Speaker 1: Practice were Alford Patrick drawing high Partford textole what a
Speaker 1: win for this Miami Dolphin team? Wow? What is up? Dolphins?
Speaker 1: And welcome to the Drive Time Podcast, part of the
Speaker 1: Miami Dolphins official podcast network covering your Miami Dolphins. How's
Speaker 1: it going everybody? I am your host, Travis Wingfield, and
Speaker 1: I am here to bring you your daily dose of
Speaker 1: Miami Dolphins football. And on today's show, we've previewed all
Speaker 1: the positions on offense for next week's NFL Draft, and
Speaker 1: this week we're gonna go over the defensive side of
Speaker 1: the ball, starting with the defensive backs in this year's class,
Speaker 1: a good group of cover corners, versatile safeties, and impact players.
Speaker 1: We'll talk to NFL Networks and NFL Films Ben Fanel
Speaker 1: about these defensive backs, all of that and more on
Speaker 1: this Tuesday, April, the fourteenth edition of the Drivetime Podcasts.
Speaker 1: And to be perfectly Frank is one of my favorite
Speaker 1: positions to scout, evaluate, and talk about in all of football.
Speaker 1: We're gonna get into the weeds on the defensive back
Speaker 1: class and this year's draft on today show. And times
Speaker 1: have certainly changed with how we look at these guys
Speaker 1: as versatility is really becoming prevalent across the league. We
Speaker 1: saw Eric Rowe play multiple spots last season. We've seen
Speaker 1: Bobby McCain pace play safety, and nicol and this year's
Speaker 1: class is packed full of guys that can do just that,
Speaker 1: play multiple positions on your defense. This interview is going
Speaker 1: to detail that, but some other fun stuff about your
Speaker 1: Dolphins as well. You'll hear Ben talk about Miami's accomplished
Speaker 1: free agency period for helping to reduce need heading into
Speaker 1: this year's draft and hoping to put together a squad
Speaker 1: that can line up and play a game today. Is
Speaker 1: the idea of free agency, Ben says, and that gives
Speaker 1: you ultimate flexibility on draft day, and with fourteen picks,
Speaker 1: Miami are in a good position to select the best
Speaker 1: player available, regardless of position. And one last note that
Speaker 1: did make it into the podcast, and since Ben works
Speaker 1: with the Philadelphia Eagles on the Journey to the Draft podcast,
Speaker 1: he knows our new linebacker Cammu grug Hill quite well
Speaker 1: and he said that we Dolphins fans will love this
Speaker 1: guy not just for his special team's work, but what
Speaker 1: he can do on defense as well. And calm Wu
Speaker 1: himself mentioned that to me on the podcast. He did
Speaker 1: on the interview series with the free agent signings a
Speaker 1: couple of weeks back, and Ben said that when Cammu
Speaker 1: got hurt last year in camp, you could have heard
Speaker 1: a pin drop out there in Philadelphia. The team was
Speaker 1: devastated by that loss to begin the season. But that's
Speaker 1: a linebacker. We're going to discuss that position along with
Speaker 1: the defensive line in our final draft position preview on
Speaker 1: tomorrow's Drift Time podcast, but asked for today, let's go
Speaker 1: ahead and get into the defensive backs with Ben Fennel.
Speaker 1: And joining me on the podcast now is Ben Fennel.
Speaker 1: He covers the NFL Draft for NFL Network. He's part
Speaker 1: of the Journey to the Draft podcast with Fran Duffy
Speaker 1: on the Philadelphia Eagles podcast Network. Ben, how's it going, man,
Speaker 1: It's going great, I say, as good as it can
Speaker 1: go in this crazy climate in the world right now.
Speaker 1: But we're two weeks away from the NFL Draft, and
Speaker 1: it's crazy to think we're already in mid April. Yeah.
Speaker 1: You and I spoke a little bit off air about
Speaker 1: kind of some of the challenges of doing all this
Speaker 1: virtual work these days, and you had told me that
Speaker 1: the Eagles sent you a microphone, a new microphone so
Speaker 1: you can record your podcast from home. Now, how are
Speaker 1: you doing with the quarantine man? You just staying safe,
Speaker 1: You're staying healthy. Are you staying sane? Yeah, trying to.
Speaker 1: You know, the first week was a little tribal, you know,
Speaker 1: it was sleeping in and not putting pants on and
Speaker 1: staying up all hours of the night. And then we
Speaker 1: got a little structured. You know, we're waking up, we're
Speaker 1: making to do list, We're being a little more productive
Speaker 1: the past couple of weeks. Uh. I'm used to being
Speaker 1: home part of the year, so I have a pretty
Speaker 1: good at home station to still watch film and be productive.
Speaker 1: But uh, kind of hurts to not be at NFL
Speaker 1: Films right now working on my draft coverage. It's kind
Speaker 1: of a fluid situation right now. Every day is a
Speaker 1: new kind of revelation with the broadcast, so a lot
Speaker 1: of moving parts, but it seems like the show will
Speaker 1: go on. I get some pretty odd looks from my
Speaker 1: neighbors what I'm doing lunges across my backyard with my
Speaker 1: weights out there. My my makeshift jim is is getting
Speaker 1: me by for now. But we have you on here
Speaker 1: Ben to talk about this Miami Dolphins secondary and the
Speaker 1: draft in the secondary, and when you're talking about defensive
Speaker 1: backs with Brian Flores and the Miami Dolphins, that's where
Speaker 1: it starts. He has a really really strong resume in
Speaker 1: his past in New England. Now in Miami and he
Speaker 1: in defensive coordinator Josh Boyer have really done a good
Speaker 1: job of bringing up young defensive backs and developing those guys.
Speaker 1: And now we get Cal defensive backs coach Gerald Alexander,
Speaker 1: who coached a few of these guys are in this
Speaker 1: year's draft class last year at Cal. Can you kind
Speaker 1: of give us a outsider's perspective and outsider's synopsis of
Speaker 1: those three guys and how they work in the defensive
Speaker 1: back room. Yeah? Well, obviously Brian Flores and Josh Boyer
Speaker 1: were tied together in New England and Boyer being a
Speaker 1: defensive back pedigree is more of a defensive back coach,
Speaker 1: even though he did have the defensive assistant uh and
Speaker 1: the you know, the defensive pass game coordinator label with
Speaker 1: the Dolphins. He has a pedigree in the defensive back
Speaker 1: room to coach cornerbacks and safeties. But what they all
Speaker 1: like in New England is they like versatility, they like
Speaker 1: interchangeable parts. We're starting to see that with the Eric
Speaker 1: Rose and Kyle Van Noise of the world on that defense.
Speaker 1: But first and foremost, they believe in fundamentals. And I
Speaker 1: think we get so excited with upside and speed and
Speaker 1: length and measurables, and I just love how archaic these
Speaker 1: teams get, whether it's New England or now the Miami Dolphins,
Speaker 1: and they believe in fundamentals first and foremost. And I
Speaker 1: love hearing that they're number one trade and defensive backs,
Speaker 1: especially corners, not cover, not ball skills, tackling. We only
Speaker 1: get eleven on the field. Everybody must be able to tackle.
Speaker 1: And I just love the philosophy that they have for
Speaker 1: cornerbacks to say, you know what the number one quality
Speaker 1: and corners they must be able to tackle. And I
Speaker 1: think you're starting to see that trend with these bigger
Speaker 1: corners going after the Byron Jones of the world, the
Speaker 1: Eric Rose of the world, those hybrid safety corners with
Speaker 1: really good size. They clearly have a type. And last
Speaker 1: year at training camp, an old football nerd like me,
Speaker 1: I loved watching it because they would break on team
Speaker 1: drills and go into ball security drills are tackling drills
Speaker 1: or block beating drills. It was relentless and that's one
Speaker 1: the Dolphins were one of the top teams in the
Speaker 1: NFL last year when it came to fewest penalties assessed
Speaker 1: against them, So it definitely had an impact in your
Speaker 1: number one, Ben, you mentioned the addition of Byron Jones
Speaker 1: and also the multiplicity of Eric Rowe in the secondary.
Speaker 1: Let's go ahead and start there with the former though,
Speaker 1: a guy that played in your division last year in
Speaker 1: the NFC east of Byron Jones. Guy comes into league
Speaker 1: as a cornerback, moves to safety, goes back to cornerback.
Speaker 1: He could really do it all. Canny. Yes, he's a
Speaker 1: really impressive player. And there's a couple of people in
Speaker 1: the draft that kind of look like Byron Jones. That's
Speaker 1: one of the easy comps to Jeoffrey, a Cuda from
Speaker 1: Ohio State. He really looks like Byron Jones with his length,
Speaker 1: his size, his ball skills, his physicality. But Byron Jones
Speaker 1: can play anywhere on that back end of the defense.
Speaker 1: And Dallas played him at corner, they played him at safety,
Speaker 1: they played him at nickel. I think just having that experience,
Speaker 1: the versatility. We all know his explosiveness with this jumps
Speaker 1: in the world record broad jump at the Combine a
Speaker 1: couple of years ago. But a really impressive player that
Speaker 1: went through kind of a revolving door of defensive schemes
Speaker 1: there in Dallas. So I'm hoping he's given kind of
Speaker 1: one role, one position, one assignment to really take and
Speaker 1: tackle and then move forward with his career. And then
Speaker 1: last year we had Eric Row a transition into more
Speaker 1: of a safety role and he was covering tight ends,
Speaker 1: covering backs, and doing some different things on that Dolphins defense,
Speaker 1: and he was really erasing most tight ends that he
Speaker 1: went up against, with a low completion rate, a low
Speaker 1: yards per target rate, all the good stuff you want
Speaker 1: to see from him. Now, you had a chance to
Speaker 1: see Eric Row up close and personal there in Philadelphia
Speaker 1: for a year. What was your takeaway from what Eric
Speaker 1: Row can do for a defensive backfield. You know, in
Speaker 1: a similar conversation of Byron Jones, you didn't know if
Speaker 1: he was a true corner or a true safety coming
Speaker 1: out of Utah. A massive, massive corner with really good speed.
Speaker 1: He's a guy that Chip Kelly kind of designated just
Speaker 1: to take away the ex receivers from opponents and just
Speaker 1: locked down the number one big receivers, which made him
Speaker 1: a really good presence in the red zone, really good
Speaker 1: down the field and protecting the vertical balls, really good
Speaker 1: ball skills, good and runs support. And I'm telling you
Speaker 1: without pads on, Byron Jones and Eric Row are gonna
Speaker 1: look like twins out there. There are two massive cornerbacks.
Speaker 1: And you mentioned the cornerbacks out on the edge of
Speaker 1: the Miami Dolphins. Looking at the Draft Networks big board
Speaker 1: right here of cornerbacks, we have several guys slated to
Speaker 1: go in the top fifty according to the Draft Network.
Speaker 1: That's where I want to go ahead and pivot to you. Now.
Speaker 1: You mentioned Jeffrey Okuda off the top of the podcast,
Speaker 1: and what he does, I think pretty much unanimous number
Speaker 1: one cornerback on everyone's big board. Can you just kind
Speaker 1: of sort the cornerbacks that you think might go in
Speaker 1: round number one for us here? Ben, Yeah, absolutely, I
Speaker 1: think it's pretty consensus that Jeffrey Coud is gonna be
Speaker 1: a top ten pick, and then there's a bit of,
Speaker 1: you know, contention with who those next off the board
Speaker 1: are gonna be. Whether it's a c. J. Henderson at
Speaker 1: Florida that has some questions, you know about his physicality,
Speaker 1: but what he's gonna do is wake up in the
Speaker 1: morning and lock down the number one receivers and man coverage,
Speaker 1: and that's what you want on the outside in the NFL.
Speaker 1: So I think C. J. Henderson's in that conversation. Christian
Speaker 1: Folan is starting his work work his way into that
Speaker 1: conversation after a really good year with L s U
Speaker 1: and then Trayvon Diggs, who is in the exact same
Speaker 1: mold as Eric Row and Byron Jones, long, strong, broad,
Speaker 1: six one two pounds and can run. They all are
Speaker 1: in that same type of mold and package right there
Speaker 1: for the Dolphins. But you know, when you're looking at
Speaker 1: the collective defense and the collective roster and the Miami Dolphins,
Speaker 1: I love what they did in free agency because the
Speaker 1: the old adage from GMS are can you go into
Speaker 1: the draft ready to play a game? And I feel
Speaker 1: like the Dolphins are ready to play a game. Obviously
Speaker 1: there's some questions here and there with some talent level,
Speaker 1: but I love what they did and bringing in Byron
Speaker 1: Jones and stockpiling some other players in the linebacker position.
Speaker 1: I think they're ready to play a game, and now
Speaker 1: it's just see where the board falls to them and
Speaker 1: what type of value is available to them when they're picking.
Speaker 1: I really do like the way they approach for agency
Speaker 1: as well, because they went after some positions where you know,
Speaker 1: we've had some different guests in the podcast where maybe
Speaker 1: some of these guys that come off the board, like
Speaker 1: for instance, they got Eric Flowers and Ted Carriss on
Speaker 1: the interior offensive line that might be more of Day
Speaker 1: two projects or Day two prospects, i should say, or
Speaker 1: off the defensive end position group where you have Chase
Speaker 1: Young up top, but then maybe there's a bit of
Speaker 1: a drop there in terms of the next tier of players.
Speaker 1: So they go out and get aug Ball and Shack
Speaker 1: Lawson and round out that position group. Like you said,
Speaker 1: to be ready to play a game, to be flexible
Speaker 1: on draft day. Now, this defense wants to be flexible
Speaker 1: and its secondary and you mentioned the tackling skill set
Speaker 1: of cornerbacks in this defense and the fact that Miami
Speaker 1: do have Xavien Howard and Byron Jones here. Nick Needham
Speaker 1: had a good season last year. We have Bobby McCain,
Speaker 1: who plays some free safety and slot. I just want
Speaker 1: to ask a couple of questions here, Ben, of this
Speaker 1: of this cornerback group, who do you think is the
Speaker 1: best tackler? And also what you who are some guys
Speaker 1: in that kind of day two range that might come
Speaker 1: off the board and be productive starters right away. Yeah.
Speaker 1: You know, when I look at the Dolphins team, I
Speaker 1: feel most comfortable with the secondary. I like these pieces
Speaker 1: Avian Howard, Eric Rowe, Adrian Colberg, Byron Jones, Nick Needham
Speaker 1: is a really interesting player, I Bobby McKean. But if
Speaker 1: there are still looking to stock aisle and add some depth,
Speaker 1: because we know depth is going to be tested looking
Speaker 1: at the tackling position, obviously those guys at the top,
Speaker 1: the Jeffrey Acudas and Treyvon Dicks, have really good size.
Speaker 1: But once you're starting to get into day two and
Speaker 1: looking at the you know, Jalen Johnson's of the world
Speaker 1: from Utah or Reggie Robinson the second from Tulsa, who
Speaker 1: I think is the day two version of Jeffrey Acuda.
Speaker 1: When you're talking six foot corners, two hundred pounds, running
Speaker 1: under four or five, jumping ten six and abroad, there's
Speaker 1: only three corners in this draft, Jeffrey Acuda, C. J. Henderson,
Speaker 1: and Reggie Robinson at of Tulsa. So I don't think
Speaker 1: Reggie Robinson's getting a whole lot of love that he
Speaker 1: should be getting. I think he's gonna be a bona
Speaker 1: fide Day two player right there. And there's a lot
Speaker 1: of other guys with some really good size, whether that's uh,
Speaker 1: you know, Josiah Scott at a Michigan State or a J.
Speaker 1: Terrell at a Clemson, these guys with a lot of experience.
Speaker 1: A J. Green at Oklahoma State is a tall, upright
Speaker 1: corner with really good physicality that's starting to get some buzz.
Speaker 1: And then there's some smaller guys that you don't think
Speaker 1: you're gonna be tough, like a Jeff Gladdene who's pounds,
Speaker 1: but it's as feisty as anybody in this class, very
Speaker 1: much like a giant Alexander who's carved out a nice
Speaker 1: role with the Green Bay Packers. So they don't all
Speaker 1: need to be six one to ten to be a
Speaker 1: physical presence. Some of the little spark plug guys like
Speaker 1: a Jeff Gladney could fit in as well. We've got
Speaker 1: Ben Fennel here on the Drivetime Podcast, part of the
Speaker 1: Miami Dolphins official podcast network. He comes over from the
Speaker 1: Philadelphia Eagles Journey to the Draft podcast with fran Duffy
Speaker 1: on their network. There, Ben, I want to ask you
Speaker 1: here because we know the Patriots, Lions, the Dolphins, all
Speaker 1: these Belichick disciples and people off of the Bill Belichick
Speaker 1: tree play a lot of man coverage. You're gonna see
Speaker 1: the Patriots, the Lions, the Dolphins rank one to three
Speaker 1: in man coverage for the most part pretty much every
Speaker 1: single year while those guys are there. So who in
Speaker 1: this class gives the best man coverability and maybe you
Speaker 1: can separate this for us top of the draft, middle
Speaker 1: of the draft type of thing like that. Yeah. Absolutely,
Speaker 1: So you know the man coverage you obviously you are
Speaker 1: going to go right to the SEC. A lot of
Speaker 1: these guys have tons of experience Trayvon dig c J Henderson,
Speaker 1: But I love the kind of next tier of press
Speaker 1: coverage experience, whether that's Lavert Hill out of the University
Speaker 1: of Michigan. This Michigan defense sent twelve kids to the
Speaker 1: combine talented, talented group that just could not get on
Speaker 1: the right track in the wind Toll, But there is
Speaker 1: tons of good talent and upside with this team in
Speaker 1: the vert Hill that showed up to the University of
Speaker 1: Michigan playing press man from day one, and Don Brown's
Speaker 1: defense a lot of good experience on tape. Damon Arnett's
Speaker 1: another one. Shaheim Carter at Alabama plays a lot of
Speaker 1: press man there in the SEC. So you can even
Speaker 1: go to day three with some guys a little bit
Speaker 1: off the radar, like a Troy Pride at a Notre
Speaker 1: Dame who ran really well, or DeMarcus a c at
Speaker 1: of Missouri. Those guys in the sect are used to
Speaker 1: playing man coverage. So if you're gonna find one of
Speaker 1: these guys in the Big twelve, like a A J.
Speaker 1: Green or Jeff Gladdeney that's used to that off coverage position,
Speaker 1: there might be a little bit more of a learning
Speaker 1: curve to get up there and press coverage. In the
Speaker 1: NFL on Sundays, we talked a little bit about Bobby
Speaker 1: McCain's ability to play both free safety and nickel cornerback,
Speaker 1: and he did that last year with the Miami Dolphins.
Speaker 1: And we come into this class with some guys that
Speaker 1: can do a little bit of both of those things.
Speaker 1: But depending on where Bobby plays, we might have some
Speaker 1: opening areas at the safety position for example. For example,
Speaker 1: so in the safety class, can you tell us who
Speaker 1: you like in the first round? Which guys really top
Speaker 1: the charts in the NFL drafted safety Yeah, I've been
Speaker 1: absolutely blown away with Xavier McKinney in this draft. I
Speaker 1: think he's a clone to like a Malcolm Jenkins style
Speaker 1: of player, a guy that you just want around the box,
Speaker 1: around the football, good and run support, good blitzer, but
Speaker 1: he can match up against tight ends, matchup against slot receivers,
Speaker 1: a smart player. I think he is a bona fide
Speaker 1: Round one player. Now that next year is the interesting conversation,
Speaker 1: is that Grant Delpit, is it Jeremy chin At a
Speaker 1: Southern Illinois? Is it Kyle Dugger out of the lenore
Speaker 1: rhyme that's starting to get a lot of steam. Those
Speaker 1: are more rangey back end players with some really good
Speaker 1: length and size. But when you're starting to talk about
Speaker 1: the safety position, the NF bell is obviously a sub
Speaker 1: package defense, but we're getting away from the small nickel
Speaker 1: and we really want the big nickel package, and that
Speaker 1: means having three safeties on the field. But in order
Speaker 1: to have three safeties on the field, you better be
Speaker 1: able to cover. So I have a big category here
Speaker 1: called coverage safeties, and I think this draft has a
Speaker 1: lot of interesting players of coverage safeties. And that's like
Speaker 1: a Covan Wallace at a Clemson who's been there for
Speaker 1: four or five years, a lot of good experience. Again,
Speaker 1: just like a Xavier McKinney can match up against tight ends,
Speaker 1: slot receivers, good blitzer, good ball skills. And it's a
Speaker 1: bunch of other guys like that, whether that's Brian Cole
Speaker 1: the second at a Mississippi State, who is a former
Speaker 1: four star receiver at the University of Michigan that came
Speaker 1: over and play nickel that miss to Be State, or
Speaker 1: a Terrell Burgess at a Utah it's really a one
Speaker 1: year player, but a really really good player on that
Speaker 1: Utah defense that could come and play the alley and
Speaker 1: can also match up against these skill players on offense.
Speaker 1: I just think there's different players in every level of
Speaker 1: the draft, and I love evaluating good players on bad teams.
Speaker 1: And that's Nigel Warrior at the University of Tennessee, who's
Speaker 1: a highly touted four or five star player coming in
Speaker 1: obviously like the University of Michigan just couldn't get the
Speaker 1: wind toll going. But a really talented player with explosiveness,
Speaker 1: coverage skills, filth, physicality. I just love digging into the
Speaker 1: players that always get miss evaluated because they're on bad teams.
Speaker 1: I think Nigel Warrior is gonna be a pleasant surprise
Speaker 1: to somebody on Day three. You talk about versatility at
Speaker 1: the safety possession, guys that can come down cover the
Speaker 1: slot but also have range on that back end, and
Speaker 1: how valuable that is in today's matchup NFL. A couple
Speaker 1: of guys on this list I want to ask you
Speaker 1: about because one of them played for a team that
Speaker 1: was good last year, but historically the Minnesota gophirst have
Speaker 1: not been at one of the better teams in the
Speaker 1: Big Ten. So Antoine Winfield junior there at Minnesota, and
Speaker 1: also California's Ashton Davis. That guy can flat out go.
Speaker 1: He was a high hurdle champion I believe it was
Speaker 1: in high school. So these guys have the range, the speed,
Speaker 1: the versatility. What do you make of those two's games?
Speaker 1: So ash and Davis, obviously the track star came walked
Speaker 1: on as a football player. Was more of a track
Speaker 1: recruit on the cow goldenbarrass team there. But it will
Speaker 1: be interested to see the former Cow coach now with
Speaker 1: the Dolphins and how interested he's gonna be with some
Speaker 1: of his former players. They had a really impressive secondary. Also,
Speaker 1: Cameron Binnum coming out next year should be a top
Speaker 1: fifty player. But um yeah, Ashton Davis is more of
Speaker 1: a back end player rangie free safety in my opinion, Uh,
Speaker 1: kind of like a Jeff Heath with the Dallas Cowboys
Speaker 1: but then going to the Minnesota Golden Gophers. Man, these
Speaker 1: have some really intriguing players and obviously starts with Antoine Winfield.
Speaker 1: Huge season in ball production, bunch of impressive interceptions, seem
Speaker 1: to be always around the ball, that magnet player where
Speaker 1: the ball just gravitated towards him. I think he's gonna
Speaker 1: be somebody went down around the box, more like a
Speaker 1: Tyrone Matthew style of player to blitz the run support.
Speaker 1: He tested really well at the combine. I didn't necessarily
Speaker 1: see that on the tape, but a really fluid player,
Speaker 1: instinctive player. But don't sleep on the nickel player at
Speaker 1: Minnesota either. Chris Williamson, who's a Florida transfer, which a
Speaker 1: lot of people didn't realize coming from the SEC, and
Speaker 1: he showed up and played really well in the Big Ten,
Speaker 1: one of my first and foremost combines snows. I would
Speaker 1: have loved to see what he was going to test
Speaker 1: there at the combine. I thought he was kind of
Speaker 1: a high four, four, four or five player, but that
Speaker 1: Minnesota defense a lot of good players with some good versatility.
Speaker 1: So I expect Antoine Winfield to be a Day two player,
Speaker 1: and if somebody takes Chris Williamson on Day three, I
Speaker 1: think they're gonna get a good steal. One more question
Speaker 1: for you here, Ben, just to get a kind of
Speaker 1: general vibe of the way this draft board could play
Speaker 1: out on the first round over under? What is your
Speaker 1: over under on the number of cornerbacks and safetyes dbs?
Speaker 1: And Toldal we see their name called on right on
Speaker 1: night number one Thursday on the NFL Draft DBS. That's
Speaker 1: a great question. So I feel really good obviously about
Speaker 1: you know, the Zavia McKinneys of the world. Are we
Speaker 1: calling Isaiah Simmons a safety or a linebacker? I'm probably
Speaker 1: gonna go line packer for this conversation. I feel good
Speaker 1: about a KUDA. I think C. J. Henderson and Treyvon
Speaker 1: Diggs get in there. So I probably said it about
Speaker 1: five for defensive backs collectively. And I think it's gonna
Speaker 1: be a lot less receivers than people think. I think
Speaker 1: there's a lot of good day to value receiver. People
Speaker 1: are gonna come up and get their tackles, get their quarterbacks,
Speaker 1: get their edge rushers. It's a really weak interior defensive
Speaker 1: line class, so if you need one of those, you
Speaker 1: better go get them while they're available. I just see
Speaker 1: maybe more of the receivers getting pushed at Day two,
Speaker 1: and potentially the defensive backs as well, because it's a
Speaker 1: deeper group at corner at safety, that there might be
Speaker 1: more comparable value on Day two than in that round
Speaker 1: one position at a lesser position group. That's one of
Speaker 1: my favorite things to do with the draft processes, to
Speaker 1: go through and find out which position groups almost kind
Speaker 1: of hurt themselves based upon the way they're stacked with
Speaker 1: the hierarchy, the depth of the class. It's always an
Speaker 1: interesting study and interest. I mean, it's a big part
Speaker 1: of like the identity of each draft. You know, in
Speaker 1: each draft has a different personality, and just because the
Speaker 1: group is stacked doesn't mean it's stacked at the top
Speaker 1: of the draft. Sometimes, like you're just saying, it could
Speaker 1: almost be a detriment because you see more value later
Speaker 1: in the draft and you say, you know what, we
Speaker 1: can wait on that position. Let's go get a position
Speaker 1: that might not be available. How much do teams prepare
Speaker 1: for that, and how can they prepare for like playing
Speaker 1: out these scenarios. Are they in their offices doing mock
Speaker 1: drafts like all of us right now? I think so.
Speaker 1: I've heard from more than a few teams and they
Speaker 1: do some exercises just to get their minds in decision
Speaker 1: making mode that hey, if this scenario played out, what
Speaker 1: are we going with? And a lot of times it's
Speaker 1: announcing to your scouting room and trying to decide those ties.
Speaker 1: And in order to know those ties and those situations,
Speaker 1: you kind of have to go through some real life examples.
Speaker 1: And you know, the media world kind of laughs at
Speaker 1: mock draft, but teams need to go through that as well,
Speaker 1: just as an exercise for group think, for an exercise
Speaker 1: of decision making, and an exercise of weighing the collective
Speaker 1: board in the positional values. You have to weigh different groups.
Speaker 1: You have to also weigh them against your own team,
Speaker 1: your own roster, and find out how do we put
Speaker 1: the best fifty three men together in this room. And sometimes,
Speaker 1: you know, sometimes it's just simpler than people think. It's
Speaker 1: not as deep. It's literally just weighing this guy versus
Speaker 1: our guy, what are we gonna go with? And having
Speaker 1: these exercises of mock drafts just give a little bit
Speaker 1: more time to prepare for teams. In the draft room,
Speaker 1: he has Ben Fennel of the NFL Network, NFL Films,
Speaker 1: and the Journey to the Draft podcast on the Eagles
Speaker 1: Podcast Network at Ben Fennel Underscore NFL on Twitter and
Speaker 1: Ben One of my favorite things about your timeline is
Speaker 1: the photos from different college stadiums all over America. I
Speaker 1: am a sucker for the intimate college football setting, so
Speaker 1: please a full disclosure there. I went to a city
Speaker 1: campus with no football team, So going on on the
Speaker 1: road if esp in college football, I feel like I'm
Speaker 1: kind of living the actual college experience. To see the
Speaker 1: mountains in the pack twelve and the history and the
Speaker 1: sec and sometimes it's annoying to get to the campuses
Speaker 1: and I don't want to drive an hour from the
Speaker 1: Moins to Aimes, Iowa. But sometimes you have to take
Speaker 1: a deep breath and say when will I ever do
Speaker 1: this again? And there's some really cool meccas of college
Speaker 1: football and a lot of history and culture to go see.
Speaker 1: So pretty pretty privileged to be able to travel around. Well,
Speaker 1: thank god for podcasts for those long drives. I definitely
Speaker 1: helped get us through. And then we appreciate your time today, man,
Speaker 1: and stay safe out there, sir, Thank you very much.
Speaker 1: Thanks for Buddy and the way he goes. Very good
Speaker 1: information there from one of the NFL's best draft experts.
Speaker 1: You can follow him on Twitter for a bunch of
Speaker 1: good video, written content, audio content. Ben does it all.
Speaker 1: He's on the road all year long taking a look
Speaker 1: at all these prospects up close. So go ahead and
Speaker 1: give him a follow, check out his work, check out
Speaker 1: his podcast. And that's gonna wrap up the defensive back
Speaker 1: edition of the draft preview series here on the Drivetime Podcast.
Speaker 1: We still have linebackers and defensive linemen to get to
Speaker 1: in the front seven. We'll handle that tomorrow. We'll have
Speaker 1: a mail bag episode this week. We'll have another throwback
Speaker 1: podcast this week as well, and another reminder to all
Speaker 1: you got is out there to go ahead and register
Speaker 1: on Facebook for the Miami Dolphins Virtual Draft. It's gonna
Speaker 1: be a blast of a night. We're gonna have coverage
Speaker 1: taking a look at the prospects coming into Miami that
Speaker 1: gets selected, breaking down the players, breaking down the selections
Speaker 1: of all thirty two picks in that first round, and
Speaker 1: also having some player interviews here that we have already
Speaker 1: conducted talking to some of the Dolphins veteran players already
Speaker 1: on the roster. It's gonna be a great fun night.
Speaker 1: Make sure you check that out. Register now Miami Dolphins
Speaker 1: dot com. But as for today's podcast, that is gonna
Speaker 1: be my time you all, please be sure to subscribe
Speaker 1: to the podcast on Apple, podcast, Spotify, wherever you get
Speaker 1: your podcast from. Go ahead and leave us a rating,
Speaker 1: leave us a review, Follow me at Wingfield, NFL, Fall
Speaker 1: the Dolphins at Miami Dolphins, and check out the fish
Speaker 1: Tank podcast with Juice and Seth and the Audible with
Speaker 1: John and Kim, and of course Miami Dolphins dot com
Speaker 1: for all your Miami Dolphins content. Until next time, fins
Speaker 1: up