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 are right back
Speaker 1: at it part three of our summer preview series. We're
Speaker 1: going to take a look at the Jags, Colts, Titans,
Speaker 1: and Texans in the AFC South. But first my chat
Speaker 1: with impressive Dolphins rookie Dante Trader Junior. All of that
Speaker 1: ahead from the Baptist Health Studios inside the Baptist Health
Speaker 1: Training Complex. Er writ from the Wingfield household here in Miramar, Florida.
Speaker 2: This is the Draft Time Podcast, Daffy.
Speaker 1: Joining us today on the Draft Time Podcast is new
Speaker 1: Dolphins safety rookie Dante Trader Junior.
Speaker 2: Dante, what's up man?
Speaker 3: How you doing doing?
Speaker 2: I'm good, I'm not doing too bad. It's been a
Speaker 2: fun morning so far.
Speaker 1: Getting to tell you guys a little bit, and you
Speaker 1: know I mentioned to you you listen to the Coach
Speaker 1: Loxley podcast. He had some some high praise for you there.
Speaker 1: Can you just start the show off here by kind
Speaker 1: of telling us about what your time at Maryland with
Speaker 1: Coach Locksley did to prepare you for the NFL.
Speaker 4: Yeah, so even before when he you know, talked to
Speaker 4: me and my coaches at mcdone school about the plan,
Speaker 4: the four year plan about you know, changing a young
Speaker 4: puck into it. Man, it's just more you know, and
Speaker 4: dive down over the years. When I came in freshman year,
Speaker 4: you got to restart and improve yourself. So he gave
Speaker 4: me the tools and necessarily the small divits of encouragement
Speaker 4: and motivation and hard coaching throughout my years and just
Speaker 4: let me know, you're.
Speaker 3: Gonna be a young leader.
Speaker 4: You've got to be ready to go when you know
Speaker 4: it's your time. So by my second year, which was
Speaker 4: my first year starting, I was thrown into a leadership
Speaker 4: role and having the ability to be in the leadership
Speaker 4: meets with old veteran guys, four year, five year guys.
Speaker 4: And I've been there for two years. But it was
Speaker 4: a great journey, especially as me and coach actually built
Speaker 4: a relationship over the years and most of us built
Speaker 4: on you know, my mental the mental side of the
Speaker 4: game as a safety and just being out there and
Speaker 4: you know, not over analyze and just playing freely and
Speaker 4: just being distinctual.
Speaker 1: What would you attribute that to, like the leadership qualities
Speaker 1: that you drew from that put you in that position
Speaker 1: because to your point, like that's an honor usually held
Speaker 1: for you know, seniors, right, and you're in there your
Speaker 1: second year, what would you say contribute to your ability
Speaker 1: to be in that position.
Speaker 3: I think it started when I was young.
Speaker 4: I always had a like deep down care for my
Speaker 4: teammates and wanted to give share what I knew, my
Speaker 4: experience and what I went through with all my teammates
Speaker 4: and help them out because I was always one of
Speaker 4: the top players or better players. So you know, to
Speaker 4: get to those spots, you got to have some skill
Speaker 4: at one and then too, you have to have some
Speaker 4: experience behind you. So every level I went, I just
Speaker 4: naturally felt myself pulling a young guy, pulling older guy,
Speaker 4: getting some things off of them that I didn't know
Speaker 4: or know, and just sharing and just being that light.
Speaker 4: And it was just natural to me. I didn't, you know,
Speaker 4: wake up and say I would be a leader. It
Speaker 4: just naturally came to me and just how I go
Speaker 4: about things from school and everyone, you know, how you
Speaker 4: do anything, so I do everything. So when I came
Speaker 4: into college, they've seen it in me from you know,
Speaker 4: the workouts and with the freshman guy.
Speaker 3: So when I came in, I was the one.
Speaker 4: Lead and bringing the energy, being consistent and everything I
Speaker 4: did so and then people naturally gravitated towards me, so
Speaker 4: I had the ability.
Speaker 3: He was like, hey, this leadership thing is good.
Speaker 1: So yeah, it works pretty good. It probably across multiple
Speaker 1: sports too, obviously lacrosse. But did you play other sports
Speaker 1: as well as a kid.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I played basketball. Basketball was my first sport.
Speaker 4: Same thing there, but I kind of dropped that sport
Speaker 4: once I got off into high school.
Speaker 1: Did you be Were you one of those football players
Speaker 1: who kind of played football in the basketball court or
Speaker 1: were you Were you pretty skilled basketball player?
Speaker 4: I mean, as you see, I don't play anymore, so
Speaker 4: I can't say I was a pretty skilled basketball player,
Speaker 4: but I was pretty good when I was younger. Picked
Speaker 4: it back up later and I was like, it's not
Speaker 4: the same, So I just, you know, continued to just
Speaker 4: play two sports.
Speaker 1: We had the skid in our team football player and
Speaker 1: basketball player. But he wasn't very good at hoop and
Speaker 1: he would like, if you stole the ball from me,
Speaker 1: would like full on tackle. You'm like, dude, you're not
Speaker 1: playing safety right now?
Speaker 2: Brother? Like you're trying to like put the ball in
Speaker 2: the hole.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I can't say that.
Speaker 4: I wouldn't grab you, but especially if we're on a
Speaker 4: fast break I had lost position, I might pull jersey.
Speaker 1: You can always tell the football players man in the
Speaker 1: high school basketball courts. Hilarious to me. So something else
Speaker 1: coach Locksley really praised was was your ability to prepare
Speaker 1: and get yourself ready for a game and be kind
Speaker 1: of that signal call on the back end. What does
Speaker 1: a week of preparation look like for you? And I
Speaker 1: don't want you to, like, you know, tell me your
Speaker 1: breakfast routine and like you know, but like when you
Speaker 1: try to get ready for a game, like, what's that
Speaker 1: look like for you?
Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean it's going to be different now that
Speaker 4: I'm in the league, it's different. I have to figure
Speaker 4: that process out. Everywhere you go, you got to figure
Speaker 4: out the process. But work for me was I would
Speaker 4: come in Sundays and watch raw tape of the teams
Speaker 4: put two or three games. You can tell a lot
Speaker 4: about offensive coordinators, players quarterbacks by watching the raw tape.
Speaker 4: So I would come in, I would get my most
Speaker 4: like that Sunday would be the most instinctial part of
Speaker 4: my like, you know, week everything else is more robotic
Speaker 4: because you get a feeling of okay, just running back
Speaker 4: a jump cut guy is who my run pass?
Speaker 3: Key? Of the left tackle? Has he been like? Who's
Speaker 3: my guy?
Speaker 4: It's quarterback, a half field readers, it's crunch time. Who's
Speaker 4: the quarterback going to after interception, after a turnover, after
Speaker 4: a big player? What's the offensive coordinator doing? So you
Speaker 4: can kind of fill out that get candacens. But Monday
Speaker 4: through Thursday really is just you know, every what everybody does.
Speaker 4: The short yard is first and second down runs and passes.
Speaker 4: You got third downs on Wednesday and Thursday situational things.
Speaker 4: But where I get different is on Fridays. I usually
Speaker 4: take that day is make a cutup of the one hitters,
Speaker 4: the one hitters that coaches are like, don't worry about that,
Speaker 4: they're not gonna run them, just so I can be
Speaker 4: prepared when that formation comes out, so I can be
Speaker 4: you know, not panicking to be out there. But you
Speaker 4: know this, the preparation, it starts early in the morning
Speaker 4: and then with the coaches, that's that's you know, that's mandatory.
Speaker 4: If you're not doing hours after so I would be
Speaker 4: in there, especially with me and Jordan, will be there
Speaker 4: till eleven, sometimes at night and just getting the film out,
Speaker 4: writing notes, and then I would send it to my teammates.
Speaker 1: So that's part of the leadership role as well. You
Speaker 1: mentioned I have two fall ups, though the one hitters.
Speaker 1: Is that like the one hitch like ball out type
Speaker 1: of stuff.
Speaker 4: No, it's more of like the trick plays, the formations
Speaker 4: that are specifically for a certain team. It's like, hey,
Speaker 4: this defense plays a lot of this, We're gonna make
Speaker 4: a trick play or this one off formation that you
Speaker 4: never see against them. So I go right down, down,
Speaker 4: put them in the put them in the thing, because
Speaker 4: it's like, Okay, if our defense is similar, they're can
Speaker 4: tact us the same way. And it paid off in
Speaker 4: college because I was a bit had the ability to
Speaker 4: get us in some checks and where my teammates are
Speaker 4: looking at me like what the heck is that formation
Speaker 4: or what is this We can get off the down
Speaker 4: and not give up explosives because that's the name of
Speaker 4: the game.
Speaker 1: Yeah, super valuable from that spot obviously. Another question was
Speaker 1: you mentioned the raw tape. I was just watching the
Speaker 1: game front to back.
Speaker 4: Right, Yeah, it's just like the TV copies where you
Speaker 4: can hear, you hear the reps, you can hear, you
Speaker 4: can hear all that.
Speaker 3: Like I want to hear.
Speaker 4: I want the raw game, no cutups, nothing, I just
Speaker 4: want to hear to see the flow the game, because
Speaker 4: you can get a filling of the flow when you're
Speaker 4: watching cutups, Like you can't get a feeling of the
Speaker 4: flow the game and how it goes. So you can
Speaker 4: pick up tennessees very well, like I said, instinctial. So
Speaker 4: like when I'm out there on now Sundays or Thursdays
Speaker 4: or month different days, you say, okay, when they get
Speaker 4: backed up, I know this coordinator is more aggressive, okay,
Speaker 4: because you can see that by the raw tape games.
Speaker 4: You can't see that when in the cutups. So that's
Speaker 4: why you got to go hand in hand with the
Speaker 4: cutups and raw tape like the TV copies.
Speaker 1: That makes a lot of sense. Really good stuff to
Speaker 1: talk about there, And how how would you say? Obviously
Speaker 1: that stuff was great for college ball, But now you
Speaker 1: mentioned having to re kind of prove yourself here in
Speaker 1: the league. What have you learned so far? I mean,
Speaker 1: obviously all of that preparation and film setting. A lot
Speaker 1: of stuff can take you so far, and I know
Speaker 1: you'll bring that with you to the NFL. But it's
Speaker 1: been two months here since you got drafted. Now to
Speaker 1: you know, mandatory mini camp. What have you learned and
Speaker 1: how has that stuff kind of helped you maybe ease
Speaker 1: learning curve a little bit?
Speaker 3: I would say, I mean there was a slight learning
Speaker 3: curve for me.
Speaker 4: I feel like my superpower was ability to learn playbook
Speaker 4: and the exits and those of the game, because that's
Speaker 4: kind of what I came into college.
Speaker 3: I had the same thing, you know, playing to shoot sports.
Speaker 4: Learning different systems and schemes is my my superpower, so
Speaker 4: I kind of played to it. It took me like
Speaker 4: a week or two to really get majority of the playbook.
Speaker 4: Obviously you got the things that you need to go
Speaker 4: out there and do and mess up. I feel pretty comfortable,
Speaker 4: but just going over we have a lot of resources
Speaker 4: here with the virtual reality, the mad and wall Like,
Speaker 4: I just go out there and do my checks and
Speaker 4: calls from virtual reality. So that's a big aspect I
Speaker 4: never had the ability to do, but it worked wonders
Speaker 4: for me. So now I can go out there a
Speaker 4: lot of bullets. I've seen that over one hundred times
Speaker 4: and I'm making.
Speaker 3: Checks to it.
Speaker 4: So it has my ability to go out there and
Speaker 4: slow the game down because I remember when I came
Speaker 4: out there the first week we were here, I was like,
Speaker 4: the speed of the game is different, and I was
Speaker 4: one hundred percent right. Just listen to the vets. This
Speaker 4: game is about lowest margin of air. So if I
Speaker 4: take one wrong step, that's the difference from a catch,
Speaker 4: a explosive or interception, you know what I'm saying. So
Speaker 4: and I had to learn not even learning curves, like
Speaker 4: more pains of going through that myself. It's like, oh, man,
Speaker 4: if I didn't we an extra inch off this, I
Speaker 4: could have made this pick or this thing.
Speaker 3: But it's been fun.
Speaker 1: That's how you can shave those down, right, those VR reps,
Speaker 1: those ten thousand hours worth of reps, you're kind of
Speaker 1: stack them up there and make yourself a true professional
Speaker 1: in that way. I'll end with this. So you mentioned
Speaker 1: Jordan Phillips. He kind of talked about the way you
Speaker 1: guys worked at Marlin really cool stuff, and I think
Speaker 1: that's probably a big reason when the Dolphins were attracted
Speaker 1: to both you guys. But you mentioned, you know, getting
Speaker 1: those reps and this defense and Anthony Weavers, a guy
Speaker 1: that you know, Dolphins fans are crazy about because he's
Speaker 1: been so awesome for the first year. Here, What is
Speaker 1: it about this scheme with coach Weaver that you think
Speaker 1: really fits your game or makes you the most excited
Speaker 1: about playing in this defense?
Speaker 3: Because we do it all.
Speaker 4: They asked the safeties to do a lot communication wise
Speaker 4: and different schemes and play a lot. You got to
Speaker 4: be a versatile switch army knife in the system. But
Speaker 4: I would say more people want to look at the
Speaker 4: X and those I look at the mentality being on
Speaker 4: this team, being with the defense, the leaders like Chubb
Speaker 4: and Brooks and t DoD and you know you Cater.
Speaker 4: You got a lot of guys up front, even Steelers.
Speaker 4: So it's like, yo, it's a mindset thing. More than
Speaker 4: Weaver can make the call, but it's about the players executing,
Speaker 4: Like we can wind up in anything and go get
Speaker 4: a play master you and go get it done. But
Speaker 4: it's more mindset like are you gonna come off the
Speaker 4: ball hard, You're gonna spend your knees, You're gonna do
Speaker 4: the small things that allow you to be a great
Speaker 4: football player and run to the ball. Bring the standard
Speaker 4: of getting a punch at the ball. Everybody collectively leven
Speaker 4: hands the ball, and that's more of the mindset that
Speaker 4: helps him be a great defense.
Speaker 3: Allow defense is a great defense.
Speaker 4: So they all, especially Coach Duke and Coach we were
Speaker 4: like Trader, we need demonstrative communication everywhere we go. Your safety,
Speaker 4: we're gonna line up. Same thing with the backers. But
Speaker 4: I would say it's more mindset than the scheme and
Speaker 4: anything like that. With Coach Weaver, like he go out
Speaker 4: there and play. There ain't no hesitation, there's no shoot
Speaker 4: shoot the gun, shoot the bullets. You know what I'm saying,
Speaker 4: Ain't we ain't leaving this field with a full clip.
Speaker 1: Man. I think fans are gonna love this podcast and
Speaker 1: love hearing you talk just real quick, just kind of
Speaker 1: shift gears because you're seems like you're all bust all time,
Speaker 1: and I really appreciate that about you. But is there
Speaker 1: something in South Flord that you've you've done or want
Speaker 1: to do this offseason that you're looking forward to and
Speaker 1: maybe just kind of enjoy put your feet in the
Speaker 1: sand for a minute. Yeah.
Speaker 4: Man, A lot of people, well people that know me.
Speaker 4: I like to fish and hunt. From being a small
Speaker 4: town Delaware kid, I like to be outdoors. So if
Speaker 4: anybody you don't want to, let me on a boat
Speaker 4: or we can go, you know, somewhere Everglaze Orerever on
Speaker 4: the water.
Speaker 3: But I like to do a lot of things.
Speaker 4: I bowl a bowl and then I got into golf
Speaker 4: and so people can help me with a.
Speaker 3: Little golf swing.
Speaker 2: That's my game.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 4: I like to be out I like to connect with
Speaker 4: the community. So anybody want to, you.
Speaker 3: Know, maybe let's go. Let's go and have some fun
Speaker 3: on the water. Do anything.
Speaker 2: Good stuff.
Speaker 1: Dante Trader Junior, New Dolphin Safety. Love it good stuff
Speaker 1: and welcome to South for appreciate you the way he goes.
Speaker 1: And away we go for our first break right there.
Speaker 1: Come back on the other side, we'll do the Texans
Speaker 1: and Colts, take another break, and then finish up with
Speaker 1: the Jags and the Titans. That's all next Draft Time
Speaker 1: podcast brought to you by AutoNation. It is time to
Speaker 1: crank up the NFL because in preview content once again,
Speaker 1: as we're going to be rolling through the AFC South,
Speaker 1: NFC South, both North divisions and both East divisions here
Speaker 1: over the next couple of weeks before we get you
Speaker 1: guys ready for training camp with a full fledged roster
Speaker 1: and camp preview. But let's go ahead and jump into
Speaker 1: today's topic, the AFC South. The Dolphins will see one
Speaker 1: team from this division on their schedule this year, the
Speaker 1: Indianapolis Colts, but we kick it off with the Houston
Speaker 1: Texans and the changes in personnel. Continuity on the defensive
Speaker 1: staff is intact there, but there's some significant changes to
Speaker 1: the offensive side of the football. Bobby Slowik is now
Speaker 1: with the Miami Dolphins and in his place at OC
Speaker 1: is Nick Kayley. Tamiko rans is telling you the type
Speaker 1: of system that he wants to run though going from
Speaker 1: one Shanahan Shree coach to another. Kaylee was with the Rams,
Speaker 1: but only for two years. His eight previous years prior
Speaker 1: to that were in New England, and they retained a
Speaker 1: decent chunk of the offensive staff actually, and had similar
Speaker 1: turnover on the defensive staff under Matt Burk. So they're
Speaker 1: kind of retooling things to find the perfect combination, or
Speaker 1: at least in search of the perfect combination. And surely
Speaker 1: you guys remember Matt Burrs bag will cover more of
Speaker 1: him in the film section. Larry My Tunzel, Stefon Digg, Shaq, Mason, Kenyan, Green,
Speaker 1: Eric Murray all out. But that's about where it ends.
Speaker 1: It presents an interesting debate because the offensive line was
Speaker 1: their biggest issue in twenty twenty four, but they lost
Speaker 1: three of the four best players. Is that a good
Speaker 1: thing or is it a bad thing? We're gonna find
Speaker 1: out this season. But also I mean offloading Tunzel's contract
Speaker 1: with the quarterback on a rookie contract who's produced at
Speaker 1: a high level, it allowed them to ink some key
Speaker 1: parts to their team for the long term future. Daniel Hunter,
Speaker 1: Derek Stingley, Nico Collins, I'm sure Stroud and Tank Dell
Speaker 1: and Jalen Petray all going to be on that list
Speaker 1: here soon. In the meantime, just like last offseason, they
Speaker 1: continued to import big parts to their roster. They signed
Speaker 1: Trent Brown, Cam Robinson, Lake and Tomlinson. They trade for
Speaker 1: Ed Ingram and look that's what they're doing. They swapped
Speaker 1: out basically a line change for their offensive line. Tomlinson
Speaker 1: was not good with the Jets after a good career
Speaker 1: at the Niners. Trent Brown has a bit, but I
Speaker 1: thought not really a scheme fit there. Robinson I don't
Speaker 1: think is a perfect match for the scheme, but he's
Speaker 1: also missed a lot of games and not been like
Speaker 1: a star level talent, so I don't think it's an
Speaker 1: upgrade over Larmie Tunzel by any stretch of the imagination.
Speaker 1: So the line is different, But is it better? We'll
Speaker 1: find out. I mean, ask a Vikings fan about ed Ingram,
Speaker 1: go look up his name on Twitter, and they were
Speaker 1: not very kind to him. But I guess that's how
Speaker 1: fans are on Twitter. So I just think it's worth
Speaker 1: examining that just because you make changes doesn't mean necessarily better.
Speaker 1: They trade for Christian Kirk, they add Jayden Higgins in
Speaker 1: the second round. I'm sure that's kind of a reaction
Speaker 1: to possibly not having Tank Dell this season, who had
Speaker 1: a serious leg injury last January in the playoffs, because
Speaker 1: they weren't done there, because two rounds later they take
Speaker 1: Jalen Knowle, who I thought was the better Iowa State
Speaker 1: Hawkey than Jayden Higgins was. So they're deep, especially when
Speaker 1: Dell returns. And they also just added Nick Chubb to
Speaker 1: Joe Mixon in the backfield. The only projected starter added
Speaker 1: this offseason on the defense was Chauncey Gardner Johnson. Now,
Speaker 1: he's a great mercenary, a guy that you get for
Speaker 1: one year, plays good football, and then by year two
Speaker 1: he's kind of a problem. And that's why he's been
Speaker 1: on six teams now. But the next big signings for
Speaker 1: them were Sheldon Rankins and Daryl Taylor, both figured to
Speaker 1: be number three on the interior and edge groups there.
Speaker 1: As far as the film the calling card, I admire
Speaker 1: the changes they made to attempt to jump start things.
Speaker 1: It's like we talked about the Dolphins all offseason. You
Speaker 1: have certain issues, make moves to attack those issues, and
Speaker 1: I think both those teams did that this offseason. But
Speaker 1: just in general, I like how they had, you know,
Speaker 1: things that didn't work, and they went hard after those
Speaker 1: things in the offseason. I think that quote unquote whatever
Speaker 1: it takes approach is a good one and will work
Speaker 1: for Damiko Ryan's long term. As for this year, it's
Speaker 1: all going to be projection. Stroud was saying that he
Speaker 1: watched a lot of Tom Brady this offseason when in
Speaker 1: a different which is a different variation of the quick
Speaker 1: game principles you see here so that kind of tells
Speaker 1: me with the side adjustments in the passing offense and
Speaker 1: what makes Stroud special his ability to do that, and
Speaker 1: I think with Christian Kirk there like to me that
Speaker 1: all adds up to intentionality about how to get this
Speaker 1: offense fixed and have more quick answers of post to
Speaker 1: just the you know, deep developing downfield routes, attack the
Speaker 1: intermedia and deep portions of the field, and with those
Speaker 1: offensive line moves they don't necessarily follow the same track.
Speaker 1: So the concept of borrowing from the old Patriots offense,
Speaker 1: which in those days was gap and power, it's changed
Speaker 1: now with the rams influence from Kaylee they got the
Speaker 1: past couple of years. I imagine it's a strong outside
Speaker 1: zone game with some pivoting to more inside zone and duo.
Speaker 1: But I think this is all great in theory, but
Speaker 1: sometimes it doesn't gel right away, right like it's not
Speaker 1: a sure thing or even ever. So this feels like
Speaker 1: a team I'd project for maybe a slow start offensively,
Speaker 1: but could see them finding their groove. Maybe I'm wrong
Speaker 1: all around, but that's kind of how I see it
Speaker 1: playing out. The personnel is really good, Stroud mixing and
Speaker 1: Chubb we didn't even talk about Dalton Slton, Cage Stover
Speaker 1: and Brevin Jordan tight end. Yet we did cover Collins
Speaker 1: and Kirk and Higgins and Noel and Justin Watson, with
Speaker 1: Tank Dell maybe coming back for the playoffs.
Speaker 2: I don't know if that's in line.
Speaker 1: I haven't even looked at his I just know he's
Speaker 1: gonna be on pup just right the year, but we'll
Speaker 1: see what happens come Thanksgiving. I guess I didn't even
Speaker 1: mention John Metchi, who I love his game, but he's
Speaker 1: had his own health, his own health issues. But those
Speaker 1: three moves for the two rookies and Watson, they are
Speaker 1: clearly interested in a big body difference maker. I like
Speaker 1: the selection of Ursery their their third round draft pick
Speaker 1: for a swing tackle, potential outside zone guy that could
Speaker 1: start down the road. They kicked Titus Howard inside. I
Speaker 1: am dubious on that because he was very good at
Speaker 1: right tackle, and to me, a good right tackle offers
Speaker 1: a lot more value than a good right guard, where
Speaker 1: I think he can play there as well. And our
Speaker 1: lads has a starking combination of Cam Robinson, Lake and Tomlinson,
Speaker 1: Jarrett Patterson, Titus Howard and Blake Fisher with Trent Brown,
Speaker 1: Arianti Ercery and Ed Ingram next.
Speaker 2: It's a pretty deep group of names.
Speaker 1: If Ingram like your eighth guy, it kind of reminds
Speaker 1: me of like Liam here if you have him in
Speaker 1: that position. The defense is one of the best coach
Speaker 1: units in all of football. They can change like a chameleon.
Speaker 1: They built out these basic core concepts under Ryan's and
Speaker 1: then get into so much variation. I'm looking at a
Speaker 1: thread here where they had five different pressure packages from
Speaker 1: a double mug look where you have two mugged up players,
Speaker 1: think about the Brian flore Regier's You bring those those
Speaker 1: middle linebackers and Sam Eguavan and Jerome Baker down over
Speaker 1: the football and you sometimes come on the blitz, sometimes
Speaker 1: you back out in the coverage. We saw them nail
Speaker 1: their pattern match zone concepts against US last December to
Speaker 1: kind of end our season, so to speak to the
Speaker 1: tune of four turnovers in that big whim. They have
Speaker 1: smart safeties who cross off the mental checklist very quickly,
Speaker 1: and that's kind of how Ryan's coaches things. To have
Speaker 1: a smart middle linebacker a ziz Al Shi, Here's that
Speaker 1: guy for him, and then two smart safeties, and they
Speaker 1: certainly have that to really buzz the middle of the
Speaker 1: field behind a pass rush that forces quarterbacks to speed
Speaker 1: up their mental clock. In all honesty, like, thinking back
Speaker 1: to that game last December, with the combination of Patrick
Speaker 1: Paul in a rookie season at one tackle spot in
Speaker 1: Jackson Carmon at the other, with those safeties and with
Speaker 1: our offense, like, it makes sense why we struggled that
Speaker 1: day against Daneil Hunter and Will Anderson. Their personnel is
Speaker 1: just sick Man Anderson, Denico Auxrey Fat Too, Fatakassi, Daniel Hunter,
Speaker 1: the linebackers, Christian Harris as He's al Shayir, Henry to Oto,
Speaker 1: Derek Stingley, Kamario Lassiter was a great rookie last year
Speaker 1: for them, Chauncy Gardner, Johnson's the hell of a player,
Speaker 1: Jalen Peatree is a Pro Bowl player, and I thought
Speaker 1: Cayden Bullock was one of the best rookies in the
Speaker 1: Damn League last year. Then they've got Tim Settle, a
Speaker 1: nose tackle who can do multiple things in the rotational department.
Speaker 1: Mario Edwards and Darryl Taylor are good pass rush situation guys.
Speaker 1: So is Derek Barnett, E J. Speed's got a lot
Speaker 1: of speed. Thatt linebacker for a backup position. Jimmy Ward
Speaker 1: is projected to be a backup safety. Now, I think
Speaker 1: it's the best defense in football. The questions here, will
Speaker 1: the scheme and the offensive line shift offensively be enough
Speaker 1: to get Stroud back to his rookie four. If he
Speaker 1: does that, they're going to be a contender for the
Speaker 1: Super Bowl this year. I have almost no questions about
Speaker 1: the defense or the skill groups on offense, and I
Speaker 1: love this quarterback. I was a little bit lower on
Speaker 1: the Texans last year than most. I tend to do
Speaker 1: that when everybody insists a team will make a big
Speaker 1: year or two jump, but then I tend to buy
Speaker 1: the dip in year three. And they don't get me wrong.
Speaker 1: I mean they want a bad division. That's the only
Speaker 1: reason I went to the playoffs, right, They wouldn't have
Speaker 1: probably gone to the playoffs in any of the division.
Speaker 1: But they did win a playoff game over the Chargers
Speaker 1: and got back to the divisional round, which was the
Speaker 1: same place they exited a year ago. So by that theory,
Speaker 1: they made an improvement. But I don't think they made
Speaker 1: the jump that they would have wanted to in terms
Speaker 1: of just how the quality of football was. I think
Speaker 1: this is the year that they'll do that the miscellaneous factors,
Speaker 1: you know, especially in this division, as far as like
Speaker 1: making a deep run. To me, there's a sizable gap
Speaker 1: between the Texans roster and the other three in the division.
Speaker 1: I just really trust Ryan's to make good decisions, and
Speaker 1: that makes me think that Kaylee's going to be a
Speaker 1: good hire, and the near over investment on the offensive
Speaker 1: line will allow them to shake there to find some
Speaker 1: acorns from that group. I just think they're so deep,
Speaker 1: and that to me is a sign of a smart
Speaker 1: front office. Anytime you have a good quarterback on a
Speaker 1: rookie contract, you basically have house money to do what
Speaker 1: you want. So let's just build a ridiculously deep team
Speaker 1: and maybe don't do what a lot of teams have
Speaker 1: done in terms of spending all your money on these
Speaker 1: high priced out you know, imports from other teams. And
Speaker 1: they did that to a very effective degree last year.
Speaker 1: But now it kind of seems like they've refocused their
Speaker 1: attention on depth and extending their own guys and getting
Speaker 1: the program, you know, back on track to where it
Speaker 1: was two years ago.
Speaker 2: Down the stretch.
Speaker 1: I think they're in the worst division in the AFC,
Speaker 1: but they get the AFC West and NFC West in
Speaker 1: terms of their schedule, two of the best, and a
Speaker 1: first place schedule against Baltimore and Buffalo. But to me,
Speaker 1: that's going to just battle test them for the playoffs.
Speaker 1: I think the Texans season starts on wild card weekend.
Speaker 1: I think the trapdoor scenario here is the offensive lines
Speaker 1: moves blow up in their face. CJ remains uncomfortable behind
Speaker 1: that pocket, and the concepts don't connect because every week
Speaker 1: is such a slog and you can't count your protection.
Speaker 1: That could have it a diminishing effect on a good defense.
Speaker 1: It happens all the time. My conclusion here, I'm not
Speaker 1: sure there are many teams in the AFC I like
Speaker 1: more than this one great coach. I think a great
Speaker 1: quarterback of very deep roster probably the best defense in
Speaker 1: the conference, if not in.
Speaker 2: Football loaded skill groups.
Speaker 1: Lost ake here for the Houston Texans, and then we
Speaker 1: go to the rest of the division and we'll pick
Speaker 1: it up here with the Indianapolis Colts and their changes.
Speaker 1: From a personnel perspective, the offensive staff remains unchanged and
Speaker 1: they hired perhaps my favorite DC that was available this offseason,
Speaker 1: outside of the Robert salap Higher that I praised last week.
Speaker 1: I think the Bengals are going to really miss Lou
Speaker 1: and Aarumo. Yes, that Sincy defense was like historically bad
Speaker 1: last season, but I thought there was a lot more
Speaker 1: about having a bunch of young players that couldn't really
Speaker 1: fill the shoes of all the proven vets they have
Speaker 1: lost over the years and quite frankly didn't replace. I mean,
Speaker 1: you know, you don't let a guy like Jesse Bates
Speaker 1: when you're somewhat penny pinching organization. We've seen that play
Speaker 1: out here with you know, Shamar Stewart and Trey Hendrickson
Speaker 1: situation in Cincinnati. But like when you go from Bates
Speaker 1: and von Bell to rookie safeties in a defense that
Speaker 1: is absolutely imperative that you get like quality safety, communication
Speaker 1: and recognition skills, what did you think was going to happen?
Speaker 2: Right?
Speaker 1: But back to the Colts, that's where their big moves
Speaker 1: were made. As they are the beneficiary of the Lou
Speaker 1: and a Rumo firing. They go after Charvarius Ward and
Speaker 1: cam Binam. They drafted JT to Moolalu I butchered that
Speaker 1: and in the second round and Justin Wally in the
Speaker 1: third round. Offensively, Daniel Jones was brought in as the
Speaker 1: biggest veteran move there. Outside of that and Tyler Warren
Speaker 1: at picked fourteen, they're kind of running it back from
Speaker 1: the roster last year outside of two major losses on
Speaker 1: the offense, and they're going with incumbent replacement players to
Speaker 1: Will Fries and Ryan Kelly, both who went to the
Speaker 1: Vikings on big deals, with Tanner Bordolini and Matt Conclaves,
Speaker 1: who both played well last year the film The I
Speaker 1: think the best way to describe their offense is an
Speaker 1: efficient operation when it comes to attacking the three levels,
Speaker 1: your deep, your intermedia, and short zones. I think in
Speaker 1: theory the addition of Tyler Warren was sort of a
Speaker 1: processing eraser for Anthony Richardson on the reps where he
Speaker 1: didn't see it clearly right, just find forty four in
Speaker 1: the quick game and let him go run over tacklers
Speaker 1: in the process. But now that might be Daniel Jones's job.
Speaker 1: Given the injury to ar and his shoulder this offseason,
Speaker 1: I'm dealing with two screaming kids. Right now, So I
Speaker 1: apologize for the edits here. But Zach Keefer went on
Speaker 1: the Heat the Call podcast this offseason and said, the
Speaker 1: expectation was that Daniel Jones starts in Week one. So
Speaker 1: if that's the case, I suppose you reduce the quarterback
Speaker 1: run stuff. And we detailed this in the run up
Speaker 1: to the game last year. I wanted Joe Flacco out
Speaker 1: there because of what Ar brought to the run game,
Speaker 1: and in particular in the red zone, and he produced
Speaker 1: a touchdown down in that area as a result in
Speaker 1: a game that we lost by one possession. Their best
Speaker 1: run game scheme, however, has been split zone. All that
Speaker 1: is is zone action with a tight end coming across
Speaker 1: the formation to split the zone and kick out that
Speaker 1: backside defender, and that also has a lot of pass
Speaker 1: game wrinkles off of it you can incorporate. And I
Speaker 1: keep thinking about how Ar was a threat in terms
Speaker 1: of the quarterback run game and how deadly that can
Speaker 1: be with the misdirection that you get from split zone,
Speaker 1: as you can then kind of run backside flood concepts
Speaker 1: off of all of that. But his injuries, his inconsistencies,
Speaker 1: they've sort of halted all of that thought. So now
Speaker 1: with Jones, I imagine the thinking is that he can
Speaker 1: play pass off that scheme better and excel in the
Speaker 1: quick game better, and that pairs with the run game approach.
Speaker 1: Plus he's not a big play threat, but he can
Speaker 1: run a little bit, kind of like Tannehill was down here,
Speaker 1: straight lines and don't have to change directions too often.
Speaker 1: And this is an offense that wants to get to RPO,
Speaker 1: kind of like Hurtz in Philadelphia Richardson here. That's where
Speaker 1: Shane Stike can cut his teeth as a no. C.
Speaker 1: But also the wham action and traps where you can
Speaker 1: kind of play off that split zone and peel guys
Speaker 1: back and get some crack blocks on the interior and
Speaker 1: the edges and all that lends itself to what I
Speaker 1: think Tyler Warren does best, where he can sift across
Speaker 1: the formation and find blocks in that split zone game,
Speaker 1: but also find outlets in the passing game to make
Speaker 1: himself a run after catch threat.
Speaker 2: It's an interesting offense.
Speaker 1: I mean, those offensive line losses and replacements will determine
Speaker 1: a lot. The three parts remaining on the offensive line are.
Speaker 2: All really really good players.
Speaker 1: In Bernard Raymond Quenton Nelson and Braden Smith, their skill
Speaker 1: players Michael Pittman, Alec Pierce, Ashton Downs or no sorry,
Speaker 1: Josh Downs, and Ashton Doolan with the Donne Mitchell is
Speaker 1: a solid deep group. If there's not a top tier
Speaker 1: number one in there, that would be the knock. And
Speaker 1: then they kind of go as Jonathan Taylor goes in
Speaker 1: the backfield defensively, minimal, blitzing, aggressive, with the good amount
Speaker 1: of man coverage, but also man presentations that turn into
Speaker 1: soft spots or drops zones, I should say, and soft zones.
Speaker 1: Ana Rumo cut his teeth in the defensive backfield and
Speaker 1: puts a ton of responsibility on those guys's plates in
Speaker 1: terms of rules and side adjustments. That's where it went
Speaker 1: wrong with the Bengals, and I think why they went
Speaker 1: after Charvarius Ward and cam by them for that reason.
Speaker 1: I'm glad we get them early and not later, because
Speaker 1: I think they could click and jail by the end
Speaker 1: of the season. And the personnel is good, maybe not great.
Speaker 1: Quitty pay Grover Stewart to Forrest Buckner. Latu Latu's a
Speaker 1: nice piece there up front, with some good depth in Tuyamalu.
Speaker 1: The second round pick Neville Gallimore and Samson Ebukom at
Speaker 1: the second level, Jalen Corley's and Zaier Franklin with Ward
Speaker 1: Jalen Jones and then Kenny Moore my favorite players in
Speaker 1: the entire league in the slot back there with cam
Speaker 1: bydam and Nick Cross in the defensive backfield. The question
Speaker 1: here is it's kind of vast. I mean, the fourth
Speaker 1: pick in the draft, who had just a handful of
Speaker 1: starts has only fifteen starts in two years as a pro.
Speaker 1: He figures to miss part of the season, if not
Speaker 1: a big chunk of it. Two key cogs on the
Speaker 1: offensive line are gone, There's a new defensive coordinator with
Speaker 1: new parts in a complex scheme, good but not great weapons.
Speaker 1: To me, this is much bigger than just this season.
Speaker 1: We got to get more information on Anthony Richardson. He
Speaker 1: just needs to play. That's the biggest thing for me
Speaker 1: for the Colts this year, to find out what the
Speaker 1: hell we have there. He always needed more reps and
Speaker 1: if we come out of this season where he gets
Speaker 1: just three hundred four hundred more snaps, then we're no
Speaker 1: further along the miscellaneous factors here, the gelling and getting better,
Speaker 1: the better nature of this defense is the real upshot.
Speaker 1: But I'll bring it back to the quarterback position. We
Speaker 1: just need information and this is a total unknown. But
Speaker 1: losing Jim Mersey like he was mister Indy, is it
Speaker 1: a distraction like a bad thing or is it a
Speaker 1: rally cry? And it could be nothing, but I think
Speaker 1: it's probably gonna be one of those two things. The
Speaker 1: trapdoor scenario. Daniel Jones has an injury history of his own,
Speaker 1: and let's say Ar's shoulder is not right, and maybe
Speaker 1: Jones takes a shot from Chop on opening Day, and
Speaker 1: that's how you would That's how close you are to
Speaker 1: getting you know, Riley Leonard, who I thought was, you know,
Speaker 1: a tough prospect for his first year here in the NFL,
Speaker 1: to being your like sixteen game or seventeen game starter.
Speaker 1: And as much as I love Captain Leu and Arumo,
Speaker 1: DC's come up short on getting that synergy between scheme
Speaker 1: and player all the time. It happens every year, and
Speaker 1: if that happens here, I'm not sure what your calling
Speaker 1: card would be. The conclusion, it's no secret that this
Speaker 1: is kind of a hot seat season for a lot
Speaker 1: of folks there in Indianapolis. But it feels like that
Speaker 1: first month is going to be paramount for the future
Speaker 1: of the football team. If they can get back to
Speaker 1: their run game with the addition of Warren and Richardson,
Speaker 1: comes back and finds some confidence, and that defense clicks
Speaker 1: under new direction, could be a fun team. That's a
Speaker 1: lot of ifs. Interesting year ahead here in India. Le's
Speaker 1: go ahead and take our last break right there, come
Speaker 1: back into the Titans and Jags and the division of superlatives.
Speaker 1: That's next Draft Time podcast, brought to you by Auto Nation.
Speaker 1: I find it fascinating that so many massive, massive butterfly
Speaker 1: effect changes occur over the span of what's largely irrelevant
Speaker 1: late season games. As we kick off the Titans personnel
Speaker 1: changes here because they flipped a script on the Patriots
Speaker 1: and Giants in the final two games of the season,
Speaker 1: where the Giants won that game that we all watched
Speaker 1: against the Colts and the Patriots won that game against
Speaker 1: the Bills without Josh Allen to launch the Titans into
Speaker 1: the first pick of the draft, where otherwise they probably
Speaker 1: weren't getting their franchise quarterback. It reminds me of twenty nineteen,
Speaker 1: the game against the Bengals, we won an overtime thriller,
Speaker 1: and Ryan Fitzpatrick threw for over four hundred yards. If
Speaker 1: Andy Dalton, who tried his damage to pull that win off,
Speaker 1: doesn't if he gets that win, then Joe Burrow probably
Speaker 1: is not a Bengal is to a dolphin.
Speaker 2: Who the hell knows what it looks like.
Speaker 1: But I bring this up because I'm of the belief
Speaker 1: the Titans losing their final two games was the difference
Speaker 1: in them sputtering around in the NFL's middle class or
Speaker 1: maybe even worse, and eventually becoming a powerhouse. Now the
Speaker 1: latter might take some time because this roster has a
Speaker 1: way to go, But cam Ward is going to be
Speaker 1: a problem. And that's the biggest change here. I think
Speaker 1: he's going to be the next one quote unquote. That's
Speaker 1: where the changes were on the roster. The staff is
Speaker 1: back after a four win season, Brian Callahan, Nickols and
Speaker 1: Denard Wilson, and Wilson has that defense playing above board,
Speaker 1: and that's where I'm most intrigued by this team outside
Speaker 1: of the quarterback. More changes cam is in Van Jefferson.
Speaker 1: They signed Dan Moore to a massive contract to be
Speaker 1: a starting tackle when he was a swing guy in
Speaker 1: Pittsburgh at best. Kevin Zeitler on the last kind of
Speaker 1: couple of holes of his career. Here, he's going to
Speaker 1: get one more go with the Titans. Tyler Lockett, similar story,
Speaker 1: Draymont Jones, kind of similar, Cody Barton, Xavier Woods, Amani
Speaker 1: or a Ruie. I get that wrong every time. And
Speaker 1: then rookies Ola Feme Ladejo, Kevin Winston, the Penn State
Speaker 1: safety who I loved, and the receiver from Stanford, Elick Almanor.
Speaker 1: I was a big fan of his game on the
Speaker 1: way out, Nick Westbrook, Akine Mason, Rudolph, Daniel Brunskilled, Dylan Raidens,
Speaker 1: who was a high pick of them a couple of
Speaker 1: years ago, Nick Venette, Jerome Baker, Harold Landry, and Ryan
Speaker 1: Stonehouse the punter here for the Miami Dolphins. Two players
Speaker 1: in that list now Miami Dolphins. The film for the Titans,
Speaker 1: and they're calling cards. Strangely enough, the offense that Callahan
Speaker 1: and Holtz installed was akin to what made the Titans
Speaker 1: a fixture in the AFC for a few years under
Speaker 1: Ryan Tannehill. Twelve personnel, heavy under center, back to the defense,
Speaker 1: play action off a strong running game, but they didn't
Speaker 1: have Derrick Henry and they didn't have Ryan Tannehill. Now
Speaker 1: they have a quarterback who I think is a much
Speaker 1: better player than Tannehill. If you couldn't figure that out already,
Speaker 1: and a much different style of player, I cannot imagine
Speaker 1: there's not some form of adaptation to what suits Cam,
Speaker 1: which is a spread things out, give him indicators to
Speaker 1: just pick apart the defense and do what he does best,
Speaker 1: dissecting with split quick decisions based upon presentation and the
Speaker 1: rotation after the snap. If they can marry those two
Speaker 1: things together with Tony Pollard and Taj Spears and an
Speaker 1: offensive line that has plenty of investment into it, you
Speaker 1: might get this power spread attack akin to what the
Speaker 1: Oregon Ducks have run for years. And that's what I
Speaker 1: would go after if I was putting that offense together.
Speaker 1: So interestingly, I think Cam's traits are comparable to Burrow,
Speaker 1: so Callahan could look back to his old Bengals notebooks
Speaker 1: for some ideas there. This feels like a lock of
Speaker 1: a team to make a big receiver splash in twenty
Speaker 1: twenty six. It happens every year, right, big name wide
Speaker 1: receivers move. I feel like that'll happen next year because
Speaker 1: this group, while solid kind of like the Colts, lacks
Speaker 1: a true number one difference maker. Calvin Ridley was supposed
Speaker 1: to be that, but that hasn't happened yet. Tyler Lockett
Speaker 1: aged out of that role years ago. Van Jefferson has
Speaker 1: been a rotational X at best in his career. Perhaps
Speaker 1: my favorite one on the roster is the fourth round
Speaker 1: pick e look Ao Minor.
Speaker 2: I love his game.
Speaker 1: The line has really struggled over the last couple of years,
Speaker 1: but I think they're onto something with this group. I
Speaker 1: don't understand the Dan Moore move, but other than that,
Speaker 1: I think JC Latham is a monster. Pete Scaronsky is
Speaker 1: a good player. Lloyd Cushionberry also very established on the interior.
Speaker 1: I think you can get the last of Kevin Zeidler
Speaker 1: in his career. I also liked fifth round pick Jackson Slater,
Speaker 1: and then defensively, you know the drill Mike McDonald tree,
Speaker 1: Denard Wilson. I thought had a really thin group playing
Speaker 1: above board last year with the same principles you've seen
Speaker 1: here pre snap presentations, with a myriad of front and
Speaker 1: coverage pairings that the defense can get too from any grouping,
Speaker 1: any personnel alignment, any look, a lot of zones and
Speaker 1: sim pressures. They added three starters this season after dropping
Speaker 1: in another dominant force alongside Jeff Simmons last year. That
Speaker 1: was Tovandre Sweat. They also have Sebastian, Joseph Day and
Speaker 1: Draymont Jones. A very nice front line there. They got
Speaker 1: to get a little bit deeper, but they've also got
Speaker 1: to get more out of Lugerious Sneed. That's playing and simple.
Speaker 1: They made a big move to get him last year,
Speaker 1: and if they do that, if he goes back to
Speaker 1: his Chiefs gaze Man, Jarvis Brownlee Junior and Roger McCreary
Speaker 1: is a really nice trio. McCurry is a slot guy
Speaker 1: that I like his game quite a lot. Amani Hooker's
Speaker 1: a beast. Xavier Woods is a nice player, so a
Speaker 1: pretty good safety tandem.
Speaker 2: The questions here.
Speaker 1: The defensive depth is razor thin, but that's typically what
Speaker 1: happens in the early stages of a rebuild. Same is
Speaker 1: true across the offensive line and the weapons on all.
Speaker 1: It's just a deep, a thin roster right now. Because
Speaker 1: they're in the beginning process of this, I'm not sure
Speaker 1: where the edge rush comes from either, but I do
Speaker 1: want to emphasize how good their interior pressure is, and
Speaker 1: I also think their off ball linebackers are precarious at best.
Speaker 1: I also don't think they have I think that they're
Speaker 1: probably going to see a staff change unless they win
Speaker 1: a lot more games than they're supposed to do this year.
Speaker 1: The miscellaneous factors here. I worry about programs like this
Speaker 1: off of a rocky start in their first year to
Speaker 1: get a fresh start at the most important position, because
Speaker 1: if they start slow, that's when heads begin to roll.
Speaker 1: It's a good way for finger pointing to happen. We
Speaker 1: saw it with the Bears last year, where you get
Speaker 1: these scapegoats. After scapegoats would go oh see you go DC.
Speaker 1: Then eventually the head coach falls and then maybe the
Speaker 1: joe manager doesn't happened the next year. Usually that's kind
Speaker 1: of the order of operations. But the Titans open at Denver,
Speaker 1: a historically difficult place to win in September because the
Speaker 1: altitude adjustment there. Then the home openers the Rams. I
Speaker 1: don't think they'll beat that team. It's a really good
Speaker 1: football team. If those games go as forecasted, that would
Speaker 1: mean a week three game against the Colts, a damn
Speaker 1: near must win with a trip to Houston on deck,
Speaker 1: and you could be staring at zero to four if
Speaker 1: they can just get to one and three and cam
Speaker 1: settles in. They then go to Arizona, the Raiders, the Patriots,
Speaker 1: the Colts at home, and then the Chargers. The schedule
Speaker 1: isn't that brutal, Jags twice, Browns and Saints all in there.
Speaker 2: As well.
Speaker 1: As far as the trapdoor scenario, I think you skip
Speaker 1: that for a team who's projected win totals five and
Speaker 1: a half games. Just kind of counterintuitives will skip that.
Speaker 1: The conclusion here, to me, everything they do this year
Speaker 1: is about cam Ward and pretty much everything else to
Speaker 1: me is irrelevant. It's not that uncommon to uncover a
Speaker 1: star quarterback amidst a losing season, but I think that
Speaker 1: could be the case here. If the offense stays healthy,
Speaker 1: with Thenard Wilson coaching up that defense, they could surprise
Speaker 1: and get to seven or eight wins. We finish up
Speaker 1: with a team that was a big disappointment last year,
Speaker 1: the Jacksonville Jaguars. The changes in personnel, it's a fresh
Speaker 1: start for a team that kind of felt like it
Speaker 1: was dying to get to the finish line last December.
Speaker 1: It's all new Liam Cohen, Duvoh Grant and a familiar
Speaker 1: face and Anthony Campanell he coached in that defense, all
Speaker 1: be rooting for him as much as anybody this year
Speaker 1: in the league. And with that typically comes personnel upheaval.
Speaker 1: And they kicked off the new regime with the youngest
Speaker 1: GM in the sport, James Gladstone going from five to
Speaker 1: two to select Travis Hunter, and he needs to kind
Speaker 1: of change the face of that organization. He's the first
Speaker 1: one I put on the end list. Diami Brown, Patrick McCay,
Speaker 1: Robert Hainsey, Fred Johnson, Johnny Munt, Nick Mullins, Eric Murray,
Speaker 1: Jordan Lewis, Dwayne Smoot, Emmanuel Ogba. They lost Christian Kirk
Speaker 1: to the Texans, as we mentioned previously, Cam Robinson also
Speaker 1: goes off to the Houston Texans, so plenty of change
Speaker 1: here for this Jacksonville side. They also lost Andre Cisco
Speaker 1: to the Jets. The calling card for the offense, Liam
Speaker 1: Cohen was a man possessed for the Bucks last year.
Speaker 1: He incorporated this vertical passing element to a power run
Speaker 1: game that utilized all the options at Baker Mayfield's disposal.
Speaker 1: I think the best part of his design is the
Speaker 1: play sequencing. They build a concept and then unfurl layers
Speaker 1: off of it, and it made life easy on Baker,
Speaker 1: especially with that run game. That's what's probably most intriguing
Speaker 1: to me about the Jaguars here, Travis Etn, Tank Bigsby
Speaker 1: and Bishell toot in the running back that I loved
Speaker 1: in the draft process. If he can fix his fumble issues,
Speaker 1: he'll be a beast in this league with their run
Speaker 1: scheme that I think could unlock the downfill passing game
Speaker 1: between Travis Hunter and Brian Thomas, who has a chance
Speaker 1: to become one of the dudes in the league if
Speaker 1: he's not there already. And that's going to have to
Speaker 1: be enough to finally unlock the best of Trevor Lawrence,
Speaker 1: because let's be real, a few quarterbacks have been as
Speaker 1: disappointing as Trevor Lawrence and you just don't see that
Speaker 1: killer instinct in his game. There's the article that came
Speaker 1: out a few years ago about how he didn't really
Speaker 1: need football, but he plays it because he wants to,
Speaker 1: like just kind of came off the wrong way right,
Speaker 1: and that production hasn't followed either. He had the comeback
Speaker 1: over the Chargers in the playoffs, but outside of that,
Speaker 1: there's no real signature moments since he got hurt when
Speaker 1: they were eight and three and twenty twenty three, it's
Speaker 1: been a slog. But all that said, I thought the
Speaker 1: coaching job was pretty tough last year and see Cohen
Speaker 1: getting that year one bump from Lawrence and this Jags team,
Speaker 1: it all comes down to the quarterback. Though they've got
Speaker 1: the pass catchers, a deep backfield, they have the offensive
Speaker 1: line depth. It's not a star shutted cast, but between
Speaker 1: mcarry Hainesy Andton Harrison, Walker, little Ezra Cleveland, I think
Speaker 1: there's a good enough group there with formidable depth. With Campanelli,
Speaker 1: I feel like I have a good idea of what
Speaker 1: that's gonna look like. Heavy fronts, you know, nose tackles,
Speaker 1: bear fronts, tight fronts, plenty of man coverage, maybe some
Speaker 1: more Cover one and Cover three principles over the modern
Speaker 1: you know Evans coverage that you know, the too high,
Speaker 1: the cover two, the two man, the quarters, all that.
Speaker 2: Stuff, the Cover sixes. But that's just his influence.
Speaker 1: You'll always get variation of those influences with every single coach,
Speaker 1: but he's never coached under an even front zone based scheme,
Speaker 1: so I imagine pressure will be key, especially with a pretty
Speaker 1: athletic group of linebackers there. And they have the pass rush,
Speaker 1: I mean Trayvon Walker and Josh Hines. Allen's a good
Speaker 1: mix with Dwayne Smoot and Emmanuel Ogbas the depth there,
Speaker 1: especially when you figure Eric Armstead can play that Zach
Speaker 1: stealer role both inside an outside, with the Von Hamilton
Speaker 1: and Mason Smith providing depth on the interior. Those backers
Speaker 1: I think are a great fit for coach camp David Devin,
Speaker 1: Lloyd foyesad Olacon and Chad Muma.
Speaker 2: They can all run.
Speaker 1: They added one of their best slots in the game
Speaker 1: this year in Jordan Lewis to go along with Tyson Campbell.
Speaker 1: But that other cornerback spot's going to be a big battle.
Speaker 1: Is it going to be Travis Hunter somebody else?
Speaker 2: Maybe?
Speaker 1: And then Darnel Savage and Eric Murray's a solid safety combo.
Speaker 1: The question is the quarterback right. I feel like Lawrence
Speaker 1: has been fine, but you don't pay for fine when
Speaker 1: you use the number one pick on a player, especially
Speaker 1: when he has a profile that was you know, Andrew
Speaker 1: luck esque, so to speak.
Speaker 2: He has the pieces.
Speaker 1: I think he has the scheme that's a pretty good
Speaker 1: defense in plays as well, but he has to take
Speaker 1: ownership over the entire operation and just kind of like
Speaker 1: turn that, you know, that to a sniper mode on
Speaker 1: that we've heard to Ron Armstead talk about. Otherwise, to
Speaker 1: me would be the offensive line and defensive depth, the
Speaker 1: miscellaneous factors here. I'm leaning towards picking them as a
Speaker 1: surprise playoff team today. We'll see how I feel come September.
Speaker 1: But I think it's a really sound roster and an
Speaker 1: approach for how they're going to attack it, and a
Speaker 1: schedule that I think does them some favors. It starts
Speaker 1: out tough, but they can weather a Panthers, Bengals, Texans, Niners, Chiefs, Seahawks,
Speaker 1: Rams start. If they can just be like four and
Speaker 1: six after ten games, they would then finish Cardinals, Titans, Colts, Jets, Broncos, Colts, Titans.
Speaker 1: I think you could win six of those games and
Speaker 1: get yourself in the playoff mix there. But there's pressure.
Speaker 1: This year, there's gonna be there. Rather, there's gonna be
Speaker 1: less pressure. I think this year because I think that
Speaker 1: this new coaching staff, the move for Travis Hunter. I
Speaker 1: think that with a quarterback on a massive contract, there's
Speaker 1: always pressure. But I feel like it's gonna be ran
Speaker 1: back next year regardless of what happens, unless it's like,
Speaker 1: really really bad. The trapdoor scenarios gotta be the offensive
Speaker 1: line and the pass catcher group not being deep. You'll
Speaker 1: lose one or two pieces for a couple of games.
Speaker 1: You could really be getting into like we don't have
Speaker 1: a lot of you know, options in the passing game.
Speaker 1: I guess you could say the same about the secondary.
Speaker 1: That's pretty common across the NFL today. I suppose a
Speaker 1: slow start and then unfortunate injuries could make that margin
Speaker 1: for air super thin. My conclusion, I think they've got
Speaker 1: a great mix offensively that could maximize Lawrence's skills, and
Speaker 1: a defense that plays plays enough teams with uncertainty at quarterback,
Speaker 1: with a good coach and good personnel to really get
Speaker 1: a big jump defensively. I think they'll win like five
Speaker 1: of those last seven games. It just depends how the
Speaker 1: first ten go. My division superlatives in the AFC South,
Speaker 1: my winner is the Texans by a long shot. My
Speaker 1: quarterback is Stroud by a long shot. My non offensive
Speaker 1: quarterback Nico Collins, Brian Thomas, and Quintin Nelson. I'm gonna
Speaker 1: go with Nico Collins, but that's the three that I
Speaker 1: was thinking about. My best defensive player is there's like
Speaker 1: four Texans in line, then somebody else. Derek Stingling's my
Speaker 1: top choice there, but Hunter and Anderson right there as well.
Speaker 2: The best coach is also Ryan's.
Speaker 1: The best rookie is the Titans quarterback cam Ward and
Speaker 1: then my most under the radar stub was either Grover
Speaker 1: Stewart for the Colts defensive tackle or Caden Bullock, the
Speaker 1: Texans safety, who's an absolute stud.
Speaker 2: So there you go.
Speaker 1: Another podcast down will be back on Tuesday, June the
Speaker 1: thirtieth for an all interview edition of the Drive Time Podcast.
Speaker 1: Maleak Washington, Allie Gordon, and Jason Marshall Junior join me,
Speaker 1: and then we'll pivot back to the division previous for
Speaker 1: the NFC South on Thursday, July third. I'm not gonna
Speaker 1: do a podcast on the fourth, but I go ahead
Speaker 1: and change that in my notes Thursday. Let's make it
Speaker 1: the third, all right, So that's the podcast for now.
Speaker 1: In the meantime, you all please be sure subscribe, rate review,
Speaker 1: follow me on social at winkfle NFL, the team at
Speaker 1: Miami Dolphins YouTube channel for drivetime content, Dolphins hqu mediavailabilities
Speaker 1: MiamiDolphins dot com.
Speaker 2: And it is the most wonderful time of year.
Speaker 1: That's right, Miami Dolphins training camp right around the corner
Speaker 1: and you can reserve your tickets right now. The Dolphins
Speaker 1: are back on the field for Back Together Weekend on
Speaker 1: July twenty sixth, a Saturday first Dolphins practice open to
Speaker 1: the fans in the public. The Dolphins will take Sunday
Speaker 1: off and be back on the field for a Monday
Speaker 1: practice on the twenty eighth, as well as the twenty
Speaker 1: ninth and thirtieth, all open to the fans. After a
Speaker 1: Thursday day off on the thirty first, Miami's right back
Speaker 1: to work for the first second and third of August,
Speaker 1: all those practices open to fans as well. The next
Speaker 1: practice available to the fans August the sixth, and then
Speaker 1: a pretty good gap there with the joint practices up
Speaker 1: in Detroit and Chicago. Miami's back for three more practices
Speaker 1: in front of the fans here at the Baptist Hill
Speaker 1: Training Complex August eighteenth, August twentieth, and August twenty first.
Speaker 1: That twenty first date is a joint practice against the
Speaker 1: Jacksonville Jaguars. So July twenty sixth, July twenty eighth, twenty ninth, thirtieth,
Speaker 1: August first, second and third, August sixth, August nineteenth, August twentieth,
Speaker 1: and August twenty first against the Jacksonville Jaguars. Book your
Speaker 1: tickets now on Miami Dolphins dot com. In the meantime,
Speaker 1: Finns up Carolina, Cameron Daddy, He's coming, hoped