Speaker 1: Looking down Miami quarter n What is up, Dolph fans,
Speaker 1: and welcome to the Drive Time Podcast, part of the
Speaker 1: Miami Dolphins podcast network, covering your team, your Miami Dolphins.
Speaker 1: How's it going everybody? I am your host, Travis Wingfield.
Speaker 1: I thought about playing our victory Monday song on the
Speaker 1: podcast here because I'm just so damn jazzed up to
Speaker 1: be talking about football again, but I will hold back
Speaker 1: until September. We're covering day one of Dolphins mandatory Minicamp,
Speaker 1: a big day from this revamped Miami defense, the offense
Speaker 1: hitting some nice chunk plays, and all the details from
Speaker 1: the rain soaked, monsoon soaked field out in Davy. We're
Speaker 1: gonna hear from Coach to a Tongue La Noah, Igbanogeny,
Speaker 1: Solomon Killey as well on this very busy edition o
Speaker 1: t A edition of the Drive Time Podcast up first
Speaker 1: on the polit Since we last spoke to you guys,
Speaker 1: we had a roster move. The Dolphins brought in former
Speaker 1: Patriots and Ravens offensive lineman. He's a guard slash tackle,
Speaker 1: Jermaine Illuminoire who's played both spots as a pro so far.
Speaker 1: Last year with the Patriots and two hundred and one
Speaker 1: pass blocking snaps. He had zero sacks allowed, one hit allowed,
Speaker 1: and three hurries for four total pressures as an offensive tackle.
Speaker 1: That stack coming from Pro Football Focus. He's played twenty
Speaker 1: two games over the last two years and started eight
Speaker 1: of those games, again mostly a tackle for the Patriots
Speaker 1: in his run there the last two seasons. We have
Speaker 1: audio here from coach Flora's who was asked about the
Speaker 1: signing of Jermaine illuminoire. Let's go ahead and hear from
Speaker 1: coach on what the newcomer brings to the offensive line. No,
Speaker 1: we're excited to sound Jermaine and then the time we
Speaker 1: can we can add someone who's uh you know, has experience,
Speaker 1: has uh history as a starter and multiple positions, gives
Speaker 1: us obviously no flexibility and ah, we think it's a
Speaker 1: good player and you know, well add competition to the room. Um,
Speaker 1: you know met him for the first time yesterday. It
Speaker 1: was excited to meet him and talk to him. It
Speaker 1: seems like the type of guy we're uh you know,
Speaker 1: just from a personality standpoint, hard working and loves to
Speaker 1: play and uh chomping out the bit to get out
Speaker 1: there and compete and create an opportunity for himself, so
Speaker 1: excided to work with him, and in order to make
Speaker 1: room for Illuminoire on the roster, Miami waved tackle to
Speaker 1: mown Paris. All right, let's go ahead and get right
Speaker 1: into the practice notes. Before we go back to media,
Speaker 1: we'll mix in some of the audio from media on
Speaker 1: Tuesday for you guys as well. Let's go ahead and
Speaker 1: start with this, and just to set the scene for
Speaker 1: you out of towners who were not in South Florida
Speaker 1: on Tuesday, which basically became the Atlantic Ocean for large
Speaker 1: portions of the day, it was a picture esque morning
Speaker 1: all the way up until about practice started, even into
Speaker 1: stretching an individual drills, it was just perfect. And then
Speaker 1: the skies opened up for about ten minutes and we
Speaker 1: were all as a group hopeful that that was it.
Speaker 1: But it wasn't. An oh buddy, was it not. This
Speaker 1: happened several more times throughout the two hour practice session,
Speaker 1: and it ended with what I would describe as the
Speaker 1: Atlantic Ocean being tipped upside down and emptying onto South Florida.
Speaker 1: If you've ever been to training camp practices here in Davy,
Speaker 1: you know the bleachers are aligned right alongside the field there,
Speaker 1: and now it's the end line because the fields have
Speaker 1: been flipped in the other direction. And the media sits
Speaker 1: right above those bleachers on Press Row, and there are
Speaker 1: these large tents that protect us from protect us from
Speaker 1: the rain and mostly the sunshine for these summer slash
Speaker 1: rain drench practices. But today it was so bad at
Speaker 1: the breeze that was out there, and the heavy rainfall
Speaker 1: was pushing the water in the rain through the side
Speaker 1: of the tents. So I had to close up my
Speaker 1: laptop and just basically find a way to protect my
Speaker 1: laptop from getting ruined out in the rain. And by
Speaker 1: the end of practice, the rain water was flowing off
Speaker 1: the top of those tents in a way that looked
Speaker 1: like hundreds of people were standing on top of these
Speaker 1: tents and just emptying these buckets that had a seemingly
Speaker 1: endless supply of water. Now, I'm only sixteen months a
Speaker 1: South Floridian, but I've never seen anything like that. And
Speaker 1: remember my first day at the facility last year in
Speaker 1: August on the podcast, I told you guys a story
Speaker 1: about the puddles, how I got my shoes soaked, had
Speaker 1: to come home and change and record the podcast from home.
Speaker 1: So the campus is pretty large there at Nova Southeastern,
Speaker 1: and the walk from the stands to the building isn't far.
Speaker 1: But the problem is that uneven ground and so many
Speaker 1: spots collects these giant pools of water. We're talking three
Speaker 1: four five inches of water after just a few minutes
Speaker 1: a few hours of raining. So I'm up on the
Speaker 1: platform and we're doing to a tongue of Bola's press
Speaker 1: conference after a practice, his media availability, which if you
Speaker 1: hear that audio, you might have a better understanding of
Speaker 1: how this day went. It was very difficult to hear
Speaker 1: some of the people asking questions because we were essentially
Speaker 1: inside of a washing machine. And so after two us spoke,
Speaker 1: he was the first player to speak to the media.
Speaker 1: The Dolphins had us clear out because lightning was starting
Speaker 1: to roll in and they had to get us off
Speaker 1: those bleachers and at the bottom of the platform, and
Speaker 1: I'm on this side with Joe Rose and Natt Moore
Speaker 1: and and John Kenemis in the platform next to me,
Speaker 1: and the Beat guys are all the way on the
Speaker 1: other side of the platform, and I'm the last one
Speaker 1: remaining on my platform, like the last one to leave practice.
Speaker 1: So when they call us in. My only choice to
Speaker 1: get off those bleachers is to step down into those
Speaker 1: three four five in puddles, so tennis shoes and socks
Speaker 1: fully submerged in the water, the leg hair about halfway
Speaker 1: at my ankle soaking wet. The shirt that I'm wearing,
Speaker 1: which is a team shirt from camp last year. It's
Speaker 1: a very heavy Nike material. It's my favorite shirt that
Speaker 1: I own. It's so nice and doesn't shrink in the
Speaker 1: wash and all this fun stuff. It just instantly because
Speaker 1: of the material, captures all of this water and becomes
Speaker 1: this like ten pound vest on my body from all
Speaker 1: that water. And on top of that, I have my
Speaker 1: laptop tucked up under my shirt running back to the practice,
Speaker 1: to the facility so I don't ruin it. So with
Speaker 1: these short pockets that I have my dolphins gym shorts
Speaker 1: that are holding my sunglasses, the mouse to my laptop,
Speaker 1: my phone, my wallet, my keys, and my AirPods, these
Speaker 1: pockets are good for like maybe one item each pocket.
Speaker 1: I've got all this stuff in there, and I'm high
Speaker 1: stepping through these puddles running back to the office where
Speaker 1: I find shelter and toss on a hoodie in place
Speaker 1: of the aforementioned soaked T shirt. So we said monsoon.
Speaker 1: We were not kidding. An insane amount of rain fell
Speaker 1: on South Florida on Tuesday, and so that was kind
Speaker 1: of the story of the day, at least until the
Speaker 1: defense got on the field in the team periods. And
Speaker 1: one of the coolest hearts about watching practice with Joe
Speaker 1: Rose and with not more and these legendary Dolphins, well
Speaker 1: some of the commentary from the X players and what
Speaker 1: they could provide. Nat was talking about how valuable those
Speaker 1: practices because it gives guys a look at how the
Speaker 1: conditions can be here in September and in October, and
Speaker 1: you know for a Dolphins game. Heck, it's really all
Speaker 1: year round. Remember the Arizona game in when Tannehill tried
Speaker 1: to throw that screen pass and it slipped out of
Speaker 1: his hand and went backwards for one of the most
Speaker 1: prominent blooper reels in the last few years in the NFL.
Speaker 1: That was in December game. So this kind of stuff
Speaker 1: can happen really anytime on the calendar. So Nat and
Speaker 1: Joe loved it because they said, this is just part
Speaker 1: of life as a Miami Dolphin. They were there before
Speaker 1: the practice bubble. They were used to practicing in the stuff,
Speaker 1: and Nat Moore talked about how it's like catching a
Speaker 1: greased up pig out there trying to catch that wet
Speaker 1: football without your gloves, and he said the receivers just
Speaker 1: it's a good opportunity for those guys to learn what
Speaker 1: it's like to try to catch a football in those conditions,
Speaker 1: and two would later say the exact same thing. More
Speaker 1: on that here in just one moment about practicing in
Speaker 1: the rain. So there were some drop balls. There was
Speaker 1: one instance where Read Senet, the Dolphins UH quarterback with
Speaker 1: with Jacoby Bricetton too a tongue of bloa. Read Senette,
Speaker 1: the other quarterback went to throw the ball and it
Speaker 1: just slipped out of his hand and fell with the turf.
Speaker 1: I think there was one failed exchange in the entire practice,
Speaker 1: if that one or zero. So really from that standpoint,
Speaker 1: I thought the team battled the elements as well as
Speaker 1: they could have, because again it was like practicing in
Speaker 1: a swimming pool, and attendance at practice was great. There
Speaker 1: was one notable absence in quarterback Xavian Howard. More on
Speaker 1: that here in just a moment, and Mike GASICKI was
Speaker 1: in the red non contact jersey with the land and
Speaker 1: Roberts and Preston Williams out on the field, but they
Speaker 1: were not taking part in the practice, but Gasecki was.
Speaker 1: He was out the running routes and playing in seven
Speaker 1: on seven as well as eleven on eleven, just in
Speaker 1: the red non contact jersey, and Jermaine Illuminois was out
Speaker 1: there getting extra conditioning and just like I've never seen
Speaker 1: heavier rain, I've never seen anybody exert more energy on
Speaker 1: a stationary bike than what he did. Post practice. He
Speaker 1: was getting after it. You could tell he need to
Speaker 1: get out there and get going, so he was really
Speaker 1: getting the conditioning work in. I also saw him at
Speaker 1: one point walking through the stretch routine with one of
Speaker 1: the strength trainers on the staff, which I wrote down
Speaker 1: because I thought it gives you an interesting perspective about
Speaker 1: the acclamation period and all the stuff that you have
Speaker 1: to learn when you get to a new city and
Speaker 1: a new team. I just thought that was some good
Speaker 1: perspective there for Germaine Illuminois signing with Miami on Monday
Speaker 1: and I pads and in practice on Tuesday. Some of
Speaker 1: my other pre practice notes that I just wrote down
Speaker 1: for the hell of it. I wrote, my god, Jalen
Speaker 1: Phillips is built like a house. What an impressive specimen
Speaker 1: he is. And I wrote the same about Malcolm Brown,
Speaker 1: new Dolphins running back, listed at five eleven two two pounds,
Speaker 1: but he really carries it well. He's well proportioned in
Speaker 1: that it's not all like in the mid section or
Speaker 1: in the bubble or in the legs or in the
Speaker 1: arms or anything like that. He's just a brick house
Speaker 1: through and through a two two pounds. Then we got
Speaker 1: into some football, some individual drills, you know, throwing on
Speaker 1: air basically, some walkthrough type of stuff. And again to note,
Speaker 1: the reason I want to set the scene for you
Speaker 1: all is that I was without the laptops. I was
Speaker 1: taking notes and tweeting all from my phone. And with
Speaker 1: that and a two hour practice, you're just not gonna
Speaker 1: get guys on all our eyes rather on all guys.
Speaker 1: You can't do it. So I did my best for you,
Speaker 1: and here are my practice notes. In the individual portion,
Speaker 1: the quarterbacks began by throwing the football to the backs.
Speaker 1: They would later go to the receivers too, but with
Speaker 1: the first part of the backs, there was a great
Speaker 1: moment where both Jared Doakes and Jordan's scarlet, a pair
Speaker 1: of first year Dolphins running backs, Dokes a rookie scarlet.
Speaker 1: You know, a couple of stops in the NFL before here,
Speaker 1: we're in two U's line of running some routes, and
Speaker 1: after running different routes and catching the football, they both
Speaker 1: came back and too approached either one of them for
Speaker 1: a little conversation. There was some hand gestures and you know,
Speaker 1: looks like some communication and coaching up going there. So
Speaker 1: I love to see that from the second year quarterback
Speaker 1: kind of taking it upon himself to say, hey, you know,
Speaker 1: you can do this. And I don't know what he said.
Speaker 1: I couldn't hear, obviously, but just communicating with the guys.
Speaker 1: It's a good level of command to have on the
Speaker 1: offense for your young quarterback. My other note from that
Speaker 1: period was that guys were really driving the football to
Speaker 1: a launched a deep out from the near hash so
Speaker 1: it's not the far side hash throw, but the ball
Speaker 1: had no hump on it whatsoever on the trajectory. Just
Speaker 1: ripped that thing out there. Looks good at doing it.
Speaker 1: I thought Jacoby was ripping the football well and then
Speaker 1: read Senet He's got himself a bit of a howitzer
Speaker 1: out there, had some nice rips on his throws too.
Speaker 1: Then I got my eyes over to the defensive backs
Speaker 1: on the other field to really watch. I wanted to
Speaker 1: watch a few of the young guys closely, no monogamy,
Speaker 1: Javon holland Brandon Jones, and I'll tell you this, this
Speaker 1: group is so much fun to watch that We talked
Speaker 1: about the Birds in the Hoods last year, the game
Speaker 1: they had where they were tracking, you know, scooped up
Speaker 1: balls or intercepted balls or batted balls, and it really
Speaker 1: created this level of competition, which of course then bred
Speaker 1: the number one takeaway defense in the National Football League.
Speaker 1: But these guys, it's like it's like it's own little
Speaker 1: community down there. They're so charged up, and I think
Speaker 1: a lot of that stems from what g A brings,
Speaker 1: who is just always on ten and coach Burke's also
Speaker 1: who does so much on field teaching. We talked about
Speaker 1: this with Byron Jones last year and how much he
Speaker 1: spent time pre practice working on ball skills and tracking
Speaker 1: and locating and how to go up with the right hand,
Speaker 1: how to jump off the right foot, all that fun
Speaker 1: stuff that goes into playing the football in the air,
Speaker 1: and how good of a job coach burksdayed with Byron Jones,
Speaker 1: which produced his career high and interceptions. Then we break
Speaker 1: into seven on seven's and the very first note I
Speaker 1: haven't here was a ball was deflected and picked off.
Speaker 1: And two it was the quarterback. And I had a
Speaker 1: great view of this right in the path of the
Speaker 1: flight of the football, and there was this eighty bitty
Speaker 1: the tiniest of windows you could imagine that he went for.
Speaker 1: He shot it in there and Sam egill Vaughan made
Speaker 1: a hell of a play to lunge in front and
Speaker 1: get a hand on the football, and it popped straight
Speaker 1: up in the air. And when it does that, you
Speaker 1: know what's gonna happen. It's picked off by Jamal Perry.
Speaker 1: And this was a theme on the day for the
Speaker 1: Dolphins practice. The ball just kind of slippery, falling through
Speaker 1: hands and getting batted up in the air, and plenty
Speaker 1: of interceptions to go along with that. Justin Coleman pulled
Speaker 1: one down. He skied up high for his interception for
Speaker 1: what was probably the best a of the day for
Speaker 1: my money. He went up with one hand to pull
Speaker 1: this thing down. Kind of Odell Beckham esk to pull
Speaker 1: down a Jacoby Brissette through. I'm not sure who he
Speaker 1: was going for there. I didn't see the receiver, but
Speaker 1: an absolute hell of a play inside from a Dolphins
Speaker 1: cornerback there and Justin Coleman. Then Nick Needham got himself won,
Speaker 1: and that was an impressive play from the third year
Speaker 1: cornerback where he really ran the route for the receiver.
Speaker 1: The receiver sets it down a little bit of a
Speaker 1: hitch route, didn't really come back to the quarterback, but
Speaker 1: Needham saw that and fired out of his back pedal.
Speaker 1: And even with that, with Needham going upfield and the
Speaker 1: receiver kind of planted waiting for the ball to get there,
Speaker 1: the ball was kind of in both of their hands
Speaker 1: at the same time, and he just ran through it
Speaker 1: and simultaneously pulled the football out and went racing towards
Speaker 1: the end zone for a return pick six. And he
Speaker 1: was absolutely fired up after that. Love seeing that from
Speaker 1: the guys having a good time out there playing ball.
Speaker 1: Trull Williams got himself a nice pick as well. Javon
Speaker 1: Holland Corral went on an overthrow and speaking of Javon Holland.
Speaker 1: He and Noah n Agaeny were both out after practice
Speaker 1: after everybody was off the field, and everybody did run gasters.
Speaker 1: The entire team ran gasters to close things up. But
Speaker 1: they were the last two guys out there, and they
Speaker 1: really seem to enjoy it. I mean, playing football in
Speaker 1: the rain. That's like the ideal day for the seven
Speaker 1: year old kid inside all of us, right, So we
Speaker 1: got to see that with the two young guys out
Speaker 1: there enjoying ball, enjoying the fun time. I thought it
Speaker 1: was interesting that both those guys were the ones doing
Speaker 1: it because, as we've detailed here on Drivetime, both know it.
Speaker 1: Igman Agony and Javon Holland's parents were world class athletes.
Speaker 1: Holland's father a CFL star and then Agnogony's parents, you know,
Speaker 1: world class olympians, and they both had strict training regiments
Speaker 1: as kids. And of course there they are out there
Speaker 1: getting their extra laps and after practice. So built and
Speaker 1: cut from the same cloth there with Holland and Iguanogeny,
Speaker 1: and I do want to address the you know, I
Speaker 1: got air quotes on this on my notes Overthrow aspect
Speaker 1: of the prior note talking about the halland interception. So
Speaker 1: in these practices you don't have sacks because well, doi
Speaker 1: we don't hit the guys in the red shirts. So
Speaker 1: when pressure arrives on the quarter back, the rusher has
Speaker 1: to let up and the quarterback will extend the play
Speaker 1: and look to make something happen off script. And that
Speaker 1: was the case a handful of times in this practice,
Speaker 1: and a lot of these plays, receivers will break off
Speaker 1: their route and they'll take off upfield, trying to strike
Speaker 1: the big play on the kind of scramble player, the
Speaker 1: broken player, you know, the extended play. So there were
Speaker 1: a lot of instances where the receiver was behind the defense,
Speaker 1: but the defender was in the hit pocket with the
Speaker 1: quarterback on the move, and you know, just kind of
Speaker 1: a bunch of chaos everywhere. So you have this tiny
Speaker 1: window over the top. You have to loop the ball
Speaker 1: over the underneath corner and not overthrow it over the receiver.
Speaker 1: And really, again the first time throwing to a lot
Speaker 1: of these guys in team periods, like a Will Fuller,
Speaker 1: for instance, a Robert Foster, Jalen Waddle, these newcomers, and
Speaker 1: in those conditions, those throws are about as likely to
Speaker 1: hit as a half court shot, and not a half
Speaker 1: court shot from Steph Curry or Dame or Jimmy Butler
Speaker 1: throwing him in for the Miami Heat. But I'm talking
Speaker 1: if like you or I were out there shooting a
Speaker 1: half court shot, like, the probability of hitting those, it's
Speaker 1: very very low. It's a tough throw with the conditions,
Speaker 1: the chemistry still developing, and of course the scramble play there.
Speaker 1: So when you call those overthrows, I take a bit
Speaker 1: of exception with that. So the defense really got after
Speaker 1: it in both seven on seven as well as eleven
Speaker 1: on eleven seven interceptions in total on the day. Williams
Speaker 1: Holland Needham, Scarlet Perry, and Justin Coleman had the sixth,
Speaker 1: and I did not see who had the seventh. I'm
Speaker 1: sure one of the beat writers had that note and
Speaker 1: thereby did not catch who it was on the seventh interception.
Speaker 1: My apologies for that. Also, two of the two of
Speaker 1: tongue of Blows passes that were intercepted were those tight
Speaker 1: window throws that just went skyward after getting tipped, and
Speaker 1: a third went into the intended receiver's hands and fell
Speaker 1: out into the lap of a defender parked right on
Speaker 1: top of the receiver. So context matters in that sense,
Speaker 1: and I love the way to a responded latent practice.
Speaker 1: In the two minute drive, we talked about his EPA
Speaker 1: and the fourth quarter is passer rating the fourth quarter
Speaker 1: the winning time moments of games. I thought we saw
Speaker 1: that again in this practice or you know, two minute
Speaker 1: period clock pier, whatever you want to call it. He
Speaker 1: was really good in that era area. He floated a
Speaker 1: beautiful deep shot down the sideline to Will Fuller, who
Speaker 1: stacked the dB and hauled it in for a big,
Speaker 1: big game, probably four year fifty yards. And there were
Speaker 1: a few deep chances that to have put on the money,
Speaker 1: but they just weren't quite completed. There was one where
Speaker 1: DeVante Parker did a head whip. You ever played baseball?
Speaker 1: Like the head whip is when you take the wrong
Speaker 1: route initially in baseball and you're off to your left
Speaker 1: and you have to wit back around to your right.
Speaker 1: Parker did that because the ball went kind of a
Speaker 1: sideways direction because it was one of those post play
Speaker 1: scrambled drills where to have got out wide and threw
Speaker 1: a ball up for Davante Parker and he's working for
Speaker 1: the football, and I just kind of get the feeling
Speaker 1: that maybe those balls are really tough to pull in
Speaker 1: on a circus catch that he attempted to make, because
Speaker 1: you're looking back up into the rain with the football
Speaker 1: coming from the same trajectory really as the rain is
Speaker 1: descending in that same way, falling right into your face.
Speaker 1: So I have to imagine that's a tough way to
Speaker 1: try to make haste down the field. He also find
Speaker 1: too a did found a really nice rhythm with who else,
Speaker 1: former eMate and rookie of Alabama Jalen Waddle. I think
Speaker 1: my favorite throw of the day was a crossing pattern
Speaker 1: where to U saw Jalen coming from one side of
Speaker 1: the formation and he hadn't yet cleared the middle of
Speaker 1: the formation. With that mic linebacker typically plants himself for
Speaker 1: the spot drop in the middle of the football field
Speaker 1: and to throws it with anticipation to a spot and
Speaker 1: Jay was It was real finesse and like kind of
Speaker 1: softly laid out there so that the Jalen and the
Speaker 1: ball kind of intersected at this point of the field
Speaker 1: at the same time. And what that did was created
Speaker 1: a really good run and catch opportunity right on the
Speaker 1: other side of the middle of the field, right on
Speaker 1: the other side of that middle defender in the middle
Speaker 1: of the field there, and now we aren't hitting our
Speaker 1: guys here. But I think Jalen, based on what we've
Speaker 1: seen in his college tape and you know everything else,
Speaker 1: could have made something happen on that one to take
Speaker 1: what was a twelve or fifteen yard game and possibly
Speaker 1: turn it into a house call from you know, the
Speaker 1: wrong side of the fifty yard line, so a possible
Speaker 1: long touchdown there. We can't forecast that because we don't know,
Speaker 1: and we obviously want to tackle a guy, but just
Speaker 1: the space that he had on that play and the
Speaker 1: anticipation and finesse of that throw, I think you see
Speaker 1: the way that can be, you know, a chain mover
Speaker 1: with a certain player, but you go get a Jailan
Speaker 1: Wattle with the hopes that he can turn his punt
Speaker 1: return skill set on the field there and turn it
Speaker 1: into a long touchdown pass. Speaking of long touchdowns, Kirk
Speaker 1: Merritt did that on a well thrown ball from Jacoby Brissette.
Speaker 1: He catches an inbreaking route and just tore it upfield
Speaker 1: for a long touchdown again from beyond the fifty yard
Speaker 1: line once again. He had some really nice places on
Speaker 1: the day. I thought looked explosive and had strong hands
Speaker 1: and tough conditions. Caught another ball in the end zone
Speaker 1: down late in the red zone drill there as well.
Speaker 1: Back to Tuh he found that nice rhythm with Wattle
Speaker 1: which included a beautiful toe tap catch on the sideline.
Speaker 1: He had another nice catch up the sideline that would
Speaker 1: have set up for another chance to catching run, which
Speaker 1: we don't get a chance to see. But that's what
Speaker 1: you want to put him in positions like that. It's
Speaker 1: just really nice watching him get the football in his
Speaker 1: hands because you know what he can do. And boy,
Speaker 1: he looks electric out there. Speaking of electric, I thought
Speaker 1: will Fuller was as advertised. He looks the part with
Speaker 1: his route run, creating separation and the deep threat that
Speaker 1: he's been his entire career, logging the biggest air yard
Speaker 1: reception of the day coming off the left hand of
Speaker 1: two a tongue by Looa. He was getting open, creating
Speaker 1: separation and again making the big place down the field.
Speaker 1: I mentioned Merritt. I thought that his his performance really
Speaker 1: shined in practice. I liked Robert Foster making some nice
Speaker 1: plays in this practice. Davante Parker had a really nice
Speaker 1: diving catch on another throw from TWA that I thought
Speaker 1: was in the running for the best of Tah's day.
Speaker 1: Fuller took the top off the defense likes he is
Speaker 1: wont to do, and Parker runs a route kind of
Speaker 1: working off that route in the middle of the field.
Speaker 1: Remember how we talked about spacing and that speed creates
Speaker 1: that space in the middle of the field. Four guys
Speaker 1: like Parker and Williams and Gisicky and and the like,
Speaker 1: Well to a rips are really nice anticipation throw right
Speaker 1: into that vacancy because of four taking the top off
Speaker 1: and Parker catches the ball going to the ground. So
Speaker 1: some nice rips there to get some chunk gains. And
Speaker 1: with the offense as a whole, I just really appreciated
Speaker 1: the aggressive nature. The first couple of throws in seven
Speaker 1: on seven we're just quick checks underneath the running backs
Speaker 1: and then two will begin to really turn it loose
Speaker 1: and take those chances. And I mean that's the point
Speaker 1: of practice, right Like, you want to test it and
Speaker 1: see what you can get away with. You put that
Speaker 1: on film, and that's where you can kind of set
Speaker 1: your barometer for your landmarks in terms of your landmarks
Speaker 1: and timing in terms of when you can take those risks,
Speaker 1: Like if the receivers at this part of the field,
Speaker 1: I can't make that throw because it will be late
Speaker 1: and the backside defender can come off his guy and
Speaker 1: close on that and make a pick. Now, I see
Speaker 1: that on film with this particular route against that particular
Speaker 1: coverage and in fact to a touch on that post practice,
Speaker 1: talking about the emphasis for the day with the quarterbacks
Speaker 1: and being aggressive and pushing the football down the field,
Speaker 1: that's just been the emphasis for us coming out to
Speaker 1: this first day of minicamp was just to be aggressive,
Speaker 1: push the ball down field. Um. Now, obviously you want
Speaker 1: to be smart, but you know, if if there's time,
Speaker 1: if there's a time to make mistakes, now is the
Speaker 1: time to make mistakes. And um, you know, we're just
Speaker 1: trying to see what we can fit in the hole,
Speaker 1: what we can throw with than coverages. Um, you know,
Speaker 1: and come in the film room and then learn from it.
Speaker 1: And so there's two of talking about what he can
Speaker 1: take from these practices. Coach Floors was asked something very
Speaker 1: similar about what these players can take from these practices.
Speaker 1: And especially with quarterback to a tongue of Valoa from
Speaker 1: the O T A and the live reps cadence shift motion,
Speaker 1: all that fun stuff. Was how coach was asked it,
Speaker 1: and here's his response. Yeah, I mean I think any
Speaker 1: practice setting is a is a situation where you can
Speaker 1: prove on that. I think that's what we've done the
Speaker 1: last uh you know, three weeks, even in uh the
Speaker 1: O T A and walk through sessions. UM. So yeah,
Speaker 1: I think it's definitely a situation or opportunity from an
Speaker 1: improved UM obsolutely, we'll be going out at a at
Speaker 1: a faster pace or a little bit faster pace. Um,
Speaker 1: you'll see uh you know, some different defenses and you know,
Speaker 1: we'll do it for a longer period of time. And
Speaker 1: I think that's part of it is you know, you
Speaker 1: get tired, Um, you get taxed a little bit. I
Speaker 1: think it's for all positions, not just a quarterback. Um.
Speaker 1: You know, if you get to see if your techniques,
Speaker 1: your fundamentals, your communication you're build to adjust, you can
Speaker 1: do that under some duress. There's no scoreboard and the
Speaker 1: stats don't count at this time of the year. Remember,
Speaker 1: this is a quarterback who threw five interceptions in nine
Speaker 1: games as a rookie, and three of those were in
Speaker 1: the season finale, and was pushing towards efficiency records in
Speaker 1: terms of protecting the football last season. And the most
Speaker 1: common complaint I saw on Twitter or otherwise was to
Speaker 1: push the ball down the field more, and they did
Speaker 1: that today in the worst football conditions I've seen personally,
Speaker 1: from maybe outside of that Mud Bowl game back in
Speaker 1: two thousand seven in Pittsburgh, the three zero shutout in
Speaker 1: the one and fifteen season, or maybe that Buffalo and
Speaker 1: Indianapolis game back in two thousand seventeen where the snow
Speaker 1: was pretty much covering guys that had gone to the
Speaker 1: ground it was so deep. But I'm really looking forward
Speaker 1: to seeing to respond on Wednesday and see what he
Speaker 1: can do to come back off this practice and continue
Speaker 1: to try to fit those tight windows and push the
Speaker 1: ball downfield and be aggressive the running backs always tough
Speaker 1: to gauge them in these things. Without contact, hell, it's
Speaker 1: just hats and no shell, so even in the trenches,
Speaker 1: you can't really see how guys are hitting each other.
Speaker 1: But the note I have, aside from the Malcolm Brown one,
Speaker 1: was just how smooth Miles Gascon looks. There was a
Speaker 1: tackling period and again it's tagging off, but you approach
Speaker 1: an open field tackle and you could really see the
Speaker 1: suddenness in miles Is game. I think it's a big
Speaker 1: reason why he's able to slip so many tackles being
Speaker 1: a sub two pound running back, is he changes the
Speaker 1: angle at the snap of a finger and it causes
Speaker 1: a lot of those hits to kind of come to
Speaker 1: the side of his body where he can absorb it
Speaker 1: and bounce right off and get going again. Just like
Speaker 1: we talked about in training camp last year, I think
Speaker 1: he looks apart again and the same deal today. It's
Speaker 1: he looks smooth and fluid and quick, and he caught
Speaker 1: the football really well too. Up front on the offensive line.
Speaker 1: Like I said, it's tough to a tough spot to evaluate,
Speaker 1: and especially since I was trying to pay close attention
Speaker 1: to the battles on the outside and the passing game
Speaker 1: and really take infant worry of what the defense was doing.
Speaker 1: Just didn't get a lot of offensive line notes. I
Speaker 1: gotta see Jesse Davis go coach guys up like he does.
Speaker 1: Got to see Austin Jackson looking really smooth with that
Speaker 1: kickslide and his athletic ability I think really shines in
Speaker 1: these practices. I thought Robert Hunt was really scoring up
Speaker 1: by his blocks, and you know, as much as you
Speaker 1: can block without full pads. I'm pretty damn impressed by
Speaker 1: Robert Hunt's game. I think he has bright future ahead
Speaker 1: of him. We've talked a lot about how big Solomon
Speaker 1: Kinley is man he might have competition in that area
Speaker 1: because d J. Fluker is huge and he was catching
Speaker 1: some bodies out there today too, so that was a
Speaker 1: treat to watch. Let's play some sound here real quick
Speaker 1: from Solomon Kinley and something that I really wanted to
Speaker 1: get into the podcast here Solomon the big fish himself
Speaker 1: who runs a swimming camp, and I just wanted to
Speaker 1: go ahead and play this audio for you guys from
Speaker 1: Solomon talking about his giving back to the community. Like
Speaker 1: you question what I'm doing in the community, Um, it's
Speaker 1: just a blessing for a while I come from and
Speaker 1: the money I'm making and doing the things that I'm doing.
Speaker 1: You know, my mom always taught me to give back,
Speaker 1: So that's my biggest thing. I want to bless others
Speaker 1: some to make an impact of my life and I
Speaker 1: want to do that for other kids. In uh second question,
Speaker 1: feel good to be back playing football. You know we've
Speaker 1: been been away for a long time, you know, back
Speaker 1: in our element, like you said, and speaking of the
Speaker 1: offensive line, I wanted to ask coach something of a
Speaker 1: follow up to his great response last week to the
Speaker 1: Noah igbodog Any question about development playing outside an inside cornerback,
Speaker 1: and I asked him about getting guys multiple perspectives by
Speaker 1: cross training and how that can help them up front.
Speaker 1: Let's go ahead and turn it over to coach. I
Speaker 1: believe so. I think if you're a tackle who's played
Speaker 1: guard or guardless played center, Um, you know that that
Speaker 1: that perspective when you're trying to communicate, um with the
Speaker 1: guy next to you, what that block feels like, what
Speaker 1: it looks like, what you need if it is a
Speaker 1: double team, what you what you need from the guard
Speaker 1: on the double team, if you're playing tackle, what you
Speaker 1: need from a tackle on a double team, if you're
Speaker 1: playing guard, same thing with the center position. UM. I
Speaker 1: think it's very helpful. Um. I think, you know, like
Speaker 1: any situation, if you can put yourself in someone else's shoes,
Speaker 1: you know a little bit more understanding of what they need. Um,
Speaker 1: there's the struggles that come with a specific block or
Speaker 1: a specific player, and it can help you. And if
Speaker 1: you're playing another position. So there's coach, and then there
Speaker 1: was that defense, This beautiful, beautiful defense, so multiple, so
Speaker 1: capable of generating pressure through various looks. I just get
Speaker 1: so much enjoyment out of watching the way they operate.
Speaker 1: And we mentioned the interceptions. I just thought the defensive
Speaker 1: backfield was playing aggressive and really disrupting the timing of
Speaker 1: so much stuff in the offense. And Noah eg Bonogamy
Speaker 1: had a really nice pass break up on the ball
Speaker 1: that he drove on and broke up in the team
Speaker 1: period just before the long Kirk Merritt touchdown. Let's go
Speaker 1: ahead and hear from Noah who you know. Referring back
Speaker 1: to the first day for Jermaine Illuminoire talked about his
Speaker 1: second season and where he thinks the biggest lessons came
Speaker 1: from that rookie year and his growth into a second
Speaker 1: year as a pro. Um Honestly, the off season was
Speaker 1: my first off season was huge for me. Um there's
Speaker 1: just finding a consistent routine, just um, a consistent schedule
Speaker 1: of just working out and and and conditioning and just
Speaker 1: doing the same thing over and over again every single day.
Speaker 1: That that was the biggest thing for me and in
Speaker 1: my growth this offseason. I feel like so the off
Speaker 1: season was huge for me. Um it was a blessing
Speaker 1: just to go through it. God really changed the move
Speaker 1: in my life this offseason so long, um So I
Speaker 1: thank him and I can't wait. I can't wait for
Speaker 1: the season. And in that secondary, I mentioned him working
Speaker 1: with Javon Holland post practice and we've heard coach talk
Speaker 1: about Holland's ability as a communicator at Oregon, and I
Speaker 1: sure did enjoy watching the back and forth with you know,
Speaker 1: he and and Brandon Jones and the rest of the
Speaker 1: defensive secondary. I mean the hand gestures and non verbal
Speaker 1: skills and whatnot. That's all you can really pick up.
Speaker 1: But they were very active in the entire secondary as
Speaker 1: far as communicating with each other. And thought was a
Speaker 1: great sign once again here and you're number two under
Speaker 1: Jerald Alexander. I thought Holland as a player on the
Speaker 1: field looks positively fantastic. You can really to see his
Speaker 1: instincts and he anticipates things and caps routs before the
Speaker 1: quarterback has a chance to see the opening. He can
Speaker 1: really flip those hips and run, and his instincts and
Speaker 1: speed both take him to the football. I talked a
Speaker 1: lot about him on draft weekend, but seeing him out
Speaker 1: there in the aquaand orange, he's a player. I'll keep
Speaker 1: a close eye on Wednesday and into training camps. I
Speaker 1: think he's a fun, fun, fun, fun guy to watch.
Speaker 1: And Brandon Jones too. We talked about his cerebral aptitude
Speaker 1: a lot and how much of requirement that is for
Speaker 1: guys in this secondary. He was all over the field
Speaker 1: making stuff happen. Eric Rowe also got his hands on
Speaker 1: a ball or two. He looks a little bit bigger
Speaker 1: to me. Maybe I'm wrong on that, but I thought
Speaker 1: he looks bigger and stature down there on the football field.
Speaker 1: I don't have any Byron Jones notes in my notes,
Speaker 1: not one single time, because usually that's a great deal
Speaker 1: for a cornerback. Frankly, I don't remember him being targeted
Speaker 1: one time in this practice, which again, great thing for
Speaker 1: a quarterback. I liked why I saw from U. D. F. A.
Speaker 1: Jitaln Ask. You thought he had a good practice. Thought
Speaker 1: he showed some real metal and competitive toughness, really fiery
Speaker 1: guy out there. And Clayton Federlein had a good practice too.
Speaker 1: He had a night would be sack on a well
Speaker 1: timed blitz. The second level of the defense was even
Speaker 1: better to me than the secondary. These guys were disrupting
Speaker 1: passing lanes constantly. Brand Scarlett had the pick, Sam eeg
Speaker 1: Von tipped one that led to a pick. Van Ginkl
Speaker 1: had a chance at an interception but couldn't quite squeeze
Speaker 1: it and he was very upset with himself after the
Speaker 1: fact there too. And then there's Jerome Baker just covering
Speaker 1: these huge plots of land watching Baked spot drop whether
Speaker 1: it's zone or man. Again my my theme here. It's
Speaker 1: fun to watch he processes as quickly as he moves,
Speaker 1: so he can really cover a ton of ground in
Speaker 1: that area as a cover man. And when you pair
Speaker 1: that with his blitzing skill set, that's the recipe for
Speaker 1: a nice contract extension there for Jerome Baker. He and
Speaker 1: Bernardrick McKinney might have been my They might become my
Speaker 1: favorite dude to watch this season. I think they feed
Speaker 1: off each other really well and you can already mug
Speaker 1: them up into pretty much any gap you want, which
Speaker 1: helps keep the defense very, very flexible. In my opinion,
Speaker 1: Jalen Phillips had a pressure that was perhaps a hit,
Speaker 1: maybe a sack at one point, an explosive first step
Speaker 1: and then that nice dip under the pads of the
Speaker 1: offensive line and the ability to corner and flatten to
Speaker 1: get that explosive first step and then not fly by
Speaker 1: the quarterback and flattened to get to him. Emmanuel Oddball
Speaker 1: followed up that rep with a would be hit on
Speaker 1: the QB maybe a sack, and the quarterback with that
Speaker 1: beautiful cross chop chop move that he has that used
Speaker 1: so effectively last season. Perhaps my favorite player of the
Speaker 1: day in terms of practice was newcomer Adam Butler. He
Speaker 1: was a regular in the backfield and you see that
Speaker 1: first step quickness off the ball immediately, and it wasn't
Speaker 1: just his own production. He was setting guys up for
Speaker 1: production on that front. I've mentioned him a lot. I
Speaker 1: think he might be the under the radar acquisition for
Speaker 1: me this offseason. His skill set fits so well with
Speaker 1: things Miami were successful with last season, and I think
Speaker 1: the pairing of he Bake and McKinney in the middle
Speaker 1: of the defense gives you so many options and a
Speaker 1: nice blend of size, speed, agility and instincts. Hell, the
Speaker 1: whole middle of the field has really been addressed these
Speaker 1: last couple of years with Butler, McKinney, the Baker extension,
Speaker 1: drafting Holland and Jones a couple of years. The bullets
Speaker 1: just keep on coming there. Christian Wilkins had a nice day.
Speaker 1: Russian the quarterback, I thought he was in there once
Speaker 1: or twice, and I had Benito Jones with a nice
Speaker 1: penetration late in practice. And I think that's about it
Speaker 1: for now. I can't tell you how great it was
Speaker 1: to be back on the field watching practice. Hopefully tomorrow
Speaker 1: we get the sunshine that we had in the morning
Speaker 1: on Tuesday, and before we get out of here, I
Speaker 1: want to conclude with the rest of coaches morning press conference.
Speaker 1: Of course, the one notable absence from practice was cornerback
Speaker 1: Xavian Howard from Tuesday's practice. You know, I would say
Speaker 1: again normally we we well keep all this stuff internal,
Speaker 1: but generally speaking, you know, I think you have h
Speaker 1: do you put him in buckets? So you got uh
Speaker 1: contract extensions, You've got free agent contracts, you know, so
Speaker 1: we have a player, we extend the contract. YEA free
Speaker 1: agents will bring on uh X. You know this is
Speaker 1: a little bit, you know, a unique situation. I'm sure
Speaker 1: you guys all understand this. So he's in this hole.
Speaker 1: Uh he was, it was extended, and now we're talking
Speaker 1: about a renegotiation of an extensions. That's a little bit different. Um,
Speaker 1: And we've had a lot of discussions about that. Again,
Speaker 1: very unique situation. Um. Well we're talking about a potential
Speaker 1: renegotiation after you know, one year. UM, so I think
Speaker 1: you know those those turn into you know, long, long,
Speaker 1: longer conversations and uh, you know, we understand that, and um,
Speaker 1: you know, we've uh you know, obviously had a lot
Speaker 1: of a lot of talks and conversations about those and
Speaker 1: will continue to have those and keep those internal. But
Speaker 1: it's very unique situation. And there you have it. Day
Speaker 1: one from O t a skills like training camp, doesn't it,
Speaker 1: which is right around the corner. Getting a little bit
Speaker 1: of appetizer here in June. It's an absolute thing of beauty.
Speaker 1: We're gonna do it again tomorrow, but in the meantime
Speaker 1: that's gonna be my time. You all please be sure
Speaker 1: to Subscribe to the podcast on Apple podcast or Spotify,
Speaker 1: Google Play, wherever you get your podcast from. Go ahead
Speaker 1: and leave us a rating, leave us a review. Follow
Speaker 1: me on Twitter. It's at Wingfold NFL. Follow the team
Speaker 1: at Miami Dolphins, check out the fish Tank and the
Speaker 1: Audible podcast, and of course Miami Dolphins dot com. Until
Speaker 1: next time, fins up.