Speaker 1: Looking down, fail clown, Miami un What is up? Dolphans
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 Wingfield,
Speaker 1: and we've got a fun show for you today. Extension
Speaker 1: season is here. Jerome Baker has signed a three year
Speaker 1: contract extension with the Miami Dolphins. Will cover the player,
Speaker 1: the person, the leadership and everything Jerome exudes. Will go
Speaker 1: back to his media from Friday, and also here from
Speaker 1: coach Flores and wide receiver Will Fuller and a whole
Speaker 1: lot more on this edition of the Drive Time Podcast
Speaker 1: Miami Dolphins. So we talked about playing the hits on
Speaker 1: this show all the time, and that's the message today
Speaker 1: and the hit is the news of the weekend. The
Speaker 1: Dolphins and linebacker Jerome Baker have agreed on a three
Speaker 1: year contract extension. And you recall Jerome was part of
Speaker 1: theeen class that includes Mike Gasicki, Durham Smith, All Pro
Speaker 1: kicker Jason Sanders who got his extension earlier this this year,
Speaker 1: I should say, and a draft pick that would later
Speaker 1: become starting left tackle Austin Jackson, and of course linebacker
Speaker 1: Jerome Baker, a player who quickly evolved into one of
Speaker 1: the leaders on the team, both in terms of the
Speaker 1: weight that his voice carries, but also in terms of
Speaker 1: sheer volume of playing time. Go back to when Jerome
Speaker 1: was drafted in a third rounder out of Ohio State.
Speaker 1: Remember that clip of him tailing se Kwon Barkley stride
Speaker 1: for stride up the sideline on a wheel route in
Speaker 1: coverage in the Ohio State Penn State game in seventeen.
Speaker 1: And then of course he timed well in Indianapolis at
Speaker 1: the scouting combine and I remember him covering Bears running
Speaker 1: back to Riet Cohen on an ang a route which
Speaker 1: is just difficult for linebackers to pick up on because
Speaker 1: the widen the linebacker you crossed back across the face.
Speaker 1: You have to have lateral agility and straight line speed
Speaker 1: to handle a player like to Read Cohen. And I
Speaker 1: want to say it was Greg Jennings, I think was
Speaker 1: the color commentator on the game that day, and he said,
Speaker 1: this is why you draft Jerome Baker to run with
Speaker 1: all those speedy mismatch backs and tight ends in the modern,
Speaker 1: past heavy NFL game that we've come to know and love,
Speaker 1: and that was true and it still is true. But
Speaker 1: Jerome has taken a considerable leap in his role from
Speaker 1: that rookie campaign. You go to his first season under
Speaker 1: coach Brian Flores in twenty nineteen. He wore the green
Speaker 1: dot on the back of the helmet, the defensive communication helmet.
Speaker 1: He played one thousand eighties snaps and over twelve hundred
Speaker 1: snaps that year if you count special teams, which we
Speaker 1: do because it's a big aspect of the game, and
Speaker 1: he was just a tick under one thousand snaps this
Speaker 1: year combined, and that included work on special teams, though
Speaker 1: the number did go down in two about twenty five
Speaker 1: total snap apps from a little over a hundred in
Speaker 1: that nineteen season. But the best part about his season
Speaker 1: was that you'd assumed that less snaps coincides with less production,
Speaker 1: but the opposite of that happened. He became an even
Speaker 1: more efficient player. He set career highs and sacks with
Speaker 1: seven and tackles for loss, also with seven QB hits
Speaker 1: with eleven QB pressures from Pro Football Focus with eight
Speaker 1: team the nine point two yards per reception was a
Speaker 1: career low. A career best. How you say that per
Speaker 1: Pro Football Focus, a career best with an eighty six
Speaker 1: point to passer rating aloud and coverage. This season, he
Speaker 1: matched his career high with two force fumbles. He added
Speaker 1: three more passes defense to his career high was four
Speaker 1: in nineteen, and he still made a hundred and twelve
Speaker 1: total tackles, which was just fourteen shy of that twenty
Speaker 1: nineteen season, but a higher tackle per snap played race.
Speaker 1: So he has improved every year of his career and
Speaker 1: over his three years, three hundred and eleven tackles, one
Speaker 1: of those solo, eleven and a half sacks to pick,
Speaker 1: ten passes defense, and four forced fumbles. His three hundred
Speaker 1: and eleven tackles are six among all players selected in
Speaker 1: that team class, and all five of those players with
Speaker 1: more tackles than Baker were chosen prior to him at
Speaker 1: the seventy three pick to the Miami Dolphins. And you
Speaker 1: know what, He's only twenty four years old. He turns
Speaker 1: twenty five on Christmas Day, so you consider that rapid
Speaker 1: development occurring in his early twenties and makes it all
Speaker 1: the more impressive, and you can see why he was
Speaker 1: a priority to get done with his contract extension before
Speaker 1: training camp, and the impact plays are the ones that
Speaker 1: I really want to dig into here because that's where
Speaker 1: I think the biggest jump happened for Jerome this season
Speaker 1: or this past season. I should say he's been consistent
Speaker 1: in the areas that just don't get anywhere near the
Speaker 1: same pop as the takeaway and sack numbers. You've heard
Speaker 1: coach talk about the flash numbers are great, and that's
Speaker 1: what everyone sees. We want to talk about the one
Speaker 1: thousand snaps, the consistent down and down out work of
Speaker 1: a player. And I can go back to twenty nineteen
Speaker 1: and find clips of him knifing into the backfield and
Speaker 1: blowing up a Charger's fullback friends since en route to
Speaker 1: a tackle for loss. I can find clips where he
Speaker 1: anticipates a run, whether he's finding his keys from motion,
Speaker 1: the polling guard, whatever the exact keys are. I can't
Speaker 1: identify them exactly because I'm not Jerome out there seeing it.
Speaker 1: But you can see so much anticipatory work in his game,
Speaker 1: even from that young age. And how about that sack
Speaker 1: last year of Patrick Mahomes. A thirty yard loss is
Speaker 1: essentially a turnover when you consider the roughly forty or
Speaker 1: so gross yards the top punters in the game get.
Speaker 1: And I think that play showcase Jerome's best skill set
Speaker 1: from a tangible standpoint in the athletic ability. Emmanuel Ogball
Speaker 1: comes free off of his edge and forces him a
Speaker 1: Homes to spend the other direction, and then he's in
Speaker 1: a foot race with Baker, who changes direction to beat
Speaker 1: Mahomes to the edge and gets him to the ground
Speaker 1: for that big loss and sets up a big fourth
Speaker 1: down which Miami would cash in on the ensuing drive.
Speaker 1: And you see that skill set in his coverage too.
Speaker 1: There was a crucial, absolutely crucial third down stop in
Speaker 1: the Vegas game last year in Week sixteen, where Derek
Speaker 1: Carr broke contain sane and Baker had to plaster to
Speaker 1: the back and who initially had kind of stopped his
Speaker 1: route in anticipation of the play being over because it
Speaker 1: looked like it was gonna be a sack car gets out.
Speaker 1: He continues, and that stuff is really really tough to
Speaker 1: do because it's sam lot football and you have to
Speaker 1: keep up with someone you know just as shifty and
Speaker 1: agile as you are. It's a tough ask, and Jerome
Speaker 1: can do that so he's got the physical, he's got
Speaker 1: the mental, the versatility, the team first mindset. I shared
Speaker 1: the clip of him putting pressure on Jared Goff and
Speaker 1: getting to the quarterback's arm as he's throwing the ball
Speaker 1: and that ball would get intercepted by safety Eric Rowe,
Speaker 1: and I just love that play because Jerome looks back,
Speaker 1: he sees the ball fluttering, he sees it come down
Speaker 1: in his guy's hands, just as the quarterback is going down,
Speaker 1: and he throws a massive fist pump to celebrate. And
Speaker 1: it shows you that selflessness of we don't care who
Speaker 1: gets the credit or the stat we just want to
Speaker 1: play winning football. And that mentality is one of Jerome exudes.
Speaker 1: And we recently heard from Dolphins linebackers coach Anthony Campanelli
Speaker 1: on Jerome Baker and what's next for him in terms
Speaker 1: of taking the next step and what he brings to
Speaker 1: the field, both from a physical standpoint, but also the
Speaker 1: preparation and intelligence and work habits that Jerome Baker brings.
Speaker 1: Fake is a guy, like I've said in some of
Speaker 1: these UH media meetings or gatherings in the past, um,
Speaker 1: who's really a great guy of coach because he's an
Speaker 1: extremely bright guy. Um. You know, we understands football concepts
Speaker 1: really really well and those things come easy to him. Um.
Speaker 1: Just his his level of study, I feel as continuously
Speaker 1: improved over time here, over my time here, and he's
Speaker 1: been really really diligent in the classroom. UM. His technique
Speaker 1: on the field, uh, in a lot of in various ways,
Speaker 1: has improved. And we're hopeful that he'll continue to do that.
Speaker 1: And I know it will because it's important to him. UM.
Speaker 1: Just from you know, in the run game and the
Speaker 1: past game he's uh, and even in pass rush he's
Speaker 1: He's really made improvements in a lot of ways, and
Speaker 1: we're just hopeful to do that, just like everybody else
Speaker 1: hopefully to get better every day. And you hear a
Speaker 1: coach they're talking about how smart Jerome is and the
Speaker 1: time he puts into making himself a smarter football player.
Speaker 1: Like we talked about the intelligence, you don't just show
Speaker 1: up and be intelligent on the football field. It's all
Speaker 1: about preparation of the time you put into it and
Speaker 1: how valuable that is in a system that wants to
Speaker 1: be so multiple, because Jerome defines multiplicity in so many
Speaker 1: ways with the way that he can play off, the
Speaker 1: ball mug up in the a gaps, playoff, the edge playoff,
Speaker 1: a stack, play man, coverage, zone drop. I mean having
Speaker 1: a guy that can plant, you can just plant him
Speaker 1: out there for nine hundred to a thousand snaps in
Speaker 1: a season and you know there's always going to be
Speaker 1: a role for him and what you want to do.
Speaker 1: It's just so so valuable. And I also like that
Speaker 1: he gets his deal done first in that as we
Speaker 1: mentioned very impressive linebacker class with Darius Leonard, Fred Warner,
Speaker 1: ro Kuan Smith, and Tremaine Edmonds. I mean that is
Speaker 1: a stacked, stacked linebacker class. You talk about your modern
Speaker 1: day football players and some very good company for Jerome
Speaker 1: to keep. So the way Jerome's speed, as we talked
Speaker 1: about with the Patrick Mahome him sack, the way that
Speaker 1: speed impacts the game I think is a good correlation
Speaker 1: to those impact plays we have covered here. It creates
Speaker 1: urgency and everything that he does, which as a byproduct,
Speaker 1: forces the offense to make urgent decisions. And as coach
Speaker 1: flor has talked about this offseason, having speed on the
Speaker 1: field is a benefit to the offense, and that means
Speaker 1: you need speed on defense too. To match that right,
Speaker 1: and also Chris Greer mentioned this offseason an emphasis on
Speaker 1: playmakers on both sides of the ball, and Jerome has
Speaker 1: ball production every single year since he came into the league.
Speaker 1: With the four force fumbles, the two picks, the ten
Speaker 1: passes defense, and the aforementioned pressures that result in takeaways.
Speaker 1: It is not technically ball production, but eleven and a
Speaker 1: half sacks too. That's up in the scoff at in
Speaker 1: three years for a player like Jerome. Baker and coach
Speaker 1: Campanelli also talked about Jerome speed last year and how
Speaker 1: when he's up on the line of scrimmage he's stretching
Speaker 1: the offensive line out and how his speed is evident
Speaker 1: in those rough situations. So again you see the impact
Speaker 1: this player has on the field, but he's also an
Speaker 1: impact guy in the most important area it can be
Speaker 1: in the community. And last summer I talked with Jerome
Speaker 1: on a feature podcast here on Drive Time, and we
Speaker 1: covered some of his work with Dolphins units and handing
Speaker 1: out backpatch to kids here at local schools and back
Speaker 1: in his hometown of Cleveland. The organization that his father,
Speaker 1: Jerome Senior, co founded called Men of Central which has
Speaker 1: a focus on providing a positive adult male mentor in
Speaker 1: the lives of kids in the Central neighborhood. They're in
Speaker 1: Greater Cleveland, and so Junior Jerome Baker Jr. Is a
Speaker 1: leader in the community. He's a leader on the football field.
Speaker 1: And we're gonna get here to Coach Flors media from
Speaker 1: Friday in just a moment. But I want to cut
Speaker 1: in on it right here, because Coach talked about leadership
Speaker 1: and the different forms of leadership. Let's go ahead and
Speaker 1: listen in. And I think it's different. It's different for
Speaker 1: each each individual. Um, I think I'm gonna lead differently
Speaker 1: than you would, or or Sopha would or you know,
Speaker 1: Armando or Kyle. I mean, it's it's everyone's a little
Speaker 1: bit different. Some people are are more outgoing and uh,
Speaker 1: you know, louder some people or you know, by example,
Speaker 1: some people, uh say nothing and then when they speak,
Speaker 1: people listen. I mean, I think it's there's there's different
Speaker 1: types of leaders and they're coming all. It's not like
Speaker 1: it's not a one size fits all, and it's not
Speaker 1: a one size fits all. So I wanted to ask
Speaker 1: Jerome about that quote from coach and what his approach
Speaker 1: to leadership is um for me. Ever since I was young,
Speaker 1: it's always been the same. I leave by example, um,
Speaker 1: and I kind of just do what the team needs
Speaker 1: me to do. If it's if you need me to
Speaker 1: be the guy that yells today, I'll be that guy.
Speaker 1: You just need me to be that guy's lead by example,
Speaker 1: I'll be that guy. Awesome, I think I'm just lead
Speaker 1: by example guy. I just tried to write things. Um.
Speaker 1: You know, I tried to do it was best for
Speaker 1: the team. And uh, that's always been my approach. Um,
Speaker 1: and I don't see a change anytime soon. And I
Speaker 1: think that's who got me here this far. And before
Speaker 1: that question, he was asked if he could see himself
Speaker 1: playing in Miami for a long time. And here what's
Speaker 1: Jerome's response. Oh yeah, I want to play here for
Speaker 1: the rest of my career. I love it here, I
Speaker 1: love games, I love the organization, I love everybody here.
Speaker 1: Uh yeah, I definitely see playing for a long time.
Speaker 1: You see the hats. He's talking about his bucket hat there,
Speaker 1: it's a it's a gorgeous bucket. Had an awkward Dolphins
Speaker 1: bucket hat that he had on practice and it's all awkward.
Speaker 1: Garb there as he met with the media and earlier,
Speaker 1: he was asked by a reporter why it was important
Speaker 1: for him to be out here for O t a
Speaker 1: s at this time of the summer. And here's the
Speaker 1: realm's answer, that I want to play because I thought
Speaker 1: it was fantastic. I love this team. I love being
Speaker 1: out here. Um. I just love just being on his
Speaker 1: team and just being out here getting back to football.
Speaker 1: It AWESO me helps me, you know in the long run.
Speaker 1: So honest he's just missed being out there with all
Speaker 1: the guys, especially all the the personalities we have the
Speaker 1: new guys, um, and just asked me just learning and
Speaker 1: getting better. So I love to play football and that's honestly, Um,
Speaker 1: while I'm out here, that's what I love to do.
Speaker 1: And I just want to want our team to get better.
Speaker 1: And just to quickly recap the rest of the presser,
Speaker 1: he also talked about how it is easier to lead
Speaker 1: and get guys to buy in and to develop that
Speaker 1: trust because of the types of players that Dolphins have
Speaker 1: brought in terms of players who are like him that
Speaker 1: love being around the game. When you heard him talk
Speaker 1: about there about how he's out here because He just
Speaker 1: loves the camaraderie, loves getting to know the personalities, and
Speaker 1: loves being on the football field. Very good media availability
Speaker 1: there with Jerome. I would highly recommend going back and
Speaker 1: checking it out on our YouTube page, as you can
Speaker 1: find the rest of all those media availabilities on the
Speaker 1: Miami Dolphins YouTube page. And the final sound bite I
Speaker 1: want to provide for you guys here on Jerome Baker
Speaker 1: with a new three year contract extension comes from March
Speaker 1: of last year when I talked to former Dolphins linebacker
Speaker 1: Channing Crowder, my co host at the draft party at
Speaker 1: hard Rock Stadium and co host of The Hawkman and
Speaker 1: Crowder Show on five sixty here locally in South Florida.
Speaker 1: Here's Channing talking about his favorite player on the Miami
Speaker 1: Dolphins and Jerome Baker, and talking about the Dolphins scheme
Speaker 1: in that first year under Brian Flores and what he
Speaker 1: liked about it. Here's what he had to say about
Speaker 1: the Dolphins newest extended linebacker, Jerome Baker. He put Jerome
Speaker 1: Baker in the middle of everything and tried keep him
Speaker 1: unblocked to let the room run. Because the Romes fans.
Speaker 1: He slide him to the tight end, cool guys down
Speaker 1: in the box. And when I saw not Jerome channing
Speaker 1: rather at the draft party back in April, I asked
Speaker 1: him about, Hey, what do you think about Jerome's season
Speaker 1: after you were so impressed with twenty nineteen? He said,
Speaker 1: he just got even better at the things he was
Speaker 1: already doing. So there you have it, some takes from
Speaker 1: the coaching staff and X linebacker. Plenty of content there
Speaker 1: on Jerome Baker, and like Leonardo DiCaprio and the Wolf
Speaker 1: of Wall Street, Jerome's not leaving three year extension and
Speaker 1: a big congrats to Jerome Baker out there. Hopefully this
Speaker 1: brings you one step closer to finding mama. All right,
Speaker 1: we have more to get to here. I want to
Speaker 1: get to the other player that spoke at media on Friday,
Speaker 1: and that was wide receiver Will Fuller. And after Will
Speaker 1: gave me so many good sound bites and interesting answers
Speaker 1: in the podcast back in March, when he signed with
Speaker 1: the Dolphins, I thought, why don't we just ask Will
Speaker 1: about how much funny is having being back on a
Speaker 1: football field. Hasn't played a game since last Thanksgiving, and
Speaker 1: then obviously this is his first time back with the
Speaker 1: Dolphins at voluntary camp here last week. So he talked
Speaker 1: about how much fun it is and how it feels
Speaker 1: great to be back on the field and just hearing
Speaker 1: play calls, moving around, competing a little bit, and just
Speaker 1: thinking football stuff on the field. He said, it feels
Speaker 1: good to be back out there. And then I followed
Speaker 1: up by asking about how is the process of getting
Speaker 1: to know your new teammates in terms of camaraderie building,
Speaker 1: and he said, it's more about putting names to faces
Speaker 1: right now and just showing his face. They're letting people
Speaker 1: know who he is, talking to as many people as
Speaker 1: he can, so it's kind of like first day of school,
Speaker 1: getting to know everybody, all your new teammates. And he's
Speaker 1: enjoying the process so far. And one thing's fan will
Speaker 1: love to hear was he talked about how the Dolphins
Speaker 1: do have speed on this team. Said, you can't teach speed,
Speaker 1: and we have it. It's not just me and Wallle.
Speaker 1: There are other players with speed too. It's gonna be fun.
Speaker 1: We'll see we're gonna do with the coaches ask of us,
Speaker 1: and we're going to be playing fast and make some
Speaker 1: stuff happen. And I want to finish up with Will
Speaker 1: Fuller's media availability here with a quote from Fuller talking
Speaker 1: about the process of coming to Miami and why he
Speaker 1: did want to sign with the Dolphins in free agency. Yeah. So,
Speaker 1: I mean this is my first free agencies so I
Speaker 1: just took I just took it. As you know, I
Speaker 1: wanted to go to a team they wanted me. You
Speaker 1: know that the Dolphins show showed the most interest. So
Speaker 1: that's that's why I chose the Dolphins. And um, you know,
Speaker 1: ever since I've been here has been great. You know.
Speaker 1: I love the culture here, you know. Um, you know,
Speaker 1: it's just been easy to be here. And and you know,
Speaker 1: like I said, I've been in the building as much
Speaker 1: as I can and I enjoy being here. So you know,
Speaker 1: I'm happy to do. Dolphins, you know, decided to take
Speaker 1: a chance on me. And so there's Will talking about
Speaker 1: getting to Miami and enjoying the process and experience so far.
Speaker 1: And we've covered a lot of his game here on
Speaker 1: the podcast in terms of what he brings to the
Speaker 1: offense and the speed and the underneath route running and
Speaker 1: the plus percentile and win ray on certain routes run.
Speaker 1: We went back and covered some stuff with Matt Harmon
Speaker 1: from Reception Perception dot Com and he tracks a lot
Speaker 1: of stuff for fantasy purposes and for NFL purposes as well.
Speaker 1: Used to work at NFL Media before he broke off
Speaker 1: and did his own thing, and we had him on
Speaker 1: to preview the past catchers in the draft class. But
Speaker 1: I wanted to, of course, start with will Fuller and
Speaker 1: talk about his game and what he brings the Dolphins offense.
Speaker 1: I want to go ahead and play the audio for
Speaker 1: you guys here. When you look at him, even on
Speaker 1: a year by year basis, he had always been a
Speaker 1: really strong separator and reception persception. You know. I break
Speaker 1: things down not only by success rate versus man's own
Speaker 1: press coverage, but also by individual routes. You know, we'd
Speaker 1: always had a really good and if people go to
Speaker 1: Reception Perception dot Com and they sign up for the site,
Speaker 1: they can see not only uh, Will Fuller's twenty season,
Speaker 1: but go compare it to his twenty nineteen season as well,
Speaker 1: which I think is really useful because it shows you,
Speaker 1: even if you don't get the version of the player,
Speaker 1: you're looking at excellent success rate on deep routes. Of course,
Speaker 1: we know that's part of it, but also routes like
Speaker 1: the flat, the curl, you know, some of those more
Speaker 1: shorter lay up patterns that are gonna be important for
Speaker 1: moving an offense down the field. And what I always
Speaker 1: liked about Fuller two playing with the Texans before was
Speaker 1: he just put defenses in such a bind. This is
Speaker 1: why I think of a player like Jalen Waddle is
Speaker 1: really going to be appealing for folks in the drafted.
Speaker 1: Fuller was never that number one receiver because the Texans
Speaker 1: had DeAndre Hopkins, and it's like, Okay, we want to, uh,
Speaker 1: just put some extra defensive attention just stopping DeAndre Hopkins.
Speaker 1: But then you're gonna leave Will Fuller on your number
Speaker 1: two corner exposed there on the other side of the
Speaker 1: field with no help, you're gonna get destroyed. And those
Speaker 1: those games where it was Watson, Hopkins and will Fuller,
Speaker 1: those guys fired off together. It was real magic. But
Speaker 1: going back to the season, which I think is really,
Speaker 1: of course the important part here, this was a player
Speaker 1: that jumped up huge in terms of success rate versus
Speaker 1: press like the Texans used him as an alpha wide
Speaker 1: receiver out there as the ISO X guy basically just
Speaker 1: put him in DeAndre hopkins old spot, and he had
Speaker 1: the best season of his career. And you can look
Speaker 1: at that, you know, look at that down the route
Speaker 1: tree as well. Only one route did he fall below
Speaker 1: the NFL average in terms of success rate, and that
Speaker 1: was the out route. Everything else, like, the Dolphins are
Speaker 1: getting a complete player. And I love that Matt mentions
Speaker 1: there the progression of will Fuller's career because I went
Speaker 1: back and watched his all twenty two on game pass
Speaker 1: his rookie season. You see that speech to up a
Speaker 1: lot too. But there was a lot of screens throwing
Speaker 1: his ways and quick curls and just quick opportunities for
Speaker 1: him to get the ball in his hand, and he
Speaker 1: made plays that way too. And you see him developed
Speaker 1: through the course of his career from the speed guy
Speaker 1: another Dame all the way through his career now to
Speaker 1: what he was last season, just winning on every route, imaginable,
Speaker 1: plucking the football, making big plays, contributing on the production
Speaker 1: standpoint with big time stats and numbers, and the stress
Speaker 1: he puts on a defense. And I forgot about that
Speaker 1: quote there from Matt talking about a guy like Jalen
Speaker 1: Waddle in the draft, because that was recorded pre draft
Speaker 1: and now we have both those guys here and toe,
Speaker 1: So a little bonus clip for you there in terms
Speaker 1: of Will Fuller, and I want to go ahead and
Speaker 1: finish up the podcast here with a couple of things,
Speaker 1: but first with Coach Flores and his media availability on
Speaker 1: Friday as well, and a player that he talked about
Speaker 1: in that press conference and Noah Ignogny, because it gave
Speaker 1: coach a chance to develop or to kind of elaborate
Speaker 1: on the development aspect of the franchise of this of
Speaker 1: this team and where they are in year three under
Speaker 1: Brian Flores and Chris Career. And the was geared specifically
Speaker 1: about Noah igban Agaty and his role on the defense,
Speaker 1: and coach elaborated about his development in his rookie season.
Speaker 1: And you know, I've talked about Igbo on the podcast
Speaker 1: a lot in terms of a player that I think
Speaker 1: has not just shown with his late season tape, the
Speaker 1: progression that he already has in year one as a
Speaker 1: you know, he was the youngest player in the National
Speaker 1: Football League last year. And we talked about Jerome Baker
Speaker 1: coming into the NFL at one and just stacking good
Speaker 1: year on top of good year and getting better and
Speaker 1: better and better. And there's a bunch of you know,
Speaker 1: clips of Noah on the social accounts with working out
Speaker 1: and he looks fantastic. There was a great video of
Speaker 1: him working out in the off season with a bunch
Speaker 1: of NFL defensive backs and I thought he looked like
Speaker 1: the biggest and strongest and most physically imposing one of
Speaker 1: the group, popping the shirt off, running around and just
Speaker 1: showing off all the hard work that he put in,
Speaker 1: but also smooth and the footwork in the athletic ability.
Speaker 1: We've covered that in the podcast here. That's U two
Speaker 1: Olympians and the hard work he put in throughout the
Speaker 1: course of his childhood and development and adolescence and coming
Speaker 1: into college and converting from receiver to cornerback and now
Speaker 1: getting to the NFL and working on the one position
Speaker 1: on the perimeter. And here what's coach I'm gonna play
Speaker 1: this long audio for you guys talking about development, no
Speaker 1: eggonogamy playing inside versus outside, and plenty of good notes
Speaker 1: here from coach Flores. You know, was it was right
Speaker 1: and he played NOA played predominantly on the perimeter last year.
Speaker 1: I think that's and that that in itself. In this league,
Speaker 1: it's not easy. So it was sticking in one position.
Speaker 1: Let him learn the techniques to fundamentals, feel the speed,
Speaker 1: feel the uh you know, quickness of the receivers, you know,
Speaker 1: go through the different uh you know combinations that happened
Speaker 1: in different coverages. And once you feel more comfortable in
Speaker 1: that specific role. And UM, you know this year obviously
Speaker 1: we feel like you know, he's ready to move, move
Speaker 1: and you know, at least take some reps inside. UM
Speaker 1: with versatilities is h is important you know to our team.
Speaker 1: So UM, you know we're gonna move guys around, not
Speaker 1: just Noah, but really everyone you know in that corner room,
Speaker 1: in the secondary, really across the board. UM. But as
Speaker 1: far as what it takes to to to play inside,
Speaker 1: I think it's um obviously speed and quickness and ability
Speaker 1: to tackle. UM. I think those guys will play the
Speaker 1: nickel position end up, you know and run fits a
Speaker 1: little bit more than guys on a perimeter. So just
Speaker 1: an understanding of uh, you know, front and what's happening
Speaker 1: in front of you, UM, more opportunity to blitz um.
Speaker 1: And then just from a cover standpoint, UH, you don't
Speaker 1: have the sideline, so they can go inside, they can
Speaker 1: go outside. Um, so you don't have that as a
Speaker 1: as an extra defender or or a place you can
Speaker 1: uh kind of pushed me the receiver two. And uh,
Speaker 1: it's it's tough playing in there. You know, there's a
Speaker 1: there's a it's not easy. You know from a mental standpoint,
Speaker 1: there's a lot going on as well. So uh, you know,
Speaker 1: as many guys as we can, we can we can
Speaker 1: get to play inside and play different roles. I think, uh,
Speaker 1: Nick Needam's growing in that role, justin Coleman's played that
Speaker 1: position you know in the past, and uh Small Perry
Speaker 1: as well. So we're just gonna continue to to train
Speaker 1: guys and help them improve grow. And I think you
Speaker 1: know a lot of times if you you can play
Speaker 1: inside and you've played outside and you understand what's happening
Speaker 1: as an outside corner to the inside corner, if you
Speaker 1: have that kind of understanding, you know, when you're making
Speaker 1: calls and those guys are working together, um uh, there's
Speaker 1: a little bit more of a hey, I know what
Speaker 1: you're going through and I've been in that spot, you know,
Speaker 1: and they can kind of often times it works a
Speaker 1: little well and it works better together. Hat tip there
Speaker 1: to Kyle Crabs of Locked On Dolphins for the outstanding question,
Speaker 1: because any time to get a chance to hear coach
Speaker 1: really breakdown football and talk xs and os and and
Speaker 1: talk strategy and development. Man, that was a lot of
Speaker 1: good notes there from coach Flores and again hat tip
Speaker 1: Kyle Crabs Locked On Dolphins check out his podcast does
Speaker 1: a fantastic job. But he also covered some interesting things
Speaker 1: there in terms of the depth this Dolphins team has
Speaker 1: at that position on the inside. I mean, they go
Speaker 1: out and they signed Justin Coleman, a very accomplished slot cornerback.
Speaker 1: We talked about Nick Needham's production last year in terms
Speaker 1: of some of the stats he posted in that area.
Speaker 1: We've covered Jamal Perry, who does a little bit of
Speaker 1: everything with special teams moonlights as multiple positions in that
Speaker 1: second area, but has played that slot. As coach mentioned,
Speaker 1: they're a fantastic tackler in the second level. And talking
Speaker 1: about training guys and getting guys to really build a
Speaker 1: development plan for players in terms of how they want
Speaker 1: to get them acclimated not just to the speed of
Speaker 1: the game, the professionalism of being an NFL football player,
Speaker 1: but the recognition of what some of the challenges could
Speaker 1: be in terms of the mental aspect of the game,
Speaker 1: and and getting comfortable and familiar with what you're not
Speaker 1: familiar with and the uncomfortable, as Coach mentioned, they're all
Speaker 1: the traits and responsibilities of going from playing outside to
Speaker 1: moving inside and the impact of playing out side to
Speaker 1: learn that spot first, to take that experience then to
Speaker 1: go inside. I just thought that was a great, great
Speaker 1: insight there from Coach, and I do want to get
Speaker 1: back to one more quick thing there on the development
Speaker 1: with Coach here in just one second, but first let's
Speaker 1: go ahead and recap the rest of his media availability.
Speaker 1: He was asked about guard derv All Kiras Netto and
Speaker 1: what his development has been like. And we had Henry
Speaker 1: Hodgson on the podcast a while back who talked about
Speaker 1: how in his relationship with derv All, he knows that
Speaker 1: he was awarded for some of his practice habits in
Speaker 1: terms of practice squad player of the season, and Coach
Speaker 1: talked about saying he's one of our hardest working players.
Speaker 1: It's very important to him that he improves and gets
Speaker 1: better at whatever technique or fundamental he's working on. He
Speaker 1: also mentioned the talent, strong, big, fast player that has
Speaker 1: really all the physical traits you want because we've seen
Speaker 1: him do the judo and the backflips at that size
Speaker 1: and just very thickly built. So coach talking about the
Speaker 1: development of that player. Of course, he talked a little
Speaker 1: bit about Jerome Baker too, and kind of covering the
Speaker 1: same things he did earlier this offseason with how he's
Speaker 1: excited about how tough and smart and competitive he's team first,
Speaker 1: getting better in every area of the game, pass coverage,
Speaker 1: run defense, really across the board, talking about him getting
Speaker 1: better as a studious player of the game as well,
Speaker 1: like coach Camp and Ellie mentioned, and then he also
Speaker 1: talked about Robert Hunt, who said that he saw him
Speaker 1: improve of the course of the season playing tackle. Thinks
Speaker 1: he has a solid chance to be a good offensive lineman,
Speaker 1: whether it's tackle or guard, whether it's right side or
Speaker 1: left side. Said it's hard to say we're gonna play
Speaker 1: our top five guys. I think he's got an opportunity
Speaker 1: to be one of those top five guys. That's coach
Speaker 1: floors media availability and all the media availability from Friday.
Speaker 1: We're gonna have more coming up next week as the
Speaker 1: Dolphins are back on the practice field Tuesday and Wednesday.
Speaker 1: But I want to go ahead and circle back here
Speaker 1: to the comment I mentioned there about development and a
Speaker 1: quote I heard on the Move the Sticks podcast on
Speaker 1: my flight down to South Florida, and I found this
Speaker 1: little note interesting here from Bucky Brooks of the Move
Speaker 1: the Sticks podcast, which came out on Tuesday in reaction
Speaker 1: to the Julio Jones trade. He had a tidbit where
Speaker 1: he was talking about measuring veteran experience versus rookies and
Speaker 1: coaches comfortability with those younger players. I thought it was
Speaker 1: interesting here as he talked about and what I'm trying
Speaker 1: to get out here is the challenges of coming into
Speaker 1: the NFL and learning that the element of playbooks and
Speaker 1: all the responsibilities and the different asks of a young
Speaker 1: player who doesn't have the experience Yet here's Bucky Brooks
Speaker 1: talking about just that. Sometimes, though DJ and having been
Speaker 1: in the rooms, we know coaches fall in love with
Speaker 1: experienced quarterbacks because they can speak the same language. Yeah,
Speaker 1: they are have an adult conversation. You're gonna have an
Speaker 1: adult conversation. Whereas when you're thinking about the prospect of
Speaker 1: dealing with a young quarterback man, how much do I
Speaker 1: have to like water down to my system. I may
Speaker 1: not be able to get to the back pages of
Speaker 1: the playbook because he doesn't have this experience. And so
Speaker 1: I always thought that was interesting SoundBite in terms of
Speaker 1: how young players have a challenge to catch up to
Speaker 1: the veterans in terms of what they know from the
Speaker 1: element of the game. We heard, obviously, Ryan Fitzpatrick talk
Speaker 1: last year about having the sixteen years of experience in
Speaker 1: that catalog in the back of your mind that you
Speaker 1: can rely upon. That's a roller dex that you just
Speaker 1: don't have until you have it, and you get it
Speaker 1: by experience and playing the game and being out there.
Speaker 1: So interesting comments there. I thought we had plenty of
Speaker 1: great quotes from coaches and players on the media availabilities here.
Speaker 1: I wanted to play that soundclip for you guys. Heard
Speaker 1: that on the plane on the flight down as I
Speaker 1: was rocking podcast all the way down to South Florida.
Speaker 1: We're down here now at the stadium at the facility,
Speaker 1: getting ready to cover practice for you guys this week,
Speaker 1: and I just cannot tell you how good it feels
Speaker 1: to be here getting ready to watch this Dolphins team
Speaker 1: hit the field. But the trip down here it didn't
Speaker 1: start so great. Kind of a funny story for you guys.
Speaker 1: So my wife and I went to Seattle. We don't
Speaker 1: live in Seattle. I've talked about that in the podcast here.
Speaker 1: We're about a two hour drive from the Seattle area.
Speaker 1: And when you fly from a small town like the
Speaker 1: one we live in, it typically puts you on a
Speaker 1: plane very first thing in the morning, like six o'clock,
Speaker 1: five thirty in the morning. And so we wanted to,
Speaker 1: you know, reduce the need to get up at to
Speaker 1: thirty am just to make it to the airport and
Speaker 1: get through security in time to make that flight. So
Speaker 1: we drove to Seattle with my wife and my daughter
Speaker 1: and made a little trip up there and some style
Speaker 1: us along the way because of one year old the
Speaker 1: car seat at least ours does not like that very much.
Speaker 1: So we made a little trip up there and it
Speaker 1: was a good time to get some last minute family
Speaker 1: time in before we're coming back down to South Florida.
Speaker 1: And we got this two room suite at this hotel
Speaker 1: because we wanted to have one space for for Caroline
Speaker 1: the baby, in one space for us so that we
Speaker 1: can kind of separate when we want to go to
Speaker 1: sleep and when she goes down. And there was the
Speaker 1: sliding door in the from the living room into the
Speaker 1: master slash bathroom area, and we closed that door and
Speaker 1: it got jammed like we could not open it. We
Speaker 1: both tried with all of our might, with as much
Speaker 1: funess as we could, and I was at a point
Speaker 1: where I was about to do office linebacker Terry Tait
Speaker 1: and run through the thing because some claustrophobia was setting
Speaker 1: in there for a minute. And we called down to
Speaker 1: the front desk to say, hey, we're kind of like
Speaker 1: trapped in our room and it's a little bit scary.
Speaker 1: And the guy asks us, is the latch clothes on
Speaker 1: the on the main door? And that was when real
Speaker 1: real panics had in for me, because I was like, yeah,
Speaker 1: it is. How the hell are they going to get
Speaker 1: through that thing? But they came up after banging on
Speaker 1: that latch. I don't know how he did it, but
Speaker 1: because we couldn't see him obviously we're trapped in the
Speaker 1: back room, he got it open, got in there and
Speaker 1: was able to get the slider open and free us
Speaker 1: from that back space. And it scared the crap out
Speaker 1: of my daughter. So that made for interesting night in
Speaker 1: terms of the sleeping situation. But just h I suppose
Speaker 1: a discovery of a fear I didn't know I had,
Speaker 1: being locked in a room against my will. I think
Speaker 1: most people probably are scared of that, but I got
Speaker 1: to experience it and didn't know how I would respond.
Speaker 1: And like I said, I was getting very very close
Speaker 1: to lining up off the ball and blitzing the a
Speaker 1: gap and blowing up that door so we could get
Speaker 1: out of the room and I could make my flight
Speaker 1: in time for the morning. Speaking of that flight, woke up,
Speaker 1: got ready, got down to the shuttle to go to
Speaker 1: the airport. At six am, check my email and there
Speaker 1: was an email saying your flight has been delayed by
Speaker 1: five hours. So went through that whole rigamar role, went
Speaker 1: back to bed, but that never really works, especially with
Speaker 1: a one year old, and then made the six hour
Speaker 1: flight across the country, and jeez, it was just I'm
Speaker 1: ready for this flight to stop being a thing in
Speaker 1: my life and get down here full time, which we
Speaker 1: almost are, my wife and my daughter and I'm going
Speaker 1: to be South Floridians here very very soon. But what
Speaker 1: was great about the flight was I was able to
Speaker 1: get an exit row on one of them. Pay for
Speaker 1: the upgrade like thirty bucks. It's well worth it. You
Speaker 1: get the extra leg room and I was able to
Speaker 1: stretch all the way out. But on those flights, I
Speaker 1: watched The Bow Burnham Inside Special once again, and I
Speaker 1: thought it was better the second time around because there's
Speaker 1: so many quality elements of that special and it's funny,
Speaker 1: but it's also like makes you think. And I just,
Speaker 1: you know, as someone who struggles daily with my own
Speaker 1: complicity and many things, this special really connected with me.
Speaker 1: And I find myself listening to the songs now on
Speaker 1: Apple Music, which I would recommend to you guys out
Speaker 1: there too, because what a genius that guy is, and
Speaker 1: you can really feel some of his his pain throughout
Speaker 1: quarantine and throughout COVID in the specials he records it
Speaker 1: throughout the course of being stuck in that house, in
Speaker 1: that one room for a year, and I just think
Speaker 1: it's it really connects with a lot of the current
Speaker 1: mood of people, you know, just dealing with what the
Speaker 1: pandemic was. So I highly recommend that watch it twice,
Speaker 1: watch it three times. Also wanted to give a shout
Speaker 1: out to Chris Laurndo on Twitter at extortion, who recommended
Speaker 1: Mythfit Quest on Apple TV. I watched that on the
Speaker 1: flight as well. Very funny show, and I love Rob
Speaker 1: mckilheney from It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia does a great
Speaker 1: job on this show as well. So appreciate the shout
Speaker 1: out and the recommendation. That has been a fun source
Speaker 1: of entertainment. Want to read a couple of the reviews
Speaker 1: left over the weekend before we get out of here.
Speaker 1: One more here from Mrs Kim Hawaii, who says thumbs up,
Speaker 1: fins up, good Miami Dolphins podcast. Travis is a good
Speaker 1: host and provides great content. Thank you very much. We've
Speaker 1: got another show recommendation here from VR Noel Yellowstone. I
Speaker 1: haven't seen that, but I've seen plenty of ads for it,
Speaker 1: so I suppose it's got to be great, especially with
Speaker 1: your recommendation here. Have to check that one out. Those
Speaker 1: are the two updated reviews we have. Again, leave us
Speaker 1: a rating and leave us a review. We'll get to
Speaker 1: them here on the podcast. Especially if you have a
Speaker 1: question for us, we want to answer here on the podcast.
Speaker 1: All right, we're gonna be at practice Tuesday and Wednesday
Speaker 1: with podcasts covering the days with the media availabilities and
Speaker 1: the practice itself and so much more on those podcasts
Speaker 1: before we go on vacation, and by vacation I mean
Speaker 1: pulling back to two episodes a week. Will resume the
Speaker 1: divisional previews, preview the ninety man roster before training camp,
Speaker 1: and then get back to our daily format in late
Speaker 1: July when training camp opens. The season is right around
Speaker 1: the corner, all right. That is gonna be our time
Speaker 1: on this edition of Drive Time. You all please be
Speaker 1: sure to subscribe, rate, and review to the podcast on
Speaker 1: Apple podcast or Spotify or wherever you hear podcast from.
Speaker 1: Go ahead and follow me on Twitter at Wingfield NFL,
Speaker 1: follow the team at Miami Dolphins, check out the Fish
Speaker 1: Tank and the Audible podcast, and of course, last but
Speaker 1: not least, Miami Dolphins dot com. Until next time, fins Up,