Speaker 1: You're listening to the Miami Dolphins podcast Network. This is
Speaker 1: Drive Time with Travis Waefield. Back to throw to a
Speaker 1: looking clips about a wide Dolphin touchdown, Tyriquel uncrelievable. Just
Speaker 1: move by it for a second time. Don't know where
Speaker 1: he was going right away. I want to hit that though, man,
Speaker 1: I want to help you. Someone will stup on his
Speaker 1: man away wattle wattle to a shotgun. Back to throw,
Speaker 1: looking at them up myers touchdown, it's waddle, it's six touchdown, padown.
Speaker 1: I'll just ki. Drive Time with Travis Wingfield begins. Now
Speaker 1: check your pulse if you're not for what is up? Dolphins?
Speaker 1: And welcome to the Drive Time podcast, part of the
Speaker 1: Miami Dolphins podcast network, covering your team, your Miami Dolphins.
Speaker 1: How's it going everybody? I am your host, Travis Wheatfield.
Speaker 1: And on today's show, we are recapping well a lot
Speaker 1: the twenty twenty three NFL Draft as a whole. We'll
Speaker 1: look at the areas the Dolphins on paper improved this offseason.
Speaker 1: We'll see what the masses are saying about are four
Speaker 1: new Miami Dolphins. I'll stop by the film room once
Speaker 1: again to give you the omissions from the original film
Speaker 1: study on these guys, now that I had the entire
Speaker 1: weekend and take a look under the hood, plus my
Speaker 1: top draft notes and top rosters heading into the summer.
Speaker 1: All of that and more from the Baptist Health Studios
Speaker 1: inside the Baptist Health Training Complex. This is the Draft
Speaker 1: Time Podcast, Maggie. So if you haven't listened to the
Speaker 1: draft episode, which I'm not sure there's a single person
Speaker 1: here who would have skipped those and come straight to
Speaker 1: this one, but just in case, I just want to
Speaker 1: go ahead and detail a few extra notes from watching
Speaker 1: not just two or three games from these guys, but
Speaker 1: getting into six plus games and seeing what they really
Speaker 1: offer with a real mind of just watching that player
Speaker 1: and watching their potential fit here with the Miami Dolphins.
Speaker 1: So real quick, just a brief omission period on each
Speaker 1: of the four draft picks, and we start in the
Speaker 1: second round with cornerback camp Smith and watching more and
Speaker 1: more of his tape. I think maybe the best trait
Speaker 1: of all that I like for him is that he
Speaker 1: keeps your defensive playbook wide open. What I mean by
Speaker 1: that there are reps of him doing a little bit
Speaker 1: of everything on that South Carolina tape the pick he
Speaker 1: had against Clemson last year. He's ten yards off in
Speaker 1: the slot and they try to get a takeoff from
Speaker 1: that position, which is a very common route in twenty
Speaker 1: twenty three. He squats on it in a way that
Speaker 1: limits the break off the top of the route by
Speaker 1: playing underneath and kind of being ready to trigger downhill.
Speaker 1: But it allows him to also flip his hips and
Speaker 1: run vertically. And on this rep, when you watch just
Speaker 1: the broadcast version, you see the ball go up and
Speaker 1: then Smith is tracking it like a wide receiver, and
Speaker 1: then the other actual wide receiver appears in frame trying
Speaker 1: to get back in phase, but he can't do it,
Speaker 1: and so Smith winds up rundown this deep shot for
Speaker 1: an easyt I think that rep tells you all you
Speaker 1: need to know about his game, his confidence, the trust
Speaker 1: he has, and what he sees that allows him to
Speaker 1: play this way where he can funnel down and challenge
Speaker 1: the short game without having to sacrifice the deep portion
Speaker 1: of the field Because he can flip his hips and
Speaker 1: take off in an instant that tense split speed right,
Speaker 1: he has plenty adequate long speed, and then of course
Speaker 1: the length helps him disrupt the catch point if he
Speaker 1: is behind a little bit or falls out of phase
Speaker 1: a little bit, then in the running game. You know,
Speaker 1: when I first watched his tape, I thought, this is
Speaker 1: a guy that doesn't really love to go make hits.
Speaker 1: But the more you watch, the same thing I love
Speaker 1: about his general approach to the game is what makes
Speaker 1: him effective. Here understanding of angles, where he is on
Speaker 1: the field, and spatial awareness. You can just see the
Speaker 1: football IQ with this player, and the trait that almost
Speaker 1: always comes with that and does here is the effort
Speaker 1: throw the ball to the other side of the field
Speaker 1: and you'll see him take off and get his angle
Speaker 1: to where he has to be just in case the
Speaker 1: play breaks out and goes for a big gain. He
Speaker 1: wants to be there to prevent the long touchdown, and
Speaker 1: that awareness of where he is and the way he
Speaker 1: plays the football. In fact, there's a three play sequence
Speaker 1: in the Vanderbilt game. One, he strings out an outside
Speaker 1: run and makes the play by set in the edge
Speaker 1: and coming back inside to make the tackle. Number two.
Speaker 1: The next play is an option play where he just
Speaker 1: disrupts the mesh point and kind of stays in a
Speaker 1: perfect position to defend both the quarterback and running back
Speaker 1: and it forces the quarterback to tuck it and turn
Speaker 1: up right into his help. Just delay that pitch for
Speaker 1: as long as you possibly can. And this third one here,
Speaker 1: it goes back to the previous trade I mentioned where
Speaker 1: he can really play back the football. Is there's a
Speaker 1: one one pass play to the field where he's on
Speaker 1: the wide side of the field right a takeoff route
Speaker 1: to the perimeter, and you see him mere really good
Speaker 1: mirror technique wait for the receiver to engage the contact,
Speaker 1: which he then reciprocates, which means it's not a defensive
Speaker 1: pass interference. And here's the best part, and this is
Speaker 1: what we didn't get the last time around we took
Speaker 1: a cornerback very high in the draft. Is he locates
Speaker 1: the football before making his leap or before going into
Speaker 1: the man, and that's going to prevent so many defensive
Speaker 1: pass interference calls that were flagged on the previous high
Speaker 1: draft pic at cornerback here for the Miami Dolphins. I
Speaker 1: can't tell you how much I love that quality because
Speaker 1: all year last year, all those zero looks the man coverage,
Speaker 1: so much urgency put on these cornerbacks in coverage, they
Speaker 1: got flagged so frequently because they panicked and just played
Speaker 1: through the man, and you have almost no chance of
Speaker 1: making a play in that regard. But cam Smith typically
Speaker 1: finds the ball and plays the ball opposed to playing
Speaker 1: through his man. This tape is fantastic. And by the way,
Speaker 1: I've got Brett Coleman's schedule for the podcast on Friday
Speaker 1: this week, and he just texts me cam Smith with
Speaker 1: about eight greater than signs. That's all he said. He
Speaker 1: loves cam Smith's tape. We'll talk about that more on Friday.
Speaker 1: Devon a Chain. This is something I think we probably
Speaker 1: could just cover about this team with a blanket statement
Speaker 1: and call it good. But man, there is a certain
Speaker 1: type of player they've clearly prioritized down here in South Florida,
Speaker 1: and it revolves around the play will and determination. You
Speaker 1: see that on a Chain's tape with regularity. Yeah, he's
Speaker 1: one hundred and eighty pounds. He's probably not pushing the
Speaker 1: pile ten yards down the field on any given play.
Speaker 1: But anyone who just sees the weight and tells you
Speaker 1: this guy's not gonna drop his pads and run tough
Speaker 1: and run through tackles is simply not watching the tape,
Speaker 1: which I've seen that take from you know, a couple
Speaker 1: of couple of guys that cover the team that clearly
Speaker 1: don't watch the tape. This dude finishes runs. He plays
Speaker 1: on one hundred at all times, and this is another
Speaker 1: part of the makeup that the Dolphins have clearly demonstrated
Speaker 1: that they love. He's smart. Gosh, if there are three
Speaker 1: wrong decisions to make or gaps to hit and just
Speaker 1: one correct one, you typically find a chain finding the ladder.
Speaker 1: And he's fast. He does it quickly, just incredibly adept
Speaker 1: at hitting small creases at full speed. And we know
Speaker 1: what happens when you've got nearly four to two speed
Speaker 1: and you do that. You know what else? Those two
Speaker 1: things play into pass protection. There are all kinds of
Speaker 1: examples of him getting his block executed, even when giving
Speaker 1: up sixty seventy pounds to some of these top edge
Speaker 1: rushers in the SEC. It ain't always pretty, but it's
Speaker 1: usually effective, and a lot of that has to do
Speaker 1: with his effort and will to do that. Elijah Higgins.
Speaker 1: I might be having the most fun watching Higgins so
Speaker 1: far from his class. I referenced it in the post
Speaker 1: selection breakdown podcast. But everything this guy does operates through
Speaker 1: his strength core upper body, lower body. He's just a
Speaker 1: brick house in terms of the way he uses that
Speaker 1: size to his advantage. You pair really with really really
Speaker 1: good route running, and man, I can see this ceiling
Speaker 1: for him being, you know, fulfilling multiple roles from both
Speaker 1: wide receiver and tight end perspectives. And I wrap that phrase,
Speaker 1: you know, wide receiver and tight end in air quotes
Speaker 1: because I think gone are the days of just painting
Speaker 1: a player with some broad brush, and in is the
Speaker 1: idea of filling out specific roles on your team, like
Speaker 1: whether it's blocking from an inline position or cracking from
Speaker 1: a plus split, or running from the slot, you know,
Speaker 1: vertically down the field to open up that too high show.
Speaker 1: He's got a lot of tools on his proverbial belt,
Speaker 1: but man, the way he controls DB's in the physicality
Speaker 1: aspect of his matchups. I mentioned this in the ways
Speaker 1: that he fights off re routes and positions himself for
Speaker 1: contested balls. You see it in the running game too,
Speaker 1: And you know, I think about what he could potentially
Speaker 1: add as a run blocker, you know, off the edge
Speaker 1: of some of this stuff that we saw receivers doing
Speaker 1: on this offense a year ago. I see a lot
Speaker 1: of that in Higgins games, as it projects towards a
Speaker 1: potential role here on the offense down the line. Then
Speaker 1: Ryan Hayes, you go back and find the Senior Bowl
Speaker 1: reps for all the guys that played in that game.
Speaker 1: I think that's where you can really see where Hayes
Speaker 1: projects at the next level. The one on ones were
Speaker 1: a bit of a learning experience for Hayes, and day
Speaker 1: one like it wasn't good, but they always talk about
Speaker 1: guys that improved throughout the week, and that's what you
Speaker 1: saw from Hayes. Some of those bigger, heavy handed rushers
Speaker 1: were just bull rushing him and dropping their weight on
Speaker 1: a guy that was, you know, coming into that game
Speaker 1: about three hundred pounds, and he would give up some ground,
Speaker 1: he would get knocked back a little bit, but then
Speaker 1: he started to make an adjustment, whether it was getting
Speaker 1: a deeper drop or widening his base, or striking earlier,
Speaker 1: or just finding different, you know, contact points to put
Speaker 1: his weight on, you know, more so than somewhere else.
Speaker 1: And all of a sudden, these bull rushers are getting
Speaker 1: stonewalled right at the point. Now. As for the run
Speaker 1: blocking aspect, of his game. Didn't take longer than Monday
Speaker 1: or was it Tuesday, the first day of practice for
Speaker 1: him to get that picked up. It was the same
Speaker 1: as his Michigan tape. Man. It was dominant. He is
Speaker 1: out standing at the point of attack. In surprise, surprise,
Speaker 1: he fires off the ball and shortens the runway of
Speaker 1: his man significantly, something you see plenty in this offense
Speaker 1: down here, and I'm everybody's on the roster is going
Speaker 1: to compete, right so you know, hopefully we get Tron
Speaker 1: Armstead at left tackle for seventeen games and Austin Jackson
Speaker 1: shows you the growth we all saw last camp but
Speaker 1: then didn't get a chance to see because of the
Speaker 1: early injury and then a re injury when he came back.
Speaker 1: And in this case, maybe you can see, you know,
Speaker 1: Hayes coming off the bench in some heavy packages, some
Speaker 1: six offensive line packages. You know, if he shows you
Speaker 1: that growth and makes his way through camp and earns
Speaker 1: a spot on the roster, I can see him potentially
Speaker 1: having a role in that regard because of the way
Speaker 1: he plays the run and widens that edge in the
Speaker 1: instance that you do go with a heavy six offensive
Speaker 1: lineman package. Just kind of thinking about the future what
Speaker 1: that might look like. Obviously, lots of competition in that room,
Speaker 1: so we'll see who winds up filling out that role.
Speaker 1: But watching his Senior Bowl reps and the way he
Speaker 1: attacks those guys one on one, I really like the
Speaker 1: way he blocks off the edge in the ground game. Man,
Speaker 1: lots of like from this entire class. How about what
Speaker 1: the pundits are saying, you know, nationwide? I went around
Speaker 1: the web and dug up some draft takes from some
Speaker 1: of the big names in the industry. Here's what Kuiper
Speaker 1: had to say. You know, mel Kiper, cornerback Cam Smith
Speaker 1: excelled and zone coverage in college, and he locks down
Speaker 1: SEC wideouts. Running Back de von a Chain could be
Speaker 1: one of the steals of the draft. He should be
Speaker 1: on preseason Rookie of the Year watch list. A Chain
Speaker 1: is super fast and has the ability to in the
Speaker 1: past game. What's not to like? Ryan Hayes is my
Speaker 1: fifteenth ranked offensive tackle. I was surprised he lasted that late.
Speaker 1: His twenty twenty two tape is very solid. Warren Sharp
Speaker 1: of Sharp Football grated the Dolphins with the eighth best
Speaker 1: draft in the draft eighth best value. I should say,
Speaker 1: that's a weird way to put that. This is a
Speaker 1: metric that he devised based on draft capital over expectation.
Speaker 1: Now does that mean anything, No, because you're working off
Speaker 1: of a consensus big board from all the major players
Speaker 1: and that doesn't really reflect how NFL teams think and
Speaker 1: who cares if you're doing better than the consensus media boards.
Speaker 1: But then where the players went based on their pre
Speaker 1: draft ranking, the Dolphins got value that way. So it's
Speaker 1: not bad when you consider that. I mean, it's just
Speaker 1: one way of looking at this thing, especially when you
Speaker 1: consider that teams one through seven on his list all
Speaker 1: had seven or more picks in Miami hedge of course,
Speaker 1: just the four so real quick. Another Brett Coleman note.
Speaker 1: I got a different text from him earlier over the
Speaker 1: weekend that said, of course the Dolphins took a chane.
Speaker 1: He texted me that right when they'd had that draft
Speaker 1: pick come through. What a cheat code, he wrote me. Again,
Speaker 1: he'll be doing the podcast later on this week. And
Speaker 1: speaking of future podcasts, you guys know my boy Emery
Speaker 1: Hunt from CBS Sports HKE was going to come on
Speaker 1: for his annual spot to taking a look at all
Speaker 1: the udfas that he thinks have the best chance to
Speaker 1: make an impact on this year's roster. Remember last year
Speaker 1: I asked for a name. He goes co Who. I
Speaker 1: was like, yeah, yeah, cater co who. He told me,
Speaker 1: so that was all I needed to know. He then
Speaker 1: broke it down for us, but he was very indignant
Speaker 1: on the selection of cater Coho, who I think was
Speaker 1: the dolphins best rookie in general last year. Pretty I mean,
Speaker 1: obviously he was speaking of. We have reports, not official signings,
Speaker 1: but reports of Udfa's who will be joining the Miami Dolphins.
Speaker 1: They are quarterback James Blackman from Arkansas State. May recall
Speaker 1: him from his days at Florida State, running back Chris
Speaker 1: Brooks from BYU, couple of wide receivers day Would Davis
Speaker 1: from Western Kentucky and Chris Coleman from cal Poly. I'll
Speaker 1: be honest with you, guys, I have not fired up
Speaker 1: the Hilltoppers nor the cal Paly tape. I also have
Speaker 1: not watched tight end Julian Hill out of Campbell. Offensive
Speaker 1: tackle Jared Horse from Michigan State. He's just a mean
Speaker 1: dude on the offensive line. Alex Jensen from South Dakota State,
Speaker 1: another offensive tackle a guard DJ Scaife I think is
Speaker 1: how you say it from Miami, a center Aluma a
Speaker 1: Lave from where is he from? I didn't get his
Speaker 1: college on here. Defensive tackle Brandon Peeley from USC who
Speaker 1: I think has a chance to really make not just
Speaker 1: an impact on making the football team, potentially eating up
Speaker 1: from snaps on the nose. Tackle defensive tackle Anthony Montevalo
Speaker 1: from UCF. Defensive lineman Randy Charlton from Mississippi State. Almost
Speaker 1: Norm Charlton and Randy Johnson put together an edge Garrett
Speaker 1: Nelson from Nebraska. We talked about him on the Visits
Speaker 1: podcast a couple weeks ago. And edge from Miami, Mitchell Agade.
Speaker 1: Another edge, Ezekiel Vanderberg from Illinois State. He is highly intriguing.
Speaker 1: I'm looking forward to diving into his tape. Linebacker Aubrey
Speaker 1: Miller from Jackson State, cornerback Kedrin Smith from Kentucky, free
Speaker 1: safety Ethan Bonner from from Stanford. He is electric safety
Speaker 1: Bennett Williams from Oregon and Matt Turk's son, Michael Turk,
Speaker 1: the punter from Oklahoma. That's how you know you're getting
Speaker 1: old man, a player that you know that you remember
Speaker 1: watching very distinctly, his son is now on the football team.
Speaker 1: Before our first break, new Jersey numbers. Braxton Barrios gets
Speaker 1: the zero that's going to look cool on him. Chosen
Speaker 1: has the former number three of Will Fuller, almost with
Speaker 1: Will Anderson, Will Fuller and Josh Rosen. Hopefully Chosen can
Speaker 1: make that more of a chosen number here In twenty
Speaker 1: twenty three, cater Cohu goes to four, which was my
Speaker 1: high school basketball and baseball number, so that makes me
Speaker 1: love him even more. Jalen Ramsey gets number five, Avi,
Speaker 1: Mike White fourteen, Jake Billy the Punter sixteen, Deshaan Elliott
Speaker 1: takes Eric Rose position really and his number twenty one.
Speaker 1: Miles Gaskin goes back to thirty seven. Malik Reid's gonna
Speaker 1: wear number forty seven. Does that mean that Andrew Van
Speaker 1: Geegle has a new number? David Long fifty one, Dane
Speaker 1: gets number sixty seven. Keon Smith bumps up one number
Speaker 1: to seventy seven. Eric Sabert's gonna wear eighty two, and
Speaker 1: Freddy Swain takes Mike Gasicki's number eighty eight. There you go.
Speaker 1: Let's go ahead and take our first break. Right there
Speaker 1: and come back on the other side. I'm gonna tell
Speaker 1: you three areas where the Dolphins improve this offseason that
Speaker 1: could take them from nine wins to eleven twell, maybe thirteen,
Speaker 1: maybe fourteen. That's next Draft Time Podcast, your host, I
Speaker 1: was Wingfield, brought to you by Auto Nation. Oh yeah,
Speaker 1: it's a Tuesday here, the first episode of the week.
Speaker 1: Like I mentioned earlier, we had three episodes drop over
Speaker 1: the weekend. So if you went into Aaron Rodgers's Darkness
Speaker 1: Retreat and didn't know what happened over the weekend, go
Speaker 1: ahead and get back on the playlist. There ya, silly
Speaker 1: goose and check out those previous episodes of the Draft
Speaker 1: Time Podcast. I wanted to look at the Dolphins off
Speaker 1: season as a whole, and eventually when we get some
Speaker 1: downtime here there ain't no downtime right now. We'll go
Speaker 1: ahead and take a look at a roster reset as
Speaker 1: we do at every pivotal point of the off season,
Speaker 1: and kind of gauge where the Dolphins are post draft,
Speaker 1: post free agency, post post Malone. But I wanted to
Speaker 1: look at some areas where I think the Dolphins the
Speaker 1: reason they were nine to eight last year despite the
Speaker 1: fact that I thought they were a much better football team.
Speaker 1: I wanted to take a look at three areas that
Speaker 1: they were not good in that I think they got
Speaker 1: better at this offseason by nature of their moves. Number
Speaker 1: one is the short yardage game. And I've been talking
Speaker 1: about this a lot. This is an issue to me
Speaker 1: of sample size more than anything else, because even though
Speaker 1: Miami was twenty two for fifty five, which was forty
Speaker 1: five point five percent, and the only team in the
Speaker 1: National Football League under fifty percent in short yardage? Is
Speaker 1: there anybody out there that here's how I view quarterbacks.
Speaker 1: If it's third and seven and you're on defense and
Speaker 1: you're like, oh man, I don't like our chances, that
Speaker 1: means that quarterback is good. If you don't like the
Speaker 1: offense's chances in third and seven, that means the quarterback
Speaker 1: needs to be replaced. That's kind of how I view that.
Speaker 1: But if I told you it was third and three
Speaker 1: or shorter, and you can choose to be on the defense,
Speaker 1: or you can choose to have this Dolphins offense with Tua,
Speaker 1: Tyreek and Jalen which one are you taking? Anybody choosing
Speaker 1: the defense, would you take the defense? If I told
Speaker 1: you it was third and eight, you probably wouldn't do
Speaker 1: that then, which means your quarterback's pretty good. It's very hypothetical,
Speaker 1: you know, is evident by the fact that when Tua
Speaker 1: was in the game, Miami's third and long conversion rate
Speaker 1: was thirty seven point eight percent. Tops were the Chiefs
Speaker 1: at forty five percent, and second place was thirty two
Speaker 1: point three percent the Bengals. So the Dolphins were comfortably
Speaker 1: in second place with the Chiefs, who ran away a
Speaker 1: number one. And again, everyone loves Patrick Mahomes. I think
Speaker 1: most people think he's the best quarterback in the NFL.
Speaker 1: Everybody loves Joe Burrow. I think most people think he's
Speaker 1: the second best quarterback in the NFL. Some people think
Speaker 1: he's theirstst quarterback in the NFL. Two was right between
Speaker 1: those guys. Well, you think that's it then for posterity.
Speaker 1: Regardless of the quarterback, the Dolphins were number two and
Speaker 1: third and medium, which is four to six yards at
Speaker 1: sixty percent, only behind the Buffalo Bills. And one of
Speaker 1: the people think Josh Allen is the number three or
Speaker 1: four best quarterback in the NFL. But man, I just
Speaker 1: look at the offseason. I think about how the moves
Speaker 1: jive with improving the few areas that Miami could have
Speaker 1: performed better in last year. Short yardage, I think perhaps
Speaker 1: foremost among them. So last year to an average nine
Speaker 1: point six average depth of target among starting quarterbacks that
Speaker 1: was the most in the NFL. When I only throws
Speaker 1: the ball five yards down the field, No he does.
Speaker 1: He led the NFL an average depth of target. Josh Allen.
Speaker 1: Mister Howitzer himself was second at nine point four yards.
Speaker 1: And what was the complaint from Buffalo fans when the
Speaker 1: Bills offense would hit some of the slumps they had
Speaker 1: last year like all quarterbacks have. By the way, this
Speaker 1: thing turns into a rant every time I talk about
Speaker 1: Tua that Allen was pushing the ball too much and
Speaker 1: not taking what was there for the defense to give him.
Speaker 1: And frankly, I think that when he does that, he's unstoppable.
Speaker 1: We saw that Week three game. Miami did their damnedest
Speaker 1: to keep Josh Allen from pushing the ball on the field,
Speaker 1: and he was doing very good job of taking the
Speaker 1: short stuff, but eventually the mistakes piled up and the
Speaker 1: Dolphins win that game. But we saw the Week fifteen
Speaker 1: game where he did a little bit of both the
Speaker 1: playmaking to take the short stuff, and that offense rolled
Speaker 1: that game right. But then the playoff game playoffs he
Speaker 1: was pushing the ball had an average depth of the
Speaker 1: target is fifteen yards in that game, nearly double the
Speaker 1: previous output, and the offense stunk in that game. So
Speaker 1: people want Josh Allen to take more short stuff and
Speaker 1: take what's there rather than try to push the ball
Speaker 1: vertically all game. And to bring this back to the
Speaker 1: Dolphins in Tua, giving more options in that short passing game,
Speaker 1: I think between Sobert and Higgins and a Chin and Barrios,
Speaker 1: I think you've made big strides in that department. So
Speaker 1: it's not like, yeah, of course, throw the ball three
Speaker 1: hundred times to Tyreek and Jalen I would do the
Speaker 1: exact same thing. But I don't think that the average
Speaker 1: depth of target was a reflection of the Dolphins desire
Speaker 1: to push the ball vertically as much as they did,
Speaker 1: although I think they loved it. I think it was
Speaker 1: more about the fact that the underneath options just weren't
Speaker 1: giving them as much as the intermediate and downfield options were.
Speaker 1: We got almost nothing last year from the tight end
Speaker 1: position in terms of the passing game, right, Kaziki's numbers plummeted.
Speaker 1: Smith didn't catch many balls. Beyond that, there wasn't a
Speaker 1: lot to go around either. And they also averaged among
Speaker 1: all tight end groups in the NFL the lowest separation
Speaker 1: in the NFL, which is what we got away from
Speaker 1: at the receiver position the last couple of years. You
Speaker 1: know what else we'll do that twelve drops by running
Speaker 1: backs a year ago. That was more than any running
Speaker 1: back room in all of football. And that's a position
Speaker 1: that traditionally catches a very high volume of passes, you know,
Speaker 1: seventy five eighty eighty five percent of passes because they're quick,
Speaker 1: checkdown throws. So I think the Dolphins in short yard
Speaker 1: is because of Barrios his ability to win the one
Speaker 1: on one matchups inside like we talked about Kyle Krabs
Speaker 1: a week ago, or devon a Chain's ability to separate
Speaker 1: and play both a pass protector and pass catcher role,
Speaker 1: or if a player like Elijah Higgins could have to
Speaker 1: speed quickly the way he can separate both physically and
Speaker 1: with his route running in short areas and Eric Sober
Speaker 1: in that same way, I think there's a big big
Speaker 1: strike to be made there with just those four guys
Speaker 1: the expected climb in the running game from year two,
Speaker 1: but adding four good short area weapons I think makes
Speaker 1: a big difference there. My second area of improvement is
Speaker 1: the takeaways. Vic Fangio's defenses traditionally get takeaways like nobody's business.
Speaker 1: His last eleven years as a DC or head coach,
Speaker 1: his defense has averaged twenty three point six takeaways per year.
Speaker 1: The Dolphins had just fourteen last year. That was tied
Speaker 1: for fortieth And of course, a lot of that production
Speaker 1: was lost to having so many guys not available for
Speaker 1: the entire season. Byron Jones out all damn year, Nick
Speaker 1: need him out for most of the year, Trell Williams
Speaker 1: out for the whole damn year, Brandon Jones out for
Speaker 1: a little more than half of the year, and you know,
Speaker 1: guys first stretches a play, notably Xavier and Howard playing
Speaker 1: without two groins. Not really, but he was injured and
Speaker 1: clearly wasn't right, and you know, he's talked about how
Speaker 1: excited he is to have gotten the rest this offseason
Speaker 1: and you know, playing healthy again, hopefully after battling through
Speaker 1: those things all year last year and tip of the
Speaker 1: cap to him for doing that. The short yardage and
Speaker 1: lack of takeaways led directly to the worst average starting
Speaker 1: field position in all of football. Like, think about that.
Speaker 1: The Dolphins were eleventh and scoring last year with the
Speaker 1: worst starting field position in the National Football League. Not
Speaker 1: to mention with all those injuries and what they do
Speaker 1: to your special teams units. As key guys you know
Speaker 1: got an elevation playing on offense or defense. So hopefully
Speaker 1: special teams is much better. It has to be this year.
Speaker 1: It was really bad last year. And of course better
Speaker 1: coverage and more ballhawks will help that too. Better pass
Speaker 1: rush also tends lead to better third down defense. Right,
Speaker 1: it gives the ball back to the offense more too,
Speaker 1: right and with better field position. For an offense that
Speaker 1: ranked sixth in total offense and eleventh in scoring just
Speaker 1: by nature of a better field position, but also be
Speaker 1: playing more offensive snaps, you can see that eleventh ranked
Speaker 1: scoring offense climb a lot closer to the number six
Speaker 1: and hopefully even higher. And when I look at the
Speaker 1: Dolphins draft class and the positions they took, like think
Speaker 1: about this. Twenty twenty two third down defense twenty fourth
Speaker 1: in the NFL. Passing offense was third, Passing defense is
Speaker 1: twenty seventh, Rushing offense was twenty sixth, Rushing defense was eighth.
Speaker 1: It looks to me like they went directly after those weaknesses.
Speaker 1: Passing defense with your first over your first pick in
Speaker 1: the draft. Third down defense, you know, twenty seventh ranked
Speaker 1: passing defense and twenty fourth ranked third down defense. Let's
Speaker 1: go get a cornerback then, your rushing offense ranked twenty seventh.
Speaker 1: Let's go get a running back then. From a sustainability standpoint,
Speaker 1: the second year in the offense, I think is enough
Speaker 1: to expect a jump from guys like Tua Tyreek, Jalen Tarron,
Speaker 1: Liam Connor, Rob Austin rahem el Hefe and on and on. Finally,
Speaker 1: more and more Fangio creativity. When I had the privilege
Speaker 1: of speaking with the coach, he mentioned spending time last
Speaker 1: year drawing up some new cover just a try out,
Speaker 1: and said he was excited to do that, and he
Speaker 1: got a big smile on his face. I got a
Speaker 1: big smile on my face, thinking like this is pretty
Speaker 1: freaking cool, and I just keep thinking about the versatility
Speaker 1: of the secondary as it's currently constructed. At safety, we
Speaker 1: know Javon Hollin can play everywhere. We know Brandon Jones
Speaker 1: is a box slot combo in college and has done
Speaker 1: a little bit of everything here in the pros. Same
Speaker 1: story with his former college teammate to Sean Elliott. But
Speaker 1: then look at the corners. Cater played inside and out
Speaker 1: last year. Cam Smith has the ability to do both.
Speaker 1: Jalen Ramsey has essentially played that star role from the
Speaker 1: Saban defense where he just dictates matchups and plays where
Speaker 1: he's needed. That includes inside, outside, tight end, speed receivers,
Speaker 1: big receivers. It just doesn't matter. Eatam plays inside and out.
Speaker 1: He can play safety in a pinch. I just think
Speaker 1: you have so many options at your disposal if you're
Speaker 1: Vic Fangio, and I refuse to believe it was designed
Speaker 1: that way by accident. And I'm thinking about all the
Speaker 1: pieces they have on this defense. And I mentioned how
Speaker 1: before you could have three safeties in your nickel package. Right,
Speaker 1: If you don't want to go to the cornerback position,
Speaker 1: maybe it's ex and Cater before the Jaalen Tree before
Speaker 1: the camp Smith draft, and maybe you go more heavy
Speaker 1: at safety. Maybe you're bringing Jordan Poyer and it's Javon Holland,
Speaker 1: Brandon Jones, and Jordan Poyer. Well they did that in
Speaker 1: a different way through the quarnerback position. So now I'm
Speaker 1: thinking about maybe it's a four corner nickel package with
Speaker 1: X and Cam Smith on the outside and Cater and
Speaker 1: Jalen on the inside and Javon Holland kind of patrolling
Speaker 1: the whole thing. And those guys, you know what they
Speaker 1: all do really well. They key the quarterback and they're
Speaker 1: super instinctive and smart. So if you make a mistake,
Speaker 1: these guys are jumping these routes and they're making big
Speaker 1: plays on them. I'm thinking about having guys seven to
Speaker 1: ten yards off the ball with eyes in the quarterback
Speaker 1: named Javon Holland, named Jalen Ramsey, named Xavian Howard, named
Speaker 1: Cam Smith, like those guys all are known for making
Speaker 1: plays from that position. Watch out, man, Watch the hell out.
Speaker 1: I just think you've got so many options here. I
Speaker 1: just keep looking at where this team struggled last year
Speaker 1: with the pass defense. You think about all those additions there,
Speaker 1: and not to mention David Long in the second level
Speaker 1: and what he does to your coverage in blitz packages,
Speaker 1: but also up front with Chubb being fully healthy, odbas
Speaker 1: back Malik reads here. I think Jalen Phillips gets even
Speaker 1: better this year first two picks were dB and running backs.
Speaker 1: So in addition to getting best player available at least
Speaker 1: everywhere I've seen says that Smith fell a lot further
Speaker 1: than expected and Ah was projected to go about ten
Speaker 1: to fifteen spots higher, perhaps hence the McDaniel fistpump. They
Speaker 1: also fit knees. That's the ideal word, right, ideal world
Speaker 1: the living. You want to be having picks that make
Speaker 1: the big impact on your roster from a need standpoint,
Speaker 1: and also happen to be some of the best players available.
Speaker 1: Sounds good to me. Let's go ahead and take a
Speaker 1: break right here and talk some NFL next on the
Speaker 1: Draft Time podcast, your host Travis Wingfield. We're brought to
Speaker 1: you by Auto Nation. I know I'm a couple of
Speaker 1: days late, but how about Vamos Gatto's and let's go Heat.
Speaker 1: Let's go Heat. We've got Heat Game two tonight and
Speaker 1: Panthers Game one in New York and Toronto, respectively. But
Speaker 1: what a day Sunday was. That was for me one
Speaker 1: of those rare, rare sports days where everything goes your way.
Speaker 1: I talk about like Coog's and Dolphins winning on the
Speaker 1: same weekend in the NFL and college football. That's fun.
Speaker 1: But those two wins. I'm not really a hockey guy,
Speaker 1: but anytime South Florida can take down a Boston team, yeah,
Speaker 1: I'll take that. Please. Additionally, my Seattle Mariners who suck
Speaker 1: erased a four run deficit to win an extras and
Speaker 1: my favorite golfer won the Mexican Open. So again, Vonmo
Speaker 1: Scotto's let's go heat, Goms, go ms, and Tony fen
Speaker 1: Now for the win, baby e. All right, back to
Speaker 1: the NFL Draft takeaways. Record number of Draft day trades
Speaker 1: forty one I think was the number. And how about
Speaker 1: the value gained by the Bears and Cardinals. Bravo to
Speaker 1: both of those staffs and what they were able to
Speaker 1: pull off on Draft weekend. I thought it was cool
Speaker 1: that the Cardinals did the exact same thing the Dolphins
Speaker 1: did back in twenty twenty one, going from three to
Speaker 1: twelve to six. There's a great chart out there from
Speaker 1: Pro Football Focus where it measures who gained the most
Speaker 1: value in trades over the weekend, and it's the Cardinals
Speaker 1: and Bears neck and neck, and they are both three
Speaker 1: times more than the third place team, which was the
Speaker 1: Jacksonville Jaguars. Conversely, the Panthers and Texans, the two teams
Speaker 1: who made those big trades up the board, had the
Speaker 1: opposite effect in terms of surplus value. They had the
Speaker 1: least value, I should say, the most valued lost in
Speaker 1: those trades, going up with both Chicago and Arizona. But
Speaker 1: that's the cost of getting highly valued prospects, right. The
Speaker 1: Texans paid a stee price. I wouldn't have paid the much,
Speaker 1: even though I love Will Anderson. I think it was
Speaker 1: the best player in the entire draft, besides maybe CJ. Stroud,
Speaker 1: But giving up a future one that might be a
Speaker 1: top five to ten pick, I just don't know about that.
Speaker 1: So that was generally what I found interesting. I thought
Speaker 1: the Cardinals killed it. They got great capital next year,
Speaker 1: including a future one from a team, like I said,
Speaker 1: hasn't won a lot of games lately. Maybe that changes
Speaker 1: this year with CJ. Stroud and the changes they've made
Speaker 1: tomko Ryans. I think it's going to be a better
Speaker 1: football team, but can they win right away? If not,
Speaker 1: the Cardinals might have a couple of top ten, maybe
Speaker 1: top five picks, but Paris Johnson, bj Ojelargie Ojelargie, o Jaalari,
Speaker 1: Garrett Williams and Michael Wilson that was their first four players.
Speaker 1: Those are all four really dang good football players. I
Speaker 1: thought Buffalo, I hate to say it got great value
Speaker 1: with Dalton king Kid and Osiris Torrance and then Dorian Williams,
Speaker 1: linebacker from Tulane, could also fill some of the snaps
Speaker 1: left behind by Trey Tremaine Edmonds's departure. I thought the
Speaker 1: Lions left the draft a much better football team than
Speaker 1: when they entered it. Gibbs, Campbell, Laporta, Branch is a
Speaker 1: hell of a first two rounds. And then Hendon Hooker,
Speaker 1: even if he's only your backup quarterback as well worth
Speaker 1: a third round draft pick. The Packers I thought killed it.
Speaker 1: Van Ness is a great player for them. Musgrave and
Speaker 1: Craft like that is a that kind of is almost
Speaker 1: like Gronk and Aaron Hernandez, you know, sans the extra
Speaker 1: curricular stuff at the tight end position in terms of
Speaker 1: getting two very talented young players that spot. And then
Speaker 1: Carl Brooks later on. We've talked about him a lot
Speaker 1: in the podcast. I absolutely loved what the Colts did
Speaker 1: in their draft, getting Anthony Richardson at number four. Finally
Speaker 1: the Colts have a quarterback. It seems like Julius Branch
Speaker 1: with a thirty was it the thirty third pick. I
Speaker 1: don't know what that happened, but they got Julius Branch
Speaker 1: from Kansas State. He is excellent. I thought Josh Downs
Speaker 1: is a great pick, a nice little, you know, security
Speaker 1: blanket for Richardson. Early on there Blake Friedelan's a high
Speaker 1: upside tackle who needs some work, but a good spot's
Speaker 1: take a flyer on him. And then at a Barway,
Speaker 1: the defensive lineman from Northwestern. Really good value there. Some
Speaker 1: thought he might go in the first round. He was
Speaker 1: a fourth round pick for them. They just took good
Speaker 1: players who most thought would go higher. Darius Rush, Will
Speaker 1: Mallory to boot on Day three and then of course
Speaker 1: the Eagles. Yeah, they just keep scooping up great players,
Speaker 1: and usually from Georgia. Thought the Swift trade was perfect
Speaker 1: for them one day after getting Carter and Smith, and
Speaker 1: they could wind up like if DeAndre Swift goes one
Speaker 1: and done and signs a big contract somewhere, they could
Speaker 1: get a comp pick. That's like a fifth or sixth
Speaker 1: round pick for him, and just basically, you know, a
Speaker 1: two year down the road trade up for DeAndre Swift
Speaker 1: in the production he might give them, which I expect
Speaker 1: will be good. Atha Giants got three impact players with
Speaker 1: Deontay Banks, John Michael Schmidz and Jalen Hyatt off the top.
Speaker 1: I think all three of those guys are going to
Speaker 1: start for them next year. Steelers got Broderick Jones, my
Speaker 1: ot one, Joey Porter Junior in my cornerback maybe one,
Speaker 1: maybe two, and be three I thought him. Christian Gonzalez
Speaker 1: and Devon Witherspoon were all real good players. And then
Speaker 1: Keanu Benton that might be the best one to two
Speaker 1: three picks of anybody in the entire draft. And then
Speaker 1: they got Darnell Washington, who I wanted, but I'm happy
Speaker 1: with what we got. Also really really like the Seahawks
Speaker 1: and Titans and Bucks classes. What a fun weekend, man,
Speaker 1: always a fun time of year. So that's the draft,
Speaker 1: and I want to end the episode this way. Later on,
Speaker 1: at some point I want to go through and rank
Speaker 1: every position group of every team and tell you where
Speaker 1: I've got the fins on those rankings. But I want
Speaker 1: to sort of tease that with this. My top ten
Speaker 1: rosters in the NFL post twenty twenty three draft, and
Speaker 1: they are this get ready to weep Jets fans. Number
Speaker 1: ten Lions get a big time quarterback and they shoot
Speaker 1: way up this list. But they are great in the trenches.
Speaker 1: I love the skills spots. This is this low because
Speaker 1: I think dB and quarterback are still a little bit dubious.
Speaker 1: But Chauncey Gardner Johnson getting there helps that dB group
Speaker 1: a lot. I just think he's gonna ask a lot
Speaker 1: of issues. That's why they crack the top ten over
Speaker 1: my number eleven team, which I'll tell you about here
Speaker 1: in just a second. The Dallas Cowboys are nine loaded
Speaker 1: defense at all three levels. Offensive line has taken some
Speaker 1: hits in recent years. They have a proven quarterback, not
Speaker 1: as good as the rest on this list, most likely
Speaker 1: at the skills spots, but they're pretty good there too.
Speaker 1: I think Ceede Lam's a great player. The Bengals number eight,
Speaker 1: losing the two safeties and Von Bell and Jesse Bates
Speaker 1: for me, knocked them a few spots. Those guys kind
Speaker 1: of drove that defense from the back with Lou Anarumu.
Speaker 1: We'll see what Daxxon Hill can do for them in
Speaker 1: the replacement of those guys. The second year player from Michigan.
Speaker 1: I'm still concerned about some spots on the offensive line
Speaker 1: and the second level of defense, but Joe Burrow in
Speaker 1: that passing game puts him up here pretty easily. The
Speaker 1: Ravens number seven they are annually here, would have been
Speaker 1: in this position a year ago had Lamar not gotten
Speaker 1: hurt by similar to the playoffs. But they're a great
Speaker 1: team every year, especially when their quarterback is right and
Speaker 1: he's finally paid. So now we can put that to rest.
Speaker 1: The forty nine Ers coming at sixth this despite me
Speaker 1: having no confidence at the quarterback position they have this year.
Speaker 1: I'm not a crazy fan of brock Parties game. He
Speaker 1: played really well last year, but I think that was
Speaker 1: more system driven. We'll see what happens with Trey Lance.
Speaker 1: I mean, who the heck knows? And then Sam Darnold
Speaker 1: just tells you how good they are everywhere else though.
Speaker 1: Getting Javon hard Grape on that defensive line is stupid, man,
Speaker 1: So stupid. Number five is the Chargers tons of injuries
Speaker 1: last year coming back, But will they ever stay healthy.
Speaker 1: If they do, they are loaded. I have the Bills
Speaker 1: at number four. Offensive line was addressed and frequency in
Speaker 1: the draft in a very strong way. I think they
Speaker 1: need more at the skills spots. We'll see if they
Speaker 1: wind up getting DeAndre Hopkins or not. Thought dB depth
Speaker 1: was challenged a year ago, but make no mistake, they
Speaker 1: did not fall off a cliff. And having that quarterback
Speaker 1: helps big time too. He's still really good man. Number
Speaker 1: three is the Chiefs. A good quarterback and offensive line
Speaker 1: can carry them to the spot, and that's what they did.
Speaker 1: The skills are fine. Defense is fine too, but they
Speaker 1: are stout at the important positions like rush pass rushing.
Speaker 1: A pretty good cornerback, play, offensive line and quarterback all
Speaker 1: very very good. Number two Miami has the Dolphins the
Speaker 1: number two rushs in the NFL. For me, go talk
Speaker 1: to a wall if you disagree, I'm biased, whatever, you
Speaker 1: can say, whatever you want, but find me a team
Speaker 1: with fewer weaknesses and better key position groups. Like Yeah,
Speaker 1: there are some questions on the offensive line. We'll see
Speaker 1: by the tight end position. But other than that, what
Speaker 1: do you got for me? What do you got from me? Guys?
Speaker 1: That's it. There's only one team to media has a
Speaker 1: better roster with loaded receivers, loaded pass rushers, a very
Speaker 1: good quarterback, and all of a sudden, the loaded secondary.
Speaker 1: To me, it's the Philadelphia Eagles. Just outside this list
Speaker 1: are the New York Jets. And look, if we base
Speaker 1: our opinions on twenty twenty two, they're not good at quarterback.
Speaker 1: Wasn't good last year, but that's not always how it works.
Speaker 1: I expect Rogers to be better this year. We will see,
Speaker 1: but certainly you can see the power dynamic here between
Speaker 1: the AFC and NFC. If Rogers is old Rogers, then
Speaker 1: I'll put the Jets in on the top ten. But
Speaker 1: I'm not buying until I see it. In the meantime.
Speaker 1: That's gonna be my time. You all, please be sure
Speaker 1: to subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts. Leave us
Speaker 1: a rating, leave us a review. You can follow me
Speaker 1: on Twitter at Winkfold NFL. Follow the team at Miami Dolphins.
Speaker 1: Check out the fish Tank podcast with Seth and Juice.
Speaker 1: Check out the YouTube channel for Dolphins Today, Media availabilities,
Speaker 1: and much much more, and last but not least, Miami
Speaker 1: Dolphins dot Com. Until next time, fins up, Caroline I'm
Speaker 1: grand daddy. He's coming home. H