Speaker 1: You were listening to the Miami Dolphins Podcast Network. This
Speaker 1: is Drivetime with Travis Whinfield. Back to throw to a
Speaker 1: looking glips at fla wae ol man touchdock, cleric kill, unbelievable,
Speaker 1: just blue fire for a second time. Don't know where
Speaker 1: he was going right away ahead of that man. I
Speaker 1: want to help you soon up on his band away wattle,
Speaker 1: waddle to a shotgut back to throw looking ups up
Speaker 1: fires touchdopa, it's waddle, it's six touchdown padout of the TWA.
Speaker 1: Drivetime with Travis Winfield begins. Now let me speck your
Speaker 1: pulse if you're not part of what is up? Dolphans
Speaker 1: and welcome to the Drivetime podcast, part of the Miami
Speaker 1: Dolphins podcast Network, covering your team, your Miami Dolphins. How's
Speaker 1: it going everybody? I am your host, Travis Winfield. And
Speaker 1: on today's show we finish up our combine coverage twenty
Speaker 1: twenty three. We have a long interview here with the
Speaker 1: ringers Benjamin Solac. Cannot wait for you guys to hear that.
Speaker 1: Plus I'll give you my thoughts and takeaways from the
Speaker 1: week that was here in Indianapolis. All of that and
Speaker 1: a heck of a lot more from the Indiana Convention
Speaker 1: Center in Indianapolis. This is the Drivetime Pop. Let's go
Speaker 1: ahead and first get to my interview with the Ringers
Speaker 1: Benjamin Solac What's Up? Doll Fans? Back here once again
Speaker 1: at the Scouting Combine in Indianapolis, twenty twenty three edition,
Speaker 1: and joined today by Ben Solacs from The Ringer Ben,
Speaker 1: What's up, Man, dollphans? That's a good one. That's nice.
Speaker 1: It's always find whatever you do these teams sites, because
Speaker 1: everybody's got to call in, everybody's gotta wait to bring
Speaker 1: it in doll fans, And one of the best ones
Speaker 1: I've heard. I kind of troll with that one because,
Speaker 1: like I would say, twenty five percent of the fans
Speaker 1: hate it, and they tell me we're not dolls, and
Speaker 1: I'm like, look, I've been doing this same tagline for
Speaker 1: ten years. It's not twenty five percent of fans hate it.
Speaker 1: It's a good bit, you know what I'm saying. He
Speaker 1: gets engagement. We're all right, yeah, that's right. I play
Speaker 1: both sides. I'm playing both sides here, Ben. And now
Speaker 1: we got Ben Soulac here. He's a bit of a
Speaker 1: quarterback guru. Grill from the draft that was kind of
Speaker 1: you your bread and butter coming up, But now you're
Speaker 1: doing a lot more features, more NFL scheme stuff. So
Speaker 1: when I get to that here in just a second
Speaker 1: talking about McDaniel's offense, But first, I think it's an
Speaker 1: interesting year for the Dolphins because you know, back in
Speaker 1: twenty nineteen they kind of reset the books, draft capital,
Speaker 1: free agent spending, and you know, kind of reloading the
Speaker 1: contracts and how they went about things, got all those
Speaker 1: draft picks in. Then you go aggressively last year after
Speaker 1: Tyreek Hill, you get to Ron arms at a bunch
Speaker 1: of big free agent and veteran players. What's next for
Speaker 1: this team in terms of team building and what's the
Speaker 1: next approach for them? So it's interesting, right you're starting
Speaker 1: to transition out of that stage of like, let's get
Speaker 1: our cornerstones and into that stage of how do we
Speaker 1: fill in the margins around the cornerstones? Right? Like, you
Speaker 1: could tell me the Dolphins do anything and freeze in
Speaker 1: the draft this year, does anyone here expect the offense
Speaker 1: cannot be let's throw out to Tyreek and jam and
Speaker 1: Wall like that's gonna be the offense no matter what
Speaker 1: they do. Right to. Your cornerstones are in place, You
Speaker 1: have your identity, you have your pillars. Now it's filling
Speaker 1: in the background. Now you ask the questions. I'm like,
Speaker 1: all right, Mike, asiki didn't get used as large, probably
Speaker 1: gonna leave. What do we want our tight them to
Speaker 1: as to look? Like? How do we get more juice
Speaker 1: out of that than we did? You look at your
Speaker 1: backfield and the changes you made, you ad Jeff Wilson reheamost,
Speaker 1: You go, okay, these are all San Francisco guys. Is
Speaker 1: that what we need? Do we want to do something different?
Speaker 1: So you start to like figure out the margins offensively, defensively.
Speaker 1: I think you're probably have fewer cornerstones, right you went
Speaker 1: and God Bradley Chob, I think your safety room is
Speaker 1: Jones and Javan Holland that's cornerstones. Corner back is probably
Speaker 1: a bit of a weird situation right now. I don't
Speaker 1: know what's going on there, mammy. So you don't have
Speaker 1: as many cornerstones, but still, like Mike mcdano knows Vic
Speaker 1: Vic knows how to run a defense, you kind of
Speaker 1: understand what your identity is going to be. Now it's okay,
Speaker 1: you know do we want to go Draymond Jones or
Speaker 1: do we like we can get that guy in round three?
Speaker 1: Like you kind of start to fill in the gaps
Speaker 1: and what already you kind of know what your offensive
Speaker 1: defensive identity is. That's really interesting because the podcast earlier
Speaker 1: I talked about how like this year, I'm not really
Speaker 1: sure what like the offseason kind of projection looks like
Speaker 1: we're in years past, like you kind of knew like okay,
Speaker 1: when your cornerstones at premium spots, but now those premium
Speaker 1: spots are pretty much filled ups. Like you mentioned, you know,
Speaker 1: tight end running back like off ball linebacker might be
Speaker 1: a spot. You mentioned cornerbacks in the trition that happens there.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna jump to a different portion of the interview
Speaker 1: here because you kind of touched on something that I
Speaker 1: really want to dive into because like the cornerback position,
Speaker 1: you know that was this defense had been built back
Speaker 1: to front for so long. I'm curious how you see
Speaker 1: the scheme shift and how the personnel we currently have
Speaker 1: matches that scheme shift. So it's important to frame this correctly.
Speaker 1: Vic Fangio's defense relies on corners less than the Flores
Speaker 1: and and Jock Boyer defense, they're not as important. With
Speaker 1: that said, there's no defense in the league in which
Speaker 1: outside corner is it really, really, really important. So you
Speaker 1: don't want to go like, oh, we don't need to
Speaker 1: be a seriout out of Cornell. You do. You've got
Speaker 1: to be really serious. There's no way to not be
Speaker 1: serious about that position. It's just Flores was all of
Speaker 1: that islands right, and and for Vic Fangio and that
Speaker 1: defensive approach, you want to definitely have that that start
Speaker 1: outside guy, but you can help them in different ways.
Speaker 1: You can run a greater variety of coverages you got.
Speaker 1: You have a lot more tools in your tool kit
Speaker 1: against wide receiver ones as well. Like Flores's response was
Speaker 1: pretty typically like press them, blitz, press them, and blitz
Speaker 1: like they have a star guy where it's gonna make
Speaker 1: the quarterbacks life hell and then that way the star
Speaker 1: guy's not gonna activate. There's a lot of more answers
Speaker 1: in Fangio's toolbox like that sort of an issue, and
Speaker 1: that's where safety is really important. You look at how
Speaker 1: when this defense has been successful. Fangio in Denver, Kareem
Speaker 1: Jackson and Justin Simmons Brandon Stanley when he's with the Rams.
Speaker 1: Josh Johnson right, this the idea of having this Fangio
Speaker 1: safety is really important. That's why, like what the play
Speaker 1: you've gone from Javon Holland and Brandon Jones makes you
Speaker 1: feel so, so so good about the transition of this
Speaker 1: defense in you still need to figure out what exactly
Speaker 1: outside corner is it gonna look like. You still need
Speaker 1: that corner one heed that pats or Tan right that
Speaker 1: Fangio took top ten when he was with the Broncos.
Speaker 1: But altogether you can move away from that position a
Speaker 1: little bit in terms of focus. You're gonna put more
Speaker 1: on the play to the safeties, and the Dolphins are
Speaker 1: really well suited for that because the person they already have.
Speaker 1: We've had a lot of folks talk about Javon Holland
Speaker 1: and this defense every single years. It's awesome because like
Speaker 1: every person I talked to it to a man. That's
Speaker 1: why I always mes Brandon Jones because people forget Jones
Speaker 1: could play. Yeah, he's going to hold his water and
Speaker 1: his preparation in the way he kind of communicates makes
Speaker 1: me think it's a good fit there because it is
Speaker 1: a complex defense. To kind of get down, especially you know,
Speaker 1: installing it from day one. So I think your answer
Speaker 1: might be the guy we just talked about, number eight.
Speaker 1: I'm thinking, but I just want to ask you who
Speaker 1: do you think stands to gain the most from the
Speaker 1: scheme shift in the Dolphins defense. Collins definitely up there.
Speaker 1: I would say Chubb also gains a lot, just Vic
Speaker 1: knows him and Chubb like, Chubb's a really, really good rusher,
Speaker 1: and I think that it's a it's a mercurial position.
Speaker 1: It's gonna have hot and cold runs. Like I think
Speaker 1: Chubb's really good. I don't think there should be panic
Speaker 1: by the trade and about the value for it. You
Speaker 1: got a really good adge rusher with the first overall pick,
Speaker 1: like that's our first round picks usually that's just how
Speaker 1: the NFL works, you know what I'm saying. Like he
Speaker 1: might be a little bit older, but I feel good
Speaker 1: about that train. I feel good about the future for
Speaker 1: the Dolphins. So I think that that Fangio change helps
Speaker 1: him out a lot. I got questions about interior defensive line,
Speaker 1: and I questions about linebacker, and I would be curious
Speaker 1: toe how those positions shake out. But still like there's
Speaker 1: talent bit right, Wilkins, Rake One who's awesome, and Jerome Baker. Like,
Speaker 1: you got guys just a matter of like figuring out
Speaker 1: how the public pieces it comes together. That makes that
Speaker 1: makes perfect sense. And you know, talking about the edge
Speaker 1: rushing position. Jayalen Phillips had a big breakout year last year,
Speaker 1: and yeah, it's funny because like the sack total was
Speaker 1: kind of the same from the rookie year, but the
Speaker 1: impact on tape was just so much more substantial. What
Speaker 1: do you see from his game in year two? Yeah,
Speaker 1: he always likes Jaylen Phillips always like it was a
Speaker 1: good player and he pairs nicely with Chubb. You got
Speaker 1: size it, you got guys who can handle the run,
Speaker 1: and it's going to be important for this defense. Uh.
Speaker 1: He phelps the quality of his play. Just like you
Speaker 1: said the sack and never say about the same You're
Speaker 1: going to look at how the sacks are created, like
Speaker 1: how do you generate them? He's doing a lot more work. Uh,
Speaker 1: a big explosive guy is always going to be able
Speaker 1: to find success in the outside rush. But like the
Speaker 1: work with his hands right and critically, the ability to
Speaker 1: stay healthy, get reps right when he came out like
Speaker 1: he'd been banking w UCLA. You know, do Miami transfer.
Speaker 1: He had missed the time and considered retiring from football.
Speaker 1: He was just spotty with how long he was committed
Speaker 1: to the game, the periods of time that he missed,
Speaker 1: and kind of that halts your development. It kind of
Speaker 1: put some bumps and some starts in there. Now he's
Speaker 1: he's been a much more available and you can see
Speaker 1: him kind of putting pieces together. So he's coalescing the
Speaker 1: way I think that the Dolphins expected he was, the
Speaker 1: way I hope he would go a good little player
Speaker 1: without that journey he had in college. There's no way
Speaker 1: he's available to pick eighteen back in twenty twenty one.
Speaker 1: It benefits Miami in a big way. I told you
Speaker 1: we're jumping around and ball. I want to go back
Speaker 1: to the offense here, and just on the way McDaniel
Speaker 1: installed this this offense in year one. We were talking
Speaker 1: on the walk over here. It's been a long time
Speaker 1: since the offense top ten offense, the shot number sixth overall. Yeah,
Speaker 1: just give us the bird's eye view on how that
Speaker 1: offense was created, and we'll talk about Tybreek and Jalen
Speaker 1: in a second, but just like kind of from a
Speaker 1: scheme standpoint, how it was put together, McDaniel is the
Speaker 1: preeminent offensive mind right now in the league in terms
Speaker 1: of ingenuity, in terms of creativity, in terms of cutting
Speaker 1: edge right like Andy re like Sean mcvathy. Guys are
Speaker 1: still like more foundational, but in terms of right now
Speaker 1: a guy doing cool new things, other people are going
Speaker 1: to hobby and follow. Yeah, Like, I mean, Daniel is
Speaker 1: one of one. M really like the impact that he
Speaker 1: had on this offense was extremely reminiscent of the impact
Speaker 1: that Sean McVay had on the Rams office of twenty seventeen,
Speaker 1: which he took that over because he came in and
Speaker 1: ran one thing one player. We literally called it like
Speaker 1: the play Capital Tea, Capital Pay where they're setting the
Speaker 1: receiver in jet motion. He becomes the new wide receiver
Speaker 1: one and then they run him on the wheel and
Speaker 1: the outside runs that curler runs that post and they
Speaker 1: run little split zone fake. He ran that twelve times
Speaker 1: a game. I mean, like it's all they ran when
Speaker 1: they when the Chargers beat him, there was the only
Speaker 1: play the Chargers were trying to stop anytime they ran
Speaker 1: anything else the Dolphins got him. It was you gotta
Speaker 1: take away this one play, right, So that was very
Speaker 1: similar to how McVeigh came in twenty seventeen helps Jared
Speaker 1: Goff and kind of revitalize the Ram's offense. It was
Speaker 1: totally in nert previously, that understanding, that that ability to
Speaker 1: get to such a similar bucket, right, I think about
Speaker 1: a shooter getting to the elbow in a variety of
Speaker 1: ways against a variety of coveragers. Just get to one
Speaker 1: spot and get two into that one spot. That's that's
Speaker 1: the hallmark of just a really really really good offensive mind.
Speaker 1: Like that's the guy who just fully gets it. Now
Speaker 1: comes part two. Everybody's seen it, right, and now it
Speaker 1: becomes okay, you have to have new plays. You have
Speaker 1: to have new stuff that you go before. We have
Speaker 1: to have new ways to stretch the defense. If you're
Speaker 1: gonna be a cutting edge guy, you don't get to
Speaker 1: sleep very much. You have to stay a step ahead. Right.
Speaker 1: It's gonna be an interesting thing to see, is is
Speaker 1: how this thing continues to evolve. But the dawn of
Speaker 1: McDaniel was unbelievable. It was it was it was it
Speaker 1: was foundation. I was thinking, like run the football and
Speaker 1: zone or whatever. They're pulling guards. You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 1: They're spreading it out like they're shotgun the RPO. This
Speaker 1: was a guy who's been waiting for a long time
Speaker 1: and Takeover's offense, taking over and absolutely killing it. Now
Speaker 1: I gotta stay ahead. Yeah, we saw a lot of
Speaker 1: those fun concepts. Like one one week, Tyreek Hill on
Speaker 1: that rail route up the sideline hits a big game.
Speaker 1: The next week he get Trent Sure filling a little
Speaker 1: hook route in the middle of a seventy five touchdown.
Speaker 1: That was the play. Yeah, that first slashdown with that
Speaker 1: was the play. Big catch against the Bills was the play.
Speaker 1: There was a catch agains the Lions Jaylen Waddle on
Speaker 1: third down. That was the play. A lot of good
Speaker 1: plays for the Dolphins this year. Was no play you
Speaker 1: mentioned Jalen Waddle. I'm the biggest Yian Waddle fan there is.
Speaker 1: He ran from from about nine yards per catch to
Speaker 1: eighteen this year, doubled his total league leader and yards
Speaker 1: per catch. We obviously know about Tyreek Hill. How do
Speaker 1: Tyreek and Jalen make what you just talked about go?
Speaker 1: So I always I go back and forth on this
Speaker 1: Tee Higgins, Brandon you, Davante Smith. But if you made
Speaker 1: me pick who the best receiver in the league is,
Speaker 1: who's not the wises year one on his team, I
Speaker 1: think I would take Waddle me too. I might change
Speaker 1: my opinion on that top it's really really hard. A
Speaker 1: lot of good wid resverteas uh. Waddles just is so
Speaker 1: uniquely quit because it's a jitterbug and Dabbie kills the
Speaker 1: same way but tough, and they'll catch up with the
Speaker 1: middle of field and they're willing to take hits. You cannot,
Speaker 1: Like I said, McDaniels is an incredible offense. It's one
Speaker 1: of one. You cannot do this unless you have as
Speaker 1: terrifying of a speed threat. Like if you think about
Speaker 1: all those intermediate windows that they generated, just just fifteen
Speaker 1: yard cro routs, fifteen yards top route, fifteen yard digs
Speaker 1: in yard posts. It's because the safeties are further back
Speaker 1: when they face the Dolphins than any other the offense.
Speaker 1: And they're not doing that because McDaniel frows the ball
Speaker 1: vertical at two throws the ball vertical lot. They're not
Speaker 1: doing ex The Dolphins throw the ball teeth. They really
Speaker 1: don't like like to a leather league in a lot
Speaker 1: of like twenty plus yard throws, twenty five plus yard throws.
Speaker 1: When you look at those alls, all breaking throws, they
Speaker 1: didn't really throw vertical like nine balls. They just didn't
Speaker 1: do it that much. So why are the safeties that
Speaker 1: far back? The ten and seventeen and you're just terrible.
Speaker 1: You just terrified of the idea of these guys getting
Speaker 1: on top of you if you decide to get aggressive,
Speaker 1: just once it's a lion started down to Tyreek Hill.
Speaker 1: I think you try to step up, they're gonna get
Speaker 1: on top of you, and so you have to sit
Speaker 1: back there. You have to let those intermediate windows open up.
Speaker 1: So the Dolphins get, because of Wattle, because of Tyreek Hill,
Speaker 1: more real estate than any other offense does. It's that simple.
Speaker 1: They're the other offense we're working with fifty three yards
Speaker 1: across in forty yards deep. The Dolphins are working with
Speaker 1: fifty There's just more room between the zones and anybody
Speaker 1: else gets and like for a quarterback as accurate as
Speaker 1: too to then get that on that amount of space
Speaker 1: on top of just his natural accuracy is natural timing.
Speaker 1: That's why you see those drives or the Dolphins offense
Speaker 1: is just effortless. It's just so so so easy. Eighteen
Speaker 1: yards they playing against a college team. It's because they
Speaker 1: get so much more room than the other NFL offenses too.
Speaker 1: It was funny because in training camp I was like,
Speaker 1: am I a homework? Because every play it was like, oh,
Speaker 1: fifteen yards to waddle eighteen yards of tyreek. Oh, there's
Speaker 1: get Sicky for twenty more. It was just constantly like, Okay,
Speaker 1: that's the offense we're gonna get. I guess in September.
Speaker 1: So I want to ask you this as a kind
Speaker 1: of a follow up to that last part and then
Speaker 1: we'll get into draft prospect talk here just because I
Speaker 1: have you here. So we saw that nine Ers game.
Speaker 1: You talked about that fifteen yard box and Fred Warner
Speaker 1: just changed the way that offense worked because of his size,
Speaker 1: his length, his athletic ability to get that depth in
Speaker 1: those hook zone drops. How does Miami combat? I know
Speaker 1: not teams have Fred Warner to make that happen, But
Speaker 1: how would you combat if you play the Niners again
Speaker 1: and Fred Warner? Yeah? One team you got Fred. That's
Speaker 1: a nice relief conference. Yeah. The other thing that the
Speaker 1: Niners did, which is really important because you saw the
Speaker 1: Chargers started to take advantage this with Michael Davis. Is
Speaker 1: they pressed right? Because it's very counterintuitive. I just told
Speaker 1: you Tyreek and James the water terifuning you gotta go,
Speaker 1: you gotta be so worried about that speed pressing them
Speaker 1: sounds insane, exactly what are you thinking? But the Dolphins
Speaker 1: offense is so timing basic. Particularly two Uh lives on
Speaker 1: timing right, like he needs it to be like three
Speaker 1: step out three step out. Two is very, very very
Speaker 1: dependent on the timing in his pocket, such that if
Speaker 1: you press these guys and just hassle them a little bit,
Speaker 1: just throw off the geometry, throw off the trigonometry, whatever
Speaker 1: the telemetry, you're gonna put a grain of sand in
Speaker 1: the watch right in the cogs and it'll kind of
Speaker 1: bust the whole thing open. So Fred takes me in
Speaker 1: the middle of the field. But they also brought corners
Speaker 1: up and press. Just saw the Chargers do that. Bills
Speaker 1: did a little bit, not too much, but you see
Speaker 1: that that starts to indact some of those timing throw
Speaker 1: some of those third down throws, and it lets you
Speaker 1: get a couple more punts out of the Dolphins. That's
Speaker 1: that's what you need to do. That offense stop it
Speaker 1: a couple of times. Yeah, So when when McDaniel's trying
Speaker 1: to handle this, you'll see him throw to the motion
Speaker 1: man more. A lot of times they use the motion
Speaker 1: man to screw with people and then they throw to
Speaker 1: somebody else, throw to the motion manks. It's hard to
Speaker 1: press the motion man. He's the guy that's running around.
Speaker 1: You can't really get the line of scrimmage and press him.
Speaker 1: And then you see them throw more outbreaking stuff. With
Speaker 1: two of kems were outbreaking stuff. He just throws them
Speaker 1: more like shallow five to ten yards as opposed to
Speaker 1: their intermediate stuff, which is all inbreaking that's like fifteen
Speaker 1: to twenty yards. You'll live with that as a defense.
Speaker 1: They're throwing speed outs. It's a relief, right, We've don't
Speaker 1: have thrown all this stuff that breaks over the middle.
Speaker 1: So you'll see more throw to the motion man. They'll
Speaker 1: see more outbreaking stuff. All that's gonna be well and good.
Speaker 1: The number one thing that will help being able to
Speaker 1: run the football functionally. Right. It's just the they had
Speaker 1: moments of it. You saw stretches where they would rely
Speaker 1: on the running game and it would sustain for them,
Speaker 1: But then they get a turnover, they have a bad
Speaker 1: possession out of a drop, and then all of a a
Speaker 1: sudden they're down by ten, and then you just gotta
Speaker 1: throw the football, right, You gotta final way to fight
Speaker 1: back into this game. We have two of them, an
Speaker 1: Entyreek and Waddle. It makes sense, but in general, when
Speaker 1: when teams are gonna to vote this many resources to
Speaker 1: stopping the pass, if you just had the ability or
Speaker 1: run the football for six yards consistently, you could pull
Speaker 1: the scales back in your balance. And that's why, like,
Speaker 1: if I'm guessing what they do offensively, it's looking at
Speaker 1: the back, looking at the tight end, and then also
Speaker 1: looking among the offensive lines and seeing how can we
Speaker 1: figure out to improve this running game and make a
Speaker 1: little things a little more balanced. Perfect transition to the
Speaker 1: last thing I want to talk to you about here,
Speaker 1: some potential Day two fits at those spots, because talk
Speaker 1: about offense. You know, probably not in the quarterback market,
Speaker 1: probably not wide receiver market. You know that early in
Speaker 1: the draft you mentioned offensive line, tight end, running back.
Speaker 1: All of our running backs, all four of our guys
Speaker 1: we rousted last year are scheduled to be free agents.
Speaker 1: Will see what happens there. But who do you like
Speaker 1: in Day two? It's a spot you just mentioned for
Speaker 1: Dolphins draft is it's a great running back class, and
Speaker 1: it's a great running back class to get a big fella,
Speaker 1: which I would encourage, right. I think like mcnatio is
Speaker 1: gonna watch them on a chains the track star from
Speaker 1: Texas A and M was one hundred and niney pounds
Speaker 1: and like lose his mind. I'm gonna, you know, put
Speaker 1: put our temptations away for a second and focus. There
Speaker 1: are some big backs in this class, and I think
Speaker 1: size is going to benefit the Dolphins because it's nice
Speaker 1: to be able to when your speech here a small
Speaker 1: team like this to get a little bit bigger if
Speaker 1: you need to. Eric Gray at Oklahoma is an option
Speaker 1: for you there, Zach Charbonnet at the UCLA. Both of
Speaker 1: those guys should be Day two dudes. In my opinion,
Speaker 1: those are some of the bigger backs that you can
Speaker 1: see they're done a thing will work. Roshan Johnson out
Speaker 1: of Texas the backup to be Jean Robinson. Another one's
Speaker 1: really really good being pass protect two, which is important.
Speaker 1: They leave the back into pass ptect a lot. Roshan's
Speaker 1: a really good pastector, a really good special team or
Speaker 1: the one I'm talking about this Roschan I should have
Speaker 1: started with, Really, he's really good for the Dolphins. Uh.
Speaker 1: And so that's what you look at it back offensive line.
Speaker 1: I'll be really curious to see what mold they go for.
Speaker 1: McDaniel comes from a forty nine Ers team that went
Speaker 1: for lighter guys, longer guys, zone guys. But all they
Speaker 1: did was pulled right, other than constantly Poland dudes and
Speaker 1: Poland guys pass projection right using Robert Hunt that way,
Speaker 1: and I think that that makes more sense to them.
Speaker 1: So I look for gap power guys. Steve abiela guard
Speaker 1: out of TCU, Matt bergeron the tackle out of Syracuse,
Speaker 1: who I like quite a bit. Those are dudes that
Speaker 1: I think fifty two and then he moved and picks
Speaker 1: in the eighties. They could be around you love love love.
Speaker 1: Do you get a Darnell Right out of Tennessee the tackle,
Speaker 1: he's the nice what you like. I don't think he's
Speaker 1: there fifty two. I think you'd have to go up
Speaker 1: and get him. But those are the sort of dudes
Speaker 1: that I would expect and then tight ends. It's having
Speaker 1: a useful utility player who can block is really really
Speaker 1: really important to this team. And when you are you
Speaker 1: are putting a back back there. He's like a smaller guy.
Speaker 1: And then Tyreek and Waddle, you are fundamentally like Tyrian Waddle,
Speaker 1: you're not asking them block, you aren't asking them to
Speaker 1: do it. And if you're gonna back them up with
Speaker 1: Tren Shurfield and like Albert Wils like that makes sense.
Speaker 1: Like I get that you want to still have these dudes,
Speaker 1: but you desperately need a sixth guy you can add
Speaker 1: to matter in the running game that end, that additional body.
Speaker 1: Durham smythe solid player, but you can improve upon that.
Speaker 1: And that's where like you try to use a sink
Speaker 1: in that way, it's just not as valuable for them
Speaker 1: to me. They have to look at like the actual
Speaker 1: legitimate wife height end. Now the flex two forty five
Speaker 1: pound guys, like you don't have to go to the
Speaker 1: whole Darnel Washington route of George is like two hundred
Speaker 1: and seventy pounds. But look at you your Breton Strange
Speaker 1: out of Penn State. Look at your Luke Screwmaker out
Speaker 1: of Michigan. Look at your think of a third name.
Speaker 1: There's so many good tight ends. The Oregon State k
Speaker 1: Luke Muskra look at these guys and consider bring up
Speaker 1: two hundred fifty plus pounder who can legitimately blocked and
Speaker 1: just add that dimension to the offense you didn't have
Speaker 1: last year. It'd be a really good compliment to that speed.
Speaker 1: Like you mentioned on the outside, let's go back to
Speaker 1: the defense and finish that. They are talking about potential picks.
Speaker 1: Stay two day or day two, Round two, round three.
Speaker 1: On the defense, I think you mentioned corner linebacker. What
Speaker 1: are you looking at? Their incredible corner class, really really
Speaker 1: good corner class. To just take a guy in round
Speaker 1: two take a manual forbesst Mississippi State big long man
Speaker 1: coverage Clark Phillips out of Utah. Though, like, because Dick's
Speaker 1: okay with some smaller guys in the outside, and Phillips
Speaker 1: is really really good. The only thing is not good
Speaker 1: at is being six five ten and so now you
Speaker 1: can't control that one. So Clark Phillips, I think it
Speaker 1: makes a lot of sense for them. It's a little
Speaker 1: bit of a smaller guy. The Louisville Nichol whose name
Speaker 1: I don't remember. He's good for them as well, so
Speaker 1: google him because I can't remember his name. But they got,
Speaker 1: they got. It's a really really deep corner class. Campsmith
Speaker 1: out of South Carolina, Julius Prince out of Kansas State,
Speaker 1: Tyree stephensun of Miami. There's so many guys, so corner
Speaker 1: is great for them this year. I'd imagine they try
Speaker 1: to bring in another guy linebacker. Alcohol linebacker in the
Speaker 1: middle rounds not the best class for that. It's an
Speaker 1: extremely weak linebacker class unfortunately, So go for your Diane
Speaker 1: Hendley's out of Washington State cos. Yeah, go cuz Doyan
Speaker 1: Williams at of Tulane quite a bit. Williams, I think
Speaker 1: is a good player for them to get another special
Speaker 1: teams guy. You can bring those guys in picks eighty
Speaker 1: early round four and see if you can get good
Speaker 1: coverage out of them. Because you vic fanjel defense, you're
Speaker 1: gonna ask that middle coverage backer to do a lot
Speaker 1: and drum Baker is solid, but I think you do
Speaker 1: got to start experimenting with seeing if you hit on
Speaker 1: a dart throwing a laid round, see if you can
Speaker 1: help him out and so I would say linebacker and
Speaker 1: corner of the positions. I expect him to hit you know,
Speaker 1: day two, early day free that linebacker spot other position
Speaker 1: with a bunch of free agents for the Dolphins coming
Speaker 1: up here. So Ben so lock from the ringer. What
Speaker 1: are you working on? Man? What's coming up the NFL Draft? Man, Ring,
Speaker 1: RNFL Show, Ring, NFL Draft Show. We're doing stuff all year.
Speaker 1: It's gonna beau stuff. I appreciate your time today, man,
Speaker 1: Thanks dude, and away he goes. We finished there with
Speaker 1: maybe the best for last. He was a lot of
Speaker 1: fun talking to about the Dolphins offense, about vic fanjou
Speaker 1: Tyreek and Jalen. Really covered every base there with the Ringers.
Speaker 1: Benjamin So like, go check out his work. A very
Speaker 1: talented writer, obviously a very articulate football mind. Here, let's
Speaker 1: go ahead and take our last break the week from
Speaker 1: Indianapolis and come back on the other side and I'll
Speaker 1: give you my combine thoughts and takeaways from the week
Speaker 1: that was in Indianapolis. That's next Draft Time podcast, your
Speaker 1: host Travis Wingfield, brought to you by Auto Nation. So
Speaker 1: how great was all of that content we had for
Speaker 1: you here at the Scouting Combine in Indianapolis. We were
Speaker 1: running around chasing down people all week long, and I
Speaker 1: thought we really got our best content at the combine
Speaker 1: to date in doing this job. You're number four here
Speaker 1: with the Miami Dolphins, big names, smart football mines, and
Speaker 1: I think we all learned a lot about this year's
Speaker 1: draft class and this Miami Dolphins football team. And we'll
Speaker 1: get a little more Dolphins specific, you know, once free
Speaker 1: agency meets its conclusion, or I should say, we have
Speaker 1: a better idea of what the ross looks like heading
Speaker 1: into the draft season. But with that, I just kind
Speaker 1: of wanted to do a personal recap on the week
Speaker 1: that was in Indianapolis because we heard from so many
Speaker 1: great football mines, but I haven't really put my input
Speaker 1: in yet, So we'll do that here in just a second.
Speaker 1: But first I want to talk about the food scene
Speaker 1: in Indianapolis. One Saint Elmo's never disappoints. Last year went
Speaker 1: to Harry and Izzy's for my steak and my shrimp cocktail.
Speaker 1: Had the filet at Saint Elmo's on Tuesday Night along
Speaker 1: with the shrimp cocktail that is an a plus meal.
Speaker 1: And the guys that are here with me this week
Speaker 1: Mike and JT from our video staff. We went to
Speaker 1: Fogo to chaw later on in the week and it
Speaker 1: was good. Food was fantastic, but for a guy that
Speaker 1: just doesn't eat a whole lot, not really my kind
Speaker 1: of place. Not a scheme fit for old Sringfield. Here again,
Speaker 1: the various meats were fantastic, but man, it was a
Speaker 1: little bit overwhelming. I even told Mike, the guy next
Speaker 1: to me right now, our producer here, I didn't know
Speaker 1: you could tell them no. So every two minutes a
Speaker 1: person would come by over your shoulder with a different
Speaker 1: cut of meat. I just kept accepting, saying yes. So
Speaker 1: I had Lamb chops, I had Sirloine New York Strip,
Speaker 1: Prime Rib. They brought this weird bacon wrap chicken thing
Speaker 1: out that was too much at the end. If you're
Speaker 1: a fan of meats, mostly steak, and you want a
Speaker 1: filling meal, this is the place for you. And finally,
Speaker 1: I think my favorite spot, aside from Saint Elmo's, was
Speaker 1: the Social Cantina, the one that the guys went too
Speaker 1: without me before early in the week and left me
Speaker 1: to dry and not get a chance to eat. There after,
Speaker 1: I recommended that restaurant in the first place. But then
Speaker 1: I did go back there on Thursday and enjoyed a
Speaker 1: very nice lunch. They're trying to convince me that I
Speaker 1: was the one to blame for that right now, nice
Speaker 1: little text mech spot right by the convention Center. I
Speaker 1: had the Green Goo brito. It's ground beef, which I
Speaker 1: was told as frowned upon. But that's the best type
Speaker 1: of brito there is, in my opinion, so very very
Speaker 1: good stuff. Those are my restaurant grades, and I guess
Speaker 1: scheme fits as it were. Let's get back to the draft, though,
Speaker 1: and see. We'll see how these workouts go on the
Speaker 1: actual field itself. But I think we've kind of gathered
Speaker 1: a consensus thought with how this class is viewed, and
Speaker 1: of course that changes each year, or I suppose has
Speaker 1: some relative and accuracy, as it's literally impossible to predict
Speaker 1: perfectly what's going to happen in the draft. Each year
Speaker 1: we get surprises, or I guess they shouldn't be surprises,
Speaker 1: because it's not a surprise if it happens all the time.
Speaker 1: But every year we get things we don't expect in
Speaker 1: the NFL Draft. But you did hear from the experts,
Speaker 1: and they gave us their thoughts on the best fits
Speaker 1: and which directions the Dolphins can go. So I wanted
Speaker 1: to really dive in and give my thoughts on the
Speaker 1: positions that we discussed, and again those were running back,
Speaker 1: tight end, offensive line, cornerback, and safety. And let's go
Speaker 1: ahead and start on defense here, because it seems like
Speaker 1: we always start on the offensive side of the ball
Speaker 1: when we do these conversations. Let's go ahead and go
Speaker 1: to the safety position. And there's one guy to me
Speaker 1: that really stands out among this group. And it'll be
Speaker 1: intriguing to see what happens in free agency this offseason
Speaker 1: because the safety group has so many different players that
Speaker 1: are just very talented, but also a variety of skill
Speaker 1: sets that kind of can allow the teams to choose
Speaker 1: their flavor they prefer. Whether it's a box safety you
Speaker 1: can come down and kind of be an enforcer, a
Speaker 1: center field safety with range to kind of cover the
Speaker 1: deep third of the football field, So you really have
Speaker 1: your choice there, and how will that kind of have
Speaker 1: an impact on the safety class here in the draft?
Speaker 1: Those things always go together and it's always, you know,
Speaker 1: it's not always black and white about positional value because
Speaker 1: you have what's available. The supply and the demand of
Speaker 1: the teams that have them can change that from year
Speaker 1: to year. So the one guy that I just absolutely
Speaker 1: love his tape is Illinois Sydney Brown. Went back and
Speaker 1: watched more of him after chatting with Daniel Jeremiah. How's
Speaker 1: that for a name drop here on the podcast, but
Speaker 1: he mentioned how he thinks Brown's going to absolutely roll
Speaker 1: track speed with his physicality and the ability to kind
Speaker 1: of give you an extra hat in the box, but
Speaker 1: also a match up and turn around and run forty
Speaker 1: yards downfield with you know, some of the best athletes
Speaker 1: at the tied end position or even running backs in
Speaker 1: college football. I think that he would be a really
Speaker 1: nice chess piece and coach Fangio's defense, I don't think
Speaker 1: it's worth diving into the players that I think are
Speaker 1: going to be first round locks, and that would include
Speaker 1: here to meet Alabama's Brian Branch and Texas A and
Speaker 1: M's Antonio Johnson. Another guy that I liked and thought
Speaker 1: was really good at his media availability was Jamie Robinson
Speaker 1: from Florida State. Another chess piece type of guy that
Speaker 1: has played so much football and you see that experience
Speaker 1: in the way that his football IQ shows up on
Speaker 1: tape time and time again there at Florida State. He's
Speaker 1: a guy a field that could come in and not
Speaker 1: and just give you minimal communication breakdowns that you would
Speaker 1: expect from a rookie and allow your defense to play
Speaker 1: at full speed because of his aptitude for knowing and
Speaker 1: citing the playbook and just knowing the defense in general.
Speaker 1: At the other dB position, the cornerbacks, there's some variety
Speaker 1: here as well, probably the deepest group in the entire
Speaker 1: draft class, just absolutely loaded with Witherspoon, Gonzalez, Porter, Junior Smith.
Speaker 1: I think you're all going to be first round locks
Speaker 1: and you'll get some more, but gosh, this class is
Speaker 1: super impressive. Let's go ahead and do this like a
Speaker 1: lightning round just to get through these guys real quick.
Speaker 1: He Lee Ringo from Georgia. Just watch how he times
Speaker 1: when he works out tonight. He's a freaky athlete who
Speaker 1: I think is going to only get better with seasoning,
Speaker 1: but his numbers are going to jump off off the
Speaker 1: combine tape. Clark Phillips is a guy that I have
Speaker 1: to watch more of out of Utah, but I'm mentioning
Speaker 1: him because all of our guests to a man mentioned
Speaker 1: his game and his skill set. And you also don't
Speaker 1: play for Kyle Whittingham's defense without the ability to tackle
Speaker 1: very well, which is so important. As you heard I
Speaker 1: think it was Trevor Sikama talk about on the Thursday podcast,
Speaker 1: if you're gonna play lighter boxes, you have to have
Speaker 1: good tackling DBS, and that's what he brings. And he also,
Speaker 1: if you're gonna play in Kyle Weddinghamp's defense, you have
Speaker 1: to have a certain temperament, especially at the line of scrimmage.
Speaker 1: So he has that. Clark Phillips is what I was told.
Speaker 1: I'll watch the tape and confirm more later. Emmanuel Forbes
Speaker 1: from Mississippi State physical as all get out, really sharp
Speaker 1: instincts and he was wearing a Marlin's hat during his
Speaker 1: media availability, So some good Miami connections there. We've talked
Speaker 1: a lot about Julius Brents from Kansas State and Trevias
Speaker 1: Hodges Tomlinson from TCU. They are so very different in
Speaker 1: their play style, but the speed that Hodges Thomlinson has
Speaker 1: with the fire that he plays with, that's the kind
Speaker 1: of player. I always love if they play one hundred
Speaker 1: miles an hour and they're thinking from their mindset is
Speaker 1: one hundred miles an hour as well. I think those
Speaker 1: two things tend to marry up pretty well. Then. Garrett
Speaker 1: Williams from Syracuse, Deonte Banks from Maryland, Tyreek Stevenson from Miami.
Speaker 1: There's going to be corners taken on Day two this
Speaker 1: year that start a lot of football games in the NFL.
Speaker 1: And if the Dolphins go in that direction, hopefully one
Speaker 1: of those guys is in aquand orange at linebacker. We
Speaker 1: almost went three for three on Day on. Henley shoutouts
Speaker 1: among Trevor, Jordan and Ben And you guys already know
Speaker 1: about him. Former safety who plays with the temperament and
Speaker 1: athletic traits that just jump off the tape. He's already
Speaker 1: tested about the time you hear this podcast, so's he's
Speaker 1: gonna jump off the Combine tape as it were, just
Speaker 1: as he did as Washington State tape. He was. You
Speaker 1: watched him game in and game out. He was an
Speaker 1: impact player for the Cooks defense. I also wanted to
Speaker 1: mention Henry to ooh, I know I've pronounced that incorrectly
Speaker 1: out of Alabama, because I think he has a chance
Speaker 1: to be that off ball enforcer, a player who's physicality
Speaker 1: and block deconstruction skill set allows you to play those
Speaker 1: light boxes we talk about and just let Christian Zach Ray,
Speaker 1: Kwon Chub and Phillips all eat up blocks up front
Speaker 1: and just funnel, you know, billions of tackles to your
Speaker 1: linebacker playing downhill on the offensive side of the football,
Speaker 1: across the line and terrier wise. I think Osiris Torrence
Speaker 1: and John Michael Schmidts are long gone by the time
Speaker 1: we get to pick fifty two. Tons of tackles are
Speaker 1: going to go off the board as well. You heard
Speaker 1: Solac mentioned Darnell right from Tennessee. I agree with Ben
Speaker 1: that he's gone before pick fifty two, but he might
Speaker 1: be in that potential trade up range if you get
Speaker 1: to that position where you want to make that move.
Speaker 1: Matthew bergeron from Syracuse and they am I hurt a lot,
Speaker 1: and the people I talked to on a regular bassis
Speaker 1: I have have mentioned him and really like the way he
Speaker 1: fires off the football and how he plays in space,
Speaker 1: which we know fits this Dolphin scheme quite well. And
Speaker 1: then Steve a Vila from TCU three for three on
Speaker 1: his callouts today with talking to Jordan, Ben and Trevor.
Speaker 1: I guess it was Thursday, but recording the podcast on Thursday.
Speaker 1: Massive frame, great bend, and really smooth anchor to kind
Speaker 1: of absorb all the weight and power you get from
Speaker 1: bullrushes across the interior. He has the framework and just
Speaker 1: the sheer mass to be that and also potentially a
Speaker 1: dominant run blocker the more he develops. And then Cody
Speaker 1: Match just a pure technician, which is it's always cool
Speaker 1: these guys come out of the small schools that have
Speaker 1: just their technique refined, because you know, the step up
Speaker 1: in competition can be not so stark for them when
Speaker 1: they do have that good technique and their fundamentals are sharp.
Speaker 1: I would not be shocked if he's a Day one
Speaker 1: starter next year for some team that drafts him this
Speaker 1: coming April. At tight end, we covered this position so
Speaker 1: well this week, but I just loved Darnell Washington's game
Speaker 1: as much as anybody you heard it all week. Probably
Speaker 1: my favorite player in the entire draft class, just because
Speaker 1: he makes me laugh the most when I watched his
Speaker 1: tape in terms of how dominant he is. We'll see
Speaker 1: if he makes it to fifty two. If he does,
Speaker 1: I think it's because there are just so many tight
Speaker 1: ends that could go off the board before him, or
Speaker 1: in this class in general, which tends to depress the
Speaker 1: value of the position. He and Luke Musgrave are my
Speaker 1: two favorite tight ends I've watched so far on tape.
Speaker 1: And then at running back, Devin A. Chain was the
Speaker 1: one guy who I came away from Indie with an
Speaker 1: even better opinion of than when I entered the combine.
Speaker 1: I love his tape. I knew he was fast, but
Speaker 1: hearing that he might run the four twos, I knew
Speaker 1: he was fast, I didn't know he was that fast.
Speaker 1: That makes him super intriguing for me in this offense,
Speaker 1: Him and Jamir Gibbs, they just move at a different
Speaker 1: speed than everybody else in this class. And then also,
Speaker 1: if you want to go back to the kind of
Speaker 1: the size idea, I'm really intrigued by Roshawn Johnson at Texas,
Speaker 1: he was the backup to be John Robinson. Different prototype
Speaker 1: than the first two guys I mentioned, but he's definitely
Speaker 1: solid in pass pro and short yardage, which was an
Speaker 1: area of concern from Miami last year. And then Finally,
Speaker 1: Zach Charbonnet, who's kind of a throwback classic at the position.
Speaker 1: Like think about the early two thousands when you just
Speaker 1: mounted up and rode running back for twenty five carries
Speaker 1: a game. It was commonplace. That's what UCLA did with
Speaker 1: Charbonnay this past year. We'll talk more about receivers, quarterbacks,
Speaker 1: and defensive lineman as we go along in this draft process.
Speaker 1: I love the conversation we had with Jordan reib at
Speaker 1: the quarterback class. We talked at length with Solac about
Speaker 1: the quality of Miami's front four and the wide receivers
Speaker 1: that he loves here so much, with Tyreek and Jalen.
Speaker 1: But these were the positions that people really talked about
Speaker 1: this week, so they were the spots I wanted to
Speaker 1: focus on on some more film rewashing, just general research
Speaker 1: and media availability presence this week here in Indianapolis. So
Speaker 1: that's my takeaway. I kind of want to give you
Speaker 1: three players that I'm just gonna plug in at the
Speaker 1: three picks here, I get kind of a mock draft,
Speaker 1: but not really just three guys I think that could
Speaker 1: be there that make a lot of sense from Miami
Speaker 1: number two, the pick fifty two, overall in the draft,
Speaker 1: tight end Darnell Washington from Georgia. Again, if he's there,
Speaker 1: I would run the hard up there. And again I
Speaker 1: think the tight end classes depth depresses its own value
Speaker 1: a little bit. I think Gibbs will be long gone
Speaker 1: and this guy, to me, stands the best chance to
Speaker 1: immediately benefit your offense from a run game and pass
Speaker 1: game standpoint. In the third round, I'm taking my guy,
Speaker 1: linebacker day On Hanley from Washington State. You guys know
Speaker 1: how I feel about him. The athletic ability, I think
Speaker 1: he's only going to get better the more size he adds.
Speaker 1: And that safety skill set I think just allows him
Speaker 1: to be able to play both in coverage and down
Speaker 1: in the box and take on blocks and the way
Speaker 1: you want to in this defense. And then the other
Speaker 1: third round pick, I'm taking the running back from A
Speaker 1: and M. Davon a Chain just such a good pass catcher,
Speaker 1: elite speed, and I think that really compliments with the
Speaker 1: Dolphins offense wants to be here with the speed they
Speaker 1: have on the perimeter. You add that speed to the
Speaker 1: running back position to go along with if you bring
Speaker 1: back someone like Raheem Moster, you just have track speed
Speaker 1: all over the field and he would add to that.
Speaker 1: All right, that is gonna be my time. That's it
Speaker 1: from Indianapolis. We'll come back on Monday. We have a
Speaker 1: special podcast for you guys. I sat down with Dolphins
Speaker 1: fullback alec Ingold. I cannot wait to have you all here.
Speaker 1: That he was super insightful and lots of good stuff
Speaker 1: there talking about the Dolphins last year and into twenty
Speaker 1: twenty three, and also his book that he published, so
Speaker 1: good stuff. They're coming your way on the YouTube channel
Speaker 1: and we'll have a much longer version of that interview
Speaker 1: for you guys here on the podcast, the full the
Speaker 1: full interviews on the podcast, shortened version of it on YouTube,
Speaker 1: as well as Dolphins Today. So check out all of that.
Speaker 1: In the meantime, you please be sure to subscribe to
Speaker 1: the podcast on Apple Podcast, leave us a rating and
Speaker 1: leave us a review. You can follow me on Twitter
Speaker 1: at Winkfold NFL, follow the team at Miami Dolphins, check
Speaker 1: out the fish Tank podcast with Seth and Juice, and
Speaker 1: all the international podcasts we have on the network. Check
Speaker 1: out that YouTube channel for media availabilities and Dolphins Today,
Speaker 1: and last but not least, the Combine Written Notebook up
Speaker 1: on Miami Dolphins dot com. Until next time finds up
Speaker 1: Caroline and camera and Daddy is already home.