Speaker 1: Looking down Miami. What is up, Dolph Fans and welcome
Speaker 1: to the Drive Time Podcast, part of the Miami Dolphins
Speaker 1: podcast network, covering your team, your Miami Dolphins. How's it
Speaker 1: going everybody? I am your host, Travis Wingfield, and we
Speaker 1: can say this again. I am here to bring you
Speaker 1: your daily dose of Miami Dolphins football. And on today's show,
Speaker 1: it's part two of the eleven part training camp preview series.
Speaker 1: As we stay in the backfield and stop by the
Speaker 1: running backs room to take a look at Miles Gaskins,
Speaker 1: Van Akhmed, Malcolm Brown, Patrick Laird, Carl Tucker, and Jordan's
Speaker 1: Scarlett as well as Jared Oakes the rookie. We continue
Speaker 1: the NFL season preview taking a look at the NFC
Speaker 1: North and we'll get into what I'm watching on Tell
Speaker 1: Division right now and what you should be watching on
Speaker 1: your streaming services or otherwise. Plus my new show recommendation
Speaker 1: that I just picked up this past week. All of
Speaker 1: that and a heck of a lot more on this
Speaker 1: edition of the Drive Time Podcast, No Filler, No Gimmick. Today,
Speaker 1: we're jumping right into the running back room. If you
Speaker 1: missed Tuesday's podcast, we previewed the quarterbacks with two a
Speaker 1: tongue of by Loa Jacoby Brissette as well as read Senet,
Speaker 1: and we'll talk about the coaching staff as well at
Speaker 1: those positions and continue this every single day up until
Speaker 1: training camp before we get you the daily reports from camp, which,
Speaker 1: of course, if you have not seen it so far
Speaker 1: or have not registered your spot so far, you can
Speaker 1: get tickets to training camp right now. They're free. Just
Speaker 1: head to Miami Dolphins dot com and get yourself a
Speaker 1: reservation for Dolphins training camp fans back in session. It
Speaker 1: makes practices way better to hear the US and the
Speaker 1: os and all the stuff you guys bring to those practices.
Speaker 1: It's my favorite time of the calendar, my favorite football
Speaker 1: to watch. The evaluation period. Ninety guys of just nine
Speaker 1: ninety players, two hours of pure chaos in terms of
Speaker 1: trying to keep your eyes on all the action. It's
Speaker 1: a great time. I cannot wait. And one of the
Speaker 1: positions I'm excited to watch is the running back position
Speaker 1: because well there's a lot of competition in that room
Speaker 1: and maybe a bit of mystery and intrigue and unknown. Now, granted,
Speaker 1: this is the time of year where we're building the team,
Speaker 1: like nobody knows what this Miami Dolphins team is gonna
Speaker 1: look like come September, and then again from September to December.
Speaker 1: As coach flora Is and Josh Boyer and the rest
Speaker 1: of the Dolphins coaching staff tells you, you want to
Speaker 1: be a different team, a better football team than you
Speaker 1: were at the start of the season. And this is
Speaker 1: the part of the calendar where the initial building kind
Speaker 1: of begins. We've done the roster building, we've done the
Speaker 1: off the field type of building. Now it's time to
Speaker 1: develop those fundamentals, those chemistry, find out what kind of
Speaker 1: football team you are, and then we'll get to finding
Speaker 1: out which guys make it click, which position groups make
Speaker 1: the entire operation go the most, and how this team
Speaker 1: wins football games ultimately at the end of the day.
Speaker 1: So we're keeping on all of that for you guys.
Speaker 1: But here we're gonna talk about the running backs first.
Speaker 1: And if you haven't checked out the Miami Dolphins website
Speaker 1: Miami Dolphins dot com, we also have written elements that
Speaker 1: go along with this to kind of help you track.
Speaker 1: You know, it's like a training camp guide for you
Speaker 1: in a way. Jersey number of the college they went
Speaker 1: to how you can keep an eye on these guys,
Speaker 1: what their stats were from last season, all of that
Speaker 1: fun stuff. And we come into this year with some
Speaker 1: changeover in the running back room. Jared Oakes the only
Speaker 1: draft pick at the position in the seventh round out
Speaker 1: of Cincinnati. He comes in. Carl Tucker was a full
Speaker 1: or a tight end, slash, h back, slash, a little
Speaker 1: bit of everything in college. He's a fullback on your
Speaker 1: Dolphins roster. Can't always talk about this guy. Undrafted free agent.
Speaker 1: We bring in Malcolm Brown from the Rams, another big, physical,
Speaker 1: tough running back, and Jordan's Scarlett, who was with the
Speaker 1: Lions last year after beginning his career with the Panthers.
Speaker 1: He also was added to this roster. In some departures,
Speaker 1: Matt Brita is up in Buffalo, and DeAndre Washington, who
Speaker 1: was acquired last year at the trade deadline, is still
Speaker 1: a free agent out there on the open market. The
Speaker 1: coaching staff, you guys know who it is. Coach Eric Studisville,
Speaker 1: who enters his fourth year with the Miami Dolphins and
Speaker 1: his first as co offensive coordinator. In addition to his
Speaker 1: new role, he still retains that position as running backs coach.
Speaker 1: And he's worked with running backs pretty much since I've
Speaker 1: been watching football. He was either running backs coach or
Speaker 1: run game coordinator of some type all the way back
Speaker 1: to when he was with the Chicago Bears. He was
Speaker 1: the interim head coach of the Denver Broncos. And now
Speaker 1: where this gets interesting is he was with the Broncos
Speaker 1: for a lot of those Mike Shanahan years, which of
Speaker 1: course was one of the principles of the zone running game,
Speaker 1: the I should say, the innovators of the zone running
Speaker 1: game and really capitalizing on the old doesn't matter who
Speaker 1: the running back is in Denver, he's going to give
Speaker 1: you a thousand yards from Mike Anderson Orlandis Gary Clinton
Speaker 1: Porters got traded out the year after he had that
Speaker 1: big monster rookie season because they needed cornerback help and
Speaker 1: they got Champ Bailey for a running back and continued
Speaker 1: rushing for a thousand yards. So he was there for
Speaker 1: the Broncos in the height of all of that stuff
Speaker 1: with Mike Shanahan. He then got the interim job in
Speaker 1: and then reverted to an assistant head coach role after
Speaker 1: that with the Broncos all the way through seen before
Speaker 1: joining Miami in the guys he has in that room.
Speaker 1: At a glance here real quick, they find production from
Speaker 1: all walks of the acquisition period, whether it's waiver wire claims,
Speaker 1: uh training camp cuts, trades, draft picks, undrafted free agents.
Speaker 1: The highest drafted player in this room is Jordan's Scarlett,
Speaker 1: who was a fifth round pick of the Panthers in nineteen.
Speaker 1: You've got Miles Gaskin and Jared Oakes a pair of
Speaker 1: seventh round picks. You've got Patrick Laird, Savan Akhmed, Carl Tucker,
Speaker 1: all undrafted free agents. Malcolm Brown was the U d
Speaker 1: f A when he came into the league with the
Speaker 1: Rams back in so very interesting collection of players. By
Speaker 1: now you know that Myles gaskins nineties seven point two
Speaker 1: yards from scrimmage per game was tent among all running backs,
Speaker 1: and savan Akhmed led the team with four point three
Speaker 1: yards per rush and that thirty one yard gallup in
Speaker 1: the Week fifteen win over the Patriots was the longest
Speaker 1: carry by a Dolphin's back in twenty The intern Patrick
Speaker 1: Laird has been a mainstay on Miami special teams unit
Speaker 1: the last couple of years. He was a big part
Speaker 1: of that blocked punt Andrew Van Ginkl had last year
Speaker 1: in the Chargers game, which set up a one yard
Speaker 1: touchdown plunge from Savan Akhmed in that game. So he
Speaker 1: had made a big couple of big plays last year.
Speaker 1: Malcolm Brown, similar story, kind of carved his path as
Speaker 1: a U d F A up through special teams. We
Speaker 1: talked about Jared Oakes going in the seventh round. He's
Speaker 1: another one of these guys that's big and thick and
Speaker 1: powerful and can contribute in the passing game. Same deal
Speaker 1: with Jordan Scarlett. He's he's got some juice as well.
Speaker 1: And then Carl Tucker looks to make that switch from
Speaker 1: tight end to the full back position. So taking a
Speaker 1: look at the cast and what we have here, I
Speaker 1: see a bunch of guys that can play all three downs,
Speaker 1: and so that gives you the option to really not
Speaker 1: allow the defense to focus and key on what one
Speaker 1: particular guy does well. So I look at some plays
Speaker 1: last season the Dolphins ran, and for instance, one of
Speaker 1: my favorite plays of the entire year was the screen
Speaker 1: pass in the Arizona game to Durham Smith. Right down
Speaker 1: the pipe. They fake to screen a little orbit screen
Speaker 1: to the outside, fake another screen on a swing pass
Speaker 1: to the left side and then smith sneaks back inside
Speaker 1: down the tunnel and catches that thing and goes for
Speaker 1: about twenty yards or so in that Cardinals game to
Speaker 1: set up one of Miami's touchdowns in the first half
Speaker 1: of that game. But they it gives you the ability
Speaker 1: to threaten the defense because you can sit here and say,
Speaker 1: we're gonna get in let's just say, twelve personnel, whatever
Speaker 1: the example you want to use, we're gonna get in
Speaker 1: twelve personnel. And because of that, because we're in that package,
Speaker 1: it's going to cause the defense to react a certain
Speaker 1: way way why so to speak, And it might, but
Speaker 1: it always helps when you have the pieces that forced
Speaker 1: the defense to react that way. And that's to me,
Speaker 1: guys that can play all three downs and be versatile.
Speaker 1: And you're not gonna put a guy in the game
Speaker 1: and say they're running gap scheme right here, because that
Speaker 1: guy only runs gaps. Team you have a mix of
Speaker 1: gap and zone outside inside, physical finesse, passing, game screen,
Speaker 1: game pass pro. You get guys that can do it all.
Speaker 1: You're interchangeable that way, and that keeps your offensive playbook
Speaker 1: expanded and open to the fullest. So I think in
Speaker 1: a lot of ways, what you've done with this room
Speaker 1: this offseason is you've added that variety. I mean after
Speaker 1: you know, the mid season point last year when Jordan
Speaker 1: Howard was no longer with the club, the room did
Speaker 1: I think suffer a little bit from being a bit
Speaker 1: to one dimensional, and that your top two reliable guys
Speaker 1: in Achmed and Gascon there are sub two hundred pound backs,
Speaker 1: so they didn't have that true hammer of the likes
Speaker 1: of a Malcolm Brown or a Jared Dikes possibly and
Speaker 1: what they offer purely from a size and explosive metrics standpoint,
Speaker 1: both those guys can jump out of a gym at
Speaker 1: two d twenty five plus pounds Brown to Jared Dikes
Speaker 1: to and then both Gasket and Achmed are sub two hundred.
Speaker 1: But doesn't mean they can't break tackles. We'll talk about
Speaker 1: that here in just a second. But in terms of
Speaker 1: pure physicality, you add that to the room with those
Speaker 1: two players as well as or in Scarlett and talking
Speaker 1: about that screen, the reason I wanted to get into
Speaker 1: that was that the feature or the option of two
Speaker 1: back personnel sets. Remember two thousand eighteen, going back to
Speaker 1: Eric Studisville's first year here in Miami. I was so
Speaker 1: happy with what I saw in terms of additions to
Speaker 1: the running game on on the film, in terms of
Speaker 1: the run scheme, because first in sen it was almost
Speaker 1: exclusively outside zone. And granted with Jayed Gi and the
Speaker 1: way he ran that year and how he really made
Speaker 1: that season go with the option of Ryan Tannehill and
Speaker 1: his play pass heavy offense and kind of playing from
Speaker 1: those tight end heavy sets and playing off the running game.
Speaker 1: It's his bread and butter. It worked for that team,
Speaker 1: and that was the word around kind of why he
Speaker 1: was traded Jedgi just a year later, because he wanted
Speaker 1: to stick to that bread and butter offense, and the
Speaker 1: idea was that bringing in different personnel would allow the
Speaker 1: attack to become more multiple. But it just didn't really
Speaker 1: take hold until coach Students Vielle got here in and
Speaker 1: like I, I go back to the opener against the
Speaker 1: Titans that year, and there was some fun like fake toss,
Speaker 1: fullback dive stuff where Frank Gore is the up back
Speaker 1: taking carries and plodding ahead for eight nine ten yards
Speaker 1: just because of misdirection kind of through the defense into
Speaker 1: the wrong gap. And freed up a certain gap for
Speaker 1: Frank Gore to push through, which he always hits the
Speaker 1: right gap for his entire life. Now at age seventy one,
Speaker 1: he's ever missed a gap in his entire life. That's
Speaker 1: why he's one of the best bring backs of all time.
Speaker 1: And some of those two back sets you would get
Speaker 1: and Albert Wilson or a Jachem Grant type two guys
Speaker 1: that are still here. And now you've also got Jalen
Speaker 1: Waddle who can do that. Robert Foster was a possible
Speaker 1: jet motion guy will Fuller obviously, but when you go
Speaker 1: ahead and get there from two back personnel, you can
Speaker 1: almost operate in a classic or traditional I'm not sure
Speaker 1: the term I want to use. Their a tailback fullback
Speaker 1: look where you have these two d and twenty five
Speaker 1: pound plus guys dotting the I or splitting the quarterback
Speaker 1: alongside Miles or Savan. You get that variety in those
Speaker 1: two back sets, and all of a sudden you then
Speaker 1: can influence the defense. It is because of what all
Speaker 1: those guys do with their variety of skill sets, but
Speaker 1: the fact that they all can play on three downs.
Speaker 1: So the added size also gives you an added bonus
Speaker 1: in short yardage. And that's also it also helps you
Speaker 1: and what I consider to be the real true value
Speaker 1: of running the football and running downs in the National
Speaker 1: Football League. To me, the number one job of running
Speaker 1: back and the running game is to convert first downs
Speaker 1: and also to create easier shorter down a distance later
Speaker 1: in the down count. So like when you have a
Speaker 1: running game that can do the three things. Number one
Speaker 1: obviously is to keep the defense honest, because, like we
Speaker 1: talked about with the Ryan Tannehill j gi E offense,
Speaker 1: one false step downhill makes things difficult to defend at
Speaker 1: a second level on crossing routes, on the hook zone,
Speaker 1: the curl zone, all that fun stuff, and especially especially
Speaker 1: when guys running those crossing routes are Jalen Waddle and
Speaker 1: Will Fuller and Robert Foster and jakeem Grant and Albert Wilson,
Speaker 1: all these guys that run sub four four forties. Makes
Speaker 1: life difficult on those linebackers as they have two things
Speaker 1: they have to think about before they get to their spot.
Speaker 1: Drop Number two with running the football is turn over
Speaker 1: the down marker. Get first downs. Everybody wants to talk about.
Speaker 1: You take your play action deep shot, on second and
Speaker 1: short right, And by everybody, I mean the Madden community,
Speaker 1: because if I missed this shot right here on second
Speaker 1: and two, I can just run the ball on third
Speaker 1: down and convert. But we know that's not real life.
Speaker 1: Just look at the Dolphins defense last year. How many
Speaker 1: fourth down, third and short or fourth and short stops
Speaker 1: did this defense get. I can recall the Denver game,
Speaker 1: the Arizona game, the Oakland sorry, the Las Vegas game,
Speaker 1: big clutch fourth and short stops. In those games, it's
Speaker 1: not always a given the offense will convert and that's
Speaker 1: a turnover. So I'd rather go second and second and
Speaker 1: three and run the football than count on trying to
Speaker 1: run the ball and turning it over on third or
Speaker 1: fourth down. But second and four or less is probably
Speaker 1: my personal favorite running down because I like first downs.
Speaker 1: I'm weird like that. And then three for me is
Speaker 1: to hit home runs. You look at the balance of
Speaker 1: passing yards per play versus the run. One is clearly
Speaker 1: superior because you aim for what seven eight yards per
Speaker 1: pass when you throw the football, and four and a
Speaker 1: half yards per run on the ground is good. You
Speaker 1: see where I'm going here. The ability to hit chunk
Speaker 1: run plays to bump that average, but also to give
Speaker 1: yourself chunks in the running game, the ten plus yard runs.
Speaker 1: That's where I get most excited, and frankly a little
Speaker 1: bit of a side here why I'm most excited about
Speaker 1: year two of Savon Akhmed because I think he was
Speaker 1: beginning to really kind of scratch the surface on those
Speaker 1: big chunk games last season. More on that here in
Speaker 1: just one second. So to bring this point full circle,
Speaker 1: if you can convert your short distance first downs, you
Speaker 1: extend drives, you put your defense on the sideline for
Speaker 1: more plays, and you put the opposing defense on the
Speaker 1: field more. It's science. So we want to specialize in
Speaker 1: versatile players, and that's true for the entire roster. But
Speaker 1: despite that versatility, we'd still like to identify some traits
Speaker 1: that each of these players bring to the table individually
Speaker 1: as their individual skill sets. And we'll get to that
Speaker 1: with each player here in just one second. But first
Speaker 1: my final point on the room as a whole. You
Speaker 1: wonder if perhaps the running backs maybe you need to
Speaker 1: really present a lot of value at the bottom part
Speaker 1: of the depth chart, the guys that you know, because
Speaker 1: you you come into a game with three, four or
Speaker 1: five running backs active, you probably only expect to give
Speaker 1: two or three, maybe four of those guys carries. So
Speaker 1: you do have to come into the game with those
Speaker 1: guys with the mindset that they're gonna play a lot
Speaker 1: on special teams, and maybe this running back room does
Speaker 1: have to give you more on special teams. Why is that, Well,
Speaker 1: typically every position and on the roster besides quarterback obviously
Speaker 1: contributes to special teams in their own way. But you
Speaker 1: also have a lot of proven, experienced receivers on this
Speaker 1: roster whose primary job in the past has been offense
Speaker 1: exclusive in recent years, Let's say, and this is purely hypothetical, like,
Speaker 1: what if you keep six receivers and those top six
Speaker 1: receivers are guys that the coaches decide at the end
Speaker 1: of camp are Waddle Fuller, Parker, Williams, Wilson, and Lynn Bowden.
Speaker 1: That's six guys. How many of those guys are gonna
Speaker 1: be your noted gunners or kick return guys or wedge
Speaker 1: busters whatever it might be. I'm not saying you can't
Speaker 1: ask them to do it, but maybe that option is
Speaker 1: there to go with that receiving group that you you
Speaker 1: want to get more offensive production. Out of because you
Speaker 1: have more special teams ability in the running back room.
Speaker 1: Does that make sense, am? I explained that correctly. I
Speaker 1: feel like I am. But again, this all goes back
Speaker 1: to just having options. Something I think Miami did a
Speaker 1: good job of this offseason to give themselves their potential
Speaker 1: presume whatever it might be, Plan A, and a contingency
Speaker 1: to that plan, and a contingency to the contingency plan,
Speaker 1: and on and on and on and on. So maybe
Speaker 1: the back end of the running back group is geared
Speaker 1: a bit more towards what you do on special teams.
Speaker 1: Maybe it's the opposite of that, and I'm completely wrong,
Speaker 1: but I think it's a point worth at least exploring
Speaker 1: as you continue to improve the depth of this roster
Speaker 1: and start to get closer to having forty or fifty
Speaker 1: guys that you feel really good about with in terms
Speaker 1: of their straight up offense or defensive ability on your roster.
Speaker 1: As far as the cast of running backs we're dealing
Speaker 1: with here, we're gonna start with Miles Gaskin out of
Speaker 1: the University of Washington. He's played two years now in
Speaker 1: the NFL, both with your Miami Dolphins. He wears number
Speaker 1: thirty seven. He's gonna be twenty four years old come
Speaker 1: opening day. And I talked about this all the time,
Speaker 1: but I just really really admire what Miles brings to
Speaker 1: the locker room and the rest of the running back
Speaker 1: room and the team as far as how you're supposed
Speaker 1: to work, because he's talked about it in his media
Speaker 1: availability with US just this offseason, how he was working
Speaker 1: back home in Seattle, but he wanted to get back
Speaker 1: down here to fully utilize the resources he had provided
Speaker 1: to him and just be back around work. Because you
Speaker 1: can go back home when you have your buddies and
Speaker 1: your family and everyone around you, and you can get
Speaker 1: your same your your trainers and your workouts in. But
Speaker 1: utilizing what the Dolphins facility has to him is obviously
Speaker 1: the best option for him. So he came back down here,
Speaker 1: plus a lot of people trained in South Florida. And
Speaker 1: so you know when one day the Goofy podcaster is
Speaker 1: walking by the practice field from a solid fifty yard
Speaker 1: advantage point away and you can see Miles Gaskin doing
Speaker 1: ladder drill and drilling that footwork on a player day
Speaker 1: off on a Tuesday, less than forty eight hours removed
Speaker 1: from playing sixty snaps on Sunday and mind you that
Speaker 1: and presses me alone. But then the next day we
Speaker 1: get Jerome Baker on media and he's asked about a
Speaker 1: breakthrough performance that Miles had the previous week. And you guys,
Speaker 1: remember after Week one last year, the narrative was, what
Speaker 1: a surprise the Miami Dolphins going with Miles Gaskin as
Speaker 1: their top guy in the backfield getting the bulk of
Speaker 1: the workload. Well, if you listen to drive time, that
Speaker 1: wasn't a surprise because Myles Gaskin was in the training
Speaker 1: camp notes pretty much every single day, ripping off big
Speaker 1: runs and making things happen and showing you that fluid
Speaker 1: vision and proving as much as you can as a
Speaker 1: running back in training camp. It's kind of hard when
Speaker 1: there's no hitting. Luckily, this year we get preseason games
Speaker 1: to watch guys take hits and break tackles. And that's
Speaker 1: what Jerome Baker was able to detail for us, saying,
Speaker 1: if you've been around Miles Gaskin, his success is no
Speaker 1: surprise to anyone here in this building because the way
Speaker 1: he works his mindset, he's got that dog like mentality.
Speaker 1: So I did a podcast last December with You Dubs
Speaker 1: running Backs coach Keith bon Offa, and he said, that's
Speaker 1: how it always was with Miles. He brought a level
Speaker 1: of maturity and seriousness to the room. And in college,
Speaker 1: you know, you get guys out of high school, maybe
Speaker 1: they don't know how to work yet having Miles and
Speaker 1: that you Dub running Backs room was so valuable for them.
Speaker 1: And obviously the production was also valuable. But he just
Speaker 1: knows when it's time to work and that had a
Speaker 1: positive impact on the rest of that you Dub running
Speaker 1: Back room. And just look at how Savan talks about him.
Speaker 1: A big brother, little brother type of relationship. They live
Speaker 1: in the same complex down here in South Florida, as
Speaker 1: they both talked about many times, and Miles told us
Speaker 1: they are with each other, you know, every night, quizzing film,
Speaker 1: going over terminology, little things that can make them sharper
Speaker 1: and react quicker on the football field. Again, that positive
Speaker 1: impact has a reverberating effect on the rest of the roster.
Speaker 1: And here's what coach students Ville had to say about
Speaker 1: Miles earlier this summer. I think the big thing about
Speaker 1: Miles from at least last year, going from year one
Speaker 1: to year two for him was his growth in football
Speaker 1: and what he learned and how dependable he became for
Speaker 1: what we needed done. Just talking about again getting those
Speaker 1: assignments and knowing your checks, knowing your terminology. It's so
Speaker 1: valuable to play fast. If you don't have to think
Speaker 1: about it, and you can just you know, jump on
Speaker 1: a podcast and record and not have to worry about
Speaker 1: your mechanics, you're gonna sound better. Same thing for football players. So,
Speaker 1: despite missing six games last year, playing in just ten
Speaker 1: of the six, team Gasket led the team and snaps
Speaker 1: played among running backs with four hundred and fifty three,
Speaker 1: and his production definitely validated what Miami was doing and
Speaker 1: their belief in him, as he piles up five hundred
Speaker 1: and eighty four yards on the ground, three through the air,
Speaker 1: and five total touchdowns, averaging five point three yards per touch.
Speaker 1: He also forced thirty one missed tackles per PFF and
Speaker 1: average two point five four yards after initial contact. Both
Speaker 1: those numbers lead the Dolphins. His nineties seven point two
Speaker 1: yards from scrimmage or tenth among running backs. But how
Speaker 1: about this little nugget your boy found for you. Miles
Speaker 1: Gaskin forced thirty one missed tackles last year per Pro
Speaker 1: Football Focus, that ranked tied for nineteenth in the NFL
Speaker 1: despite playing in just ten games. And that mark equals
Speaker 1: a missed tack will forced every four point five eight carries.
Speaker 1: That's the exact same number for Minnesota's Dalvin Cook, who
Speaker 1: finished second and total mis tackles force with sixty eight.
Speaker 1: And he's been one of the best running backs in
Speaker 1: the NFL for a couple of years now. All Pro
Speaker 1: candidate there in Dalvin Cook. He also Miles had at
Speaker 1: least one ten yard run in all games but two
Speaker 1: that he played last year, the Cincinnati game and the
Speaker 1: Buffalo game, where he had just seven carries in that game.
Speaker 1: And as for the tape, I see in Miles kind
Speaker 1: of something similar to what I discussed with Tua, and
Speaker 1: that the things that make him successful are not the
Speaker 1: flashiest things that are going to really pop. I think
Speaker 1: to the and I use this phrase, you know, very carefully,
Speaker 1: the casual observer, Like there's something wrong with being a
Speaker 1: casual observer. But if you don't know the finer nuance
Speaker 1: of football, maybe you don't know what to look force.
Speaker 1: That's why I want to educate on that his balance
Speaker 1: is so good that he can plant and he can
Speaker 1: cut and change the angle of the tackle before the
Speaker 1: defender even has time to react. He knows how his
Speaker 1: blocks can develop, or what the blocks are supposed to develop,
Speaker 1: and he can change his launch point or the aiming point,
Speaker 1: the mesh point of where he wants to hit the whole.
Speaker 1: And that's how these sub two pound backs managed to
Speaker 1: post a missed tackle force rate with the likes of
Speaker 1: Dalvin Cook, because his vision and the quickness and the
Speaker 1: decision making is good enough to where you can change
Speaker 1: that tackle angle. Then you get tackles off the side
Speaker 1: of the hip opposal square and a guy up and
Speaker 1: he can bounce off that. And you couple that with
Speaker 1: his footwork and the quick feet and the fact that
Speaker 1: his feet never go dead upon contact to help pile
Speaker 1: up yards both as a pro and definitely definitely back
Speaker 1: in college. He's quick to read it and quick to
Speaker 1: hit it. He's also a more than capable receiving back.
Speaker 1: You saw it last year, whether he's taking a simple
Speaker 1: five yard hookup route down the sideline for a fifty
Speaker 1: plus yard touchdown score against the Raiders, are catching a
Speaker 1: screen pass and setting up blocks for a big chunk
Speaker 1: game or turning on the jets on a swing or
Speaker 1: a flat route to the outside. Miles Gascon is your
Speaker 1: true three down type of back, and I'm excited to
Speaker 1: see what he does here in your number three. He's
Speaker 1: only gotten better so far. You have to imagine that's
Speaker 1: the trajectory. Four. Miles Gaskin and year number three. Speaking
Speaker 1: of his U Dub team, A savan Akman, number twenty six.
Speaker 1: One year of experience at you dubs his college, and
Speaker 1: he's twenty two years old on opening day. Young guy
Speaker 1: claimed off waivers in August from the forty nine and
Speaker 1: signed to the practice squad. Okbed made his NFL debut
Speaker 1: in November. One week later, he makes his first career start,
Speaker 1: rushing for eighty five yards and that win over the
Speaker 1: Chargers and that touchdown we mentioned eighty six touches As
Speaker 1: a rookie, he produced three hundred and eighty yards from
Speaker 1: scrimmage with three touchdowns, rips off nine runs of ten
Speaker 1: plus yards, and forced nine missed tackles on those seventy
Speaker 1: five carries. But back to the Keith bonoffa interview from
Speaker 1: you Dub, he compared Miles gaskins running style to smooth
Speaker 1: jazz and Savon Akhmed's to hip hop and that it
Speaker 1: was in your face and you better deal with it
Speaker 1: right now because if you don't, Savon can win the edge,
Speaker 1: and he has that speed to burn where it's maybe
Speaker 1: a little more aggressive than patient, and I think we
Speaker 1: saw that in the New England game when he ripped
Speaker 1: off that thirty one yard to help salt that game
Speaker 1: away late. You give him the edge, it's bad news
Speaker 1: for the defense. And he's the type of back that
Speaker 1: when he's on, he can give you that one twenty
Speaker 1: yard day and pick up another twenty or thirty yards
Speaker 1: in the receiving game. I like having that instant offense
Speaker 1: option when I needed in a pinch. And his season
Speaker 1: high and missed forced tackles last year was in fact
Speaker 1: that in New England game he had four and the
Speaker 1: average two point five seven yards after initial contact, and
Speaker 1: his season number was two point three two yards, so
Speaker 1: just a bit below what Miles registered last season. However,
Speaker 1: his ten plus yard runs are often fifteen or more yards.
Speaker 1: Five of his nine ten plus yard runs went for
Speaker 1: more than fifteen yards, so the chunk games there for
Speaker 1: Savon Akmed. He also rushed for eighteen first downs on
Speaker 1: seventy five carries a nice first down rate. Malcolm Brown
Speaker 1: new free agent acquisition here a number thirty four, Big
Speaker 1: Ricky Williams fan went to Texas six seasons NFL experience.
Speaker 1: He'll be twenty eight years old on opening Day with
Speaker 1: seventy career games played. He is the old hat in
Speaker 1: the room, the most experienced in the running back room.
Speaker 1: In his career, he's rushed for one thousand, one eighty
Speaker 1: eight yards and eleven touchdowns with a myriad of contributions
Speaker 1: in both the passing game and on special teams. Per
Speaker 1: Pro Football Focus, Brown has yet to allow a sack
Speaker 1: in his career on one hundred and forty pass protection
Speaker 1: reps and has surrendered just three QB hits over that time.
Speaker 1: He has a career special teams seven career special teams tackles,
Speaker 1: I should say, with six hundred thirty one reps in
Speaker 1: the game's third phase, and he also excels in short yardage.
Speaker 1: Last season, he converted six of his eight rushing attempts
Speaker 1: on third or fourth down and three or fewer yards
Speaker 1: to gain, So a big boon there to the Dolphins
Speaker 1: short yardage offense. I love the fact that he was
Speaker 1: expanded more in the passing game. Last year at the Rams,
Speaker 1: he caught twenty five or thirty four targets, which is
Speaker 1: seventy for one D seventy five yards and one ninety
Speaker 1: four of those yards. So catching the ball behind the line,
Speaker 1: we're after the catch a focal point of the Rams
Speaker 1: screen game in that offense last season. So Malcolm Brown,
Speaker 1: I love the fact that he has great balance. He
Speaker 1: can really corner and get square to the line of scrimmage,
Speaker 1: which packs a punch and allows him to fall forward,
Speaker 1: which then gives you that conversion ray on the short
Speaker 1: yardage and picking up first downs and down around the
Speaker 1: goal line as well, and again really added to his
Speaker 1: past receiving arsenal this last season. Speaking of past game gems,
Speaker 1: so to speak. Jared Doakes number twenty three rookie this
Speaker 1: year out of Cincinnati. He'll be twenty three years old
Speaker 1: on opening Day. He checks a lot of those boxes
Speaker 1: we talked about for a modern day running back in
Speaker 1: the passing game. Two d and twenty eight pounds packs
Speaker 1: that punch, uses a strong lower body to run through
Speaker 1: tackles and protect his quarterback and pass protection PFF charge
Speaker 1: Dokes with just one sack allowed in one hundred thirty
Speaker 1: career reps in college as a receiver, he added four
Speaker 1: hundred and seven yards and four touchdowns just through the
Speaker 1: air last year with the Bearcats offense and didn't drop
Speaker 1: a single pass. He also averaged fourteen point four yards
Speaker 1: per catch out of the backfield at Cincinnati last season.
Speaker 1: Fourteen point four. That's like a downfilled receiving threat number.
Speaker 1: Crazy good. And if you recall our draft coverage of
Speaker 1: NFL Draft, we talked a lot about Jared Doakes kind
Speaker 1: of earning the hire the praise of his coaching staff
Speaker 1: there at Cincinnati because he had some injuries he fought
Speaker 1: through and he was able to keep his head down
Speaker 1: and just work through it and became a guy that
Speaker 1: rose from basically coming back from an injury to special
Speaker 1: teamer to kind of third down back to get the
Speaker 1: true bulk of the workload last season, and coaches really
Speaker 1: praised his ability to both work and get himself back
Speaker 1: into a position to be the top back on the
Speaker 1: roster once again. But the big time receiving focus there,
Speaker 1: the past protection and his workout numbers I think really
Speaker 1: suggest that this guy could have some upside coming into
Speaker 1: the league. Two eight pounds, explosive, thick build, thirty nine
Speaker 1: point five inch vertical one in broad jump, those tests
Speaker 1: in the ninety six and eighty four percentile among running backs.
Speaker 1: Also benched nineteen reps of tow and ran a four
Speaker 1: or five seven. So he's a physical back that can
Speaker 1: help bring the load. And again that kind of fits
Speaker 1: the mold of what the Dolphins brought into the running
Speaker 1: back room this offseason with Doakes, with Brown, with Carl Tucker,
Speaker 1: and with Jordan Scarlett being the acquisitions this offseason. Speaking
Speaker 1: of Carl Tucker, he's next number thirty one rookie out
Speaker 1: of Alabama, twenty four years old an Opening Day, and
Speaker 1: he began his college career at Chapel Hill with the
Speaker 1: Tar Hills, then transferred to Alabama as a sixth year senior,
Speaker 1: where he and the Crimson Tide capture a national championship
Speaker 1: last season. And during that six year college career, he
Speaker 1: played a little bit of everything, some fullback, some h back,
Speaker 1: some tight end, and special teams. He also talked in
Speaker 1: an interview with the Draft Network about not just his
Speaker 1: favorite aspect of his game, the physicality of it all,
Speaker 1: but the fact that he was a receiver in high
Speaker 1: school and when he first kicked in the tight end
Speaker 1: in college, he had no idea what he was doing,
Speaker 1: so he kind of learned on the fly, got better,
Speaker 1: and then took his talents to Alabama, so to speak,
Speaker 1: and went there and won a national championship. And you
Speaker 1: watch that tape with Bama last year. It is riddled
Speaker 1: with punishing, crushing blocks, showcasing that trait that he loves
Speaker 1: of his the most, the physicality. You look at the tape,
Speaker 1: he just wants to punish guys. He can bury them
Speaker 1: on their backs, he can open up lanes, and he
Speaker 1: talked about his favorite part of the game was creating
Speaker 1: a big lane and then watching his back run right
Speaker 1: off of his back and then they show the defense
Speaker 1: their tail lights, but this guy explodes into his blocks.
Speaker 1: He decleades guys with relative ease, at least in college,
Speaker 1: and he can do it working backside, play side lead.
Speaker 1: He can seal and he said again that his favorite
Speaker 1: thing was to seal those lanes and watch his back
Speaker 1: go through. And he also talked about his favorite parts
Speaker 1: of his game, where his loyalty, his work ethic, and
Speaker 1: a guy that just does his job without asking questions.
Speaker 1: Said that he went to go play for Alabama because
Speaker 1: he wanted to get a piece of that winning culture
Speaker 1: and learn what it meant to be a champion. And
Speaker 1: when you watch the way he plays, by golly did
Speaker 1: I just say that, But by gosh, golly, did he
Speaker 1: reflect that mindset on the football field. And fundamentally I
Speaker 1: thought he was just so sound and how he approached
Speaker 1: his blocks. He always kind of came to balance and
Speaker 1: gets his feet under him and explodes through the rep
Speaker 1: rather than lunging. And you might recall back in the
Speaker 1: Hard Knocks episode, Les Brown, who was a lacrosse convert
Speaker 1: trying to learn football and play tight end, was trying
Speaker 1: to learn how to explode into the blocks. And he
Speaker 1: also often would take a step and then each and
Speaker 1: that gets you off balance, that gets you kind of
Speaker 1: over your skis. I don't see that in Carl Tucker's
Speaker 1: game in college. He really steps into the block and
Speaker 1: just throws the punch as he comes through that initial step.
Speaker 1: Also in the backfield. Patrick Laird, number thirty two, has
Speaker 1: two seasons of NFL experience. He came from cal He'll
Speaker 1: be twenty six on opening day, made the team as
Speaker 1: an undrafted free agent back in twenty nineteen, and he
Speaker 1: has worn several hats the intern himself despite just twenty
Speaker 1: three touches last year. There were two players that I
Speaker 1: thought were crucial in the Dolphins season that Patrick Laird
Speaker 1: was a big part of. Number One a first down
Speaker 1: he converted against the Cardinals on a third and five
Speaker 1: pass play where he gets out into the flat, makes
Speaker 1: a guy miss, gets around the chains, and extends that
Speaker 1: drive to get three points on the board before halftime
Speaker 1: in a game that we won by three points plus.
Speaker 1: He also had a big first down on a third
Speaker 1: and six carry against the Patriots. Actually got a chance
Speaker 1: to ask coach Flora's about that play, about going to
Speaker 1: a run situation there right on the fringe of field
Speaker 1: goal range and they had the right look to have
Speaker 1: got to it and and Laird took it through for
Speaker 1: a first down to extend that drive and get points
Speaker 1: on the board as well in a huge Week fifteen win.
Speaker 1: And his two year career, Laird has six special teams
Speaker 1: tackles per Pro Football Focus and four hundred twenty six
Speaker 1: reps that he's played again special teams, whether he's running down, throwing,
Speaker 1: you know, blowing up the wedge or what used to
Speaker 1: be the wedge anyway, or just hitting his blocks or
Speaker 1: making big blocks on special teams. Both coach Flora's and
Speaker 1: Danny Crossman have praised the way this guy works, and
Speaker 1: that's how he's earned his his way into a role
Speaker 1: on this team the last two seasons. And we finished
Speaker 1: up here with Jordan's scarlett number twenty eight. It might
Speaker 1: take some getting used to say a different twenty eight
Speaker 1: out there this season. Two seasons in the NFL. He
Speaker 1: played his college ball at Florida. He'll be twenty five
Speaker 1: come opening day. He's played in nine games. That was
Speaker 1: all as a rookie with the Panthers in twenty nineteen,
Speaker 1: carried the ball just four times that played a hundred
Speaker 1: and eleven snaps on special teams. He's the highest drafted
Speaker 1: player in the room, the fifth round pick back in
Speaker 1: twenty nineteen. He rushed for one thousand, eight hundred forty
Speaker 1: six yards at Florida with twelve t d s. And
Speaker 1: he also explained or exhibited, i should say, exceptional con
Speaker 1: tech balance with quick feet that remain active in traffics.
Speaker 1: That's why he was able to burst through lines. And
Speaker 1: burst through traffic and get big runs there At Florida.
Speaker 1: There just isn't a lot on him with regards to
Speaker 1: NFL tape, but in college again that contact balance on
Speaker 1: the quick active feat. He also works out with two
Speaker 1: of this offseason, or has worked out with TWA and
Speaker 1: his trainer, so he's probably seen some videos of him.
Speaker 1: He's looking cut, looking ready to go, excited to see
Speaker 1: what he looks like in training camp. Another one of
Speaker 1: these big body backs that I think was really missing
Speaker 1: from the equation last year. So enter Doakes Brown Scarlett
Speaker 1: and let the chips fall where they may. That is
Speaker 1: your running back preview, also available on Miami Dolphins dot com.
Speaker 1: So go check out the written piece up on the website.
Speaker 1: Give us some love there, give us some love on
Speaker 1: social media. Also, be sure to subscribe to the podcast
Speaker 1: if you have not done so already, on Apple, Spotify,
Speaker 1: wherever you get your podcast from. Up next, we're gonna
Speaker 1: finish this podcast with our division by division preview NFL preview,
Speaker 1: and this entire process really serves to me as a
Speaker 1: reminder of what happened in the NFL this offseason, and
Speaker 1: I hope it does the same for you today. We
Speaker 1: take a look at the NFC North and we start
Speaker 1: with a team and a player that makes this one
Speaker 1: of the more intriguing divisions in the league for my money,
Speaker 1: the Chicago Bears and Justin Fields. Now, Matt Nagy has
Speaker 1: already announced Andy Dalton as their Week one starter, but
Speaker 1: I refuse to believe that's written in penn because Justin
Speaker 1: Fields has been playing really good football at a high
Speaker 1: level for a long time at a big time program,
Speaker 1: and I think he could be ready as early as
Speaker 1: Week one if he gets through that early development phase
Speaker 1: that kind of needs to be expedited this this part
Speaker 1: of the calendar, because it's a lot to learn fro
Speaker 1: a wiki quarterback. But that's the first storyline here. At
Speaker 1: number one. The Bears are going to get prime time
Speaker 1: games because they are a huge market and one of
Speaker 1: the more iconic brands in the NFL. So even through
Speaker 1: all those years of let's call it quarterback purgatory, we
Speaker 1: would still get four to five Bears primetime games a year,
Speaker 1: and the infusion of one man alone makes those games
Speaker 1: instantly more watchable for me. And this is where my
Speaker 1: real urge to see him play for a Week one
Speaker 1: checks in because I want to see those new look
Speaker 1: Rams first, the new look Bears, and that means fields,
Speaker 1: not Andy Dalton. For me, I think the strangest thing
Speaker 1: that happened this offseason was Kyle Fuller, one of the
Speaker 1: top ten or so cornerbacks in the NFL for my money,
Speaker 1: getting outright cut. So how they replaced his production is
Speaker 1: going to be interesting. Taking the football away has never
Speaker 1: been more important in the league than it is right now,
Speaker 1: where it's increasingly getting more difficult to stop these high
Speaker 1: powered offenses. And Fuller was kind of a Peanut Tillman
Speaker 1: the way he punches and dislodgers of football with such regularity.
Speaker 1: Nineteen picks, three fumbles and eight two passes defense in
Speaker 1: a six year career. Can you make that up with
Speaker 1: Artie Burns, Desmond Truffont and to Shaun Gibson. We'll see.
Speaker 1: I'm curious see what happens in the backfield with Treat
Speaker 1: Cohen coming off in a c L. They draft Kalil Herbert,
Speaker 1: and they also have the ever patient and impressive running
Speaker 1: back in David Montgomery. Alan Robinson's back and he has
Speaker 1: been kind of DeAndre Hopkins like early on in his
Speaker 1: career where he has straight up just produced regardless of
Speaker 1: quarterback play, and Anthony Miller is in a bit of
Speaker 1: a make or break year. They're coming out of Memphis
Speaker 1: and year number three. I loved his game in college,
Speaker 1: and they also have a lot of speed there into
Speaker 1: mere Bird and Marque's Goodwin plus Darnell Mooney might be
Speaker 1: the clear cut number two at this point. He's had
Speaker 1: a really nice career so far. At this point through
Speaker 1: one season, I think he's the second best route runner
Speaker 1: on the team. They attempted to remake their offensive line,
Speaker 1: which was kind of beaten down last year with injuries.
Speaker 1: They cut Charles Leno, but one of the mainstays up
Speaker 1: front was Leno. They replaced him with Tevin Jenkins, one
Speaker 1: of my favorite overall players in this entire draft class.
Speaker 1: But they're gonna flip into the left tackle where he
Speaker 1: played right tackle throughout his college career, so that bears watching,
Speaker 1: no pun intended. I also really like James Daniels, the
Speaker 1: center out of Iowa. A couple of years ago, they
Speaker 1: got to get more consistent in opening lanes and turning
Speaker 1: guys early so Montgomery can see it and hit it
Speaker 1: that way. Accordingly, get that run game balance justin fields
Speaker 1: should help when he enters the line up two with
Speaker 1: the running game. Defensively, they're still pretty loaded a Keem
Speaker 1: Hicks is among the most underrated players in the league.
Speaker 1: I love Eddie Goldman up front, and they play big
Speaker 1: ends to help maximize those edge rushes. With Robert Quinn
Speaker 1: and Khalil Mack, I think Mac will bounce back this season.
Speaker 1: That's a big story for this team that wants to
Speaker 1: cre eight one on one matchups and let Mac do
Speaker 1: his thing. He just didn't quite win them with the
Speaker 1: same regularity we've become accustomed to over the years. But
Speaker 1: having Robert Quinn I think helps in that way to
Speaker 1: those explosive first steps of those guys can help with
Speaker 1: can kind of compliment the big bodies they have on
Speaker 1: the defensive line. Roe Quan Smith is teetering right on
Speaker 1: elite status. For me with linebackers, I've always liked to
Speaker 1: answer Vathan and in the secondary, as we mentioned, there's
Speaker 1: some turnover, but the mainstay is Eddie Jackson, who's just
Speaker 1: another one of these stud defensive backs to come from Bama,
Speaker 1: and he makes a big difference. He is an awesome,
Speaker 1: awesome player. The offseason additions for the Bears, Andy Dalton,
Speaker 1: Justin Fields, Kalil Herbert, Damien Williams remember him crazy what
Speaker 1: one year can do for a player, Tevin Jenkins, Mario
Speaker 1: Edwards Jr. Jeremiah Taco, Christian Jones, Dion Bush, Desmond Truffon
Speaker 1: already burned. So some significant change over there in Chicago.
Speaker 1: We'll see what happens this year. I think that they're
Speaker 1: gonna have to win some games this year to keep
Speaker 1: on chugging along and see what happens as far as
Speaker 1: fields development. Up next is the defending Division champs and
Speaker 1: NFC Championship Game participant, the Green Bay Packers, And I'm
Speaker 1: gonna say this, then we'll move on. Is there anything
Speaker 1: more exhausting than Packers offseason quarterback drama? I mean, I
Speaker 1: remember despising the coverage of Brett Farve Watch for what
Speaker 1: seemed like five straight years. And granted, this is my
Speaker 1: fault for always having Colin Cowherd on when I'm home
Speaker 1: mornings on the West Coast afternoons here on the East Coast,
Speaker 1: but I swear Rogers has been the b block story
Speaker 1: on that show every day for the last three months.
Speaker 1: He'll be back, but that doesn't really make for good
Speaker 1: TV or radio. So Aaron Rodgers and Jordan Love. You know,
Speaker 1: we know what. Rodgers is one of the best quarterbacks
Speaker 1: in the league, one of the best quarterbacks ever. And
Speaker 1: count me in the group that wants to see Jordan
Speaker 1: Love play because you've seen some of these bigger, physical,
Speaker 1: physically gifted quarterbacks like Josh Allen Starts to really realize
Speaker 1: their potential. That's what Jordan Love has in terms of
Speaker 1: the physical makeup. I want to see him sooner than later.
Speaker 1: But with twelve in town, that ain't never gonna happen.
Speaker 1: So they bring back Aaron Jones in that backfield, and
Speaker 1: he's just one of the best pure runners in football.
Speaker 1: Big get for them to bring him back, and he
Speaker 1: pairs very nicely with the hammer at his A J. Dillon.
Speaker 1: The story with this team always seems to be about
Speaker 1: what happens behind Davante Adams at receiver. The best NFL
Speaker 1: are the best receiver in the league for my money,
Speaker 1: Alan Lazard has some proven tape now and the name
Speaker 1: that I love on that list is a Mari Rodgers.
Speaker 1: I love the way he creates separation, the way that
Speaker 1: he runs his routes, the urgency and the sure hands
Speaker 1: that he has in traffic, He's gonna be a nice
Speaker 1: little option there for Aaron Rodgers. You've also got Robert
Speaker 1: Tonyan scoring all those touchdowns, so there's no shortage of
Speaker 1: players there, especially when you consider on the offensive line
Speaker 1: David Batr Elton Jenkins anchoring a line that has made
Speaker 1: some nice additions this offseason as well. The defense is
Speaker 1: led by JayR Alexander were my favorite players to watch
Speaker 1: in the league, and they have remade their system in
Speaker 1: recent years, I mean a couple of years ago to
Speaker 1: play more zone and kind of play ben but don't
Speaker 1: break and create takeaways. They play plenty of dime defense
Speaker 1: as well, six and seven defensive back packages, and that's
Speaker 1: where jiyears at his best, creating havoc and creating takeaways.
Speaker 1: Adrian Amos comes over from the Bears a couple of
Speaker 1: years ago and gives them another solid safety alongside Darniell Savage. Also,
Speaker 1: I'm a fan of Kevin King, Eric Stokes, and Josh Jackson. Upfront.
Speaker 1: Kenny Clark is underrated as they come in my opinion.
Speaker 1: He holds the point, eats blocks, and creates chances for
Speaker 1: guys around him. Kind of like Christian Wilkins does in
Speaker 1: a lot of ways, and Russia's presidents and Darius Smith
Speaker 1: off the edge, and Rashaun Gary another bullet in the
Speaker 1: chamber man that second level of that defense can really play.
Speaker 1: Their off season was mostly taking care of their own guys,
Speaker 1: A great strategy for a team who's won thirteen games
Speaker 1: each of the last two years and made it all
Speaker 1: the way to the conference championship weekend and damn near
Speaker 1: won the thing last year. Not so much in twenty
Speaker 1: nine team, but their off season looks like this. Blake Bortles,
Speaker 1: Kylan hill A, Marii Rodgers, Josh Myers the rookie out
Speaker 1: of Ohio State on the offensive line, to Andre Campbell,
Speaker 1: the former Falcons linebacker, and Eric Stokes in the draft.
Speaker 1: The Minnesota Vikings starts in the same spot here as
Speaker 1: does for the other two teams at the quarterback position.
Speaker 1: Kirk Cousins gets the big deal as an unrestricted free
Speaker 1: agent back in ten, gets another extension with the Vikings
Speaker 1: and now Minnesota drafts a possible era apparent. You remember
Speaker 1: this team was among the most loaded rosters back when
Speaker 1: they brought Cousins in, and it was thought that the
Speaker 1: quarterback will push them over the top. They've only made
Speaker 1: the playoffs once in those three years, and they got
Speaker 1: a big upset, went over the Saints in that playoffs,
Speaker 1: but that was it. You expect more than one playoff
Speaker 1: win with that roster they had, So how long is
Speaker 1: that leash there? Does Kellen mong get special packages? Is
Speaker 1: he a threat to win the job? I'm really excited
Speaker 1: to see what happens there at the quarterback position in Minnesota.
Speaker 1: Now on the other side, Mike Zimmer is one of
Speaker 1: the defensive masterminds of our generation. But last year's Vikings
Speaker 1: defense was a bit of a struggle. The worst he's
Speaker 1: ever overseen from my yardage allowed standpoint, and that's just
Speaker 1: not gonna happen again. A big reason why for my money,
Speaker 1: they were young in the secondary and that's tough to overcome.
Speaker 1: But their big offseason gets possibly a soul for that
Speaker 1: in Patrick Peterson, and maybe he can recapture the old
Speaker 1: form that he had there with Mike Zimmer. But I'll
Speaker 1: be curious to see if he can, as he's now
Speaker 1: thirty years of age, and you know, it's kind of
Speaker 1: a young man's game, a mid twenties game. Especially at
Speaker 1: that cornerback position. But back on offense, Dalvin cook Man,
Speaker 1: this guy, he is elite, the best running back in
Speaker 1: the league for my money. Him and Alvin Kamara, a
Speaker 1: guy that the offense truly can run through, but they
Speaker 1: have to have him healthy for that to happen. And
Speaker 1: justin Jefferson Man, you lose Stefon Digs and you don't
Speaker 1: see a drop off there. That's ridiculous to talk about.
Speaker 1: Just Jefferson's pure competitiveness of what he brings the table.
Speaker 1: He is that dude plus Adam thieland just continues to
Speaker 1: quietly cook up dbs with great route running and another
Speaker 1: ho hum, one thousand yards season. Well it was fifteen games,
Speaker 1: but you get it. IRV. Smith is a big factor
Speaker 1: here for me to do. They can they still go
Speaker 1: too tight without Kyle Rudolph because they ran so many
Speaker 1: packages out of twelve personnel last year. Who's going to
Speaker 1: be that second tight end? And ken IRB. Smith take
Speaker 1: the Reins as the true tight end number one. They
Speaker 1: completely remade their offensive line and I love it. Christian
Speaker 1: Derrisau is awesome. Getting Mason Cole on a trade and
Speaker 1: they draft Wyatt Davis out of Ohio State, and they
Speaker 1: already had a couple of nice pieces in place there
Speaker 1: and Garrett Bradberry and Brian O'Neill. But I like this
Speaker 1: the most as far as their off season, the way
Speaker 1: they're able to reshape the offensive line. Defensively, you get
Speaker 1: back Danil Hunter that's the biggest boon, and Dalaln Thomas
Speaker 1: in a huge edition on the inside to go along
Speaker 1: with some linebackers that can flat out play and move.
Speaker 1: Eric Kendricks is so good. I love his game. Always
Speaker 1: have a modern day linebacker. Anthony Barr still gets a
Speaker 1: job done playing forward, and Chass Sarratt is a nice piece.
Speaker 1: They're out of UNC will see how he develops in
Speaker 1: that defense. They're off season, Kellen mond uh A, Mere
Speaker 1: Smith Marsette, Christian Dry, saw Mason, Cole Wyatt Davis mostly
Speaker 1: draft picks, Dalvin Thomason a big free agent, and Patrick
Speaker 1: Peterson as well Patrick Jones. The Pittsburgh defensive end from
Speaker 1: the University of Pittsburgh, I should say, is their Chas Sarratt,
Speaker 1: Nick Vigil and then Patrick Peterson in the defensive secondary.
Speaker 1: Then there's the Detroit Lions and one an off season.
Speaker 1: It has been one of race car helmets and bringing
Speaker 1: lines to practice and biting off kneecaps messages of bravado.
Speaker 1: They did well to get draft pick compensation back for
Speaker 1: Matt Stafford, but I think they're going to realize just
Speaker 1: how much he did for that team, and so will
Speaker 1: the Rams. Matt Stafford is so so good. I'm concerned
Speaker 1: what it might look like without him. They're obviously kind
Speaker 1: of stepping back and reshape in that football team under
Speaker 1: Dan Campbell's vision. Jared Goff is their guy now. If
Speaker 1: they lose Kenny Holliday and went heavy on the offensive line,
Speaker 1: We'll see if that's enough to get Golf protected, because
Speaker 1: he has to be protected to function the way he
Speaker 1: can at his highest level. I love the remade defensive
Speaker 1: tackle position with levi own Wuzariki out of you Dub
Speaker 1: he is a dominant force. I liked Ellen McNeil a
Speaker 1: lot too out of NC State, and they also go
Speaker 1: out and get Brian Price to add to that group
Speaker 1: up front. I'm curious to see what happens with Trey
Speaker 1: Flowers in the post Matt Patricia era, because play for
Speaker 1: the Patriots, play for the Lions, and those types of
Speaker 1: defenses now They're gonna wipe out that scheme and try
Speaker 1: something else. Can he still play at the high level
Speaker 1: in a different scheme. I don't doubt it. He's a
Speaker 1: great player, but I'm curious to watch it unfold. And
Speaker 1: then that secondary needed a rehaul. And the biggest thing
Speaker 1: I'm looking for is that year to jump out of
Speaker 1: Jeff Okuda rookie cornerbacks. It's always tough on those guys.
Speaker 1: I can't wait to watch him play their off season.
Speaker 1: Jared Goff Jamal Williams from Green Bay comes over. They
Speaker 1: drafted Jamar Jefferson out of Oregon State. Love his game,
Speaker 1: Aman Ross st Brown from usc In Brashad Perriman the
Speaker 1: two big receiver acquisitions. Pane Sewel is probably the best
Speaker 1: player they brought in all offseason. He's a great tackle
Speaker 1: out of the University of Oregon. Darren Fells, a Lean McNeill,
Speaker 1: Brian Price, leve On woz, Rique Alex Anzaloni the linebacker
Speaker 1: formerly of the Saints, Quentin Dunbar corn Elder, and f
Speaker 1: two Melifon Wu the brother of Obi Melifon formerly of
Speaker 1: the Patriots and Raiders. So for the NFC North, to me,
Speaker 1: the best player Aaron Rodgers, your best non quarterback, Davante
Speaker 1: Adams your best defensive player. Daniel Hunter gets that nod.
Speaker 1: The best rookie for me is gonna be Justin Fields.
Speaker 1: I think the best coach is Matt Lafleur. The most
Speaker 1: intriguing team is the Vikings. I'm really curious to see
Speaker 1: how the offensive line and kind of remaking it helps
Speaker 1: rebrand that offense. The champion is gonna be chalky, It's
Speaker 1: gonna be boring. I'm taking the Packers once again. There's
Speaker 1: your NFC North preview. You should definitely watch. I think
Speaker 1: you should leave on Netflix. It's one of the funniest
Speaker 1: damn shows I've ever seen in my entire life. I'm
Speaker 1: gonna skip on giving you my skit, my skit rankings
Speaker 1: that I did the other night because we're running out
Speaker 1: of time here, and we'll go ahead and talk more
Speaker 1: out TV in the next episode. Because we're short on time.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna get out of here. You all, please be
Speaker 1: sure to subscribe to the podcast on Apple, podcast, Spotify,
Speaker 1: wherever you get your podcast from. Go ahead and leave
Speaker 1: us a rating, leave us a review that really helps
Speaker 1: the podcast grow and get out to more Dolphins fans,
Speaker 1: so if you have not done so, please do today.
Speaker 1: If you can, give me a follow on Twitter at
Speaker 1: Wingfield NFL, follow the team at Miami Dolphins, check out
Speaker 1: the Fish Tank and the Audible podcast, and of course
Speaker 1: Miami Dolphins dot com, all your written training camp previews
Speaker 1: can be found. Until next time, defensi