Speaker 1: This is Drivetime with Travis Wingfield. What is up Dolphins?
Speaker 1: And welcome to the Draft Time Podcast. I am your host,
Speaker 1: Travis Wingfield. And on today's show, we keep it rolling
Speaker 1: here with summer School. We have another Dolphins interview. Jordan
Speaker 1: Phillips joins me for a conversation that I tried to
Speaker 1: get him to talk about anything but football a couple
Speaker 1: of times, but that's not where his brain wants to go.
Speaker 1: All ball with Jordan Phillips. Plus, we're gonna preview the
Speaker 1: NFC South on today's podcast, a division the Dolphins will
Speaker 1: face this year against the Panthers, Falcons, Saints, and Buccaneers
Speaker 1: from the Baptist Hell Studios inside the Baptist Health Training Complex.
Speaker 2: This is the Draft Time Podcast, Aye Daffe.
Speaker 1: And for the second straight episode here this week, we
Speaker 1: are recutting the podcast and adding an additional segment here because
Speaker 1: the Dolphins have made yet another June July trade. Since
Speaker 1: when is this time of year involve this much roster movement.
Speaker 1: It's the first time I can recall it, I think ever,
Speaker 1: I mean I don't recall a trade or multiple trades
Speaker 1: possibly bigger than this one. Per reports from Tom PELLISERL
Speaker 1: We're still in that world right now. Hasn't become totally
Speaker 1: official yet, but the rumors are, or the reports are,
Speaker 1: it'll be a late round conditional pickswap to get new
Speaker 1: Dolphins tight end Darren Waller. What I'm seeing today as
Speaker 1: I re record, this is a conditional sixth round from Miami,
Speaker 1: a seventh round pick from the Giants coming back and
Speaker 1: Darren Waller. So very low risk and just like that
Speaker 1: my discussion on the Tuesday podcast. But potential landscape shift
Speaker 1: in the offense maybe goes belly up, maybe not.
Speaker 2: We'll see.
Speaker 1: It's a late round conditional pick swap with a minimal
Speaker 1: financial investment. So I'm not going to rever stamp the
Speaker 1: idea that my comments were totally off base, and in fact,
Speaker 1: if because of that, you could almost say it's merely
Speaker 1: an insurance policy of sorts for the Tanner Connor Jalen
Speaker 1: Conyers potential idea of having them hit the ground running
Speaker 1: this year and being your reduced f role that you
Speaker 1: had from John new Smith last year. I still contend
Speaker 1: that the offense, when playing the way it wants to,
Speaker 1: will not involve the tight end the way it did
Speaker 1: a season ago. And I really don't think this is
Speaker 1: an offense. It's conducive to a big slot for a
Speaker 1: big chunk of offensive work, which is kind of what
Speaker 1: Darren Waller is now. If that's a role player and
Speaker 1: you're reduced it down to maybe even less than what
Speaker 1: Gasiki was for the Bengals last year, A forty six
Speaker 1: percent snap taker, maybe you call it thirty three percent.
Speaker 1: You know he plays fifteen twenty snaps a game. Then
Speaker 1: I think I could see that, and I think between Waller,
Speaker 1: Connor and Conyers, you should be able to find that
Speaker 1: if that's what you're going for. I could be wrong,
Speaker 1: because I was wrong about this literally twenty four hours ago.
Speaker 1: So another move here during my paternity to leave. Let's
Speaker 1: go ahead and watch a little bit of tape, and
Speaker 1: first off, what a story Waller is right, and certainly
Speaker 1: not all stun china rainbows. I think a lot of
Speaker 1: you will ask why did he retire? Why is he back?
Speaker 2: All of that stuff?
Speaker 1: And I wrote down that I didn't want to speculate
Speaker 1: on the reasons for retiring, But I did find a
Speaker 1: clip where he talks about this on John Gruden's podcast
Speaker 1: of All Places, where the moment he decided to retire
Speaker 1: was a game in Buffalo back in twenty twenty three
Speaker 1: where he was doing a lot of blocking and thought,
Speaker 1: what the hell am I doing playing fullback out here?
Speaker 1: So I decided I'm going to finish out the year
Speaker 1: strong and then I'm done.
Speaker 2: And he was right.
Speaker 1: He was done, So probably don't really need to get
Speaker 1: heavily into the blocking reel. But he did say on
Speaker 1: that same podcast the only two coaches he would come
Speaker 1: back and play for were John Gruden and Frank Smith,
Speaker 1: the two guys that he played with in Oakland slash
Speaker 1: Las Vegas. But we will get further answers on all
Speaker 1: of that when Darren does his first media at Dolphins camp.
Speaker 1: But I'm sure most of you were aware of his story.
Speaker 1: Struggled with addiction, found recovery, had twenty three hundred and
Speaker 1: fifty yards and twelve touchdowns over two seasons with the Raiders.
Speaker 1: Frank Smith there, so there's a relationship with him. Then
Speaker 1: he gets hurt in twenty one again in twenty two
Speaker 1: and dips down to six hundred and sixty five and
Speaker 1: then three hundred and thirty eight yards in those two seasons,
Speaker 1: moves on to the Giants five hundred and fifty two
Speaker 1: yards playing twelve games. It's not bad, and then retires
Speaker 1: ahead of the twenty four season. So I'm like, do
Speaker 1: I watch twenty three Giants tape or twenty twenty Raiders tape?
Speaker 1: I guess, do a little bit of both. But then
Speaker 1: I pull it up and guess what. You can't isolate
Speaker 1: Darren Waller on NFL Pro because they wipe out retired players.
Speaker 1: So I had to cobble this thing together, and here's
Speaker 1: what I got. And granted this might all be irrelevant
Speaker 1: because this is old hat.
Speaker 2: He hasn't played football.
Speaker 1: In over a year, but at his peak, incredibly nimble,
Speaker 1: super light on his feet, and you see that in
Speaker 1: his various releases offline a scrimmage from various alignments. They
Speaker 1: would condense him inside to a nasty split where you're
Speaker 1: not quite attached but you're right close to the tackle
Speaker 1: there or even being attached as a true classic wide
Speaker 1: tied end. And the way he could widen a backer
Speaker 1: to set up an inside release, or just run the
Speaker 1: shoot route to the perimeter, or run right past them
Speaker 1: down the seam, stack them, make a move at the
Speaker 1: top of the route and go catch the foot ball.
Speaker 1: It's easy to see why he was legit one of
Speaker 1: the toughest matchups in the NFL, tied under otherwise for
Speaker 1: a couple of years, because you sneak a cornerback down there,
Speaker 1: you're playing in a deficit. You try using a backer
Speaker 1: or safety and you're giving up the vertical matchability and
Speaker 1: his skill set to high point the football and corral
Speaker 1: throws above the rim was really second to none. Like
Speaker 1: I think about that Kasiki touchdown in Baltimore in the
Speaker 1: comeback in the back of the end zone, like he
Speaker 1: can do that. He also did work as the backside
Speaker 1: X receiver And if you run him out there, if
Speaker 1: it's vintage Waller with Reagan waddle to the field as
Speaker 1: the two receivers to the wide side, where do you
Speaker 1: think the safety help is going to go? So then
Speaker 1: you give two of this one on one backside matchup
Speaker 1: with a guy that's going to play above the rim
Speaker 1: six foot five and probably never let the ball get
Speaker 1: picked off because of his size and his ability to
Speaker 1: kind of shield the defender off the ball, but also
Speaker 1: come down with some of those fifty to fifty balls
Speaker 1: better than literally anybody too has had since like the
Speaker 1: DeVante Parker Era and Waller is or was a better
Speaker 1: athlete than DVP was. Shouldn't be a surprise, but he
Speaker 1: rolls when he gets the football in his hands. He
Speaker 1: caught screen passes like Jonah Smith and got trucking on those.
Speaker 1: If he has that athletic ability in him still, and
Speaker 1: he truly did rediscover his passion for the game, then
Speaker 1: the upside's fun to consider. I think you can run
Speaker 1: your speed stuff off him with snags and seams and
Speaker 1: pivots where you just put him in the hook zone.
Speaker 1: Stuff you would ask him League Washington to do, but
Speaker 1: you get, you know, eight more inches pause to do
Speaker 1: and possibly pull a robber middle of the field defender
Speaker 1: down and open up the middle of the field in
Speaker 1: the vertical passing game, a layer that thing over the
Speaker 1: top to Tyreek Kill or Jalen Waddle again at his peak,
Speaker 1: the way he could sink his hips and come back
Speaker 1: to the football. He just moves better than DB's and
Speaker 1: really all the tight ends in the league at the time.
Speaker 1: It was fun to watch back then, but again that
Speaker 1: was like four years ago. But I do think that
Speaker 1: ability that's where Jonas Smith ate hook up. Get your
Speaker 1: head back to the quarterback and that fast turn prevents
Speaker 1: the dB from triggering and reading that and making a
Speaker 1: play on the football and then turn into a running
Speaker 1: back and pick up yards. After the catch, he gets
Speaker 1: back to the foot ball and shields the defender. So
Speaker 1: damn well, and then there's a blocking side of things. Honestly,
Speaker 1: I watched one game and it was a game where
Speaker 1: he talked about why he retired. But he came away.
Speaker 1: I came away more impressed than what I thought I
Speaker 1: would be. But I still think this is really a
Speaker 1: receiver acquisition who plays in the slot and plays the exposition,
Speaker 1: kind of like a backup to Nick Westbrook, a Kine
Speaker 1: if you will. But the tape he's talking about here
Speaker 1: where he decided to retire, he just blocks Taron Johnson,
Speaker 1: the Buffalo nickel that we talk about all the time
Speaker 1: in the podcast. Right, they never leave the nickel package.
Speaker 1: They play from light boxes because Taron Johnson's good enough
Speaker 1: to do it as a kind of quasi linebacker. But
Speaker 1: he beat up Taron Johnson the way alec Ingol did
Speaker 1: back in twenty twenty two, and they came up in
Speaker 1: Buffalo over and over again. That's a matchup he should win.
Speaker 1: And he did in that game. Like he's not going
Speaker 1: to kick out a backside end like Max Crosby. He's
Speaker 1: not going to like lead the sea gap up and
Speaker 1: take out Jordan Brooks on outside zone, but he can
Speaker 1: seal he can get in the way and do enough.
Speaker 1: He's a much better version of the willingness of Mike
Speaker 1: Gasicki in that role. He can get down on a
Speaker 1: nickelbacker and take out a light box defender out of
Speaker 1: the way. So that's all I've got for now. We'll
Speaker 1: see what happens keeping on him for training camp, But
Speaker 1: for now, back to your regular schedule programming, Darren Waller.
Speaker 1: The newest Miami Dolphin joining us today on the Draft
Speaker 1: Time podcast is new Dolphins defensive lineman Jordan Phillips.
Speaker 2: Jordan, welcome in, man. How you doing.
Speaker 3: I'm doing great. How are you?
Speaker 2: I'm great. It's good to see you.
Speaker 1: We've we've done a couple of these interviews, whether it
Speaker 1: was through zoom or in person, out in the in
Speaker 1: the yard, out there about the practice field, but having
Speaker 1: a chances down with you one on one talk is
Speaker 1: good to get to know you guys. So welcome in
Speaker 1: and uh I guess first let's just kind of go
Speaker 1: with how how have you been, you know, getting the
Speaker 1: lay of the land here in South Florida, whether it's football, Uh,
Speaker 1: finding your way to the facility. How are you How
Speaker 1: are you fitting in here in South Florida so far?
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's great.
Speaker 4: I mean, honestly, I've just been leaning on the Vets
Speaker 4: and learning from them and learning from the coaches and
Speaker 4: really just acting like a sponge and soaking in all
Speaker 4: information that I can get.
Speaker 1: I heard that you guys ask a lot of questions
Speaker 1: in that room. The Brookies do as well. We just
Speaker 1: had Zeke and here I've talked to coach Clark. Why
Speaker 1: is that so important for players to ask so many
Speaker 1: questions of their coaches?
Speaker 4: Well, because you want to pick up as much information
Speaker 4: as possible. And the coaches are very smart. They have
Speaker 4: a lot of knowledge, and you know, you want to
Speaker 4: be able to pick up some of that knowledge, so
Speaker 4: you got to ask questions. And the Vets are really
Speaker 4: smart too, and that's why we always lean on the
Speaker 4: coaches and the Vets for information, you know, anything, honestly,
Speaker 4: whether it's football or life in general. We always ask
Speaker 4: questions and just try to pick up as much information
Speaker 4: as possible.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it seems like there's a certain theme among the
Speaker 1: rookies here in terms of how you guys approach your business,
Speaker 1: and it's really cool to see. And something that fascinates
Speaker 1: me about you, Jordan and really all defensive tackles is
Speaker 1: that wrestling background. I feel like when you hear about
Speaker 1: a guy that gets drafted pretty highly and has a
Speaker 1: wrestling background, they usually work out because there's just something
Speaker 1: about like the grip, strength and the leverage. Like, just
Speaker 1: take us through what wrestling has taught you on the
Speaker 1: football field.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean, wrestling has taught me grit, you know,
Speaker 4: how to bounce back from adversity quickly, leverage, Wrestling has
Speaker 4: taught me angles and a so pad level. You know,
Speaker 4: you got to be low in wrestling, you can't be high.
Speaker 4: And same thing goes for playing defensive linemen or playing
Speaker 4: in trenches in general in football, you got to have
Speaker 4: low pad level and you got to have leverage.
Speaker 1: You must have a crazy story from like high school
Speaker 1: wrestling conditioning because I used to play basketball and we
Speaker 1: would do suicides and we would do three hour scrimmages
Speaker 1: and it was like, you know, we're tired and we
Speaker 1: see the wrestlers running out into the gym and back
Speaker 1: out of the gym and into the gym and back
Speaker 1: like all night, all night, they are just running and
Speaker 1: like usually wearing sweatsuits and like big garbage bags. What
Speaker 1: was the worst, like the most physically strenuous conditioning you
Speaker 1: can remember from wrestling, because it has to be the
Speaker 1: crazy thing you've ever done.
Speaker 4: Yeah, absolutely, so my freshman year of high schools when
Speaker 4: I started wrestling, and I could recall it, like the school,
Speaker 4: the school that I went to in Orlando. Originally I
Speaker 4: went to Olympia, then I transferred Old Kobe. But when
Speaker 4: I was at Olympia, you know, all the freshmen had
Speaker 4: to take Hope, which is just a gym class, and
Speaker 4: on Wednesday, we would have to run a mile, and
Speaker 4: but we have to run it under ten minutes in
Speaker 4: the gym class or because if you don't run them
Speaker 4: out in under ten minutes, then you failed, like you
Speaker 4: fail the assignment. And so after that, you know, of
Speaker 4: course we have wrestling practice because you know, gym was
Speaker 4: seventh period and then.
Speaker 3: Wrestling practice is right after school.
Speaker 4: So before every practice will start off running one mile.
Speaker 4: And so I just ran a mile. So now I'm
Speaker 4: coming to wrestling practice. I got to run another mile
Speaker 4: on the track, and then we'll have this warm up
Speaker 4: inside the wrestling room where we run around the wrestling
Speaker 4: room and you know, we're doing sprawling drills and you
Speaker 4: know we're also doing just grappling drills and stuff like that.
Speaker 3: And basically, you know, like it was tough. I'm not
Speaker 3: gonna lie to you.
Speaker 4: And then that doesn't even include the condition that we
Speaker 4: have after practice. We'll run, We'll run gassers in the
Speaker 4: wrestling room and it was just it was crazy, but
Speaker 4: it definitely did get me in shaping. It kept me
Speaker 4: in shape for football. So that's one thing I do
Speaker 4: appreciate about the sport. I mean, you have to be
Speaker 4: tough to be a wrestler, and you have to be
Speaker 4: a tough to be a defensive lineman. So those are
Speaker 4: things that go hand in hand, and those are things
Speaker 4: that I continue to take with me to this day.
Speaker 1: Help you play sixty seventy snaps a game, right when
Speaker 1: it comes down to know those tough fourth quard, especially
Speaker 1: across the street here in this September weather down here.
Speaker 1: And then you also were a big time powerlifter, right,
Speaker 1: I mean so Jordan without like you know, pause and everything,
Speaker 1: but just seeing the way you carry the weight that
Speaker 1: you do, Like it doesn't it's not natural is not
Speaker 1: the right word, but like it's not common for guys
Speaker 1: to be as cut as you are at that size.
Speaker 1: That's got to be part of the powerlifting background, right.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it is.
Speaker 4: I mean, honestly, I'm just real knowledgeable about what I
Speaker 4: put into my body. And you know, when I work out,
Speaker 4: I work out with purpose and intent. And you know
Speaker 4: when I on my non workout days, I recover with
Speaker 4: purpose and intent. And those are things that just allow
Speaker 4: me to carry my excuse me, those are things that
Speaker 4: allow me to carry my weight pretty good. And those
Speaker 4: are things that continue to help me become a better
Speaker 4: football player and a better athlete.
Speaker 1: Okay, let's talk more about some football now, because that
Speaker 1: stuff is great, and I just I think it's going
Speaker 1: to really serve you well at this level. But you
Speaker 1: also at Maryland played all across the defensive line. And
Speaker 1: I asked cag this question back on draft night. What
Speaker 1: is what is playing multiple spots?
Speaker 2: Like how does it.
Speaker 1: Changed the way you read blocks or the way you
Speaker 1: read tendancies and keys? Like is it different from different positions,
Speaker 1: Like what's the approach there?
Speaker 4: Yeah, playing different block I mean well, playing different positions
Speaker 4: across the whole defensive line. It really increases your football
Speaker 4: IQ and it makes you more knowledgeable about the game.
Speaker 4: And you know, I think you know my position, coach
Speaker 4: Brian Williams at Maryland, and you know Coach Locksley for
Speaker 4: putting me in that position, because it just increased my
Speaker 4: football like you, and helped me get ready for the
Speaker 4: next level. And obviously, the more positions you play, the
Speaker 4: more value you have about yourself and the more you
Speaker 4: can help contribute to an organization. And at the end
Speaker 4: of the day, that's all you want to do as
Speaker 4: a as a football player in this league.
Speaker 1: So I'm glad you mentioned coach Locksley because he did
Speaker 1: the podcast. I think last week he talked about you
Speaker 1: and Dante here on the Draft Time podcast and he
Speaker 1: mentioned one of the things that he always could count
Speaker 1: on was getting to the facility and you would be
Speaker 1: blurring the music in the weight room first thing in
Speaker 1: the morning. Why why turn up? Were you trying to
Speaker 1: make your presence known? Like what was the idea behind
Speaker 1: those early morning weight room sessions?
Speaker 4: Well, I definitely wasn't trying to make my presence known.
Speaker 4: I mean, that's called a facade. And you know, everything
Speaker 4: with me is what you get. You know, I'm authentic,
Speaker 4: So my will to want to get better is influenced
Speaker 4: by my work ethic and how hard I working with
Speaker 4: the purpose and the intent that I work with. You know,
Speaker 4: I always want to get better so I can add
Speaker 4: value to whatever organization I'm a part of, and I
Speaker 4: also want to, you know, get others around me better.
Speaker 4: And that's where the you know, early mornings and the
Speaker 4: late night mentality came from. I mean, at the end
Speaker 4: of the day, I just always want to get better,
Speaker 4: and I always want to get others around me better.
Speaker 4: Also because if we're all getting better, we all can
Speaker 4: add value to the organization that we're a part of
Speaker 4: and that we're representing.
Speaker 3: I love.
Speaker 1: A great answer is Equest talking about how a lot
Speaker 1: of the rookies coming around weekends, you know, working out together.
Speaker 1: You've been enjoying those sessions.
Speaker 4: Absolutely, And I enjoy working out with those guys. You know,
Speaker 4: guys like Zeke Bigger's, Kenneth Grant, Alex Hunley. You know,
Speaker 4: those guys are working individuals and even guys in other rooms,
Speaker 4: you know, like my old team college teammate, current teammate,
Speaker 4: Dante Trader. You know Jonah, He's a guy who puts his.
Speaker 3: Head down, works on the offensive line.
Speaker 4: We have a lot of talented rookies in the building,
Speaker 4: and we have a lot of guys who come in
Speaker 4: and work and they work with purpose to get better
Speaker 4: so they can add value to the organization. And at
Speaker 4: the end of the day, that's what we're trying to accomplish.
Speaker 4: We're trying to accomplish getting better every day and adding
Speaker 4: value to the organization as much as we can.
Speaker 1: That's really good stuff. Man. I'll conclude with this forgive
Speaker 1: my stumbling on that word. So you talk about music
Speaker 1: in the weight room. Let's say you get your first
Speaker 1: orange jersey out here at practice. Put you on the spot.
Speaker 1: What's the first song you want to put on that
Speaker 1: playlist to get the guys fired up, to get the
Speaker 1: guys juiced up and ready for a football practice.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, you know, I love music.
Speaker 4: Music, Ke's me focused Like I watch music and watching
Speaker 4: I mean I listened to music when watching film.
Speaker 3: I listen to music when working out.
Speaker 4: So if I had to choose one song that'd be hard,
Speaker 4: but we would I had to choose.
Speaker 1: Well, luckily you have the whole playlist, so we're maybe
Speaker 1: don't it's just the first one, right, you're kind of
Speaker 1: setting the tempo here, sending the tone of practice.
Speaker 4: I'll say fcg heme finally, Rich, Yeah, I listened to
Speaker 4: Fcgeme a lot, maybe like some Little Dirt something like
Speaker 4: that along those lines. But yeah, I mean, honestly, during
Speaker 4: during practice, I can't, like, I can't name one song
Speaker 4: that we played here during practice, just for the simple
Speaker 4: fact that during practice, like I'm I'm more so locked
Speaker 4: in on the intent of what's going on and what
Speaker 4: we're being asked to do at that point of time
Speaker 4: in practice. So I mean, honestly, I would take the
Speaker 4: orange jersey and then I'll just be like, you know what,
Speaker 4: the music, Let's just play whatever music you know the
Speaker 4: guys are feeling, because I'm not really like I'm not,
Speaker 4: I don't focus on the music during practice because I'm
Speaker 4: just locked into whatever's being asked of me to do
Speaker 4: at that moment.
Speaker 1: I would expect nothing else. Jordan Phillips, new Dolphins defensive lineman,
Speaker 1: appreciate your time, day man.
Speaker 2: That was great.
Speaker 3: Thank you, yes, sir, thank you so much.
Speaker 2: I like him. I like that guy. I like this guy.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I really like this guy.
Speaker 3: I like my whole team. Actually, I love that team.
Speaker 1: First break right there, come back on the other side,
Speaker 1: talk about the Bucks, Falcons, Panthers, and Saints, how they
Speaker 1: match up with your Miami Dolphins. All that Next Draft
Speaker 1: Time podcast, brought to you by Autnation, felt like an
Speaker 1: appropriate time for prime time music as we kick off
Speaker 1: another division preview here the NFC South, the division that
Speaker 1: has not really produced championship caliber teams to the postseason
Speaker 1: really since the retirement of Tom Brady, but the team
Speaker 1: that has continued that winning formula post Tom Brady, and
Speaker 1: a big thanks to a quarterback that was cast off
Speaker 1: by a few teams prior to his arrival in Tampa Bay,
Speaker 1: in Baker Mayfield. And I think that when you go
Speaker 1: back to on this podcast, I think I had the
Speaker 1: Bucks at one in sixteen, the year after Brady left,
Speaker 1: because there was videos of Baker and Kyle Trask throwing
Speaker 1: balls on air that were nowhere near their intended targets.
Speaker 1: And as a big Baker believer, I was like, I
Speaker 1: don't think he's got it. Anymore, and I was concerned
Speaker 1: about that position, and I said in that podcast, this
Speaker 1: roster is actually pretty damn good still, but I just
Speaker 1: can't put this team with this quarterback play into a
Speaker 1: tier like that. But he's proven that wrong. And so
Speaker 1: I'm all the way back in on Baker Mayfield. I'm
Speaker 1: all the way in on this Bucks team, who I
Speaker 1: think is just loaded actually when you look at their roster.
Speaker 2: Let's go ahead and go over the changes here.
Speaker 1: So this is the fourth division we've done, and I
Speaker 1: think there is a massive, massive, Marianna Seish trench, Marianna
Speaker 1: Trench sized gap, I should say, between the top team
Speaker 1: and the division and the rest. And I say that
Speaker 1: kind of liking the Falcons more than most, because I
Speaker 1: think the Bucks are pretty damn good. And when you
Speaker 1: were concerned about Baker coming off the Panthers and Rams year,
Speaker 1: now he's kind of the freaking man and he's playing
Speaker 1: in a loaded offense.
Speaker 2: The defense is pretty damn good.
Speaker 1: And sorry, that's not the changes, but I felt that
Speaker 1: introduction was needed here because we want to be transparent
Speaker 1: in our you know, changing evolving opinions of teams as
Speaker 1: we get more new information. So the biggest change does
Speaker 1: come at a very critical position. And hey, Baker the
Speaker 1: freaking head coach maker, right, because the last two OC's
Speaker 1: Dave Canalis and Liam Cohen have gone on to get
Speaker 1: head coaching jobs, and they had the turnover last year,
Speaker 1: and it was like, can can Liam Cohen do what
Speaker 1: Dave Canalis did? He goes to Carolina and you know,
Speaker 1: Bryce Young goes from a quarterback that literally can't like
Speaker 1: play the guitar as it were, to a guy that
Speaker 1: produced down the stretch. And then Liam Cohen makes the
Speaker 1: jump to try to do the same thing with Trevor
Speaker 1: Lawrence after some the worst year of his career and
Speaker 1: now post Or remayer, I should say, but now in Tampa,
Speaker 1: they're gonna try it again, right. And one of my
Speaker 1: first ever coworkers to tell me they listen to the
Speaker 1: podcast was in fact and he said his kids would
Speaker 1: come up to and say, Daddy, what is up Dolphins.
Speaker 1: I'm talking about Josh Grizzard, who was a quality control
Speaker 1: coach here, then receivers coach, then an assistant receivers coach here.
Speaker 1: I don't really know what we'll get from him from
Speaker 1: a design standpoint of the offense. I imagine he wants
Speaker 1: to keep things similar to what Kanalis and Cohen built
Speaker 1: there with Baker, because I just can't imagine he's bringing
Speaker 1: anything with his Dolphins experience to this offense because that
Speaker 1: was an offense that didn't do much. Because he's a
Speaker 1: smart dude, he's a Yale guy. I'm very excited for him,
Speaker 1: and I'm rooting for him in the Bucks except for
Speaker 1: the Week seventeen game down here in Miami. Outside of that,
Speaker 1: there's plenty of continuity. George Edwards runs the defense with
Speaker 1: Todd Bowles in In terms of newcomers, this offense was
Speaker 1: already too talented. So the only big free agent signing
Speaker 1: was a swing tackle and Charlie Heck I thought he's
Speaker 1: a pretty good player in terms of being a swing tackle.
Speaker 1: They add Hassan Reddick on defense, which is you know,
Speaker 1: he had sort of a wash of a year last
Speaker 1: year with the Jets. They signed Anthony Walker. We know him,
Speaker 1: and that's basically it. They went corner corner with Benjamin Morrison,
Speaker 1: then one of my favorite players in the entire class
Speaker 1: of Jacob Perish out of Kansas State, who is kind
Speaker 1: of Trent McDuffie light on tape. In my opinion, they
Speaker 1: retained a ton of their own that were due up
Speaker 1: for contracts with Ben Bredeson, Lavonte David keeps on coming
Speaker 1: back on one year mercenary deals. Greg Gaines is a
Speaker 1: guy that we talked about as a possible fit here
Speaker 1: as a defensive tackle free agent signing. I would have
Speaker 1: taken Chris Godwin at any point of his career as
Speaker 1: a free agent for any amount of money, because I think
Speaker 1: he's freaking awesome. Sua Opetta, Sterling Shepherd among the resignings
Speaker 1: on the way out, kJ Britt, he's now with us
Speaker 1: down here, Mike Edwards, the safety is a big loss
Speaker 1: for them, Robert Hainsey inside the lot to replace his
Speaker 1: production on the interior, and then Joy Joe Tryon, Shoyinka
Speaker 1: and tavierre Thomas are out as far as the film
Speaker 1: their calling card. Not entirely sure what to expect, but
Speaker 1: I think you brush up on the concepts all over
Speaker 1: your tape from the last two years, which is one
Speaker 1: of the best screen games in the league, one of
Speaker 1: the best run game variants off of play action. The
Speaker 1: thing I'm most curious to see with grizz is how
Speaker 1: he operates that run game though, because he's been a
Speaker 1: pass game coordinator and the Bucks are just another team
Speaker 1: that we can learn from in terms of how the
Speaker 1: running game helps the quarterback in the passing game, and
Speaker 1: that offensive line certainly helps, but they're in amnable group
Speaker 1: to gap or zone. They have one of the best
Speaker 1: power games in football, and from that they can run
Speaker 1: trap and then having these big, athletic, smart offensive linemen
Speaker 1: with Graham Barton, Cody Mock, Ben Brettisoner all that and
Speaker 1: that's before you get to literally the best tackle tandem
Speaker 1: in the national football Like I see the debate right
Speaker 1: now about Piney School or Lane Johnson, I would insert
Speaker 1: Tristan Wurfs into that conversation for the top three without
Speaker 1: question about it. And you can run influence, which is
Speaker 1: basically decoys. It's a trap with a decoy poller, and
Speaker 1: they still have the athletic ability to get on the
Speaker 1: outside shoulders and get leverage in those runs that you
Speaker 1: can get to all the split zone stuff we talked
Speaker 1: about with the Colts on a podcast last week I
Speaker 1: think it was on the AFC South podcast, And all
Speaker 1: of this gives the quarterback simple indicators. Look, I love
Speaker 1: Baker Mayfield I think he's a great player, a really
Speaker 1: really good quarterback. But when you can really give the
Speaker 1: quarterback certain things in the offense, like indicators from the
Speaker 1: running game, it makes it a lot easier for them
Speaker 1: to make decisions and make reads.
Speaker 2: And we'll talk about how the.
Speaker 1: Dolphins can can kind of do that on the AFC's
Speaker 1: East podcast coming up here in a couple of weeks.
Speaker 1: But if you sprint after the run, the run action
Speaker 1: in the run game, and then he goes play pass,
Speaker 1: he's going to be able to throw off your overplay
Speaker 1: with ease at this level, and he's smart enough and
Speaker 1: accurate enough to do that. I mentioned the offensive line.
Speaker 1: Bucky Irving was awesome as a rookie last year, a
Speaker 1: great decision maker who pressed angles and made yards through
Speaker 1: the scheme. And then, oh, by the way, they might
Speaker 1: have had the best wide receiver corp in football before
Speaker 1: they drafted the best receiver in the draft from my
Speaker 1: money in a mecca at Buka. And I say this
Speaker 1: when last year without Edwins, without Edwin's without godwinning Evans
Speaker 1: for a couple of games, Baker's posting like three hundred
Speaker 1: and fifty yard games, when Cad Aughton is his top receiver.
Speaker 1: And the last time Mike Evans didn't have a thousand
Speaker 1: yards excuse me, was when Barack Obama was in office,
Speaker 1: back when we had a normal political landscape.
Speaker 2: That's how long ago it was.
Speaker 1: His streak actually goes back through college because he is
Speaker 1: thirteen years two at Texas A and M has he
Speaker 1: ever had a season in his life without one hundred
Speaker 1: one thousand yards receiving. It has to be high school,
Speaker 1: maybe Pop Warner. And oh, by the way, Jalen McMillan,
Speaker 1: a third round draft pick last year out of not
Speaker 1: Washington State out of the University of Washington, caught eight touchdowns.
Speaker 1: No Biggie Kate, Aughton, Payton Durham co Keef can all
Speaker 1: catch and block. I think Baker is a top twelve quarterback.
Speaker 1: But if you're removing the quarterback, this is easily the
Speaker 1: best offense in football, like probably by a wide margin
Speaker 1: for me. Defensively, Todd Bowles blitzes. We know this, and
Speaker 1: perhaps the best part of his scheme is the run
Speaker 1: blitzes and creative ways he can get hats to every
Speaker 1: single gap. They are these old school coaches man like.
Speaker 1: This is why I think it's such a renaissance for
Speaker 1: defense these days. You have these really complex coverage schemes
Speaker 1: that keep the top on the defense and force offenses
Speaker 1: to matriculate the ball in the field.
Speaker 3: Right.
Speaker 1: But when you can do that and you compare it
Speaker 1: with a good run game, it is tough to pick
Speaker 1: windows on second and twelve when you're getting negative plays
Speaker 1: in the running game. And it doesn't hurt that you
Speaker 1: have a defensive tackle who's maybe the hardest player to
Speaker 1: run against ever. I mean, who's in the mix there,
Speaker 1: like the Williams Wall from the Vikings days of old
Speaker 1: Tony Saragusa, Like going back that far. Last year, we
Speaker 1: were in Tampa for joint practices and I found myself
Speaker 1: near coaching the coaching staff for a dinner, and I
Speaker 1: said something that was supposed to be a joke, and
Speaker 1: the reply I got from an offensive coach was, is
Speaker 1: the funny part that we have to find a way
Speaker 1: to block Vita Vea tomorrow. Like the league knows who
Speaker 1: he is, Like he is completely disruptive, and there was
Speaker 1: a couple of years ago where you just didn't run
Speaker 1: the ball on the bucks because of Fdave. He's a
Speaker 1: Hall of Fame player. For my money all day, every day.
Speaker 1: Then he's got two studs that rotate around him in
Speaker 1: Elijah Cantsi and Greg Gaines. I think of this roster
Speaker 1: has a question though it's off the edge, which can
Speaker 1: be kind of a trapdoor scenario you insert Hassan Reddick.
Speaker 1: I tend to think that when you miss that much
Speaker 1: time and aren't productive for that long, it's tough to
Speaker 1: get back into it. Logan Hall is a good player,
Speaker 1: Lavonte David also, for my money, a Hall of Fame linebacker.
Speaker 1: Antoine Winfield and Tyreek Smith are nice players. In the
Speaker 1: back end, Jamil Dean Zion McCollum are a good duo
Speaker 1: of cornerbacks, and I think Jacob Parrish will unsee Christian
Speaker 1: is in in the slot as the starter for that
Speaker 1: defense as well. But all that continuity they have down
Speaker 1: the middle right Veya Gains can't see David Winfield, it
Speaker 1: allows them to be so multiple in their looks. They'll
Speaker 1: go amba front, they'll play over under, they can do
Speaker 1: it all. The question mark for this team if you're
Speaker 1: reliant on always scheming up your rush against the top quarterbacks,
Speaker 1: that's how you get in those shootouts we saw last
Speaker 1: year for the Buccaneers and a quarterback like to it, right,
Speaker 1: if you blitz to a all game long, you gonna
Speaker 1: get burned, honey. And we saw the last year a
Speaker 1: few times with the Bucks. I think that they're thin
Speaker 1: in the back seven as well. But man, when you
Speaker 1: have an offense like this, you're a shoe in for
Speaker 1: the playoff, especially in this division. And then the health, execution,
Speaker 1: and growth of the defense is really what determines how
Speaker 1: far you can go once you get there, and you
Speaker 1: do find that eventual roadblock because you're not going to
Speaker 1: be a thirty point per game fixture every game in
Speaker 1: the postseason. You're gonna have to win a game with
Speaker 1: a complete team game at some point. And then, of course,
Speaker 1: the synergy and continuity on offense, even with a new
Speaker 1: coordinator like I think that is fair to question, even
Speaker 1: if I just flat out believe in it. Some miscellaneous
Speaker 1: factors here. We I really kind of thought they were
Speaker 1: cooked when they were four and six and lost both
Speaker 1: Evans and Godwin. Can you guys hear that I'm wrestling
Speaker 1: my cat right now, trying to sit in my lap.
Speaker 1: ConA has been starved for attention with the addition of
Speaker 1: a new baby but they lost Edwins and god Edwind.
Speaker 1: Why do I keep saying Edwins, Evans and Godwin for
Speaker 1: almost two months and god Wins out for the entire
Speaker 1: year and they ripped off six of the last seven games. Now,
Speaker 1: the quarterbacks in those games, and this is where you
Speaker 1: can kind of push back where Tommy Cutlet's Bryce Young.
Speaker 2: Aidan O'Connell, justin Herbert.
Speaker 1: He's the outlier there. But you know how I feel
Speaker 1: about that, Bryce Young again and Spencer Ratler. The loss
Speaker 1: was a Cooper rush. Now, they did beat Philly, Washington
Speaker 1: and Detroit early on, but I think losing those two receivers,
Speaker 1: Godwin coming off of major injury, Evans and year twelve,
Speaker 1: I think you see why they continued to add to
Speaker 1: that receiver room. But that's a little more volatility the
Speaker 1: top than most teams have. Right they get the AFC
Speaker 1: East and the NFC West on top of the Eagles
Speaker 1: and Lions for a first play schedule, it's pretty tough
Speaker 1: outside of their own division games. But I think playing
Speaker 1: those division games is going to put them right back
Speaker 1: into January next season. The trapdoor scenario here, you're aging receivers,
Speaker 1: new offensive coordinator first time play caller Vita Vea goes down,
Speaker 1: it changes that defensive scheme entirely. Or if they get
Speaker 1: injuries in the back seven, that opens up what you
Speaker 1: saw last year with more shootouts and removes the value
Speaker 1: of that running game and the deception they run off
Speaker 1: of that. But that's a lot of ifs. I think
Speaker 1: they're gonna be fine. The conclusion, if you can't tell
Speaker 1: I am super super bullish on this Bucks team, I
Speaker 1: think they are just a step below what has been
Speaker 1: the class of the NFC in the Eagles and Lions
Speaker 1: last couple of years, but right there with the Rams
Speaker 1: and Niners, with similar questions to those teams that I have.
Speaker 1: If I had to rank my confidence in the eight
Speaker 1: division winner picks, the Bucks are probably up there with
Speaker 1: Kansas City, Buffalo, Philly, and Detroit.
Speaker 2: For my money.
Speaker 3: By way, dish blow.
Speaker 1: The Atlanta Falcons are up next, a team that I'm
Speaker 1: a little bit more bullish on, I think than most
Speaker 1: the changes here for them personnel wise. I just keep
Speaker 1: thinking back to the discourse over the Cousins in Pennix
Speaker 1: package last year, and I think where we are now
Speaker 1: like makes perfect sense.
Speaker 2: Why you did it that way?
Speaker 1: Perhaps The argument is that you shouldn't have gone after
Speaker 1: Kirk Cousins for what was essentially like eleven good you know,
Speaker 1: eleven games before the he kind of turned pumpkin and
Speaker 1: was just like unplayable down the stretch. I've talked about
Speaker 1: that Chargers game on this podcast freaking twelve times because
Speaker 1: I watched it in its entirety, and the four picks
Speaker 1: in positive territory in a game you lost by four
Speaker 1: points was tough to watch, and I just kept saying,
Speaker 1: he put the rookie in, you would have handled the
Speaker 1: Chargers a big l there for the Dolphins playoff hopes.
Speaker 1: It didn't matter in the end, but at the time
Speaker 1: it was really annoying. But I'm excited about this team
Speaker 1: for the first time in a while because it's not
Speaker 1: a banged up Kirk Cousins at age thirty eight. It's
Speaker 1: not Desmond freaking Ritter, who they tried to make a
Speaker 1: thing for a couple of years there, and they really
Speaker 1: went for in twenty twenty five, which I'm a little
Speaker 1: bit dubious on that approach, but that was another point
Speaker 1: of discussion. They moved off a twenty twenty six first,
Speaker 1: and look, I think it was bad practice because I
Speaker 1: just didn't think that the player they gave up their
Speaker 1: future first round pick, and James Pierce presented the value
Speaker 1: for what could be a possibly top twenty pick next year.
Speaker 1: And what happens if Pennix plays poorly right, well, then
Speaker 1: he works and comes back for twenty twenty six his
Speaker 1: third year cheap as hell, and he gets better. I
Speaker 1: don't understand the argument that you have to like reveal
Speaker 1: who Michael Pennix is in these next seventeen games. He's
Speaker 1: got a lot of football ahead of him. He's going
Speaker 1: to be like Tua in the sense that he gets
Speaker 1: better as he gets older. So I don't understand that argument.
Speaker 1: But I just didn't like the player. But you have
Speaker 1: to have conviction in your own moves. And it's why
Speaker 1: I don't understand or never understood the reason for the
Speaker 1: argument of drafting a tackle in.
Speaker 2: The first round for the Dolphins.
Speaker 1: Like Patrick, Paul played three hundred snaps last year, and
Speaker 1: there wasn't anything in those snaps that would have told
Speaker 1: you he can't do it. In fact, it was probably
Speaker 1: more encouraging than you expected. If you replaced him, you
Speaker 1: basically waste a second round pick for no reason, with
Speaker 1: no patience, So they use those two first rounders to
Speaker 1: try to jump up and start their pass rush with
Speaker 1: or to jump start their pass rusher, I should say,
Speaker 1: with Jalen Walker and James Pierce Junior, which I mean
Speaker 1: the debate there is, like neither of those guys were
Speaker 1: Paulish pass rushers, and you know that's what you hire
Speaker 1: coaches for. But it's a lot of capital, man for
Speaker 1: two guys that like are probably fifty to fifty props
Speaker 1: at best. They also added Leonard Floyd and Morgan Fox.
Speaker 1: Remember we said about teams telling you what they need, Well,
Speaker 1: four premium resources sunk into the edge rush here, so
Speaker 1: it's got to be better. They also added Devon Devine
Speaker 1: Diablo and Jordan Fuller to the defense. Offensively, twenty of
Speaker 1: their top twenty two players on their depth chart are incumbents.
Speaker 1: You know, I love continuity that way. They added Jamal
Speaker 1: Agnew and rookie Jack Nelson. They did move on from
Speaker 1: Jimmy Lake, who is a guy that up in the
Speaker 1: Pacific Northwest, is not loved by either Washington or Washington
Speaker 1: State fans, and it hasn't really had the resume, so
Speaker 1: I think it's a good thing for the Falcons here,
Speaker 1: also hiring Jeff Olbrick, who I believe is a very
Speaker 1: good DC who got caught in a really, really tough
Speaker 1: and just flat out dumb situation last year with the Jets,
Speaker 1: like he never should have been in that position to
Speaker 1: begin with.
Speaker 2: But I digress.
Speaker 1: Zach Robinson returns, and I think Michael Pennix, with all
Speaker 1: those skill pieces a Shanahan Shre approach could make this
Speaker 1: offense pretty damn good. On the way out, Matthew Judon,
Speaker 1: Justin Simmons, Drew Domin's a big loss for them. Grady
Speaker 1: Jarrett was a staple for a decade there, Eddie Goldman,
Speaker 1: Lorenzo Carter, and Richie Grant all out that door calling Carr.
Speaker 1: It's not that far off from the Niners in terms
Speaker 1: of the offense and defensive styles, but I like the
Speaker 1: multiple influences here first and foremost, both the head coach
Speaker 1: and defensive coordinator have been around the most in vogue
Speaker 1: offensive structure in the league. I think there's plenty in
Speaker 1: the tank there in terms of how to stop that
Speaker 1: spot drops pattern match. They play super aggressive upfront with
Speaker 1: one gap approaches and a lot of rerouting intertwined with
Speaker 1: green dog calls to delay your blitzes and you know,
Speaker 1: if he stays in, go ahead and rush. If he
Speaker 1: goes out, you got him in coverage, other variations of
Speaker 1: disguising their blitzes. When I think about jeff oldbricks influence
Speaker 1: all the Cover three and Cover one they ran with
Speaker 1: the Jets, and how much Morris's defenses have been in
Speaker 1: the past three Cover three in the past, I imagine
Speaker 1: that's the thinking here with Jesse Bates covering big swatches
Speaker 1: of patches of grass in the middle of the field
Speaker 1: and deep coverage. They draft Xavier Watts, who is a
Speaker 1: high floor, middle of the field run fit piece for
Speaker 1: my money, and in fact, I think he'll win that
Speaker 1: job over Jordan Fuller.
Speaker 3: Shoot.
Speaker 1: They also drafted one of my favorites and Billy Bowman
Speaker 1: after taking Clark Phillips last year. And they've got a
Speaker 1: true number one in aj Terrell, with two really solid
Speaker 1: corners and Mike Hughes and d Alford that's a really
Speaker 1: nice secondary back there. They move Rouke o Row row
Speaker 1: Row that's literally his name to the nose tip position.
Speaker 1: They've got Contravious Street, Centavious Street and Brandon Dorless as
Speaker 1: a big body space eater with Fox and David Anyamada,
Speaker 1: with those newcomers off the edge, if they hit on
Speaker 1: two of those four editions on the edge, this defense
Speaker 1: is going to be sick. I'm very confident in Pennix.
Speaker 1: I think the knock on him was the way he
Speaker 1: processed the middle of the field at you dub and
Speaker 1: sort of had basic concepts baked into a great protection
Speaker 1: offensive line and great receiver corps with a lot of
Speaker 1: vertical routes on the perimeter, minimal reads.
Speaker 2: Don't even worry with the safety.
Speaker 1: They're going to play double coverage here because we can
Speaker 1: see it based upon how they line up with our
Speaker 1: spread offense. Then you just take advantage of one on
Speaker 1: one situations down the field to roam with Doonsa and
Speaker 1: Jalen McMillan and all those receivers he had there. I
Speaker 1: think the way he gets the ball out though we
Speaker 1: saw it in the preseason game, we saw it in
Speaker 1: training camp, we saw it down the stretch and that
Speaker 1: really good game against Washington late in the season. Ball
Speaker 1: comes out quick with timing and zip. I think he's
Speaker 1: going to do just fine. And here we have another
Speaker 1: young quarterback with an exceptional run game. I think the
Speaker 1: way they can create windows in the passing game with
Speaker 1: the threat of their outside zone game with b John Robinson,
Speaker 1: who's a top three rider in the league. For my money,
Speaker 1: it's kind of a pick your poison offense. I do
Speaker 1: question where a player like Kyle Pitts fits into an
Speaker 1: offense that needs the tight end to work in the
Speaker 1: running game. I'd almost just convert him to an exclusively
Speaker 1: big slot player like Mike Gasicki. But with Drake Lundon,
Speaker 1: Darnell Mooney and Raray McLeod, that's a good trio, not
Speaker 1: a great trio. I like Kadarrell Hodge and Jamal Agnew
Speaker 1: a sub package pieces the front with Lynch, Drum, Matthews
Speaker 1: and McGarry.
Speaker 2: They've been there forever.
Speaker 1: They will work in a new center and Ryan Noozel
Speaker 1: that's kind of a big question mark for me there.
Speaker 1: I mentioned that news centers as a question. We know
Speaker 1: how critical that is with this roster, and with a
Speaker 1: young quarterback who doesn't have the full autonomy the line
Speaker 1: of scrimmage of a six year vet the way TUA does.
Speaker 1: With all the moving parts on offense, it could take
Speaker 1: some time to nail things down. I think there's some
Speaker 1: questions on the line, and even with all the moves,
Speaker 1: the pass rush as well the miscellaneous factors here, there
Speaker 1: is This is something a lot of teams deal with.
Speaker 1: So I don't want to sound like I'm singling the
Speaker 1: Falcons out here, but this is a big year really
Speaker 1: for all the decision making. Fifth year for Terry Fontineau,
Speaker 1: and I mean the decisions at quarterback have been rough
Speaker 1: until now, just the second year for Raheem Morris. But
Speaker 1: Arthur Blank talked about playoff mandates and sometimes when you're
Speaker 1: up against that, you make decisions like trading off future
Speaker 1: first round picks for guys that you're hoping can hit,
Speaker 1: and it can have you know, this preservation concept, and
Speaker 1: it's a slippery slope, especially with this start.
Speaker 2: I mean, have mercy.
Speaker 1: They go Bucks, Vikings, Panthers, Commanders, By Bills, Niners, Dolphins.
Speaker 1: They lose three games off that bye week to three
Speaker 1: good football teams. There's a decent chance that they're underdogs
Speaker 1: in six of their first seven games, and if they're
Speaker 1: two to five like Saya Nara most likely right the
Speaker 1: trap door scenario, that slow start, a trip to Germany,
Speaker 1: those edge changes don't find their footing early on. Maybe
Speaker 1: some of the offensive line questions percolate a little bit more.
Speaker 1: You lose one of the three stalwarts that changes things.
Speaker 1: Maybe Pennex is getting hit more than he should. The
Speaker 1: outside zone game doesn't click right away. As much as
Speaker 1: there is to like about them, there are questions, and
Speaker 1: I don't I think any of these things could present
Speaker 1: the dreaded t Adoor situation. My conclusion here, I'm stuck
Speaker 1: between being extremely bullish and wanting to fade them, which
Speaker 1: tells me I'm sort of down the middle. I think
Speaker 1: they can score. I've made no secret about that. To
Speaker 1: me is always number one. You gotta be able to score.
Speaker 1: I like the back seven. You're putting a lot of
Speaker 1: faith though in the unknown. As of past rushers, I
Speaker 1: think they're clearly the second best team in the division,
Speaker 1: but also well behind the Bucks. Last break right there,
Speaker 1: come back into the Panthers and the Saints on the
Speaker 1: other side. Draft Time podcast brought to you by Autounation.
Speaker 1: I recently watched the new movie with Paul Rudd and
Speaker 1: Tim Robinson, Friendship, and the latest review on the podcast
Speaker 1: on Apple podcast is from an account named Oceanview Dining
Speaker 1: and I didn't get that at first, and now I
Speaker 1: do and it's hilarious. So thank you Oceanview Dining for
Speaker 1: the review. I'll come back to that maybe on a
Speaker 1: later episode and talk about your hit a trade idea
Speaker 1: in that review. I'm not gonna go on to it
Speaker 1: right now because this podcast is already long. But speaking
Speaker 1: of that, let's go ahead and dive back into the
Speaker 1: NFC South and the Carolina Panthers t that I think
Speaker 1: people are gonna be. It's gonna be that same thing
Speaker 1: you see every year, right, the team that finished strong
Speaker 1: after a rough intro to the season, a rough roster,
Speaker 1: and it's gonna cause a lot of optimism. But as
Speaker 1: we have learned in this league, progress is not always linear.
Speaker 1: And the twenty twenty five Panthers really, they really are
Speaker 1: unrecognizable from the twenty twenty three team. It's been you
Speaker 1: have two off seasons of major overhaul. But the biggest
Speaker 1: thing they had to do in twenty twenty four they
Speaker 1: did their coach with a pinch as a quarterback Whisperer
Speaker 1: turned the benching of Bryce Young into a redemption arc.
Speaker 1: And just imagine where this team is if The last
Speaker 1: we saw from Bryce was that Week two game that
Speaker 1: led to the benching. He couldn't he like he was
Speaker 1: like standing on his tippy toes and couldn't complete balls.
Speaker 1: It was one of the craziest things I've ever seen
Speaker 1: in a football field. But that gave them their direction
Speaker 1: for better or worse. I tend to think the ladder
Speaker 1: this offseason, you know, was to press four and build
Speaker 1: it as if they had the guy. But that remains
Speaker 1: to be seen in a big way. But decision or
Speaker 1: direction rather is better than the alternative and floundering around
Speaker 1: a to and done. Number one overall draftic that he
Speaker 1: trained up for. The only major move on offense was
Speaker 1: the eighth pick Ted McMillan one year after paying the
Speaker 1: most money for two guards the NFL has ever seen,
Speaker 1: and both Damian Lewis and Rob Hunt were excellent for them.
Speaker 1: Last year, they did sign ric o'dowdell. Otherwise, the offense
Speaker 1: is the exact same, including the offensive coordinator and ben
Speaker 1: Is Dick. Teams tell you what they want to get
Speaker 1: better at right well, they added Bobby Brown, Patrick Jones,
Speaker 1: Tershaun Wharton to their front, all projected new stars in
Speaker 1: the defensive line. They draft Nick s Gorton and the
Speaker 1: second round prince lye Uman. Yella, that's not how you
Speaker 1: say it, but I'm not going to look it up.
Speaker 1: In the third round Lathan Ransom. In the fourth round.
Speaker 1: They signed Trayvon Merrick to a huge deal. You guys
Speaker 1: know I loved him and linebacker Christian rose Boom in
Speaker 1: the front from the Rams last year. So last year
Speaker 1: was offense. This year was defense for ezuro Ever defensive
Speaker 1: coordinator on the way out. Stalwart Shaq Thompson is gone,
Speaker 1: Miles Sanders has bounced, and Dane Jackson won and done
Speaker 1: in Carolina. Back to Buffalo the film The Calling Card.
Speaker 1: Dave Kanal has talked in Tampa about scheming everything around
Speaker 1: Mike Evans, and I have to imagine that's the thought
Speaker 1: with Teed McMillan at some point. I also think they
Speaker 1: build the build of the receiver corps. There's not a
Speaker 1: burner among them. It lends itself to their desire to
Speaker 1: be a run first attack. With Hubbard and Dowdell. Then
Speaker 1: I think you get a lot of top down reads
Speaker 1: where they will run stuff, where they will run stuff
Speaker 1: from stacks and bunches. Time up their routes and displace
Speaker 1: the top of the route and then use their size
Speaker 1: to sort of, you know, hold lines and block out.
Speaker 1: And given the offensive line they have, I imagine the starting
Speaker 1: point is gap and power, but you do have the
Speaker 1: ability to get to zone stuff because even though it's
Speaker 1: a big group. You know, Robin, Damian Lewis, Kyle Krabs
Speaker 1: thought Damian Lewis is a good fit here.
Speaker 2: Last year. We know that Rob Hunt played well on
Speaker 2: this offense.
Speaker 1: Ikea Kwonko is a great left tackle, Taylor Molten a
Speaker 1: great right tackle, Austin Corbett's a good set and they
Speaker 1: can all move too. They really needed to jump from
Speaker 1: Bryce Young they needed this year too. They'll go as
Speaker 1: far as he can go, and he began to get
Speaker 1: more comfortable down the stretch. Frankly, to be honest with
Speaker 1: you guys, I still don't see it. I think there's
Speaker 1: just inherent errors and flaws in his game that will
Speaker 1: not translate to long term success. And I think all
Speaker 1: of this is going to be for not because you
Speaker 1: moved up in the first round to get him, And
Speaker 1: I would actually start Andy Dalton. That's what I would do.
Speaker 1: Maybe I'm crazy, That's what I would do. I do
Speaker 1: think that power run scheme to set up play action
Speaker 1: where they can sort of wash things down, pull the
Speaker 1: ball back out and get Bryce on the move to
Speaker 1: mitigate the problems that come with his size and the
Speaker 1: lack of vision that comes with that, and the big
Speaker 1: bodies and the perimeter to get some easy throws in
Speaker 1: the quick game and manufacture deep stuff from there. Like
Speaker 1: you reduce your ability to read the whole field, but
Speaker 1: you got to make up for it somehow.
Speaker 2: But I see the vision there.
Speaker 1: McMillan, Lexavier Leaguet, Adam Thielen, Tommy Trumble, those are the
Speaker 1: top targets. Like I guess if you liked McMillan, I
Speaker 1: can see how you like this group. I had him
Speaker 1: at receiver eight in this year's draft class. Wasn't into
Speaker 1: the film. And Thielan is I think is well past
Speaker 1: his prime, and Lagette is a nice player, but it's
Speaker 1: just it's not inspiring to me. They forced just seventeen
Speaker 1: takeaways last year, and getting Merig to run their complex
Speaker 1: coverage scheme under Avro is nice, and rookie Lathan Ransom
Speaker 1: is going to be a starter right away. I think
Speaker 1: he's going to be a really good player in this league.
Speaker 1: It's a fun combination and they kind of play off
Speaker 1: each other for now and for the future. With all
Speaker 1: the quarters cover six two man they want to play
Speaker 1: in that defense.
Speaker 3: J C.
Speaker 2: Horn is maybe.
Speaker 1: Their best player, the alpha that allows them to get
Speaker 1: to all their hybrid coverages. And then they really need
Speaker 1: Shaw Smith Wade Go Koogs to take a big jump
Speaker 1: this year as a starter at corner. The nickel spot
Speaker 1: is up for grabs this offseason, and they need one
Speaker 1: of those two rookie edges to really blossom early on here.
Speaker 1: They missed Derek Brown in a big way when he
Speaker 1: went down last year. But you can see the idea
Speaker 1: of playing the run from light boxes with those big bodies,
Speaker 1: with Brown, with Wharton, with Jones, all those guys are
Speaker 1: bigger than the average player at their position. And the
Speaker 1: question mark I have here high Caroline, how are you going?
Speaker 2: Okay? Go putty?
Speaker 1: The big question here is can Bryce Young build on
Speaker 1: last year? It all comes down to that, right do
Speaker 1: they have enough at those skill spots. Canna rookie come
Speaker 1: in and produce right away. They need McMillan to be that.
Speaker 1: He has to be the number one because they don't
Speaker 1: have one. Otherwise, they had almost no attrition on the
Speaker 1: offensive line. Four of their five guys played eighty five
Speaker 1: percent of the snaps for more. That's probably not gonna
Speaker 1: happen again. I like going big on defense, but you
Speaker 1: need plus athletes in this league, as the Dolphins learned
Speaker 1: the last couple of years. I think you could worry
Speaker 1: about specific matchups for teams like US, for instance, and
Speaker 1: then that's a lot of new parts you're asking to
Speaker 1: come in and play pretty complex run schemes like we
Speaker 1: can do it because we have Zach Seeler and Jordan Brooks.
Speaker 1: Can Derek Brown and Josie Jewell be that for them?
Speaker 1: I think dB can. But the linebacker laying down so much, Uh,
Speaker 1: miscellaneous factors. They've got to start I wrote fast, but
Speaker 1: it says FATS. They've got to start FATS here, Jags, Cards, Falcons, Patriots, US, Cowboys, Jets.
Speaker 1: I mean, we're the only team in there that I
Speaker 1: think are gonna stomp them, quite frankly.
Speaker 2: Then it goes.
Speaker 1: Bills, Packers, Saints, Falcons, Niners, and Rams. They also parted
Speaker 1: ways with their longest nice toilet flush with their longest
Speaker 1: tenured player and leader in Shaq Thompson. Sometimes that can
Speaker 1: be tough to a tough adjustment. Also, a lot of
Speaker 1: their best players have or lengthy injury histories. With JC
Speaker 1: Horn and Derek Brown, if they lost both of them again,
Speaker 1: that defense gets incredibly thin. I think I just spelled
Speaker 1: out the trapdoor scenarios and no need to repeat that
Speaker 1: the conclusion. I think there's a lot of reason for optimism,
Speaker 1: but as is the case with any team that undergoes
Speaker 1: a bunch of change, those changes usually have some questions
Speaker 1: attached to them. I think maybe still a year away,
Speaker 1: but they showed last year they're no longer a team
Speaker 1: that you just automatically circle as a w and as
Speaker 1: they were for a good run out of time there,
Speaker 1: but full transparency. I'm not buying it. I'm not a believer.
Speaker 1: I think it's still one of the worst skill groups
Speaker 1: and one of the worst quarterbacks of the defense. That's
Speaker 1: several pieces away. I think they're far more likely to
Speaker 1: pick in the top ten and they are to make
Speaker 1: a playoff push this season. And we conclude here by
Speaker 1: way dish blow and we'll go brief. It's the New
Speaker 1: Orleans Saints. The changes one of the stranger teams in
Speaker 1: the NFL this offseason. They announced after the free agent period,
Speaker 1: just before the draft that their quarterback had a serious injury,
Speaker 1: and then he just retires post draft, and then it
Speaker 1: just sort of ends. Fighting crime penetration, fighting crime penetration
Speaker 1: just sort of ends. Now the most experienced quarterback is
Speaker 1: zero to six as a starter with a thirty four
Speaker 1: percent success rate and more interceptions and touchdowns and a
Speaker 1: seventy point four passer rate. Not Spencer Ratler, thumbs up, dude,
Speaker 1: He'll try to stave off the newcomer Tyler Shook, who
Speaker 1: the team drafted in the second round. Kellen Moore is
Speaker 1: in from a town twenty eight minutes from my hometown, Prosser, Washington,
Speaker 1: and it's all an all new staff, like all new.
Speaker 1: Doug nuss Meyer is the offensive coordinator there, and if
Speaker 1: they lose a bunch of games, they can just draft
Speaker 1: his son, who I think is going to be a
Speaker 1: stud in, Garrett nus Meyer from LSU. Brandon Stateley is
Speaker 1: back in a coordiator role for the first time since
Speaker 1: he left the Chargers in as Tyler Shook and Kelvin
Speaker 1: Banks their first round pick. Brandon cooks his back Dylan
Speaker 1: Raidens is there, Will Clapped, Von Godshaw, the LSU zone,
Speaker 1: Vernon Broughton, the rookie out of Texas, Jonash Sanker, and
Speaker 1: Danny Stutsman the linebacker from Oklahoma, Quincy Riley, Justin Reid,
Speaker 1: Isaac Yadam on the way out, Paulson Adeboat, Willie Gay Lucas,
Speaker 1: Patrick Payton Turner like they lost more than they brought
Speaker 1: in for a team that wasn't very good to begin with.
Speaker 1: The film their calling card, It's hard to know what
Speaker 1: Kellen Moore prefers from a concept standpoint. He's been on
Speaker 1: a lot of staffs with another prominent name, so we're
Speaker 1: gonna really see for the first time in a while
Speaker 1: what his calling cards are. Like most coaches, it's a
Speaker 1: lot of pre snap motion, shifting movement before the snap.
Speaker 1: He wants to get his quarterback maximum information. He's a
Speaker 1: quarterback that basically grew up drawing plays in the sand
Speaker 1: in terms of where the pressure points are, how the
Speaker 1: coverage bumps and slides, and he'll need that from a
Speaker 1: young quarterback in this young quarterback room. I should say,
Speaker 1: you have to imagine that he'll lean on Alvin Kamara
Speaker 1: with the focus on getting him the football in space,
Speaker 1: especially with Talisi Fuaga and Kelvin Banks on either side,
Speaker 1: with Juwan Johnson off the edge, and what he offers
Speaker 1: healthy Chris Alave, Rashid Shaheed and Brandon Cooks is fun,
Speaker 1: but there's a buttload of miss games in that mix.
Speaker 1: I like the tackles. I like Caesaruiz and Eric McCoy
Speaker 1: even more. And if Trevor Penning kicks inside to garden
Speaker 1: works there. They have a really damn good offensive line.
Speaker 1: This team just looks primed to drop a quarterback into
Speaker 1: the mix next year, but sometimes teams that have that
Speaker 1: look have it go better than expected. I just think
Speaker 1: it's a tough spot. Let's say Tyler Shook plays well
Speaker 1: but they go four and thirteen. Do you pass in
Speaker 1: the quarterback in the top three of the draft next year.
Speaker 1: I don't think you do. I don't think they'll play
Speaker 1: well enough to get you there anyways. It's it's you know,
Speaker 1: you can't win without that position in this league, and
Speaker 1: they don't have it right now. On defense, Staley now
Speaker 1: works under more. Those roles were flipped in twenty twenty
Speaker 1: three back in Los Angeles. I think Staley is a
Speaker 1: really good coordinator, but man teaching that system is tough.
Speaker 1: And they've got a lot of changes in personnel back
Speaker 1: there too. Chase Young coming back was huge, Jordan Cameron
Speaker 1: still a good player. Carl Granderson's awesome. So they have
Speaker 1: those three cornerstones up front. I like the two backers,
Speaker 1: and to Mario Davis, who's been awesome for the last
Speaker 1: like eight years. Pete Warner is a good player, but
Speaker 1: they've got to replace paulse and Thedebo and do with
Speaker 1: Isaac Yadam kool Aid. Mcinry was a good rookie last year.
Speaker 1: Alante Taylor I like his game a lot too, and
Speaker 1: they've got some vets who've seen it all at safety.
Speaker 1: And between that and to Mario Davis, a nice trio
Speaker 1: down the middle to communicate these complex coverage shells and
Speaker 1: pattern matching rules. With Justin Reid and Tyron Matthew, it
Speaker 1: could work there. But the question here is you don't
Speaker 1: have to labor the point. No matter who wins the
Speaker 1: quarterback job, there's going to be massive questions there. I
Speaker 1: don't think you can roll with Ratler again. I think
Speaker 1: it has to be Tyler shook because I don't think
Speaker 1: Jake Hayner is any better than Ratler, so we'll see
Speaker 1: the miscellaneous factors here. I think change was long overdue
Speaker 1: and perhaps some more medicine taking is coming in the
Speaker 1: line here to kind of reset the books that you've
Speaker 1: really doubled down on for like ten straight years. They've
Speaker 1: been at the forefront of the group of teams that
Speaker 1: consistently occupy future resource is to keep resetting the decks.
Speaker 1: Perhaps a bottom out would finally help lead to the
Speaker 1: end of that because they sort of spent big again.
Speaker 1: Like I'm not sure where Brandon Cooks and Devon got
Speaker 1: Shaw and Justin Reid factor into a football team. It's
Speaker 1: gonna roll out a second round quarterback to start the
Speaker 1: season most likely. Trapdoor scenario does not apply. The conclusion
Speaker 1: here a transition year could be wrong, but it has
Speaker 1: the makings of that. If they slidify the offensive line
Speaker 1: a love can avoid injury, and Staley gets that defense
Speaker 1: stitch together, then they could be a big riser by
Speaker 1: twenty twenty six with a new quarterback. And we'll see
Speaker 1: what looks like for Tyler Shook. But I doubt they
Speaker 1: win enough games to pass off a quarterback next offseason.
Speaker 1: The Division superlatives. The winner here is the Bucks by
Speaker 1: a long shot. The best quarterback is Baker by a
Speaker 1: long shot. The best non offensive player is Tristan Wurth
Speaker 1: by a long shot. And the best defensive player it's
Speaker 1: probably Vitavea, but I put Jesse Bates in there as well.
Speaker 1: I think the best coach is Todd Bowles. So if
Speaker 1: we're going with Fidavea, we have Bucks, Bucks, Bucks, Bucks, Bucks.
Speaker 1: The best rookie is a Mecca Agbuka, so it's Bucks again.
Speaker 1: My best under the radar stad Lots of options here.
Speaker 1: Cody Mack and Luka Decky. Are they uder the radar
Speaker 1: still or are they just really good offensive linemen that
Speaker 1: no one talks about. Zion McCollum is that category. Carl
Speaker 1: Granderson to Mario Davis might be the best player in
Speaker 1: the league at his position, or one of them, I
Speaker 1: should say, but no one really talks about him. Cayden
Speaker 1: Ellis is in there, Bobby Brown for the Panthers. Let's
Speaker 1: just go all Bucks and keep it. Cody Mock, I
Speaker 1: feel like he's still a tiny bit under the radar,
Speaker 1: and I just think the Bucks being the bells of
Speaker 1: the ball, it's fitting they sweep the dam the whole
Speaker 1: damn category here. All right, long podcast, let's go ahead
Speaker 1: and get out of here. Next will be the eighth
Speaker 1: of July the AFC West with Jalen Wright and if
Speaker 1: E Mela Famu on the podcast. You don't want to
Speaker 1: miss that. In the meantime, gonna be my time you all.
Speaker 1: Please be sure subscribe, rate, review the podcast. Follow me
Speaker 1: on social at weekfold NFL. The team at Miami Dolphins,
Speaker 1: my boys the fish Tank no longer on the network here,
Speaker 1: but they're cranking out really fun contents. We'll check out
Speaker 1: their podcast still, I'm sure you guys are all still
Speaker 1: doing that. And last but not least, Miami Dolphins dot
Speaker 1: Com until next time, Caroline and Cameron and Willow Daddy
Speaker 1: is already home and oh yeah, fins up too, by
Speaker 1: the way,