Speaker 1: What is up, Dolphans And welcome to the Draft Time Podcast.
Speaker 1: I am your host, Travis Wingfield, and on today's show,
Speaker 1: your boy husband to Palm Beach and back. I got
Speaker 1: through two different accidents on the freeway. I wasn't involved
Speaker 1: in the accidents, but they made my one hour commute
Speaker 1: a two and a half hour commute.
Speaker 2: Good thing.
Speaker 1: I planned for two and a half hours and made
Speaker 1: it there and back to hear from head coach Mike McDaniel,
Speaker 1: who addressed all kinds of topics, including the quarterback position too.
Speaker 1: Was health Zach Wilson's signing the offensive line position, What
Speaker 1: James Daniels means about instituting stricter policies for disciplinary actions
Speaker 1: for players and culture building in the draft. Lots and
Speaker 1: lots of content. In this episode, We're going to play
Speaker 1: some sound bites from coach and then give you my
Speaker 1: thoughts on those sound bites and get the heck out
Speaker 1: of here from the Baptist Health Studios inside the Baptist
Speaker 1: Health Training Complex.
Speaker 2: This is the Drive Time podcast.
Speaker 1: Heye, so yeah, early morning at the Breakers in Palm Beach, which,
Speaker 1: by the way, I need to get out to that
Speaker 1: golf course because my goodness, it is a thing of beauty.
Speaker 1: But we had a lot of conversation with coach Mike McDaniel,
Speaker 1: who gave the media about an hour of his time,
Speaker 1: so very very appreciative of that. And as I was
Speaker 1: putting together the episode with my Charles Davis interview, I'm like,
Speaker 1: I've got more than a half hour of McDaniel content.
Speaker 1: We'll go ahead and bump CD to Wednesday and do
Speaker 1: this here off the top. Before we get to that, though,
Speaker 1: I want to let you guys know ahead of time
Speaker 1: that the Dolphins and myself have agreed to something of
Speaker 1: a contract extension, if you want to call it that.
Speaker 1: But the long story short here is your boy's not
Speaker 1: going anywhere for a while. They like what I'm doing.
Speaker 1: I like what I'm doing here for the team as well.
Speaker 1: So Drivetime drives on here for the foreseeable future. Very
Speaker 1: very excited about that and the future for the wingfields
Speaker 1: here in South Florida. All right, so you guys remember
Speaker 1: the theme across the player interviews right. In fact, I
Speaker 1: want to go ahead and play some sound bites from
Speaker 1: those player interviews because it's going to set up a
Speaker 1: lot of what Coach McDaniel explained today at his media
Speaker 1: availabilities with both national and local reporters here from the
Speaker 1: South Florida market that we've talked about on the podcast
Speaker 1: for the last couple of months as things that we felt,
Speaker 1: I felt were really important notes to hit or moves
Speaker 1: to operate under certain concepts and ideals of and one
Speaker 1: of those things was creating competition. But the biggest part
Speaker 1: of that competition aspect was to get guys who just loved, breathed,
Speaker 1: lived football. And I want to go ahead, and just
Speaker 1: I pulled my phone up, gonna make this a really quick,
Speaker 1: crude sound drop in because it's just a faster way
Speaker 1: to do it. And I don't think the quality loss
Speaker 1: will be so much that it matters, but that's too
Speaker 1: much inside baseball. Just gonna play some sound bites here
Speaker 1: real quick from some of the guys I talked to
Speaker 1: on the drive time interviews stand by football Man.
Speaker 3: And when I'm on the field, nothing else matters.
Speaker 4: There's so much things that watch that happen, certain plays
Speaker 4: that if you you may watch the play three times,
Speaker 4: you don't see it. And so like when I'm like
Speaker 4: at home, like studying film, like I always try to
Speaker 4: make sure like, Okay, I may understand this, but there's
Speaker 4: a whole bunch of people like this is.
Speaker 5: Kind of a niche topic.
Speaker 4: Not everyone understand this. So like if there's any type
Speaker 4: of like even I even send like obvious stuff too,
Speaker 4: Like if it's an obvious clip, I still send it, like, Hey,
Speaker 4: this is a huge thing that people need to pay
Speaker 4: attention to.
Speaker 5: So I'll take a video and look.
Speaker 6: At everybody fees off of that. So when you see
Speaker 6: when you're making big plays or when anybody see somebody
Speaker 6: getting ran over or just getting dominated, you know, it
Speaker 6: just brings the juice. And you know, for me, the
Speaker 6: game is all about juice, having juice, and the team
Speaker 6: with the most juice wins at the end of the day.
Speaker 6: So those sparks, you know, it's kind of like a
Speaker 6: snowball effect when you see the moment, like there's just
Speaker 6: a momentum, right people getting juiced up, you're making big plays,
Speaker 6: and the momentum bills and you know then you just
Speaker 6: become stop up before. So uh, whenever I can get
Speaker 6: a little ten yard run and juice up the team,
Speaker 6: it's always great.
Speaker 3: Yeah. I do love for since I was a little kid.
Speaker 3: You know, my dad's here. You know, we've been watching
Speaker 3: football together.
Speaker 4: You know, we.
Speaker 3: He been training me for to be a football fair
Speaker 3: like I said, ever since I was five, you know,
Speaker 3: and growing up I didn't playing football every year. And
Speaker 3: I got a younger brother now who's on the same path.
Speaker 3: You know, he committed to South Carolina, and uh, this
Speaker 3: is just this is what my family do and we
Speaker 3: we love to play ball.
Speaker 2: So that was Willy Gay, James Daniels, Farrell Brown, and
Speaker 2: k J. Britton.
Speaker 1: I mean, in the Willie Gay interview, I told him
Speaker 1: there's been a theme around these guys, and you don't
Speaker 1: have to hear the coach explain it to see that.
Speaker 1: It's just dot in the eyes and crossing the t's,
Speaker 1: which is the same concept that you'll hear coach talk
Speaker 1: about here, something we've covered on this podcast several times.
Speaker 1: And yes, this is one of those times where hey,
Speaker 1: Travis is thrilled to get his point confirmed by the
Speaker 1: head football coach. And I can hear my co host
Speaker 1: and the radio show Seth Levitt talking about this and
Speaker 1: laughing about this right now.
Speaker 2: But you'll hear from coach here.
Speaker 1: But what I've been saying about holes in the roster
Speaker 1: construction for months about how it's not just the Dolphins
Speaker 1: that have twenty or thirty impending free agents, it's the
Speaker 1: entire league. So with that in mind, let's go ahead
Speaker 1: and hear Coach's first response to a question about the
Speaker 1: process of the team's offseason with the acquisitions, what it's
Speaker 1: done to the roster, where it sets them up for
Speaker 1: the draft. Here's Coach on the last month plus of evaluations,
Speaker 1: roster construction, and what's gone down for your Miami Dolphins.
Speaker 7: This been going into year four and working with Chris
Speaker 7: was very powerful in that we could, you know, really
Speaker 7: every year specifically now where veteran contracts are getting shorter
Speaker 7: and shorter, you know, posts their first contract or second
Speaker 7: and third contracts are getting shorter, are having to solve
Speaker 7: different problems, and you know, I think the way we've
Speaker 7: attacked it directly relates to, you know, the lessons learned
Speaker 7: both good and bad from.
Speaker 5: The two previous years.
Speaker 7: So when I talk about, you know, the vision that
Speaker 7: I have, you know for our team in twenty twenty five,
Speaker 7: that includes players that are uh on the upward ascension
Speaker 7: of development, players that I think that we can further develop,
Speaker 7: and that can contribute to a culture of uh, you know,
Speaker 7: a team first mentality that wins down the stretch of
Speaker 7: the season.
Speaker 5: So, you know, so far, so good. We still have
Speaker 5: a lot of work.
Speaker 7: You know, free agency has gotten a little longer, so
Speaker 7: to speak.
Speaker 5: In my opinion, I think that it gets drawn out.
Speaker 7: There's there's a lot of transactions early and then you know,
Speaker 7: people are kind of trying to find their best fit.
Speaker 7: We're in communication with some players and we have ten
Speaker 7: draft picks, and those those guys are unique because you
Speaker 7: have the ability to have a four to five year
Speaker 7: contracted employee that you know, really really can influence the
Speaker 7: character and culture of your team, you know.
Speaker 5: As you progress.
Speaker 7: So I'm really excited specifically for what we have done,
Speaker 7: who the types of players that we've added, and uh,
Speaker 7: the the scope of how we're going to address our needs.
Speaker 7: And you know, I would love to tell you exactly
Speaker 7: what what we're doing vaguely, Uh, I think that would
Speaker 7: be a competitive disadvantage.
Speaker 5: So I think it is uh, so far, so good. Uh.
Speaker 1: In in lesser that line Man quote, the way we've
Speaker 1: attacked it directly relates the lessons learned, both good and bad,
Speaker 1: from the previous two years end quote, So you know
Speaker 1: what is that? You know, I was thinking about my
Speaker 1: thoughts from earlier offseason podcasts, and we talked about this
Speaker 1: the first week after free agency. I think I did
Speaker 1: a show last week about it, how the run game
Speaker 1: had to get better, but in particular how you had
Speaker 1: to be better off the perimeter. Insert Pharaoh Brown for
Speaker 1: Durhama Smith, which I thought was a massive upgrade in
Speaker 1: your outside running game. Insert Nick Westbrook Akine who totally
Speaker 1: reinvents the way you can run the football in terms
Speaker 1: of your blocking assignments from the wide receivers. They got
Speaker 1: more physical with you know, Larry Boram and James Daniels,
Speaker 1: even if only one of those guys starts with the
Speaker 1: expectation that Jalien Right will play more this year as
Speaker 1: a more of a one B compared to being a
Speaker 1: three or four back, more physical because of his his
Speaker 1: added element to the game. Here's what Coach said about
Speaker 1: what those things were, and you know some of those
Speaker 1: word things that Travis thought as well.
Speaker 7: It's the execution and the art of finding those things
Speaker 7: every season. Of course, you're wanting to have reasons of
Speaker 7: why you you the two previous years you've made the
Speaker 7: playoffs and you didn't this past season. Outside of the
Speaker 7: things that you can point to all the you know,
Speaker 7: there's compounding variables and but the key component of football
Speaker 7: teams of organizations is to find and attack things you
Speaker 7: can get better at. Wellh I'm you know, I've met
Speaker 7: a guy at the car wash that told me that
Speaker 7: we need to be better at short yardage like and
Speaker 7: guess what, like he's on the right track.
Speaker 5: To me, you don't.
Speaker 7: There's always things that you can We're good at other
Speaker 7: things well, but.
Speaker 5: You make growth in those areas.
Speaker 7: You focus on those areas, and that's how your team develops,
Speaker 7: and that's how teams win. And you know, I also
Speaker 7: acknowledged that specifically from like literal reps as a fan
Speaker 7: and a fully invested one. The last thing you see
Speaker 7: is the Jets game, and then it's space. Well, from
Speaker 7: that moment, that last press conference, that last locker room
Speaker 7: meeting has been focused on fixing and moving forward. And
Speaker 7: so like those scars that are very fresh for everybody,
Speaker 7: that's twenty years ago to me because of where we
Speaker 7: are in our process, which is ongoing, has a critical
Speaker 7: component in the in the draft, but it's all in
Speaker 7: the same vein of having a unit of people work
Speaker 7: in concert to improve, get better, and that's.
Speaker 5: A strong tonality of the buildings each and every day.
Speaker 1: And then this part, you know, this is a culture
Speaker 1: thing and I love it. Remember we had Kyle Crabs
Speaker 1: on the podcast to outline some of his beliefs about
Speaker 1: how this should go. In my goodness, he absolutely nailed it,
Speaker 1: talking about the need for competition and pitting rookies versus
Speaker 1: second contract guys that are still hungry, and Coach says, quote,
Speaker 1: when I talk about the vision I have for our
Speaker 1: team in twenty twenty five, that includes players that are
Speaker 1: on an upward ascension of development that can contribute to
Speaker 1: the culture of a team first mindset that helps you
Speaker 1: wins game, win games down the stretch. And kJ Britt
Speaker 1: is a guy that probably thinks he can do more
Speaker 1: than he did his first contract. Pharaoh Brown talked about
Speaker 1: his juice and some of the will he has to
Speaker 1: win after playing for the Patriots and Seahawks last couple
Speaker 1: of years. James Daniels is a guy that obviously prioritized
Speaker 1: winning in a big way and chose to go to
Speaker 1: the Steelers after the Bears, going from a team that
Speaker 1: hasn't won a bunch to a team that has has
Speaker 1: won a bunch of games. Now he gets to be
Speaker 1: a good fit in an offense that could really use
Speaker 1: his skill set. I mean really across the or you're
Speaker 1: getting guys that fit that mold. Let's go ahead and
Speaker 1: hear from Coach more about how that can help define
Speaker 1: the culture and not just the guys you bring in
Speaker 1: on the second contract, second and third contracts, but doing
Speaker 1: that with the mindset that you know you're gonna have
Speaker 1: ten draft picks, ten rookies possibly more from the UDFA class.
Speaker 2: Who helps at that culture too?
Speaker 1: Because who is hungrier in the NFL than a player
Speaker 1: that hasn't made any money yet, that hasn't proven themselves
Speaker 1: with resume and film and tape and has a chance
Speaker 1: to make a first impression. Those are the guys that
Speaker 1: are going to typically should be the hungriest players out there,
Speaker 1: and coach wants to pair all that together. Let's go
Speaker 1: ahead and hear from Coach on the direct of this
Speaker 1: offseason to improve the culture and get hungry football players
Speaker 1: on the field.
Speaker 5: Culture is defined by the human beings.
Speaker 7: I think what's unique and I think could be something that.
Speaker 5: I don't know.
Speaker 7: If I investigated, I could write about is that there's
Speaker 7: more roster turnover in the National Football League. Now there's more.
Speaker 7: There's all our veteran contracts right or the smaller second
Speaker 7: and third year contracts. We've seen a lot more three
Speaker 7: years or two years or one year. So how do
Speaker 7: you have a sustained culture? Well, it's by the people. Well,
Speaker 7: draft classes, you know, not only have to be impactful
Speaker 7: year one, your draft classes are also your four to
Speaker 7: five year commitments that you have the ability to set
Speaker 7: the tonality of how your team is or the culture
Speaker 7: that it so.
Speaker 5: To me, I was very happy with last year's draft class.
Speaker 7: And we're working, you know, Chris and I are working
Speaker 7: day and night to make sure we have this. We
Speaker 7: have the same vigor about the opportunity with the ten
Speaker 7: draft picks this year because you're talking about in two
Speaker 7: years seventeen players that that you have a sustained process
Speaker 7: in a league where with parody, it's all about development.
Speaker 7: So we're trying to get the right guys to develop
Speaker 7: as professionals, and their core value has to be team football,
Speaker 7: football winning and they really have to get joy out
Speaker 7: of that. That was a component that was consistent among
Speaker 7: the different personalities we drafted last year. All these guys
Speaker 7: were living and breathing football, and I think that's.
Speaker 5: Even more important as.
Speaker 7: Each team, all thirty two have a unique exercise.
Speaker 5: It has changed in the last couple of years, specifically.
Speaker 7: Of having your football team having an identity that progresses.
Speaker 5: While handling all the roster turnover.
Speaker 7: That's natural with all these shorter contracts that people are
Speaker 7: signed up for. So it is I think that the
Speaker 7: there's a The draft has always been fun.
Speaker 5: The draft has always been important.
Speaker 7: There's a unique twist to the draft now as I
Speaker 7: see a big picture, and you know, very it's very
Speaker 7: important that we that we not only take all the
Speaker 7: things that we did well from last year and that
Speaker 7: draft class, but we we have three more, We have
Speaker 7: ten picks, and so that we we try to have
Speaker 7: as many contributors to our football team and our culture
Speaker 7: as possible with those with those draft picks.
Speaker 5: That we'll be here for a.
Speaker 1: Minute back here after a short break, reacting to coach
Speaker 1: McDaniel talking about the culture change and shift and cultivating
Speaker 1: competition across all position spots and groups. It's not dissimilar
Speaker 1: to what the Rams did under Sean McVay back in
Speaker 1: twenty twenty three when it looked like a team that
Speaker 1: was gonna have to like hard reset, And all I
Speaker 1: did was soft reset with like thirteen draft picks and
Speaker 1: then twenty seven udfas they gave them forty rookies going
Speaker 1: into camp. They cultivated a certain style of player, a
Speaker 1: certain culture. And now this is a Rams team that,
Speaker 1: through good drafting, through good development of later round draft picks,
Speaker 1: has a roster that can afford to go out and
Speaker 1: pay Matthew Stafford's big contract, that can extend Puka Naku
Speaker 1: when that time comes up here who can give you know,
Speaker 1: Kobe Turner and Jared Vers, but they're gonna get here
Speaker 1: eventually when their time comes up as well. And it's
Speaker 1: a kind of a not just a philosophical shift, but
Speaker 1: kind of a culture shift and how you build things.
Speaker 1: And that draft pick commentary is just so fascinating to me,
Speaker 1: and he's right, and that's why you do draft well,
Speaker 1: hit on those picks, then pay those guys. And we
Speaker 1: talked in the first Freegency podcast about how the Bills
Speaker 1: and Eagles had done a good job of getting guys
Speaker 1: done early, and the Bills just did it again with
Speaker 1: Christian Benford early and we've seen that here with Tua
Speaker 1: and Austin and Jalen Waddle, and we'll see about Phillips
Speaker 1: coming up. But if you can do that, and you
Speaker 1: compare that with signing the twenty five twenty six year
Speaker 1: old who didn't play up to his draft billing in
Speaker 1: that first contract and now he's hungry on a short
Speaker 1: term slash prove it type of deal, that's the literal
Speaker 1: iron sharpens iron definition. Well, not literally, but it's fostering
Speaker 1: an environment like that. You reduce complacency, and you cultivate
Speaker 1: situations where guys are straining constantly and where guys feel
Speaker 1: like practice reps are putting their livelihood on the line
Speaker 1: because it is right. And when you get that environment
Speaker 1: in practice, well, that critical third and six in the
Speaker 1: fourth quarter in November is not a new experience. He's
Speaker 1: been through that before. I always joke with my golf buddies,
Speaker 1: you know, I wish there was a way to get
Speaker 1: me to care about missing putts on the practice screen
Speaker 1: because the only time I ever get actual high stress
Speaker 1: Birdie or Parr gotta make type of when you're on
Speaker 1: the course is when you're on the course, and you
Speaker 1: literally cannot replicate that outside of you know, putting money
Speaker 1: on your putts with your pals on the practice green,
Speaker 1: which we don't do. So the only real putts I
Speaker 1: get are the ones in the round itself. So you
Speaker 1: can create this sense of urgency on the football field
Speaker 1: within players by making their playing time and as a result,
Speaker 1: their paycheck dependent on how they play in those practices.
Speaker 5: Right.
Speaker 1: I don't think the process was necessarily bad last year
Speaker 1: because you had a good football team on paper. But
Speaker 1: we did go into camp with what competitions at like
Speaker 1: the guard spots, rotational defensive tackle work, and that's about it, right.
Speaker 1: There was a couple other spots maybe, but you knew
Speaker 1: what the receiver room looked like to a certain extent,
Speaker 1: you knew the tackles in the center, you knew about
Speaker 1: the running backs, and you knew Ramsey and Fuller and
Speaker 1: Coho and Holland Employer were your top five dbs. Like,
Speaker 1: there just wasn't a lot of maybe the best man
Speaker 1: win type of stuff. And that's not to say they
Speaker 1: didn't compete, but I feel like fostering more of a
Speaker 1: competitive environment won't just give you the best player for
Speaker 1: the job.
Speaker 2: That's a great part to have from it.
Speaker 1: But we'll also prepare that play for the moments they'll
Speaker 1: face in season because they can recall I had to
Speaker 1: win this rep against Tyreek Hill to earn this spot
Speaker 1: in the first place. Now let's go do it again
Speaker 1: in a game situation. In fact, there was another question
Speaker 1: about just that. He was asked about Storm Duck cam Smith,
Speaker 1: the battle for that next cornerback job beyond Ramsey and
Speaker 1: Cater Kohu, and the answer was through the lens of
Speaker 1: once again, competition.
Speaker 5: Oh, everyone's competing. You know. I think that.
Speaker 7: What you know, what I think has will prove to
Speaker 7: have the residuals to meet the expectations of you know,
Speaker 7: everyone Dolphins, is that we were creating a unique environment
Speaker 7: where competition is inherent. That you do not think as though,
Speaker 7: oh I'm the starter because I'm annoided.
Speaker 5: You know, I think, uh, competition.
Speaker 7: Is a drive, driving force and motivated athletes becoming you know,
Speaker 7: elite at their trade, and and within that we we
Speaker 7: develop our games. So ultimately, the idea is to be
Speaker 7: a much better team when the season ends. Then when
Speaker 7: the way everyone that covers or sees the football team
Speaker 7: that doesn't see the behind the scenes work thinks we
Speaker 7: will be at this point because we're a team that
Speaker 7: develops and players get better every year, and you have
Speaker 7: to do that through competition. And there's a couple of
Speaker 7: different afritues similar to the quite similar to the interior
Speaker 7: defensive line market, where there's some options. But what I
Speaker 7: what will be the furthest thing. I'll take the depth
Speaker 7: chart that I have in my office to the magnets
Speaker 7: and I might as well just splatter them like it
Speaker 7: does like talk to me in August, because you know
Speaker 7: that that that's the that's always been the mindset of
Speaker 7: the program. But I think a re emphasis and focus
Speaker 7: on on what that is is is the result of
Speaker 7: the hard lessons of the three previous years when you
Speaker 7: don't you know, every time you're not holding the thirty
Speaker 7: one teams, Okay, how do we do that?
Speaker 5: And so every year you try to take.
Speaker 7: What you can from that and then and then press
Speaker 7: forward and we will have competition and they will not
Speaker 7: know I don't you guys can vote's reps that are
Speaker 7: in front of us that are very important. They'll determine that.
Speaker 1: Again, he mentioned options there and they said the same
Speaker 1: thing about the offensive line back in Indianapolis. You know,
Speaker 1: we feel good about a couple of guys we have
Speaker 1: interest in with regards to getting a deal done, and
Speaker 1: that's what this kind of sounds like to me. I'd
Speaker 1: be pretty surprised if they went into August with just
Speaker 1: Zach Sealer Benito Jones and then the cornerback room as
Speaker 1: it is currently constructed. But we shall see. Now, I
Speaker 1: sure think all of this is the right idea in theory.
Speaker 1: I think they went back in assess and that's one
Speaker 1: thing that I've always appreciated about coach McDaniels that they
Speaker 1: do a great job in the offseason of seeing what
Speaker 1: went wrong and trying to attack it with what they
Speaker 1: see the best fit to do it, you know, for
Speaker 1: the following season. And we saw it payoff big time
Speaker 1: in twenty twenty three and to a certain extent last
Speaker 1: year with how they were able to adapt to the
Speaker 1: way teams covered them when they had their quarterback on
Speaker 1: the field.
Speaker 2: Otherwise was a different story.
Speaker 1: So but I think the idea is the right one,
Speaker 1: and we're going to circle back to what kind of
Speaker 1: you know, kicked off the entire necessity of all of
Speaker 1: this and that presence of your best player causing some
Speaker 1: issues at the end of last season by his comments
Speaker 1: and actions. But first a follow up on what coach
Speaker 1: said about the disciplinary actions or how to better enact
Speaker 1: I guess more just discipline and resolve from this team
Speaker 1: and how to do his part to enact the change
Speaker 1: that he needs to elevate the culture that could hopefully
Speaker 1: prevent something like that happening again in the future, even
Speaker 1: if that player returns for his fourth season. Right, So
Speaker 1: coach mentioned, you know, the act of being disciplinary and
Speaker 1: affecting change within the locker room. And I think the
Speaker 1: way you wrap this up is it sounds like the
Speaker 1: Tyreek Hill situation, as you know, anything that went wrong
Speaker 1: informed them for how to approach team building this time around,
Speaker 1: and they're taking the action to improve the football team
Speaker 1: through the lens with him remaining on the team. And
Speaker 1: now is that set in stone. McDaniel did say that
Speaker 1: they're fully planning to move forward with Tyreek on the
Speaker 1: team this year. He did say they never want to
Speaker 1: speak in absolutes, but that's more of a smart guy
Speaker 1: just understand the nature of the business and covering his
Speaker 1: bases that way to avoid being a freezing cold take.
Speaker 1: But you can debate what the right call is here, right,
Speaker 1: because I'm sure we all will, But I will say this,
Speaker 1: you move Tyreek that receiver room, Suddenly there's a lot
Speaker 1: more question marks because you have Waddle and then a
Speaker 1: bunch of kind of unknowns with Westbrook A. Kine being
Speaker 1: a good role guy on Malik Washington. But I guess
Speaker 1: it could be auditioned by subtraction if you had the
Speaker 1: same issues, and you could elevate Wattle to a more
Speaker 1: prominent role. But you know, perhaps, but if you do that,
Speaker 1: you are going to get You're gonna have to get
Speaker 1: a big time contribution from a rookie eligible because you're
Speaker 1: gonna have to go to the draft to find yourself
Speaker 1: a tight end or a receiver that can be a
Speaker 1: number like three option behind Wattle and John new Smith
Speaker 1: or devone like you're gonna have. You can't just lop
Speaker 1: off the star and then say we'll make it up
Speaker 1: with you know, Taj Washington who's unproven, or Erica Zuokama
Speaker 1: or Malik Washington for that matter. Like you know, you're
Speaker 1: not just gonna be just fined. It can be an
Speaker 1: addition in a certain way, but you have to address
Speaker 1: that position. Still, I think you could have pivoted the
Speaker 1: way you did things, and there's some clear signs towards
Speaker 1: a pivot, just based on the moves that we've made
Speaker 1: and the discussion that we had off the top. But
Speaker 1: it came down to, you know, we have to fix
Speaker 1: the culture, or at least that this aspect of it.
Speaker 1: Can we do it while keeping Tyreek on the football team,
Speaker 1: And it appears their answer to that question is yes,
Speaker 1: And as a always the case in football, time will
Speaker 1: prove them either right or wrong. Now, with regards to Reeke,
Speaker 1: McDaniel did say that he's been in the building from
Speaker 1: the end of the offseason to now more than he
Speaker 1: had the previous three years combined. So take from that
Speaker 1: what you will, but it seems like the high end,
Speaker 1: you know, I guess the total optimistic outcome is you
Speaker 1: get a refocused Tyreek who performs at his twenty twenty
Speaker 1: three level and does it for a whole season, because
Speaker 1: remember he did say that his attention to detail tailed
Speaker 1: off at the end of that year for whatever reason,
Speaker 1: and that could help you not just win football games,
Speaker 1: but really reset that culture with your best player leading
Speaker 1: by example and the total pessimist would say, you know
Speaker 1: the guy that spends every waking minute on Twitter complaining
Speaker 1: about Chris Career into a tongue bai loa, is that
Speaker 1: he's a bad apple. The play tails off and it
Speaker 1: blows up. As with all things, it's probably somewhere in
Speaker 1: the middle, but I can certainly see the case being
Speaker 1: made that tyreek Hill, with what you've invested in him,
Speaker 1: the way you've built this offense around him, him playing
Speaker 1: at his peak is far far more valuable than what
Speaker 1: you would get in draft pick compensation. Now, is that
Speaker 1: what I would do? I guess it doesn't matter what
Speaker 1: I would do, but I have to believe that that's
Speaker 1: the thinking there. And you heard Mike say something to
Speaker 1: the effect of the reason we stay on this path
Speaker 1: is our belief. And I do appreciate him having a
Speaker 1: vision and seeing it through because this organization, you know,
Speaker 1: in years of old, would either cut ties early or
Speaker 1: just kind of maybe not have a vision in the
Speaker 1: first place. But I feel twenty twenty five, no matter
Speaker 1: what happens, is going to give you a good feel
Speaker 1: on what is needed for twenty twenty six. Also with
Speaker 1: tyreek Hill regarding his wrist, Mike McDaniel said that he'll
Speaker 1: be available for pretty much everything in the off season
Speaker 1: because it's mostly going to be conditioning for him and
Speaker 1: the actual catching of passes will be able to ramp
Speaker 1: up once training camp gets here. So it sounds like
Speaker 1: all systems are go with him there. Let's go ahead
Speaker 1: and take our last break, come back and talk about
Speaker 1: the quarterback position, the offensive line, and Kalais Campbell all
Speaker 1: of that. Next Drive Time podcast, your host Travis Wingfield,
Speaker 1: brought to you by Auto Nation to a talk for
Speaker 1: the final segment here of our Monday, March thirty first podcast.
Speaker 1: Let's go ahead and hear coach McDaniel on the measures
Speaker 1: being taken to minimize risk for QB one, to a
Speaker 1: tongue of by lab.
Speaker 5: I do have confidence based upon.
Speaker 7: Realistically it was every day he didn't play, which was
Speaker 7: six and a half NFL weeks right that he didn't
Speaker 7: play last season, And I don't want to speak too
Speaker 7: much for him, but the stuff that are absolute fact
Speaker 7: is he he's become the player who he is, which
Speaker 7: is a consistently evolving, developing, improving, a sending player because
Speaker 7: he recognizes.
Speaker 5: The world around him.
Speaker 7: He had to see the ramifications of his lack of availability. Firsthand,
Speaker 7: there's a ton of ramifications that you know, the old
Speaker 7: and wiser you get, the more you're able to okay
Speaker 7: well consistent controllables. We can basically play put in the
Speaker 7: cat his last you know, injuries of the last two
Speaker 7: seasons that have made him there's been a consistency and
Speaker 7: a variable that he can control. So start with jiu
Speaker 7: jitsu and then now as he extends plays, prioritizing his
Speaker 7: health over.
Speaker 5: A frustrated shoulder punch or whatever.
Speaker 7: I have all the confidence, based upon my observation of
Speaker 7: everything preceding that he he's going to control those controllables
Speaker 7: because it was a.
Speaker 5: Hard real he felt it all.
Speaker 7: And you know, I don't think the only way that
Speaker 7: you can do right by anything.
Speaker 5: You learn from whatever that is.
Speaker 7: Wow, is he incentivized to try to stay on the
Speaker 7: field and keep himself up of harm's way. Wow? Has
Speaker 7: he proven to have a consistent theme of improving and
Speaker 7: executing on things that I mean quite literally? You know,
Speaker 7: it feels like he's every year he's in the off
Speaker 7: season program and he comes out of it and he's
Speaker 7: proving a you know, there was a deep ball thing.
Speaker 5: Question before than his.
Speaker 7: UH and his ability to extend plays, I mean the dudes.
Speaker 7: So that's where the confidence comes from. He has to
Speaker 7: do it. I feel like you know that. That's how
Speaker 7: you work with UH, with players on your team and
Speaker 7: any any person on the team, is you observe them
Speaker 7: and you have you you empower those that that you know.
Speaker 5: I believe that he will do everything.
Speaker 7: It's football, But that's where the confidence comes from.
Speaker 5: I guess it comes from life and facts.
Speaker 1: The follow up to that question was do you want
Speaker 1: him playing with more of that play extension style, staying
Speaker 1: in the pocket?
Speaker 2: What's the outlook for Tua and twenty twenty five?
Speaker 7: No, that's the it's it's that's why it's so important
Speaker 7: for coaches and players to communicate.
Speaker 5: To have a you know, quite literally.
Speaker 7: As a coach, you have to coach him to to
Speaker 7: the vision of Okay, what, well, how do I do that?
Speaker 5: Coach?
Speaker 7: Well, it's the art of playing quarterback and utilizing, you know,
Speaker 7: a different skill that he's done at times, but you
Speaker 7: focus on is the art of knowing.
Speaker 5: When it's the time to take the risk of the
Speaker 5: extra hitch.
Speaker 7: And only reserving that for a very specific time and
Speaker 7: every other time. You know, it's a difficult task such
Speaker 7: as uh, the nature of any franchise quarterback in the
Speaker 7: National Football League, so it's something they have to really
Speaker 7: articulate and go through and talk through expectations on certain plays.
Speaker 7: So so guys can proactively play football, you.
Speaker 5: Don't want them, should I do something or not?
Speaker 7: And I think he'll you know, coach player relationship, coach Bevill,
Speaker 7: Frank Smith and all the bogus slow they're all working
Speaker 7: tourists making everyone have the same ends, which is a
Speaker 7: healthy too.
Speaker 1: I like that answer, and I have nothing to add.
Speaker 1: You cannot argue that to what has improved every off season.
Speaker 1: And while this offseason it was more about finding ways
Speaker 1: to create right, maybe that's an over calibration that needs
Speaker 1: to go back to less playmaking because of the health risk.
Speaker 1: But man, the quote about him sitting back and seeing
Speaker 1: what his lack of availability meant to the team. I
Speaker 1: like that because to if we keep you healthy, we're
Speaker 1: going to the playoffs. That's basically how it goes. And
Speaker 1: with his availability concerns, one other way you can get
Speaker 1: back to the playoffs is if he gets hurt, have
Speaker 1: a good backup quarterback that is Zach Wilson. What was
Speaker 1: it about Zach Wilson that intrigued you?
Speaker 7: Coach McDaniel, We drafted a quarterback in San Francisco the
Speaker 7: year he came out.
Speaker 5: I watched every snap of his collegiate play, and like.
Speaker 7: He was a phenomenal talent that in my opinion, didn't
Speaker 7: have said an NFL pocket yet like he had at BYU,
Speaker 7: he was launching it from about ten to eleven yards
Speaker 7: deep and you're not in the phone booth in the
Speaker 7: and so for my estimation, there was gonna be some
Speaker 7: nuanced growth to his game.
Speaker 5: That I I think it is.
Speaker 7: Close to impossible to excel at that early in that
Speaker 7: new form of football that he was playing.
Speaker 5: That's powerful to me in that.
Speaker 7: There's very few people that know what it's like to be.
Speaker 5: Be drafted high in New York City.
Speaker 7: And so then to see his resolve, to see where
Speaker 7: he's digested the whole, the whole situation, and it's like
Speaker 7: anything for all of us. Okay, if you have adversity
Speaker 7: in your life, that can be a source of strength
Speaker 7: and growth, or it could be a source of all Right,
Speaker 7: that that's that's what defines you, and you can't get
Speaker 7: over that. What I see in Zach is the experience
Speaker 7: of being the second pick in the draft, being the
Speaker 7: starter starter week one, and then not being not fulfilling
Speaker 7: the rookie contract that.
Speaker 5: Is behind him. So what that to me?
Speaker 7: That's an exciting prospect, you know.
Speaker 5: Because that's there.
Speaker 7: You can't put a measurement on that human ability that
Speaker 7: is huge at the quarterback position, not comparing the players
Speaker 7: at all on the rec or not comparing the players
Speaker 7: to a found to a found that this environment helped
Speaker 7: him through that process. As coaches, we want to offer
Speaker 7: literally everything to his game, and I'm excited about about
Speaker 7: where he's at based upon him. To be quite frank,
Speaker 7: it's an inexact science, but we thought that he was
Speaker 7: the best option for us.
Speaker 5: He was, he was a direct, calculated target. We we we.
Speaker 8: Thought that that that was a way that the Miami
Speaker 8: Dolphins could get better and are excited to see how
Speaker 8: he seizes that opportunity.
Speaker 1: Pretty interesting and there was some very interesting stuff based
Speaker 1: on the tape as well. I thought the Jets tape
Speaker 1: was a non starter, but that Broncos tape showed you
Speaker 1: that there could be something there, right, and it was
Speaker 1: just preseason football. But you heard McDaniel essentially describe that. Now,
Speaker 1: I personally thought the BYU tape didn't translate because of
Speaker 1: the ten twelve yard drops that coach talked about there.
Speaker 1: But I think when you consider what Mike would have
Speaker 1: seen on tape with him in college, how it would
Speaker 1: have fit into his offense. Now you add four years
Speaker 1: of maturity and that resolved that Zach has demonstrated over
Speaker 1: his you know, resuming his career beyond the Jets. I
Speaker 1: imagine that's a coach that has, you know, shown proof
Speaker 1: of concept for maximizing a talented quarterback. I mean, that's
Speaker 1: what Dolphins fans wanted for years, right going back to
Speaker 1: Ryan Tannehill and before that.
Speaker 2: So I get it.
Speaker 1: And again, to use this phrase again, football just requires
Speaker 1: time to see if we are right or wrong. But
Speaker 1: I think you can definitely explain the thinking behind that,
Speaker 1: and that's really all we can ask for. And that
Speaker 1: was a stitch together, two part answer if you couldn't tell.
Speaker 1: But the follow up that led to the quote he
Speaker 1: was a direct target for us was why not go
Speaker 1: after a proven veteran, So Zach Wilson, you know, there's
Speaker 1: a reason he was the first guy they agreed to
Speaker 1: a deal with, right he was someone they prioritized. And
Speaker 1: you can say that was the same thing true of
Speaker 1: Scaler Thompson and Mike White, or you can look at
Speaker 1: it through the lens of what they did with a
Speaker 1: talented player and Tua previously. With that, all depends on
Speaker 1: your prerogative. I guess are remain cautiously optimistic. So we
Speaker 1: shall see a couple more here for you guys to
Speaker 1: go ahead and hear about Kalais Campbell in the defensive
Speaker 1: tackle position.
Speaker 2: Here's coach.
Speaker 7: He's a very important He's a very important player to
Speaker 7: the team last year, and I see his I see
Speaker 7: him having the opportunity to be a very important player
Speaker 7: on the team this year. I also see within that
Speaker 7: position group because of reasons of a competitive disadvantage that
Speaker 7: I mentioned before, I can't this. I feel like we
Speaker 7: have some options at the position. He has some options.
Speaker 7: It is that position in particular has been you know,
Speaker 7: a focal point you know of mine this off season,
Speaker 7: and I feel good about how it could play out.
Speaker 7: And there's a couple of different scenarios that could play out.
Speaker 1: I have a long audio clip here about Liam Miikenberg,
Speaker 1: but I'm not going to play it because it's just
Speaker 1: too long. But he did say that Liam is going
Speaker 1: to have to be the by far the best version
Speaker 1: of himself if he's going to start this year. So
Speaker 1: that told me that the plan is to not have
Speaker 1: him start, because the expectation shouldn't be that Liam becomes
Speaker 1: a whole new football player if he does great. But
Speaker 1: I imagine that you say that with the thought of, like,
Speaker 1: if he works his butt off and beats out some guys,
Speaker 1: he can earn that position. But it doesn't sound like he's,
Speaker 1: you know, etched in pen by any stretch. Speaking of
Speaker 1: guards that are probably etched in pen. Let's go ahead
Speaker 1: and here lastly about James Daniels and the unique circumstances
Speaker 1: that allowed Miami to pursue this very good player in
Speaker 1: free agency.
Speaker 7: You know, through our vision of what we want to
Speaker 7: get out of the offseason, it was going to take
Speaker 7: a real strong reason and to sign a free agent
Speaker 7: that that was coming off injury. And you know you're
Speaker 7: in in off seasons there there's every year there's there's
Speaker 7: good matches between player need and team need.
Speaker 5: And I think I feel super fortunate and super fired up.
Speaker 7: To get them, particularly because I know by experience, part
Speaker 7: of the pros of the you know, the experience not
Speaker 7: only my all my career, but being a head coach
Speaker 7: is the value of having a U a free agent.
Speaker 7: Was something to prove that that has a chip on
Speaker 7: his shoulder that feels you know what, I'm not afraid
Speaker 7: to say it was, you know, undervalued in my free
Speaker 7: agent opportunity for something I couldn't control. I'm a better
Speaker 7: player that overlaps and his system, the systems he has
Speaker 7: been in and how smart a player is and value
Speaker 7: to made him coming out of college. He can do
Speaker 7: more as he works back with less on field than
Speaker 7: a lot of guys would.
Speaker 5: Be able to.
Speaker 7: So it was a natural fit in the hunger. I
Speaker 7: think we got a lot better with that with that sign.
Speaker 5: I'm fired up about it.
Speaker 1: If you can't tell, yeah, I mean I said it
Speaker 1: on the Daniels Breakdown podcast that he was a better
Speaker 1: player than Aaron Banks who got seventeen and a half
Speaker 1: million per year, but that Daniels had the injury tag
Speaker 1: that lowered his value or the perception of his value.
Speaker 1: But yeah, I mean, smart athletic, It's no surprise this
Speaker 1: guy was a big target, and I think there's a
Speaker 1: lesson in that answer that nothing in the sport is
Speaker 1: black and white. Like James being a smart player who's
Speaker 1: played in the system before, it's probably not as imperative
Speaker 1: that he gets all those spring reps because that combination
Speaker 1: of things being true means he can get up to
Speaker 1: speed fast. Okay, long podcast Wednesday, Charles Davis and I'll
Speaker 1: do a deep dive on jday Barn, the Texas defensive back.
Speaker 1: Until then, you all please be sure to subscribe to
Speaker 1: the podcast, leave us a rating, and leave us a review.
Speaker 1: Follow me on social at winkfle NFL. The team at
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Speaker 7: Just coming home.