WEBVTT - Drive Time: Sorting the Defensive Tackle Quandary, Kenneth Grant Deep Dive 0:00:08.200 --> 0:00:12.039 What is up, Dolphins, And welcome to the Draft Time Podcast. 0:00:12.119 --> 0:00:15.200 I am your host, Travis Wingfield. And on today's show, 0:00:15.280 --> 0:00:18.720 Kaleis Campbell returns back to the Arizona Cardinals, which begs 0:00:18.760 --> 0:00:22.040 the question, what will the defensive tackle position for your 0:00:22.120 --> 0:00:25.279 Miami Dolphins look like in twenty twenty five. We're going 0:00:25.360 --> 0:00:27.480 to do deep dive there and match that with our 0:00:27.520 --> 0:00:32.479 prospect profile series today focusing on Michigan's Kenneth Grant. It's 0:00:32.520 --> 0:00:35.440 a d line heavy episode today. I was going to 0:00:35.440 --> 0:00:37.480 do some mail bag questions as well, but I got 0:00:37.520 --> 0:00:40.559 too long in my argument for the defensive tackle position. 0:00:41.080 --> 0:00:42.920 So that's what we're going to do. From the Baptist 0:00:42.960 --> 0:00:46.319 Health Studios inside the Baptist Health Training Complex. This is 0:00:48.200 --> 0:00:52.680 the Draft Time Podcast. Maybe gaffe right off the top. 0:00:52.720 --> 0:00:55.720 I've lied to you guys. This is not recording from 0:00:55.840 --> 0:00:58.560 the Baptist Health Studios. In fact, I just want to 0:00:59.600 --> 0:01:03.520 do the full transparency thing here. We'll see if I 0:01:03.560 --> 0:01:07.160 can get through the elements of this podcast because I've 0:01:07.160 --> 0:01:09.959 got strep throat. My son's got strep throat along with 0:01:10.000 --> 0:01:12.319 hand foot mouth. My daughter I'm pretty sure gonna have 0:01:12.319 --> 0:01:15.039 strep throw as well. So the entire squad is home 0:01:15.080 --> 0:01:18.360 today trying to get this podcast recorded, and you were 0:01:18.360 --> 0:01:20.959 probably gonna hear my son at some point, whether he's 0:01:21.040 --> 0:01:24.399 yelling at me. He's got Blaze and his RC car upstairs, 0:01:24.440 --> 0:01:27.000 so he should be good to go. But he does 0:01:27.120 --> 0:01:29.480 like playing with me, so I suspect you'll either hear 0:01:29.480 --> 0:01:33.280 his voice, you'll hear him enter the room, or my favorite, 0:01:33.280 --> 0:01:35.760 you'll hear him throw his toys down the stairs. That's 0:01:35.760 --> 0:01:38.840 his favorite way to get my attention. So if it's 0:01:38.880 --> 0:01:41.320 a funny addition to the podcast, we'll keep it in. 0:01:41.400 --> 0:01:43.119 If it's annoying, I'll just take it out. So there 0:01:43.120 --> 0:01:45.600 you go off the top. Let's go ahead and get 0:01:45.640 --> 0:01:48.440 a into the elephant of the room here. And maybe 0:01:48.440 --> 0:01:51.520 that's a bad way to intro this segment because you know, 0:01:51.680 --> 0:01:54.680 being the lurker that I am on social media these days, 0:01:54.720 --> 0:01:57.720 I see that folks are quite upset about Kalis Campbell. 0:01:58.480 --> 0:02:04.160 There he is landing back where his career started. What's up, boy? 0:02:04.440 --> 0:02:09.440 The RC Car's broken? Okay, we'll fix it and that 0:02:09.480 --> 0:02:12.400 stuff is fixed up right quick. So people are pissed 0:02:12.400 --> 0:02:14.520 off about kalayis going back to the Cardinals, right, and 0:02:14.520 --> 0:02:16.000 some of the questions about what it means for the 0:02:16.000 --> 0:02:19.320 defensive tackle position for your Miami Dolphins. Let's get a 0:02:19.320 --> 0:02:22.040 few facts in off the top. The great news here. 0:02:22.360 --> 0:02:24.960 Great news, right, according to Nick Corte, who does a 0:02:24.960 --> 0:02:28.880 fantastic job with projected compensatory picks and the formula the 0:02:29.000 --> 0:02:32.360 NFL uses like, he nailed Robert Hunt in the third round. 0:02:32.440 --> 0:02:34.760 He even nailed Christian Wilkins flowing to the fourth round 0:02:34.800 --> 0:02:37.760 because of a snap count disparity and the Deshaun Elliot 0:02:37.760 --> 0:02:40.400 seventh round pick this year. He was even befuddled by 0:02:40.440 --> 0:02:43.320 the fact that we were originally awarded a seventh round 0:02:43.360 --> 0:02:46.880 pick first Tedrick Wilson, which was of course later corrected 0:02:46.919 --> 0:02:49.120 by the NFL. So he's very qualified, right, That's the 0:02:49.120 --> 0:02:52.280 point of that entire diatribe. He says that with Campbell's 0:02:52.280 --> 0:02:55.320 signing with the Cardinals, the Dolphins are officially plus one 0:02:55.360 --> 0:02:58.280 in the compensatory formula for the twenty twenty sixth class, 0:02:58.560 --> 0:03:01.400 and that player is Javon haw who's fifteen million dollars 0:03:01.440 --> 0:03:04.920 per year contract would net Miami a fourth round pick 0:03:05.040 --> 0:03:07.800 provided he plays enough snaps in twenty twenty five and 0:03:07.840 --> 0:03:11.200 the Dolphins do not. Uh, what's the word I'm looking 0:03:11.240 --> 0:03:14.399 for here, Negate. That plus one activity with the free 0:03:14.400 --> 0:03:17.679 agent signing before the comp window formula closes back up 0:03:17.760 --> 0:03:19.880 in May. So if you're keeping track, that would be 0:03:20.160 --> 0:03:22.400 a third and a fourth this year and a seventh 0:03:22.680 --> 0:03:24.880 a fourth next year. And then if Anthony Weaver gets 0:03:24.880 --> 0:03:27.080 a head coaching job, which still feels like a matter 0:03:27.120 --> 0:03:28.600 of time as long as we don't go like five 0:03:28.639 --> 0:03:31.000 and twelve, I think he'll get that, then you would 0:03:31.040 --> 0:03:33.560 get threes in both twenty six and twenty seven. So 0:03:33.560 --> 0:03:36.480 that's three comp picks in the top one hundred over 0:03:36.480 --> 0:03:39.119 a three year span, and three more in the one 0:03:39.200 --> 0:03:42.320 hundred to one hundred and forty range. That's six total 0:03:42.360 --> 0:03:44.280 picks in the top one forty. And if you bat 0:03:44.320 --> 0:03:47.920 five hundred on getting contributors in those positions, that's four 0:03:48.000 --> 0:03:51.800 years of cost control on minimum contract players. And we 0:03:51.920 --> 0:03:54.760 heard what coach said about draft picks set in the culture, right, 0:03:55.720 --> 0:03:57.000 I think you're going to have to get used to 0:03:57.040 --> 0:03:58.840 this mode of team building. It sounds like that's what 0:03:58.880 --> 0:04:01.280 Mike McDaniel has learned the first three years of of 0:04:01.320 --> 0:04:04.840 his tenure, that the draft is a far more fruitful 0:04:04.840 --> 0:04:08.200 position to select players from than free agency, and we 0:04:09.320 --> 0:04:12.480 cautioned you guys on that back in February and January 0:04:12.560 --> 0:04:14.240 not to pat myself in the back too hard here, 0:04:14.280 --> 0:04:16.760 but the one in two year veteran deals in free 0:04:16.800 --> 0:04:20.880 agency really re emphasizes the necessity to be great in 0:04:20.920 --> 0:04:23.080 the draft. That's not to say it ever went away, 0:04:23.440 --> 0:04:25.920 but I'm sure you guys remember how free agency kind 0:04:25.920 --> 0:04:28.000 of was fool's gold for the longest time. Right then, 0:04:28.560 --> 0:04:31.240 I want to say it was like the twenty thirteen Broncos. 0:04:31.480 --> 0:04:33.359 It could have been a year later or earlier, but 0:04:33.440 --> 0:04:35.240 it was in that range when they had Peyton Manning. 0:04:35.600 --> 0:04:39.440 But they signed DeMarcus where Wes Welker was part of 0:04:39.480 --> 0:04:43.400 that class, TJ. Ward, Dominique Rodgers, Comarti, who else? As 0:04:43.440 --> 0:04:45.600 I look it up now, actually Quentin Jammer was in there. 0:04:45.800 --> 0:04:48.359 They signed Luis Vasquez to the offensive line. With the 0:04:48.360 --> 0:04:53.360 point is they essentially built their defense through free agency. Okay, 0:04:53.400 --> 0:04:54.839 that's right, I looked it up. It was both the 0:04:54.839 --> 0:04:57.560 twenty thirteen and twenty fourteen seasons. Add a key to 0:04:57.640 --> 0:05:00.520 leave Emmanuel Sanders to that entire group there. It gave 0:05:00.600 --> 0:05:03.320 them the number one defense in twenty fifteen with something 0:05:03.400 --> 0:05:06.599 like eight of the eleven starters on defense were free 0:05:06.600 --> 0:05:09.400 agent acquisitions. You pair that around good draft picks and 0:05:09.480 --> 0:05:12.240 Von Miller, Malik Jackson, and a couple other draft hits 0:05:12.279 --> 0:05:15.520 like Dane Travathan, Bradley Roby, and you get yourself a 0:05:15.560 --> 0:05:18.280 Super Bowl winning team that quite literally didn't have a 0:05:18.360 --> 0:05:21.320 quarterback that year because Peyton Manning was no longer Peyton 0:05:21.360 --> 0:05:24.560 Manning and brock Ostwiler was the guy they benched Peyton 0:05:24.560 --> 0:05:27.479 Manning for. And this continued for a few years. We 0:05:27.560 --> 0:05:30.040 even saw a recent Super Bowl team do the exact 0:05:30.080 --> 0:05:32.680 same thing, the twenty twenty one Bengals. They go three 0:05:32.720 --> 0:05:35.200 to zero in the AFC Playoff, scoring just twenty one 0:05:35.240 --> 0:05:38.600 points per game, including a second round win where they 0:05:38.640 --> 0:05:41.400 had eight sacks and three picks off Ryan Tannehill, but 0:05:41.440 --> 0:05:43.560 won the game by just three points. Right they kicked 0:05:43.560 --> 0:05:45.440 five field goals in that game. It was a defense 0:05:45.480 --> 0:05:48.080 and special teams victory for the Bengals that day. And 0:05:48.120 --> 0:05:51.320 that defense was constructed through free agency, with seven of 0:05:51.400 --> 0:05:54.640 the eleven starters being free agent signings, and if you 0:05:54.720 --> 0:05:57.599 extended to the top fifteen players and snaps played, ten 0:05:57.640 --> 0:06:00.279 of those fifteen were free agents from the previous year. 0:06:00.600 --> 0:06:03.280 All of this is to say we had like a 0:06:03.279 --> 0:06:06.320 ten year period where you could build an entire side 0:06:06.320 --> 0:06:08.919 of the football and free agency, but we mentioned the 0:06:08.960 --> 0:06:11.800 countless times before free agency the top players really just 0:06:11.839 --> 0:06:15.000 aren't hitting the market anymore. And now it's about being frugal, 0:06:15.120 --> 0:06:19.240 picking spots, identifying good values. Allow James Daniels, who I think, 0:06:19.279 --> 0:06:22.520 if he stays healthy all year, probably doubles his cost. 0:06:22.960 --> 0:06:25.360 And I had this conversation with Kyle Krabb the other 0:06:25.400 --> 0:06:28.360 day on the phone, like we might have misconstrued the 0:06:28.400 --> 0:06:30.919 budget for the offseason for the Dolphins to spend in 0:06:30.960 --> 0:06:33.800 free agency, but when you add the twenty five percent 0:06:33.880 --> 0:06:36.680 cap inflation that goes onto these contracts with players who 0:06:36.720 --> 0:06:39.880 were you know, we talk about cornerstone plus starters and 0:06:39.960 --> 0:06:45.240 adequate starters, like you're essentially playing paying adequate starters, which 0:06:45.279 --> 0:06:47.200 are the third tier in your football team, Guys that 0:06:47.240 --> 0:06:49.440 you probably should find on Day two of the draft, 0:06:49.920 --> 0:06:53.839 and you are paying them damn near cornerstone premium contracts. 0:06:54.600 --> 0:06:56.920 You guys are understand that if we did that, if 0:06:56.960 --> 0:06:58.760 we did what a lot of the fan base kind 0:06:58.800 --> 0:07:02.680 of urges this team to do, and spent money on 0:07:02.839 --> 0:07:06.279 players of that caliber, Jevon Holland, who to me as 0:07:06.279 --> 0:07:08.719 an adequate starter who got premium money for a safety. 0:07:09.240 --> 0:07:11.440 That's how you wind up with the Mike Tannebaum twenty 0:07:11.480 --> 0:07:14.200 eighteen Dolphins. Do you guys understand that that's what happened 0:07:14.200 --> 0:07:17.440 that year with TJ McDonald getting that extension early in 0:07:17.480 --> 0:07:19.760 the year, with you know, even off the eight game suspension, 0:07:19.880 --> 0:07:23.760 with Rashad Jones's crazy contract, paying you know, Josh Sitton 0:07:23.840 --> 0:07:26.760 thirty three year old offensive linemen who are past their prime. 0:07:26.840 --> 0:07:30.240 Like that is not a good mode of team building. 0:07:30.240 --> 0:07:32.520 And so say what you want about where the roster 0:07:32.680 --> 0:07:34.920 is right now. We went over this in a podcast 0:07:35.000 --> 0:07:37.720 last week, right about the places they improved, the places 0:07:37.760 --> 0:07:39.640 they have kind of regressed in And I think you 0:07:39.680 --> 0:07:41.840 can look at the areas of regression and say it 0:07:41.880 --> 0:07:44.560 like that's kind of severe, especially at defensive tackle right 0:07:44.600 --> 0:07:47.080 and it's really just kalay As Campbell and DeShawn hand 0:07:47.080 --> 0:07:49.800 which to me, that's a part time player who was 0:07:49.880 --> 0:07:51.720 very good in kalay As Campbell that you can find 0:07:51.720 --> 0:07:53.960 somewhere in the draft, and then DeShawn Hann. I mean 0:07:54.000 --> 0:07:55.840 you should be able to find that player on the 0:07:55.920 --> 0:07:58.080 cheap and free agency or on Day three of the draft, 0:07:58.120 --> 0:08:01.840 because that's what his production was. So, yeah, there's a 0:08:01.880 --> 0:08:04.040 regression at a couple of spots, but I think that 0:08:04.200 --> 0:08:06.920 overall the roster has made a lot of improvements. And 0:08:07.160 --> 0:08:09.840 I just don't think that you're gonna get what you 0:08:09.880 --> 0:08:12.280 want in terms of paying out your nose for those 0:08:12.320 --> 0:08:14.640 types of players. When you can get that same type 0:08:14.640 --> 0:08:18.480 of contributing player in the draft for peanuts, for literal 0:08:18.840 --> 0:08:21.960 league minimum versus like a seventeen million dollars per year contract, 0:08:21.960 --> 0:08:24.080 that is the best way to put yourself back in position. 0:08:24.520 --> 0:08:27.280 And you've seen, you know, the people that worked that 0:08:27.320 --> 0:08:30.280 Mike McDaniel worked around and under do the exact same thing, 0:08:30.320 --> 0:08:32.440 whether it was the floor in Green Bay, whether it's 0:08:32.520 --> 0:08:35.000 McVeigh and the Rams and this crazy pivot they made 0:08:35.000 --> 0:08:37.360 a couple of years ago, or the Niners right now 0:08:37.520 --> 0:08:40.559 with Mike shann or with Kyle Shanahan. So I just 0:08:40.600 --> 0:08:42.120 think you're gonna have to kind of get used to 0:08:42.160 --> 0:08:43.599 that and we'll see if it all works out in 0:08:43.640 --> 0:08:46.240 the grand scheme of things. But I think this is 0:08:47.080 --> 0:08:49.280 the way forward, and I'm glad to see the Dolphins 0:08:49.320 --> 0:08:51.760 and Mike McDaniel feel the same way. So to see 0:08:51.760 --> 0:08:55.880 this core in place again, Yes, this roster has remaining needs. 0:08:56.679 --> 0:08:58.559 It does. I'm not going to sit here and tell 0:08:58.600 --> 0:09:02.360 you otherwise. That would be totally foolish. And despite that review, 0:09:02.400 --> 0:09:04.560 I got on the podcast of the day man who 0:09:04.679 --> 0:09:06.800 was this guy? If if you are this guy, tell 0:09:06.840 --> 0:09:09.440 me who you are, because I just can't believe you 0:09:09.600 --> 0:09:13.320 said this. We find the review not critical enough from 0:09:13.440 --> 0:09:15.640 Jersey Finns. I feel like I recognize that name. The 0:09:15.679 --> 0:09:17.440 problem is he's not critical of the Dolphins at all. 0:09:17.480 --> 0:09:20.120 Everything is rainbows and sunshine after not winning a playoff 0:09:20.120 --> 0:09:22.320 game in twenty five years. Hey, I don't really care 0:09:22.520 --> 0:09:24.960 what the seven team did for twenty twenty five. It 0:09:25.000 --> 0:09:27.640 has no relevance. He recently said Arti Burns was a 0:09:27.640 --> 0:09:30.200 good signing. Same Arti Burns, who couldn't crack a practice 0:09:30.200 --> 0:09:32.640 squad at thirty years old? Well, Burns was on the 0:09:32.640 --> 0:09:35.320 Seahawks roster. So that's not true. Stick to listening to 0:09:35.360 --> 0:09:40.160 Omar and Poopar podcast to get honest opinions. Okay, so 0:09:40.640 --> 0:09:43.000 on the Ardi Burns podcast, I said that there is 0:09:43.120 --> 0:09:44.880 a couple of good games of tape where he played 0:09:44.880 --> 0:09:47.199 some slot and outside cornerback and was aggressive and played 0:09:47.240 --> 0:09:49.280 press up man coverage, which this defense wants to be. 0:09:49.559 --> 0:09:51.720 But told you that he hasn't eclipped three hundred snaps 0:09:51.760 --> 0:09:54.600 in six years, and that's a problem and it's not 0:09:54.640 --> 0:09:56.079 gonna probably be something you can count on. So I 0:09:56.120 --> 0:09:57.960 don't know where you got that from, but we are 0:09:57.960 --> 0:10:00.640 critical in that area. We're critical about the defensive tackle 0:10:00.640 --> 0:10:03.000 position needing more pieces. We know that the offensive line 0:10:03.040 --> 0:10:05.880 needs a starter right now. I'm not naive to any 0:10:05.880 --> 0:10:07.880 of that, but the roster when you look at it 0:10:07.920 --> 0:10:10.280 on the whole, and you know, I got a kick 0:10:10.280 --> 0:10:13.600 out of this On Twitter the other day, somebody omar 0:10:13.720 --> 0:10:17.240 posted that quote from an anonymous NFC or an anonymous 0:10:17.280 --> 0:10:19.160 decision maker coach or something that said, hey, if the 0:10:19.200 --> 0:10:21.720 Dolphins don't want to, we gladly take him. And it 0:10:21.800 --> 0:10:23.920 kind of broke the brains of the anti Tua crowd. 0:10:23.920 --> 0:10:26.199 Who doesn't. Let's be honest, they don't know what they're 0:10:26.240 --> 0:10:28.800 watching because to a style of football and the processing 0:10:28.800 --> 0:10:31.520 of what the way he plays is not something that 0:10:31.760 --> 0:10:33.600 jumps off the screen at you. But if you appreciate 0:10:33.600 --> 0:10:36.600 the quarterback position and know what a quarterback's job entails, 0:10:36.640 --> 0:10:38.400 you know that he's very good. And when the rest 0:10:38.440 --> 0:10:40.520 of the league recognizes that and the fan base can't 0:10:40.640 --> 0:10:42.920 reconcile that, to me, it's kind of funny. So we 0:10:43.040 --> 0:10:46.480 are good at quarterback sands. The injuries obviously too, was 0:10:46.520 --> 0:10:49.120 availability as an issue. The receiver room looks really good. 0:10:49.160 --> 0:10:52.160 I mean to waddlen Hill if they're you know, playing 0:10:52.200 --> 0:10:54.200 at their highest peak, and then Westbrook A. Kine and 0:10:54.240 --> 0:10:56.400 Malik Washington. It's a good receiver room. We have our 0:10:56.440 --> 0:10:59.080 starting tackles and you can you know, mel kiper can 0:10:59.120 --> 0:11:01.079 say all he wants to. Patrick Paul is not a starter, 0:11:01.440 --> 0:11:03.840 he's the starter. And we have a really deep edge group. 0:11:03.880 --> 0:11:07.120 Our top two corners are proven guys. Your entire linebacker 0:11:07.200 --> 0:11:08.959 room is set. We are pretty good at most of 0:11:08.960 --> 0:11:11.439 the premium positions and to round out the rest of 0:11:11.480 --> 0:11:14.160 the roster, man, if you can find starters and contributors 0:11:14.160 --> 0:11:17.080 at defensive tackle, at guard, at corner, at safety in 0:11:17.120 --> 0:11:20.960 this year's draft, then you basically extend this build while 0:11:21.000 --> 0:11:24.560 simultaneously establishing a certain type of culture through those players, 0:11:24.600 --> 0:11:28.480 through competition, through never getting complacent, and when you get 0:11:28.520 --> 0:11:31.160 players that play themselves into big market deals, you can 0:11:31.200 --> 0:11:33.640 move on from those guys and collect the pick and restock. 0:11:33.720 --> 0:11:36.520 We have seen every great team does this. The Patriots 0:11:36.559 --> 0:11:39.520 did it for years, the Chiefs have done it recently 0:11:39.600 --> 0:11:41.480 that you saw the Bills execute it last year. I 0:11:41.480 --> 0:11:46.120 don't know why we are so adverse to going in 0:11:46.120 --> 0:11:48.000 that direction, although I just kind of sense that the 0:11:48.040 --> 0:11:49.920 fan base, and maybe that's just the tweets that I see. 0:11:50.400 --> 0:11:51.719 It's more of like a live in the moment type 0:11:51.720 --> 0:11:54.320 of situation. So you see a great player come available, 0:11:54.400 --> 0:11:56.320 you want that player. You don't get that player, you 0:11:56.360 --> 0:11:59.360 bemoan the coaching staff and the decision makers. I get that, 0:11:59.480 --> 0:12:01.840 but I think you should view the offseason as a 0:12:01.880 --> 0:12:03.920 bigger picture and don't look at where the team is 0:12:03.920 --> 0:12:07.439 in April and cry wolf because you're gonna be silly. 0:12:07.440 --> 0:12:10.600 And then also like just because I saw, like, Okay, 0:12:10.679 --> 0:12:12.520 Barry Jackson tweeted this the other day, and I again 0:12:12.600 --> 0:12:15.280 love Barry, but he said, like, the chances of the 0:12:15.280 --> 0:12:18.280 Dolphins getting impact players it picks thirteen forty eight ninety 0:12:18.320 --> 0:12:20.240 eight are low. It's like, well, did they cancel the 0:12:20.320 --> 0:12:23.200 day the third day of the draft, cause like teams 0:12:23.240 --> 0:12:26.040 get contributors on Day three and u DFAs all the time, 0:12:26.120 --> 0:12:28.400 like you have to lean on your scouting staff man. 0:12:28.480 --> 0:12:29.760 You have to get this stuff right, like they did 0:12:29.760 --> 0:12:31.240 with cater co who, like they did with Nick Needham, 0:12:31.320 --> 0:12:33.960 like they have done you know in udfas, and on 0:12:34.040 --> 0:12:36.280 Day three so many times in the past. Now I'll 0:12:36.320 --> 0:12:37.960 be the first to admit Day three has not been 0:12:38.000 --> 0:12:39.760 fruitful the last four or five years. In fact, it's 0:12:39.760 --> 0:12:41.160 why I think this team is kind of where they 0:12:41.200 --> 0:12:42.680 are in this position where they're gonna have to have 0:12:42.679 --> 0:12:45.679 a good draft. But I digress, So again, go back 0:12:45.720 --> 0:12:47.520 to looking at the Rams in twenty twenty three, they 0:12:47.520 --> 0:12:51.719 culminate that build with a championship. Right in twenty twenty one, 0:12:52.000 --> 0:12:54.720 the most aggressive build we've ever seen in football. Matthew 0:12:54.760 --> 0:12:57.280 Stafford gets hurt. In twenty two, they crater, They bought 0:12:57.320 --> 0:13:00.000 them out. Some of those top line producers have injury issues, 0:13:00.280 --> 0:13:02.720 and they have a dreadful season. But rather than blowing 0:13:02.720 --> 0:13:05.079 it up, rather than staying with US tas Quo, they 0:13:05.080 --> 0:13:07.600 pivot and go a different direction. They wind up going 0:13:07.640 --> 0:13:11.160 back to the draft and selecting starting guard Steve a Vila, 0:13:11.320 --> 0:13:14.040 edge Brian Young, defensive tackle Kobe Turner, who's a fourth 0:13:14.080 --> 0:13:15.719 round pick who's like almost a Pro Bowl or maybe 0:13:15.760 --> 0:13:17.960 he was a Pro bowler. You can find those guys 0:13:18.040 --> 0:13:20.800 wide receiver Puka Nakua, who's an freaking All Pro, and 0:13:20.840 --> 0:13:23.600 they get contributions from from three udfas and they get 0:13:23.640 --> 0:13:25.800 developmental pieces to take their game to the next level. 0:13:26.040 --> 0:13:28.959 With twenty twenty two fifth round pick Kyron Williams with 0:13:29.240 --> 0:13:33.440 defensive tackle Bobby Brown, with twenty twenty UDFA linebacker Christian 0:13:33.520 --> 0:13:36.800 rose Boom twenty twenty one to third round linebacker Ernest Jones. 0:13:37.080 --> 0:13:39.640 This is not me saying this is a guaranteed formula, 0:13:39.880 --> 0:13:42.560 but rather that it is one way to execute a 0:13:42.640 --> 0:13:45.240 soft rebuild on the fly. And now here are the 0:13:45.320 --> 0:13:48.840 Rams really as well positioned as anybody in the NFC. 0:13:49.240 --> 0:13:51.559 And they did it off back to back playoff appearances, 0:13:51.600 --> 0:13:54.720 and they were just like fifteen yards away from downing 0:13:54.760 --> 0:13:57.600 the Eagles in Philadelphia last year and the only down 0:13:57.679 --> 0:14:00.440 season was one where their quarterback missed a big chunk 0:14:00.480 --> 0:14:03.280 of the season. Sound familiar. You'll see the Niners do 0:14:03.320 --> 0:14:06.280 the exact same thing. They moved on from Deebo, Samuel Javon, Hardgrave, 0:14:06.320 --> 0:14:10.200 Shavarius Ward, tall Anoahufunga, Aaron Banks and their biggest signing 0:14:10.400 --> 0:14:13.840 was it might have been Saran Neil, It's debatable, but 0:14:13.880 --> 0:14:15.760 the point is they removed a lot of high priced 0:14:15.760 --> 0:14:18.319 talent and focused on guys who play more special teams 0:14:18.320 --> 0:14:22.160 than anything else. So that's the diatribe about soft resetting 0:14:22.240 --> 0:14:25.760 and refocusing your model as a draft based one. And 0:14:26.840 --> 0:14:28.280 I mentioned this to a couple of Beat writers at 0:14:28.280 --> 0:14:30.360 the owner's meetings. I said, I thought, you know, I 0:14:30.400 --> 0:14:35.160 thought the vision for the veteran acquisition mode of trading 0:14:35.200 --> 0:14:39.240 picks for proven talent was smart in a sense and 0:14:39.360 --> 0:14:40.880 for a little bit, but I think they kind of 0:14:40.920 --> 0:14:43.360 went a little bit overboard on it, and it put 0:14:43.400 --> 0:14:45.280 them in this position where if they had used those 0:14:45.320 --> 0:14:48.880 picks and again like hey, losing two premium picks of 0:14:48.880 --> 0:14:52.400 one and the three to the tampering chargers, Like that's 0:14:52.440 --> 0:14:56.000 an impact too. So you've found a way to reduce 0:14:56.120 --> 0:14:59.280 a lot of cheap contributors on your roster, and now 0:14:59.320 --> 0:15:01.480 you have to kind of overcorrect that and get back 0:15:01.520 --> 0:15:03.000 to it. So that's what I think you should be 0:15:03.080 --> 0:15:06.080 hoping for. Get some young players, get some rookies, get 0:15:06.080 --> 0:15:08.240 development from last year's class, from the twenty twenty three 0:15:08.280 --> 0:15:10.440 class too, maybe even and let's go at this thing. 0:15:10.480 --> 0:15:12.440 So let's go ahead and get into the defensive tackle 0:15:12.480 --> 0:15:14.840 diet tribe next on the other side. After our first 0:15:14.880 --> 0:15:18.280 break here, Draft Time Podcast, your host Travis Wingfield, brought 0:15:18.320 --> 0:15:23.200 to you by Auto Nation. All right, we've been an 0:15:23.200 --> 0:15:26.240 interruption free here for about twelve minutes on the show. 0:15:26.440 --> 0:15:29.840 Let's go ahead at defensive tackle now and start with this. Actually, 0:15:29.880 --> 0:15:33.960 before we start with this, let's start with this first 0:15:34.000 --> 0:15:37.840 and foremost. I'm bummed. I thought Koleais was someone you 0:15:37.880 --> 0:15:40.320 could slot in for five hundred snaps and he played 0:15:40.320 --> 0:15:43.280 six fifteen last year and just basically let the draft 0:15:43.280 --> 0:15:45.560 fall to you and not worry about where those snaps 0:15:45.600 --> 0:15:47.600 might come from. So please don't take this as me 0:15:47.720 --> 0:15:51.040 accepting a blow and acting like it's okay, because it's not. 0:15:51.440 --> 0:15:54.200 But the finality of it, that's the part that remains 0:15:54.280 --> 0:15:56.560 up in the air. But you start with this. I 0:15:56.600 --> 0:16:00.560 think we as fans, and obviously I've change my role 0:16:00.560 --> 0:16:02.360 from fan to a little bit more than just a fan, 0:16:02.440 --> 0:16:04.920 but still I'm a huge fan of this team. Looking 0:16:05.000 --> 0:16:07.040 at this whole thing the wrong way because you see 0:16:07.040 --> 0:16:09.600 the depth chart and think it's missing volume, but you 0:16:09.720 --> 0:16:11.800 need to think about it more as a share of 0:16:11.880 --> 0:16:14.720 snap counts. For instance, Kalayas Campbell played six hundred and 0:16:14.760 --> 0:16:17.480 fifteen snaps last year and guess where they acquired him 0:16:18.040 --> 0:16:20.720 June June thirteenth, to be exact. Now, I think last 0:16:20.800 --> 0:16:24.040 year's rotation was skewed as hell, because well, both Zach 0:16:24.120 --> 0:16:27.400 and Kalayis gave you more than three hundred snaps as edges. 0:16:27.520 --> 0:16:30.640 As defensive ends, you know, five techniques are wider, and 0:16:30.680 --> 0:16:33.960 that stretched the rest of the defensive tackle room quite 0:16:34.000 --> 0:16:35.920 a bit, right to the point that we saw five 0:16:36.000 --> 0:16:38.280 hundred and sixty three snaps from DeShawn Hand, which I 0:16:38.320 --> 0:16:39.760 think if I told you that going into the year, 0:16:39.800 --> 0:16:41.680 you'd said, there's no way he plays even half of that, 0:16:42.000 --> 0:16:45.280 and four hundred and eighty one snaps from Benito Jones. 0:16:45.280 --> 0:16:48.160 So if you cumulatively remove the edge snaps from Zach 0:16:48.240 --> 0:16:50.920 and Kalayis kick those inside, you can reduce the number 0:16:50.960 --> 0:16:53.600 of snaps you need by almost half. But of course 0:16:53.680 --> 0:16:56.720 Kalayis is not back, so we'll say by a quarter, 0:16:57.000 --> 0:16:59.600 give or take. So with those five hundred and sixty 0:17:00.240 --> 0:17:03.040 and five hundred and eighty snaps, with that's eleven hundred 0:17:03.040 --> 0:17:05.040 and ten snaps round right something like that. I don't 0:17:05.080 --> 0:17:07.840 know math No. Eleven hundred and forty snaps. You need 0:17:07.880 --> 0:17:10.640 about seven hundred and fifty to eight hundred snaps total 0:17:10.680 --> 0:17:13.000 that you don't currently have on your roster. So if 0:17:13.040 --> 0:17:15.639 you hit a home run at pick thirteen at defensive tackle, 0:17:15.880 --> 0:17:17.880 that's it. That's who would be. He could play seven 0:17:18.000 --> 0:17:20.920 hundred snaps for you. You're done. But we'll talk about 0:17:20.920 --> 0:17:22.720 a player that I think fits that mold a little bit. 0:17:22.880 --> 0:17:25.000 But I think that's far from the only option. Because 0:17:25.000 --> 0:17:26.439 you don't want to go into the draft saying I 0:17:26.480 --> 0:17:28.480 have to get an eight hundred snap defensive tackle. That 0:17:28.560 --> 0:17:33.399 seems like an issue. But between Kenneth Grant, Derek Harmon 0:17:33.440 --> 0:17:36.040 from Oregon, and Alfred Collins from Texas, I think all 0:17:36.080 --> 0:17:38.920 three of those guys could give you the seven hundred 0:17:38.960 --> 0:17:41.240 snaps you ask for as a rookie one and done 0:17:41.320 --> 0:17:43.919 type of solutions turn the card in issue fixed. At 0:17:44.040 --> 0:17:45.760 least that's what you hope for, right because you never 0:17:45.760 --> 0:17:47.600 know how these guys are gonna play right away or develop. 0:17:47.640 --> 0:17:49.920 But you kind of when I watch those guys on tape, 0:17:49.960 --> 0:17:53.720 I see Day one NFL contributors. Now where those guys 0:17:53.760 --> 0:17:56.840 slot in. I think Grant requires a thirteenth pick. I 0:17:56.840 --> 0:17:59.520 think Harmon would come in a possible short trade back. 0:17:59.720 --> 0:18:01.240 I think think you could get call into the top 0:18:01.280 --> 0:18:05.160 of round two pick forty eight. I don't know about that, Jim. Now, 0:18:05.280 --> 0:18:07.520 if you need to create them in the aggregate, there's 0:18:07.560 --> 0:18:09.720 also a handful of guys I think we'll go on 0:18:09.840 --> 0:18:12.280 day two. They could give you four hundred to five 0:18:12.320 --> 0:18:15.480 hundred snaps as rookies. Darius Alexander out of Toledo, TJ. 0:18:15.640 --> 0:18:17.760 Sanders out of South Carolina, ty Leeku Williams out of 0:18:17.800 --> 0:18:21.560 Ohio State, CJ. West from Indiana, Josh Farmer from Florida State, 0:18:21.640 --> 0:18:24.000 Jordan Phillips out of Maryland. I think all of these 0:18:24.000 --> 0:18:26.639 guys have a chance through their tape and ability to 0:18:26.720 --> 0:18:29.200 be impact players right away. This is why we don't 0:18:29.240 --> 0:18:31.200 just focus on the top fifteen players of a draft. 0:18:31.400 --> 0:18:33.640 There's a reason they have seven rounds and twenty five 0:18:33.680 --> 0:18:37.399 man scouting staffs that spend nine ten months out of 0:18:37.440 --> 0:18:39.760 the year watching and getting to know these players. And 0:18:39.760 --> 0:18:42.280 then there's a crop of guys that might be more 0:18:42.359 --> 0:18:45.560 rotational pieces that can do what Benito Jones did last 0:18:45.600 --> 0:18:47.960 year and perhaps that comes with a playing time promotion 0:18:48.080 --> 0:18:50.480 for Benito, who had his best year as a pro. 0:18:50.560 --> 0:18:54.720