Speaker 1: To on the move, going deep speedways, Peace do peas.
Speaker 2: From the Baptist Health Studios inside the Baptist Health Training Complex.
Speaker 1: This is Drivetime with Travis Wingfield.
Speaker 2: He's my ad hands in the playoffs. What is up,
Speaker 2: Dolphans and welcome to the Draft Time Podcast. I am
Speaker 2: your host, Travis Wingfield. And on today's show, I would
Speaker 2: say we are due for a roster reset.
Speaker 1: Aren't we.
Speaker 2: Let's go ahead and make it a two parter offense today,
Speaker 2: defense Monday. I was gonna say tomorrow, Tomorrow's Saturday. We'll
Speaker 2: take a look at each position group, the newcomers, the losses,
Speaker 2: the balance of the room, the questions I have, the
Speaker 2: potential camp battles, all of that, and a heck of
Speaker 2: a lot more. From the Baptist Health Studios inside the
Speaker 2: Baptist Health Training Complex. This is the Draft Time Podcast.
Speaker 2: Ye Daffy First, Very very soon we are going to
Speaker 2: have Dolphin's practice to talk about, which also means hearing
Speaker 2: from more players from coaches. We'll have the full UDFA
Speaker 2: media day that goes along with Roocky Minni Caamp. Also
Speaker 2: of course going to have Emory Hunt on the show.
Speaker 2: Tell Us which UDFA is are going to make the team,
Speaker 2: which is basically written in stone at this point how
Speaker 2: accurate he's been with those predictions over the years. But
Speaker 2: before we get into all that, what a perfect time
Speaker 2: to transition to that stage here with a roster reset.
Speaker 1: We usually do these podcasts.
Speaker 2: Four or five times a year, at the end of
Speaker 2: the season, maybe heading into freegency after freegency has calmed
Speaker 2: down a little bit now, and then usually again right
Speaker 2: before the season starts, after training camp and all the
Speaker 2: fun stuff that has occurred from July August and into September.
Speaker 2: But I wanted to start here before we go into
Speaker 2: each individual room and talk about the construction of those rooms,
Speaker 2: and with that in mind, I want to be as
Speaker 2: thorough as possible. So maybe maybe instead of a roster reset,
Speaker 2: maybe it's more of just in case you're a bear
Speaker 2: and you went into hibernation, or maybe you just didn't
Speaker 2: want to see the lot of day after the Kansas
Speaker 2: City loss, or maybe you fell into a coma. We're
Speaker 2: going to find a way to get you caught up
Speaker 2: on the last five months in just a matter of
Speaker 2: two thirty five minute or so episodes here of Drive
Speaker 2: Time starring me Travis Wingfield does in case you were
Speaker 2: in a coma addition of drive time have the same ring.
Speaker 2: I guess it doesn't, so roster reset it is. I
Speaker 2: tweeted about this on Thursday a tweet from Lewis Riddick,
Speaker 2: friend of the show Done the Show Always Cool Bill
Speaker 2: say that ESPN's Lewis Riddick. He said, team building and
Speaker 2: talent collection are two different things. They don't remotely resemble
Speaker 2: one another end quote, and that got me thinking, you know,
Speaker 2: I lost track how many times we've heard from press
Speaker 2: conferences from coach McDaniel, especially with all the end season
Speaker 2: moves that were required the last two years, with all
Speaker 2: the injury, how he would describe the delicate nature of
Speaker 2: injecting a new piece into the ecosystem that is an
Speaker 2: NFL locker room, the Miami Dolphins locker room, and how
Speaker 2: much he values the voices inside that sacred place and
Speaker 2: listens to what his guys have to say. You guys,
Speaker 2: recall the Hard Knocks episode when McDaniel had all the
Speaker 2: Pro bowlers up to his office. That's like a a
Speaker 2: weekly counsel meeting they have where they discuss what's going on.
Speaker 2: Be my ears and eyes in the locker room, be
Speaker 2: the voice of the player, because McDaniel's the ultimate player's coach.
Speaker 2: And that got me thinking about well, the Patrick Paul
Speaker 2: story bugging his agent to get drafted by the Miami Dolphins,
Speaker 2: the Jalen Wright story saying this is where I wanted
Speaker 2: to be. It was not even close with the other
Speaker 2: visits I had across the National Football League. Maleague Washington
Speaker 2: saying I'm not going to tell you details, but just
Speaker 2: know the meeting with the Dolphins went very very good.
Speaker 2: Free agents joining uside the exact same thing the NFLPA survey.
Speaker 1: It's all there.
Speaker 2: The proof is in the pudding, right, and the roster
Speaker 2: will tell you what's important to the decision makers. What
Speaker 2: Chris Greer likes, which to me has always been his
Speaker 2: coach wants, which to me is the best trait of
Speaker 2: a GM listened to the chef cooking the meal, right,
Speaker 2: but high character, love of the game, dedication to the craft,
Speaker 2: And like, yeah, I know you're thinking Travis Tyreek Hills
Speaker 2: in this football team. He doesn't fit the first bill there.
Speaker 2: But who works harder than him, who brings a temperament
Speaker 2: like him and changes the temperature of your locker room
Speaker 2: more than Tyreek Hill by setting an example that first
Speaker 2: year of practices here. And it wasn't the same way
Speaker 2: last year. It won't be the same way this year.
Speaker 2: But that first year when he almost had like something
Speaker 2: to prove it practice, the way he came out and
Speaker 2: set the tone like that was different than anything I've
Speaker 2: ever seen on a football field. And I'm starting to
Speaker 2: get there to the point where I've done this for
Speaker 2: a few years now, which I put value in that
Speaker 2: compared to someone who's been for twenty years who doesn't
Speaker 2: know what they're watching. Also, how about Jalen Ramsey, someone
Speaker 2: like him, what does he do? So beyond that, And
Speaker 2: not that it's not important, it is, but I think
Speaker 2: the next part is even more critical. I look at
Speaker 2: the Dolphins twenty twenty four roster construction like this. They
Speaker 2: have a house, a really damn nice house, and a
Speaker 2: very nice block in city right, and then one of
Speaker 2: the nice neighborhoods in the entire city the NFL, you know,
Speaker 2: compared to comparing to other sports leagues, there just so
Speaker 2: happens to be thirty two houses on this block for
Speaker 2: the argument's sake, and I think we have one of
Speaker 2: the ten nicest houses I would push towards top five,
Speaker 2: but that's a debate for another day. And what did
Speaker 2: we do with our disposable income this year? To continue
Speaker 2: with the analogy, we used it to modify and renovate
Speaker 2: our house. We added a bonus room. We gave the
Speaker 2: game room a full golf simulator with a chipping and
Speaker 2: putting area off to the side. We added a wet
Speaker 2: bar and projector. For all the games we intend to
Speaker 2: host people for for March Madness, for the Masters, for
Speaker 2: the World Series, for major NFL and college football primetime games.
Speaker 2: Is this analogy still working? I think what we did
Speaker 2: was take what we do well and we got even
Speaker 2: better at it. Because when I watched the tape of
Speaker 2: this rookie class, all the players on offense make so
Speaker 2: much damn sense in that they have tangible proof of
Speaker 2: doing stuff that we do here. What exactly would you
Speaker 2: say it is you do here, Bob? Yeah, albeit not
Speaker 2: at the professional level of some of these guys, but
Speaker 2: it's about as translatable of a rookie class as I've
Speaker 2: seen here in terms of here's what we do, Here's
Speaker 2: how these guys help us do that very very precise
Speaker 2: route running, spacing, timing, pacing with vertical, explosive tackle breaking
Speaker 2: skills at the wide receiver position where two Washington's drafted
Speaker 2: earlier or I should say last month, it's now May
Speaker 2: a slashing runner with home run showing your tail light
Speaker 2: speed and the bulk to contribute on third down. In
Speaker 2: Jalen Wright. I mean, those three guys I don't think
Speaker 2: have I don't think there's a major learning curve aside
Speaker 2: from going from being an amateur to a pro, although
Speaker 2: those guys aren't amateurs anymore, but because I think what
Speaker 2: we do in terms of just the pure football stuff
Speaker 2: is a lot of what they were asked to do
Speaker 2: at Virginia, at Tennessee, at USC respectively. Patrick Paul has
Speaker 2: elite athletic ability getting off the football. We know about
Speaker 2: all that, and speaking of that, I mean, isn't is
Speaker 2: there isn't a more athletic center in the league than
Speaker 2: Aaron Brewer. He's here now We needed a physical presence
Speaker 2: from inline positions in John new Smith.
Speaker 1: He's now here.
Speaker 2: A guy that keeps us flexible across all types of
Speaker 2: personnel groupings. Defensively, I watched the Ravens tape and I'll
Speaker 2: see odafe Oway or Jadavian Clowney or some of these
Speaker 2: twitchy ass edge players who are also rocked up and
Speaker 2: built from Clay mug Up in the A gaps and
Speaker 2: get their quick get off against these poor, unassuming centers
Speaker 2: and guards, which creates one on ones on the perimeter.
Speaker 2: And there was nobody in college football better at that
Speaker 2: than Chop Robinson, and nobody better at winning one on
Speaker 2: ones from wide alignments than Mohammed Kamara. In free agency,
Speaker 2: Kendall Fuller helps you get some of the ravens archetype
Speaker 2: from defensive back flexibility and their desire to be able
Speaker 2: to have position fluidity and match up on anybody they
Speaker 2: want to at any given time. Jordan Poyer as a
Speaker 2: player who's played in the box and in the post
Speaker 2: and rotates so frequently into the correct position and winds
Speaker 2: up kind of freelancing his way in some play. Sometimes
Speaker 2: one of the smartest players on the field type of guys.
Speaker 2: I mean, every damn move you can track a why
Speaker 2: behind this? Why did we do this? Like I think
Speaker 2: back to Mike Tannenbaum. His entire thing was, Oh, Andrea
Speaker 2: Branch had nine sacks, let's get him. How does he
Speaker 2: fit in the defense. I don't give a damn. I'm
Speaker 2: just gonna bring him in anyways. TJ McDonald, that was
Speaker 2: a cool tackle he made on Saturday night in the
Speaker 2: August preseason game. Yeah, he's suspended for eight games. Go
Speaker 2: ahead and give him a four year contract extension. Oh,
Speaker 2: he plays the same spot as for Shad Jones, who
Speaker 2: cares like there was no thinking or rhyme behind the
Speaker 2: reason there. It's completely different now and the answer is
Speaker 2: obvious really with all these moves. So I see an
Speaker 2: alignment of vision. I see an execution of that vision,
Speaker 2: and I cannot wait to see what it looks like
Speaker 2: in September or July for that matter, or let's be
Speaker 2: totally honest, later this month at OTA's for that matter.
Speaker 2: Let's go ahead and do our first room before we
Speaker 2: take our our first break on the podcast. And where
Speaker 2: else would you start besides the quarterbacks? And just a
Speaker 2: quick reminder, the UDFA signings are not yet official, so
Speaker 2: they're gonna be talked about on a reported by basis. Well,
Speaker 2: we'll go ahead and talk about the guys that we
Speaker 2: have been linked to, but they're not officially announced yet,
Speaker 2: so I am not going to talk about them as such.
Speaker 2: I will tell you some of the guys I like
Speaker 2: in that regard, but just want to go ahead and
Speaker 2: get that caveat out there clearly and quickly for y'all.
Speaker 2: So the quarterback position, nothing's changed, Tua White, Thompson, and
Speaker 2: there is a UDFA here named Gavin Hardison. But the
Speaker 2: coaches Darryl Bevill Chandler Henley. Let's go ahead and add
Speaker 2: Frank Smith in here. Oc all back for year three, guys,
Speaker 2: we haven't had that. When was the last time we
Speaker 2: had that? Did Joe Filben have? Was like Zach Taylor,
Speaker 2: Mike Sherman, No, Bill Laser, Soperano changed oces?
Speaker 1: Was it Wanstead and Chan?
Speaker 2: We haven't had the same nucleus of coaches for three
Speaker 2: consecutive years since freaking Don Shulab probably like it's Ben's
Speaker 2: forever departures didn't have one. All the guys are back,
Speaker 2: the arrivals. Gavin Hardison is the only arrival to the
Speaker 2: quarterback room. He's kind of this year's James Blackman. The
Speaker 2: room at a glance, probably the room we can get
Speaker 2: through the quickest, although it didn't turn out that way.
Speaker 2: My notes here because I always tend to write more
Speaker 2: about to than other players in the roster, because the
Speaker 2: quarterback is the most important and in this market by far,
Speaker 2: the most debated player in the entire market. So highly
Speaker 2: efficient quarterback play for the second straight year started all
Speaker 2: eighteen games, first time we've had that since Danny was
Speaker 2: kicking around here. But a similar late season decline in
Speaker 2: terms of production. How do you get that fixed? We're
Speaker 2: gonna have to find out. We look at two going
Speaker 2: out on his own and finding his own quarterback coach
Speaker 2: to work with, dropping a little bit of weight, because
Speaker 2: they determined that the weight wasn't what kept him healthy.
Speaker 2: It was the movement and the ability to fall properly.
Speaker 2: So let's go ahead and shed that extra ten or
Speaker 2: fifteen pounds and get quicker and work on the movement
Speaker 2: and the explosiveivity from the waist below in terms of
Speaker 2: how quick you get off the spot, but also compacting
Speaker 2: his stride and stroke and making everything a little bit
Speaker 2: more fine tuned. They're just taking the car right now,
Speaker 2: and they're fine tuned in that thing. I've always appreciated
Speaker 2: to his mechanics. With that labor of love, I think
Speaker 2: you can always drill. I compare it to a golf swing.
Speaker 2: I know too, it would appreciate that analogy because he
Speaker 2: has a good golf swing and a great stroke off
Speaker 2: that left hand when it comes throwing a football. I
Speaker 2: think those areas of focus are the steps that he
Speaker 2: can take a little bit more creativity when he tucks
Speaker 2: it and has to get to a new spot.
Speaker 1: Now, he does have good pocket.
Speaker 2: Mobility, kind of like I'm not going to compare him
Speaker 2: to Brady or Marino, but finding the little opening valves
Speaker 2: where you can say I can get to that spot
Speaker 2: and then stead up and make my you know, my
Speaker 2: throwing mechanics from that spot. But how about just a
Speaker 2: little bit more explosivity in terms of getting off the
Speaker 2: spot quickly, getting around rushers, evading those tackles, and making
Speaker 2: some big explosive plays down the field. But I think
Speaker 2: most of all, it's just further mastery of an offense
Speaker 2: that he's already gotten down pretty damn well. Right. But
Speaker 2: I've always said, you know two, his skills are those
Speaker 2: that get better with age. He's not going to Russell Wilson,
Speaker 2: who falls off a cliff when the physical skills deteriorate.
Speaker 2: You think Lamar Jackson's gonna play at a high level
Speaker 2: into his age thirty four season.
Speaker 1: I would really doubt that.
Speaker 2: So I just expect him like a Drew Brees did,
Speaker 2: Like you know, Ben Roethlisberger made a lot of plays
Speaker 2: physically physically, but as he got older there was more
Speaker 2: like intuitive quarterback play there and that's when I thought
Speaker 2: he was at his best. So a guy like Tua,
Speaker 2: I just think he's gonna get better, you know, Philip Rivers,
Speaker 2: I mean, there's so many examples of this, and frankly,
Speaker 2: I think Tua was a little bit vultured by the
Speaker 2: run game last year. Twenty seven rushing touchdowns versus twenty
Speaker 2: nine passing for Tua. Of course Mike White had one
Speaker 2: as well, right, But I mean Tua easily could have
Speaker 2: had forty touchdowns last year. I wonder all the time,
Speaker 2: what would that like if they just turned some of
Speaker 2: those two yard rushing touchdowns into two yard passing touchdowns,
Speaker 2: and let's say TWA had forty touchdowns compared to the
Speaker 2: fourteen picks? Would the what would the consensus in terms
Speaker 2: of the social media discourse be about that? About this
Speaker 2: somehow polarizing player, a guy that does everything right, who
Speaker 2: is as nice and polite as can be. He asks
Speaker 2: you how your day is going, and also dominates in
Speaker 2: the football field, but somehow is hated. I digress, but
Speaker 2: I wonder if forty verses fourteen would have made a
Speaker 2: difference to twenty nine versus fourteen. You're even thirty five
Speaker 2: to fourteen, Like the Dolphins were so productive, he just
Speaker 2: didn't have the touchdown number to match how productive the
Speaker 2: offense was because our running game was so damn good.
Speaker 2: So that just makes me just kind of a random,
Speaker 2: not important thought at all, but something I thought I
Speaker 2: put out there because I would have thought that two
Speaker 2: years of dominance would have done that for him. But
Speaker 2: I digress. So the next part for him is to
Speaker 2: just keep getting better. If he does that this year,
Speaker 2: we're going to be just fine, and then he's going
Speaker 2: to be judged by our ability as a team to
Speaker 2: win in January. And that's just how it goes. That's fine,
Speaker 2: but make no mistake about it. This offense thrives because
Speaker 2: of Tua. We saw the same roster building principles in
Speaker 2: San Francisco, and like, look, they're not neglecting the offensive
Speaker 2: line by any stretch of the imagination. They signed to
Speaker 2: Ron armstead of the biggest left tackle contract three years ago.
Speaker 2: Connor Williams is a big time interior lineman. Signing Isaiah
Speaker 2: Winn was a guy they plucked in his back after
Speaker 2: a very strong plus games.
Speaker 1: But he does have the injury history.
Speaker 2: That is obviously the one reason with this guy that
Speaker 2: you can't really depend on him as a long term starter.
Speaker 2: Aaron Brewer, Jack Driscoll, you're second of the top the
Speaker 2: only two top one fifty picks. You had this entire
Speaker 2: class before you made the trade for Jalen Wright. But
Speaker 2: I digress in Patrick Paul. But all of this is
Speaker 2: to say you do get right. You get the tight
Speaker 2: ends of vere agency, you get the wide receivers in
Speaker 2: the draft. This offense needs playmakers more than anything else
Speaker 2: besides the quarterback, which we have to make it go.
Speaker 2: And Tua is probably the most offensive line friendliest quarterback
Speaker 2: in the whole damn game. You know Mahomes and Josh
Speaker 2: Allen's ability to create with the pressure in their face,
Speaker 2: that's a different story. But who masks offensive line deficiencies
Speaker 2: or pass protection deficiencies better than tu a.
Speaker 1: Tongue Bai Loa.
Speaker 2: I don't think there's anybody out there that does it
Speaker 2: better than he does, and I just don't want that
Speaker 2: fact to go by the wayside, super underrated element of
Speaker 2: his game. Otherwise, I think White in year two is
Speaker 2: a very good backup to call upon who can kind
Speaker 2: of catch fire off the bench in a pinch, and
Speaker 2: hopefully we don't need him for more than that. Even
Speaker 2: if that at all, I think Skyler needs to continue
Speaker 2: his development and I'm glad we didn't see him get
Speaker 2: any action last year. I thought you could tell as
Speaker 2: a rookie his head was absolutely swimming with all the
Speaker 2: information he had. So a third year in the offense,
Speaker 2: maybe he can see it better. I'm not going to
Speaker 2: bet on it, but I think that's kind of what
Speaker 2: you're looking at there. And you add him in competition
Speaker 2: with a very toolsy kid in Hardison the UDFA, so
Speaker 2: it should be a fun summer there. Again, don't think
Speaker 2: you can overstate the importance of McDaniel smith, Bevill Henley too.
Speaker 2: Was Skyler all here for their third year and a
Speaker 2: second year for Mike White? The questions you have for
Speaker 2: this room, because we're going to be comprehensive on this podcast.
Speaker 2: I've pushed back on this narrative for so long, but
Speaker 2: it's the biggest question winning the big game, right. It's
Speaker 2: not just a quarterback deal, but he's got a big
Speaker 2: part of that, and he hasn't played well in those games.
Speaker 2: So playing better in these spots is certainly something I
Speaker 2: want to see this year. If we get ourselves into
Speaker 2: a twenty twenty at Buffalo situation, a twenty twenty one
Speaker 2: at Tennessee situation. I don't count twenty twenty two when
Speaker 2: he was injured and we did get in that year,
Speaker 2: or really any of the three final games this year,
Speaker 2: or even the KC game we couldn't get that last
Speaker 2: drive executed. I want to see wins and big plays
Speaker 2: in those games, and it really only takes one big
Speaker 2: performance to squash all that.
Speaker 1: That's what I want to see. That's my question.
Speaker 2: Play a game where the loser goes home outplay the
Speaker 2: other quarterback. Will your team to victory? That's the last
Speaker 2: thing I need to see from this guy. Competitions or battles.
Speaker 2: Every spot is always a competition, right, Well, I mean
Speaker 2: not really because Tua is your starter, so spoiler there.
Speaker 1: I think Mike White, your backup in Skyler, is your three.
Speaker 1: But if I had to pick the hottest, closest battle.
Speaker 2: I would say it's Skyler versus Hardesin And what a
Speaker 2: tall order that is for the rookie to come in
Speaker 2: and try to beat out a guy who's heading into
Speaker 2: his third year in the system. With these coaches that
Speaker 2: said Hardison has some pop. But I'm almost certain we're
Speaker 2: going to see some takes from you know who, the
Speaker 2: guys that come to practice and tape the whole damn thing,
Speaker 2: which shouldn't do that. They're gonna come out and say
Speaker 2: Harrison is the best quarterback on the roster, right, like whatever.
Speaker 2: And the last thing I want to say here is
Speaker 2: if you don't add competition to a great quarterback like
Speaker 2: I keep seeing this. The Dolphins didn't add competition to
Speaker 2: Ryan Tannehill, which he was nowhere, Nears goes Tod did
Speaker 2: he need to add competition to a tongue bai LOA. No,
Speaker 2: you don't, No, you don't. That's wasting resources. If your
Speaker 2: starting quarterback goes down and he's one of the best,
Speaker 2: your season's probably a ft for more than a couple
Speaker 2: of games. But Mike White can hold the fort for
Speaker 2: a couple of games. That's why he's here. But the
Speaker 2: idea of going out and pulling a falcons. Look at them,
Speaker 2: they're getting laughed at right now. You don't have to
Speaker 2: add competition to a quarterback position when you have the guy. Okay, understood,
Speaker 2: capiche cool? All right, let's go ahead and take our
Speaker 2: first break right there. Come back on the other side.
Speaker 2: Do the rest of these running back, wide receiver, tight end,
Speaker 2: offensive line, all of that. Next Draft Time podcast, your
Speaker 2: host Travis Wingfield, brought to you by Auto Nation. So
Speaker 2: I just dropped my wife off at the airport last night,
Speaker 2: and I have the two kids to myself, and my
Speaker 2: four year old is an absolute angel who will just
Speaker 2: truck on and get by on her own. My one
Speaker 2: year old is an absolute maniac who gets hurt every
Speaker 2: ten seconds.
Speaker 1: So teas and peas for me please this weekend. I
Speaker 1: need them. It's going to be a long weekend for you. Boy.
Speaker 1: Let's pick it back up with the running Backs.
Speaker 2: Week on, the quarterbacks talked about the team building philosophy.
Speaker 2: The running backs are glorious. Here's the cast where he
Speaker 2: moster Devon ah Chan, alec Ingold, Jalen Wright, Jeff Wilson,
Speaker 2: Savon Auchman, and Chris Brooks. Your coach is Eric Studis
Speaker 2: Phil who's been here since year one of Brian Flores.
Speaker 2: He's one of what three guys, Austin Clark and Coach Crossman, Right,
Speaker 2: they can say that, uh no, was Crossman added in
Speaker 2: twenty twenty. I forget departures, only Darrington Evans and your
Speaker 2: only arrival is Jalen Wright. The room at a glance
Speaker 2: largely running it back. But you just go ahead like
Speaker 2: that one meme. But the guy drops the what he
Speaker 2: drops something into the pot and it explodes like you
Speaker 2: added one of the most dynamic players you possibly could have,
Speaker 2: rookie or otherwise to this room. This time last year,
Speaker 2: we didn't know what Devon a Chan was gonna be.
Speaker 2: And if he's an eight yards per carry guy again,
Speaker 2: I mean, good night, nurse. The only question at that
Speaker 2: point is how many touches can we give this guy?
Speaker 2: Because I think that this could easily I don't say
Speaker 2: this lightly. This could be the best back in the
Speaker 2: National Football League. He reminds me of Chris Johnson Man.
Speaker 1: He's that good. I think he's that good.
Speaker 2: Durability wise, we'll find out, but I think we're just
Speaker 2: beginning to scratch the surface on what Devon ah Chan
Speaker 2: can do, particularly in the run game in the past game, Well,
Speaker 2: that's what he does, Travis. Then you've got the record breaker,
Speaker 2: Raheem Moster, who set the franchise record for touchdowns, Who's
Speaker 2: been durable, He's been a leader, been a city presidence,
Speaker 2: productive as hell. Everything we could have asked for him
Speaker 2: when we got him, he's been that. He's the one
Speaker 2: that just gives me so much confidence in this room.
Speaker 2: It's like we're on a road trip and you have
Speaker 2: some youngsters and some wild cards in the back of
Speaker 2: the van.
Speaker 1: Who who knows what they could pull? Right?
Speaker 2: They could pull Charlie Kelly and throw a tank of
Speaker 2: gas at the back of the car wild card.
Speaker 1: I'm not gonna say what he said after that.
Speaker 2: But we know that Raheem is behind the wheel and
Speaker 2: is going to get us to our destination. He is
Speaker 2: dad in the situation, him and Alec making their first
Speaker 2: Pro Bowl together.
Speaker 1: Love seeing that. Love what the best fullback in football does.
Speaker 2: Kyle Yustchek eat your heart out from a flexibility standpoint,
Speaker 2: and that's where I just love the Jalen Wright selection, which,
Speaker 2: by the way, are you guys old enough to remember
Speaker 2: when Twitter was mad that Chris Greer did not a
Speaker 2: vest enough in the running back position, and now we're
Speaker 2: mad because he used two third round picks on right
Speaker 2: and the same he's spent on eight chm. But that
Speaker 2: crowd's going to complain no matter what. So, like Chappelle said,
Speaker 2: f them kids, his ability rights to get us to
Speaker 2: different looks, different groupings. The options you have now for
Speaker 2: your fast twenty one personnel grouping that is two running backs,
Speaker 2: one tight end, but no fullback, so it's either most
Speaker 2: or chan h Chan and right right and moster are
Speaker 2: you have a lot of flexibility and options there. Now,
Speaker 2: I think this room has everything. We have three home
Speaker 2: run hitters to bat three, four and five in the lineup.
Speaker 2: We have backs who can catch, they can pass protect.
Speaker 2: There's return game value here. There's the best fullback in
Speaker 2: the damn league. Each your heart out, Patrick Ricard. They're
Speaker 2: special team value in depth, their scheme fits. I think
Speaker 2: it's one of the best rooms in the entire game
Speaker 2: across the running back landscape. The questions you have, I mean,
Speaker 2: what are you concerned about here? I'll listen, Go ahead,
Speaker 2: tell me what's your concerns because the questions I have
Speaker 2: are what is how long does it take or Jealen
Speaker 2: Wright to get a role in the offense. I don't
Speaker 2: think long at all. How much does Rahem Moster have
Speaker 2: left in the tank? I think plenty because his age
Speaker 2: would suggest not much, but his tapes as the complete opposite.
Speaker 2: He's been more productive and healthier here than he's been
Speaker 2: anywhere else on the wrong side of thirty. These aren't
Speaker 2: even really questions or concerns. I should say they're just curiosities.
Speaker 2: They're real questions to me are in the battles, like
Speaker 2: assuming it's most are in a chan, but I wouldn't
Speaker 2: even go that far. The battle for the third spot
Speaker 2: is it's intense. Right. I think Right has the goods
Speaker 2: to come in and be productive right away. We saw
Speaker 2: hefe pump out some critical third downs in that Dallas game.
Speaker 2: But I tend to think that his skill set's the
Speaker 2: one that kind of get left in the chopping block.
Speaker 1: We'll see about that.
Speaker 2: I'll do a full fifty three man roster prediction on
Speaker 2: the show on Monday. I think Brooks he has some
Speaker 2: stake to the sizzle of the room. With a nice compliment,
Speaker 2: I love what he did in the Jets sweep game
Speaker 2: last year as both a runner and a lead blocker,
Speaker 2: and he's got that power to kind of push piles,
Speaker 2: but drafting right makes you think he has an uphill climb. Now,
Speaker 2: like this is just good on good iron, sharpening iron,
Speaker 2: and think about how far this run, this room has come. Man,
Speaker 2: Remember like Duke Washing and DeAndre Washington were the one
Speaker 2: and two backs a while ago, like you had your
Speaker 2: your leading rusher was a guy you brought in around
Speaker 2: Halloween and that was like to compliment Myles Gaskin. We've
Speaker 2: come a long long way since then, just like we
Speaker 2: have at the wide receiver spot when you had Lynn
Speaker 2: Bowden and Mack Hollins. As you're one and two, we've
Speaker 2: come a long way since then because wide receiver Tyreek Hill,
Speaker 2: Jalen Wattle, Eric Azukama, Braxton Burials. We have a great craft.
Speaker 2: Anthony Schwartz, Braylan Sanders, Matthew Sexton, Malik Washington, Taj Washington,
Speaker 2: and Jakwan Burton was a UDFA acquisition. The coach here
Speaker 2: is Wes Welker, who I think is basically the perfect
Speaker 2: coach for Malik Washington. More on that a moment departures
Speaker 2: Cedric Wilson, who cares Chase Claypool cares chosen Freddie Swain
Speaker 2: arrivals Malik Washington, Taj Washington, and Jaquan Burton. Room at
Speaker 2: a glance, it's the best one two punch in the game.
Speaker 2: They lift space off the top of the defense. They
Speaker 2: can take a slant or a screen to the crib,
Speaker 2: or catch the ball vertically and go seventy five yards.
Speaker 2: That just gives you so much to do as a
Speaker 2: play caller. And you can run route concepts that nobody
Speaker 2: those in the National Football League can run, which two
Speaker 2: US sees so well. Some of those deep, those late
Speaker 2: breaking crossing routes, or some of those deep comebacks where
Speaker 2: he just lets it flow out there for a little
Speaker 2: bit and Tyreek or Waddle runs to the spot and boom,
Speaker 2: bing bang, it's a twenty five yard play. We found
Speaker 2: out last year what happens when you're without one of
Speaker 2: these dudes. Twenty twenty two didn't have that issue, right,
Speaker 2: three thousand yards among them, nearly twenty touchdowns. Wattle last
Speaker 2: year fights injuries, going back to like the first week
Speaker 2: of camp where he missed almost all of camp. Reek
Speaker 2: gets banged up on the dreadful Monday night game against
Speaker 2: the Titans and self admits that he didn't work the
Speaker 2: way he should have down the stretch, which, hey, don't
Speaker 2: do that again, okay, And then from there we couldn't
Speaker 2: find enough wins elsewhere. I go back to that Buffalo
Speaker 2: game in Week eighteen, so many critical moments where we
Speaker 2: just needed one win, one win, one person to win
Speaker 2: on a two way or three way go even against
Speaker 2: man coverage against like Buffalo's fourth best corner, and we
Speaker 2: couldn't do it, even with Tyreek on two key plays
Speaker 2: that he had resulted in drops on third down and
Speaker 2: a potential touchdown on the drive before the pick to
Speaker 2: through going to Claypool.
Speaker 1: So what do we do to solve that?
Speaker 2: Well, all the space that Reek and Waddle generate on
Speaker 2: the perimeter, but also the ability to condense inside can
Speaker 2: be dangerous from any alignment, any grouping. That's all nice,
Speaker 2: but gosh, turn on the Buffalo game.
Speaker 1: Man.
Speaker 2: Even without Wattle in that game, we had some third
Speaker 2: down ops inside with those three way gos and just
Speaker 2: could not get wins where they would body up bractionon
Speaker 2: or body up Cedric and we couldn't get separation and
Speaker 2: couldn't give us our quarterback a target to throw to.
Speaker 2: And look, we never wanted to count our chickens before
Speaker 2: they hatch or whatever that's freaking saying is with rookies.
Speaker 1: But that's literally the game of Blake Washington.
Speaker 2: Bro. Like, I think that he's that guy already. We
Speaker 2: didn't eve see him practice yet. I believe he's gonna
Speaker 2: be that guy. And toay, some ofuld agree with Tosh
Speaker 2: Washington as well. So these are near exclusive slot players,
Speaker 2: excellent with the football after the catch. Malik truly has
Speaker 2: that oj McDuffie dog mindset man, and that's maybe where
Speaker 2: I'm most excited because at four four or five, I
Speaker 2: think everything you've added to the skill positions this off
Speaker 2: season is designed to a exploit the areas of the
Speaker 2: field we didn't get to enough last year and be
Speaker 2: compliment Reek and Waddle and give two a quick options
Speaker 2: elsewhere so he can identify, Hey, they're taking this away
Speaker 2: pre snap, this should be here. I can trust that
Speaker 2: guy to go win a one on one. I don't
Speaker 2: think he had that last year outside of ten and seventeen.
Speaker 2: I also think that Azukama can play. I think he
Speaker 2: can everything I just said about Malik and Taj was
Speaker 2: true of Azakama as a rookie, and there's a lesson
Speaker 2: there too. This is a tough position to play. Right
Speaker 2: might be one of the most demanding spots in the
Speaker 2: league wide receiver for the Miami Dolphins in Wes Wilker.
Speaker 2: It was that way in San Francisco. It's here too.
Speaker 2: There's a lot of different side adjustments, route variations, depth
Speaker 2: and timing of the route. It's all difficult and they
Speaker 2: need the depth. They rotate ten and seventeen out of
Speaker 2: the game and keep those guys fresh. They have different
Speaker 2: groupings for different situations. We saw red zone snaps where
Speaker 2: it's like Craycraft and Cedric Wilson last year, right or
Speaker 2: Claypool even It's a big reason why I think Craycraft
Speaker 2: maintains value here is his flexibility to do all the
Speaker 2: little things that you have to do in this group.
Speaker 2: So let's not go into this just expecting two rookies
Speaker 2: to have it down from day one, but from that
Speaker 2: same mindset, hopefully back healthy three years in the offense.
Speaker 2: I think as Zukama could carve out a nice role
Speaker 2: among the receivers this season. The questions your depth the
Speaker 2: ability of your youngsters to immediately contribute and get the
Speaker 2: offense down and play multiple positions in the offense. Eric
Speaker 2: Azukama getting his first serious run of his career and
Speaker 2: we saw a small role carved out in two games
Speaker 2: last year. Then he's hurt for the rest of the season.
Speaker 2: Do we have the horses should something happen to Reek
Speaker 2: and Wild? Do we have enough perimeter firepower beyond those
Speaker 2: two guys? Think about that. It's probably the room among
Speaker 2: the three we've done so far that has the most questions,
Speaker 2: And those questions are steeped in is it good enough
Speaker 2: once you get past two top ten wide receivers, Like
Speaker 2: it's crazy to think about. I keep thinking about Twitter
Speaker 2: beefs and arguments and bitching, and it's like, y'all wouldn't
Speaker 2: survive the Chad Henny days. Man, y'all wouldn't survive the
Speaker 2: Klei Lemon or the John Beck or the Joey Harrington
Speaker 2: or the Gus Farat days or the aj Feely days.
Speaker 2: Like there was days where we had to hold teams
Speaker 2: to thirteen points to win games. About the number one
Speaker 2: offense in the NFL, I digress the battles here wide
Speaker 2: Receiver three is the most anticipated battle of camp right now.
Speaker 2: Unless you sign Odell Beckham, that probably changes the entire
Speaker 2: idea there, But I don't think you necessarily have to
Speaker 2: think about it like who is receiver three and who
Speaker 2: is receiver four? Because the variety of skills these guys offer,
Speaker 2: and how you can create and cater to different roles
Speaker 2: and skills of these guys for the receivers beyond Reac
Speaker 2: and Waddle, like the whole thinking should be to service,
Speaker 2: to serve those guys, Like how can we best benefit
Speaker 2: at Reacan, Wattle rotate, get the best at each of
Speaker 2: those guys. Maybe in one grouping it's it's Erica Azukama.
Speaker 2: Maybe the other grouping it's Malik Washington. Maybe there's a
Speaker 2: package where river crepecraft makes the most sense. Either way,
Speaker 2: it's gonna be a fun camp battle. Receiver three is
Speaker 2: a fun one to watch and just to put a
Speaker 2: bow on all that's where we go ahead and take
Speaker 2: our last break rate there. Jarvis Landry got a rookie
Speaker 2: mini camp invite. That was what Quincy Wilson got with
Speaker 2: us last year, a former second round draft pick who
Speaker 2: just never made it in the league. Rookie mini camp invite.
Speaker 2: Some people wanted him to be signed as our tried
Speaker 2: and true number receiver. Be careful, he listened to for
Speaker 2: advice on on football opinions because some guys wanted that
Speaker 2: guy's a third receiver. Let's take our last break rate there,
Speaker 2: come back on the other side and do tight end
Speaker 2: and offensive line. That's next Draft Time podcast, your host,
Speaker 2: Travis Wingfield, brought to you by Auto Nation. Oh no way,
Speaker 2: breaking news. Brent Grimes was invited to camp with the
Speaker 2: Saskatchewan rough Fires in the CFL.
Speaker 1: I'm just joking. I'm I'm joking. I'm joking.
Speaker 2: That's a low blow there, but also kind of fun.
Speaker 2: Let's go ahead and continue the offensive line roster reset.
Speaker 2: May the third edition of the Draft Time Podcast. Here
Speaker 2: F one is here and I hate how busy the
Speaker 2: campus says right now, but that doesn't matter to you.
Speaker 2: We're gonna go ahead talk about tight ends an offensive
Speaker 2: line here. To close up this podcast on Monday, we'll
Speaker 2: come back into the defensive side of the football. But
Speaker 2: tight end's here. The cast, Smith and Smith haven't really
Speaker 2: though about that yet. Jonah Smith and Durham Smyth the
Speaker 2: top two guys with Julian Hill, Jody Fortson, Tanner Connor
Speaker 2: and how about Hayden Rucci roucchie Udfa from Wisconsin the coach.
Speaker 2: And here is John Embry, he's back for his third
Speaker 2: straight year as well. Tyler Croft and Nick Bowers. Are
Speaker 2: your departures and your arrivals are John, U, Jody and Hayden.
Speaker 2: That sounds like a I don't know what that sounds like.
Speaker 2: That's not really a boy band, right, I don't know.
Speaker 2: Maybe it is the room at a glance here, this
Speaker 2: room needed a remake since well, probably year two of Gasicki,
Speaker 2: Shaheen and Smyth fell flat on its face. That was
Speaker 2: twenty twenty one, right, Gasiki is good at like one thing,
Speaker 2: and I don't know why people thought it'd be different
Speaker 2: with the Patriots, but I digress. Shaheen was a ding
Speaker 2: dong to the nth degree. And I actually think Durham
Speaker 2: has completely remade his game into an asset. I didn't
Speaker 2: always feel that way. In fact, twenty twenty one, I
Speaker 2: was probably saying Durham way too much, But now I
Speaker 2: feel like he's got a real role in this offense.
Speaker 2: I like him as tied down three quite personally, and
Speaker 2: that's where I think he slots in this year. I
Speaker 2: think Jody Fortson as a player like Gosh. I like
Speaker 2: him a lot, but he has a lot of injury concerns.
Speaker 2: Quite frankly, I'd probably prefer to see less tight end
Speaker 2: playing time this year, given all we have at receiver
Speaker 2: and running back. Just reduce those packages. Use some alec
Speaker 2: ingold and some tight end type of role, some h
Speaker 2: back stuff. The only one I really care to see
Speaker 2: out there with regularity is John Us Smith. I think
Speaker 2: the fact that fortsn can be like a forty percent
Speaker 2: player who gives you something you don't have in the room,
Speaker 2: so they've remade it and all of a sudden I
Speaker 2: have a lot of intrigue here at the tight end spot.
Speaker 2: My questions for the room. How does John hus smith
Speaker 2: audition change Durham Smyth's role. We have some dynamic parts here.
Speaker 2: Can Jody Fortson be that vertical stretch option? Is it
Speaker 2: Tanner Connor? Because we saw what he can do in
Speaker 2: terms of some special teams work in the rookie season,
Speaker 2: preseason that he had. How many different groups can we
Speaker 2: form groupings? I should say, can we form from this
Speaker 2: group of players like Durham and Hill are good blockers,
Speaker 2: Smith and Fortson are good receivers. Makes me wonder how
Speaker 2: many options they've got baked up for this tight end group.
Speaker 2: I do think you are a john Us Smith injury
Speaker 2: away from this room looking totally oblique again, so just
Speaker 2: keep that in mind. That's probably one of the questions
Speaker 2: you have battles. We know pretty well what Johnny and
Speaker 2: Durham can do, but then what Fortson, Hill, Connor and
Speaker 2: the UDFA Roucie. How does the competition shake out there?
Speaker 2: And how does the fact that Durham is a core
Speaker 2: special team player change what you look for in a
Speaker 2: possible tight end three. We're gonna cut some good players
Speaker 2: this year. Man, this roster is pretty nice. Let's go
Speaker 2: ahead and conclude here with probably the biggest question mark
Speaker 2: on the offense, not probably definitely is the offensive line.
Speaker 2: The cast going tackle to guard Armstead, Jackson, lamb Keon, Smith,
Speaker 2: Ryan Hayes, Patrick Paul and Bayron Matos the UDFA. The
Speaker 2: guards are win guards and centers Win Brewer, Eikenberg, Driscoll,
Speaker 2: Rob Jones, Lester Cotton, Chason Hines. Matthew Jones is the
Speaker 2: UDFA and so was Andrew Mayer and Butcher Berry's your coach,
Speaker 2: Leiel John Pierre is the assistant O line coach. Your
Speaker 2: departures probably the biggest departures here on the entire roster.
Speaker 2: Two starters in Hunt and Williams, but then also Jonathan
Speaker 2: Harriston and Matt Siker. Of the guy as it were
Speaker 2: street free agents because we couldn't stay healthy last year.
Speaker 2: Arrivals are Brewer, Driscoll, Paul and the udfas are Matost,
Speaker 2: Jones and Mayer. The rum at a glance I mentioned
Speaker 2: it off the top. This is a spot where you've
Speaker 2: got you've sort of gone cheap, and even then I
Speaker 2: don't like that terminology. But this is a staff that
Speaker 2: knows how to balance their resources on offense, and frankly,
Speaker 2: when you look at what the open free agent market
Speaker 2: has produced on the offensive line, Kyle Krabs locked on Dolphins,
Speaker 2: had a fantastic study on this a while back. If
Speaker 2: you're curious, ask him about it. I'm sure he'll put
Speaker 2: in his discorder on his podcast. But the offensive line
Speaker 2: free agent market has been like selling your used games
Speaker 2: back to game stop. You buy a game for sixty
Speaker 2: bucks and twenty fourteen you get some good run out
Speaker 2: of it, it's worth it. But then in twenty sixteen
Speaker 2: you go back and sell the game back to them
Speaker 2: like best I can do two bucks. That's more true
Speaker 2: at tackle than it is on the interior. But the
Speaker 2: point stands like the free agent market has not been
Speaker 2: good on the offensive line. Look at Mike McGlinchey last
Speaker 2: year disaster for the Broncos, and he got a massive,
Speaker 2: like sixteen million dollars per year contract from them.
Speaker 1: Not good.
Speaker 2: And the Niners, going back to McDaniel's past, built their
Speaker 2: offensive line with developmental names and guys you haven't heard
Speaker 2: a ton about for years. I've done that now. Now
Speaker 2: all that said, Brewer is clearly a targeted fit and
Speaker 2: I think maybe the best scheme fit for any player
Speaker 2: we brought in the entire offseason. I think Driscoll didn't
Speaker 2: love his Eagles tape, but I can see maybe maybebe.
Speaker 1: You like him at right guard.
Speaker 2: I think his versatility is attractive, but the tape wasn't
Speaker 2: good last year and when played the if he played
Speaker 2: the entire season last year, are we having any of
Speaker 2: these conversations about the left guard position, because through six games,
Speaker 2: I think he was the best interior offensive line on
Speaker 2: the team. Now that's a loaded question because his injury
Speaker 2: history suggests that's not a one off and that's who
Speaker 2: he is. But gosh, I would have loved to have
Speaker 2: gotten seventeen games from him. Imagine getting seventeen games from
Speaker 2: t Said and Isaiah Win. That would kind of change
Speaker 2: the landscape of this team, wouldn't it. But I look
Speaker 2: at the makeup. Everyone is sort of from the same
Speaker 2: school of thought now, like a college coach meeting a
Speaker 2: few years ago prior to the nil days to get
Speaker 2: his own guys in his program, right, I think the
Speaker 2: offensive line finally reflects what McDaniel would prefer. I think
Speaker 2: Brewer was a slam dunk we get when back at
Speaker 2: the same level as last year. That would be phenomenal.
Speaker 2: I think Austin's going to only get better at right tackle,
Speaker 2: and then I love our tackle depth beyond he Stead,
Speaker 2: who is still one of the best when he is
Speaker 2: out there despite a down year in twenty twenty three.
Speaker 2: Kendall Lamb also can he play inside. I would be
Speaker 2: very interested in moving Kenda Lamb inside because we're pretty
Speaker 2: good at tackle right now. I think key On Smith
Speaker 2: has a future there. I could have seen a world
Speaker 2: where Keon Smith was your swing tackle, and then of
Speaker 2: course Patrick Paul like where does he factor into all this?
Speaker 2: I do think you'll see some heavy packages, some six
Speaker 2: offensive line packages that will get him some run while
Speaker 2: developing his skill set this season. Speaking of all that,
Speaker 2: I feel like we have so many irons in the
Speaker 2: fire that could become cheap starting talent in a year
Speaker 2: or two, like a key On Smith for instance. Some questions,
Speaker 2: can that hold up against power? Can they get pushed
Speaker 2: inside against shortyard situations? How will attrition impact our ability
Speaker 2: to do complex stuff in the running game. This is
Speaker 2: one of the most complex schematic running games in the
Speaker 2: National Football League, and that tends to deteriorate as you
Speaker 2: deal with injuries. I felt there were a lot of
Speaker 2: big run opportunities last year negated by one lost block
Speaker 2: to Lester Cotton block, for instance.
Speaker 1: And that's going to happen.
Speaker 2: When you're on your third right guard in as many
Speaker 2: weeks where you have you're on your interior O line four,
Speaker 2: five and six for the year.
Speaker 1: You know the battles. I think we know about the tackles.
Speaker 2: He'd be surprised if besides Brewer at center so you
Speaker 2: know Testad Brewer and Jackson. I would be very surprised
Speaker 2: if Isaiah Win does not get first crack at left guard,
Speaker 2: So who the hell's the right guard? Like? Look Liam's
Speaker 2: tape last year before he moved back to center, I
Speaker 2: thought was the best of his career. I remember texting
Speaker 2: with Kyle Krabs again when you know what if Liam
Speaker 2: clicks and now we have a rookie contract starter at
Speaker 2: a key spot, what a boom that would be? Right?
Speaker 2: And if we get that from Austin Jackson and Liam
Speaker 2: Eichenberg and back to back years. Think about how the
Speaker 2: twenty twenty and twenty twenty one draft classes all of
Speaker 2: a sudden like elite top of the line draft classes,
Speaker 2: and how it would make us feel about Butcher and
Speaker 2: Frank and Mike and their ability to develop offensive I'm
Speaker 2: in going forward right, still feels like you can maybe
Speaker 2: add a veteran here down the line. But we heard
Speaker 2: both Mike and Chris talk about discussions with Connor Williams.
Speaker 2: I'm happy to hear those communication Therey because I think
Speaker 2: that he could be a guy that you call in
Speaker 2: October when things maybe get murky. Got like a Brandon
Speaker 2: Shell for instance a couple of years ago and say hey,
Speaker 2: you're healthy.
Speaker 1: Cool, come on down. Lots of two on here.
Speaker 2: The offensive assistance we didn't talk about yet, Parks Fraser,
Speaker 2: Jonathan Kraus, Max McCaffrey, yes he's related to the Christian
Speaker 2: and Ed McCaffrey tree there. Roman Sapolo and Rob Everett
Speaker 2: are some assistants on the staff. Before we get out
Speaker 2: of here, I want to go ahead and tell you guys,
Speaker 2: my favorite part of the job is being around the
Speaker 2: players themselves, and you can to. Finn's Weekend returns May
Speaker 2: thirty first through June first and Coconut Grove. Join Dolphins players, coaches, alumni,
Speaker 2: and more for a one of a kind offshore fishing
Speaker 2: competition and an evening of celebration with food, drinks, and
Speaker 2: great music. Register your boat or purchase party tickets on
Speaker 2: Finnswekend dot com. All proceeds from Finn's Weekend will benefit
Speaker 2: the Baptist Health Foundation. Monday, we'll do the defense. Until then,
Speaker 2: you all please be sure to subscribe, rate review of
Speaker 2: the podcast. Go ahead and follow me on social at
Speaker 2: Wrinkled NFL for all the team at Miami Dolphins. Check
Speaker 2: out the Fish Tank podcast my guys Seth and Juice.
Speaker 2: Check out the YouTube channel for media availabilities, Dolphins Today,
Speaker 2: Draft time interviews, and so much more, and last but
Speaker 2: not least, Miami Dolphins dot Com. Until next time, bins
Speaker 2: up Carolina, Cameron Daddy, He's coming home.