Speaker 1: That's wrong Field touchdown, Miami a drawn? What is up? Dolphans?
Speaker 1: And welcome to the Drive Time Podcast, part of the
Speaker 1: Miami Dolphins official podcast network, covering your team, your Miami Dolphins.
Speaker 1: How's it going? Everybody is Tuesday? Season is in the books.
Speaker 1: I am your host, Travis Wingfield, and I'm here to
Speaker 1: bring you your daily dose of Miami Dolphins football. And
Speaker 1: on today's show, the season is a wrap. The Buccaneers
Speaker 1: are world champions. We're gonna welcome in Field Yates of
Speaker 1: ESPN to talk about next steps for the Miami Dolphins.
Speaker 1: Will look back at the first two years under Chris
Speaker 1: Greer and Brian Flores and project where this team is going.
Speaker 1: All of that and more on this Tuesday, February, the
Speaker 1: ninth edition of the Drive Time Podcast. Miami Times And So,
Speaker 1: the Super Bowl is in the books. It's a rap
Speaker 1: not the game. I think from a competitive standpoint, the
Speaker 1: neutral observer typically roots for. I was personally pulling for
Speaker 1: the a f C side, because typically I do root
Speaker 1: for the conference the Dolphins are in, unless it's been
Speaker 1: a division opponent over the last several years. But the
Speaker 1: Chiefs come up short to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Tom
Speaker 1: Brady's first year in Tampa Bay yields a Lombardi Trophy
Speaker 1: number seven for Brady all time. What a heck of
Speaker 1: a run he's had, What a heck of a career
Speaker 1: he's had with that Buccaneers team. Thought it was kind
Speaker 1: of cool to seeing Dominican Sue get his first ring.
Speaker 1: A guy that's been a productive player in league for
Speaker 1: a long time, was a member of the Miami Dolphins
Speaker 1: for quite some time as well, he gets his first ring.
Speaker 1: So congratulations to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. They pull off
Speaker 1: the upset in the Super Bowl. I you know, I
Speaker 1: thought the Chiefs were gonna win that game, and they
Speaker 1: just were sloppy from the start. It seemed like in
Speaker 1: terms of the penalties, how many flags came out in
Speaker 1: that game. They had double digit flags for over a
Speaker 1: hundred yards in that game. Patrick Mahomes on the move
Speaker 1: constantly throughout the course of the night. Some of the
Speaker 1: incompletions he had in that game were, I mean, the
Speaker 1: highlights of the game because of how impressive they were
Speaker 1: throwing the ball falling to his side. One of the
Speaker 1: best memes I saw on Twitter on Super Bowl Sunday
Speaker 1: was a side by side shot of that incomplete past
Speaker 1: that Mahomes through on fourth down where he's basically parallel
Speaker 1: to the ground falling to the ground side by side
Speaker 1: with White Goodman from Dodgeball, Ben Stiller's character and that
Speaker 1: great Vince Fawn movie back in like two thousand and five,
Speaker 1: pretty much the exact same throw there from Patrick Mahomes.
Speaker 1: So he remains ridiculous despite the fact that he and
Speaker 1: the Chiefs are now one and one in Super Bowls
Speaker 1: with that collection of players. But that means the end
Speaker 1: of the season now, it means it's all about one
Speaker 1: free agency on the periphery draft season, well within draft
Speaker 1: season right now. And I put the off season calendar
Speaker 1: for the NFL up in Monday's Blitz article up on
Speaker 1: Miami Dolphins dot com, where we look at the timeline
Speaker 1: for and events to occur around the league. Of course,
Speaker 1: this year we're not going to have the scouting combine
Speaker 1: with everybody descending onto Indianapolis, but there is the window
Speaker 1: for the franchise and transitional player that is from February
Speaker 1: to March ninth, where teams can designate one franchise or
Speaker 1: transitional player. From March fifteen, through seventeen. Those are the
Speaker 1: three days before free agency begins where clubs are permitted
Speaker 1: to contact and enter into contract negotiations with players with
Speaker 1: agents of players rather who will become unrestricted free agents
Speaker 1: on the new league year. And that new league year
Speaker 1: starts on March seventeenth at four pm Eastern. Set your
Speaker 1: calendars right now, set your alarm clocks for March seventeenth,
Speaker 1: the start of the new league year. That's when everything
Speaker 1: really gets going here and that's on a Wednesday for
Speaker 1: you guys here. So free agency, we're gonna have that
Speaker 1: covered on Drivetown at Miami Dolphins dot com in depth.
Speaker 1: Every signing, every action we take will be all over that.
Speaker 1: So the official start of the new league year March seventeenth,
Speaker 1: Wednesday at four pm Eastern. And on April nineteenth, offseason
Speaker 1: workout programs can begin, and on a bull the last
Speaker 1: day for restrictive free agents to sign their offer sheets occurs.
Speaker 1: And then finally we have the draft on April through
Speaker 1: May one, and the draft is scheduled to take place
Speaker 1: this year in Cleveland, Ohio. All R, let's go ahead
Speaker 1: and get to my guest now on this edition of
Speaker 1: the Drivetime podcast, the Tuesday, February the ninth edition. Field
Speaker 1: Yates of ESPN and writing Shotgun Now on the Drivetime
Speaker 1: podcast is Field Yates. He's an NFL insider for ESPN
Speaker 1: and co host of the Fantasy Focus Football podcast and
Speaker 1: Field I think you're missing one major skill set here
Speaker 1: from the Twitter bio man Senior Bowl anchor extraordinaire. I
Speaker 1: had a lot of fun down there in Mobile. And
Speaker 1: you know, I'll go through the usual and say thank
Speaker 1: you for the opportunity to my employer. But I'm easy
Speaker 1: to see when I say that, right, the ESPN put
Speaker 1: some faith in me to go down to Mobile and
Speaker 1: be a part of the tremendous coverage. Such a fun
Speaker 1: event though in so many ways, you know, I think
Speaker 1: in any year it's fun. But you know, I was
Speaker 1: talking about this with some of my colleagues that were
Speaker 1: down there in Lewis Red, my pant About and Todd McShay.
Speaker 1: Just so good to be on a football field. You know,
Speaker 1: many of us have not been in the football stadium
Speaker 1: for close to a year. Much has been on the
Speaker 1: field to be a ground level to be amongst not
Speaker 1: just the players, but the two great coaching staffs, the
Speaker 1: Miami Dolphins and the Carolina Panthers. Was that's a pretty
Speaker 1: special opportunity to be Okay, Yeah, the things that we
Speaker 1: that we took for grant in the past, right, we
Speaker 1: no longer do. Like you mentioned that, there was actually
Speaker 1: the Week two Dolphins and Bills game. I was there
Speaker 1: in the press box and the CBS feed had got
Speaker 1: cut for like three or four minutes, and so I
Speaker 1: was literally like tweeting out my fan base and they're like,
Speaker 1: Travis's Twitter's timeline is where we're gonna find the place
Speaker 1: for the game today. So it's has been a crazy year, man,
Speaker 1: But I thought you killed it and and you mentioned
Speaker 1: McShay and Riddick and tannem baumb man, I wanted to
Speaker 1: ask you this because those are three, you know, heavy
Speaker 1: hitters in terms of football knowledge and football insight and
Speaker 1: resumes in the in the league. What is it like
Speaker 1: being around those guys when you're evaluating a hundred and
Speaker 1: thirty five prospects, like you have to soak up some information,
Speaker 1: I'd imagine. Yeah, it's so unique because each one of
Speaker 1: them brings a different perspective as well. Right, you know,
Speaker 1: Mike Cannon almost start there obviously very familiar to Dolphins fans.
Speaker 1: He was, you know, either a GM or the e
Speaker 1: DP of football Operations for basically twenty years. Obviously led
Speaker 1: the show in Miami, led the show in New York.
Speaker 1: Yet and of course in the fact that it was
Speaker 1: a Dolphin staff mean there were time people that Michael
Speaker 1: is very familiar with. I felt like I was walking
Speaker 1: around with the Mayor of mobiles when you were near
Speaker 1: Mike tannonbomb. But Mike has basically seen every single situation.
Speaker 1: Lewis Riddick did not just play the game. He also
Speaker 1: was a scout for many years, a working personnel for
Speaker 1: many years of both Washington football team and the Philadelphia Eagles.
Speaker 1: And now he's evolved into one of e fpn's foremost
Speaker 1: game analysts. Obviously part of the Monday Nights Football Books broadcast,
Speaker 1: and you can tap into all the different uh tenets
Speaker 1: of his coverage. I think you've got Todd McShay whos
Speaker 1: still library and I'm fortunate to do the podcast called
Speaker 1: The First Draft with Todd McShay and mel kiper Jr. Ever,
Speaker 1: single two they would drop an episode for PM E.
Speaker 1: Sterns I'm fired from the shameless plug and it never
Speaker 1: ceases too amazing that these two have an energy that
Speaker 1: is unmatched and a passion that's unmatched, rollnecks of information
Speaker 1: that's unmatched about these prospects. There thousands, and I'm not exaggerating.
Speaker 1: There are players they are responsible to be somewhat familiar with.
Speaker 1: By the time the draft rolls around. Each of them
Speaker 1: could basically, uh discuss those players as if they were
Speaker 1: their own children. They have such good knowledge of them.
Speaker 1: I love working with all those guys. That's what makes
Speaker 1: the draft, watching the entire seven round, you know, extravaganza
Speaker 1: for a week and an ESPN does such a great
Speaker 1: job on the coverage because you get these inside stories
Speaker 1: on these kids that you probably didn't know beforehand, like
Speaker 1: for instance, last year Solomon killing the big fish the
Speaker 1: lifeguard for the Miami Dolphins and that great story that
Speaker 1: that provided us so much content this year for Miami
Speaker 1: Dolphins dot Com and here on Drive Time that we
Speaker 1: didn't know about before the ESPN shared that story. So
Speaker 1: that was that was really cool to see. And you mentioned,
Speaker 1: you know, being down there on the field and mobile
Speaker 1: for the press for the Senior Bowl, for all those
Speaker 1: practices and feel I think my favorite part of the
Speaker 1: coverage was the mic up segments with the coaches, like
Speaker 1: what was that from your what was that like from
Speaker 1: your guys perspective? As far as getting those coaches miked
Speaker 1: up and just hear what they had to say on
Speaker 1: the practice field. Yeah, there's no two ways about it.
Speaker 1: That's the best part. And you know when we go
Speaker 1: down there at the four hours, well two hour broadcast,
Speaker 1: thirty minute breaks and then two hours more for each
Speaker 1: of the practices. And in speaking with our producer Brian
Speaker 1: Rider going into the event, you know, I was hammering
Speaker 1: him with questions like, what are you gonna do here?
Speaker 1: Is We're good, We're gonna hang for two hours. We're
Speaker 1: gonna watch football for two hours and talk about it.
Speaker 1: And it's unlike anything else that we do, at least
Speaker 1: in terms of my response building the b SPN everything else.
Speaker 1: You know, you spend a day working on NFL Live
Speaker 1: Rundown and you know starts at seven am that morning
Speaker 1: until you go on the air at four pm. That's
Speaker 1: just so great about Senior is that the best part,
Speaker 1: without question is when the coaches are animated, the coaches
Speaker 1: are giving you sounds, you get to see the passion
Speaker 1: of East coaches, and there's not one way to skin
Speaker 1: the cat when it comes to coaching. Not every coach
Speaker 1: has to be you know, in your face. Not ever,
Speaker 1: your coach has to be sort of this quiet, stoic leader.
Speaker 1: Not every coach has to be a guy who you know,
Speaker 1: doesn't with energy or enthusiasm or positivity or you know, criticism.
Speaker 1: Everybody is different, and that's what I really enjoyed watching
Speaker 1: both the Panthers and of course the Dolphins staff, as
Speaker 1: we got to see a handful of different Dolphins coaches,
Speaker 1: Mike up and um. You know, it was great to
Speaker 1: be able to chat with them a little bit, you know,
Speaker 1: between drills and before practice as well, but to hear
Speaker 1: that sound when they're on the field doing what they love.
Speaker 1: I think it's the coolest part of the broadcast. Because
Speaker 1: football coaching sounds like a dream job to a lot
Speaker 1: of people, and it is for many. It's also a
Speaker 1: life that is incredibly demanded. You might as well basically
Speaker 1: say good body to your family from the time of
Speaker 1: your report to training camp until the time the season
Speaker 1: is over. But the reason why they do it is
Speaker 1: not just because they want to feed their family and
Speaker 1: they want to provide you know, great life for their
Speaker 1: family is that they can. But it's because they love teachings.
Speaker 1: They love to be teaching, they love to be on
Speaker 1: the field with the players. And that's the sound that
Speaker 1: you get. You can see how contagious their energy is.
Speaker 1: I've I've written so many pieces this year, Field about
Speaker 1: how Emmanuel Agba had a breakout season, or how Eric
Speaker 1: Row and you know, you're number six is having the
Speaker 1: best year of his career at a new position, or
Speaker 1: Bobby McCain moves to safety a new position and has
Speaker 1: you know, kind of a resurgence in his career as well.
Speaker 1: So it's not just exclusive to rookie's first year player
Speaker 1: second year players. I mean, guys developed all the time
Speaker 1: at different stages of their career. And you know that
Speaker 1: brings me back to kind of an interesting point about
Speaker 1: where this Dolphins team is right now today. Field, you
Speaker 1: talk about the morning after the Super Bowl in one
Speaker 1: compared to where they were. Let's go back to when
Speaker 1: Brian Floors was hired the day after the Super Bowl,
Speaker 1: back after the eighteen season, where this team was coming in.
Speaker 1: They knew they had some contracts to get off the books.
Speaker 1: They had to kind of restock the draft capital. Like
Speaker 1: where was your thirty thousand foot view be of where
Speaker 1: this team has? Like how far they've come in those
Speaker 1: twenty four months from the day Brian Floors was hired
Speaker 1: with Chris Careers the GM to now where they are
Speaker 1: with all this draft capital. They're they're in good shape,
Speaker 1: cap Y, They've got a much better roster. How would
Speaker 1: you say they've kind of grown those twenty four months masterfully?
Speaker 1: And I'm not trying. This is not one of those
Speaker 1: where you go on a podcast that runs on the
Speaker 1: team's website and you do your best to say as
Speaker 1: many nice things so it sounds like a great interview
Speaker 1: and you get a bunch of listons and clicks and
Speaker 1: retweets and all that. I'm saying this because it's back
Speaker 1: and and maybe Dolphins fans don't want to revisit this
Speaker 1: two years ago, less than two years ago. At this point,
Speaker 1: the Dolphins were losing games and historic fashion. There's always
Speaker 1: that joke that rears itself on Twitter. Could Alabama beat
Speaker 1: the worst team in the NFL. That's and it's always
Speaker 1: lame and it's obviously never gonna happen, And would the
Speaker 1: Dolphins at the time would have creamed the Alabama Crimson time.
Speaker 1: But the point is that this team reached about as
Speaker 1: low of an on field performance point as you could
Speaker 1: in the NFL. We haven't seen and and we all
Speaker 1: understand this was you know, short term pain for long
Speaker 1: term game. But I wasn't expecting that long term game
Speaker 1: to happen a year later, right, And so we got
Speaker 1: to address a few things. The people and the people
Speaker 1: are unquestionably the right ones in place. You know, Brian Flores,
Speaker 1: you know we didn't did not win it, but it's
Speaker 1: you told me, Brian Flores, with the nfls Coach of
Speaker 1: the Year the past year, I would have said, good,
Speaker 1: he deserved it. Chris career, phenomenal job, outstanding person, level
Speaker 1: head and leaders process. How's the process been? Have they
Speaker 1: made investments that have proved worthwhile? We just mentioned Emmanuel
Speaker 1: as an example. Guys really good maybe and Howard a
Speaker 1: players they've developed themselves by the way, the second round
Speaker 1: tack and I know that was the previous regime, but
Speaker 1: still player who was right there in the stick of
Speaker 1: the defensive Player of the Year conversation. Guys on the
Speaker 1: offensive side of the ball that we're rookies that were
Speaker 1: contributing right away, Salm and Kamley, Robert Hunt playing something
Speaker 1: this past year. Guys like Jesse Davis who are under
Speaker 1: the radar acquisitions in time that have evolved into other
Speaker 1: team fastins or useful pieces. So process, I am on
Speaker 1: board with people. I on board with. The big question
Speaker 1: is simply going to be and I'm not trying to
Speaker 1: make this about one person, but as you know, the
Speaker 1: quarterback German League too makes that next step watch out.
Speaker 1: It's just a fact and you and obviously there's some
Speaker 1: pieces you gotta probably reinforced. I think you could stand
Speaker 1: at a little more size at wide receiver, um, but
Speaker 1: this is a team but I think is equipped to
Speaker 1: make more strides going forward. As as you kind of
Speaker 1: gather the you know, to go back to the quarterback position,
Speaker 1: like you mentioned their fields, you kind of gauge the
Speaker 1: temperature of the league. Is that a pretty general expectation
Speaker 1: for the quarterback from year one to year two to
Speaker 1: make that jump? Like why for fans that maybe don't
Speaker 1: understand the difficulty of going from college to the NFL
Speaker 1: At that position where lights, camera, action, man, everything's on you.
Speaker 1: There's thirty two faces of the franchise when it comes
Speaker 1: to the quarterback position, what's the biggest challenge for that
Speaker 1: big step And is there a league wide expectation Like, yeah,
Speaker 1: once the guys out of that rookie season, especially in
Speaker 1: a pandemic driven off season where there is no off
Speaker 1: season where this guy's coming back off of a hip
Speaker 1: injury that basically he had to rehab the whole off season,
Speaker 1: is there a general expectation for a pretty big leap there. Yeah.
Speaker 1: I don't know that I've heard this specifically from Brian
Speaker 1: flores Um, but I know that I heard this for
Speaker 1: many years when spending a lot of time around the
Speaker 1: Patriots and also spending a little bit of time covering
Speaker 1: them too. Is Bill Belichick has always remarked on how
Speaker 1: typically the player's biggest leap in his NFL career is
Speaker 1: going to be from year one day year two. You know,
Speaker 1: I always laughed at like people ask what happens during
Speaker 1: rookie mini camp when these guys arrived from the facility
Speaker 1: under normal circumtas for the first time, and it's like
Speaker 1: they teach them where about the locker roommates and like
Speaker 1: what the person who, like, you know, the security guards
Speaker 1: name is right, it's not like they're getting right in.
Speaker 1: So here's how we're gonna play cover two and just
Speaker 1: you know, down in distance. It's no, no, no no, not
Speaker 1: like it's fundamentally you're learning. Like I know this sounds ridiculous,
Speaker 1: but one of the first installs you'll have is for
Speaker 1: offensive players, how do we huddle up? Where's the left tackle?
Speaker 1: Where's the right tackle? Some guys obviously never huddling college,
Speaker 1: and sometimes it's a little bit different than how other
Speaker 1: guys who did huddle in college. So my point is
Speaker 1: that typically that jump happened between the first and second years,
Speaker 1: that we've also seen it between years two and three
Speaker 1: we thought was somebody like Josh Josh Allen, excuse me.
Speaker 1: And then there are other players who it might happen later,
Speaker 1: like Sam Donald might be an example of the guy
Speaker 1: that circumstantially hasn't had quite the same pieces around him.
Speaker 1: So that's why I think this upcoming year could potentially
Speaker 1: be one that we have all eyes on Tom because
Speaker 1: let's let's just operate unto this presumption he's the guy
Speaker 1: going into the season, and that the Dolphins used some
Speaker 1: of their resources available to maybe pad the offensive playmakers
Speaker 1: a little bit, whether that's addressing as I mentioned, wide
Speaker 1: receiver to me is an area they could add some depth.
Speaker 1: And then I don't know that running backs is a
Speaker 1: need or if it's not a need. The reason why
Speaker 1: I say that is that on the one hand, Miles
Speaker 1: Gaskin seventh round pick and Savan Akhmed, a waiver wire
Speaker 1: add play tremendous when given the opportunity. On the other hand,
Speaker 1: the Dolphins also turned to five running backs this year.
Speaker 1: For stretches between those two players, plush Jordan Howard before
Speaker 1: he was waived, but Matt Brita, who's gonna be a
Speaker 1: free what Patrick Lair? So maybe the team says, hey, guys,
Speaker 1: let's streamlined, let's go to you know, let's let's find
Speaker 1: one work back for lacking better a term. So if
Speaker 1: those pieces are put in place, I think that two
Speaker 1: could be primed for quite elite this year. Now, I
Speaker 1: did see the Fantasy the Fantasy Focus Football podcast love
Speaker 1: for both Gasking and Akmed fields. We appreciate that definitely
Speaker 1: here on the Drivetime podcast. And you know, I'm glad
Speaker 1: you mentioned the story about having the rookies find the
Speaker 1: locker room, for instance, because I got a good story
Speaker 1: for you real quickly. Here. This was my first year
Speaker 1: in Miami covering the team, and my first week in
Speaker 1: the building. You know, our old practice facility, which will
Speaker 1: be we will move to the stadium this year at
Speaker 1: in Miami Gardens. With the practice facility and Davy the
Speaker 1: upstairs hallways, it's amaze. It's an absolute maze. And if
Speaker 1: your first time up there, you do not know where
Speaker 1: you're going. And it was like my third day on
Speaker 1: and I was still trying to find the kitchen, where
Speaker 1: the bathroom was and stuff like that because you just
Speaker 1: get lost up there. And ray Kwon Davis. So you've
Speaker 1: got hundred and fifty pound me and three thirty pound
Speaker 1: ray Kwon Davis comes intersection and we I saw him
Speaker 1: in the in the lobby earlier and he's like, where
Speaker 1: the hell am I going. I'm like, I think you
Speaker 1: turn around and go that way, but I'm not sure.
Speaker 1: Luckily I was right, so it looked like I knew
Speaker 1: what I was doing. But just a fun little story
Speaker 1: about how you know, you gotta find your way around
Speaker 1: the building first before you can worry about playing three
Speaker 1: technique right totally. I mean, I know what you're talking
Speaker 1: about I mean, it's much different scale and not that
Speaker 1: being in the SPN employee is it's physically demanding as
Speaker 1: being an NFL player. But I remember I first got here.
Speaker 1: I showed up to the gym first time I get
Speaker 1: there and they're like, oh, you gotta bring your own power.
Speaker 1: So like I just finished up with workout and I'm like, great,
Speaker 1: where is it? You know? Much mean, you know, I'm
Speaker 1: like walking back into U into the office with the
Speaker 1: sweaty forehead. It's like these a little filly you know,
Speaker 1: tiny steps that you gotta take that that impact your
Speaker 1: day to day that you gotta learn in your a
Speaker 1: rookie or a new person on the job. Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 1: You You mentioned the Super Bowl happened on Sunday, And
Speaker 1: remember Chris Godwin on Hard Knocks one time, they of
Speaker 1: coaches were so impressed, like this guy wouldn't guys own apartment.
Speaker 1: He went and took care of his own things. Like
Speaker 1: it's it's a different a different world for a rookie
Speaker 1: coming into the league, especially you know, guys that are
Speaker 1: going out on their own for the first time. So, uh,
Speaker 1: you know, speaking of that Super Bowl, I wanted to
Speaker 1: ask you kind of you know, going back to the
Speaker 1: Chris Career and you talked about the people in the process.
Speaker 1: I thought that was a great quote. Field you mentioned,
Speaker 1: you know, Chris Career putting together this his personnel staff.
Speaker 1: I I've known that he's he's good at delegating. He
Speaker 1: has plenty of people that he puts into position of
Speaker 1: power to to make these decisions and help them kind
Speaker 1: of collaborate on a team effort. But we just saw
Speaker 1: the Tampa Bay Buccaneers shut down what, in my opinion
Speaker 1: is the greatest offensive engine of all time, and and
Speaker 1: Indie Reid and Patrick Mahomes and all those guys, And
Speaker 1: we saw the Chiefs get there because of that offensive
Speaker 1: engine and that quarterback. So when you consider the end
Speaker 1: of the season and how far teams that one ten
Speaker 1: games like Miami are to these teams that are competing
Speaker 1: for Super Bowls, what have we learned from that super Bowl?
Speaker 1: And how can the Dolphins kind of apply that to
Speaker 1: the offseason to get closer and close that gap between
Speaker 1: day and the Chiefs and the Buccaneers of the world.
Speaker 1: So I would are here is you're right, is it
Speaker 1: was a great performance last night by the Buccaneers. Masterfull
Speaker 1: defensive efforts in so many ways. I mean, I think
Speaker 1: most people, um, you know, watch the game and are
Speaker 1: acutely aware of what happens. I'm not going to rehast,
Speaker 1: you know, every single detail of what the Bucks did
Speaker 1: right or wrong. I will just say that there were
Speaker 1: some lessons that were reinforced last night, because I mentioned
Speaker 1: earlier to quarterback Durman League and I'll stand by that.
Speaker 1: But it's a team game, right That's what we forget
Speaker 1: sometimes is that the masterful performances of somebody like Patrick
Speaker 1: Mahomes sometimes numbs up to the impact of everybody else
Speaker 1: on the field. And I'm not saying I think sometimes
Speaker 1: people get like they may be misconstrue analysis and that
Speaker 1: Patrick Mahomes could have been better last night. He could have.
Speaker 1: His offensive line was completely overmatched last night, and we
Speaker 1: knew coming into the game that offensive tackle injuries were
Speaker 1: concerned for the Chiefs. They stepped up in a major
Speaker 1: way last night. Those injur reason did right. I guess
Speaker 1: they reared themselves in a major way last night. So
Speaker 1: the team building lesson is that it's a team team
Speaker 1: building right. Um. I also think Travis, one thing that's
Speaker 1: really interesting to me is that this is being the
Speaker 1: Super Bowl champion is really tough. You know, it's been
Speaker 1: sixteen years we had a repeat champion, and that's the
Speaker 1: longest stretch ever in NFL history. A matter of fact,
Speaker 1: I looked this up this morning. It's twice as long
Speaker 1: as the next longest stretch, right, And so what it
Speaker 1: reinforced to me. Another reinforcement reference is that not only
Speaker 1: is it hard to get back to the mountain top,
Speaker 1: but any given Sunday, it takes out the elements a
Speaker 1: predictability that you can sometimes see other sports. And I'm
Speaker 1: not saying that other champions aren't deserving, but as we
Speaker 1: know in the n B A to borrow this reference
Speaker 1: right now, like the Lakers are gonna be really tough
Speaker 1: to beat provided Lebron James and Anthony Davis are on
Speaker 1: the court for seven days. Right. In football, I don't
Speaker 1: know how many times the Bucks speak the Chiefs or
Speaker 1: the Chiefs beak the Bucks if they play a hundred simulations,
Speaker 1: maybe it's fifty five, maybe it's I don't know, but
Speaker 1: it didn't matter because they played once in one game
Speaker 1: that matters. And so for the Dolphin, it's not just
Speaker 1: addressing the needs. It's not just elevation of quarterback play
Speaker 1: from two and next year. It's also that you've got
Speaker 1: layers of depth because it's the ultimate team building sport.
Speaker 1: And if you've got those layers of depth, you've got
Speaker 1: a chance. Yeah, exactly right, especially when you when you
Speaker 1: think about the the you know, coaching up a scheme
Speaker 1: or developing a scheme for a certain game plan. We
Speaker 1: saw that with the Bucks in that game and Todd
Speaker 1: Bowls and the fantastic job he did in that game.
Speaker 1: I want to ask you one more thing here, Field
Speaker 1: with regards to the roster building idea, because I'm curious
Speaker 1: and it pertains to the idea of, you know, having
Speaker 1: a multi year snapshot as far as how you build
Speaker 1: a football team. And maybe this is back to more
Speaker 1: of a general question for you. Since you are plugged
Speaker 1: into all thirty two franchises, you know where in or
Speaker 1: three hour or approaching your number three here with Brian
Speaker 1: Floors and Chris Career, is there a certain point in
Speaker 1: an organization where, whether it's the timeline of the rookie
Speaker 1: quarterback contractor the third year of the process, fourth year
Speaker 1: of the process, where you switch and say now maybe
Speaker 1: it's not so much about acquiring all that draft capital.
Speaker 1: Maybe we turn the wheel a little bit now and
Speaker 1: we get aggressive, like, for instance, the best example for
Speaker 1: me is Los Angeles Rams and and this goes back
Speaker 1: to before these recent trades, and they'll go out and
Speaker 1: get Brandon Cooks or a key to leave. Is there
Speaker 1: a point in the franchise where you say, okay, now
Speaker 1: we're ready to twist the screws and be more aggressive.
Speaker 1: I don't think so, only because you know, here's what
Speaker 1: I would say. It's not based off of the year.
Speaker 1: It's based off of the quarterbacks readiness. Right, So for
Speaker 1: the cheap just to go back to them for a second,
Speaker 1: their quarterbacks proved in year two he was ready to
Speaker 1: be a league altering player. So a year after after
Speaker 1: the Chiefs they lost in the h Championship game that year, well,
Speaker 1: they're gonna go out there and they're gonna they're gonna
Speaker 1: take some big swings now, right because they know they can.
Speaker 1: They acquired Frank Clark as an example trade for a
Speaker 1: trade for the Seattle Seahawks. Those are the kind of
Speaker 1: things you do because you're like, you know what, let's
Speaker 1: do it. Our quarterback is ready to do it, and
Speaker 1: that might be the difference between us winning and losing.
Speaker 1: But conversely, if your quarterback is not there by years two,
Speaker 1: you might need to keep waiting. I will say this though,
Speaker 1: if your quarterback proves and he's ready during the first
Speaker 1: three seasons of his rookie contract, you start thinking about
Speaker 1: it only things, just a financial thing. It just is.
Speaker 1: Quarterbacks becomes extension eligible after year three. Usually a team
Speaker 1: is motivated to extend the player if he is worthwhile
Speaker 1: of an extension already. Unquestionably after year three there's some
Speaker 1: advantages to both five. So if you have a quarterback
Speaker 1: that shows he's ready within the first three years in
Speaker 1: this contract, the wheel does turn a little bit to
Speaker 1: borrow your prease. And it's certainly easier when those draft
Speaker 1: picks come in the late twenties too, opposed to you know,
Speaker 1: like you mentioned, having the third pick in the draft
Speaker 1: this year, definitely a benefit hopefully an area of the
Speaker 1: Dolphins not picking in very very often for very long.
Speaker 1: Here under Brian Floors and Chris Career field Dates. He's
Speaker 1: at field Dates on Twitter, the host of the fantasy
Speaker 1: focused football podcast NFL Insider at ESPN, and the best
Speaker 1: Dance Senior Bowl anchor in the game field. I appreciate
Speaker 1: your time today. Man. If you've got to get back
Speaker 1: on the peloton, I understand, but I appreciate your time today, sir.
Speaker 1: I live. I love that that peloton, man, that thing
Speaker 1: is awesome. So I appreciate you. And that's the luster
Speaker 1: in the off season. And hope we catch up again
Speaker 1: sometimes here soon sounds good. Feel appreciate it, man, all right,
Speaker 1: and there he goes. Man, how great was that? Just
Speaker 1: some good nuggets there about not just the Dolphins, but
Speaker 1: the league in general. Some really good insight there into
Speaker 1: how things kind of operate this time of year. I've
Speaker 1: said it before in the podcast, the off seasons kind
Speaker 1: of where you know, a fan like myself lives because
Speaker 1: you get a chance to to play with the scenarios
Speaker 1: and it's not so black and white like a result
Speaker 1: on game day. There's so many different simulations and permutations
Speaker 1: you can operate with and mock drafts, and if you
Speaker 1: guys are a fan of of doing the mock drafts,
Speaker 1: like the Draft Network stuff, also check out fans Speaks
Speaker 1: mock off season simulator. A lot of fun you can
Speaker 1: have there with giving out players, contracts and stuff like that.
Speaker 1: Just a lot of fun to participate as a fan
Speaker 1: this time year. Put the GM head on as we
Speaker 1: trust Brian Floors and Chris Weer to build this Dolphins
Speaker 1: team to their vision and continue that trajectory they are on.
Speaker 1: So Field Yates ESPN check out his work. He's a
Speaker 1: great follow, a great fantasy football expert, a great insider.
Speaker 1: Plenty of great stuff to say about Field here on
Speaker 1: the podcast. As for this edition of the Drive Time podcast,
Speaker 1: that is going to be my time you all please
Speaker 1: be sure to subscribe, rate review, Follow me on Twitter
Speaker 1: at Wingfield NFL. Follow the team at Miami Dolphins, check
Speaker 1: out the Fish Tank and the Audible podcast, and of
Speaker 1: course Miami Dolphins dot com. And until next time, fins up.