coaching is a collaboration.
Speaker 1: So at the at Central Michigan they had a staff
Speaker 1: full of guys that work towards the same goal. The
Speaker 1: same is true here in Miami the Dolphins. Brian Flores
Speaker 1: has talked about it with the defense how Josh Boyer
Speaker 1: and Anthony Campanelli and John Alexander and Austin Clark, the
Speaker 1: assistance in those position rooms. Coach Kirk Kountz, who was
Speaker 1: the directed the third down meetings, had an impact that
Speaker 1: way as well. So here comes Fry, a quarterbacks coach
Speaker 1: who has played quarterback in the league. Understands the you know,
Speaker 1: pressures of of doing preparing for an opponent every week,
Speaker 1: the pressures of media, the pressures of just being in
Speaker 1: an NFL building, and kind of being in that quarterback world.
Speaker 1: As you know Ryan Fitzpatrick talked about back in October
Speaker 1: whatever it was, how there are thirty two quarterbacks that
Speaker 1: have this job that understand what it takes to be
Speaker 1: in this position, and then the course the backups behind that.
Speaker 1: All things told, less than a hundred people on earth
Speaker 1: that are doing this this particular job to understand what
Speaker 1: the quarterback goes through. So Fry has that professional playing experience.
Speaker 1: And I found this article up on Hustle belt dot
Speaker 1: com taking a look. It's an sp nation faction of
Speaker 1: the MAC ten conference that are the I'm sorry, the
Speaker 1: Mid American Conference in college football and the central mission
Speaker 1: again offense was told to be in twenty nineteen with
Speaker 1: with Fry there on staff as well. More of an
Speaker 1: RPO collegiate spread style offensive attack. Where then where they
Speaker 1: played six games because of the COVID shortened season, they
Speaker 1: installed a pro style, run heavy look that average five
Speaker 1: yards per carry, that ran the ball forty yards per
Speaker 1: game and went over two hundred yards rushing per games.
Speaker 1: So again, this idea of having a coach that has
Speaker 1: been around the block, that has seen multiple systems, that
Speaker 1: understands different levels of football at the college professional level,
Speaker 1: different schemes, different ideas. That's the collaboration idea. Charlie Fry's
Speaker 1: resume speaks to his ability to be versatile and to
Speaker 1: adapt to whatever is throwing at him as far as
Speaker 1: what the head coach wants to do offensive coordinator wants
Speaker 1: to do. Charlie Fry has been under many systems and
Speaker 1: seen plenty of football. So I wanted to go ahead
Speaker 1: and put that out there for you here on the podcast,
Speaker 1: and I thought it was an appropriate time to cover
Speaker 1: the quarterbacks coach on the day. We're going to preview
Speaker 1: the upcoming offseason now less than a month away. Man,
Speaker 1: the new league year coming around the corner just in
Speaker 1: a few weeks, looking at the free agents free agency
Speaker 1: coming up and then the draft after that as well
Speaker 1: as the roster building portion of the off season picks up,
Speaker 1: So a little bit of news on Charlie Fry there.
Speaker 1: Let's go ahead and transition now into our C block
Speaker 1: and get to the off season preview. Taking a look
Speaker 1: at the three positions on offense, I guess the skill
Speaker 1: positions with the quarterbacks, running backs, wide receivers. Will group
Speaker 1: up the tight ends and offensive line on the next
Speaker 1: edition of this, and then transition onto the defensive side
Speaker 1: of the football to wrap this thing up here on
Speaker 1: the off season preview here on the Drive Time podcast,
Speaker 1: and we start at the quarterback position, a couple of
Speaker 1: pending free agents from last year's roster. Ryan Fitzpatrick is
Speaker 1: an unrestricted free agent, Jake Rudoc is scheduled to be
Speaker 1: a restricted free agent, and then of course the incumbents
Speaker 1: on a futurist contract. Who was the backup to Ta
Speaker 1: in the week's seventeen game this year read Senet And
Speaker 1: then of course the number five pick in the draft
Speaker 1: last year, rookie to a tongue of yloa. And that's
Speaker 1: where we really get into this right here. We talked
Speaker 1: about to a bit on the Tuesday podcast. I tweeted
Speaker 1: out a deep ball statistic from tah over the week
Speaker 1: from Jonathan Kinsley does the Deep Ball the Quarterback Deep
Speaker 1: Ball Project every single year and saw some of the
Speaker 1: accurate downfield shots. It was throws from a clean pocket
Speaker 1: twenty or more yards down field to was eight of
Speaker 1: twelve with accurate throws on those on those passes, and
Speaker 1: that was tied for the second best percentage. Now, albeit
Speaker 1: a small sample size, but you go back to his
Speaker 1: college tape, and that's what he did at Alabama was
Speaker 1: just a constant downfield threat. They would get defenses creeping
Speaker 1: up on that strong running game, the quick the quick game,
Speaker 1: the slant game, the rpo game, and then he would
Speaker 1: unleash the deep ball, just hit these perfect long balls
Speaker 1: and stride to streaking receivers down the football field. And
Speaker 1: you know this offseason already, I've been grinding through draft
Speaker 1: prospect tape, potential free agent tape. I've been looking at
Speaker 1: the Dolphin's own roster as well, and recently I've gotten
Speaker 1: back into to US tape and going back over his
Speaker 1: starts and just even from the first game against the Rams,
Speaker 1: the ball was coming out so quickly based upon you
Speaker 1: would see a defender shift or rotate in one direction
Speaker 1: and the ball would go in the vacancy left by
Speaker 1: that defender quickly after there by Towah. So you continue
Speaker 1: to see the way he kind of processes the defenses.
Speaker 1: And I'm not gonna sit here and tell you I
Speaker 1: know the calls of the offense or what his progression is,
Speaker 1: but it jives with this stat that he had the
Speaker 1: eighth quickest time from snap to release this year in
Speaker 1: the National Football League. And we go back to the
Speaker 1: comment Daniel Jeremiah of the NFL Network said about what
Speaker 1: Too reminds him as in terms of his like, you know,
Speaker 1: off the football field analogy, and he always called him
Speaker 1: a blackjack dealer. Just ball comes out quick, super super
Speaker 1: good with the ball handling and detail oriented in that
Speaker 1: in the ball fakes and the play fakes and and
Speaker 1: getting defenders kind of you know, out of the passing
Speaker 1: lanes and shifting their their launch point in their momentum
Speaker 1: to create throwing lanes for himself. And I thought we
Speaker 1: saw that consistently throughout the year on tongue of by
Speaker 1: Lowe's tape. And I just continue to be impressed by
Speaker 1: the location of the football, his ability to put the
Speaker 1: ball on on location with awkward platform like for instance,
Speaker 1: back to that Rams game the touchdown passed to DeVante
Speaker 1: Parker where there's a six man rush coming. The Dolphins
Speaker 1: slide the protection away from a rusher off the left
Speaker 1: and a cat blitz a cornerback coming on the blitz,
Speaker 1: and you see two of his eyes start first to
Speaker 1: the right and the free rush coming off the left.
Speaker 1: As soon as he moves his head back at all
Speaker 1: excuse me, to the middle of the field, he's he
Speaker 1: then just flips that thing out because he picks up
Speaker 1: that free rusher with a kind of side glance and
Speaker 1: then flips that thing out without even getting his feet set.
Speaker 1: He just has that quick release that can help you
Speaker 1: mitigate free rushers, can help you mitigate immediate pressure. And
Speaker 1: to me, that's the name of quarterback. The name of
Speaker 1: the game at the quarterback position in one is how
Speaker 1: can you mitigate pressure and how can you get the
Speaker 1: football out quickly? And we saw, you know, all year
Speaker 1: long to a did well against the blitz. Pro Football
Speaker 1: Focus had him with seven touchdown passes compared to just
Speaker 1: one interception when the defense sent five or more rushers.
Speaker 1: He was also eleventh among quarterbacks in PFFS quarterback and
Speaker 1: will this massive, massive data collection piece of you know,
Speaker 1: post season content they produced every single season. They have
Speaker 1: a metric that kind of measures the level of accuracy
Speaker 1: whether or not you lead the receiver, you through the
Speaker 1: ball on body, whether it was high or low or
Speaker 1: behind and in the accuracy plus metric tongue Bylowa was
Speaker 1: eleventh and National Football League there for PFF. So, you know,
Speaker 1: we've heard coaches x, you know, executive people in the
Speaker 1: media talk about how the biggest jump for a player
Speaker 1: can often come from year one to year two. Field
Speaker 1: Yates referred to I believe it was Bill Parcel saying
Speaker 1: that back on the Drivetime podcast a couple of weeks ago,
Speaker 1: and I just think if you get that jump, you
Speaker 1: get some of those the you know, learning the way
Speaker 1: the NFL game works. The first year, rookie season, you
Speaker 1: get that second year jomb. I think we could be
Speaker 1: in for a special season here for the Dolphins quarterback.
Speaker 1: So now it kind of circles back to what does
Speaker 1: the rest of the position look like. We talked about
Speaker 1: Red Senette being here. We talked about two possible free
Speaker 1: agents in Ryan Fitzpatrick and Jake RUDOC and just to
Speaker 1: get a disclaimer on the air here before we go
Speaker 1: into us any further, none of these views expressed are
Speaker 1: the opinion of the football team. This is me putting
Speaker 1: together a list of players based upon Pro Football Focus
Speaker 1: on the Draft network, and they're big boards according to
Speaker 1: free agents and draft draft eligible players alike. So if
Speaker 1: you look at Pro Football Focuses Top one hundred and
Speaker 1: fifty free agent list, and there are so many of
Speaker 1: these publications that have these. NFL dot Com usually does
Speaker 1: Top one oh one. I believe the Touchdown Why Are
Speaker 1: USA Today has their Top one hundred as well, so
Speaker 1: you can get your variety of lists. Pro Football Focus
Speaker 1: has one d and fifty and on that list, twelve
Speaker 1: of the names their quarterbacks. Dak Prescott obviously at the
Speaker 1: Cowboys starting quarterback big time. Uh, you know, top line
Speaker 1: quarterback Jamis Winston, Cam Newton, Andy Dalton, Tyrod Taylor, Mitchell Rabiskie,
Speaker 1: Jacoby Brissette, Joe Flacco, Mike Glennon and C. J. Betha
Speaker 1: as well as Ryan Fitzpatrick all made that top one
Speaker 1: fifty list. And you have to kind of make that decision,
Speaker 1: do you want to go and try to draft and
Speaker 1: develop a quarterback to maybe Groom as a long term
Speaker 1: backup or a long term understudy or a long term
Speaker 1: development behind Tungo Bylowa. Do you go out and sign
Speaker 1: the veteran quarterback that can come in and the pinch
Speaker 1: and spark, you know, a couple of drives and get
Speaker 1: you a win late in the game if you're starting
Speaker 1: quarterback goes down in the game or you know, has
Speaker 1: to play a couple of games because he is in
Speaker 1: fact injured. Do you go that route? Do you try
Speaker 1: to go the route of the type of career resurgence
Speaker 1: like we saw, for instance with Ryan Tannehill and Tennessee.
Speaker 1: Do you go after a guy like a Mitchell Robinsky
Speaker 1: on this list who was drafted highly and kind of
Speaker 1: you know, fell out of favor there in Chicago. Do
Speaker 1: you go that route? There are so many options you
Speaker 1: can choose here, both between free agency and the draft.
Speaker 1: And the interesting part about the draft prospects here from
Speaker 1: the Draft Network is they have five quarterbacks in the
Speaker 1: top forty three, and there's kind of a tier gap
Speaker 1: in the next tier after that for them. Trevor Lawrence,
Speaker 1: Justin Fields, Zack Wilson, and Trey Lance. All four of
Speaker 1: those guys are in their top eleven. They have Mac Jones,
Speaker 1: the alimenta quarterback at number forty three. Then you drop
Speaker 1: off to Kyle Trask, who's number one and thirty five
Speaker 1: overall player for them on their draft board out of Florida,
Speaker 1: Advis Mills out of Standford, Jamie Newman out of Georgia,
Speaker 1: Sam Ellinger out of Texas and Kellen mont At of
Speaker 1: Texas A and M who was the m v P
Speaker 1: of the Senior Bowl, albeit in a losing effort on
Speaker 1: the American team thought he had a good game. They're
Speaker 1: in an interesting career at Texas A and M. So again,
Speaker 1: do you go back into this day three area and
Speaker 1: try to find a quarterback in that range the free
Speaker 1: agency market. It will be very interesting to see what
Speaker 1: the Dolphins do at that position to help support that
Speaker 1: quarterback room and support or starting quarterback into a tongue
Speaker 1: by loa. They also can help the quarterback room at
Speaker 1: every position. You can do this, but of course with
Speaker 1: having a stronger running game, and that's where we look
Speaker 1: at the running back position. But first we take a
Speaker 1: look at the Dolphins incumbent running backs with some guys
Speaker 1: that had a really nice season last year and starting
Speaker 1: off there with Miles Gaskin, the I guess bell cow
Speaker 1: of the group. He played plenty of ball when he
Speaker 1: was healthy and available for the Dolphins. Damn near average
Speaker 1: one hundred yards from scrimmage. That was a top eleven
Speaker 1: finish in the NFL in terms of yards per scrimmage
Speaker 1: yards from scrimmage per game if you played enough games
Speaker 1: to qualify for that. But Gaskin showed you the patients,
Speaker 1: the running, the vision, the speed to get to that
Speaker 1: second level and to to create poor angles for tacklers
Speaker 1: at that second level and make guys miss and bounce
Speaker 1: off them. Also showed you as the impact he can
Speaker 1: have in the passing game, had that long touchdown against
Speaker 1: the Raiders, got out the gate a couple of times
Speaker 1: on some screen passes and would flex out wide run
Speaker 1: routes that way. Good versatile multiple back Miles Gaskin that
Speaker 1: can really be kind of scheme diverse for you. Has
Speaker 1: that excellent backside vision where he can press front side,
Speaker 1: get to the backside quickly and work against the flow
Speaker 1: of the defense. And then the savan Akhmed the fellow
Speaker 1: you dub former you Dub running back, I should say
Speaker 1: along with Miles Gaskin. And we talked to UH coach
Speaker 1: Keith bonoffa from you Dub the running backs coach there.
Speaker 1: He talked about how Gaskin was more smooth jazz and
Speaker 1: Ahmed was more hip hop, in your face, gonna get
Speaker 1: to the whole right now, very explosive. And we saw
Speaker 1: him have success with a hundred yard day late in
Speaker 1: December and a big Dolphins win over the Patriots in
Speaker 1: that game and contributing, you know, in multiple ways on
Speaker 1: special teams, in the running game and with that speed
Speaker 1: to burn had a big long thirty one yard run
Speaker 1: in that game against the Patriots as well. So the
Speaker 1: explosive element there with Savon Akhmed. Patrick Laird also excuse
Speaker 1: me returns as an incumbent on the Dolphins roster, have
Speaker 1: been a very valuable special teams piece. Has again contributed
Speaker 1: in the passing game. The running game had a big
Speaker 1: first down conversion again back to that Patriots game, a
Speaker 1: third and five play the Dolphins ran the football. It
Speaker 1: was a big conversion there from Patrick Laird. So he
Speaker 1: does a little bit of everything. The intern as it
Speaker 1: were one of the best nicknames in Sports right now
Speaker 1: for my money and then also on a futures contract
Speaker 1: is Jordan's Scarlett. He was signed here just recently in Miami.
Speaker 1: So those are the four guys that are currently in tow.
Speaker 1: Matt Brita is scheduled to be an unrestricted free agent
Speaker 1: and that as well as DeAndre Washington he also is
Speaker 1: going to be an unrestricted free agent here come next month.
Speaker 1: That's what the running back room looks like from a
Speaker 1: Dolphins perspective. If we go over to the Pro Football
Speaker 1: Focus Top one hundred and fifty free agents and once
Speaker 1: again no advocating here and no team opinions such my
Speaker 1: own personal you know display here of the PFF and
Speaker 1: draft now work top prospects in the free agency market
Speaker 1: as well as is also true with the draft and
Speaker 1: pffs list here starts off with Aaron Jones as their
Speaker 1: top available free agent back, the Green Bay Packer who
Speaker 1: has produced big time in recent years with big plays
Speaker 1: again both in the passing game the running game, guys
Speaker 1: that can stay on the football field and contribute in
Speaker 1: multiple ways. And next on their list is Chris Carson
Speaker 1: out of Seattle. He's number fifty eight on their list.
Speaker 1: Total talking about a pure power runner, guy that can
Speaker 1: convert shortyard is just an absolute bruiser. And this list
Speaker 1: continues here with Kenyan Drake from Arizona, James Conner from Pittsburgh,
Speaker 1: Mike Davis, James White, Levian Bell, Jamal Williams, Marlon Mack,
Speaker 1: Carlos Hyde, and Rex Burke had to round out their
Speaker 1: running backs on their top one and fifty available potential
Speaker 1: free agents. We will see, of course, which these guys
Speaker 1: get tagged, which these guys get extended, and who actually
Speaker 1: makes the market. But you see it an impressive list
Speaker 1: of running backs on that group they're available and possible
Speaker 1: free agency. And then we go over to the draft
Speaker 1: and that's where things get interested. We talked about the
Speaker 1: draft a little bit on this podcast already. Are you
Speaker 1: talking about Travis e t N? Nagy Harris, the Clemson
Speaker 1: and Alabama product E t N speed to burn, home
Speaker 1: run threat, guy that can explode and hit the big
Speaker 1: play anytime you give him the football. But he's more
Speaker 1: than just a speedster. He can run through tackles and
Speaker 1: keep on balance and explode for big plays after contact
Speaker 1: as well. And then you've got Nagy Harris who just
Speaker 1: man his production in the college level was absolutely absurd.
Speaker 1: He really showed you the element of the past catching
Speaker 1: game this year out of Alabama, contributing in both facets
Speaker 1: of the game. And again just talking about the touchdown production.
Speaker 1: What he was able to do down around the goal
Speaker 1: line there for the Crimson tie was super, super impressive.
Speaker 1: And speaking of bangers, Javonte Williams out of North Carolina,
Speaker 1: he can absolutely bring the load and he also has
Speaker 1: the quick feet to kind of set up tacklers and
Speaker 1: put them in in decision and put them into a
Speaker 1: position where they have to make a decision. Is he
Speaker 1: gonna beat me with speed or is he gonna beat
Speaker 1: me with power? And Javonte Williams can do both of
Speaker 1: those things. He is number three on the Draft Networks list.
Speaker 1: Number four is his teammate Michael Carter. We heard coach
Speaker 1: Flores's talk about him, they coached him at the Senior Bowl,
Speaker 1: how electric he is as a pass catcher, and we
Speaker 1: saw him hit a couple of big plays in that
Speaker 1: Senior Bowl game as well. Kenneth Gainwell also a nice
Speaker 1: pass receiving back there out of Memphis. He is number
Speaker 1: seventy three, the fifth rated back on T d n's
Speaker 1: Big Board. Jamar Jefferson out of Oregon State had a
Speaker 1: monster season last year in the Pack twelve. He is
Speaker 1: the sixth back on their board. Rom Andre Stevenson was
Speaker 1: as a seventh back on the board here. He was
Speaker 1: also a member of the national squad at the Senior Bowl,
Speaker 1: playing with coach flores Khalil Herbert out of Virginia Tech
Speaker 1: also at the Senior Bowl. And you just look down
Speaker 1: this list, there are so many guys that can contribute
Speaker 1: in the running game and the passing game. And if
Speaker 1: you guys exhibited that skill set more than Demetric Felton
Speaker 1: out of you U C. L A. At the Senior Bowls,
Speaker 1: he flexed out and basically ran the full route tree
Speaker 1: as a receiver. So this class, it's got a little
Speaker 1: bit of everything. Some steaks, some sizzle, some home run playability,
Speaker 1: short yardage guys, and a bunch of dudes that can
Speaker 1: do multiple things that contribute both in the running game
Speaker 1: and the passing game. So that's a snapshot of Miami's
Speaker 1: list of options there from the Draft Network, from Pro
Speaker 1: football folks in free agency and the draft. And with that,
Speaker 1: we'll go ahead and move to our third and final
Speaker 1: position here on this part one offseason preview on the
Speaker 1: Drivetime podcast, taking a look at the wide receiver group,
Speaker 1: and oh boy man, this group and the draft at
Speaker 1: least is extremely deep. Let's go ahead and start though,
Speaker 1: first with the Dolphins incumbents and what they have on
Speaker 1: the roster at the receiver position right now. And you've
Speaker 1: got mostly the whole band coming back together here. Mac
Speaker 1: Hollins is scheduled to be an unrestricted free agent and
Speaker 1: Isaiah Ford is a restricted free agent. But other than that,
Speaker 1: the band's back together. DeVante Parker, Preston Williams, Lynn Bowden,
Speaker 1: Junior Jachem Grant, Malcolm Perry, Kirk Merritt. And then you've
Speaker 1: got Alan Hearns and Albert Wilson still under contract after
Speaker 1: opting out in the season. But off the top that,
Speaker 1: we saw what Parker and Williams can do on the
Speaker 1: field together as a pair of pair of guys that
Speaker 1: can get vertical in different ways. They can make contested
Speaker 1: catches down the football field. I spoke about that watching
Speaker 1: that Cardinals tape again to and Preston found a connection
Speaker 1: on a thirty five yard passed down the field that
Speaker 1: was just really really pretty where he got an inside
Speaker 1: release and to Will put the ball on the money,
Speaker 1: he went up and made a play for that. We've
Speaker 1: seen what Parker can do in the highlight, real stuff
Speaker 1: down the football field, but also becoming more consistent you know,
Speaker 1: underneath and developing his game into a full route tree.
Speaker 1: He talked this offseason about how he wanted to improve
Speaker 1: on comeback routes and just continuing to get better at
Speaker 1: every single route in the tree. I think he continues
Speaker 1: to grow in that area even you know, into year
Speaker 1: six seven of his career. Lynn Bowden Jr. We saw
Speaker 1: what he can do as far as a guy that
Speaker 1: comes over and jet motion carries the football, takes reverses,
Speaker 1: you know, catches short passes, breaks tackles, make plays after
Speaker 1: the catch. He's definitely an intriguing player that way. They
Speaker 1: can give you multiple things, and the Dolphins have a
Speaker 1: few of those guys, right Malcolm Perry, the you know
Speaker 1: quarterback convert in college. People say Bowden was a quarterback convert,
Speaker 1: but he wasn't. He just played quarterback his final year
Speaker 1: at Kentucky, but he was a receiver before that. Actually
Speaker 1: was on the bulletin the cough watch list heading into
Speaker 1: his final year before he selflessly took over at quarterback
Speaker 1: when Kentucky lost two of their quarterbacks to put him
Speaker 1: on the field. And then all he did was just
Speaker 1: go crazy and run for like a billion yards in
Speaker 1: the SEC. But him and Malcolm Perry both have some
Speaker 1: of those traits. Perry's really shifty, a good runner. We
Speaker 1: talked to his coach at Navy last summer, Kennia Mantalolo,
Speaker 1: who said he was the best runner he's ever been around,
Speaker 1: and granted, Navy is full of great, great running prospects.
Speaker 1: And then of course Albert Wilson, we know what he
Speaker 1: can do with the football in his hands. Alan Hurns
Speaker 1: very dependable, a possession receiver guy that can make can
Speaker 1: move the chains and catch balls and try tight windows
Speaker 1: and tight traffic. And then Kirk Merritt is here on
Speaker 1: the futures contract. He was the undrafted free agent with
Speaker 1: some big time workout numbers and production in college that
Speaker 1: was very intriguing as a prospect standpoint goes. So that
Speaker 1: group is intact, and you know, last year we talked
Speaker 1: about Daniel Jeremiah, the great draft analysts there at the
Speaker 1: NFL Network, saying that that class was the best he'd
Speaker 1: ever seen since he came into the NFL doing all
Speaker 1: this stuff back in two thousand three, So call that
Speaker 1: what sixteen years of doing this, man, I think this
Speaker 1: class is right up there as well. This class is
Speaker 1: loaded as deep. It has a little bit of everything
Speaker 1: you want. And you look at the receiving corps, I
Speaker 1: think there's different philosophies about how you can go about
Speaker 1: building them. Once again, my opinion here and kind of
Speaker 1: borrowing it from the Move the Sticks, folks, is do
Speaker 1: you go after that basketball lineup? Do you have the
Speaker 1: power forwards and the guards and the guys, Guys that
Speaker 1: can win through physicality, Guys that can win through separation,
Speaker 1: Guys that can get vertical, Guys that are more adept
Speaker 1: at work in the back shoulder and kind of working
Speaker 1: off leverage of the defense that way. There are so
Speaker 1: many hidden nuances of the position that you can kind
Speaker 1: of round out a group that I think you want
Speaker 1: to be able to build in matchups for every single
Speaker 1: personnel group and you call upon and right now we
Speaker 1: know Miami has a couple of guys like Parker and
Speaker 1: Williams that are just absolute trees and get up field
Speaker 1: and make the plays that way and work the back
Speaker 1: shoulder and produce in the red zone and score touchdowns.
Speaker 1: They've got the shifty guys that we talked about with Bowden,
Speaker 1: Jachem Grant, Malcolm Perry, Albert Wilson, Alan Hearns in that
Speaker 1: regard as well. So they're definitely well rounded in that group.
Speaker 1: So how do you attack this in the offseason? When
Speaker 1: you look at PFF top one fifty free agents, twenty
Speaker 1: three of them receivers and players to three and four
Speaker 1: are receivers, with Chris Godwin, Allen Robinson, and Kenny Golladay.
Speaker 1: Will Fuller's number eleven. He is an absolute explosive of
Speaker 1: downfield threat. Juju Smith Schuster also excuse me, up in
Speaker 1: the top twenty five, he's number twenty three, and the
Speaker 1: list goes on and on and on. Not gonna read
Speaker 1: down this whole list for you, but they've got it
Speaker 1: kind of teered out where you know, possible top of
Speaker 1: the line, like first day signing type of guys we
Speaker 1: saw that are we see that every year. Rather in
Speaker 1: free agency with the first domino kind of falls on
Speaker 1: the secondary domino. You really have a mix of options
Speaker 1: and each of those tears I think where you can say,
Speaker 1: here's our cost at at this knee, we have this
Speaker 1: need for this cost. You can kind of find that
Speaker 1: in each section of this and then you go down
Speaker 1: the draft list and it's similar to that. Man, like,
Speaker 1: you've got so many options where you can choose I
Speaker 1: want more explosivity, Do I want a bigger body guy,
Speaker 1: a more physical presence, Because like Jalen Waller, Jamar Chasing,
Speaker 1: Davante Smith all in the top ten on the Draft
Speaker 1: Networks rankings, They've also got another L s U receiver
Speaker 1: in their next at Terence Marshall Rashad Bateman in Minnesota.
Speaker 1: Could Darius Tony super, super shifty, explosive and can really
Speaker 1: get into that position where he's squared up and then
Speaker 1: with one step he's off to the races. He's number
Speaker 1: twenty four on their list and the sixth ranked receiver
Speaker 1: he was at the Senior Bowl. Rondale Moore makes it
Speaker 1: seven in the top thirty two, so they project thirty
Speaker 1: two first round potential receivers there at the Draft Network.
Speaker 1: He's a guy that exploded onto the scene his freshman
Speaker 1: season at Purdue. Was just a ton of fun to watch,
Speaker 1: running big touchdowns, whether it was through the air, on
Speaker 1: the ground and making big plays, making guys missing the
Speaker 1: open field. He's a fun prospect to watch. You continue
Speaker 1: on with Nico Collins, who was super impressive with the
Speaker 1: Senior Bowl, just as was Dwayne scrag She's a very,
Speaker 1: very smooth route runner who can attack leverage and close
Speaker 1: ground in a hurry. Diame Brown out of North Carolina,
Speaker 1: almand Ross st Brown from USC Seth Williams from Auburn,
Speaker 1: Thayland Walls from Oklahoma State one of those guys that
Speaker 1: just compete at a different level five eleven, but plays
Speaker 1: way bigger than that. Elijah Moore from Old Miss Marie
Speaker 1: Rogers from Clemson, who also was at the Senior Bowl.
Speaker 1: I sure do love his game, his route running and
Speaker 1: the way he he finishes catches regardless of the contact
Speaker 1: from the defensive back or from contact from the ground,
Speaker 1: survive you know, all the way to the ground with
Speaker 1: the catch A Marie Rogers does that so well. About
Speaker 1: two to at well out of Louisville. He's number one
Speaker 1: ten on this list overall, the one two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine,
Speaker 1: twelve thirteen ranked receiver on the list. In my opinion,
Speaker 1: this guy is one of the most explosive players in
Speaker 1: the entire draft who can just get vertical in a second,
Speaker 1: doesn't really have to slow down to hit the accelerator.
Speaker 1: A lot of fun to watch. So again, just going
Speaker 1: over this list of options, both in free agency and
Speaker 1: the draft and in house options, You've got so many
Speaker 1: players that can do multiple things, and you can decide
Speaker 1: where you tear them, which group you put them in
Speaker 1: as far as top of the level free agent, you know,
Speaker 1: first round draft pick or its second tier Day two
Speaker 1: prospect in the draft, and so on and so forth,
Speaker 1: and kind of dedicate your or allocate your resources that
Speaker 1: way and make decisions there. So I look at these
Speaker 1: these three positions we talked about today, a quarterback, running back, receiver,
Speaker 1: really more of the running back and receiver groups as deep.
Speaker 1: A little bit of everything you want. You can do
Speaker 1: it in free agency, you can do it in the draft.
Speaker 1: Plenty of options to improve the football team out there
Speaker 1: on the open market. And we'll talk more about the
Speaker 1: draft prospects and getting some us here on the show.
Speaker 1: Talk these draft prospects as well some free agent evaluations
Speaker 1: and continue to evaluate our own roster here. We're gonna
Speaker 1: have some more of those guests coming on the show
Speaker 1: here shortly. Right now, some folks are on vacation first
Speaker 1: week after the first couple of weeks after the Super Bowl,
Speaker 1: kind of taking a breather. They're taking a break away
Speaker 1: from the game right now. We totally understand that we
Speaker 1: do have some good stuff lined up for you guys
Speaker 1: here coming on the pike, including a few more of
Speaker 1: these offseason preview editions of the Drive Time Podcast. In
Speaker 1: the meantime, that is gonna be my time you all.
Speaker 1: Please be sure to subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcast.
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Speaker 1: of course Miami Dolphins dot com. Until next time, fins up.