Speaker 1: You're listening to the Miami Dolphins Podcast Network. This is
Speaker 1: Drive Time with Travis Wingfield. Back to throw to a
Speaker 1: looking clips a dolt a wide Dolphin touchdown, ty Rick Caul.
Speaker 2: Uncolievable, just blue.
Speaker 3: Byre for a second time.
Speaker 1: Don knew where he was going right away. I want
Speaker 1: to hit that man.
Speaker 3: I'm gonna help you. Someone will keep on your man
Speaker 3: away Wattle, Wattle to a shotgun, back to throw, looking
Speaker 3: at them.
Speaker 4: Up Myers touchdown. It's Waddle his sixth touchdown.
Speaker 1: Pato, how's the King?
Speaker 4: Drive Time with Travis Wingfield begins. Now, let me check
Speaker 4: your pulse if you're not for.
Speaker 5: What is up?
Speaker 4: Dolphins?
Speaker 3: And welcome to the Drive Time podcast, part of the
Speaker 3: Miami Dolphins podcast Network covering your team, your Miami Dolphins.
Speaker 4: How's it going? Everybody?
Speaker 3: I am your host, Travis Wingfield. On today's show, rookie
Speaker 3: Minni Camp is in the books. We heard from the
Speaker 3: guys and watched them on the practice field, albeit briefly.
Speaker 3: We'll cover all of that, plus a few more schedule
Speaker 3: notes for your twenty twenty three slate for your Miami Dolphins.
Speaker 3: All of that in a heck of a lot more
Speaker 3: from the Baptist Health Studios inside the Baptist Health Training Complex.
Speaker 4: This is the Drive Time podcast.
Speaker 3: May Before we get into football players on a football
Speaker 3: field playing the game of football football, let's talk about
Speaker 3: the entire NFL schedule.
Speaker 4: I had a chance to look over this thing.
Speaker 3: I perused it, which some people think that means that
Speaker 3: you glanced at it, but perusing means an in depth
Speaker 3: study of something, and that's exactly what I did. So
Speaker 3: I had a chance to take a look at that.
Speaker 3: And here are my notes from that little Perusian perusing
Speaker 3: perus if. There are no games for the Dolphins this
Speaker 3: year facing a team coming off their bye week, and
Speaker 3: I thought this was pretty rare when I tweeted about
Speaker 3: it on Thursday night, but this is actually the case
Speaker 3: for a lot of teams. There are two teams have
Speaker 3: to play four teams coming off of bye week. Nobody
Speaker 3: else has more than two. And then we have a
Speaker 3: collection of teams that do not play anybody coming off
Speaker 3: of a bye week. They are the Cardinals, the Ravens,
Speaker 3: the Bears, the Browns, the Colts, the Jags, the Patriots,
Speaker 3: the Jets, the Steelers, the Titans, and your Miami Dolphins.
Speaker 3: Now there are also some games where you have a
Speaker 3: short week or less than usual rest type of games.
Speaker 3: I always like looking at those, because, for instance, last year,
Speaker 3: a game on the road in Cincinnati and week number four,
Speaker 3: after just three days of rest after playing the Bills
Speaker 3: at home here in Miami, that's what you are called,
Speaker 3: you would call a scheduled loss. You're not supposed to
Speaker 3: win that game after playing in the hot, hot heat
Speaker 3: that SAPs you. Whether you're at hard Rock Stadium or
Speaker 3: the Cassea Center down on Biscayne Boulevard, it's gonna be
Speaker 3: hot down here, right, That's how it works in sports.
Speaker 3: And so for the Dolphins playing eighty four snaps in
Speaker 3: that Bills game on defense that fourth quarter against the
Speaker 3: Bengals they couldn't get a stop, made a whole bunch
Speaker 3: of sense.
Speaker 4: But anyway, let's go ahead and look at this.
Speaker 3: So here are the weeks that we have regular amount
Speaker 3: of rest time the Chargers, Patriots, Broncos, Bills, Panthers, Eagles, Patriots, Chiefs, Jets, Titans,
Speaker 3: and Cowboys. That's one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten,
Speaker 3: eleven of your games. We have six games where the
Speaker 3: teams do not have the same amount of rest time.
Speaker 3: It starts in week number five. The Giants coming off
Speaker 3: a short week on Monday Night Football. They are at
Speaker 3: home for that game, so it's a plus one advantage
Speaker 3: for the Dolphins, and that means the Giants get to
Speaker 3: go home at midnight, go sleep in their own beds,
Speaker 3: and the coaches can get up the.
Speaker 4: Next morning and go to the office. Right.
Speaker 3: And I make that point because there's a game later
Speaker 3: in the season where the team that we face coming
Speaker 3: off of Monday Night Football is coming from a road game.
Speaker 3: And I'll explain why that's important here in just one second.
Speaker 3: Week number eleven, coming off of a bye for US
Speaker 3: gives us the plus seven advantage on the Las Vegas Raiders.
Speaker 3: Our first deficit is the Commander's game. They're coming off
Speaker 3: a Thursday night or a Thursday, I should say afternoon
Speaker 3: game the Thanksgiving game, so that'll give them a three
Speaker 3: day advantage minus three for us. There's another deficit after
Speaker 3: the Monday Night Football game against the Titans, a sh
Speaker 3: short week obviously minus one, and that's for the Jets.
Speaker 4: Boom.
Speaker 3: I don't like that we get the Jets on a
Speaker 3: short week the first time shorty for them as well.
Speaker 3: On the road, and then they get us on a
Speaker 3: short week again the second time, Come on, come on.
Speaker 3: Then it's back to a plus one with the Ravens
Speaker 3: coming off Monday night football in San Francisco. And this
Speaker 3: is what I'm talking about right here, having to fly
Speaker 3: back in the early morning hour. So for the Ravens
Speaker 3: on the East Coast schedule, the game wraps at you know,
Speaker 3: eleven thirty midnight, it takes you an hour and a
Speaker 3: half to get on the plane one o'clock. You make
Speaker 3: a six hour cross country fly. All of a sudden,
Speaker 3: you get home at seven am, nobody has slept well.
Speaker 3: You pretty much have to just cancel out the entire
Speaker 3: review of that game and just begin your game playing
Speaker 3: for the Dolphins, so they won't have a chance to
Speaker 3: make the corrections like they would like to.
Speaker 4: It just puts you back quite a bit.
Speaker 3: It's akin to the Dolphins last year having to go
Speaker 3: to Los Angeles on a Sunday night game, which that
Speaker 3: was flexed into primetime, and then they knew they had
Speaker 3: the Dolphins and Bills on a short week in Buffalo.
Speaker 3: Can we make decisions for the teams and not just
Speaker 3: for the best interests and ratings?
Speaker 4: And cash.
Speaker 3: No, but I get it, you pretty much wipe out
Speaker 3: that next morning, right, So Tuesday morning for the Ravens
Speaker 3: in this instance gets completely wiped out.
Speaker 4: So there's a total advantage for the.
Speaker 3: Dolphins here of plus five days in terms of the
Speaker 3: rest advantage, largely because we get the game off the buy.
Speaker 4: And don't face anybody coming off of it. But there
Speaker 4: are was it five games?
Speaker 1: No?
Speaker 3: Six games in total where the rest is not the same.
Speaker 3: How about looking at potential trap or look ahead games
Speaker 3: like I think for the Dolphins this doesn't exist this
Speaker 3: year because they are one of the best teams in
Speaker 3: the NFL, but it's still worth looking at. So Week one,
Speaker 3: the Chargers obviously don't play anybody before US, but they
Speaker 3: play the Titans in Tennessee after US. For the Patriots,
Speaker 3: the game against Miami in Week two is sandwiched by
Speaker 3: the Eagles at home in Week one and at the
Speaker 3: Jets in Week three. I mean, they're not going to
Speaker 3: overlook the Dolphins, but those are two really intriguing games
Speaker 3: with the Patriots, so they are sandwich between two high
Speaker 3: leverage games. There for the Broncos, nothing two NFC games
Speaker 3: the Commanders and at the Bears for the Bills in
Speaker 3: Week four, they are at the Commanders and then they're
Speaker 3: in London for Jacksonville and that's a big deal. And
Speaker 3: you might say, why, Travis, they're playing that game after us, Well,
Speaker 3: your preparation for the London trip begins long before the
Speaker 3: week of the trip, and so you're trying to get
Speaker 3: tickets sorted out, you're trying to get travel for your
Speaker 3: family sorted out, you're trying to get your luggage packed
Speaker 3: for a couple of games. And so for them to
Speaker 3: go to London after our game, it's just something else
Speaker 3: they would have in their minds as far as preparation
Speaker 3: looking forward. I would be very surprised if the Bills
Speaker 3: overlook the Dolphins. It's not going to happen, but it's
Speaker 3: something worth talking about. I think week number five against
Speaker 3: the Giants, we talked about the advantage there with them
Speaker 3: on the short week against the Seahawks on Monday Night football.
Speaker 3: Then they go at the Bills after that, also a
Speaker 3: primetime game, so it's like the Dolphins of the one
Speaker 3: game they have there that's not primetime.
Speaker 4: That's a little bit interesting as well.
Speaker 3: Week six for the Panthers, they're at the Lions and
Speaker 3: have a buye after our game. That's the case quite
Speaker 3: a bit in here, which I think is a trade
Speaker 3: off for not having teams coming off of buye. I mean,
Speaker 3: I guess you could make the point that they would
Speaker 3: like empty the tank, but this is the NFL. You
Speaker 3: do that every single week, trying to win every single game,
Speaker 3: So I don't put a lot of stock into that.
Speaker 3: For the Eagles in Week seven, they at the Jets
Speaker 3: prior and at the Commander's afterwards, so a home game
Speaker 3: stay much between two road games. For the Patriots, in
Speaker 3: Week eight, they have two home games, they which around
Speaker 3: the road game in Miami. They are home for the
Speaker 3: Bills before and home for the Commanders after the Chiefs.
Speaker 4: This is another interesting one.
Speaker 3: They are at the Broncos before the game against the
Speaker 3: Dolphins in Germany. And I bring that up because, just
Speaker 3: like I mentioned with our Week four Bengals game last year,
Speaker 3: playing in Denver just it's a little bit different than
Speaker 3: anywhere else in the league in the sense that you
Speaker 3: get a little bit more I hate to use this word,
Speaker 3: but saffed of your energy, right like playing in the
Speaker 3: Mile High City. It's a different type of environment, different
Speaker 3: type of elevation, so you kind of have to prepare differently,
Speaker 3: so to go from that to a then was a
Speaker 3: twelve hour flight to Germany for the international game for them.
Speaker 4: That's interesting to me.
Speaker 3: It's like the worst possible case for them, you know,
Speaker 3: speaking about being on the road before that trip and
Speaker 3: then making the long trick over that's longer than the
Speaker 3: trip is for US.
Speaker 4: Then they have the.
Speaker 3: Bye week afterwards, obviously, but very interesting there. Week ten's
Speaker 3: the bye Week eleven for the Raiders. They play the
Speaker 3: Jets before the game against US on Sunday Night Football
Speaker 3: and the Chiefs after, So that's like again sandwich between
Speaker 3: two really big games, a primetime game and then the
Speaker 3: Chiefs their big division rival for the Jets. In Week twelve,
Speaker 3: they are at the Bills before our game and home
Speaker 3: for the Falcons after our game on Black Friday. The
Speaker 3: Week thirteen game against the Commanders, they're at the Cowboys
Speaker 3: on Thanksgiving, then have the bye after our game, so
Speaker 3: that's the ten day advantage for them there. Week fourteen
Speaker 3: against the Titans, they play the Colts prior and the
Speaker 3: Texans after both those games at home. In Week fifteen,
Speaker 3: the Jets before our game or home for the Texans
Speaker 3: after our game are home for the Commanders. The Commanders
Speaker 3: are on this list a ton Week sixteen against the Cowboys.
Speaker 3: They are at the Bills prior to our game and
Speaker 3: then have a short week after our game against the
Speaker 3: Lions on a Saturday night game.
Speaker 4: In Week seventeen the Ravens again.
Speaker 3: They're at the forty nine Ers on Monday Night Football
Speaker 3: prior to our game, and then finish up their year
Speaker 3: against the division rivals Steelers, just like us against the
Speaker 3: Bills and then the Bills in Week eighteen to our
Speaker 3: game they are home for the Patriots. So really interesting
Speaker 3: stuff there. I mentioned the Bills and the Chiefs. Travel
Speaker 3: situation for international to me is a little bit intriguing.
Speaker 3: You know, if it gives you one more play that
Speaker 3: goes in your way that wouldn't have otherwise, that's an advantage.
Speaker 3: That's so that's kind of what we're looking at there.
Speaker 3: And then this is also interesting to me. DraftKings has
Speaker 3: the Dolphins favored in eleven of their seventeen games this year.
Speaker 3: That's tied for the sixth most, behind only the Chiefs, Niners, Bengals, Eagles,
Speaker 3: and Bills. It's tied with Dallas, the Jets, the Lions,
Speaker 3: and the Chargers.
Speaker 4: Of course, that's just for entertainment purposes.
Speaker 3: They're only and talking about projections and what you know,
Speaker 3: certain folks think about this team's chances in certain games.
Speaker 3: We also have a preseason schedule for y'all. No date
Speaker 3: or time on the Week one and Week three game,
Speaker 3: but the week of August tenth through fourteenth, that is
Speaker 3: Thursday through Monday for the potential landing spot of that.
Speaker 3: I don't think will be in primetime for these games
Speaker 3: because typically what they do with the primetime preseason schedule
Speaker 3: is they give the teams that don't have regular season
Speaker 3: primetime games, they put him in these slots.
Speaker 4: In Miami, we know has plenty of primetime games.
Speaker 3: But the first game home for the Falcons, that's probably
Speaker 3: going to be a joint practice here against that Falcons team,
Speaker 3: which that's a good roster in a fun or i
Speaker 3: should say, a unique style of offense to look at
Speaker 3: and approach and attack and defensively as well as dnps.
Speaker 3: There but no time on that for that game, obviously,
Speaker 3: since there's no day for it. The Week two game, however,
Speaker 3: in Houston, has a time and a date Saturday, August
Speaker 3: the nineteenth at the Texans at eight pm. That is
Speaker 3: probably going to be joint practices there in Houston as well.
Speaker 3: And then week number three is TBD between the weeks
Speaker 3: or on the week of eight twenty four through August
Speaker 3: twenty eighth, that's at Jacksonville and no time there obviously either.
Speaker 3: Let's go ahead and finish up here real quick with
Speaker 3: some Warre and Sharp schedule analysis. He says the Dolphins
Speaker 3: have the fifth most difficult schedule based on projected win
Speaker 3: totals for twenty twenty three. I always like that over
Speaker 3: twenty twenty two record because teams changed so much every year.
Speaker 3: The Patriots have the toughest, the Bills have the second toughest,
Speaker 3: and the Jets have the eighth toughest. Typically, tough schedules
Speaker 3: go by division. That's just how it goes. If you
Speaker 3: play the same teams and if you have a good division,
Speaker 3: you have probably have a tough schedule. We were one
Speaker 3: of two teams last year who had one of these
Speaker 3: seven toughest schedules in the NFL and made the playoffs.
Speaker 3: The Bengals were the other team, and Warren Sharp talks
Speaker 3: about how rare it is to overachieve with a tough schedule,
Speaker 3: So that's kind of interesting. We've got three straight home
Speaker 3: games but do not have such a stretch on the road,
Speaker 3: so that seems kind of fair to me. After that
Speaker 3: gauntlet last year of going out West for two games
Speaker 3: against the Niners and Chargers and then going on a
Speaker 3: short week to Buffalo, that was a brutal stretch and
Speaker 3: we damn near pulled off all three of those games.
Speaker 3: Of course, did not win any of them, and that
Speaker 3: was a big change in the way that season played out.
Speaker 4: So there you go.
Speaker 3: We've got rookie Minie Caamp coming your way next, some
Speaker 3: practice details and hearing from the players themselves. That's next
Speaker 3: on the Draft Time Podcast, your host Travis Wingfield, brought.
Speaker 4: To you by Auto Nation.
Speaker 3: And then a football practice broke out and rookie Mini
Speaker 3: Caamp is officially a rap. And this is probably just
Speaker 3: an example of how football starved I am, but damn it,
Speaker 3: I enjoyed that a lot.
Speaker 4: And I looked like such.
Speaker 3: A dork out there, binoculars around my neck, notepad and
Speaker 3: roster in hand, frantically writing notes and here are those notes.
Speaker 3: So there's a lot going on out there. Right, so
Speaker 3: I had to make some choices. The offensive line and
Speaker 3: defensive line and linebackers were on the opposite side of
Speaker 3: the field, so I just tried to stay with what
Speaker 3: was in front of me. I did make it a
Speaker 3: point to watch Ryan Hayes a little bit and a
Speaker 3: little bit of James Tunstall, the offensive tackle from Cincinnati,
Speaker 3: but got almost nothing else from those position groups. But
Speaker 3: here's what I did get as the lion's share of
Speaker 3: my attention went to Camp Smith, Devon a Chain and
Speaker 3: Elijah Higgins Smith. You've heard this from the tape reviews,
Speaker 3: but it's nice to see it here in the Aqua
Speaker 3: Orange number twenty four man. He is a smooth, smooth operator,
Speaker 3: smooth mover. You get a lot of drills that you'd
Speaker 3: see in Indie at the combine in the well Indies.
Speaker 3: Here the individual drills we call him Indies. So there's
Speaker 3: lots of backpedal drive, backpedal drive, side shuffle drive, backpedal drive,
Speaker 3: like it's movement side to side, back to front, and
Speaker 3: it shows you how guys, how loose they are in
Speaker 3: the hips, how fluid they are as movement. So you
Speaker 3: get a chance to look at those really in depth.
Speaker 3: Out here on the practice field up close in person,
Speaker 3: this dude just glides all over the field super sudden
Speaker 3: out of that back pedal, and that tracks with what
Speaker 3: we saw on the tape. Right eyes in the quarterback
Speaker 3: diagnosed the route from his pregames, his pre game day study,
Speaker 3: you know, throughout the course of the week, and then
Speaker 3: just trust those eyes and go make a play.
Speaker 4: He's super long.
Speaker 3: Looked like the tallest longest member of the dB group
Speaker 3: to me just by his stature alone.
Speaker 4: Kedrin Smith is six to two.
Speaker 3: He's a little bit taller, but comparatively the length pops
Speaker 3: I think in number twenty four.
Speaker 4: They also did some work on the bags that you.
Speaker 3: Would see from the defensive line, and he really attacked
Speaker 3: it with a ferocity.
Speaker 4: You love to see impact of the bag.
Speaker 3: You could hear the slap from the other out of
Speaker 3: the football field, ripped back off the punch in a
Speaker 3: way that displays what I think is one of the
Speaker 3: best parts of his game in the run support, in
Speaker 3: the aggressiveness with which he plays in that South Carolina
Speaker 3: tape that he showed you. And look, it's non padded
Speaker 3: rookie practices here in May, but he absolutely looks the
Speaker 3: part I mean goes fifty first in the draft, that's
Speaker 3: kind of obvious, but also he was always the first
Speaker 3: one in each drill. And let's go ahead and go
Speaker 3: to his media availability here and hear from him, because
Speaker 3: he talked about leadership, how to work the right way,
Speaker 3: and what he's trying to get accomplished out here at
Speaker 3: Rookie Mini Camp. I'm a tiny bit bummed because I
Speaker 3: don't have the audio of him saying this, but he discussed.
Speaker 3: I asked him what would make the weekend a success
Speaker 3: if you were you trying to accomplish out here at
Speaker 3: two days of Rookie Mini Camp, and he said, I
Speaker 3: don't want to have any loafs as in my effort level.
Speaker 3: I want to be on tape every single play given
Speaker 3: by all and also no miss assignment. So that was
Speaker 3: kind of cool to hear from him. Actually, I had
Speaker 3: that question across the entire panel, as it were for
Speaker 3: the guys, and they basically said, not the same mistake twice,
Speaker 3: don't be loafing out here and be on my assignment.
Speaker 3: So you can tell they're coach in a certain way.
Speaker 3: And I want to go ahead and play this sound
Speaker 3: bite for you here because it talks about the way
Speaker 3: camp Smith works and what's important to him. And you know,
Speaker 3: he had a baby girl a couple of years ago,
Speaker 3: so fellow girl dad. He talked about how that kind
Speaker 3: of just gave him even more purpose to drill down
Speaker 3: his work in his profession. And this answer right here
Speaker 3: to me tells you about the way he's wired and
Speaker 3: how he wants to work. Because he was asked, what
Speaker 3: have you been doing since you got here, he said
Speaker 3: he wanted to come down.
Speaker 4: You know, let's go adad and play the audio.
Speaker 6: Uh, I mean, the last week ain't really been hectig.
Speaker 6: I've been down here most of the time. I got
Speaker 6: a little airbnb out here, like before Camp start and stuff,
Speaker 6: so I've just been staying there. I left like two
Speaker 6: days after I got drafted, so I was like, I
Speaker 6: was just ready to go. So I came down here
Speaker 6: and started working out with gofee, making sure I stayed
Speaker 6: in shape, making sure I stayed good with everything else.
Speaker 4: And again I apologize.
Speaker 3: I had a great question and ask with Cam about
Speaker 3: what he learned from the USC program South kind about
Speaker 3: playing at the National Football League. He talks about the
Speaker 3: way they work and the concepts they run and the
Speaker 3: systems on defense and how it prepares them to have
Speaker 3: guys like Darius Rush who got drafted this year as
Speaker 3: well j C. Horn, who was the eighth pick in
Speaker 3: the draft. For just a couple of years ago. Stefund
Speaker 3: more years ago that school tends to breed cornerback play.
Speaker 3: Let's go next to Campsmith here, who talked discussed a
Speaker 3: conversation that Chris Perkins here on the Sun Sentinel Beat
Speaker 3: discussing Clayton White at South Carolina. We're talking about how
Speaker 3: one thing he noticed about camp Smith is his smile
Speaker 3: and how he loves to play football. Here he is
Speaker 3: talking about how much he loves the game and competitiveness
Speaker 3: and where all that comes from.
Speaker 6: I feel like it's really the only time I really
Speaker 6: do smile a lot when I'm talking about football, though,
Speaker 6: when I'm on a football field and stuff like that.
Speaker 6: So just kind of being out there showing my personality,
Speaker 6: showing what I know and showing what I can do,
Speaker 6: it just kind of beatd me.
Speaker 3: So next, in order of draft picks, running back devon
Speaker 3: a chain and there's not a lot you can ascertain
Speaker 3: from the running back position and individual drills. Right, It's
Speaker 3: mostly quarterback running back exchange, working on handoffs and aiming
Speaker 3: points for the back in the offense, and they don't
Speaker 3: open it up. It's get the handoff and then kind
Speaker 3: of run through your target point and then go back
Speaker 3: to the huddle. However, he did later open things up,
Speaker 3: and the speed it is very much there. The part
Speaker 3: I liked the most was when they went to the
Speaker 3: passing drills during individuals and the running backs run these
Speaker 3: little Texas routes. Right, that's the most common route from
Speaker 3: a backfield alignment where you have a choice route where
Speaker 3: you basically release around the edge off the side of
Speaker 3: the formation, square up the linebacker and put him in
Speaker 3: a position where you can choose to go inside or
Speaker 3: outside on those choice routes, and then break it off inside.
Speaker 3: To me, I think it's going to be a big
Speaker 3: part of this offense for you know, Tua. When it's
Speaker 3: not there downfield check these balls down to the running
Speaker 3: backs and the tight ends.
Speaker 4: But he looked like a wide.
Speaker 3: Receiver in the way he set up the route, getting
Speaker 3: square to the linebacker and then the ball was upfield
Speaker 3: and way off of his frame and he reaches out
Speaker 3: and plucks it off the body that's a very wide
Speaker 3: receiver type of REP. A REP that shows you what
Speaker 3: he can do in the passing game and shows you value,
Speaker 3: even as a rookie in such a critical area of
Speaker 3: the game, that could get him on the field. You know,
Speaker 3: sooner rather than later. Let's go ahead and hear from
Speaker 3: Devon hen and his media availability. I really wanted to
Speaker 3: ask him about the quote that I read in the
Speaker 3: Dane Brugler The Beast Draft guide where he discussed how
Speaker 3: Jimbo Fisher was just over the moon about Devon a
Speaker 3: change's character and what it meant that he was so
Speaker 3: gung ho about coming back for that final game after
Speaker 3: suffering an injury when he could have just said, you
Speaker 3: know what, NFL draft round the corner, I'm good, see
Speaker 3: you boys never again. But that's not what he did.
Speaker 3: He came back and played and rushed for over two
Speaker 3: hundred yards and helped them upset a top five team.
Speaker 3: Here's a chain on the decision to play against LSU
Speaker 3: last year.
Speaker 7: So at that time, LSU, the top five team, know
Speaker 7: they were trying to, you know, win so they can
Speaker 7: get in the top four and make playoffs. They're a
Speaker 7: great team. I knew it was gonna be a very
Speaker 7: competitive game, and I'm a very competitive person, and so
Speaker 7: much on that. I told my teammates, you know, I
Speaker 7: was gonna miss the two weeks before that because my
Speaker 7: food was hurt. But I told him that I'm gonna
Speaker 7: make sure that I get it good enough so I
Speaker 7: can't play with y'all because there was some of some
Speaker 7: of the seniors might be their last time playing on
Speaker 7: cald field. So I just want to, you know, be
Speaker 7: there and share that moment with him. So I made
Speaker 7: sure that you know, I was on the field with
Speaker 7: him at that time.
Speaker 3: And so that was the Dolphins third round draft pick.
Speaker 3: We moved now to the seventh round with Elijah Higgins.
Speaker 3: In My first note is this guy's gosh. He is
Speaker 3: a first off the bus type of body, thickly built,
Speaker 3: but the way he moves you can see the wide
Speaker 3: receiver experience and again confirming what I saw on tape,
Speaker 3: the detail and the way he sets up his routes
Speaker 3: for you know, lack of a better word, is evident.
Speaker 3: He comes to balance, he chops the feet, he sinks
Speaker 3: the hips and explodes out of the break. In the
Speaker 3: individual period, they were doing a little cornering drill, the
Speaker 3: one where you have cone set up in like a
Speaker 3: square and you sprint and corner around them and come back.
Speaker 3: And he shows you those aforementioned route running skills. In
Speaker 3: this arena, sinking the hips is very, very evident, and
Speaker 3: you are not a good route runner if you cannot
Speaker 3: sink your hips. Essentially, it means you throttle down at
Speaker 3: the top of the route, and it looks if you
Speaker 3: can sink your hips into the route. Every route looks
Speaker 3: the same, whether it's a stutter and go, whether it's
Speaker 3: a dig, whether it's a comeback, whether it's you know,
Speaker 3: a hitch coming back down the stem, it all looks
Speaker 3: the same if you sink your hips the right way.
Speaker 3: If you can't do it, you're gonna tip your routes.
Speaker 4: That's why it's so important.
Speaker 3: And during one portion of practice, he runs what looks
Speaker 3: like a little choice route where he presses the toes
Speaker 3: of the you know, the hooke defender, gather his balance
Speaker 3: and just comes completely in the position where you can't
Speaker 3: tell which way he's gonna go, and he flashes his
Speaker 3: numbers back to the quarterback on the hitch route and
Speaker 3: the ball hits him right between the eight and the
Speaker 3: four plucks, it turns around and drops the shoulder into
Speaker 3: a tackler and takes off down the field and opens
Speaker 3: it up with like a twenty mile an hour sprint.
Speaker 3: This dude's gonna make some plays after the catch.
Speaker 4: Man.
Speaker 3: Let's go ahead and hear from him and his media
Speaker 3: availability on Friday.
Speaker 6: Yeah, I got the playbook a couple of days ago,
Speaker 6: so I've been digging into that, obviously learning a few
Speaker 6: different roles I'm not quite used to. But it's been
Speaker 6: fun so far, and I'm excited for this first practice.
Speaker 3: And then finally in the seventh round, Ryan Hayes, like
Speaker 3: I said, didn't get much of a look at him,
Speaker 3: and it's essentially, you know, drilling footwork firing off the
Speaker 3: ball here right, so not a lot to look at.
Speaker 3: It looks skinny below the waist, the legs, and didn't
Speaker 3: look as smooth latterally as I thought he did in
Speaker 3: Michigan going downhill. But you can definitely see there's something
Speaker 3: to work with there. But it was just didn't get
Speaker 3: a good look at him. And I don't have the
Speaker 3: audio for Ryan Hayes right here, but he did talk
Speaker 3: about how he basically stayed home back in Michigan and
Speaker 3: just got all of his lifting in and kept working hard.
Speaker 3: I got the playbook recently and excited about learn from
Speaker 3: outside Zone and knows the concepts and knows the differences
Speaker 3: from what he ran back at Michigan. Also talked about
Speaker 3: butcher Berry a little bit. The offensive line coach. He said,
Speaker 3: he seems awesome. He really says things that are well
Speaker 3: thought out, has a lot of good information, lots of techniques.
Speaker 3: I'm just soaking everything up. Obviously, he's coached a long
Speaker 3: time in this league, so everything he says is valuable.
Speaker 4: So there you go.
Speaker 3: Media availabilities from the rookies that were drafted. Next, we're
Speaker 3: gonna play Mike Q and A's with three guys I
Speaker 3: spoke to. It was James Blackman, Julian Hill, and who
Speaker 3: was the last one, Ezekiel Vanderberg. That's next Draft Time podcast,
Speaker 3: your host Travis Wingfield, brought to you by Auto Nation.
Speaker 3: We're gonna conclude this episode with soundbites from three u
Speaker 3: DFAs Mike Q and A with Ezekiel Vanderberg, Julian Hill,
Speaker 3: and James Blackman. Let's go ahead and kick it off
Speaker 3: here with linebacker Zeke Vanderberg.
Speaker 5: You're picking the letter right.
Speaker 3: I mean as far as a couple of teams being
Speaker 3: after you, how'd you choose an Iami Dolphins or make you.
Speaker 2: Want to come here for I put all my trusts
Speaker 2: in my agent to figure out the best deal for me.
Speaker 2: He's a good dude, trust him. So he thought this
Speaker 2: was a good fit and obviously can't complain being South Florida.
Speaker 2: It's a great opportunity.
Speaker 5: Yeah, I'm my Northwest guy, myself said. The weather change
Speaker 5: is pretty nice, so rock Community camp.
Speaker 4: Back're obviously getting on the grasp for the first time
Speaker 4: as a pro. What would be a successful weekend for you? Like,
Speaker 4: what are you trying to get accomplished out here?
Speaker 2: I'm just trying to play with great effort, pick up
Speaker 2: as much as I can of the defense, and have fun,
Speaker 2: be an influence on my new teammates potentially, and just
Speaker 2: soak up this moment.
Speaker 3: One of the things we hear from veterans, rookie us,
Speaker 3: all kinds of players a like around here is how
Speaker 3: much they enjoy the environment, the atmosphere, and the camaraderie.
Speaker 3: I know your full brand new here, but what have
Speaker 3: you noticed about that so far?
Speaker 2: There's definitely a lot of energy. It's everyone is happy
Speaker 2: to be here. It's just a great vibe around the place.
Speaker 2: I obviously haven't been with the Beats as the rest
Speaker 2: of the team, and also I haven't really got a
Speaker 2: taste of all that, but I'm excited for that opportunity.
Speaker 4: Thank you and tight end from Campbell Julian Hill.
Speaker 5: That's a rookie.
Speaker 3: Obviously you have your chance to, you know, choose where
Speaker 3: you go among the teams that are interested you at
Speaker 3: least what made you want to.
Speaker 8: Choose the Dolphins coach inb and I love your system.
Speaker 8: You know where Gay was, what he's doing with the
Speaker 8: how uses tight ends, and then just there their culture.
Speaker 6: I love it.
Speaker 8: And then you know we're in Miami, so you know
Speaker 8: all three, all through of those things. Just you know,
Speaker 8: come in the warning it's a good spot.
Speaker 5: Just want you to know this weather is pretty rarest
Speaker 5: time of year.
Speaker 4: It's a lot harder for sure.
Speaker 3: So when you get down with rookie Mini caamp here
Speaker 3: after the two days are done, get a chance to
Speaker 3: be have back on the grass in the in the classroom.
Speaker 5: What would make a successful weekend for you?
Speaker 8: Just not making the same mistakes. You know, being a rookie,
Speaker 8: you gonna you're gonna make mistakes as part of the process,
Speaker 8: but just not making the same ones and just trying
Speaker 8: to get better every single day.
Speaker 3: Sure, So this this team, a lot of the veterans, rookies,
Speaker 3: guys that have been there for just a short amount
Speaker 3: of time, long amount of time, talk a lot about
Speaker 3: the camaraderie and the energy in this building and the
Speaker 3: way it's just kind of fun to be here.
Speaker 5: What if you knows about that so far?
Speaker 8: I definitely see it. You know, you're coming in, you're nervous,
Speaker 8: especially as an undrafted guy or even the rookie and
Speaker 8: general you're nervous. But everybody got the you know, cool faces.
Speaker 8: Everybody's not you know, give you that that evil live
Speaker 8: when they look at you.
Speaker 3: Man.
Speaker 8: So everybody's all genuine. Coach is genuine that even though
Speaker 8: drafted rookies like myself, you know, we all you know,
Speaker 8: working together, talking together.
Speaker 3: It's a good time.
Speaker 5: Sam, what's your first impression to coach with Genie?
Speaker 8: I like him, Yeah, a little bit unexpected because I
Speaker 8: thought something else, like maybe he was gonna be a
Speaker 8: little harder, But nah, I mean he's a he's a
Speaker 8: real laid back, easy going guy, but he loves football.
Speaker 8: He knows what we're talking about for sure.
Speaker 3: So when you make the jump from Campbell and you
Speaker 3: you play in one of the college offs games, right ball.
Speaker 3: So when you make the jump from from Campbell to
Speaker 3: Huli Bull and know how y'all hear in the NFL,
Speaker 3: what's that kind of does it kind of hit.
Speaker 5: You like we're here?
Speaker 6: Man?
Speaker 1: Oh?
Speaker 8: For sure? Man, I mean coming from the to the facilities,
Speaker 8: you know, just the uniforms, yourself to gear everything. Man,
Speaker 8: I'm just taking it all in. You know, it's a
Speaker 8: blessing to be here, a great opportunity coming from FCS
Speaker 8: and I get a chance to, you know, show what
Speaker 8: I'm able to do.
Speaker 3: Pretty much the same line of questioning here for James
Speaker 3: black Men the idea of what made you come to Miami?
Speaker 3: What are you looking to get accomplished to? Here's the quarterback,
Speaker 3: James Blackman.
Speaker 1: So I don't have no time off. So once we
Speaker 1: leave here, I'm still at work. I'll just continue to
Speaker 1: grind get into the playbook because it's a lot of
Speaker 1: it's a it's a big chunk of playbook that you
Speaker 1: got to learn and I'm I'm up for the talent
Speaker 1: and I'm willing to put the work for It's.
Speaker 5: Like quarterback coach, you got love experienced coach.
Speaker 1: Cloud all pros in this level so far. Oh man,
Speaker 1: he's a great coach. Uh. He's enthusiastic, the energy he
Speaker 1: brings every day.
Speaker 6: Uh.
Speaker 1: And then his coaching style. He wanted to make sure
Speaker 1: that you know what you're doing before you go out
Speaker 1: there and trying to play ball, and and most off,
Speaker 1: you want to make sure you're a good guy. As
Speaker 1: good as you are on the field, you got to
Speaker 1: be the same way off the field. And that just
Speaker 1: what I like about the coaching staff here. Is there
Speaker 1: another team that you considered going to? I know, you
Speaker 1: see if the Donkins were on you, Yeah, sir, honestly,
Speaker 1: it was a few teams, but them teams ain't coming through,
Speaker 1: so I really don't want to bring them up. And
Speaker 1: I'm just thankful for the minment Dolphins, just to be
Speaker 1: here in this facility and just for the to be
Speaker 1: able to talk to you guys, and it's great weather.
Speaker 1: I'm just thankful for this. What would you consider a
Speaker 1: good rookie season for yourself? For me, a good rookie season.
Speaker 1: It's already started. Good. Just to be able to talk
Speaker 1: to you guys, hout this jersey on like, man, I
Speaker 1: come from nothing then, just to be here and get
Speaker 1: this feeling. Man, that's just all I can ask for.
Speaker 1: I'm very thankful, and I'll figure out my role in
Speaker 1: the next couple of weeks. So and I continue to
Speaker 1: grind at.
Speaker 4: The South Florida guy, would it be that dolphin helmet today?
Speaker 1: I meant in the world. Man, I meant in the world,
Speaker 1: like I say, I'm right down the road, South Bay, Florida. Uh,
Speaker 1: it just meant the world. Just being back home, being
Speaker 1: in the atmosphere, like I said, Man.
Speaker 4: All right, there you go. Fun podcast, man.
Speaker 3: Cool to watch some football and see these rookies and
Speaker 3: get a chance to meet them. They're always pretty pretty
Speaker 3: pleasant with you, trying to make a good impression.
Speaker 4: So that's always nice to have that. In the meantime,
Speaker 4: it's gonna be my time you all.
Speaker 3: Please be sure to subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcast,
Speaker 3: leave us.
Speaker 4: A rating and leave us a review. We're gonna come
Speaker 4: back on Tuesday.
Speaker 3: The Emory Hunt podcast will drop breaking down this entire
Speaker 3: UDFA class. You do not want to miss that, go
Speaker 3: ahead and throw me a follow on Twitter at Wingfield NFL.
Speaker 3: Check out the Fish Tank podcast my guys Seth and
Speaker 3: Juice here on the network. Check out our YouTube channel
Speaker 3: for Dolphins Today, media availabilities, and a whole heck of
Speaker 3: a lot more, and last but not least, Miami Dolphins
Speaker 3: dot com. Until next time, I'm fence up Caroline and
Speaker 3: Caper and Daddy, let's go. H