Speaker 1: To on the move Golan Deep Spiegles Peas do Pas
Speaker 1: from the Baptist Health Studios inside the Baptist Health Training Complex.
Speaker 2: This is Drivetime with Travis Wingfield.
Speaker 1: He's guy my advans in the playoffs?
Speaker 2: What is up Dolphins?
Speaker 3: And welcome to a very special edision of the Draft
Speaker 3: Time Podcast. I am your host, Travis Wingfield, and on
Speaker 3: today's show, we are live from Indianapolis. Well, not very live,
Speaker 3: it is a pre taped podcast, but we are on
Speaker 3: the floor here at the Combine in Indianapolis. We have
Speaker 3: three speakers for you guys on the show today. First,
Speaker 3: Daniel Jeremiah NFL Network joins us to talk about Dolphins
Speaker 3: team building and draft potential prospects you might want to
Speaker 3: keep an eye on. We'll also hear from Brad Spielberger
Speaker 3: from PFF who talks about free agency, contract structures and
Speaker 3: a whole bunch more. Last, but not least, the man himself,
Speaker 3: head coach Mike McDaniel. All of that and more from
Speaker 3: the floor at the Indianapolis Convention Center here in Indy.
Speaker 2: This is the Draft Time Podcast.
Speaker 3: Ye gaff sir, Let's go ahead and get to my
Speaker 3: first guest today, the Great Daniel Jeremiah and the man
Speaker 3: Join us today needs no introduction. DJ Daniel Jeremiah. Thanks,
Speaker 3: join us again once again the show, I should say
Speaker 3: from the combine.
Speaker 4: Yeah, it's great to be with you.
Speaker 3: Looking forward to this man. So last year I asked
Speaker 3: you this similar question. I'm gonna ask you again about
Speaker 3: the year two jump for the Dolphins offense. Mike McDaniel
Speaker 3: to a tongue of by loa, the continuity of the
Speaker 3: offense was able to build.
Speaker 2: What about year three?
Speaker 3: I've heard, you know, Peyton Manning on the Manning Cast
Speaker 3: talk about year three is kind of a big one
Speaker 3: for him and his career. What does that longevity do
Speaker 3: for play caller, for quarterback and in particular quarterback, Like
Speaker 3: to a tongue of.
Speaker 4: By Loa, Well, I think it's huge. I think you
Speaker 4: look at anybody that's had sustained success in the league
Speaker 4: and there's some continuity there. I mean, Brady's the kind
Speaker 4: of the poster child for that. So it's it's just
Speaker 4: not having to start over and just building on the
Speaker 4: volume of what you already have. It's such an advantage.
Speaker 4: I mean, I just look at it. As you know,
Speaker 4: some teams come into a game with a you know,
Speaker 4: with a quarter inch playbook, and the other teams get
Speaker 4: to come in with a three inch play But it's
Speaker 4: not fair. I mean it's Andy Reid and Patrick Mahomes
Speaker 4: have been able to just build and build and build
Speaker 4: and build, and now Miami's getting a chance, going a
Speaker 4: year three to continue to do the same things and
Speaker 4: you know, almost the benefit of not only finding what works,
Speaker 4: but also being able to weed some stuff out along
Speaker 4: the way as well.
Speaker 3: Did you get the sense with the Dolphins last couple
Speaker 3: of years, because they start off hot nine to three
Speaker 3: last year eight and three McDaniel's first year, they kind
Speaker 3: of fade away late in the year and face some
Speaker 3: top of competition, lose some close games.
Speaker 2: Do you get the sense that maybe.
Speaker 3: That's part of what can be the next step with
Speaker 3: the playbook, expanding, getting more into your playbook late into
Speaker 3: the year in December and January.
Speaker 4: Well, I think that's part of it. I think, Look,
Speaker 4: they got to stay healthy on the defense. I mean
Speaker 4: that was that was brutal. I mean, and you think
Speaker 4: about close games, and you think about finishers, and you
Speaker 4: look at the injuries that they sustained in the pass rush,
Speaker 4: and it's like, okay, well I get and maybe why
Speaker 4: you can't finish or close out games and win close games.
Speaker 4: So that's a key part of it. I think, continuing
Speaker 4: to add, I'm curious to see, you know, and we
Speaker 4: always use the you know, kind of copycat league stuff,
Speaker 4: but when you look at Kansas City and the amount
Speaker 4: of resources that they devoted to the defensive side of
Speaker 4: the ball, if they don't, you know, I'm curious to
Speaker 4: see if Miami doesn't say, okay, look we are where
Speaker 4: we are offense there now, which is in a great spot.
Speaker 4: But you know, maybe let's just continue to add resources,
Speaker 4: young athletic resources on the defensive side of the ball
Speaker 4: and know that our offense is good enough right now.
Speaker 3: One of the trades is probably the most instance in
Speaker 3: the NFL history of both teams winning that trade, right
Speaker 3: Tyreek Kill they get their defensive crop armbor Kansas City
Speaker 3: there on your conference call on Thursday, you mentioned and
Speaker 3: I noted this one myself specifically, the Dolphins are smack
Speaker 3: dab in the middle of their window. I've been dying
Speaker 3: to ask you if you could elaborate on why you
Speaker 3: feel that way.
Speaker 4: Well, I just think when you look at the key
Speaker 4: players on their team. And you look at where Tua is,
Speaker 4: especially financially at this point in time, and that's going
Speaker 4: to change. But where he is, you look at you know,
Speaker 4: Tyreek obviously being in the right smack in the middle
Speaker 4: of the prime of his career. You know, Waddle is
Speaker 4: you know, I think he's he's he can still there're
Speaker 4: still room, but he is established who he is and
Speaker 4: it is a very very good player. So I just
Speaker 4: think a lot of their key players are in key
Speaker 4: spots and there, and they're in that age where they're
Speaker 4: ready to win right now. And I think when you
Speaker 4: look around in that division, you know, New England's kind
Speaker 4: of a mess. The Jets haven't been able to get
Speaker 4: their stuff figured out. And then you look at Buffalo,
Speaker 4: you know, money wise having to take a step back,
Speaker 4: and I just think, man, Miami's situated right now, this
Speaker 4: is kind of go time.
Speaker 3: So it seems like they're you talk about team needs,
Speaker 3: like you mentioned the quarterback to two receivers, you mentioned
Speaker 3: the edgebrushers earlier.
Speaker 2: Those guys will be back.
Speaker 3: Those are premium spots, right Toront Armstead still there, Austin
Speaker 3: Jackson got an extension. Those are premium positions right spots
Speaker 3: that you don't have to go spend you know, high
Speaker 3: free agency capital on what's the benefit of having your
Speaker 3: team needs And if you have Dolphins team needs for us,
Speaker 3: I'd love to hear those as well. But team needs
Speaker 3: that aren't at those premium spots like that.
Speaker 4: Well, I mean I always I go back to the
Speaker 4: Detroit thing, and I think everybody looks at Detroit and
Speaker 4: what they did in the draft last year and said, oh,
Speaker 4: they you know, they outsmarted the league. They took these
Speaker 4: non premium position players and they all played great, and like, yeah,
Speaker 4: they already built up the line of scrimmage. You can
Speaker 4: do that once you've once you've got that accomplished. So
Speaker 4: when I look at the Dolphins, I mean, interier offensive
Speaker 4: line is probably the first place you got to start,
Speaker 4: just knowing what the free agent situation is right now.
Speaker 4: So if you lose two guys, you got to go
Speaker 4: out and get something accomplished there. So that's, you know,
Speaker 4: that's the place you can look at and where they're
Speaker 4: situated kind of marries up pretty well. If you wanted
Speaker 4: to take an interior offensive lineman, picking at twenty one,
Speaker 4: you probably get the best one in the draft, whether
Speaker 4: you're not you know you want to go Pirates Johnson,
Speaker 4: whether you think that's Graham Barton or Frasier, like there's
Speaker 4: any any number of those guys, you'll have your pick
Speaker 4: of the litter there, you know, defensive tackle, tight end.
Speaker 4: It's I don't love the depth of either one of
Speaker 4: those positions in this draft. But again that's where you
Speaker 4: got to marry up free agency and see what you
Speaker 4: can find there.
Speaker 3: Have you stacked those into your offensive line and you
Speaker 3: know you've done in the process of getting those.
Speaker 4: Gus So I have it right now. I believe I
Speaker 4: have to go back and look at it. But I
Speaker 4: ended up putting JPJ one and then Graham Barton two
Speaker 4: and then Fraser three. Sounds a good crop, right, And
Speaker 4: they're all and I think they're all three Day one starters.
Speaker 4: They're plug and play and they're all you know, from
Speaker 4: a intangibles like center, I would say, like the intangibles
Speaker 4: matter the closer you get to the middle of the field,
Speaker 4: and center is definitely a character in tangible position. And
Speaker 4: those guys are all rock solid.
Speaker 2: Yeah, you mentioned the injuries off the edge position.
Speaker 3: Connor Williams also going to be a free agent coming
Speaker 3: off attorney a cl in December, which that was kind
Speaker 3: of when the offense you know, sorry to revert a
Speaker 3: little bit back into you know, old habits of pre McDaniel.
Speaker 4: Interesting thing is talking to teams about about free agency
Speaker 4: and talking to a couple of teams in need lineman.
Speaker 4: They were frustrated because they were they had their eyes
Speaker 4: on him, you know, before the injury, and it played
Speaker 4: so well.
Speaker 3: He was playing really well for us that point. It
Speaker 3: was such an anchor in the middle of the offensive line.
Speaker 3: They're kind of a pivot here for you, DJ, because
Speaker 3: I'm curious to ask you this question about teams focus
Speaker 3: in the off season when it comes to importing new
Speaker 3: parts and getting new pieces versus your own personnel improvement
Speaker 3: and conceptual improvement. How do you think the Dolphins would
Speaker 3: assess how they can get better from whether it's importing
Speaker 3: free agents and draft picks or just improving because of
Speaker 3: you know, again continuity year three, the guys they already
Speaker 3: have in house and the internal development. Where do you
Speaker 3: think teams balance that, Especially with Miami.
Speaker 4: I think the good teams have figured out they got
Speaker 4: to develop your own guys. Yeah, you know, it's just
Speaker 4: cost effective. It's going out and hiring not just scheme coaches,
Speaker 4: going out and hiring guys how to develop players. I
Speaker 4: think forty nine Ers are a great example of that. Obviously,
Speaker 4: Chief's another great example of that. They've been able to
Speaker 4: just develop their own guys. And it's just versus what
Speaker 4: you're gonna have to pay on the open market. It's
Speaker 4: a no brainer. And and the Ravens are another team
Speaker 4: that's done that. And a lot of it too with
Speaker 4: the Ravens is say you're willing to let guys walk
Speaker 4: out of your building, have faith in your ability to
Speaker 4: develop and get these young players to improve. Now you're
Speaker 4: getting comp picks, so it's like, that's the no if
Speaker 4: you can do, if you have your choice, that's the
Speaker 4: way you want to do it. And then be selective
Speaker 4: and finding you know, finding glue guys, culture fits leaders.
Speaker 4: You know. I do believe firmly in the you know,
Speaker 4: wanting to have a veteran in every position room so
Speaker 4: you have kind of that that presence in there. But
Speaker 4: I think when you're big ticket item shopping and free
Speaker 4: agency has not has not worked out great over the years.
Speaker 3: No, it's typically more like thirty cents in the dollars.
Speaker 3: You tend to get one of those top of the
Speaker 3: market deals on average. For the most part. I often
Speaker 3: say that Cam Smith is one of the most important
Speaker 3: players for the Dolphins this year because of the news
Speaker 3: that it looks like a saving Howard will be released
Speaker 3: with a post June one designation. I'm curious what you
Speaker 3: going back into last year we thought of Cam Smith
Speaker 3: and also the idea of like a red shirt season
Speaker 3: because he didn't see the field much at all this
Speaker 3: year as a rookie year.
Speaker 4: Yeah, he was a tough evaluation. The tools are all there,
Speaker 4: you know, it wasn't consistent, so you know, you kind
Speaker 4: of bet on the ability and you bet on your
Speaker 4: ability to get it out of him and develop him
Speaker 4: talent wise. Yeah, he's got immense amount of talent. So
Speaker 4: I'm anxious to see what you know, he get his shot.
Speaker 4: That's what this is, you know, that's what good teams do.
Speaker 4: As you're a year ahead on that stuff and now
Speaker 4: this work that he put in last year, we'll see
Speaker 4: what it looks like.
Speaker 3: He'll be joining Anthony. We have a new Dolphins defenser
Speaker 3: coordinator here. I did some research. You were with coach
Speaker 3: Weaver your last your first year. Yeah, yeah, he was there.
Speaker 4: He was a study, I mean, just a stud total
Speaker 4: presence about him, just you know, for a defensive lineman,
Speaker 4: incredibly cerebral, just a smart dude, and you know, was
Speaker 4: universally liked and respected in the building. So it's been
Speaker 4: fun to kind of follow his career as he's gone
Speaker 4: from playing. The coaching not really a surprise. We had
Speaker 4: a defensive coach, our defensive line coach during those years
Speaker 4: of getting Clarence of Brooks, who's who since passed away.
Speaker 4: It was kind of a legendary coach. So he you know,
Speaker 4: he played for really good coaches and uh, in the
Speaker 4: fact that his coaching career has taken off is not
Speaker 4: really a surprise.
Speaker 3: I know this is kind of a stretch to ask
Speaker 3: you this, but do you have any idea what he
Speaker 3: might do schematically on the side of the ball.
Speaker 2: And he talked about the Ravens a little bit being
Speaker 2: an influence.
Speaker 3: He talked about Romeo Crenell being a big influence John
Speaker 3: Harbaugh and that might look like for.
Speaker 2: Us on some days.
Speaker 4: Yeah, you know, he answered this question. You can answer everyone.
Speaker 4: You're gonna be multiple, multiple, We're going to be aggressive.
Speaker 4: We're going to dictate to the offense. The offense is
Speaker 4: not gonna and just to cut and pay them all
Speaker 4: for every defensive coordinator higher. But no, I think I
Speaker 4: think the smart guys get in there and assess what
Speaker 4: they have and they build accordingly. For sure.
Speaker 3: One last question here for you, DJ, So what would
Speaker 3: we'd be remiss to not ask you about the Dolphins
Speaker 3: first and second round picks? First time I've had you
Speaker 3: on the show when we actually had a first round pick.
Speaker 3: It's been a while for us. Now pick twenty one,
Speaker 3: pick fifty three. Who are some names you like in
Speaker 3: those two spots for us?
Speaker 4: Well, I mentioned those interior offensive linemen would be fun.
Speaker 4: I you know, this one is maybe gratuitous, but like
Speaker 4: Brian Thomas Junior.
Speaker 5: I've just selfishly wanted to see it, I selfishly just
Speaker 5: want to see it, just to throw another explosive, dynamic
Speaker 5: playmaker in that offense to compliment what's already there Byron
Speaker 5: Murphy would be another one I think that could could
Speaker 5: factor in there.
Speaker 4: Man, you imagine him with his explosiveness next to arguably
Speaker 4: you know, one of the top three or four defensive
Speaker 4: tackles in the league. And Wilkins. That would be a
Speaker 4: lot of fun.
Speaker 3: I mean, talk about stretching the field vertically from that
Speaker 3: inside Brian Thomas right with Tyreek and Wall on the outside.
Speaker 4: My gosh, yeah, I wrote it was funny. I was
Speaker 4: going through all my notes on the LSU guys and
Speaker 4: it just says it's like death by slot face all right,
Speaker 4: one after another days right, yeah, exactly?
Speaker 2: Well who else do you like in that second round?
Speaker 2: Blood there?
Speaker 3: Because Roman Wilson's a guy that had a great senior
Speaker 3: ball Malachai Corley, He's a guy that's a big yack product.
Speaker 2: Right, He's a guy that fit the Dolphins off.
Speaker 4: Yeah. I like him. It gives you a little bit
Speaker 4: of a different pitch, more of a physical guy with
Speaker 4: the ball in his hands. He's a fun player, and
Speaker 4: he's not I don't know if he's gonna if he's
Speaker 4: gonna work out here, but he'll run in the high
Speaker 4: four threes. He can really go to Oh yeah, he
Speaker 4: can go. So he's gonna he's gonna go. But he's
Speaker 4: he's a fun one. You know. I'm a Laddi McConkie
Speaker 4: guy too. I think he's just a really really good
Speaker 4: football player and uh, you know a TUA. I think
Speaker 4: having guys that can play above the shoulders, that are
Speaker 4: really high level, I think that's perfect for him too.
Speaker 4: You know, somebody that he's gonna trust is seeing the
Speaker 4: same things he's seeing and let him, you know, use
Speaker 4: his superpower, which is anticipation. I think intelligence kind of
Speaker 4: the underrated aspect of that.
Speaker 3: There's a guy back in our office is gonna love
Speaker 3: that you had, Lad mcconkeye. He's a huge Ladd mcconchaey
Speaker 3: loves him. Daniel Jeremiah NFL Network and at Move the
Speaker 3: Sticks on Social NFL Network. Live coverage of the twenty
Speaker 3: twenty four NFL scouting combined Thursday through Sunday. Coverage starts
Speaker 3: at three o'clock Eastern on Thursday and Friday and one
Speaker 3: o'clock Eastern Saturday Sunday. DJ, think as much for your
Speaker 3: time today, man, I appreciate it to you likewise, and
Speaker 3: there he goes to great Daniel Jeremy, let's go ahead
Speaker 3: and take our first break right there. Come back on
Speaker 3: the other side and get smarter about contracts, free agency,
Speaker 3: and what the Dolphins might do with their upcoming pending
Speaker 3: free agents.
Speaker 2: That's next.
Speaker 3: Brad Spielberger Draft Time podcast, your host Travis Wingfield, brought
Speaker 3: to you by Autoation and joining me today from Pro
Speaker 3: Football Focus is the great Brad Spielberger.
Speaker 2: Esquire. I love the mention of Esquire on your profile.
Speaker 6: By the way, I be honest, it is like a
Speaker 6: bit of a troll, like people might think I'm trying
Speaker 6: to take myself very very seriously.
Speaker 4: I am a lawyer.
Speaker 6: I don't really use it all that often, but I
Speaker 6: had the degree, so I had to let people know that.
Speaker 3: I mean, there's a lot of crossover there, right, lawyer, contracts,
Speaker 3: free agency, all that stuff that goes in the NFL.
Speaker 3: And that's why we have you on today talk about
Speaker 3: the complexity of an NFL contract and the freegency period
Speaker 3: coming up here in a couple of weeks. Now it
Speaker 3: comes faster every year, it feels like. But I wanted
Speaker 3: to just to have you explain if you can, a
Speaker 3: couple of things for us here and really for me
Speaker 3: too much of my audience. Like I always tell people
Speaker 3: on the podcast, like I think I have an idea,
Speaker 3: but for the most part, I stay at numbers in
Speaker 3: my head starts to hurt.
Speaker 2: I'm the words guy.
Speaker 3: So having you on here to grasp one of the
Speaker 3: more difficult aspects of our sport, if you don't.
Speaker 2: Mind doing that for us.
Speaker 3: Yeah, so I'm here for So what I want to
Speaker 3: start with is this increase in salary cap. Right, we
Speaker 3: saw that it was supposed to be, you know, in
Speaker 3: the two thirty eight two forty three range. Why is
Speaker 3: it being two fifty this year? Can you explain to
Speaker 3: us why that's significant?
Speaker 4: Yeah?
Speaker 6: So, I think by the end of the year teams
Speaker 6: were more in the two forty five two to fifty range,
Speaker 6: but even still two fifty five was a jump up,
Speaker 6: and I think some people maybe are overestimating how much
Speaker 6: of a difference it's going to make. But it does
Speaker 6: like for a team like Miami that has to get
Speaker 6: their way out of a bit of a cap hole,
Speaker 6: that has a bunch of really good players up for
Speaker 6: new contracts, it gives you a little bit of, you know,
Speaker 6: wiggle room that you didn't have previously. And also I
Speaker 6: think it's just also a longer term signal of all right,
Speaker 6: we're no longer paying back money from COVID, We're gonna
Speaker 6: have these media deals, kick in gambling revenue, Taylor Swift revenue,
Speaker 6: all these teas are going to filter in and it's
Speaker 6: just I think it just it's confidence that you know
Speaker 6: where you're at going forward, and you feel as though
Speaker 6: you know, we can spend a little bit more aggressively potentially,
Speaker 6: so for top of the market players, like they might
Speaker 6: ask for a little bit more.
Speaker 4: That's the thing.
Speaker 6: It obviously has a counterbalance. The franchise tags are bigger,
Speaker 6: which might apply to a Christian Wilkins.
Speaker 4: But yeah, I think it's way.
Speaker 6: I'm sure Miami's front office was pleased to see it
Speaker 6: never come out.
Speaker 3: I think most teams probably are right a little bit
Speaker 3: more money. It never hurts anybody. I want to come
Speaker 3: back to the Christian Wilkins at DNA.
Speaker 2: Second.
Speaker 3: But first, the idea of restructures, because we see it
Speaker 3: all the time. You know, again, I'm basing these kind
Speaker 3: of takes off of what I see on Twitter. Probably
Speaker 3: a horrible practice, but we're gonna do it anyways, because
Speaker 3: like I always see, oh, they can just restructure this,
Speaker 3: they can just do this. Oh and then someone else says,
Speaker 3: a restructure that's terrible. You're kicking the can on the road.
Speaker 3: What the hell does a restructure mean?
Speaker 2: What does it do?
Speaker 3: And how do the Dolphins keep themselves flexible because like
Speaker 3: in the past, we've seen you know, Kyle van Noy
Speaker 3: got signed for a big contract, Shack Lawson got signed
Speaker 3: for a big contract. They were gone one year later,
Speaker 3: and it wasn't that punotip to Miami, like why are
Speaker 3: they able to do that?
Speaker 4: For sure? Yeah?
Speaker 6: So first, at a high level, what a restructure is
Speaker 6: is that a salary in the NFL, the guy the
Speaker 6: thing the guys make every two weeks, you know, just
Speaker 6: us plus a couple zeros gets all hits the cap
Speaker 6: in that year. Right, So you have a fifteen million
Speaker 6: dollars salary. Let's say, for example, all fifteen million is
Speaker 6: hitting the twenty twenty four cap. When you restructure a contract,
Speaker 6: you convert that salary into a bonus assigning bonus if
Speaker 6: you want to call it that, and then you can
Speaker 6: spread it out over five years. So instead of fifteen
Speaker 6: million all in twenty twenty four, it's three million and
Speaker 6: twenty twenty four and then three million dollars hits in
Speaker 6: the four years after. So, well, Miami does a good
Speaker 6: job of this on the upfront when they do their deals.
Speaker 6: It's more flat cash to cap. It's not the Saints,
Speaker 6: the Eagles, some of these aggressive teams where they already
Speaker 6: have minimum salaries and these massive pro rated bonuses.
Speaker 4: Miami in the beginning keeps it.
Speaker 6: More flat because, like you said, the flexibility of getting
Speaker 6: out a deal like a Cowbin nooist one year in
Speaker 6: injury guarantees that don't kick in, and they have a
Speaker 6: small financial penalty of course, like a XAVI and Howard,
Speaker 6: they did restructure that contract a little bit, gave them
Speaker 6: that extension. There's a penalty there, but they do a
Speaker 6: good job of like everyone's gonna say, oh on over
Speaker 6: the cap, they're thirty million dollars over the cap, yes,
Speaker 6: but their restructure potential is quite high because they have
Speaker 6: more year to year flatter contracts.
Speaker 3: I think I'm with you. I think I'm with you
Speaker 3: on that all the way. It's very, very thoroughly explained.
Speaker 3: It's just just not my forte. But I appreciate you
Speaker 3: giving that information to us there. And as the great
Speaker 3: O J McDuffie, one my radio co host, always says,
Speaker 3: the two best days of the week are game Day
Speaker 3: and pay Day, and you just talked about that little
Speaker 3: bit there as well. Speaking of Payday's Christian Wilkins, whether
Speaker 3: it's Miami or somewhere else, is gonna get paid. And
Speaker 3: he's earned it. He's gotten better every single year. One
Speaker 3: of the best players at his position. What is a
Speaker 3: potential contract you think for Christian Wilkins look like coming
Speaker 3: up in this robust market as you described.
Speaker 6: Yeah, I mean I think you e bet on himself
Speaker 6: this year and obviously his draft class, particularly the first round,
Speaker 6: like in twenty nineteen we saw you know you're Quinn Williams,
Speaker 6: Jeffrey Simmons even at Oliver obviously had a lesser deal.
Speaker 6: And the big thing with Wilkins was he was a
Speaker 6: guy for us, you know PFF for example, where the
Speaker 6: underlying metrics did like him, but didn't have the sack production,
Speaker 6: the flashy traditional stats. And of course now that follows
Speaker 6: this year very good timing for him. Was already for
Speaker 6: US one of the best run defenders in the entire
Speaker 6: NFL up there in defensive stops, which is just preventing
Speaker 6: a positive play for the offense. Now you've fold in
Speaker 6: the sack production, it's gonna be above twenty million, for sure,
Speaker 6: do it? Does it get into the twenty three twenty
Speaker 6: four range like a Jeffrey Simmons, Quinean Williams. Maybe not
Speaker 6: quite that number, but it's definitely it's about twenty million.
Speaker 6: Franchise tag will be twenty two, So if you're his camp,
Speaker 6: you're probably saying, all right, we're starting in that range.
Speaker 4: They always try to do that.
Speaker 6: Hey, we're trying to tying the franchise tag to an
Speaker 6: ap y and average per year doesn't always work, but
Speaker 6: I think that's kind of how that's going to go.
Speaker 3: I always make the argument he's like two players too,
Speaker 3: because he plays like eighty five percent of our snaps
Speaker 3: every year and he never missed his game, So he's
Speaker 3: definitely a valuable player all across the board, pass rush,
Speaker 3: run game, reliability leader, all that stuff you want to
Speaker 3: hear about.
Speaker 2: How about some other internal free agents.
Speaker 3: I have three names I wrote down here for you
Speaker 3: for the Dolphins because we have a few of them.
Speaker 3: It's a product of of drafting.
Speaker 1: Well.
Speaker 3: Robert Hunt was a second round pick a couple years ago,
Speaker 3: Andrew van Ginkel was a fifth round pick back in
Speaker 3: twenty nineteen, and then Connor.
Speaker 2: Williams was a free agent acquisition two years ago.
Speaker 3: But those three guys, what do you think their market
Speaker 3: looks like this company who the hole.
Speaker 6: One's fascinating because I think we're just talking about the
Speaker 6: interior defenders and how we've seen so many good players
Speaker 6: at position and the pass rushers in particular on the interior.
Speaker 6: I might say it's a trend, but like there's you know,
Speaker 6: the Jalen Carters of the world, Like all these guys
Speaker 6: continue to come into the league, and we've now seen
Speaker 6: the counterbalance of you know, Quenton Nelson, we're Indianapolis. Quent
Speaker 6: Nelson is twenty million per year, Chris Lindstrum in Atlantic
Speaker 6: Gas twenty and a half. The guard market is now
Speaker 6: mirroring to a degree those interior defenders. So I have
Speaker 6: Hunt at four years, seventeen and a half million per year,
Speaker 6: it's maybe seventy over four. He did miss some time
Speaker 6: this year, but obviously very very good guard, very good
Speaker 6: pass protector. It does still help that he could play
Speaker 6: right tackle on a pinch. You know, obviously started there,
Speaker 6: played fine. They obviously like him more on the inside,
Speaker 6: but it's always a positive and obviously folded into a
Speaker 6: contract the ability like I had the size to potentially
Speaker 6: do that. So that's not top of the market, but
Speaker 6: it's certainly close to it. So yeah, that's why I've
Speaker 6: hunt way up there.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's been fun to watch him in Wilkins Douw
Speaker 3: battle for years, years on the interior there for the
Speaker 3: Miamy Dolphins.
Speaker 2: So far, What about a.
Speaker 3: Guy like Andrew Van Ginkle because and I guess Connor
Speaker 3: Williams falls into this category as well, because they're both
Speaker 3: coming offseason ending injuries. For Williams the ACL that was
Speaker 3: in December, so you have that kind of longer projection
Speaker 3: than Ginkle had. I believe it was a foot injury
Speaker 3: that cost him, you know, basically the last half of
Speaker 3: the Buffalo game in the playoff game. Well what does
Speaker 3: that do to a player when they go into the
Speaker 3: free agency market coming off of a significant injury.
Speaker 6: Yeah, it's tough. So fannikl you know a guy that
Speaker 6: has a history of injuries as well. And I guess
Speaker 6: Connor actually had torn an ACL before this year this
Speaker 6: year too, so like thinking it was phenomenal, well, like
Speaker 6: at a ninety one grade for US this past year,
Speaker 6: steps Bradley Chubb goes down, you know, and Jenda Phillips
Speaker 6: goes down, is out playing Emmanuel Ogba who was making
Speaker 6: a ton of money obviously like he was great as
Speaker 6: a pass rusher, super high pass rush win rate. There
Speaker 6: are some like size limitations and an early downs. Maybe
Speaker 6: you don't want to play him all the time. I
Speaker 6: don't think he's a liability against their own I don't,
Speaker 6: but it's obviously maybe not a strength on those early downs.
Speaker 6: So I have his market at two years thirteen. That
Speaker 6: might sound low because again there's the flashy production, but
Speaker 6: the injury certainly factors in. It does depend like are
Speaker 6: you going to be healthy by week one or are
Speaker 6: you getting miss training camp? Or are you're gonna be
Speaker 6: there by the time off season activities begin. That's where
Speaker 6: connor More folds in right like a torn acl the
Speaker 6: second one. It did happen earlier in the year, of course,
Speaker 6: and it sounds like he's on track to be ready
Speaker 6: for the offseason. But you know, center not a premium position.
Speaker 6: You know, he's been phenomenal in that system. I think
Speaker 6: he loves being there. I think he'd love to have
Speaker 6: him back, but it doesn't help at a guy that
Speaker 6: you know, his his main value is getting to the
Speaker 6: second level, working laterally, moving in space that is limited
Speaker 6: by you know, an acl there, which is.
Speaker 2: Kind of what we do in Miami.
Speaker 3: You get off the ball fast and get out wide
Speaker 3: and get some blocks out in space. Let's go ahead
Speaker 3: and pivot to the guy behind those offense something her
Speaker 3: the quarterback. And you know it's going to be a
Speaker 3: debate of conversation all off season or I guess until
Speaker 3: it happens, because it's going to happen at some point
Speaker 3: most likely, Right, you have to figure whether he plays
Speaker 3: on that fifth year tag and gets a deal next
Speaker 3: year or with someone else, whatever the case would be.
Speaker 3: To a tongue about Loa is going to be a
Speaker 3: high paid quarterback at some point, what would his extension
Speaker 3: look like if it were to happen this offseason? And
Speaker 3: also kind of back to like that restructure question, how
Speaker 3: can the Dolphins open up space by giving him an extension?
Speaker 6: Yeah, so, yeah, you certainly would be able to lower
Speaker 6: the cap number if you wanted to below what the
Speaker 6: fifth year option would be or keep it there. Right,
Speaker 6: that you wouldn't be adding, you know, more of a
Speaker 6: cat burden through through an extension. Look, I think you
Speaker 6: are talking in the range of like Lamar Jackson pluss
Speaker 6: like fifty two that his is you know, five years,
Speaker 6: fifty two million dollars a year like that is the
Speaker 6: market because you're gonna have you know, Dak Prescott might
Speaker 6: reset the market. Trevor Lawrence, if they want to get
Speaker 6: that deal, then this offseason is gonna get a very
Speaker 6: strong deal. I know he was up and down this
Speaker 6: past year, but you know, want a playoff game in
Speaker 6: the year prior first overall, pick all these things played
Speaker 6: through injury, et cetera. Yeah, it's gonna be fifty plus
Speaker 6: million dollars a year. I would imagine if I'm two
Speaker 6: his camp, and the way you structured it again is
Speaker 6: you do protect yourself. I think the big thing there
Speaker 6: would be Miami's probably gonna try to have, you know,
Speaker 6: guarantees kick in in later years from those rolling guarantee
Speaker 6: structures we've seen, and like you said, like for example,
Speaker 6: Philadelphia has these option bonuses and each year for Jalen Hurts,
Speaker 6: they parade already like I'm the cat. Technically he has
Speaker 6: this comical deal. Going over to the cap dot com
Speaker 6: check it out. He is a ninety eight million dollar
Speaker 6: dead cap hit in twenty twenty nine or something even
Speaker 6: later than that. But it actually is protecting the team
Speaker 6: where you can get out of that money if you
Speaker 6: trade him somewhere else before that cash kicks in. So
Speaker 6: not to get two in the weeds, but different mechanisms
Speaker 6: to where if things don't work out early on, you
Speaker 6: buy yourself outs and you have flexibility with how you
Speaker 6: approach you.
Speaker 4: Know, working through the years of that contract.
Speaker 3: Those longer contracts give you more flexibility with how you
Speaker 3: can move that money around.
Speaker 2: Okay, so that's kind of makes a lot of sense there.
Speaker 3: I have a couple more questions here for you, Brad
Speaker 3: Brad Spielberger PFF. A couple of players again going back
Speaker 3: to drafting. Well, it gives you the opportunity to give
Speaker 3: out extensions, right, and the Dolphins twenty twenty one class
Speaker 3: was one of our best we've had in a while.
Speaker 2: Wattle, Phillips, and Holland, those guys will be up.
Speaker 4: You know.
Speaker 3: Waddle has, like Wadald and Phillips could be applied that
Speaker 3: fifth year option.
Speaker 2: You have to imagine that happens.
Speaker 3: Then Holland's the second round pick, doesn't have that, so
Speaker 3: he would be up after the next season, and then
Speaker 3: Waddle and Phillips have those two years of club control.
Speaker 3: What is it what do teams look at with those
Speaker 3: guys the fifth year option, but also a player like
Speaker 3: Holland who are going to get big contracts, our second contracts.
Speaker 3: How does that kind of approach in terms of do
Speaker 3: we do it early, do we do it late? Like
Speaker 3: how does that team conversation work out?
Speaker 6: So it does happen sometimes where a first round pick
Speaker 6: can get a non quarterback first round pick can get
Speaker 6: a deal done after the third year, but it's very
Speaker 6: very rare, like Nick Bosa got it last year.
Speaker 4: Justin Jefferson did not get it last year.
Speaker 6: Like the premium players, the team still just want to
Speaker 6: wait after that fourth year. Most of all, there are
Speaker 6: some examples like Colton Miller in Las Vegas got at
Speaker 6: first third season. They just ignored the options when I
Speaker 6: hadn't extended in But I would imagine, especially because obviously
Speaker 6: Phillips again the Achilles injury. Watta was kind of inged
Speaker 6: up almost the whole year. It semed, played well, but
Speaker 6: it was hurt most of the year. I imagine both of
Speaker 6: those guys they say it's gonna get done. We love you,
Speaker 6: but it's not gonna happen. This offseason. We have so
Speaker 6: many guys that are trying to bring back and then
Speaker 6: it goes to Holland like early second round pick. One
Speaker 6: of the best safeties in the NFL, no question about it.
Speaker 6: I know he missed some time too, but extremely versatile,
Speaker 6: great athlete I think, can play in different schemes and
Speaker 6: do different things. I know Weaver might bring some similar concepts,
Speaker 6: but yeah, I think it's near top of the market,
Speaker 6: and I think that you try to get that done
Speaker 6: this offseason because, like you said, either you're walking into
Speaker 6: a tag situation again or someone else is going to
Speaker 6: get you know, make them a massive offer. So I
Speaker 6: think you're trying to get that deal done this off season.
Speaker 3: Good problems to have their last question here for you
Speaker 3: put you on the spot a little bit. Some freezeent
Speaker 3: fits with the Dolphins. Have you had some time to
Speaker 3: go over you know, what the market might look like
Speaker 3: and what the Dolphins might do this upcoming perier.
Speaker 6: Yeah, I think that maybe, like you know, if Raekwon
Speaker 6: Davis does walk like, do you get a nose tackle
Speaker 6: that can free up Christian Wilkins even more? You know,
Speaker 6: I think there were elements of was this pass rough
Speaker 6: production down early because he was playing some zero one
Speaker 6: tech or two gapping or doing different things that did
Speaker 6: enable him to just get upfield in a hurry and
Speaker 6: make plays in the backfield. So I mean the higher
Speaker 6: end of that market would be like a Grover Steward Indianapolis,
Speaker 6: but lower in like an Ashaan Robinson I think would
Speaker 6: be a great fit as a guy next to Christian
Speaker 6: Wilkins if he does return. So I would look there,
Speaker 6: and then you imagine probably that they'll look at the
Speaker 6: corners now after you move on from Xavi and Howard.
Speaker 6: Not a ton of great names there to be honest,
Speaker 6: but you know, like Stephen Nelson had a great and
Speaker 6: you're in Houston, Like I got a look at the
Speaker 6: kind of that mid tier too. It'll be a woozy
Speaker 6: coming off an injury as well and since but I
Speaker 6: think got better as the year went on and got healthier.
Speaker 6: I think, like I don't know about splashes because of
Speaker 6: all the guys we just talked about, some of those
Speaker 6: mid tier, you know, veterans that could be good solid editions.
Speaker 3: Yeah, someone to kind of, I guess be what Eli
Speaker 3: Apple was for camp Smith. Kind of a guy that
Speaker 3: can be some veteran experience to compete with him in
Speaker 3: year two for camp Smith, hoping he gets a big
Speaker 3: breakout year this year.
Speaker 2: Brad Spield.
Speaker 3: Brad Spielberger esquire, I almost mess up my own joke there, Brad.
Speaker 3: I spilled some hot coffee on my lap this morning.
Speaker 3: Am I eligible for some kind of lawsuit?
Speaker 4: I feel like I am injury protection benefits.
Speaker 2: For the show. I knew you represent me on that.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I got cha at PFF on m Square, Brad,
Speaker 3: check out this man's work. Nobody gives more accurate contract
Speaker 3: projection content out there, no one, no one on earth. Brad,
Speaker 3: Thank you man, Thank you, appreciate it. Off, he goes
Speaker 3: segment two in the books. Let's go ahead and take
Speaker 3: our last break and get to head coach Mike McDaniel's
Speaker 3: Tuesday press conference from Indianapolis. That's next Draft Time podcast,
Speaker 3: your host Travis Wingfield, brought to you by Auto Nation.
Speaker 3: As he is wont to do, Mike McDaniel approaches the
Speaker 3: podium as Indianapolis press conference and starts off with the
Speaker 3: jokes and gets some laughs from the national audience there.
Speaker 3: And luckily today there wasn't a ton of national people
Speaker 3: in the building. We did get some questions that were
Speaker 3: nowhere near dolphin's land. But that's okay, that's what these
Speaker 3: are four. But I do want to play some sound
Speaker 3: for you guys first here, starting with coach on the
Speaker 3: idea of a contract extension for quarterback to a tongue
Speaker 3: of by Loup, where the sides are and where coach
Speaker 3: feels Tua is and where he needs to be going forward.
Speaker 2: I want to go ahead and play some follow.
Speaker 3: Up audio on that as well, regarding to was progress
Speaker 3: and what playing the entire season in twenty twenty three
Speaker 3: did for his progress as a quarterback in the Dolphins system.
Speaker 7: Absolutely, you know, I think one of the cool things
Speaker 7: UH in in this organization is is how uh you
Speaker 7: know communicative and how well I work with UH Chris
Speaker 7: Greer and and as well as how I can separate
Speaker 7: what my job is and what his job is and
Speaker 7: how we move forward.
Speaker 4: We're I'm very encouraged.
Speaker 7: They're they're you know, both to his representation and and
Speaker 7: our organization is hard at work. Those timelines are impossible
Speaker 7: to predict, and I'm not you know, my My main
Speaker 7: concern this offseason has been communicating what what Tua needs
Speaker 7: from his head coach and his offensive coaching staff, which
Speaker 7: is what things can we identify to continue the progression
Speaker 7: of your game the same way that we have since
Speaker 7: day one.
Speaker 2: Is my belief.
Speaker 7: Has always been strong from day one in Tua. It's
Speaker 7: stronger than it was the first day I met him,
Speaker 7: and that's because of that relationship where I'm focused, which
Speaker 7: is continuing to provide the coaching so he can continue
Speaker 7: to evolve his game has as he has since the
Speaker 7: second that I started talking to him. Reps, reps that
Speaker 7: were that he had more reps than he's ever had
Speaker 7: in his career because he played the full season. That
Speaker 7: was something that you know, football, there's a lot of
Speaker 7: things that can happen. There's also a lot of things
Speaker 7: you can control. I think one of the best examples
Speaker 7: of taking control over your career is what two was
Speaker 7: able to do through training and being able to experience
Speaker 7: all the different things I mean, shoot, experience a playoff
Speaker 7: game for the first time in his career. That was
Speaker 7: afforded to him because he was able to.
Speaker 4: Be leading the team week and week out. These are
Speaker 4: things that.
Speaker 7: Weren't necessarily assumed he was able he was capable of doing.
Speaker 7: But like most things that two has done in his career,
Speaker 7: he's recognized that and proved doubterors wrong.
Speaker 3: Pretty clear and concise there with regards to how the
Speaker 3: team feels about their quarterback.
Speaker 2: And a lot of you that aren't a fan of
Speaker 2: the quarterback are going to be.
Speaker 3: In for a long off season or two or three
Speaker 3: or ten because this quarterback is not going anywhere anytime soon.
Speaker 3: So apologies to you guys, but not really, because you
Speaker 3: should get on board.
Speaker 2: Next, let's go.
Speaker 3: Ahead and talk about the potential offense that we could
Speaker 3: see this year under head coach Mike McDaniel and a
Speaker 3: nice hat tip period of the great Daniel O. Yafuzi
Speaker 3: the Miami Herald, who asked this question one that I
Speaker 3: have long been curious about about how the Dolphins might
Speaker 3: approach this year because the offense has fizzled the last
Speaker 3: two years down the stretch, right, So can they find
Speaker 3: a way to bridge that gap from September and October,
Speaker 3: production and November for the most part, and carry that
Speaker 3: into December and January? Is it about adding personnel? Is
Speaker 3: it about doing what you need to do better? Is
Speaker 3: it about pivoting what you do an offense? Here's coach
Speaker 3: on the idea of honing in on what you do
Speaker 3: well versus pivoting to more successful and more What's what
Speaker 3: I'm looking for for more consistent success across the entire
Speaker 3: season offensively?
Speaker 7: Yeah, I you know, it's an interesting question that I
Speaker 7: that I regard, But you know, it's not like I
Speaker 7: I look at every off season. Every year's offense is
Speaker 7: a constant evolution to your players and to what defenses
Speaker 7: are doing. So what we're doing, you know, I'm never
Speaker 7: going to copy paste and be like, well, we did
Speaker 7: this is what we did in twenty twenty three, and
Speaker 7: let's work off of that.
Speaker 4: I think that's part of the way that you can stay.
Speaker 7: Ultimately trying to create some uncertainty and indecision with offensive scheme,
Speaker 7: and inherent in that is your constant evolution. You know,
Speaker 7: I'm not really ever gloating on any successes of past
Speaker 7: You're more what are we going to do with this
Speaker 7: set of players in this You know, we're gonna have
Speaker 7: some guys are gonna be in year three, some guys
Speaker 7: year two, and some new guys. But ultimately, what's the
Speaker 7: best thing to serve them? And you know, it's not
Speaker 7: that that's naturally evolving. There's never been one year from
Speaker 7: an offensive perspective that I can remember that we've stated
Speaker 7: exactly the same and particularly since I got started here in.
Speaker 4: Twenty twenty two.
Speaker 7: So they'll be exciting things that we do different. There's
Speaker 7: gonna be exciting things that we will evolve from, and
Speaker 7: there's exciting things that we will build upon the success
Speaker 7: of the first two years.
Speaker 2: A couple more for you here.
Speaker 3: Coach did touch on the Tehran Armstead decision, which of
Speaker 3: course looms large as a massive piece not just for
Speaker 3: the Dolphins financial situation, but what the left tackle position
Speaker 3: looks like. And I've talked on the podcast before about
Speaker 3: this being a great tackle draft about convert players.
Speaker 2: It can go from tackle to guard.
Speaker 3: A Troy Fatanu, who's a great tackle at Washington, could
Speaker 3: play guard for you could kick out to tackle when
Speaker 3: he moves on. That's my personal contingency plan if Trun's
Speaker 3: back for one more season. But he did say that
Speaker 3: toront has not yet made the decision, but they are
Speaker 3: affording him time to make the decision, while also keeping
Speaker 3: in mind that they have their own, you know, check
Speaker 3: boxes to check with regards to how the offensive line
Speaker 3: looks this offseason. Not gonna puy the audio for you, guys.
Speaker 3: I do have two more pieces of audio for you, though,
Speaker 3: one right here. Quickly on, he was asked to do
Speaker 3: the Dolphins need to add to the running back room.
Speaker 3: He didn't answer that question, which he's not going to,
Speaker 3: but he will tell you about the Dolphins run game
Speaker 3: progress this year and how they want to build on
Speaker 3: that for twenty twenty four.
Speaker 7: There is never that sense of complacency with any phase.
Speaker 7: I think we did make substantial improvements in the run game,
Speaker 7: which was something that a year ago at this press
Speaker 7: conference is probably talking about that we needed to do.
Speaker 4: And that doesn't stop. And you know, I think that's.
Speaker 7: Running in the football is the way to dictate the
Speaker 7: terms more than anything in football. You know, one team
Speaker 7: has the ball, the other team doesn't, and you know
Speaker 7: it's the orchestration of offense that's the least risky in
Speaker 7: terms of turning the ball over, et cetera, et cetera.
Speaker 7: That's something that will continue to try to evolve. Our
Speaker 7: minds are always open. We're always creating competition and always
Speaker 7: trying to find new ways to have different sort of
Speaker 7: successes and evolve, and on the front end, not the
Speaker 7: back end of things.
Speaker 3: Last one here and I know this is of great
Speaker 3: interest for so many of you folks out there. In
Speaker 3: Dolphins Podcast, Land, Dolphins Coverage, Land Special Teams, the question
Speaker 3: was asked why was coach Crossman retained this year? And
Speaker 3: it was almost combative from the media asking these questions
Speaker 3: about Coach Crossman. McDaniel laid out the Dolphins Special team's
Speaker 3: decision and to go forward into twenty twenty four with
Speaker 3: Coach Crossman acknowledging the performance was not there, but that
Speaker 3: Coach Crossman is the one to get a corrected for
Speaker 3: twenty twenty four.
Speaker 7: You know, so many of the decisions that I have to.
Speaker 4: Make our.
Speaker 7: Very uh layered, and although results are very very important,
Speaker 7: and I think I think Coach Crossman would agree, would
Speaker 7: agree with the statement that the results aren't where we
Speaker 7: want them to be. However, so much of you know,
Speaker 7: my jobs determining the compounding variables and and the wise
Speaker 7: to things, and you know, ultimately I think that uh,
Speaker 7: you know, the bottom line is picturing us moving forward
Speaker 7: and how to get that phase of of the football team, uh,
Speaker 7: to find the improvement necessary for us to take steps
Speaker 7: in our in our in our game as a team.
Speaker 7: Determined that he was the appropriate guy to lead us
Speaker 7: to fix the things that that haven't been up uh
Speaker 7: to to the standard, so that that's something that isn't
Speaker 7: as easy as all right things are. And I don't
Speaker 7: think it's appropriate for you to just, you know, point
Speaker 7: blanks say Okay, the results aren't there.
Speaker 4: You shouldn't be either.
Speaker 7: You have to assess the whys and come up with
Speaker 7: a game plan of how we're going to improve that phase,
Speaker 7: which is very important to us moving forward, and which
Speaker 7: is why Danny's part of it.
Speaker 2: So there you go.
Speaker 3: Fun podcast today, we have a bunch more coming away
Speaker 3: this week here on Drive Time, Kyle Crabs, Jordan Reed,
Speaker 3: Matt Miller, Emery Hunt. We'll also get some more people
Speaker 3: on the podcast here this week and going forward. So
Speaker 3: keep it locked right here on Drive Time for all
Speaker 3: your daily Dolphins coverage needs. In the meantime, you all
Speaker 3: please be sure to subscribe to the podcast on Apple, Spotify, Stitcher, tuned, in,
Speaker 3: Google Play, wherever you get your podcasts from. Go ahead
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Speaker 3: I appreciate the influx of new reviews you've gotten. They're
Speaker 3: very kind of you, guys. I can't say thank you
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Speaker 2: Here have the fish Tak podcast with seton juice.
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Speaker 3: Camera and Daddy'll be home on on Thursday,