Speaker 1: Looking touchdown Miami drown. What is up, Dolph Fans? And
Speaker 1: welcome to the Drive Time Podcast, part of the Miami
Speaker 1: Dolphins podcast network, covering your team, your Miami Dolphins. How
Speaker 1: is it going? Everybody? It is the last show of
Speaker 1: this week, the final week before we get into training
Speaker 1: camp next week. I am your host, Travis Winfield, and
Speaker 1: as always, I am here to bring you your daily
Speaker 1: dose of Miami Dolphins football. And on today's show, we
Speaker 1: saved perhaps the best for last, with the secondary coming
Speaker 1: on the next two podcast. Here one today, one next week.
Speaker 1: Today we stopped by the Cornerbacks room to discuss Miami's
Speaker 1: talent both on the field but also in the coaching ranks.
Speaker 1: Experience accomplished, resumes, promising youngster. This group as a little
Speaker 1: bit of everything as we dive into one of the
Speaker 1: true driving forces of this football team. All of that
Speaker 1: and a heck of a lot more on this edition
Speaker 1: of the Drivetime Podcast. Drive Time, as always, is brought
Speaker 1: to you by Auto Nation, and we have just two
Speaker 1: more position groups to go in this preview series. And
Speaker 1: I guess funny enough, I tend to the series approach
Speaker 1: for podcasting and writing always follows the same arc for me,
Speaker 1: maybe it's the same for other content creators out there.
Speaker 1: Super pumped in the beginning, you hit a bit of
Speaker 1: a lull in the midia in the middle, and then
Speaker 1: you finish very strongly because you can see the end
Speaker 1: of the tunnel finally. And not to say I don't like,
Speaker 1: dislike any of the position group we covered, It's just
Speaker 1: eleven part series can be a lot to take on,
Speaker 1: and I'm happy to do it. It really educates me
Speaker 1: as far as the roster right before training camp, with
Speaker 1: all of the final details and notes and film I
Speaker 1: do so I really appreciate doing the series, but I
Speaker 1: let's just say I'm excited to them to the end
Speaker 1: and get to practices on the field and bring you
Speaker 1: fresh new content for twenty one. Two more groups to
Speaker 1: go in the preview series and the penultimate group here
Speaker 1: brings us to the cornerbacks. And I wrote about this
Speaker 1: a lot last year on Top News, on the Blitz,
Speaker 1: on the post game stories, on inside the Numbers, on
Speaker 1: the features, whatever it was we wrote about it last
Speaker 1: year how the secondary really helped to set the table
Speaker 1: for this defense, and of course the defense helped drive
Speaker 1: the team to the ten victories last season finishing atop
Speaker 1: the league and two of the very most important categories
Speaker 1: you can you can finish atop the league in in
Speaker 1: the National Football League takeaways and third down defense under
Speaker 1: on third down and twenty nine takeaways a year ago.
Speaker 1: What a season it was. You have to scrap all
Speaker 1: that and start all the way over again, because that's
Speaker 1: how this league works. You don't get to resume your start,
Speaker 1: your spot from last season. You go back to level one,
Speaker 1: regardless of how it finished, and you have to get
Speaker 1: to the ultimate boss at the end every single year
Speaker 1: and play the entire game on the way. Enough of
Speaker 1: the video game analogies to finish out that thought. This
Speaker 1: defense also finished near the top, and two other very
Speaker 1: important categories to six and points allowed entered week seventeen
Speaker 1: number one in points allowed, and then ten and sacks.
Speaker 1: Of course, but how important are sacks? I think that's
Speaker 1: a great argument to be had from football savants and
Speaker 1: the like, because they are very important, Do not get
Speaker 1: me wrong. Negative plays helps set the pace or the
Speaker 1: tone or dictate the call on the following play and
Speaker 1: really take command of that particular series if you're on defense,
Speaker 1: and it puts you in a big bind if you're
Speaker 1: on offense, especially when you get six or seven or
Speaker 1: eight yard losses, I mean six second and sixteen. That's
Speaker 1: a tough, tough down on distance to overcome. But I
Speaker 1: think the impacting the quarterback is even more important than that.
Speaker 1: And the way all of this came together for the
Speaker 1: Dolphins was a variety of fronts, blitzes and rushes and
Speaker 1: ways with different and guys that can do multiple things,
Speaker 1: and the general goal is to just make the quarterback uncomfortable,
Speaker 1: make him feel you. Coach Flora's talked about that a
Speaker 1: lot last year as well, and that was driven in
Speaker 1: large part by what the Dolphins secondary was able to
Speaker 1: do and the faith the coaching staff had in the
Speaker 1: back end to really call up some of the aggressive
Speaker 1: calls and the zero blitz and the zero pressure. We
Speaker 1: talked about it on the podcast. This Dolphins secondary and
Speaker 1: the conversion from former cornerbacks to safeties are guys that
Speaker 1: play slot and safety, guys that can play outside inside.
Speaker 1: Even Byron Jones has played all over the formation in
Speaker 1: his career. And so I go back to this post
Speaker 1: I wrote up on Miami Dolphins dot Com last December
Speaker 1: that coincided with a radio appearance NFL Networks Brian Baldinger
Speaker 1: made on twelve forty a m KFG Sports radio and
Speaker 1: the spot linked to an article on the station's website
Speaker 1: where Baldy said that Miami were ahead of schedule in
Speaker 1: year two under coach Floras and Chris Greer. And then
Speaker 1: back to my piece, I titled it kind of working
Speaker 1: off of that the Byron Jones effect, because I think
Speaker 1: Byron's style of play comes with a significant degree, a
Speaker 1: significant degree of misunderstanding from what his actual role and
Speaker 1: responsibility and production has been here so far through one
Speaker 1: season in Miami, And it doesn't necessarily make for the
Speaker 1: highlight reel, you know, where you have the hype music
Speaker 1: over the top and you clip that one percent of
Speaker 1: a player's game to use the uses evidence to justify
Speaker 1: his skill set. I mean, you go through the course
Speaker 1: of Byron jones career. Two picks last year was a
Speaker 1: career high. And hell, even coach Flores's touched on that
Speaker 1: several times last year with regards to how great the
Speaker 1: splash plays are, like don't get it, don't get it
Speaker 1: twisted Saxon interceptions and fumbles and all that stuff are
Speaker 1: fantastic and you have to have that as a football team.
Speaker 1: But he is more concerned about the other nine and
Speaker 1: nineties snaps a player takes over the course of a
Speaker 1: sixteen game season, and the approximate one thousand snaps per
Speaker 1: every position you have on the field. So guys that play,
Speaker 1: you know, outside corner or your your best pass rusher
Speaker 1: who plays eight hundred snaps, if they're getting ten sacks
Speaker 1: or five picks, that's a very small percentage of their
Speaker 1: overall workload. And so with Byron Jones, and this goes
Speaker 1: back to his time in Dallas where their defense was
Speaker 1: so often at least to my somewhat trained eye, the
Speaker 1: classics Sam Madison quote and those that haven't heard Channing
Speaker 1: Crowder on the Fish Tank podcast with Seth and Juice
Speaker 1: where he talks about his first year as a pro
Speaker 1: with Sam Madison, the Dolphins former All Pro cornerback. Uh
Speaker 1: Sam was coming towards the end of his Dolphins career
Speaker 1: in OH five and Channing's first year with Miami was
Speaker 1: OH five and how they played ten on ten because
Speaker 1: Sam would break the huddle, get out there and yell
Speaker 1: ten on ten, ten on ten, and Channing does this
Speaker 1: in Sam's high pitched voice, which I will not try
Speaker 1: to emulate, but I'll save you the grief there and
Speaker 1: let Channing take care of the comedy for you on
Speaker 1: the Fish Tank podcast. But that was a good comparison
Speaker 1: to Byron Jones and Dallas. And you see this in
Speaker 1: a lot of tea is where sometimes the corner who
Speaker 1: just matches up with and takes the best receiver on
Speaker 1: the other side doesn't even join the huddle. He's just
Speaker 1: out there on the island kind of peeking in because
Speaker 1: he knows his job. And it can often be the
Speaker 1: loneliest place in football if that matchup doesn't go well,
Speaker 1: Like cornerbacks have it so tough. If you play sixty
Speaker 1: good snapped and the sixty fet nap, a guy gets
Speaker 1: behind you and scores a touchdown, that's all anybody's going
Speaker 1: to remember. So it can be the loneliest place in football.
Speaker 1: But for Byron that island was very rarely a deserted
Speaker 1: situation in Dallas and here in Miami, he was the
Speaker 1: premier corner in the league with the Cowboys doing just that.
Speaker 1: Like you go back to his coverage numbers, the the
Speaker 1: GPS tracking, the windows that he created for quarterbacks on
Speaker 1: throws throughout the course of his career has been among
Speaker 1: the league's best among cornerbacks. And that's how you wind
Speaker 1: up with this following data from that season. The I
Speaker 1: research and wrote about in the Byron Jones free agent
Speaker 1: acquisition piece two marches ago, and these were some of
Speaker 1: the matchups that Byron had between and nineteen, going back
Speaker 1: off the previous two years of work in that article,
Speaker 1: Michael Thomas two times, two catches for twenty one yards
Speaker 1: in one game, not of the next goose egg to
Speaker 1: al Shan Jeffrey goose egg for Odell Beckham Jr. Stefon
Speaker 1: digs from the Vikings before the Bills one catch eleven yards,
Speaker 1: John Brown one catch for six yards. He matched up
Speaker 1: with both Brandon Cooks and Robert Woods. Robert Woods against
Speaker 1: the Rams because they do so much different formations swapping
Speaker 1: and condensed formations, and they forced Byron Jones to come
Speaker 1: in and play a bit of a different role against
Speaker 1: that team. Two catches for nineteen yards together against Byron
Speaker 1: Jones and coverage Julio Jones one for nineteen, t Y
Speaker 1: Hilton one for twenty three And there aren't any interceptions
Speaker 1: in that list. But when your mission is to lock
Speaker 1: down the opposing number one receiver. You take that and
Speaker 1: you never ever ever turned back. That's a way bigger
Speaker 1: impact on a game for sixty snaps, a game to
Speaker 1: eat race of true difference maker on the offense, way
Speaker 1: bigger difference than just getting one takeaway and giving up
Speaker 1: eight catches for ninety yards and a touchdown, whatever it
Speaker 1: might be. So we saw more of that this year,
Speaker 1: But the Dolphins defense was more complex than just saying, hey,
Speaker 1: buyer in ten on ten, you're out there, more well
Speaker 1: rounded than to just to say you go do this
Speaker 1: and worry about nothing else. That's just not how this
Speaker 1: defense works. You have to play his zone, you have
Speaker 1: to play man, you have to tackle, you have to
Speaker 1: be a little bit of everything. And that's not a
Speaker 1: bad approach to have your ten on ten. It worked
Speaker 1: for Miami back in the early two thousand's with Sam
Speaker 1: Madison and then of course Patrick Surtam later, but Miami
Speaker 1: just had a lot of talent in this part of
Speaker 1: the team at that cornerback position. So again, he's he's
Speaker 1: playing man coverage, he's pressing, he's zone turning, falling off
Speaker 1: into the curl, he's coming up to the flat and
Speaker 1: challenging underneath receivers. He's defending the run. He's playing a
Speaker 1: crucial part of what made the Dolphins defense tick to
Speaker 1: the tune of the top ten production and sax points,
Speaker 1: takeaways and third down defense. So Brian Baldinger last year
Speaker 1: had this to say in that interview, Brian Flores has
Speaker 1: a clear vision for how he wants to play defense,
Speaker 1: and it starts with guys that can lock down on
Speaker 1: the outside. That's the foundation pass rush. It's not about sacks.
Speaker 1: It's about pressure and what that pressure does to other
Speaker 1: teams quarterbacks and offenses wherever you heard that before. And
Speaker 1: then of course that sped up process for the quarterback
Speaker 1: is compounded by the fact that you have sticky coverage
Speaker 1: that loves to challenge receivers at the line and make
Speaker 1: them earn every engine. That's not just necessarily, you know,
Speaker 1: an individual trade. We've been talking about Byron Jones because
Speaker 1: I just love the way Byron approaches the game, and
Speaker 1: I do think that his production and skill set and
Speaker 1: value I think is a little bit underrated for this
Speaker 1: Miami Dolphins team based upon what I see on social
Speaker 1: media and otherwise. But the Dolphins defensive backfield. And we'll
Speaker 1: talk about this in the coaching section. I mean, you
Speaker 1: go back to twenty nine team coach Flores with Josh
Speaker 1: Bowyer then as the defensive backs coach. They were pulling
Speaker 1: guys off the street. And then literally five days later,
Speaker 1: like we had a Tuesday signing. I think it was
Speaker 1: Tay Hayes before the Bengals game in twenty nineteen, the
Speaker 1: Week sixteen game where Fitzpatrick through for eight thousand yards
Speaker 1: and the Bengals came back and it went to overtime
Speaker 1: and Isaiah Ford had the big catch and then Jason
Speaker 1: Sanders wins the game with the field goal at the
Speaker 1: end there. But in that game, and this was the
Speaker 1: deal throughout the entire season, right But in that game,
Speaker 1: Tay Hayes, I believe signed on Tuesday and then went
Speaker 1: out and played like thirty snaps on Sunday. And the
Speaker 1: Dolphins got production from guys like that all season long.
Speaker 1: Like Ken Crawley comes over from the Saints that year,
Speaker 1: uh Adrian Colbert signs late in the airs of safety
Speaker 1: and produces the final month of the season as Miami
Speaker 1: goes three and two with two wins over division champions
Speaker 1: that season. So This is not like something new, and
Speaker 1: I don't expect it to be, you know, new to one.
Speaker 1: It's something they've just done. They've curated success and they've
Speaker 1: curated production from that position. And again to go back
Speaker 1: to the New England days with Josh Boyer and Brian Flores,
Speaker 1: I mean j C. Jackson, undrafted free agent, Malcolm Butler,
Speaker 1: undrafted free agent. They brings to Fon Gilmore and who
Speaker 1: was a first round draft pick of the Bills and
Speaker 1: played really well for of Bills. Then he gets to
Speaker 1: New England and he becomes like the best cornerback in
Speaker 1: the National Football League. I mean, these guys just coach
Speaker 1: up defensive backs. It's the proof is in the pudding.
Speaker 1: Like I can talk about it until I'm blue in
Speaker 1: the face, but the production is there. The evidence is
Speaker 1: there on tape and the stats and and these guys,
Speaker 1: they continue to curate more talent at the position and
Speaker 1: that only continues to make the production go up and
Speaker 1: up and up. And that pairs so well with the
Speaker 1: past rush scheme you have upfront that just makes the
Speaker 1: quarterback uncomfortable enough into decisions that puts the ball in
Speaker 1: tight windows and that's how you wind up leading the NFL.
Speaker 1: In takeaway, so I wrote about the Byron Jones effect
Speaker 1: and how he missed the Buffalo game, the first Buffalo
Speaker 1: game last year, SAMs the first series and ironically he
Speaker 1: makes a tackle short of the sticks in that first
Speaker 1: series and then an incomplete pass goes in his direction
Speaker 1: on that first series to get a three and out
Speaker 1: and force the Bills to punt. But on that third
Speaker 1: down play, he comes up kind of limping and holding
Speaker 1: the growing and it made him miss that that game,
Speaker 1: the rest of that game, the Jacksonville game on Thursday night,
Speaker 1: and the Seattle game in Week four, And so you
Speaker 1: take all three of those games and consider that he
Speaker 1: did play the first one, but you consider it three
Speaker 1: miss games because it was literally three snaps but with
Speaker 1: Byron on the field and without Byron on the field.
Speaker 1: At the point of this article was points per game
Speaker 1: allowed without him and sixteen point three points per game
Speaker 1: allowed with him in the lineup. And that leads into
Speaker 1: the second point about the ability to mix coverage and
Speaker 1: further confuse the quarterback. And this coincides with something we're
Speaker 1: gonna cover more on Monday's Safety Preview podcast and Gerald
Speaker 1: Alexander preaching communication and how bad communication leads to mistakes,
Speaker 1: and mistakes at that level of the defense leads to
Speaker 1: big plays. And again just trying to get a feel
Speaker 1: for what I'm seeing on tape. It's a lot with
Speaker 1: this Dolphins defense, and I can't possibly know exactly what
Speaker 1: the call is when I'm not part of the meetings
Speaker 1: or the install or any part of that process. But
Speaker 1: you look for indicators, right Like a cornerback backs out
Speaker 1: before the snap and turns his butt to the sideline.
Speaker 1: That's gonna be zone coverage. That's a zone turn versus
Speaker 1: a man turn. And you know the difference in what
Speaker 1: you're looking at if you study the game enough to
Speaker 1: not have a call but understand what the defense is doing.
Speaker 1: So there's this fun coverage where I went back into
Speaker 1: the classroom to kind of teach myself for I guess
Speaker 1: the lab as g A would say, and taught myself
Speaker 1: this coverage I wasn't very familiar with because I think
Speaker 1: that's I think that's what I saw on a particular
Speaker 1: play in the Chargers game, a buzz six, And to
Speaker 1: break it into Layman's terms, it's quarter half quarter and
Speaker 1: that basically defines your deep part of the field. You
Speaker 1: have one man that falls back into a quarter portion
Speaker 1: of the field, a man in the middle of the field,
Speaker 1: typically your free safety who plays the half, and then
Speaker 1: the other portion of the deep part of the field
Speaker 1: is covered by another quarter player. So two quarters and
Speaker 1: a half makes a fool. You have the entire back
Speaker 1: end of the coverage. Round it out and the beauty
Speaker 1: of this defense and what I think Byron Jones showcased
Speaker 1: in that regardless that he can get to all those
Speaker 1: different looks while everything looks the exact same at the snap,
Speaker 1: he's up in your face. He's gonna show challenging as
Speaker 1: far as pressing at the line, He's gonna show mere technique.
Speaker 1: He's gonna bail techniques. Sometime you can mix it up
Speaker 1: in the way that pass rushers mix it up and
Speaker 1: what they throw at posing offensive lineman. So the quarterback
Speaker 1: is dealing with pressure packages. He has to get his
Speaker 1: protection right to afford him that valuable two and a
Speaker 1: half seconds, and then he has to hope his receivers
Speaker 1: can uncover in that time against some of the best
Speaker 1: sticky cover corners in the National Football League and even
Speaker 1: safeties that you have to come down to challenge routes
Speaker 1: at the line to take out your tight end or
Speaker 1: you're running back. It's just a lot to deal with.
Speaker 1: So that's why you get some of these games last
Speaker 1: year where Miami just completely destroyed the quarterback stat line,
Speaker 1: uh compared to what they were doing previously in that season. So, yes,
Speaker 1: the Dolphins did rank near the top of the league
Speaker 1: in terms of man coverage played via you know, Pro
Speaker 1: Football Focus, Football Outsiders, Sharp Football, a lot of publications
Speaker 1: can verify this for us. But even then, the top
Speaker 1: three teams where the Dolphins, Patriots, and Lions, and even
Speaker 1: their man coverage rates are just a smidge over fifty,
Speaker 1: so you're still going to be in zone half the time.
Speaker 1: So that's my little tutorial on coverage, how it works,
Speaker 1: some kind of explanation of this defense and what makes
Speaker 1: it unique and what makes it productive in terms of
Speaker 1: that portion of the field. And I hope that pairs
Speaker 1: well with the breakdowns we did on the line and
Speaker 1: at the second level of the linebackers. But it all
Speaker 1: works together, Like Bo Burnham says, everything works when everything
Speaker 1: works together. And when you consider how many sub packages
Speaker 1: of Dolphins go with you know, six, seven, even sometimes eight,
Speaker 1: defensive backs on the field late in games. You need
Speaker 1: depth in this group, and that's why you see so
Speaker 1: many transactions at this position. We saw it all lash
Speaker 1: training camper, the run up to training camp, bringing in
Speaker 1: guys for a look like a Javarros Davis or a
Speaker 1: Tino Ellis for instance, Davis came went and then came
Speaker 1: back last year. Now he's here on a futures contract.
Speaker 1: Then this year you're getting even more considerable investment with
Speaker 1: Justin Coleman, Jason mccordy, and then on the back end
Speaker 1: with Javon Holland as well, after getting Byron Jones and
Speaker 1: Brandon Jones, and you can just never have enough defensive backs.
Speaker 1: And coach Flora's Chris Career, Josh Boyer, all these guys
Speaker 1: have made an emphasis on routing out this group with
Speaker 1: talent to execute the scheme. So I asked coach was
Speaker 1: about that on draft weekend and he said, yeah, it's
Speaker 1: a passing league. And he and Chris Career have shown
Speaker 1: their commitment to the position and to the crux of
Speaker 1: the defense by investing into the position the highest dollar
Speaker 1: amount in terms of salary of any NFL team. And
Speaker 1: look at the dividends you get. It just speaks to
Speaker 1: the larger vision, the plan to execute that vision, to
Speaker 1: kind of take it day by day and figure out
Speaker 1: what you have to do to get to that final point,
Speaker 1: and then you see it all play out. That is
Speaker 1: one of my favorite aspects of this team that I've
Speaker 1: seen play out really in my twenty five plus years
Speaker 1: of watching Dolphins football. Like, you told me what you
Speaker 1: were gonna do, you did the move to make it happen,
Speaker 1: and then you produced it on Sundays. Like, what more
Speaker 1: could you want as a fan than that? To me? Nothing?
Speaker 1: So we get to the piece here on Miami Dolphins
Speaker 1: dot com taking a look at the Dolphins cornerback room
Speaker 1: and getting you kind of your training camp guide here
Speaker 1: ahead of Wednesday's first practice. Go ahead and follow me
Speaker 1: on Twitter at Winfield NFL and follow the team at
Speaker 1: Miami Dolphins for all the live training camp updates. And
Speaker 1: also go ahead and just completely obliterate that subscribe button
Speaker 1: on your podcast at because we're gonna have daily podcast,
Speaker 1: daily stories, We're gonna talk to players and have coaches interviews.
Speaker 1: In terms of the press conference, is gonna be great,
Speaker 1: great Dolphins coverage for you here on the Drive Time
Speaker 1: podcast podcast presented by Auto Nations. Let's go ahead and
Speaker 1: meet the cast, but first some of the changes and
Speaker 1: staff notes here. Justin Coleman comes over from the Lions,
Speaker 1: and Shrill Williams another new addition. He was with the
Speaker 1: Saints originally as a U d f A. He is
Speaker 1: now here with the Miami Dolphins and there weren't any
Speaker 1: departures at the cornerback position and entering his third season
Speaker 1: now with the Miami Dolphins new cornerbacks coach Charles Burke's
Speaker 1: he is in his first season at the cornerbacks coach position.
Speaker 1: He has a very interesting route to getting here in
Speaker 1: Miami and before serving as a Dolphins defensive assistant for
Speaker 1: twenty so he was here for both those years. In
Speaker 1: terms of seeing the groundwork laid Burk's was the d
Speaker 1: C at Southeastern Oklahoma State. At the time of his
Speaker 1: higher he was the youngest coordinator in the Great American
Speaker 1: Conference at the age of twenty six, and after his
Speaker 1: first coaching job, which was at his alma mater, East
Speaker 1: Central University in Oklahoma, Burks took a Texas to step
Speaker 1: pardon the pun there with stops at Texas A and
Speaker 1: M Commerce and West Texas A and M and working
Speaker 1: primarily with the cornerbacks in Burke's name often came up
Speaker 1: in player press conferences as an integral force for the
Speaker 1: success of the room. Here's what Byron Jones had to
Speaker 1: say in practice, And this is my question for Byron,
Speaker 1: because Byron is always doing something, like he's always getting
Speaker 1: into his stance or doing a back pedal, or working
Speaker 1: on his hips, whatever it might be. He's just always
Speaker 1: doing something. I love to watch him practice. And so
Speaker 1: he told me this in response to that question. And practice,
Speaker 1: I'm working on small things. So oftentimes I work with
Speaker 1: Chuck Charles Burke's and we're doing looking over the shoulder,
Speaker 1: catching the ball at the highest point. We'll just walk
Speaker 1: through some of the man coverage in terms of getting
Speaker 1: out of your break forty five degrees downhill, a ninety
Speaker 1: degree break, just kind of slow things down, but allow
Speaker 1: yourself to work on the technique component of it and quote.
Speaker 1: And so when Byron talks about those different degrees in
Speaker 1: terms of how he kind of flips the hips and
Speaker 1: opens the hips and closes and clicks and closes all
Speaker 1: the fun scouting terms you've heard, it basically works upon
Speaker 1: different route concepts and where his ultimate landmark to get
Speaker 1: to in that man coverage or where to find the
Speaker 1: spot in zone coverage, whatever it might be. That's what
Speaker 1: he's talking about there. So head coach Brian Flores, of course,
Speaker 1: lad the Patriots safety room for three years, while d C.
Speaker 1: Josh Boyer headed up rooms in the secondary there for
Speaker 1: eleven years prior to his promotion to defensive coordinators, So
Speaker 1: plenty of experience at this particular position group in the
Speaker 1: defensive backfield. And Gerald Alexander held the same job as
Speaker 1: DBS coach at California and Montana State. He also worked
Speaker 1: a little bit with you Dub and Jimmy Lake up
Speaker 1: there and Chris Peterson for four years at Calan Montana
Speaker 1: State combined before arriving to South Florida. And of course
Speaker 1: he had a nice five year playing career in the
Speaker 1: National Football League too, So the experience there it's notable.
Speaker 1: I think last year Miami found the right ingredients, but
Speaker 1: then seated in one to kind of take it to
Speaker 1: another level. Because Byron Jones gave Miami the two perimeter
Speaker 1: cornerbacks with accomplished resumes. He and xaviing Howard have been
Speaker 1: doing this for a while. They've been good players in
Speaker 1: this league for a while, and together they blanketed opposing receivers,
Speaker 1: giving Miami one of the league's most imposing tandems, particularly
Speaker 1: when it comes to that man coverage. Of course, x
Speaker 1: led the NFL with the ten picks, while Jones set
Speaker 1: a career high in his own right in that department
Speaker 1: with two interceptions. Nick need him transitioned and talking about
Speaker 1: development of U d f A talked about Malcolm Butler,
Speaker 1: j C. Jackson. Nick need him another feather in the
Speaker 1: cap here of Josh Boyer and Brian Flores because he
Speaker 1: transitions into the slot after a year of playing primarily
Speaker 1: on the perimeter and out of Texas El Paso. U
Speaker 1: d f A comes into the league first two years
Speaker 1: and plays and sixty reps with four picks, eight teen
Speaker 1: pass breakups, a hundred and twelve tackles, and a pair
Speaker 1: of sacks. Like you don't project that kind of production
Speaker 1: from a guy that didn't go and he didn't go
Speaker 1: on the draft at all. When you d f A.
Speaker 1: Now guys come out of that spot all the time
Speaker 1: and produced. But still a very good accomplishment for a
Speaker 1: coaching staff when you can get that to happen, and
Speaker 1: of course for Nick to the work he's put in
Speaker 1: has been very commendable. The Dolphins add competition there with
Speaker 1: Justin Coleman, who was one of the game's premier slot
Speaker 1: cornerbacks with Seattle before taking a more widespread role with
Speaker 1: the Lions the last two seasons. Then you've got second
Speaker 1: year cornerback Noah iguan Agny, whose versatility has been a
Speaker 1: talking point this offseason. He can play both inside and outside,
Speaker 1: at least the physical makeup says so and the coaches
Speaker 1: say so. Jamal Perry has also seen some time in
Speaker 1: the slot, outside at safety and mostly on special teams.
Speaker 1: And then you have a collection of U d f
Speaker 1: a s and members of last year's practice squad trying
Speaker 1: to add competition to the room. To l Bonds. Javarus
Speaker 1: Davis and Tino Ellis all have a year of experience
Speaker 1: with this Dolphins club, while undrafted rookies Trill Williams and
Speaker 1: Jaitlyn ask You a special team's phenomen Georgia Tech look
Speaker 1: to make their mark in their first NFL training camp.
Speaker 1: Let's get to the players here and go more in
Speaker 1: depth on these guys. Noah iguan Agen number nine. Remember
Speaker 1: that in training camp, number nine, not twenty three. For
Speaker 1: know what, Manogny, He's the lone single digit cornerback on
Speaker 1: the roster. One season of experience out of Auburn. He's
Speaker 1: twenty one years old and opening day people forget that
Speaker 1: twenty one years old, youngest player in the NFL last season.
Speaker 1: Earned valuable experience in that rookie campaign, and I thought
Speaker 1: the on field work was really supplemented by the plethora
Speaker 1: of knowledge and wisdom and parted from Miami's experienced players
Speaker 1: and coaches at the position. Because if you know anything
Speaker 1: about Noah, he is a sponge that soaks it all up.
Speaker 1: He's an exceptional athlete who flipped from wide receiver to
Speaker 1: cornerback ahead of his sophomore season at Auburn, and he
Speaker 1: allowed a career pass rating of seventy three point six
Speaker 1: and a completion rate of forty seven point three in college.
Speaker 1: He was he was damn good in college. That's why
Speaker 1: he goes in the first round. And here's what Byron
Speaker 1: Jones had to say about Noah Ignognes professionalism. He's an
Speaker 1: incredible talent. I think the way he's approaching the game
Speaker 1: this year is going to be special. I think, to
Speaker 1: be honest, as a rookie, he bought out in camp.
Speaker 1: I was really impressed with the way he performed and
Speaker 1: approached the game. He's been consistent throughout the entire season.
Speaker 1: In terms of the coaching, Charles Burke's is not easy
Speaker 1: on anybody. He's certainly not easy on the guys. He
Speaker 1: knows the expectations are very high for I think Noah
Speaker 1: did an incredible job of just being there, being attentive
Speaker 1: every single day and learning and trying to put forth
Speaker 1: what coach Chuck was wanting out of him and quote
Speaker 1: and then of course you go back to the work
Speaker 1: ethic installed at the young age. This is the son
Speaker 1: of two Olympic athletes, two Olympians UH sprinters. Nonetheless, they
Speaker 1: can flat out fly. And he's talked about his workouts
Speaker 1: as a child, or I've read about it on the Athlete.
Speaker 1: There's a great, a great Bruce Feldman story on the
Speaker 1: Athletic from his time at Auburn, where it would detail
Speaker 1: his workouts with his father and other kids would say, hey,
Speaker 1: I want to come do what Noah does. I want
Speaker 1: to come work out, and they would come work out
Speaker 1: for one day and they would never see that kid
Speaker 1: again because they're like, I'm not doing that. That's that's
Speaker 1: way too much work. So the discipline, the work habits,
Speaker 1: it's all there for Noah Egnogamy. And of course we
Speaker 1: saw him play a lot early in the year last year.
Speaker 1: Then he kind of went to special teams and did
Speaker 1: some kick returning, and then he comes back in that
Speaker 1: Bengals game after an ejection, it's him into the lineup
Speaker 1: and I thought he had a great tape in that game.
Speaker 1: And one of the things that really stood out to
Speaker 1: me on his tape, both as a pro and in
Speaker 1: college is the change of direction skill set, and that's
Speaker 1: what playing cornerback is. I mean, you're gonna follow around
Speaker 1: guys that are just so quick footed and so sharp
Speaker 1: that can bend off those routes and snap things off
Speaker 1: and get to a new spot in an instant. There's
Speaker 1: a great rap and I have it on Twitter. You
Speaker 1: can search my top my handle uh Noah Igbanogny at
Speaker 1: Winkle NFL go to videos. There's a rep of him
Speaker 1: going up against Kyle Pitts in twenty nineteen where Pits
Speaker 1: takes an outside release and as he tries to cross face.
Speaker 1: Noah's outside foot digs into the turf, and all in
Speaker 1: one motion he hits that back pedal, fires out of it,
Speaker 1: opens the hips, and drives forward like I just don't
Speaker 1: understand that movement ability. My body certainly can't do it.
Speaker 1: Most people can't do it. But I think that rare
Speaker 1: athletic ability is what you see in terms of the upside.
Speaker 1: You pair that with what Byron Jones just said, with
Speaker 1: how he works. I'm I'm so high on Noah Igbanogny.
Speaker 1: I love his talent, I love what he's about, I
Speaker 1: love his humility. I'm very excited to watch this guy
Speaker 1: in camp. He might be the guy I'm most excited
Speaker 1: to watch this training camp of anybody on the roster.
Speaker 1: Jaitlyn asked you number twenty, the rookie out of Georgia Tech,
Speaker 1: twenty years old opening day. He played just nine defensive
Speaker 1: snaps his final year at GT, but he was a
Speaker 1: fixture on the special teams unit. He made nine total
Speaker 1: tackles via Pro Football Focus during his four years on
Speaker 1: special teams, a period that spanned three hundred and ninety
Speaker 1: three snaps and in one hundred and fifty seven career
Speaker 1: coverage reps at Georgia Tech, ask you allowed just fifty
Speaker 1: six point five percent of his past is targeted for
Speaker 1: his man to be completed, so some good coverage numbers
Speaker 1: there as well. We then get to Byron Jones next
Speaker 1: on our list. He is number twenty four, six seasons
Speaker 1: out of yukon eight years old on opening Day. We
Speaker 1: talked about him a lot in the podcast, but a sterling,
Speaker 1: sterling five year run with the Cowboys where he started
Speaker 1: as a safety, flipped to cornerback, and then came to
Speaker 1: Miami to help elevate this Dolphin secondary into one of
Speaker 1: the league's most productive units. His work ethic and approach
Speaker 1: of the game has kept him on top of his
Speaker 1: craft from day one as a rookie with the Dallas Cowboys,
Speaker 1: after he broke records for the broad jump at the
Speaker 1: scouting Combine athletic measurements. The guy can just bounce out
Speaker 1: of the gym. He's fast, he can change direction, elite
Speaker 1: level skills that way. When he talks about his approach
Speaker 1: this offseason, which I found interesting, saying quote, I'd love
Speaker 1: to work on my technique more and just become more
Speaker 1: of a technician and not rely solely on my athleticism.
Speaker 1: I also like to be more of a playmaker and
Speaker 1: get my head around and take more chances at the
Speaker 1: ball and quote. I asked him about that stuff he
Speaker 1: does and practice and on the field in between series
Speaker 1: coming out of the locker room at halftime, and he said,
Speaker 1: when you jump onto the field like it could be
Speaker 1: a quick turnover, you have to be able to get
Speaker 1: out there and kind of paraphrasing, go from zero to
Speaker 1: sixty to keep up with some of the elite burners
Speaker 1: in this league. You go from sitting still in the
Speaker 1: sideline to running full speed. You gotta stay ready for that.
Speaker 1: So I'm gonna be prepared to the best I can
Speaker 1: to stay loose and be ready so when i have
Speaker 1: to put the helmet on and go out there, I'm
Speaker 1: ready to go. And just the work he does with
Speaker 1: Coach Burks off to the side of practice. When you
Speaker 1: come to practice, if you do next week with us,
Speaker 1: check it out. Check out twenty four out there working
Speaker 1: with coach Brooks. He is always doing something to make
Speaker 1: his game better. Up next. Xavian Howard number twenty five
Speaker 1: five years in the NFL. Out of Baylor, twenty eight
Speaker 1: years Old Opening Day, and we know about the production
Speaker 1: from this guy. He's been one of the best in
Speaker 1: the NFL, taking the football away over the last several years,
Speaker 1: double digit picks last year for the first time in
Speaker 1: a season since Antonio Crimarti did that in two thousand seven.
Speaker 1: He allowed a completion rate of just fifty four point
Speaker 1: five percent last year with only seven point seven yards
Speaker 1: per target and his coverage that's from Pro Football Focus.
Speaker 1: His twenty passes defense led the NFL en route to
Speaker 1: a first team All Pro selection. I love the way
Speaker 1: this guy presses. I love the way he challenges routes.
Speaker 1: He has a great ability of kind of showing the
Speaker 1: quarterback a window and then taking it away at the
Speaker 1: last minute. That's how I think he gets a lot
Speaker 1: of those interceptions, kind of working on some of those
Speaker 1: crossing routes and just the ability to make the play
Speaker 1: on the football. I think it's a very valuable thing
Speaker 1: to the defense, and I think it rubs off on
Speaker 1: some of the other guys like Byron Jones had mentioned
Speaker 1: there as well. And you know, we'd be missed to
Speaker 1: not mention the the situation with with xaviing Howard at
Speaker 1: O t S and not being there during O t
Speaker 1: s and you know, coach touched on that, and I
Speaker 1: want to go ahead and stick with coaches comments saying
Speaker 1: it was a unique situation that we love x we'd
Speaker 1: love to have him here, but it's a very unique
Speaker 1: situation with xaviing Howard. So we'll keep you posted on
Speaker 1: that as we have more here on Miami Dolphins dot
Speaker 1: com as well as the Drivetime podcast. Up next. Justin Coleman,
Speaker 1: a newcomer here at number twenty seven, is the Jersey
Speaker 1: number six years of pro out of Tennessee. He'll be
Speaker 1: twenty eight years old an opening day. And you notice
Speaker 1: a lot of these guys and it goes back to
Speaker 1: safety too, with Eric Roe, for instance, Jason mccordy in
Speaker 1: that in that kind of ballpark as well, late twenties
Speaker 1: and that's a lot of veteran experience and well, you know,
Speaker 1: we talked about Joe Alexander saying communications so important. I
Speaker 1: think to get those veteran guys out there that can
Speaker 1: really help accelerate the communication skill of the position. So
Speaker 1: this group has a lot of guys in that mid
Speaker 1: to late twenties range with plenty of football experience in
Speaker 1: their back pocket and Coleman played with Flores m Boyer
Speaker 1: in sixteen with the Patriots before are joining Seattle in seventeen,
Speaker 1: and that's where his game took off as one of
Speaker 1: the premier slot cornerbacks from the word go. He held
Speaker 1: opposing slot receivers to four hundred and fifty seven yards
Speaker 1: and two touchdowns allowed on sixty targets that first year,
Speaker 1: which is seven point six yards per target and two
Speaker 1: picks and a passer rating of just eighty three point three,
Speaker 1: and among slot corners with at least thirty targets per season,
Speaker 1: he's ranked eighth in passer rating those both of those
Speaker 1: two years, with eighty three point three and eighty two
Speaker 1: point five. Now then with the Lions in twenty He
Speaker 1: missed a couple of games with injuries last season, but
Speaker 1: he was also utilized in a more multifaceted role as
Speaker 1: an outside corner, inside corner, box blitzing, playing the run,
Speaker 1: doing a little bit of everything. We'll see what his
Speaker 1: role here as in Miami, as coach Flores says, it'll
Speaker 1: be what he makes it, but he has been one
Speaker 1: of the game's best slot cornerbacks when he's been in
Speaker 1: that position. Jamal Perry number thirty three, four years experience
Speaker 1: out of Iowa State, twenty six years old opening day,
Speaker 1: and this guy wears as many hats as anybody since
Speaker 1: he arrived in Miami. Three twelve snaps last season in
Speaker 1: a variety of roles according to PF fifteen snaps as
Speaker 1: a box defender, eight two in the slot, seven snaps
Speaker 1: out on the perimeter, and thirty six at free safety.
Speaker 1: But he also played one d and seventy two snaps
Speaker 1: on special teams, making five total tackles on that unit.
Speaker 1: And that kind of goes back to something I saw
Speaker 1: with his game when he was a kind of dime
Speaker 1: defensive back. He would often be the sixth defensive back
Speaker 1: onto the field in twenty nine team. If it's like
Speaker 1: third and thirteen, you plant him with the sticks, they
Speaker 1: throw short of the sticks, he would rally and tackle.
Speaker 1: I loved his ability to come up and see the
Speaker 1: play in front of him and make the tackle short
Speaker 1: of the sticks to get the punt team onto the field.
Speaker 1: Terrell Bonds number thirty five, two years experience out of
Speaker 1: Tennessee State. He'll be twenty five years old come opening Day,
Speaker 1: and starting with his pro career, he was in the
Speaker 1: a a F the American Alliance of Football Alliance of
Speaker 1: American Football I forget the name of it, with the
Speaker 1: Memphis Express, and he spent the last two years with
Speaker 1: the Baltimore Ravens. He made his debut in the NFL
Speaker 1: and playing primarily on special teams and with the aforementioned
Speaker 1: Express of the defunct a a F. He had a
Speaker 1: blocked punt and returned at four a touchdown in that league.
Speaker 1: Jamar Javarus Davis number thirty eight, one year experience out
Speaker 1: of Auburn. He was Noah Monogny's teammate there at Auburn,
Speaker 1: twenty four years old on opening day on the practice
Speaker 1: squad last year, but as a collegian allowed quarterbacks to
Speaker 1: post an NFL passer rating of just fifty seven point
Speaker 1: six thanks in large parts of his eight picks compared
Speaker 1: to just four touchdowns allowed, so a two to one
Speaker 1: I n T to touchdown ratio for Javarus Davis in college,
Speaker 1: and he really held receivers in a tough sec to
Speaker 1: just a fifty three percent completion rate as a collegium.
Speaker 1: Nick need Um number forty two years experience out of
Speaker 1: Texas l PASSABI twenty four years old. Opening day, we
Speaker 1: talked about his transition to the slot position, and to me,
Speaker 1: that has to do with his footwork. He has such
Speaker 1: smooth and sweet feet, uh and that fits in line
Speaker 1: with the Miami Dolphins philosophy because he kicked inside of
Speaker 1: play nickel cornerback with the immediate success, and he matched
Speaker 1: up with a handful of the game's blessed the best
Speaker 1: slot receives, and he measured up every step of the way.
Speaker 1: Over the course of a month, he matched up with
Speaker 1: Cooper cup keyan Allen, Tyler Boyd and Jamison Crowder, and
Speaker 1: those four guys against Nick need Hum and Coverage had
Speaker 1: fourteen targets, eight catches for eighty six yards and a pick.
Speaker 1: So great work against some of the league's best and
Speaker 1: arriving as a rookie. He talked about focusing on his
Speaker 1: condition and the challenging first preseason where you may remember
Speaker 1: that first game he started the opening game with Brian
Speaker 1: Flores and that I think it was the Falcons of
Speaker 1: the Bucks just went after him, repeated his first game
Speaker 1: in the pros out of UTEP like that's gonna happen.
Speaker 1: He had a rough preseason, but then he bounced back
Speaker 1: and showed you his medal, showed you his character and
Speaker 1: his mental toughness to have a productive rookie season and
Speaker 1: even better second season. He's a great example of how
Speaker 1: a player in August is not the finished product or
Speaker 1: the version of the player you expect to see in December.
Speaker 1: That's the entire philosophy of Brian Flores. His team to build,
Speaker 1: get better every single day, and need him exemplifies that
Speaker 1: so far in his two years as a pro. Tino
Speaker 1: ellis number forty six, one season out of Maryland, three
Speaker 1: years old on opening Day. He was in the practice
Speaker 1: squad last year after a nice career with the Terrapins.
Speaker 1: There there he allowed a career completion rate of just
Speaker 1: fifty three point three percent via Pro Football Focus. He
Speaker 1: also registered a combined fifteen pass breakups over his four
Speaker 1: year college career. And then Trull Williams number fifty one.
Speaker 1: It looks weird every single time. I always think he's
Speaker 1: a linebacker out there, a rookie out of Syracuse, twenty
Speaker 1: one years old come opening Day. He's long and imposing.
Speaker 1: He can get his hands on you and play physical
Speaker 1: and press. Originally, he signed with the Saints as a
Speaker 1: u d f A now with the Dolphins, hoping to
Speaker 1: parlay an accomplished college career into professional success. He allowed
Speaker 1: an NFL pass a rating of just seventy nine point
Speaker 1: one at Syracuse with four interceptions compared to four tds allowed,
Speaker 1: and he limited opposing receivers to a rear completion rate
Speaker 1: of fifty eight point seven. So that's your cornerbacks. We
Speaker 1: have one more group to go. The Safety's coming up
Speaker 1: on a podcast near you. Me and my wife and
Speaker 1: a bunch of the gang from the Dolphins Social and
Speaker 1: video department are heading out to the Marlins game to
Speaker 1: take on the San Diego Padres. I cannot wait to
Speaker 1: go watch fer Nando tattoos. That's gonna be must see
Speaker 1: live action. I was gonna say TV there, but to
Speaker 1: go to the ballpark to get myself a beer or
Speaker 1: two and watch them baseball. I cannot wait for that.
Speaker 1: It's been since twenty nine team with my Seattle Mariners
Speaker 1: haven't been back to safegu Field yet. I can't wait
Speaker 1: to check out Loan Deepot Park and watch the Marlins
Speaker 1: take on the Padres. And I really want to watch
Speaker 1: to Tease take four bats. That's what I'm really going
Speaker 1: for in general. So that's it for the podcast. Come
Speaker 1: back with us on Monday. We'll talk about all things safeties,
Speaker 1: and then we'll roll this thing into Wednesday with training
Speaker 1: camp coverage here on the Drivetime podcast. Keep it locked,
Speaker 1: You're number one source for all things Miami Dolphins football.
Speaker 1: In the meantime, you all please be sure to subscribe
Speaker 1: to the podcast on Apple Podcast, Leave us a rating,
Speaker 1: leave us a review, Go ahead and give me a follow.
Speaker 1: On Twitter, it's at Winfeld NFL. You can follow the
Speaker 1: team at Miami Dolphins, check out the fish Tank podcast
Speaker 1: with Seth and o J, and of course, Miami Dolphins
Speaker 1: dot com. Until next time, pens Un