Speaker 1: Looking down Miami quarter drawn. What is up, Dolph fans
Speaker 1: and welcome to the Drive Time Podcast, part of the
Speaker 1: Miami Dolphins podcast network, covering your team, your Miami Dolphins.
Speaker 1: How's it going everybody? I am your host, Travis Wingfield.
Speaker 1: And on today's show, we're gonna continue this positional preview
Speaker 1: series here talking about the NFL Draft as we get
Speaker 1: a look at the quarterback class. We're also gonna stop
Speaker 1: by Daniel Jeremiah's mock draft three point oh. All of
Speaker 1: that and more on this edition of the Drive Time Podcast,
Speaker 1: and we're gonna break right into the NFL Draft quarterback claps. No,
Speaker 1: we're not, you know why because we've got this steaks
Speaker 1: the all play stays at the speed, steaks down down
Speaker 1: the middle and down the ten. How did he find
Speaker 1: a hole there? Plus seventy you're running looking at him?
Speaker 1: So he's got a man sicky is for the touchdown?
Speaker 1: What a truck by t at the Tolphits yeah, I
Speaker 1: mean I'm excited about, you know, to a in this
Speaker 1: upcoming season and we started nine games. I thought he
Speaker 1: made a lot of improvement where other really throughout the
Speaker 1: course of the season had some ups at some announce
Speaker 1: um like all the rookies, UM, and like any rookie, Uh,
Speaker 1: I'm really excited about this. Uh, this this, you know
Speaker 1: that year one a year to jump having, uh being
Speaker 1: more comfortable even down here in South Florida has got
Speaker 1: a place. I mean, I love that rookie year. You
Speaker 1: got a lot going on. You know, you gotta get
Speaker 1: a house, you gotta get a cart, moved to all
Speaker 1: new city. I mean, there's so many things that are
Speaker 1: going on. I'm Thorey handled it well last year, but
Speaker 1: I'm really excited um about uh, you know this upcoming year,
Speaker 1: especially you know again we gotta think that he had
Speaker 1: an old t AC and you know I had a
Speaker 1: different training camp. Uh so look, you guys know me.
Speaker 1: I mean I'm all about the development of players, you know,
Speaker 1: helping them develop and helping them u um get better.
Speaker 1: And I think, uh, you know this this time or
Speaker 1: you know, an off season, UM is really gonna be
Speaker 1: helpful to him, um and really all the rookies. And
Speaker 1: I'm really excited about, you know, working with him in
Speaker 1: a season. Hold on, how do you do this seventy
Speaker 1: seven yards? I mean it's one thing to have a
Speaker 1: play dialed up and throw it as you're packing to
Speaker 1: your left, but putting it right on the money. Jaylen
Speaker 1: Waddles playing for Debout this last year. Go across the field,
Speaker 1: he's not that wide open. He just delipers the ball
Speaker 1: right on them. Right. The guy was a rookie last
Speaker 1: year and came in and went six and three or
Speaker 1: whatever he did. The two things that really stick out
Speaker 1: to me about to as I think he has elite
Speaker 1: accuracy and that's very important, and I think he's gonna learn,
Speaker 1: you know, from last year, he's gonna learn through this offseason.
Speaker 1: He's got some continuity with George Gottsey and Eric Studesville
Speaker 1: as coordinators. Now, um, you know where to go with
Speaker 1: the ball, how to eliminate things pre snap, Uh, to
Speaker 1: really be able to unleash that elite accuracy. And then
Speaker 1: he throws with anticipation and that's something that's difficult that
Speaker 1: you don't see a lot with quarterbacks coming from college
Speaker 1: to the NFL. So I'm a huge to a fan. Uh.
Speaker 1: My kids love to a Sometimes they play with him
Speaker 1: on that and sometimes they play with me. Um. But
Speaker 1: I'm looking forward for big things for him. I think
Speaker 1: I think he's gonna do great and just in terms
Speaker 1: of being a leader on a team and a guy
Speaker 1: that people can follow. He has all those qualities. So
Speaker 1: I think we just need to have a little bit
Speaker 1: of patience. He was a rookie last year, and I
Speaker 1: think he's gonna do great things. And so while I
Speaker 1: fancy myself a pretty knowledgeable analyst, I think it's important
Speaker 1: to utilize the resources that you have. And when it
Speaker 1: comes to to a tungue voloa, we have countless resources
Speaker 1: of people way smarter than I, people that have forgotten
Speaker 1: more football than you or I will ever know, saying
Speaker 1: how many special qualities this guy has. And we'll hear
Speaker 1: some more of those testimonials here at the end of
Speaker 1: the show too. But I wanted to rattle off some
Speaker 1: of my scouting points, break down some of the plays
Speaker 1: that I think demonstrated those special skills during his rookie season,
Speaker 1: talk about some areas of growth, and really get into
Speaker 1: the weeds on the numbers and the data. So first,
Speaker 1: why should you trust my word on quarterback play? For
Speaker 1: those that have been with me since the beginning of
Speaker 1: all of this, even before the Lockdown Dolphins days, my
Speaker 1: first work that really gained some notoriety for me was
Speaker 1: the website that I developed from the ground up brick
Speaker 1: by brick if you're a listener of the Great Around
Speaker 1: the NFL podcast, And it all came from an idea
Speaker 1: that was really born back in two thousand twelve or
Speaker 1: somewhere in that range. I always thought the way the
Speaker 1: general public critiqued and perceived quarterback play was operating with
Speaker 1: some incomplete information, just a fraction of what was really
Speaker 1: going on twenty two moving parts on any given play.
Speaker 1: It's a lot to process. So for years I theorized
Speaker 1: a project that focused on how can we create a
Speaker 1: grading scale that accounts for those little details and generates
Speaker 1: a total score on an even plane for every single quarterback.
Speaker 1: At first, I had these thoughts about what if we
Speaker 1: took every single possible yard, touchdown, or completion on a
Speaker 1: very objective perspective and graded quarterbacks based upon my perceived
Speaker 1: my perception rather of the statistics they left on the field.
Speaker 1: But that left for way too much gray area. However,
Speaker 1: it was the crux of the development of the website
Speaker 1: which would become third and ten dot com, and it
Speaker 1: launched in the summer, and though that site is no
Speaker 1: longer on the old interwebs. I still point back to
Speaker 1: that as my breakthrough project. It's what got my name
Speaker 1: on the radar of David Locke, the owner of Locked
Speaker 1: On Podcasts, and it got me some attention, some good,
Speaker 1: plenty bad with fan bases around the league. Boy Titans
Speaker 1: fans did not like me for the grades I gave
Speaker 1: Marcus Mariota the Giant subreddit banned me for suggesting that
Speaker 1: maybe two time world champion Eli Manning had seen his
Speaker 1: better days. And that's putting my comments pretty lightly. We're
Speaker 1: talking honestly here above leading to a job that led
Speaker 1: to this job. All the tape I watched from that
Speaker 1: project really honed my ability, in my opinion, to evaluate
Speaker 1: the position. I broke down every play. I watched it
Speaker 1: from the sideline angle, concerning the progression, the coverage, the
Speaker 1: immediacy or lack thereof, by which the wide receiver uncovered,
Speaker 1: where the quarterback had his eyes and access to each throw.
Speaker 1: And I watched the end zone angle looking at the protection,
Speaker 1: how he got away from pressure, how they managed off script.
Speaker 1: That factor into a big time to hitting layups counted
Speaker 1: as one point making an exceptional throw or evading pressure
Speaker 1: to get a completion was usually two points, and doing
Speaker 1: a mixture of those two things and creating out of
Speaker 1: nothing was a three point play with some shades of
Speaker 1: grant all those explanations. The most I gave out on
Speaker 1: any one play was three points, though, and the scale
Speaker 1: went negatively to all the way down to negative three,
Speaker 1: so six points possible with zero as well, so seven
Speaker 1: possible outcomes every single play. This allowed me to determine
Speaker 1: blame and responsibility for turnovers or missed opportunities. And I
Speaker 1: look back on the rankings of that project and it's
Speaker 1: still hold pretty well true today. I had Tannehill and
Speaker 1: Stafford right around the top ten range. I had Dak
Speaker 1: Prescott up there, and that super rookie season that he had,
Speaker 1: I think he has maintained and sustained that ability since
Speaker 1: that time. I mentioned I was more bearish on Mariota
Speaker 1: and manning guys like Joe Flacco, and boy was I
Speaker 1: harsh on Jared Goff's rookie season. So all of that
Speaker 1: is to say, then I feel pretty qualified doing this.
Speaker 1: I continued charting Dolphins quarterbacks after that, when the Dolphins
Speaker 1: became my lane specifically and the entire thing. Back in
Speaker 1: two thousand twelve, as well as the resurfacing of it
Speaker 1: in was really done in earnest to show people that
Speaker 1: Ryan Tannehill was much better than he got credit for.
Speaker 1: And well, I think that story speaks pretty well for itself.
Speaker 1: But what I learned most about quarterback play is fourfold.
Speaker 1: We'll call it first, even though the position gets all
Speaker 1: the credit and all the blame, it's never a one
Speaker 1: man deal. Never. The box score lies, the highlights lie.
Speaker 1: The only thing that gives you a true picture of
Speaker 1: what's going on is putting in the work and placing
Speaker 1: context to every single drop back, every single snap, every
Speaker 1: single play. And that's why I encourage you to check
Speaker 1: out Tuesday's podcast. In season we break down the entire
Speaker 1: game in lieu of firing off takes over one or
Speaker 1: two plays that made the highlight reel good or bad. Second,
Speaker 1: the feet. It all starts with the feet. I remember
Speaker 1: watching Jimmy Garoppolo at the Senior Bowl what was that
Speaker 1: two thousand fourteen, and he would work through his reads
Speaker 1: and his feet moved with his eyes. That was a
Speaker 1: big revelation for me. Eyes hardwired to your feet because
Speaker 1: to play quarterback, you have to anticipate windows opening you
Speaker 1: have to have your body react in unison with the
Speaker 1: speed at which your brain processes. So if you're reading
Speaker 1: front side of the coverage and it's covered up, when
Speaker 1: your eyes get to the backside, your feet, your alignment
Speaker 1: and body position need to as well. So the moment
Speaker 1: you see it, you can let it rip. It sounds simple,
Speaker 1: but few quarterbacks can do it consistently with precision. To
Speaker 1: what does it more on that in a moment? Third,
Speaker 1: the multiple throws in the toolbag. Tannehill is always my
Speaker 1: reference point because I've seen that man throw more passes
Speaker 1: than anybody else on planet Earth, and I always praised
Speaker 1: him for his ability to drive those scene throws with
Speaker 1: the rip and the spin to get over the second level,
Speaker 1: but under the third level. Just picture Charles Clay streaking
Speaker 1: down the hash mark on the middle of the field
Speaker 1: and making big gainers and wouldn't you know it, look
Speaker 1: at all the big place Tannehill hits in Tennessee to
Speaker 1: A J. Brown, Johnny Smith, Corey Davis on those similar routes.
Speaker 1: But where I always docked Tannehill was the touch. You'd
Speaker 1: see it on screens and wheels, basically anything to the
Speaker 1: running back. The ability to alter the motion of the arm,
Speaker 1: to alter the arms slot to an angle that can
Speaker 1: manipulate velocity, touch and timing. Russell Wilson is a great
Speaker 1: example of this. He can throw with different trajectories from
Speaker 1: different platforms to work around defenders, create windows and stick
Speaker 1: that thing and accurately. So canta more on that in
Speaker 1: just one moment. And finally, and there are more. But
Speaker 1: these are the key components. I look at the relationship
Speaker 1: when it comes to the quarterbacks, processing and the timing
Speaker 1: of the play's evolution. So stay with me here on
Speaker 1: this comparisons. I might lose some of you. This is
Speaker 1: probably a crazy thought, but I swear it's apt. I
Speaker 1: used to play a lot of FIFA with my brother.
Speaker 1: It's all through balls and anticipation passes to remain on
Speaker 1: side but get in behind the defense with a run
Speaker 1: on goal. And to execute those passes, you had to
Speaker 1: be able to not only recognize your teammates pattern, pace
Speaker 1: and path, you had to account for the leverage of
Speaker 1: the defense. And that's playing quarterback anticipation leverage, understanding of
Speaker 1: the coverage where it's vulnerable, and how you design or
Speaker 1: how the design of your concept rather can attack those vulnerabilities.
Speaker 1: So where does to fit into all that. Let's go
Speaker 1: in reverse order the anticipation. I've been watching his rookie
Speaker 1: tape a lot, and you see it all the time.
Speaker 1: We're gonna play a clip here breaking down one of
Speaker 1: those throws against the Chiefs and how he was able
Speaker 1: to manipulate the defense out of its own principles to
Speaker 1: create a throwing lane. It's a third and twelve, a
Speaker 1: corner route sometimes called a sale, sometimes called a flag,
Speaker 1: sometimes called a seven. Every route has like twenty four names.
Speaker 1: To us sees the coverage playout post snap, he does
Speaker 1: our number to trade with the body positioning and the
Speaker 1: feet alignment to move the defense out of his window,
Speaker 1: then shoots it in behind the vacated defender before he's
Speaker 1: even out of that hole. There's a throw from two
Speaker 1: against l s U back in that twenty four to
Speaker 1: nothing shutout where he outran Patrick Queen to the end
Speaker 1: zone for a forty something. You are touchdown to put
Speaker 1: the game on ice. It's third down in five. It's
Speaker 1: a basic out against off coverage, a speed out where
Speaker 1: the receiver pushes up five yards and hits a ninety
Speaker 1: degree turn right in front of the defensive back towards
Speaker 1: the perimeter to what takes the snap, and his knees
Speaker 1: and his hips, his shoulders, his foot positioning are square
Speaker 1: down the pipe, so the dB cannot drive on the
Speaker 1: quick out, the speed out route with insanely quick feet.
Speaker 1: He's at the top of his drop, he's pivoted his
Speaker 1: mechanics to get into proper position, and the football is
Speaker 1: out before the receiver has even begun to break down,
Speaker 1: sink his hips, and get to that break. It's located
Speaker 1: on the outside shoulder, giving the receiver protection from the
Speaker 1: dB coming underneath for a possible play on the football.
Speaker 1: It's timing, it's rhythm, it's accuracy, it's countless repetition of
Speaker 1: playing the position, something we know to A has done
Speaker 1: with his father pretty much every day since he could
Speaker 1: group a football back in his hometown of Eva Beach, Hawaii.
Speaker 1: I remember texting friend of the podcast and writer podcaster
Speaker 1: for Dolphins Talk dot Com, Kevin Dern, about that one
Speaker 1: play and just gushing over how impressed I was. Winning
Speaker 1: from the pocket expedity in the process of the footwork
Speaker 1: to account for the bang bang nature of the play,
Speaker 1: just so precise and nuanced, even on a little throw
Speaker 1: that seems routine to the casual observer. If you want
Speaker 1: some examples of this as a pro there's a step
Speaker 1: for step replication of that in the Chargers game, fourth quarter,
Speaker 1: fourteen ten left to play a twelve yard completion to
Speaker 1: Jachim Grant who reduces inside to give himself more a
Speaker 1: room off the perimeter to run this route to the boundary,
Speaker 1: and just real quick, perimeter and boundary are different things.
Speaker 1: Boundary is the short side of the field, so just
Speaker 1: keep that in mind for future reference to a fakes
Speaker 1: on an r P O. He pulls it out and
Speaker 1: pops that thing to the sideline where Jachim catches it,
Speaker 1: taps the toes and moves the chains. It's an indefensible
Speaker 1: throw because the dB holds inside on the play fake
Speaker 1: and to as ability to quickly square to his target
Speaker 1: and throw accurately on time, You're just not going to
Speaker 1: defend that ball. Then there's the manipulation of the ball
Speaker 1: with spin, velocity and touch all that stuff. There's a
Speaker 1: great example against the Bengals where two of breaks the
Speaker 1: pocket and add libs on a busted play. He finds
Speaker 1: Miles Gascon for a big gainer down to the five
Speaker 1: yard line, who's behind the Cincinnati defender with nobody over
Speaker 1: the top, But you still have to get over that defender.
Speaker 1: If you want to practice this throw, go in your
Speaker 1: backyard and assuming you have a six foot tall fence
Speaker 1: in your backyard, get a buddy, put him on the
Speaker 1: other side of the fence, but only five yards beyond
Speaker 1: the fence. Then you yourself go into your own yard
Speaker 1: fifteen yards away from the fence. Now throw the football
Speaker 1: over the fence, but in a way that it descends
Speaker 1: right over the top of that fence and into your
Speaker 1: buddy's hands. That's what we're talking about here. You can't
Speaker 1: just throw the thing through the fence. You have to
Speaker 1: have touch to get it over it and then have
Speaker 1: it dropped back down into the receiver's hands. And there
Speaker 1: are different throws, and we've seen him make them. We
Speaker 1: saw him rip that first career touchdown past the Davante
Speaker 1: Parker with pristine accuracy and without even having his feet
Speaker 1: set because he's throwing into a pressure. Look. We've seen
Speaker 1: him drive those r p O pops over the middle,
Speaker 1: took a sicki Lynn Bowden to Parker. Again, We've seen
Speaker 1: him lofed perfectly arching deep balls down the field. More
Speaker 1: on the most accurate downfield thrower in college football history
Speaker 1: in just one moment. But he can make all those throws.
Speaker 1: So control of the football on all throws, the feet,
Speaker 1: and the alignment to get himself into threatening position after
Speaker 1: ripping through his reads or against pressure, the anticipation of
Speaker 1: a tenure veteran, and finally the credit and blame discussion.
Speaker 1: When I was breaking down the Chiefs game this spring,
Speaker 1: maybe it was still winter, I don't remember. Two was
Speaker 1: playing extremely well in that game, but even the stats
Speaker 1: didn't reflect that at one point, because at one point
Speaker 1: he was nine for fourteen with eighty two yards and
Speaker 1: a touchdown pass going in once again inside the red
Speaker 1: zone on the first drive of the game, perhaps my
Speaker 1: favorite play of Two his entire rookie season, but it
Speaker 1: went incomplete on a drop. It's third and long. He
Speaker 1: gets pressure up the middle in his face and there
Speaker 1: are two Chiefs defenders parked at the sticks, one in
Speaker 1: the middle of the field who has his back turned
Speaker 1: to Towa's eventual target, and the other is on the
Speaker 1: back of his eventual target. So a tight window to
Speaker 1: a reads that leverage and drills a shot twenty five
Speaker 1: yards in between this tight window where he essentially replaces
Speaker 1: the out leverage defender with the football, and you couldn't
Speaker 1: have handed it off any better. But the ball falls
Speaker 1: the turf and comes out incomplete, and here comes the
Speaker 1: pump team back to the red zone drive with that
Speaker 1: seven zero lead in that chief's game. The pass in
Speaker 1: the corner to Parker that just goes off his hands
Speaker 1: and brings the field goal team out for three points.
Speaker 1: Parker gets on top of the defense defenders quickly and
Speaker 1: to lets that thing fly early. He sees them even
Speaker 1: he's leaving, throws the ball early, and Parker does what
Speaker 1: he seemingly always does, goes up high points it. But
Speaker 1: he just barely cannot bring that thing in. It's about
Speaker 1: thirty yards or so of production. It's two more completions,
Speaker 1: it's another touchdown pass. So eleven for four teen with
Speaker 1: a hundred and five yards or so and two passing touchdowns. Context, man,
Speaker 1: stuff matters, So I want to break down a few
Speaker 1: more plays here and continue to provide that context. But first,
Speaker 1: my scattering report on two out of college reads as
Speaker 1: follows written back in twenty nine. Team mechanically there are
Speaker 1: no flaws tongue by Lowa's ability to win from the
Speaker 1: pocket comes from a rare combination of high level processing
Speaker 1: and accuracy. Those two traits, along with his light feet,
Speaker 1: which are hardwired to his eyes, makes him one of
Speaker 1: the most revered prospects to come out in the last decade. Too,
Speaker 1: is far from just a pocket passer. He's a dual
Speaker 1: threat that contest every level of the field, erase free rushers,
Speaker 1: and always puts his offense and the most ad vantageous positions.
Speaker 1: His processing and anticipation skills extend beyond reading coverage. He's
Speaker 1: especially adept at managing the pocket and flashing false targets
Speaker 1: for defenders to take the cheese. He can quickly bounce
Speaker 1: off of his spot and mitigate pressure by attacking the
Speaker 1: line of scrimmage while he continues to survey down the field.
Speaker 1: He throws with accuracy from a variety of platforms and
Speaker 1: across multiple route combinations. He dictated ideal situations with pre
Speaker 1: snap recognition and post nap manipulation. He manipulates defense with
Speaker 1: ball placement, eye and body position manipulation. Like the mechanics,
Speaker 1: it's difficult to find flaws in his acumen, quick twitch
Speaker 1: anticipatory abilities, and throws with rare accuracy and placement to
Speaker 1: all levels of the field. Back to his NFL game,
Speaker 1: I don't have to tell you guys about the Cardinals game.
Speaker 1: He was stellar in that one. Back in Week ninety
Speaker 1: one Dolphins. The yard drive to tie up in the
Speaker 1: fourth quarter with the big time throws and the scramble
Speaker 1: play the big throw Tokasicky to set up the game
Speaker 1: winning field goal in that game. That was his coming
Speaker 1: out party, and I was so impressed with his tape
Speaker 1: against the Rams the week before that in his debut.
Speaker 1: Now the offense was able to really squeeze the air
Speaker 1: out of the ball because of the defense and special
Speaker 1: teams in that first half, but even before all of that,
Speaker 1: Toa was identifying middle of the field, reading the safety's leverage,
Speaker 1: and attacking his matchups based upon that leverage with deep
Speaker 1: shots to Gasicki and Preston Williams and one on one
Speaker 1: situations early in that game. Was a good process, even
Speaker 1: if the results weren't there. So skip past that Cardinals game,
Speaker 1: and much like I mentioned early against the Chiefs, he
Speaker 1: came out dazzling against the Chargers in Week ten I
Speaker 1: watched the tape with a buddy and early into the
Speaker 1: second quarter, with how the defense had played all season
Speaker 1: long and the things that too was doing in that game,
Speaker 1: I told him, Man, if we go back to this
Speaker 1: exact moment in time, we had to have been thinking
Speaker 1: Super Bowl because of the defense, because the special team is,
Speaker 1: because the way the team is coached, and because of
Speaker 1: how this kid is playing right now. Early in just
Speaker 1: his third NFL start, and after the Dolphins cashed in
Speaker 1: the punt block possession as second and eight on the
Speaker 1: wing possession after a two yard run by savan Akhmed,
Speaker 1: two was under center thirteen personnel, which is one running back,
Speaker 1: three tight ends and one receiver in the formation. He
Speaker 1: fakes the handoff and boots out to his left. It's
Speaker 1: a layer's concept with Ghasicki twenty yards downfield to the
Speaker 1: high layer, Parker ten yards to the middle layer, and
Speaker 1: savan Akhmed underneath about five yards up field to a
Speaker 1: pumps to Akhmed in the flat and draws the defender
Speaker 1: up one step, then uncorks a shot to Gasicki on
Speaker 1: the move, right on target in place of that vague
Speaker 1: kid defender for twenty three yards and a first down
Speaker 1: absolutely beautiful. Two plays later, it's the exact same anticipation
Speaker 1: speed out to Grant that I mentioned earlier, and RPO
Speaker 1: pulled out of the mesh point rip it to the
Speaker 1: outside thirteen yards bing bang bong, easy money. Four plays later,
Speaker 1: he drills one under pressure to Grant on a dig
Speaker 1: before he starts his break completion fifteen yards. Move the sticks, rents, wash, repeat.
Speaker 1: He's just showing you the entire toolbag. He's moving the offense,
Speaker 1: he's putting points on the board, he's converting third and longs.
Speaker 1: It's just flat out impressive for a twenty two year
Speaker 1: old rookie in his third start to be doing this,
Speaker 1: and the knock I had on him was just to
Speaker 1: be more aggressive. But that's what Fitzpatrick talked about in
Speaker 1: that clip off the top of the show, how once
Speaker 1: he gets that continuity and repetition and experience, then he
Speaker 1: can start to really unleash that elite accuracy and anticipation.
Speaker 1: Kurt Warner showed this in his study Ball segment on
Speaker 1: YouTube as well. But I think that's a totally fair
Speaker 1: expectation for a rookie, especially one playing with at the
Speaker 1: time the best defense in the NFL late last season,
Speaker 1: and it hearkens back to the Drew Brees twenty I
Speaker 1: think it was twenty nineteen season where he didn't have
Speaker 1: his usual gaudy Drew Brees numbers, but the Saints were
Speaker 1: just steamrolling teams because people are, because they were just
Speaker 1: a loaded team. Then in the playoffs, the run game
Speaker 1: couldn't get going and the defense had fallen behind like
Speaker 1: seventeen zip to the Vikings, and then Breeze unleashes his
Speaker 1: all world ability when he had to. That's the goal here.
Speaker 1: Have a quarterback that can do all that, but also
Speaker 1: build a roster that can win in multiple ways. And
Speaker 1: last year I think that as rookie as a rookie
Speaker 1: to have played in a way that was trying to
Speaker 1: complement a winning game plan, and I thought he did
Speaker 1: a good job of that. How about some stats for
Speaker 1: you here prior to that, let's call it the atrocity
Speaker 1: in Week seventeen two had a sixty five percent completion
Speaker 1: rate against pressure. That's better than any completion percentage Peyton
Speaker 1: Manny had in his first four years as a pro
Speaker 1: on all throws, not just against pressure. Every throw to
Speaker 1: us bad throw percentage from Pro Football Focus was eighteen
Speaker 1: point three percent at that point, the same rate as
Speaker 1: Patrick Mahomes in when the Chiefs won the Super Bowl
Speaker 1: in college to what was behind only Joe Burrow and
Speaker 1: catchable ball percentage speaking of college from the Pro Football
Speaker 1: Focus NFL Draft Guide, he completed nineteen of thirty nine
Speaker 1: passes beyond twenty yards that year, right around fifty on
Speaker 1: deep passing, and that's just cop balls, not including drops
Speaker 1: like the dime he threw fifty yards down the field
Speaker 1: against l s U that was dropped on the goal line.
Speaker 1: He led the nation in deep passing accuracy via PFF.
Speaker 1: He had the seventh best adjusted completion percentage in college
Speaker 1: football and the third fewest turnover worthy plays with six.
Speaker 1: Do you understand what that means? He's both efficient and explosive,
Speaker 1: and that's rare and extremely difficult to do. Look at
Speaker 1: the most most of the volume leaders in the NFL
Speaker 1: in the history of the league, Brett Farve, Dan Reno,
Speaker 1: Peyton Manning. Now they threw their their fair share of interceptions.
Speaker 1: It's Russell Wilson like in his ability to attack deep,
Speaker 1: but also played turnover free football. Now in college, his
Speaker 1: final year he averaged thirteen point three yards per pass
Speaker 1: there at Alabama with an interception rate of one percent.
Speaker 1: For comparison's sake, Jacoby Brissett's career interception rate at one
Speaker 1: point three is the lowest all time in the NFL
Speaker 1: with at least nine passing attempts. Now, college and pros
Speaker 1: are obviously way different, but I think you get the
Speaker 1: idea eleven point three yards per pass and a one
Speaker 1: point to interception rate. Finally, while we're talking college, Yeah,
Speaker 1: Alabama was loaded, but what's new? He had a stable
Speaker 1: of receivers featuring the first or two first round picks
Speaker 1: rather in and very likely two more here in. I'm
Speaker 1: not arguing a general thought here, just a thought that
Speaker 1: i've seen to want to make a point, uh, for
Speaker 1: the sake of the podcast and for the sake of discussion.
Speaker 1: Since when is it, you know, against the rules to
Speaker 1: build the team around your quarterback? Like, why is it
Speaker 1: viewed as detrimental to to his long term prognosis to
Speaker 1: build an offense around the strengths of your young quarterback.
Speaker 1: I'll never get that. What does every quarterback that is
Speaker 1: elite in this league have? Patrick Mahomes Kansay a Chiefs
Speaker 1: Tyreek Hill Travis Kelsey, they signed Sammy Watkins, they drafted
Speaker 1: Micole Hardman. DeMarcus Robinson's there. They drafted Clyde Edwards Hilaire
Speaker 1: in the first round last year. The Green Bay Packers,
Speaker 1: for my money, have the best receiver in the NFL,
Speaker 1: and Davante Adams also spent most of his career Rogers
Speaker 1: did with Jordy Nelson and Randall Cobb and Greg Jennings.
Speaker 1: The Buffalo Bills rebuilt the whole damn thing the year
Speaker 1: before Josh Allen arrives. Once he it's there. They had
Speaker 1: John Brown, Cole Beasley, and cap it off with the
Speaker 1: leader in the NFL receiving Stefon Diggs. Seahawks have dk
Speaker 1: Metcalf and Tyler Lockett. The Texans had now will Fuller
Speaker 1: as ours now, but he was a first round pick
Speaker 1: with them back when they already had DeAndre Hopkins in
Speaker 1: the fold. Now that predated the Deshaun Watson arrival there
Speaker 1: in Houston. But look at how explosive that offense was
Speaker 1: that they had around that young quarterback. Look at Brady
Speaker 1: with the Pats and then the Buccaneers. Do I need
Speaker 1: to keep going here expediting the development and making the
Speaker 1: quarterback's job easier with more weapons isn't some indictment on
Speaker 1: the quarterback. It's just smart business. Invest in your investment,
Speaker 1: and the same way I told you earlier in the
Speaker 1: podcast that toa's ability to identify matchups and go to
Speaker 1: work from empty packages on offense is a strength. Putting
Speaker 1: matchup nightmares in these positions is a tried and true
Speaker 1: path to offensive success. So that's my case. I'm such
Speaker 1: a believer in everything this young man offers at the position.
Speaker 1: I've been a fan of his game ever since that
Speaker 1: national title game way back in seen. I guess it
Speaker 1: was January the poise to excel in that position, the
Speaker 1: fourth quarter winning performances we saw in that game, but
Speaker 1: also this year, and the team needed it against Arizona,
Speaker 1: the Chargers, the Bengals, the Patriots. I go back and
Speaker 1: watch his tape and see more of the same that
Speaker 1: made me a fan in college and now a fan
Speaker 1: here at the Miami Dolphins, and now now that he's
Speaker 1: looking positively jacked because he can actually lift weights and
Speaker 1: run around and throw past this time of year, opposed
Speaker 1: to rehabbing last year with Will Fuller and presumptively more
Speaker 1: reinforcements at the skill spots coming. I haven't been this
Speaker 1: excited about Dolphins quarterback in a long long time. And
Speaker 1: if you want to take my word for it, how
Speaker 1: about some experts watch eyes, right eyes, left slide move.
Speaker 1: See that anticipation, Jim. It's really special when you watch it.
Speaker 1: He he looks people off. He does a great job
Speaker 1: of getting through the progression. Well you'll see it's a
Speaker 1: sewn coverage they try and confuse to us. But with
Speaker 1: great anticipation what we talked about, he's able to get
Speaker 1: there and get up on the ball. You'll seek as second.
Speaker 1: You'll come back to that because they're gonna call it
Speaker 1: play at the line of screaming here, but you'll see
Speaker 1: him come up. It's cover two, get throwing that hole.
Speaker 1: Great instance because I can show you what he can do,
Speaker 1: what fits fits references with accuracy, anticipation. He's got a
Speaker 1: sail in a flat route. This is a high low.
Speaker 1: Now there's subtlety into his game that is so special.
Speaker 1: Here as those two receivers, one goes to the flat,
Speaker 1: one pushes vertical. You've got to drop down safety in
Speaker 1: the middle and then a flat defender on that fourt
Speaker 1: yard line. You gotta have vision on him to go. Okay,
Speaker 1: can I get that flat defender to drive down with
Speaker 1: my feet in my body alignment, but also only take
Speaker 1: one hitch because the ball has to come out on time?
Speaker 1: But can I also do that by placing it in
Speaker 1: between a flat defender trailing safety and before that corner
Speaker 1: falls off. That's what fits he is referencing when he's
Speaker 1: talking about elite accuracy and anticipation. That subtle TVD has
Speaker 1: a I'm gonna hitch that way and align my body
Speaker 1: to the flat, but then get the ball on time
Speaker 1: to the opening that I I opened up with my
Speaker 1: body linement. Look at his career, Look look at everything
Speaker 1: he's ever done. Don't forget we're just a few years
Speaker 1: or removed from tank with TWA. Then look at who
Speaker 1: the Miami Dolphins were last year. I think it's one
Speaker 1: of the biggest criminal narratives that's happened in the last
Speaker 1: few years around quarterbacks. Is that too it didn't play
Speaker 1: well to have played very well considering what he had.
Speaker 1: He's coming off massive injuries, he has no O T
Speaker 1: A S, no offseason, very complex system like this kid
Speaker 1: has gone through a lot and he still played pretty
Speaker 1: efficient ball with what they asked him to do. I
Speaker 1: think with the addition to Charlie Fry as a quarterback
Speaker 1: coach who means you will both knows one of the
Speaker 1: great coaches, young coaches, and all football has a relationship
Speaker 1: with tah I think with what they've redone with their
Speaker 1: offense has happened all these picks. You give this guy
Speaker 1: talent around him, you give him a system system where
Speaker 1: you can unleash him. I really don't care about your one.
Speaker 1: And here's the short sightedness of the NFL narratives. Who
Speaker 1: cares about your one? None of them won any games
Speaker 1: in any ways? Who can take him to a super Bowl?
Speaker 1: And I believe with what Miami has from an ammunition standpoint,
Speaker 1: from draft capital to the leadership of Flora's and the
Speaker 1: rest of that building, UH to a process in place
Speaker 1: with good coaches to bring out the best into a
Speaker 1: Let's have this conversation three years and see which one
Speaker 1: is the best in three years. So CBS, ESPN, NFL Network,
Speaker 1: all these expert analysis breaking down to as game with
Speaker 1: high praise and just a quick correction there. Dilfer is
Speaker 1: referring to the general idea back in eighteen of Tank
Speaker 1: for TWA that became a countrywide phenomenon after his phenomenal
Speaker 1: performances early on there at Alabama. And I'll throw in
Speaker 1: one more coveted skill set here. Something I had a
Speaker 1: chance to ask to about last year on Draft night,
Speaker 1: the recall and on Draft night I asked to about
Speaker 1: a pair of plays, one from one from the game
Speaker 1: in nineteen against L s U where he got a
Speaker 1: L s U cornerback sleeping on a dummy snap count.
Speaker 1: And then of course the big throw in the National
Speaker 1: Championship game. We start with that throw. Can you walk
Speaker 1: us through what you saw on that play? Uh, well,
Speaker 1: we're in three by one set, so we had four verticals.
Speaker 1: You know, really I could have worked to two guys.
Speaker 1: I could have worked the bender, which is the middle
Speaker 1: of three, and then I could have looked the safety
Speaker 1: off and came backside. And I decided to look the
Speaker 1: safety off kind of help the safety inside on number
Speaker 1: three coming over and went back out. Safety kind of
Speaker 1: was misaligned and we we were lucky that the corner
Speaker 1: the corner give our receiver free release. So that's that's
Speaker 1: why it was. It was so wide open. And then
Speaker 1: you come back this year in the big game against
Speaker 1: L s U and you catch the L s U
Speaker 1: defense sleeping with a quick count on the another touchdown
Speaker 1: past a teammate again, Javonte Smith once more, what happened
Speaker 1: on that play? Because I saw that play live and
Speaker 1: I was like, how do they get him like that? Yeah?
Speaker 1: So it was it was snap count. I took a
Speaker 1: step up. The step up was really the biggest things
Speaker 1: we wanted. We wanted to make that play look as
Speaker 1: if we were actually looking to the sideline for play.
Speaker 1: But it was a dummy. It was a dummy. Clap dummy.
Speaker 1: He kind of signaled going into that, and I mean,
Speaker 1: we we we knew a play we we wanted already.
Speaker 1: So once we got those guys to look to their
Speaker 1: sidelines and snapped the ball, they were misaligned and try
Speaker 1: to hold um their middle of the field safety, you know,
Speaker 1: in the middle of the field far as long as
Speaker 1: I could before going back outside to the Fonte Smith.
Speaker 1: But it touched down. So that's my case, that's my
Speaker 1: hype pod, as it were, That's just my you know,
Speaker 1: telling the truth, telling you how I see it. With
Speaker 1: regards to the Miami Dolphins quarterback, let's go ahead and
Speaker 1: finish us up here and talk about the draft class
Speaker 1: coming up, because I don't want to be I don't
Speaker 1: want to cast it off all the way because I
Speaker 1: think a couple of these guys might wind up in
Speaker 1: our division, might wind up in the a f C.
Speaker 1: You might see them down the line as opponents. And
Speaker 1: we start here with the bell of the ball. Trevor Lawrence,
Speaker 1: number one quarterback on my board, picture perfect from the
Speaker 1: quarterback lab type. You couldn't print it out any better
Speaker 1: than him. That long run he had the National Championship
Speaker 1: game shows you the athletic ability and straight line speed,
Speaker 1: and it pairs with the arm strength that can test
Speaker 1: every blade of grass on the field. He is unquestionably
Speaker 1: the number one prospect at quarterback in this year's draft,
Speaker 1: and frankly, I find the suggestion of anything counter to
Speaker 1: that to be kind of absurd. Justin Fields is my
Speaker 1: number two quarterback. I don't want him with the Jets.
Speaker 1: I don't want him with the Niners for the sake
Speaker 1: of the draft picks over the next couple of years,
Speaker 1: and I don't want the Patriots coming up for him.
Speaker 1: We'll see what happens, but to me, he and Lawrence
Speaker 1: are a cut above the rest. The four four speed,
Speaker 1: the toughness in the pocket, playing through injuries last season,
Speaker 1: the downfield accuracy, his ability to get through progressions quickly. Yes,
Speaker 1: that is his game. Despite some of the suggestions you've
Speaker 1: seen out there of the opposite, I think justin fields
Speaker 1: is gonna make some fan base very happy, much like
Speaker 1: me being happy here with two in Miami. Trey Lance,
Speaker 1: the Ball of Clay, the traits, the Josh Allen comparison,
Speaker 1: and they're not, you know, comparative side by side, but
Speaker 1: it's the thought. The big, strong, fast, athletic, big arm quarterback.
Speaker 1: You give that guy time to develop with the right
Speaker 1: staff and the right plan in place, I think he
Speaker 1: too could be special. And my fourth is Zach Wilson. Now,
Speaker 1: his highlight tape is the best in college football. I'll
Speaker 1: be curious to see where he goes, what the fit
Speaker 1: with that offense is, and how he refinds his game
Speaker 1: for the NFL. But he's got a ridiculously live arm
Speaker 1: that can snap throws off at all levels and throw
Speaker 1: the ball down the field. He's gonna be a fun
Speaker 1: player to watch at the next level. The other quarterback
Speaker 1: in this class I like is Kellen Mond, a nice
Speaker 1: dual threat player. Thought he showed massive improvements in his
Speaker 1: ability as a passer this season, and especially in that
Speaker 1: Senior Bowl where he was confident and ripping passes into
Speaker 1: tight windows in that game. So there you have it.
Speaker 1: I thought, rather than talking about this quarterback class super
Speaker 1: and depth, covering our guy was a better practice. Do
Speaker 1: you agree with that? Let me know on Twitter. Let's
Speaker 1: go ahead and finish up here with a look at
Speaker 1: Daniel Jeremiah's most recent mock draft Mock three point oh
Speaker 1: for Jeremiah, he has Miami with Jamaar Chase at number six.
Speaker 1: He's been on that train since the beginning. Even at
Speaker 1: number three we saw Jamar's workout sub four four forty vertical,
Speaker 1: the production, the alpha mentality, a damn fine prospect. Jeremiah
Speaker 1: comes back at eighteen with Gregory Rousseau, and these Miami
Speaker 1: edges fascinate me. Man. I really, really really like Jalen Phillips,
Speaker 1: but I think he's long gone by that point. Russo
Speaker 1: is probably the best ball of clay in this class,
Speaker 1: with his size, the wingspan, the strength. He just doesn't
Speaker 1: have a whole lot of tape to go back on,
Speaker 1: but I think that would be a super fascining piece
Speaker 1: for Flores to get his hands on. So Jamaar Chase
Speaker 1: and Gregory Risso at pick six and pick eighteen, let's
Speaker 1: go ahead and call it a podcast right there. We're
Speaker 1: gonna continue with the positional previous for the next couple
Speaker 1: of weeks here on Drive Time. I'm not sure which
Speaker 1: one I'm gonna roll out next. We've got some big
Speaker 1: hitters in the draft industry lined up, Jordan Read, John Ledyard,
Speaker 1: Trevor Sikama, Matt Harmon. Tons of good stuff coming your way.
Speaker 1: But until next time, that's gonna be my time. You all,
Speaker 1: please be sure to subscribe to the podcast on Apple
Speaker 1: podcast or Spotify, wherever you get your podcast from. Go
Speaker 1: ahead and leave us a rating, leave us a review.
Speaker 1: Follow me on Twitter at Wingfield NFL, follow the team
Speaker 1: at Miami Dolphins, check out the Fish Tank and the
Speaker 1: Audible podcast, and of course Miami Dolphins dot com. Until
Speaker 1: next time, fins up.