Speaker 1: Cut down, Miami art drawn, What is Up? Dolphins? And
Speaker 1: welcome to the Drive Time Podcast, part of the Miami
Speaker 1: Dolphins podcast network, covering your team, your Miami Dolphins. How's
Speaker 1: it going everybody? I am your host, Travis Wingfield. And
Speaker 1: on today's show, we've got a bit of a pot
Speaker 1: luck of Dolphins topics to cover, and boy am I
Speaker 1: excited for this one. We're gonna revisit the white board
Speaker 1: with a roster review. We're gonna talk about the guys
Speaker 1: who could be up for possible contract extensions next season,
Speaker 1: and we're gonna talk about arm strength and playbooks, and
Speaker 1: if we have time, we're gonna cover some of the
Speaker 1: veteran free agent signings who were brought in post the
Speaker 1: first few weeks of free agency for some film reviews,
Speaker 1: the John Jenkins, the DJ Fluker's, the Jason mccordie's of
Speaker 1: the world, all of that and more on this edition
Speaker 1: of the Drive Time Podcast. Well, it's been a minute
Speaker 1: since we talk Dolphins fans. We had the podcast yesterday
Speaker 1: with Colleen Wolf, but that was pre recorded before Memorial
Speaker 1: Day weekend, and before we really get started here, you
Speaker 1: know this Naomi Osaka story, the tennis player who was
Speaker 1: fine for missing her press conferences, and then went out
Speaker 1: and put a tweet out there saying that she has
Speaker 1: struggled with anxiety and these very high anxious moments with
Speaker 1: these press conferences, that she needs a moment away from
Speaker 1: tennis and kind of work on her mental health. It's
Speaker 1: getting so much run and I tweeted about it on Tuesday,
Speaker 1: but I want to use this space again to just
Speaker 1: say a couple of things. Number One, mental health above all.
Speaker 1: That's why we're kicking this podcast off with this topic.
Speaker 1: Those of you that have been with me on this
Speaker 1: podcast Slash, my previous podcast since the very beginning, have
Speaker 1: heard my story and I've gone back to that topic
Speaker 1: quite a lot because it strikes close to home for me,
Speaker 1: as mental health complications led to the loss of a
Speaker 1: loved one, my mother, who was the most compassionate, best
Speaker 1: person I've ever met in my entire life. So the
Speaker 1: reason I bring this up is to kind of tie
Speaker 1: it all together more real day weekend was the ultimate
Speaker 1: reconnect for me. The disconnect really the pursuit of balance
Speaker 1: and which I just I can't recommend enough how valuable
Speaker 1: that is. My wife and I took a night away
Speaker 1: from the little One from Caroline, our baby daughter, our
Speaker 1: one year old daughter. For the first time since she
Speaker 1: was born in May of last year, we spent the
Speaker 1: night up in Bellevue, Washington, which if you're not familiar
Speaker 1: with the Pacific Northwest, if I had to make a comparison,
Speaker 1: I would say Bellevue is too is to Seattle what
Speaker 1: Fort Lauderdale is to Miami. And if you're ever out
Speaker 1: in the Northwest, make it a point to visit the
Speaker 1: son Katie a Resort. It's about an hour southeast of Seattle.
Speaker 1: That's where the photo that I shared on Twitter was
Speaker 1: just absolutely stunning views like three golf courses, wineries. It's
Speaker 1: an absolute maven for summer activity. But that balance Man
Speaker 1: and Naomi Osaka serious serious admiration for her for the
Speaker 1: recognition of her own mental health, needing some attention and
Speaker 1: stepping away. And that's what I was able to achieve
Speaker 1: this weekend because on Monday we went to a friend's
Speaker 1: house for a pool party and barbecue, and I got
Speaker 1: to swim around with Caroline and that was just about
Speaker 1: the best thing I've ever done. She was laughing and
Speaker 1: smiling and splashing around. You just can't beat that and
Speaker 1: here we are super super refreshed on this podcast because
Speaker 1: of that. So finding balance is the ultimate key. And
Speaker 1: I also just want to make this note, don't hold
Speaker 1: athletes two different standards than the general population. They're not
Speaker 1: impervious two emotions or struggle the standard pushback I see too,
Speaker 1: that is well, that's part of the job. Bullshit, man.
Speaker 1: Every person DIZ deserves to be treated with the same
Speaker 1: level of respect and common courtesy, regardless of profession, race, creed,
Speaker 1: whatever the category. People are people. All right, that's my
Speaker 1: diet tribe. Let's get to the football here and start
Speaker 1: with this. The white board, you guys, know, the white board,
Speaker 1: the one that I keep alongside my desk. Here, I've
Speaker 1: got the roster, the schedule, I've got some color coordination
Speaker 1: that goes along with it. And I've been doing that
Speaker 1: since I don't know, two thousand six, and obviously in
Speaker 1: twenty nineteen it was a bit of a challenge to
Speaker 1: find those blue players. Blue Chip players are guys that
Speaker 1: are elite players at their position, the best of the
Speaker 1: best of the best. And the only blue player I
Speaker 1: had on that nineteen team was Xavian Howard. Coming off
Speaker 1: that eighteen season, where he led the NFL in interceptions
Speaker 1: despite missing nearly a quarter of the season. I've also
Speaker 1: got a Green category that's the above average, good solid
Speaker 1: players that you want to have on your roster. Orange
Speaker 1: is average or slightly above average, a guy that contributes,
Speaker 1: and every roster needs these players. My purple category is
Speaker 1: my most multifaceted. There's just the veteran presence guy who's
Speaker 1: kind of been a journeyman in his career, special teams,
Speaker 1: aces and developing players who are late round draft picks
Speaker 1: trying to find their way. Those guys typically wind up
Speaker 1: in that purple category and then my red categories, where
Speaker 1: you don't want to be in danger of not making
Speaker 1: the roster. So in twenty nineteen, that last descriptor wasn't
Speaker 1: easy because you always have to have fifty three guys,
Speaker 1: right Like, you can't just say we're going with forty
Speaker 1: five this year. But starting off the season, that roster
Speaker 1: just didn't have fifty three guys who came without a
Speaker 1: red designation. Hence all the roster activity we saw in
Speaker 1: September that season. Remember how many waiver wire claims there
Speaker 1: were for this Dolphins team, whether it was bringing in
Speaker 1: you know, even like Johnson Batamosi from the trade for
Speaker 1: the Lawn Meetunsel trade. Like getting those kind of guys
Speaker 1: into round out your roster. That's what Miami had to
Speaker 1: do because they were just that bereft of guys that
Speaker 1: they thought could play, especially early on that season. So
Speaker 1: for this year, and keep in mind, this is not
Speaker 1: about a long term projection. It's simply how I think
Speaker 1: the player will perform this year. It's an evaluation and
Speaker 1: projection project. I've got four blue chip players that I
Speaker 1: expect to play at the top or at the very
Speaker 1: near the very top of their position in the season.
Speaker 1: But that green area, that's where I think you win
Speaker 1: a ton of games and make your runs in January
Speaker 1: and have your sustained success that Stephen Ross talked about
Speaker 1: back in twenty nineteen. And of course these guys can
Speaker 1: eventually develop into blue players in terms of some of them.
Speaker 1: One of the guys, for instance, I have a rookie
Speaker 1: who's a green player who I think becomes blue very soon.
Speaker 1: You might know who that is. I love Jillen Waddles game.
Speaker 1: I just can't make them a blue off the top.
Speaker 1: And this is an area where we have I think
Speaker 1: five or six guys in the green category in twenty
Speaker 1: nine team. Last year that number climbed up to tennis.
Speaker 1: But this year seventeen green players and eleven of those
Speaker 1: are on defense. One of them is a quarterback to
Speaker 1: because I know you guys want to know that that's
Speaker 1: just a little sidebar there. Then I've got eleven orange players,
Speaker 1: so I remember that orange is above average, and anything
Speaker 1: above orange, orange, blue, or green is where you want
Speaker 1: to be on my list. And that gives us thirty
Speaker 1: two players who are either orange, blue, or green. That
Speaker 1: means you've got thirty two guys are not just deserving
Speaker 1: of rep but guys that give reps with the expectation
Speaker 1: that they're going to win the majority of their individual matchups.
Speaker 1: You win of your individual matchups, you're gonna be an
Speaker 1: orange players. It's above average and again a nearly three
Speaker 1: increase with thirty two players in that category since three
Speaker 1: hundred percent. Wow, it's a big jump. And so to
Speaker 1: wrap it up with the purple category, which ideally is
Speaker 1: the bottom fifteen to eight team players on your roster.
Speaker 1: You can't have a roster full of blues. That's not
Speaker 1: how this world, this this league, or this world works.
Speaker 1: But more realistically, it's probably in the twenties for most teams.
Speaker 1: That twenty nineteen Dolphins team, for instance, would have had
Speaker 1: probably thirty thirty five of them. So we've got thirty
Speaker 1: two of the fifty players, and this is specialists excluded,
Speaker 1: So no Jason Sanders in that category. And you need
Speaker 1: what eighteen purple players, I've got twenty three. So what
Speaker 1: does that mean? That's fifty five of the fifty players
Speaker 1: and purple or better. Remember how in twenty nineteen the
Speaker 1: Dolphin is made again all those signings and a bunch
Speaker 1: of guys that were cut from other teams. The shoe
Speaker 1: was on the other foot. Now players will get cut
Speaker 1: by the Dolphins in September and they're gonna make other rosters,
Speaker 1: and some of them will probably play good football elsewhere
Speaker 1: in one. That's where you want to be as a
Speaker 1: roster where you can't fit everyone in because you've littered
Speaker 1: the nine man roster and eventually your fifty three man
Speaker 1: roster with talent. And that's the portion of this process
Speaker 1: the Dolphins are in right now, and that specialist caveat
Speaker 1: None of those guys were included here. But we know
Speaker 1: the kicker is blue Jason Standards was All Pro last year.
Speaker 1: The definition of a blue player, and I'm pretty damn
Speaker 1: bullish on both the long snapper and the punter too.
Speaker 1: So after including the specialist, here's the final tally. Five
Speaker 1: blue players, eighteen green players, twelve orange players, and eighteen
Speaker 1: purple players. Not bad, not bad at all. Shifting gears.
Speaker 1: Now as we drop it down and engage the drs
Speaker 1: and go flying around the outside for the overtake and fit,
Speaker 1: it's this pod with our best lap. Another good problem
Speaker 1: to have, and the product of that last segment, you know,
Speaker 1: acquiring a bunch of really good football players, is that
Speaker 1: eventually those chickens they come home to roost from that
Speaker 1: rookie deal into a second contract. And looking at this
Speaker 1: roster man that ten draft, along with some guys brought
Speaker 1: in later on shorter deals who could be up for
Speaker 1: new contracts at the end of this season. But as
Speaker 1: we see across the NFL every summer, these deals can
Speaker 1: get done before they're expired. Right, So I've got four
Speaker 1: guys that I think fall into this category, guys that
Speaker 1: I think have earned themselves that next deal, whether it's
Speaker 1: in Miami or somewhere else, because we know, this is
Speaker 1: a tough business and you can't get them all paid
Speaker 1: and go out and spend on the open market. And
Speaker 1: granted Miami again, a tip of the cap here to
Speaker 1: Chris Career, Brandon Shore, and the entire Dolphins front office
Speaker 1: for building in the flexibility with the roster and cash
Speaker 1: commitments so they can put themselves in position to make
Speaker 1: moves in future years and this year and just continue
Speaker 1: to roll that sustained model down the road. And the
Speaker 1: Dolphins are right back in the saddle next year in
Speaker 1: terms of cash to spend in that offseason. Will they
Speaker 1: do it? Who the hell knows, man, I don't know,
Speaker 1: but it's a great position to be in. And so
Speaker 1: what I want to do is talk about these guys
Speaker 1: the upside of that potential new deal and one reason
Speaker 1: for pushback, not saying I agree with that reason, but
Speaker 1: just for the sake of objective viewpoints and giving you
Speaker 1: a good fleshed out conversation here, I want to go
Speaker 1: ahead and have that pushback, and then I'm doing them
Speaker 1: in order that I would get the deals done and
Speaker 1: explain that as I go along. Sound good? Oh yeah,
Speaker 1: There's also a secondary group that is also four names long,
Speaker 1: will do them in their own grouping after this first group,
Speaker 1: So guys that are a couple of years away, but
Speaker 1: something to think about for the future. So this first
Speaker 1: group batting leadoff m up. Next is linebacker Jerome Baker.
Speaker 1: The case for Jerome talk about the straw that stirs
Speaker 1: a drink man. You guys, remember the Channing Crowder podcast
Speaker 1: I did back in again more callbacks back in March
Speaker 1: of right before the pandemic hit. I had Channing on
Speaker 1: the podcast and he raved about all the stuff Jerome
Speaker 1: does in this defense and one thousand and snap player
Speaker 1: coverage run defense, and oh buddy, all the blitzing he does.
Speaker 1: I recently rewatched the Kansas City game from last season,
Speaker 1: and that sack where he dumps Mahomes for thirty yard
Speaker 1: loss is vintage modern day linebacker stuff. The change of
Speaker 1: direction he can match up with backs and tight ends,
Speaker 1: and all the chaos his first step quickness and flat
Speaker 1: out speed and great angles to the quarterbacks, all the
Speaker 1: chaos that causes on this Dolphins defense. He was a
Speaker 1: big part of a lot of those takeaways. He's worn
Speaker 1: the green dot, he's been a captain. He's a great dude. Seriously,
Speaker 1: find a nicer guy than Jerome Baker. I dare you
Speaker 1: to do it. He's still unbelievably young. He hasn't even
Speaker 1: hit his twenty fifth birthday yet. I think his best
Speaker 1: football is ahead of him, and he's a tremendous, tremendous
Speaker 1: culture and scheme fit. Now is there a case against him.
Speaker 1: It's tough to find one. But if Bernardrick McKinney kind
Speaker 1: of occupies that role that, I suppose you can justify
Speaker 1: not making the big contract offer. But you also want
Speaker 1: to have irons and the fire behind these types of
Speaker 1: players to give yourself the freedom to not put yourself
Speaker 1: out over your skis financially to go out and make
Speaker 1: those extensions, because if you can find a guy for
Speaker 1: cheaper than you do it. But the likelihood that you
Speaker 1: can place that production I don't know. I mean, right now,
Speaker 1: it's I think Duke Riley is the closest comparison to
Speaker 1: Jerome's skill set on the roster, and then sam Ego
Speaker 1: Van ran a similar role back in so he's probably
Speaker 1: in that mix as well. But it's not really a
Speaker 1: good case against because Jerome is just different and I
Speaker 1: think he's just scratching the surface on what his game
Speaker 1: is and can become. Now, this next one here I'm
Speaker 1: gonna give you, guys, is gonna make you give me
Speaker 1: the old Tim Allen Travis. We just signed this guy.
Speaker 1: It's William full of the fifth the case for I've
Speaker 1: made no secrets about how I feel about Fuller's game.
Speaker 1: I think he's a complete receiver with speed, run after
Speaker 1: the catch, intelligence to know how to make adjustments in
Speaker 1: game on the fly. On his routes, I think he
Speaker 1: wins the full route tree. Hell. Matt Harmon, who's on
Speaker 1: the podcast back in March, The Reception Perception Project, which
Speaker 1: is one of the best receiver charting websites out there,
Speaker 1: Actually it is the best. For my money, had him
Speaker 1: with a plus winning percentage on every single route in
Speaker 1: the tree except for the deep out, which was still
Speaker 1: league average, but he he dominated every single other route.
Speaker 1: I think his skill set jives with what TA does well.
Speaker 1: He's an immediate separator with strong hands that can attack
Speaker 1: both inside and outside leverage. He puts defenses in a bind.
Speaker 1: He forces a safety over the top, which creates space.
Speaker 1: He also puts a ton of pressure or takes ton
Speaker 1: of pressure. I should say off a player who I
Speaker 1: think is going to be the next explosive, dangerous, defensive
Speaker 1: structure destroyer in Jalen Waddle. I'm actually not sure any
Speaker 1: pair in the NFL complements each other better than than
Speaker 1: Waddle and Fuller, and I don't take that lightly. So
Speaker 1: Will is here on a one year prove it contract
Speaker 1: after he showed the entire NFL last season that man,
Speaker 1: he can assume that number one role. He can command
Speaker 1: double teams attention in the red zone and on third
Speaker 1: down and still average nearly one hundred yards per game
Speaker 1: and nearly a touchdown per game. I mean pro rate
Speaker 1: that over seventeen games. We're talking about a sixteen hundred
Speaker 1: yard receiver and like a fifteen touchdown guy. That's that's
Speaker 1: pretty good production right there. I think, if he stays healthy,
Speaker 1: this is one of the best receivers in the game.
Speaker 1: And you watch his development. I cover this back on
Speaker 1: his free agency podcast, how he grew from a kind
Speaker 1: of screens and swings and curl routes back in his
Speaker 1: rookie season and now he runs the whole damn route tree.
Speaker 1: He's refined, he's polished. He talked about how he worked
Speaker 1: on that when I had him on the podcast back
Speaker 1: in March, and this is kind of a giveaway as
Speaker 1: to who I had as the other blue player on
Speaker 1: the on the segment earlier talking about which players are blue, green,
Speaker 1: and orange, call back again, and I think if he
Speaker 1: can prove those things are consistent, you feel pretty good
Speaker 1: about making him and Waddle a long term fixture together
Speaker 1: here in Miami. The case against it, I mean, we
Speaker 1: just covered it really health. He played fourteen games as
Speaker 1: a rookie ten seventeen, seven and eighteen. He got hurt
Speaker 1: against us that year. If you remember the Thursday night
Speaker 1: football game where he was going off before the a
Speaker 1: c L. He played eleven games in twenty nineteen and
Speaker 1: then played all eleven games last season before the suspension hit,
Speaker 1: a suspension that will hold him out of the season
Speaker 1: opener in Foxboro. Can he stay healthy? That's the one
Speaker 1: case against will Fuller in my opinion. And the last
Speaker 1: player of our first crop here is tight end Mike Gisicky.
Speaker 1: The case for Gasecki really plays a slot receiver position.
Speaker 1: He's been in line less than ten percent of his
Speaker 1: reps post rookie season. Remember, he was, in my opinion
Speaker 1: and excusably used inside a lot in that rookie year.
Speaker 1: He's better than six inside the slot in terms of
Speaker 1: his workload. So when you go to the negotiating table,
Speaker 1: it could be interesting in terms of what position does
Speaker 1: this guy actually play? But we've seen what Mike does best.
Speaker 1: He scores touchdowns, He draws favorable matchups and exploits them.
Speaker 1: He's a big play tight end who was at the
Speaker 1: top spot or in the top three pretty much all
Speaker 1: season long among tight ends in yards per reception. He's
Speaker 1: a nice compliment to the smaller players we just talked about,
Speaker 1: and someone that can take advantage of all that space
Speaker 1: that we talked about that Waddle and Fuller can create.
Speaker 1: Him and DeVante Parker I think are your best beneficiaries
Speaker 1: of that space created. Now the case against him, I mean, well,
Speaker 1: you know, as we go towards Fuller and Waddle prototypes,
Speaker 1: is that what you want the entire receiver cord to
Speaker 1: look like? Or do you require that balance and versatility
Speaker 1: your basketball lay up with your power forwards and your
Speaker 1: centers to go along with your one and two guards.
Speaker 1: If that's the case the former, then Mike e. G
Speaker 1: isn't your guy. But I mean we saw him do
Speaker 1: really well in the contested catch game, and that happened
Speaker 1: with two of just as much as it did fit.
Speaker 1: So it's not a quarterback problem. See the touchdown against
Speaker 1: the Chiefs or the one handed stab against the Bengals
Speaker 1: for proof like two can fit those type windows that
Speaker 1: he can make those catches. But maybe his full potential,
Speaker 1: and that's probably in the ten million dollars per year range,
Speaker 1: maybe it's maximized with an offense that does put a
Speaker 1: higher emphasis on the yolo balls the shots, an offense
Speaker 1: that's not so keen on the timing precision and immediate separation.
Speaker 1: To me, it's a fascinating topic and a tough decision
Speaker 1: for really the entire roster in the front office, and
Speaker 1: that's why these guys get paid like they do to
Speaker 1: make these tough decisions. So that's my four, all four
Speaker 1: deserving of big contracts at some point and in that order.
Speaker 1: Then we've got some guys that I listed in the
Speaker 1: too early to make that decision category, but I think
Speaker 1: it's worth mentioning here. Miles Gaskin comes in first. He's
Speaker 1: in year three out of four. I think the upside
Speaker 1: there is you're probably gonna have cost control because I mean,
Speaker 1: running backs just aren't getting paid right now. But also
Speaker 1: Myles Gaskin, he broke out last year in a big way,
Speaker 1: but they're still miss some games and maybe you get
Speaker 1: the upside of his potential coming up. As far as
Speaker 1: cost control, I think it's a high, high floor player,
Speaker 1: Like you know what you're gonna get with Myles Gaskin
Speaker 1: because of the way he prepares and because he's just
Speaker 1: always produced going back to his freshman season at Washington.
Speaker 1: I also think talking about the hard work and the
Speaker 1: way he commits himself to the game, he is a
Speaker 1: purveyor year of the Dolphins culture that you want to
Speaker 1: have here. That's gonna be a theme for these next
Speaker 1: three guys as well. Christian Wilkins year three of four
Speaker 1: with that fifth year option creates chances for others on
Speaker 1: the defense, which is a very unsung job that he
Speaker 1: executes beautifully. He's positioned diverse, he's been very durable, he
Speaker 1: almost never missed his time, and he's a culture purveyor,
Speaker 1: just like Myles Gaskin, so was Andrew Van Ginkle. And
Speaker 1: it's way too early here because he's played what five
Speaker 1: games his rookie season, then last year as well. But
Speaker 1: man if he takes another step and improves his game
Speaker 1: upon the things we improved last season. I mean, I
Speaker 1: was a huge fan of Gink from his college tape
Speaker 1: at Wisconsin and the spot drops in the route concept
Speaker 1: recognition where he would find bodies intead of grass when
Speaker 1: he covered guys. But then he goes out and develops
Speaker 1: multiple pass rush moves. He starts clabbering blockers and route
Speaker 1: to tackles for loss and run stops and just made
Speaker 1: himself into a complete player in relatively short order. He's
Speaker 1: an undersized fifth round draft pick with one year of
Speaker 1: college production at Wisconsin, a JUCO transfer who had injury
Speaker 1: problems in college. But you look at all that combined.
Speaker 1: The trajectory on this guy with so much more football
Speaker 1: ahead of him is just insane. Not to mention the
Speaker 1: special team's value. I mean, he blocked a punt last
Speaker 1: year that put Miami on the one yard line to
Speaker 1: score a touchdown in the first three minutes of that
Speaker 1: Charger game. And all of these guys from that nineteen class,
Speaker 1: or they're all from that twenty nineteen class, You've got
Speaker 1: some time, but I think it's definitely worth monitoring and
Speaker 1: My final guy here is kind of Will Fuller esque
Speaker 1: in terms of we just signed him, but it's Matt Skura.
Speaker 1: He's on a prove it deal for sure. But I've
Speaker 1: talked about his tape on the podcast. You go back
Speaker 1: to twenty nineteen. This guy was playing at an all
Speaker 1: pro level that year and really last year. I thought
Speaker 1: his tape was good too before the snap Isshho came up.
Speaker 1: But he's reached blocking Cameron Heyward, who was in that
Speaker 1: Top Pressures article by Doug Ferrar. He's absorbing bull rushes
Speaker 1: from stefon to it again. Another call back to that
Speaker 1: article at the top pass rusher at that position. He's
Speaker 1: a nasty finisher two man. He plays with a temperament.
Speaker 1: You wouldn't know it from my interview with him talking
Speaker 1: about you know, the air Max, the dad shoes and
Speaker 1: barbecue and all that fun stuff that kiss the cook apron.
Speaker 1: But he is a nasty player on the field. We
Speaker 1: heard coach Lemiel John pr talk about detailed discipline and nasty.
Speaker 1: That's Matt Skura. I think he's gonna be again a
Speaker 1: purveyor of the culture. That's a theme here. So that's
Speaker 1: my group. A fun topic, A fun discussion. We don't
Speaker 1: quite have time on this podcast with a veteran film review,
Speaker 1: but it's coming. I want to make sure we have
Speaker 1: a full, dedicated topic and segment to it. I promise
Speaker 1: it's coming. The Dragons, they are coming. Instead, I want
Speaker 1: to close with this a topic that's been making its rounds,
Speaker 1: you know, this offseason, and we get bored here in
Speaker 1: June talking about football. I mean, how many more Aaron
Speaker 1: Rodgers discussions do I have to watch on national television shows? Man?
Speaker 1: But it's the playbook stuff and the arm strength stuff
Speaker 1: from the quarterback position. And I want to start with
Speaker 1: the playbook stuff here. Have you ever seen what a
Speaker 1: page of an NFL playbook looks like. Each player has
Speaker 1: a paragraph really describing their role, how to react to
Speaker 1: adjustments there changes in their role based upon alerts or
Speaker 1: checks to counter what the offense or the defense is doing.
Speaker 1: And for a quarterback and for any signal caller, your centers,
Speaker 1: your mic linebackers, your safeties, and of course your quarterback.
Speaker 1: They have to know the roles of all eleven players
Speaker 1: so they can get the guys into the right spot
Speaker 1: when you make a check at the line. So when
Speaker 1: I see this Burrow and Herbert didn't seem to have
Speaker 1: an issue with the playbook and their rookie You're first
Speaker 1: off to h and Burrows numbers were nearly identical except
Speaker 1: in the win lost category, which, by the way, to
Speaker 1: us expected UH points added average was better than both
Speaker 1: he and Herbert. And he also had a better fourth
Speaker 1: quarter passer rating. So kid knows when winning time is on.
Speaker 1: That's that's the point I've made all off season. But
Speaker 1: to the point, and really Burrow is in this category too,
Speaker 1: because like to UH, he more frequently wins with his
Speaker 1: i Q anticipation, timing, touch, rhythm, feel and just that
Speaker 1: kind of winning football and winning moments. He did it
Speaker 1: all year that final year at l s U, and
Speaker 1: we saw at times this year with the Bengals as well.
Speaker 1: But feel and accuracy and those types of things are
Speaker 1: more prevalent than raw traits like arm strength, and those
Speaker 1: quarterbacks take a little bit more time to hit their peak,
Speaker 1: guys that excel between the ears more so with than
Speaker 1: than the hundred five mile hour fastball, which has its place.
Speaker 1: But I'm going to explain to you here in a
Speaker 1: minute why it's not like the end all be all.
Speaker 1: So when you have these insanely gifted guys like Mahomes
Speaker 1: or Josh Allen or even Jordan's Love last year who
Speaker 1: had ridiculous raw traits, and like Justin Herbert who with
Speaker 1: the arm strength. The idea has always been that the
Speaker 1: physical traits can win early while they developed the other
Speaker 1: part of the game. So quarterbacks like Burrow and Twa
Speaker 1: the best is yet to come. It's just like Drew Brees,
Speaker 1: who never one time in his entire life has thrown
Speaker 1: a twenty yard out route on a frozen rope to
Speaker 1: the far hash. He never did it because he can't
Speaker 1: do it, but that's who cares. He still managed to
Speaker 1: throw for more yards and more touchdowns than anybody else
Speaker 1: in the history of football, So I'll take that. I
Speaker 1: just think there's a bit of a miscalculation on two
Speaker 1: things here. Number one, what arm strength at actually is
Speaker 1: and what it actually does on a football field. Of course,
Speaker 1: it has value. Everything you can do on a football
Speaker 1: field has value. Do not get me wrong there, but
Speaker 1: it's maybe the sixth or seventh most important thing because
Speaker 1: you can you can mitigate what arm strength does in
Speaker 1: other areas of the game with that rhythm, timing, anticipation
Speaker 1: and elite level accuracy to throw away from leverage. And
Speaker 1: one thing I wanted to look at was a quarterback
Speaker 1: like Mahomes who has that oddly elastic arm that can
Speaker 1: slingshot the ball all over the field. I found three
Speaker 1: clips over the last three seasons where he grooves these
Speaker 1: twenty yard passes over the middle of the field as
Speaker 1: they descend down towards their target, where he's not throwing
Speaker 1: fastballs through their chest. So when I posted that clip
Speaker 1: from the Chief's game last year where to a it's
Speaker 1: third and ten, the pocket kind of collapses as he
Speaker 1: looks down field and he drives a throw that is
Speaker 1: twenty yards beyond the line, thirty yards in the air,
Speaker 1: and he drives it low and away from the defender.
Speaker 1: He's throwing off the leverage of the lead defender and
Speaker 1: ahead of the trail defender, and it fits a tight
Speaker 1: window twenty yards down the field on target, and there's
Speaker 1: no a chance it can be picked because he dumps
Speaker 1: it in there low around the hip area, but also
Speaker 1: puts it in a position where his player can make
Speaker 1: a catch, his receiver can make a catch. My intent
Speaker 1: of that is to show you that the reason you
Speaker 1: like arm strength is to thread those tight windows. But
Speaker 1: it's not the only way. You can do it too.
Speaker 1: I can do it, mahomes can do it, and they
Speaker 1: can do it in different ways. All Right. That was
Speaker 1: a fun, fun podcast to put together for you guys.
Speaker 1: We've got so much coming your way here on the
Speaker 1: Drivetime Podcast. Over the course of the summer, we're gonna
Speaker 1: preview each division and talk more about the general NFL
Speaker 1: and get you ready for the new season. All the
Speaker 1: preview magazines are coming out. Warren Sharp's Preview is gonna
Speaker 1: be out here pretty soon. The Pro Football Weekly magazine
Speaker 1: I read every single year. We've got more player media
Speaker 1: availability coming your way in the coming weeks. We've got
Speaker 1: will be live at Mandatory Mini Camp in mid June,
Speaker 1: is I head back down to South Florida, just before
Speaker 1: my family has moved down that way, And once we
Speaker 1: get past Mandatory Mini Camp. From that time until training camp,
Speaker 1: we're gonna go back to two shows per week, and
Speaker 1: then one training camp gets here will be five shows
Speaker 1: a week, all gas, no breaks, And before we get
Speaker 1: to the outro, I want to just go back to
Speaker 1: this real quick, treat people nicely, man understand other people's
Speaker 1: perspectives and view the world through more than just the
Speaker 1: lens that you see it through. And also mental health wise,
Speaker 1: if anybody ever needs to talk or just wants to
Speaker 1: kind of flesh some things out or have a therapy session,
Speaker 1: a rap session, reach out to me. Man I love
Speaker 1: you know. That's that's the beauty of humanity, right Like,
Speaker 1: we're all in this together, let's act like it, and
Speaker 1: I'm here for anybody that needs it. We're gonna have
Speaker 1: that veteran film review here coming up on the In
Speaker 1: the coming podcast, we're gonna get to that media from
Speaker 1: Coach and some players. Plenty of fun stuff to come
Speaker 1: your way, and in the meantime, you all please be
Speaker 1: sure to subscribe to the podcast on Apple, podcast, Spotify,
Speaker 1: wherever get your podcast from. Go ahead, leave us a rating,
Speaker 1: leave us a review. Follow me on Twitter at Lincoln NFL,
Speaker 1: Follow the team at Miami Dolphins, check out the fish
Speaker 1: Tank and the Audible podcast, and of course Miami Dolphins
Speaker 1: dot com. Until next time finds up