Speaker 1: Factors Patrick touchdown. What a win for this Miami Dolphin team. Wow?
Speaker 1: What is up? Dolphins? And welcome to the Drive Time Podcast,
Speaker 1: part of the Miami Dolphins official podcast network, covering your
Speaker 1: Miami Dolphins each and every day. How's it going, Everybody Happy?
Speaker 1: Thursday afternoon? I am your host, Travis Wingfield, and I'm
Speaker 1: here to bring you your daily dose of Miami Dolphins football.
Speaker 1: And on today's show, we are all finished up with
Speaker 1: the offense and moving on to the defense for the
Speaker 1: training camp roster preview series. And there are so many
Speaker 1: guys on this side of the ball. I can't wait
Speaker 1: to break down and dive into their games. We'll get
Speaker 1: started up front with the big boys and the group
Speaker 1: led by Christian Wilkins and Divon gott Shaw on the
Speaker 1: interior defensive line. Plus, it's been out for a month
Speaker 1: and I still have not discussed the Dolphins portion of
Speaker 1: the War and Sharp Football preview publication. We'll rectify that.
Speaker 1: We'll get you caught up on the latest around Dolphin camp,
Speaker 1: and I'll tell you about the worst ending to a
Speaker 1: first day of a new job, imaginable. All of that
Speaker 1: and more on this Thursday, August the sixth edition of
Speaker 1: the Drive Time Podcasts, and we start here with the
Speaker 1: first news that came in late on Wednesday evening. Devon Godshaw,
Speaker 1: Dolphins defensive lineman, has been added to the reserve slash
Speaker 1: COVID nineteen list. We'll get into more about Devon's game
Speaker 1: later in this podcast. Other news from Wednesday, the Dolphins
Speaker 1: had their second player, another wide receiver, opt out for
Speaker 1: the season, with receiver Albert Wilson. Head coach Brian Flores
Speaker 1: had this to say about Albert Wilson's decision quote, I
Speaker 1: support Albert's decision. I know he made it with his
Speaker 1: family in mind. I want what is best for Albert,
Speaker 1: as I do for all of our players. End quote.
Speaker 1: And so this was gonna be the last year on
Speaker 1: Albert Wilson's contract, a three year deal he signed back
Speaker 1: in to join the Miami Dolphins. And I'm never gonna
Speaker 1: forget that Chicago Bears game. And I do recall him
Speaker 1: against Detroit Lions the following week, the play where he
Speaker 1: got hurt, where it looked like he was gonna do
Speaker 1: it again, right, he was gonna rip off another long
Speaker 1: touchdown on a short pass that he turned into a
Speaker 1: massive play another long touchdown, but he got clipped on
Speaker 1: the back of the shoe and it just disrupted his
Speaker 1: steps just enough to tweak and injure that hip. He
Speaker 1: was coming on strong late in the year last season
Speaker 1: at the end of twenty nineteen, but now the Dolphins
Speaker 1: will look elsewhere for production at wide receiver as both
Speaker 1: Wilson and Hearns are out of the picture for season.
Speaker 1: And let's just be real about what this is. This
Speaker 1: is a chance for other guys to step up their games.
Speaker 1: Shachim has been working his ass off all off season.
Speaker 1: Isaiah Ford really shined down the stretch last year and
Speaker 1: earned admiration from Brian Flores and the coaches for his work,
Speaker 1: and Fitzpatrick echoed those sentiments by saying he's one of
Speaker 1: the most studious players he'd ever been around, a guy
Speaker 1: that understands each element of the offense the way a
Speaker 1: quarterback would. Those are the more established and known guys,
Speaker 1: but there are other guys chomping at the bit on
Speaker 1: this roster as well, like Gary Jennings, who was a
Speaker 1: fourth round draft pick just two years ago coming out
Speaker 1: of West Virginia. They had him and David Sills, and
Speaker 1: I remember that conversation among all draft pundits about which
Speaker 1: of those two guys would go first in the draft,
Speaker 1: and Jennings wound up going a couple rounds earlier than Sills,
Speaker 1: and here he is in Miami. He did get hurt
Speaker 1: on the one kickoff return last year, Jakeem's kickoff return
Speaker 1: for a touchdown, but he's back this season looking to
Speaker 1: make an impact on the Dolphins roster. It's a chance
Speaker 1: for Mac Hollins, who also got here in season last year.
Speaker 1: Daniel Jeremiah of NFL Network couldn't rave enough about his
Speaker 1: work as a gunner when he came out of North Carolina.
Speaker 1: He got some offensive snaps last year down the stretch
Speaker 1: with the Dolphins as well. Then you've got the two
Speaker 1: undrafted free agents and Kirk Merritt and Matt Cole, both
Speaker 1: unique players. Merit in the sense that he's everything you
Speaker 1: look for from that height, weight, speed, athletic combination you want.
Speaker 1: He started off his career at Oregon, wound up in
Speaker 1: East Mississippi Community College, the site of Last Chance You
Speaker 1: on Netflix, and finished his career in Arkansas State. He's
Speaker 1: one guy that I'm really looking forward to seeing when
Speaker 1: the pads come on and then Matt Cole was this
Speaker 1: year's Prospect X the Sports Illustrated Under the Radar prospect,
Speaker 1: a big time contributor at Mckenjurie State on offense but
Speaker 1: also in kicking game, which we know how much that
Speaker 1: means to coach Flora's And that's the old adage, right,
Speaker 1: the old cliche. If you want to find your way
Speaker 1: onto the roster, maybe beyond the top of the depth chart,
Speaker 1: you better become best friends with a special teams coach
Speaker 1: and work your ass off in that area. All always
Speaker 1: remember the Hard Knocks episode back and I think it
Speaker 1: was two thousand nine with the Jets when they told
Speaker 1: a certain player, I forget who it was, but they
Speaker 1: told him, if you want to make this football team,
Speaker 1: you better get to know everything there is no about
Speaker 1: special teams coordinator Mike west Off, formerly of the Miami Dolphins,
Speaker 1: and really buddy up to him and work on his
Speaker 1: unit because that's your route to the football team. So
Speaker 1: that's the first way you carve out a role as
Speaker 1: one of those U d f A guys. But let's
Speaker 1: also be completely transparent here about this. There are opportunities
Speaker 1: and nobody's going to walk out there and fall into
Speaker 1: a job. In fact, to quote quote coach Flora's from
Speaker 1: last week, we aren't going to just hand out jobs,
Speaker 1: and so there's competition to be had here, and honestly,
Speaker 1: probably a pretty safe bet de pencil Davante Parker into
Speaker 1: the lineup. He played himself into that contract extension last year,
Speaker 1: saw what Preston Williams did early last season. But they
Speaker 1: all have to earn it, right. This is an opportunity
Speaker 1: for the rest of the room, and I'm excited to
Speaker 1: see how all these guys respond. Another group I'm excited
Speaker 1: to see when the pads go on here at practice
Speaker 1: are the guys up front. And we continue our training
Speaker 1: camp roster preview series with another look at a Dolphins
Speaker 1: position group, this time up on the defensive line. Upfront.
Speaker 1: Mary and Hobby coaches these guys, and I had a
Speaker 1: hard time trying to find a way to differentiate who
Speaker 1: goes where is terms of what the defensive allocation is
Speaker 1: for these guys on the roster. You have defensive tackles,
Speaker 1: defensive ends. But Brian Flores talks about his position list
Speaker 1: defense all the time, and so many of these guys
Speaker 1: playing multiple spots along that defensive line. That's kind of
Speaker 1: hard to put them in a box or to pigeonhole
Speaker 1: these guys. We're gonna try anyway here and go with
Speaker 1: the interior defensive lineman again in order of jersey number,
Speaker 1: starting with the Von gott Shaw upfront. Three accrued seasons
Speaker 1: here in Miami, a seventeen draft pick entering his fourth
Speaker 1: with the Dolphins, number fifty six out of L s U.
Speaker 1: He's gonna be twenty five years old on opening day.
Speaker 1: And whether you talk about position or schematics, whatever the
Speaker 1: case may be, Tavon got Chaw is both versatile and adaptable,
Speaker 1: one of the more powerfully imposing and two year defensive
Speaker 1: lineman and all of the NFL. God Shaw has a
Speaker 1: penchant for stacking up bodies against the run and making
Speaker 1: plays at or around the line of scrimmage. He's categorized
Speaker 1: as a defensive tackle on Pro Football Focus. He had
Speaker 1: thirty three run stops last year. Those are tackles within
Speaker 1: two yards of the line of scrimmage, and that led
Speaker 1: the NFL among that group of players. And again, to
Speaker 1: call him just a defensive tackle really would be shortsighted.
Speaker 1: For god Shaw, he moved all over the formation playing
Speaker 1: inside it knows all the way out to the five
Speaker 1: technique outside off the tackle. He lined up pretty much
Speaker 1: everywhere across the defensive line you can for a defensive
Speaker 1: tackle and among the variety of fronts that Flores calls,
Speaker 1: whether god Shaw's playing in aggressive one gap penetrating upfield
Speaker 1: style or a read and react two gaps stack approach
Speaker 1: to the defense. His snap counts have increased each year
Speaker 1: as a pro. He's played in forty seven of a
Speaker 1: possible forty eight career games, and his seven hundred and
Speaker 1: eighteen snaps last year were a career high. He also
Speaker 1: hit career highs and tackles with seventy five, sacks with two,
Speaker 1: quarterback hits with five, quarterback hurries with eleven, and total
Speaker 1: pressures with eighteen. He was the Dolphins Walter Payton Man
Speaker 1: of the Year nominee for the nineteen season, and Brian
Speaker 1: Flores spoke about that distinction and what it is that
Speaker 1: makes Devon the person a special guy. Quote. I think
Speaker 1: he does a lot in the community. He's shown leadership
Speaker 1: throughout time. By the time that I've been here, this
Speaker 1: is a guy who is very genuine and caring about
Speaker 1: giving back he's a good human being and I think
Speaker 1: he's deserving of Walter Payton nomination and quote. There Up
Speaker 1: next on our list Jason Strowbridge, the rookie number fifty
Speaker 1: eight out of North Carolina, a fifth round draft pick
Speaker 1: of the Miami Dolphins back in April. Gonna be twenty
Speaker 1: four years old on opening Day, and like a few
Speaker 1: of his new teammates, Strowbridges football career returns to the
Speaker 1: place where it all began. He was a standout prep
Speaker 1: at Deerfield Beach High School here in South Florida. The
Speaker 1: Dolphins fifth round pick is coming back home after a
Speaker 1: successful college career at u n C. Two hundred and
Speaker 1: seventy three pounds. He has impressive pop and burst. He
Speaker 1: tested in the nine percent tile in the forty yard
Speaker 1: dash with a four point eight nine time percentile in
Speaker 1: the twenty yard shuttle at four point three seven seconds
Speaker 1: and better than the eighty second percentile, and the ten
Speaker 1: yard split, three cone and broad jumps, so all of
Speaker 1: his testing metrics spell explosive player for strode Bridge. Here's
Speaker 1: what coach Flores had to say about strode Bridge. He
Speaker 1: is an outside inside player. He lines up outside in
Speaker 1: some situations inside and others. Good strength, good quickness. There's
Speaker 1: a lot to like about him. He played multiple positions,
Speaker 1: and his very versatile and tough and quote and that
Speaker 1: versatility beared out in Strode bridges alignment splits. According to
Speaker 1: Pro Football Focus and their draft guide, he logged two
Speaker 1: hundred and eighty three snaps in the B gap that's
Speaker 1: between the garden tackle, two hundred and seventy two snaps
Speaker 1: over the offensive tackle, and one hundred and eleven snaps
Speaker 1: outside the tackle, with twenty three snaps in the A gap,
Speaker 1: which is a course between the center and guard on
Speaker 1: the inside. So he really does play every position there
Speaker 1: in college at least, and that's the expectation as you
Speaker 1: hear coach Flora's talk about here with the inside outside player.
Speaker 1: He also had twenty two run stops and twenty eight
Speaker 1: quarterback pressures last year at u n c Up. Next
Speaker 1: is Derval Cirez Neto, one accrued season, second heading into Miami,
Speaker 1: number sixty nine on the Jersey International player out of Brazil,
Speaker 1: going to be twenty eight years old on opening day,
Speaker 1: And this guy really is a fascinating study. He is
Speaker 1: on the International Pathway Program, the first player for the
Speaker 1: Dolphins on that particular pathway, and he took a fast
Speaker 1: ending route to get to the NFL. Six ft four
Speaker 1: pounds and he may well be in the running for
Speaker 1: the biggest human being capable of doing a standing backflip.
Speaker 1: And really he can do it with quite a bit
Speaker 1: of ease. There's a video of it up on Twitter.
Speaker 1: The flexibility as well as the violent hands that he
Speaker 1: has our traits that really made him a judo champion
Speaker 1: back in his home country of Brazil. He's gotten some
Speaker 1: work with the Dolphins offensive line. He spent last year
Speaker 1: on the practice squad with the roster exemption as part
Speaker 1: of that international pathway program. But this guy is big,
Speaker 1: explosive and really powerful and just thickly built too. Also
Speaker 1: up front, Zach Seeler came over last year and in
Speaker 1: he's an acquisition number nine two his second season with
Speaker 1: the Miami Dolphins out of Fair Estate. He's another one
Speaker 1: of these big, long, powerful guys that can really help
Speaker 1: control the point of attack and again play all across
Speaker 1: the defensive line and multiple spots and multiple formations and
Speaker 1: multiple looks. He's got a really nice get off, a
Speaker 1: nice rip move, plays with plenty of power upfront can
Speaker 1: disengage those blocks with those long arms, and he got
Speaker 1: plenty of playing time in that Bengals game last season
Speaker 1: where he had a huge day. Statistically, he had three
Speaker 1: pressures in that game, one sack, two hurries, made seven
Speaker 1: total tackles five run stops in one game. Those, of course,
Speaker 1: are tackles within two yards of the line of scrimmage.
Speaker 1: He also knocked down two passes at the line of scrimmage.
Speaker 1: So Zach Seeler making moves late in the year last
Speaker 1: year after coming over an in season waiver wire claim
Speaker 1: for the Miami Dolphins. Another waiver wire claim comes up
Speaker 1: next on our list here and Ray Smith, who was
Speaker 1: just added to the roster a couple of weeks ago
Speaker 1: out of Boston College, spent some time with the Lions
Speaker 1: and the Niners practice squad. Number twenty three years old
Speaker 1: on open Day. He played in forty career games over
Speaker 1: a four year career at college, totally one and thirty
Speaker 1: eight tackles. As the Dolphins moved on picking him up
Speaker 1: quickly after his release last month by claiming the defensive
Speaker 1: tackle who has explosive testing metrics. At his twenty nineteen
Speaker 1: pro day, he scored in rare territory across multiple athletic metrics.
Speaker 1: His forty yard dash with four point nine three seconds,
Speaker 1: his ten yards split at one six eight, his twenty
Speaker 1: yards split, his vertical as broad jump, his shuttle and
Speaker 1: three cone time. All of those stats, all of those
Speaker 1: measurements measured in the ninety percent tile or better of
Speaker 1: defensive tackles, and those scores earned Smith a nine point
Speaker 1: six four overall relative athletics scorecard, the cumulative measure that
Speaker 1: we talked about on this podcast all the time. From
Speaker 1: Kent Platt, he is at math bomb on Twitter taking
Speaker 1: a look at all those athletic measurements of pro days
Speaker 1: and combined workouts and putting together in one score nine
Speaker 1: point six four out of ten overall for Ray Smith.
Speaker 1: Up next another guy who did very well in that regard,
Speaker 1: drafted in the first round last year, in Christian Wilkins,
Speaker 1: his first season though the Dolphins, entering number two here
Speaker 1: in Miami, number ninety four out of Clemson, twenty four
Speaker 1: years old on opening Day. He was a thirteenth pick
Speaker 1: in last year's draft, and he led all of his
Speaker 1: rookie position mates with fifty six tackles out of six
Speaker 1: players taken in the first round. At defensive tackle, he
Speaker 1: ranked sixteenth and run stops among those tackles with twenty
Speaker 1: nine and seven, and total quarterback pressures with thirty and
Speaker 1: he only missed two tackles all seasons, so very reliable.
Speaker 1: They're a tackler in the middle. Those thirty quarterback pressures
Speaker 1: that he had were the most for a rookie interior
Speaker 1: defensive lineman since and he really embodies the Dolphins desire
Speaker 1: to be this multiple team upfront on defense, with a
Speaker 1: rare first step quickness the requisite strength to hold his
Speaker 1: ground against the run. He is functional whether being asked
Speaker 1: to one gap or two gap. And not only does
Speaker 1: Wilkins play a variety of positions up front, he produces
Speaker 1: from each spot as well. I went back on a
Speaker 1: podcast earlier this summer and charted each of those twenty
Speaker 1: nine run stops and found that they came from nine
Speaker 1: different positions playing across the defensive line. Most of them
Speaker 1: came from the three technique. Nine of the twenty nine
Speaker 1: run stops came from that three technique, which aligns the
Speaker 1: defensive lineman on the outside shoulder of either guard on
Speaker 1: either side of the formation. Gentel manager Chris Career summarized
Speaker 1: the traits the Dolphins found most appealing about Wilkins in
Speaker 1: last April's draft. He said, Christians a very smart, versatile
Speaker 1: football player. He was highly productive. We love the size,
Speaker 1: the athletic ability, and the things he'll add to the
Speaker 1: locker room, not just on the field. Wilkins finished last
Speaker 1: season playing his best football. Over the final ten games
Speaker 1: of his rookie season, Wilkins had twenty four run stops
Speaker 1: that was fourth among interior defensive lineman and twenty four
Speaker 1: quarterback pressures, nineteen among interior defensive lineman. Up next, another
Speaker 1: young player, a rookie undrafted out of Old Miss, number nine,
Speaker 1: Nito Jones. He'll be twenty two years old on opening Day,
Speaker 1: and he was a mainstay in the middle of that
Speaker 1: Old Miss defense last season and throughout the course of
Speaker 1: his entire career really where he logged one thousand, seven
Speaker 1: hundred and sixty five snaps, made fifty two run stops,
Speaker 1: and had forty five quarterback pressures with ten stacks to
Speaker 1: boot from the interior. And he primarily played inside with
Speaker 1: four hundred and fourteen snaps last year in the A
Speaker 1: gap on five in the B gap. He also played
Speaker 1: thirty seven out over the tackle. According to Pro Football
Speaker 1: Focus and NFL dot Com, I thought detailed Jones as
Speaker 1: great as strengths as a space eater in the middle
Speaker 1: of a defense. For you quote, He's country strong with
Speaker 1: good durability, carries, broad thick chest and good muscular build throughout. Arms,
Speaker 1: excellent football character with consistent play motor quick to recalibrate
Speaker 1: his opponent depending on blocking scheme. Arm over wins into
Speaker 1: the A gaps off the snap. Good use of hands
Speaker 1: to work immediately to the edge. Lateral quickness to leverage
Speaker 1: and range down the line, quick to play off the
Speaker 1: block and make a tackle. Agile Russia with strength and
Speaker 1: athleticism to infiltrate pocket against single blocks. And we finish
Speaker 1: up here with yet another rookie, this one a draft
Speaker 1: pick in the second round for the Miami Dolphins, number
Speaker 1: fifty six overall, ray Kwon Davis out of Alabama, number
Speaker 1: twenty three years old on Opening Day. This dude is
Speaker 1: massive and whenever I watch the Jaguars recently or previously
Speaker 1: with the Arizona Cardinals. Now he's with the Baltimore Ravens,
Speaker 1: Klais Campbe always just stood out to me as a
Speaker 1: guy that towered over other fellow huge human beings. And
Speaker 1: that's what ray Kwon Davis looked like. From the appearance
Speaker 1: standpoint on the football field of Alabama, you just can't
Speaker 1: miss him and that length and power that shows up
Speaker 1: on tape that allows him to routinely claude gaps, stack
Speaker 1: and shed against the run, and disengage from blockers as
Speaker 1: a pass rusher. We saw Brian Flores on draft day
Speaker 1: after the Dolphins made that selection, kind of showing someone
Speaker 1: off the side of his screen how he locked out
Speaker 1: and disengages those blockers after that draft pick, and he
Speaker 1: looked pretty excited about the pick. Is in his own right,
Speaker 1: and he registered eighty six pressures and his three year
Speaker 1: career there Alabama with seventy three run stops. He played
Speaker 1: one thousand, eight hundred forty nine career snaps, and he
Speaker 1: earned really consistent Pro Football Focus grades across three years
Speaker 1: there eighty four point nine, eighty one point nine, and
Speaker 1: eighty three point two from his freshman year through his
Speaker 1: junior year there at Alabama. And Flora's talked a lot
Speaker 1: about the hidden production in Davis's game or just a
Speaker 1: player in general in the production how it doesn't have
Speaker 1: to show up in the stat sheet or the box score.
Speaker 1: And I love this quote here from coach Flora's I've
Speaker 1: always told players that you can play a great game
Speaker 1: and have no stats. If you set the edge every time,
Speaker 1: if you're in your gap, if you make every tackle,
Speaker 1: if you force the ball whether wherever we want to
Speaker 1: force it, if you make your block, you can literally
Speaker 1: have nothing on the stat sheet but play a great game.
Speaker 1: I am on record saying that two players, dating back
Speaker 1: to as long as I have been coaching, I truly
Speaker 1: believe that. So when people say statistics, when I see
Speaker 1: Ray Kuan, I see a guy who is defeating blocks,
Speaker 1: taking two blocks, and creating plays for his teammates. There
Speaker 1: are a lot of hidden stats and that I look
Speaker 1: at personally, I think he does a good job and
Speaker 1: maybe some of those hidden stats. End quote, and so
Speaker 1: plenty of new guys up front on that Dolphins defensive line,
Speaker 1: plenty of new guys on the defense in general. And
Speaker 1: that's where we're gonna pivot here into our conversation about
Speaker 1: the war and Sharp Analytics preview. He publishes this thing
Speaker 1: every year. It's a manifesto of great information. I highly
Speaker 1: highly recommend it for any football fans out there because
Speaker 1: it can help educate you on the analytic side of
Speaker 1: the game. His entire mission statement is to maximize efficiency,
Speaker 1: and that's football field and otherwise, I just want to
Speaker 1: go over some of the more intriguing points he has
Speaker 1: on his Dolphins page, which is like five or six
Speaker 1: pages per every team. This thing, it's a it's a dictionary,
Speaker 1: it's a huge the source of information. And first he
Speaker 1: talks about positional spending, which I always find so interesting
Speaker 1: because you can kind of find out what a team
Speaker 1: prioritizes on their roster in terms of where they allocate
Speaker 1: their salary cap money too. And we know the Dolphins
Speaker 1: had money to spend this offseason and they spent it
Speaker 1: in free agency, bringing a lot of talent into this roster.
Speaker 1: As he breaks down the way the Dolphins money is
Speaker 1: being allocated across the positions this year. In total, on offense,
Speaker 1: the Dolphins have the twenty nine most money tied up
Speaker 1: in their offense As far as commitments on the salary cap.
Speaker 1: At quarterback, it's eighteenth most in the NFL. On the
Speaker 1: offensive line, most running back is fourteenth most receiver eighteenth
Speaker 1: most and tight end thirty second most money at the
Speaker 1: tight end position in the NFL for all defense, all
Speaker 1: things considered, all positions, they have the sixth most money
Speaker 1: on the defense, eighteenth on the defensive line, seventeenth at linebacker,
Speaker 1: number one at corner back, at number eleven at the
Speaker 1: safety position. So you see the clear allocation of resources
Speaker 1: there into the defensive secondary, utilizing a bunch of dime,
Speaker 1: quarter dollar and half dollar defensive packages where you have six, seven,
Speaker 1: eight defensive backs on the field on top of what
Speaker 1: now is the base defense in the NFL with nickel
Speaker 1: defense and five defensive backs, you're gonna see more six
Speaker 1: defensive backs packages as the Dolphins did last year. Then
Speaker 1: you see four, and that's commonplace in the NFL, the
Speaker 1: four defensive backpackage, your quote unquote based defense. That is
Speaker 1: one of the most sub package defenses there is in
Speaker 1: the NFL based upon statistics and snap utilization across the
Speaker 1: NFL for all thirty two teams. And so Warren Sharp
Speaker 1: here continues to harp nice rhyme on the offseason the
Speaker 1: Dolphins had and context tells you, well, of course, because
Speaker 1: they had money to spend and a plan for how
Speaker 1: to allocate those dollars. But here's a really interesting tidbit.
Speaker 1: Miami signed as many players this offseason with an average
Speaker 1: annual salary of seven point five million dollars as they
Speaker 1: did the previous seven years combined, and he notes that
Speaker 1: is remarkable a unique statistic there for this Dolphins team.
Speaker 1: And that's also kind of a product of this fact
Speaker 1: that Sharp notes the Dolphins played the least experienced defense
Speaker 1: in the NFL in nineteen. The average age per snap
Speaker 1: for the Dolphins last year on defense was twenty five
Speaker 1: point one years old, and to be perfectly frank Frank,
Speaker 1: though that number will likely go up a little bit
Speaker 1: this year, that's gonna be still a very low number
Speaker 1: because this is a very young team built mostly of
Speaker 1: first and second year players, and that often started ten
Speaker 1: different rookies on defense last year for a total of
Speaker 1: fifty three games started by rookies, Both of those were
Speaker 1: the most in football. They also started players with just
Speaker 1: one year of experience for thirty three games by five
Speaker 1: players under that criteria, and I think this next step
Speaker 1: makes that even more impressive. The Dolphins were five and
Speaker 1: two and one score games. A young team that finds
Speaker 1: a way to win that can serve as a crucial
Speaker 1: building block going forward for your organization. And to further
Speaker 1: illustrate the youth movement here in Miami, Sharp notes the
Speaker 1: equivalence for players years of experience with the full season equivalent. Basically,
Speaker 1: Miami had three point three rookies play full season. So
Speaker 1: basically you take it down to a sixteen game sample size,
Speaker 1: the Dolphins had three point three rookies play sixteen full games,
Speaker 1: players with one or two years of experience two point
Speaker 1: one players there, and players with two years of experience
Speaker 1: three point two. So you have was that three six, eight,
Speaker 1: eight and a half. You had eight and a half
Speaker 1: players on average play a full season of starting football
Speaker 1: that had either no experience, one year experience, or two
Speaker 1: years of experience last year for this young Miami Dolphins
Speaker 1: football team. And he writes here, having established the peer youth,
Speaker 1: let's look at the quality of starters. Doing the same
Speaker 1: exercise as above to determine of the eleven full season
Speaker 1: starters what their makeup was by draft round. Undrafted players
Speaker 1: were two point five full season starters. Fifth to seventh
Speaker 1: round draft picks were for three players of full season
Speaker 1: equivalents and only eight point five out of eleven spots
Speaker 1: were actually players drafted exactly half the defense, five and
Speaker 1: a half spots where players drafted in the fifth to
Speaker 1: seventh rounds or under arafted, and the other half of
Speaker 1: the defense was drafted in the first four rounds. On
Speaker 1: top of the fact that Sharp notes the injury data here,
Speaker 1: the Dolphins had the third most missed snaps by injured
Speaker 1: players on defense last season and had twenty eight total
Speaker 1: players make starts on defense. He then writes that the
Speaker 1: talent imported this offseason is impressive, noting the draft positioning
Speaker 1: of the free agent signed Byron Jones and Shack laws
Speaker 1: In both former first round draft picks, Kyle van Noy
Speaker 1: and Emmanuel Ogball both second round draft picks once upon
Speaker 1: time premium talent. He writes, these are pedigree players with
Speaker 1: four or five and six years of experience. He then
Speaker 1: mentions the draft spending premium picks top three rounds as
Speaker 1: he defines it as a premium pick rounds one through
Speaker 1: three on defensive players, giving the Miami Dolphins defense seven
Speaker 1: new premium pedigree talent players on defense and one off season.
Speaker 1: Nobody matched that or even came close. This offseason. And
Speaker 1: that's on top of Xavien Howard, Christian Wilkins, Ray Kawadon McMillan,
Speaker 1: Eric Rowe, and Jerome Baker, who were all top three
Speaker 1: round picks. So now we've got twelve players selected with
Speaker 1: the premium pick on this defense as Sharp describes it.
Speaker 1: And let's go ahead and wrap this up the Warren
Speaker 1: Sharp Dolphins preview with some just random numbers from the
Speaker 1: previews section. Here some numbers on Ryan Fitzpatrick talking about
Speaker 1: success ray on first, second, and third down, and he
Speaker 1: describes success ray as a way to measure a place
Speaker 1: effectiveness as far as yardage game compared to the down
Speaker 1: a distance. And so Fitzpatrick was below league average on
Speaker 1: Warren's success ray on first down with a success rate
Speaker 1: of forty seven percent compared to fifty two percent league wide,
Speaker 1: but he was better than league average on both second
Speaker 1: and third downs. And second down he was forty seven
Speaker 1: percent compared to the league average of forty five percent,
Speaker 1: and on third down thirty six percent compared to a
Speaker 1: league average of thirty five percent. Davante Parker accounted for
Speaker 1: twenty percent of the Dolphins passing game share last year.
Speaker 1: The next highest was Mike Sick at fift percent, Preston
Speaker 1: Williams up next at eleven percent, Albert Wilson and Alan
Speaker 1: Hearns both tying at nine percent each, with Grant and
Speaker 1: Ford at six percent, and then a bunch of running
Speaker 1: backs at five percent. In that in that offensive passing
Speaker 1: game share in total offensive share in general running game
Speaker 1: and passing game, Davante Parker was topps at fift Calen
Speaker 1: Blage up next at twelve percent, Patrick Lairt eleven, Mike Kasicki,
Speaker 1: Mark Walton, and Kenyan Drake all at nine percent, Preston
Speaker 1: Williams and Albert Wilson at seven percent, and Alan Hearns
Speaker 1: at six percent of the offense. And of course there
Speaker 1: were some more guys making up lower percentages than that
Speaker 1: on the Dolphins roster last year. And the rest really
Speaker 1: of this preview is way too into the weeds for
Speaker 1: a podcast platform, but again I'll highly recommend checking it out.
Speaker 1: The War and Sharp NFL preview you can find it
Speaker 1: on Sharp Football Analysis dot com. And to put a
Speaker 1: bow on this podcast on this thing, let's go ahead
Speaker 1: and tell a little story about my first day here
Speaker 1: at the Dolphins facility. So the office is one part
Speaker 1: of the property, and where the podcast gets recorded is
Speaker 1: on the complete other side of campus or the property,
Speaker 1: whatever you want to call it. So I walk along
Speaker 1: the backside of the bleachers that overlook the practice field
Speaker 1: to get to where I have to go. And the
Speaker 1: weather has been crazy so far here today it's really
Speaker 1: hot and nice and sunny. But for the most part
Speaker 1: this week it's been sunny one minute and then a
Speaker 1: torrential downpour the next. And actually I like it because
Speaker 1: the weather the heat has not been too bad at all.
Speaker 1: But we've got umbrellas we can check out and take
Speaker 1: with us, so there should be no problem. Right. Well
Speaker 1: not so fast, my friend, very very wrong. There's a
Speaker 1: little section back there where the ground kind of comes
Speaker 1: to this valley, and this is where I'm completely complicit
Speaker 1: in this entire saga. I had just published a story,
Speaker 1: so I was tweeting it out while making my walk
Speaker 1: back to the studio to record the podcast and not
Speaker 1: watching where I'm going. But to my defense, in my
Speaker 1: peripheral all I saw was the proverbial green grass on
Speaker 1: the way to the end zone, and the only real
Speaker 1: thing I have to worry about at this point. On
Speaker 1: my way to the end zone is connecting on that
Speaker 1: high five before we crossed the goal line, so to speak,
Speaker 1: except that damn turf monster. Only I wish that I
Speaker 1: had tripped and fell and it was the turf monster,
Speaker 1: because that would have been way better by comparison to
Speaker 1: what actually did happen. What I did, like a total moron,
Speaker 1: was find myself in the middle of a puddle that
Speaker 1: nearly fully immersed both of my shoes, and by the
Speaker 1: time that I had realized this was actually happening, I
Speaker 1: had way too much forward momentum and had to actually
Speaker 1: forge the damn thing, like the old Oregon trail game
Speaker 1: when you crossed the Green River and your ferry crashes
Speaker 1: and you drown all your horses and spill all your
Speaker 1: grain into the river. So the way my mind process
Speaker 1: is the next move here and really short order, is
Speaker 1: to get across the water as fast as I possibly
Speaker 1: can and somehow defy gravity by minimizing all contact with
Speaker 1: the ground, which means bringing up the high knees and
Speaker 1: using only my tippy toes to propel myself off the
Speaker 1: ground for each step. So I'm sure the security staff
Speaker 1: got a great look at the ding dong out there
Speaker 1: the new guy walking around doing high knees in the
Speaker 1: middle of a downpour, falling in a puddle, shoes completely soaked,
Speaker 1: socks so wet you could ring them out. And that's
Speaker 1: how the end of my first day here at Dolphin's
Speaker 1: headquarters headquarters concluded with me driving home barefooted. Welcome to Florida.
Speaker 1: I guess the glass half full of me though, says hey,
Speaker 1: well that's a story. We'll tell it my retirement years
Speaker 1: down the way. So a good story for the future,
Speaker 1: but not a lot of fun in the moment. All right,
Speaker 1: let's go ahead and get out of here. Just a
Speaker 1: heads up, we are going to publish tomorrow's programming, both
Speaker 1: the Defensive Edge preview as well as the podcast on Saturday,
Speaker 1: So no podcast tomorrow on Friday, but we will have
Speaker 1: a special release on Saturday for you guys. We are
Speaker 1: in five shows per week territory now, so buckle up
Speaker 1: in his football season. That is going to be my
Speaker 1: time today. You all, please be sure to subscribe to
Speaker 1: the podcast on Apple Podcast, Leave us a rating, leave
Speaker 1: us a review, Follow me on Twitter at Wingfield NFL,
Speaker 1: follow the Dolphins at Miami Dolphins on all the social
Speaker 1: media's check out the fish Tank and the audible podcast,
Speaker 1: and of course Miami Dolphins dot com. We have the
Speaker 1: interior defensive line preview up live on the site right
Speaker 1: now until next time. Fins up.