Speaker 1: To on the move, going deep, speedless, peace, Peace from
Speaker 1: the Baptist Health Studios inside the Baptist Health Training Complex.
Speaker 2: This is Drivetime with Travis Wingfield.
Speaker 1: He's gon my avnds in the playoffs.
Speaker 2: What is up, Dolphans And welcome to the Drift Time Podcast.
Speaker 2: I am your host, Travis Wingfield. And on today's show
Speaker 2: we take a look at my five picks for breakout
Speaker 2: candidates in twenty twenty four. We'll also here's some additional
Speaker 2: audio from media following Tuesday's practice here in Miami Guards
Speaker 2: at the Baptist Health Training Complex from the Baptist Health
Speaker 2: Studios inside the BHTC. This is the Drift Time Podcast.
Speaker 2: Ye Daffeir, I tease this idea last week, something I've
Speaker 2: been thinking about here for a while. And the genesis
Speaker 2: of this idea for this content is Austin Jackson, a
Speaker 2: player with immense talent and upside who enters the league
Speaker 2: younger than literally anybody else besides one of his teammates,
Speaker 2: Noah Igbinoghany and one other person in the league whose
Speaker 2: name escapes me at the moment, but I do recall
Speaker 2: him being the third youngest player in the NFL when
Speaker 2: he was drafted, but a fourth year player who began
Speaker 2: his career strong in the first three games. I'll never
Speaker 2: forget the TNF game at Jacksonville. We're zero and two
Speaker 2: after losing to New England and Seattle No New England
Speaker 2: and Buffalo in back to back games to open the season.
Speaker 2: And then Ryan Fitzpatrick went Nanners against the Jacksonville Jaguars
Speaker 2: and Austin Jackson had a great game in that one,
Speaker 2: and he gets injured, and then we never really saw
Speaker 2: that again from him until this past season, because his
Speaker 2: second year was incredibly difficult, even in coming off of
Speaker 2: the injury. His rookie year struggled coming back into lineup
Speaker 2: off of that injury, and then in twenty twenty three
Speaker 2: he or twenty twenty one, rather he gets more moved
Speaker 2: around seemingly every single week to a different position, that
Speaker 2: he changes systems. In year three, gets a vote of confidence,
Speaker 2: gets the entire wire to wire run as the right
Speaker 2: tackle in the offense, gets injured in the first quarter
Speaker 2: of the first game, and this is basically the entire
Speaker 2: year from there, and then last year the breakout year.
Speaker 2: But I want to absolutely obliterate any thought here that
Speaker 2: this might be a slight at Austin because I always
Speaker 2: knew there was potential there. Obviously, he was the eighteenth
Speaker 2: pick in the draft and had elite, elite level athletic
Speaker 2: ability imagine not trying to harness that, by the way,
Speaker 2: And I knew how hard he worked at it too,
Speaker 2: And he was a guy that I thought could articulate
Speaker 2: technique and fundamentals and the whole idea of offensive line play.
Speaker 2: And I've always pointed out this on Twitter and on
Speaker 2: the show, that the timeline of offensive line development and
Speaker 2: the trend the last half decade or so of guys
Speaker 2: in that position group taking a couple of years on
Speaker 2: average to realize their full potential. I have no doubt
Speaker 2: that Austin Jackson would have gotten to the success sheet
Speaker 2: in twenty twenty three had those injuries not prevented him
Speaker 2: from getting there in twenty twenty two. But instead he
Speaker 2: was dubbed with the worst label a player can obtain,
Speaker 2: the collective Twitter whipping boy.
Speaker 3: Right.
Speaker 2: Okay, well really it's not the worst, But go back
Speaker 2: and look, and nobody among the fan base, probably myself included,
Speaker 2: in some ways, you know, was giving this guy much
Speaker 2: of a chance. And you would you'd be right to
Speaker 2: think that because the production wasn't there. And then he
Speaker 2: lines up on day one of camp at right tackle
Speaker 2: and carries that all the way through to a playoff
Speaker 2: game in January and the freezing ah cold in Kansas City,
Speaker 2: with a contract extension coming midway through that year, by
Speaker 2: the way, a really really good season. My point to
Speaker 2: all this is he completely reversed the expectation that fans
Speaker 2: had of him, and now you're counting on him as
Speaker 2: a pillar at a key position to make this offense
Speaker 2: what we want it to be. Back to back number
Speaker 2: one ranked in the NFL, and I'm sure there will
Speaker 2: be detractors out there who say we want more because
Speaker 2: we want the end of the season to reflect the
Speaker 2: beginning of the season. Hey, I'm with you, but number
Speaker 2: one ranked offense is a pretty cool distinction to own.
Speaker 2: So look at the roster who can carry the water
Speaker 2: from a similar mantle that aj embraced a season ago
Speaker 2: and exceeded a season ago. Last week, we talked about
Speaker 2: some of the proven stars and how their development can
Speaker 2: take them to a stratosphere beyond superstar production. But that's
Speaker 2: not the only thing that makes a football team competitive
Speaker 2: or even great for that matter. It's finding contributors in
Speaker 2: unexpected places. Maybe you miss on a high draft pick,
Speaker 2: but in the same class a player at the same
Speaker 2: position excels as an undrafted free agent. It happens all
Speaker 2: the time for every single team. In fact, look at
Speaker 2: the Buffalo Bills. Kyer Elam was their first round pick.
Speaker 2: He has not been a good player for them at
Speaker 2: all at all. Is it the right name, Kayer Elam.
Speaker 2: Let's look that up real quick. I think I might
Speaker 2: have that wrong Buffalo Bills twenty twenty three Wikipedia. But
Speaker 2: they also took Christian ben Ford in the sixth round
Speaker 2: that year, and he's now a starting quarterback for them.
Speaker 2: So sometimes it just kind of goes that way, right.
Speaker 2: Sometimes you miss, yeah it was Kyrie Elm. Sometimes you
Speaker 2: miss early and you recoup fort later on. I mean,
Speaker 2: Kirk Cousins had a better career than RG three. Who
Speaker 2: would have known that? So you know, hell, I can't
Speaker 2: even I can't even recall or try to forget Training
Speaker 2: Camp twenty twenty because that draft class produced three offensive
Speaker 2: lineman right Austin Jackson, Robert Hunt and Solomon Kinley. And
Speaker 2: first of all, for the they can't draft o Lineman
Speaker 2: crowd like. Two of those guys are studs with massive
Speaker 2: contract extensions. One guy didn't work out. But you know
Speaker 2: which of the three of Austin Jackson, Robert Hunt, and
Speaker 2: Solomon Kinley went wire to wire from camp to the
Speaker 2: season as a starter. It wasn't the first round pick,
Speaker 2: it wasn't the second round pick. It was the fourth
Speaker 2: round guy from Georgia, the overweight Solomon Kinley, who played
Speaker 2: for a little bit, had a good rookie year and
Speaker 2: then disappeared into the doghouse for the rest of his career,
Speaker 2: and now he's not been with a club for the
Speaker 2: last two seas seasons. Mauston Jackson has a twelve million
Speaker 2: dollars per year contract, Robert Hunt got twenty million per
Speaker 2: year and over one hundred million a nine figure contract
Speaker 2: for the Carolina Panthers. And again, not to disparage anybody,
Speaker 2: but Kinley was released by the Giants in May of
Speaker 2: twenty twenty three and has not been on a roster
Speaker 2: since then. So the whole point is to tell you
Speaker 2: that it's fine to have expectations, but you're probably wrong,
Speaker 2: and thus you should not be so steadfast in what
Speaker 2: you think might happen. I remember last year, like I'll
Speaker 2: never forget this. I got home from the Houston trip,
Speaker 2: I was waiting for my wife to pick me up
Speaker 2: at the airport and I was texting with the buddy
Speaker 2: of mine that I tuxed about the Dolphins with every
Speaker 2: single day, and we were like showing these tweets from
Speaker 2: fans after the Toronto Arms had injury, and there was
Speaker 2: someone who was saying, like, my friends are making fun
Speaker 2: of me because of how bad the offensive line's going
Speaker 2: to be and how our season's over before it even begins.
Speaker 2: And so because of Kendall Lambt left tackle, you thought
Speaker 2: this offense couldn't function, and they go off and they
Speaker 2: score thirty six, twenty four to seventy points in the
Speaker 2: first three games of the season and NFL records. My
Speaker 2: whole point is just like, chill, Chill. I get you
Speaker 2: think your points are the end all be all, but
Speaker 2: they're not. No ones are not even the guys that
Speaker 2: do this for a living. So just enjoy it. I
Speaker 2: guess That's what I'm trying to get to here. And
Speaker 2: with that, I want to go ahead and lay out
Speaker 2: some candidates who could follow suit with Austin Jackson. That
Speaker 2: was kind of a sidebar that I didn't mean to
Speaker 2: get into there, but I just it helps trust me
Speaker 2: as a lifelong fan, and some of it does as professionally.
Speaker 2: Just chill, just chill out, man, it'll be good. It'll
Speaker 2: all be good. So as I eviscerate the idea of expectations, now,
Speaker 2: I'm going to tell you about my expectations. Isn't that
Speaker 2: funny how it works because I have the microphone and
Speaker 2: I will say whatever I prease. My expectation is that
Speaker 2: we will get another Austin Jackson this year, maybe multiple
Speaker 2: of them. And in this segment, I'm going to make
Speaker 2: the case for who that could be. And there are
Speaker 2: some obvious ones, right spoiler alert, Eric Azuokama fits this
Speaker 2: entire thing I just spelled out to a t. He'll
Speaker 2: be in there. But let's go ahead and start with
Speaker 2: a guy who only carries low expectations because of how
Speaker 2: he entered the league, much like cater Coho who made
Speaker 2: some plays in training camp and you're like, well, yeah,
Speaker 2: but just training camp, And then you get to Week
Speaker 2: one and it's like, oh, he's making plays all over
Speaker 2: the field against the New England Patriots and it's like, oh,
Speaker 2: the Dolphins have discovered something here with cater Coho. I'm talking,
Speaker 2: of course, about Ethan Bonner, like co Who, Bonner was
Speaker 2: a UDFA, And it starts where it always starts, with
Speaker 2: the tape. I saw a player who showcased the traits
Speaker 2: that I think are most important to excel at the position,
Speaker 2: albeit in a miniscule sample size, but if you go
Speaker 2: back to his Stanford tape, it was on display there too,
Speaker 2: and those are long speed and recovery speed kind of
Speaker 2: the same category, change of direction, feel and recognition, and
Speaker 2: overall physicality and working backwards up that list. In the
Speaker 2: playoff game, he broke down in space and put a
Speaker 2: hat on the football on Clyde Edwards Laire and the
Speaker 2: physicality and technique pair for a nice splash play to
Speaker 2: jar that football, free kansasity to recover the fumble. It
Speaker 2: was late in the game, didn't matter, but it was
Speaker 2: a good rep And I'm basing this more off of
Speaker 2: watching him in camp last year, but you can see
Speaker 2: it practice. How he understands his coverage responsibilities, how the
Speaker 2: route concepts can exploit where the defense is vulnerable, and
Speaker 2: best of all, knowing where your help is so that
Speaker 2: you can take chances. It's all over his Stanford tape
Speaker 2: Smart Football Player. In fact, there's a clip of him
Speaker 2: versus Utah and twenty twenty two where he's running out
Speaker 2: of the huddle to play the boundary receiver, but Utah
Speaker 2: does not send the receiver out that way, so he
Speaker 2: sinks inside and fulfills a quasi will linebacker role weak
Speaker 2: side linebacker, and they run the football and he steps
Speaker 2: into the hole and fits the gap and drives the
Speaker 2: backwards onto the ground Like that's the definition to me
Speaker 2: of an Anthony Weaver defensive back. Hey sink inside here
Speaker 2: and go fit a gap in the running game, the
Speaker 2: change of direction on pattern matching where he can squat, accelerate,
Speaker 2: flip the hips, and get vertical. You better be able
Speaker 2: to do all that in this league because you got
Speaker 2: to defend guys like Tyreek Hill and Jaileen Waddle. And
Speaker 2: that bleeds into our first bullet point here. Back to
Speaker 2: the Kansas City game. They run this mesh concept where
Speaker 2: Ethan is in off coverage to the boundary the short
Speaker 2: side of the field. He's playing about seven yards off
Speaker 2: the line of scrimmage and his man runs a shallow
Speaker 2: cross a little drag route and by playing off he's
Speaker 2: able to get over the top of the pick. But
Speaker 2: you're inherently at a disadvantage because of your pre snap
Speaker 2: alignment to get to that position. Right, he's basically starting
Speaker 2: like in the fifth position on an F one grid
Speaker 2: and trying to flag down the guy in first and
Speaker 2: maybe it's even Max Verstappen. I forgot his name. There
Speaker 2: forer point five seconds you're out numbered from the start,
Speaker 2: but he shows off the long speed, takes a perfect
Speaker 2: angle and whoop dumps the ballcarrier short of the six
Speaker 2: super impressive rep. It's always so jarring to me to
Speaker 2: pull up PFF's cornerback grades from twenty twenty three and
Speaker 2: who is number one on that list? Jalen Johnson's up there,
Speaker 2: the great cornerback for the Bears. Deron Bland, who had
Speaker 2: five pick six's last year for the Cowboys is up there.
Speaker 2: Sauce Gardner who holds his way all the way to
Speaker 2: that top spot as well. That's two, three and four.
Speaker 2: You know who number one is White Lightning Ethan Bonner.
Speaker 2: Like I know, it's the smallest of sample sizes because
Speaker 2: it's twenty three snaps versus eighth nine, one thousand and
Speaker 2: then one thousand and fifty. But it just shows you
Speaker 2: how productive he was with that extremely limited workload. Next
Speaker 2: is to get more right. But teams were you know,
Speaker 2: one for three, trying him for seven yards and twelve
Speaker 2: covered snaps. He had a stop and a force fumble.
Speaker 2: We played the audio from him from camp just talking
Speaker 2: to him. This is closer to a trust me bro
Speaker 2: than using taper numbers. But I just think he gets it.
Speaker 2: It feels like he just kind of gets it. I
Speaker 2: don't know how tangible that is, but I am trusting
Speaker 2: my gut on that one and asking you to do
Speaker 2: the same there. Now, Bonner is sort of the anomaly
Speaker 2: on the list, a second year player. Nobody in the
Speaker 2: world has a negative connotation with him because he, even
Speaker 2: though a very brief playing time, did show well last year.
Speaker 2: But I think that Ramsey Fuller, Needham Coohu, Cam Smith.
Speaker 2: I don't think the fan expectation is that he'll play
Speaker 2: a ton, but you know you're gonna get into six
Speaker 2: and seven cornerbacks that have to be used this year,
Speaker 2: and I think there's a ballplayer there, and I'm pretty
Speaker 2: excited about having him let's go ahead and take our
Speaker 2: first break right there. Come back on the other side
Speaker 2: and do the next four players on my list. Ethan
Speaker 2: Bonner's down. We have an offensive lineman, a defensive lineman,
Speaker 2: a tight end, and a wide receiver. Here. We'll go
Speaker 2: ahead and cover those guys next. On the Draft Time podcast,
Speaker 2: your host Travis Winfield, brought to you by Auto Nation.
Speaker 2: One player down on my breakout candidates for twenty twenty four.
Speaker 2: We're not talking about breakout like this guy's going to
Speaker 2: go in the MVP. We're talking about guys that you
Speaker 2: probably haven't thought much about, who I think could play
Speaker 2: quality contributing roles in a championship contending football team. Ethan
Speaker 2: Bonner was first on the list and second is going
Speaker 2: back to the trenches, much like Austin last year. I'm
Speaker 2: going with Jack Driscoll, who is also different from Austin
Speaker 2: in the sense that this is his first year here
Speaker 2: at the Miami Dolphins, so you probably have You know,
Speaker 2: whatever a player changes teams, no matter how good or
Speaker 2: bad their tape was, that new team thinks, oh, we
Speaker 2: can be the ones that get the best performance out
Speaker 2: of him. So he probably already comes in with like
Speaker 2: expectations in a positive light. But I also think you
Speaker 2: can go back to watch the tape and say, like,
Speaker 2: there's a reason that he was, you know, on the
Speaker 2: market for what he was available for. But I think
Speaker 2: you can also look at his college projection scheme, fit age,
Speaker 2: and developmental timeline and you can say, all right, I
Speaker 2: can see them getting the best version of this player
Speaker 2: that we've ever seen from this player. So here's the
Speaker 2: scoutgyport for NFL dot Com when he was at Auburn.
Speaker 2: Teams who covet athleticism over brawn will take a look
Speaker 2: at Driscoll. He will need to add mass and muscle
Speaker 2: to have a shot, but he has range as a
Speaker 2: run blocker and in past protection, athletic on counterpolls from
Speaker 2: the backside, and good recognition of where to turn it up.
Speaker 2: Composed and controlled to the second level with the ability
Speaker 2: to adjust to moving targets. He's quick out of a
Speaker 2: stance with ladder agility to handle zone blocking duties. I mean,
Speaker 2: did I just read the one oh one manifesto from
Speaker 2: Dolphins Offensive line Play Like I feel like I did,
Speaker 2: and it drives with the two practices I just saw
Speaker 2: that Jack had here in the aqua and orange, firing
Speaker 2: off the football, fantastic pad level, wide base to establish
Speaker 2: a wall off block and execute it. And of course
Speaker 2: the versatility is always key, especially on the offensive line.
Speaker 2: But when you just watch his tape, I think his
Speaker 2: play translates more inside and I look at the six
Speaker 2: five frame that he features, like the way he was
Speaker 2: able to kind of use length on the interior because
Speaker 2: he's he's a short arm tackle, but when you kick
Speaker 2: him inside he has like he's more considered long in
Speaker 2: that position because of just how the positions, the measurables
Speaker 2: for each position differ in terms of what's long versus
Speaker 2: what's not long on tackle versus garter center. And you know,
Speaker 2: watching his tape in the way his play translates, and
Speaker 2: given you know the fact that we have Tron Armstead,
Speaker 2: Austin Jackson, who that's your left tackle right tackle opening
Speaker 2: day provided are good, and then Kendall Lamb as we
Speaker 2: saw last year, can play a very good left tackle
Speaker 2: for you, and then Patrick Paul who quite frankly, guys,
Speaker 2: I think there's something there. I really do. I'm not
Speaker 2: so sure that we need Jack Driscoll to play tackle
Speaker 2: like he might be tackle five but when I watch
Speaker 2: him play, his ability to stay compact and play in
Speaker 2: a phone booth sounds like a guard. I feel like
Speaker 2: the bad tape came out when he got extended, had
Speaker 2: the entire corner to contend with, and that naturally gives
Speaker 2: you a little bit more inside post to open up
Speaker 2: because you're worried about the edge, because I see really
Speaker 2: good technique inside. You know, six foot five, three hundred
Speaker 2: and fifteen pounds benefits him in a way that he
Speaker 2: can get wide of blocks that other guys have to
Speaker 2: really reach for and get out over their skis. I
Speaker 2: don't know. I see a guy that I think can
Speaker 2: have some of his best work in this system and
Speaker 2: playing inside, and we'll see where he winds up. But
Speaker 2: what the tape tells me is I'm watching him at
Speaker 2: both guard and tackle with the Eagles, and they're not
Speaker 2: the same. In fact, in twenty twenty three, he had
Speaker 2: a nine point eight percent pressure rate at tackle and
Speaker 2: a four percent pressure rate at guard. Again, it's a
Speaker 2: small sample size, but it jives with what the tape
Speaker 2: and this live practice bullets have shown me. And when
Speaker 2: I think about the advantages that size and speed combo
Speaker 2: lends him inside this system. That is where the projection
Speaker 2: comes from. We're gonna stay in the NFC East with
Speaker 2: another import from the Dallas Cowboys as Neville Gallimore is
Speaker 2: next on my list, and I like driscoll Or like
Speaker 2: driscoll I should say, I think there's more meat on
Speaker 2: the bone than what he gave in his previous stop.
Speaker 2: He's quick off the line of scrimmage, has a crazy
Speaker 2: motor that leads to clean up production. Like when you
Speaker 2: have a four man rush and coverage is very good,
Speaker 2: he can kind of find his way to get off
Speaker 2: blocks and go wrap up a scrambling quarterback. And these
Speaker 2: traits that I think he has, I think you can
Speaker 2: harness as a rotational defensive tackle alongside somebody who is
Speaker 2: as good as Zach Seeler, especially when I think about
Speaker 2: how good I think we'll be able to play. Contain coverage,
Speaker 2: good coverage, don't blitz, and then just try to hem
Speaker 2: a quarterback like a Josh Allen, like a Lamar Jackson,
Speaker 2: like a Kyler Murray, Hem them inside the pocket, enforce
Speaker 2: them to play from ento the pocket. Strong. You need
Speaker 2: guys who can find wins after initial rush fizzles and
Speaker 2: heavy hands. Those are the things that I think about
Speaker 2: when I think about Neville Gallimore and the ability to
Speaker 2: eddentially dent the last scrimmage off the snap. He can
Speaker 2: do all those things. I thought he was played out
Speaker 2: of position entirely in Dallas. The majority of his snaps
Speaker 2: were on the nose at three hundred and five pounds.
Speaker 2: That's it's just like not it's not his game. I
Speaker 2: don't think that's you know, I don't know. I'm not
Speaker 2: sure the thinking there. But like driscoll, it's always nice
Speaker 2: to have that added versatility so you can play him
Speaker 2: in there. But I like him best's three tech, four
Speaker 2: tech four I technique. That's all basically like between the
Speaker 2: garden tackle that those are the positions you're playing there
Speaker 2: where he can penetrate gaps, ride the wave on the
Speaker 2: outside zone runs and give you, you know, ballpark fifteen to
Speaker 2: twenty snaps per game of just pure gas, especially in
Speaker 2: this Miami weather. You know, last year he has most
Speaker 2: productive year in pressures, mistackle, rate, penalties, PFF great pretty
Speaker 2: much across the board. And that's with three hundred and
Speaker 2: four snaps. Give us three hundred and four snaps, you're
Speaker 2: basically taking a third of what Christian Wilkins gave. Maybe
Speaker 2: tr Tart takes another third of those, Maybe your subpackaging
Speaker 2: takes the other third out and you're good to go there.
Speaker 2: So Chef's kiss find a way to get production from
Speaker 2: these guys a heavy rotation. I think I like Gallimore
Speaker 2: the best to earn substantial work alongside Sealer and tier Tart.
Speaker 2: I try to not let training camp or mini camp
Speaker 2: or OTA's whatever you want to call him sway my
Speaker 2: opinion too much. But getting eyes on Jody Fordson live
Speaker 2: and watching his tape this offseason, I am proper intrigued size,
Speaker 2: long speed to run away from safeties and linebackers in
Speaker 2: an offense that's going to put him in those positions
Speaker 2: all the time. You're not going to put a cornerback
Speaker 2: on Jody Fords. And when you have Tyreek Hill and
Speaker 2: Jalen Wattle and Odell Beckham out there, he's just naturally
Speaker 2: tough to contend with when you consider re routing and
Speaker 2: impacting the catchpoint because he kind of has like Victor
Speaker 2: Webbin Yama skills in terms of he's so long that,
Speaker 2: like this man, you just can't get into his frame.
Speaker 2: I don't see guys get into his chest, not even
Speaker 2: the football he catches away from his body and he
Speaker 2: can kind of pluck it and hold up and make
Speaker 2: those contested catches like we saw him high point one
Speaker 2: football at practice last week. Ah, that's the real skill
Speaker 2: that he offers.
Speaker 3: Man.
Speaker 2: Like, that's where I realized, Okay, this guy, like I
Speaker 2: think he offers so much in terms of size down
Speaker 2: in the red zone opens up that back line throw
Speaker 2: he saw from Tua to Kasiki and Baltimore back in
Speaker 2: twenty twenty two. But I think he can be a
Speaker 2: great option to be the point man and stacks and
Speaker 2: bunches and clear out space for smaller wide receivers who
Speaker 2: run their routes off of him. He can set picks.
Speaker 2: I think he's good enough as a blocker to offer
Speaker 2: you flexibility and how your run pass and play pass
Speaker 2: game kind of marries up together. And he also plays
Speaker 2: special teams. What's the rub here, Travis, Because why hasn't
Speaker 2: he been productive? Well, this is where the expectation thing
Speaker 2: comes into play injuries and ask any Chiefs fan and
Speaker 2: they'll tell you that he was celebrated when he first
Speaker 2: made when he made his first fifty three man roster
Speaker 2: out of camp. Fans fell in love with this guy
Speaker 2: at training camp, and I'm sure it has to do
Speaker 2: with the fact that he practices a certain way. Tons
Speaker 2: of potential here that just hasn't been afforded the chance
Speaker 2: to bubble up to the surface. On top of the
Speaker 2: fact he's played behind some pretty damn good tight ends
Speaker 2: there in Kansas City as well. So those are my
Speaker 2: top four guys, and I mentioned him off the top.
Speaker 2: My fifth player here is Eric Azokama, And if you'll
Speaker 2: allow for it, erase the first two years in the
Speaker 2: NFL and just go back to his Texas Tech tape.
Speaker 2: He was so damn difficult to get to the ground,
Speaker 2: incredible contact balance, and we're lotting Malik Washington or I
Speaker 2: Am for his fit with the separation skill set and
Speaker 2: run after the catch. That's who Eric Azukama was in
Speaker 2: twenty twenty two for the Red Raiders. And where I
Speaker 2: think you get most excited is we saw the proof
Speaker 2: of concept in two games last year and then we
Speaker 2: lost him for the rest of the season and you're
Speaker 2: forced to put any expectations for this player on hold.
Speaker 2: But the ability to take the ball as a runner
Speaker 2: from the backfield to catch swings and screed to lead
Speaker 2: block as the point man on those screens. To go
Speaker 2: back to Maleak, he was kind of that same profile,
Speaker 2: but rather than being five foot eight, he's in a
Speaker 2: six foot two frame that kind of has some up sense,
Speaker 2: some ability to go get the football and pluck it.
Speaker 2: And we saw him use that frame in camp and
Speaker 2: in preseason games and make these highlight level plays. I'm
Speaker 2: so pumped for him to have a chance this year.
Speaker 2: He's in his third year in the offense, which is
Speaker 2: always a big factor of me because again, like I
Speaker 2: talked about on the podcast last week with Jaalen Waddle,
Speaker 2: this offense demands so much of its receivers and his
Speaker 2: first year was kind of red shirt because he didn't
Speaker 2: know all the positions. His second year he gets injured
Speaker 2: and doesn't It is kind of it kind of reminds
Speaker 2: me Austin Jackson Man. That's why I said he was
Speaker 2: the obvious pick here. But in year three with Wes
Speaker 2: Welker and Mike McDaniel and Frank Smith, he should have
Speaker 2: the mental side down. If he doesn't, then okay, wash
Speaker 2: your hands of it. I will not bring it up again.
Speaker 2: But if he has the mental side of it, down
Speaker 2: he's gonna have. I think he will. I think he
Speaker 2: has a real opportunity to carve out a role for himself.
Speaker 2: We saw a lot of wide receivers get run at
Speaker 2: various points last year. There's no reason to think he
Speaker 2: will not get his Just imagine him ran that route
Speaker 2: instead of Chase, Claypool and Buffalo on the final drive
Speaker 2: of the regular season. So there you go. Jody Fortson,
Speaker 2: Ethan Bonner, Jack Driscoll, Neville Gallimore, and Eric Azukama. My
Speaker 2: three picks for guys that could drastically sway your expectations
Speaker 2: of how you feel about them today. In May and
Speaker 2: on September, we'll see a different player than I think
Speaker 2: you expect. Those are my five picks. Get two of
Speaker 2: them right, We'll feel pretty good about that. Let's go
Speaker 2: ahead and take our last break. Right there. Come back
Speaker 2: and conclude with additional audio from media availabilities at yesterday's
Speaker 2: Ota practice. That's Next Draft Time podcast, your host Travis Wingfield,
Speaker 2: brought to you by Auto Nation. One of the really
Speaker 2: cool experiences about working for the Miami Dolphins is the
Speaker 2: access we get to a little bit of everything. And
Speaker 2: since I work so closely with the video department. I
Speaker 2: have access to these really great shots at practice that
Speaker 2: kind of exhibit some of the things I can see
Speaker 2: from a live action shot at practice from up in
Speaker 2: the stands. And the reason I always talk about the
Speaker 2: ability to evaluate a football practice live and how difficult
Speaker 2: it is and how challenging it is for someone that
Speaker 2: doesn't have a lot of experience in it, or someone
Speaker 2: that doesn't have the requisite football knowledge to be able
Speaker 2: to process what a play might look like before it happens,
Speaker 2: so you know where to look, what key triggers to
Speaker 2: focus on. There's just a lot, you know. I think
Speaker 2: we get a lot of people that tweet videos from
Speaker 2: practice or come here and have takeaways, and there's value
Speaker 2: to being here no matter what. But to watch something
Speaker 2: and just be able to say, oh, a failed quarterback
Speaker 2: center exchange, Oh he threw that ball sixty five yards,
Speaker 2: like that's cool. But there are little nuances that I
Speaker 2: think that are valuable to search for, and I can't
Speaker 2: see them all. I certainly can't. I'm definitely, you know,
Speaker 2: not a coach or anyone that has a McVeigh level recall,
Speaker 2: But in seeing some of these videos, I can piece
Speaker 2: things together like there was a play in practice on
Speaker 2: Tuesday where to I talked about podcast where he held
Speaker 2: the backside safety and gathered information from his front side read,
Speaker 2: came back to the backside and ripped this little bender
Speaker 2: to Durham Smith and the end zone for a touchdown
Speaker 2: where he's able to hold Javon Holland on the backside
Speaker 2: hash and give the inside access to Durham Smith because
Speaker 2: of his positioning and in the video that I saw,
Speaker 2: I was able to glean more from this really good
Speaker 2: play and even make a bigger claim that was even
Speaker 2: better play than I originally had thought because in the play,
Speaker 2: you see to start working the front side of the
Speaker 2: formation and his helmet, his shoulders, his hips are all
Speaker 2: aligned in that direction and that's going to have someone
Speaker 2: thinking the balls going in that direction. But you see
Speaker 2: his eyes roll back and the side of his helmet,
Speaker 2: and then as he begins to start his throwing motion,
Speaker 2: that's when the helmet comes over. So he's gleaning information
Speaker 2: on the backside of the throw without indicating to the
Speaker 2: defense that he's looking at the backside of the throw,
Speaker 2: because all they can go off if they can't see
Speaker 2: eyes from twenty five yards away inside of a quarterback's helmet.
Speaker 2: They can see the stripe on the middle of his
Speaker 2: helmet move and that is how they read quarterbacks eyes.
Speaker 2: It's not the actual eyes itself, right, But Tua is
Speaker 2: so advanced. And again this is I was having a
Speaker 2: great time showing this to the videographers. Tua such a
Speaker 2: damn good quarterback that he can find out information on
Speaker 2: the backside, and before he indicates that he knows the information,
Speaker 2: his throwing motion has begun. He's got one of the
Speaker 2: quickest suggers in the National Football League. He's one of the
Speaker 2: most accurate quarterbacks in the National Football League. And the
Speaker 2: more and more comfortable he gets, the more those tight
Speaker 2: window throws and those on point pinpoint type of shots
Speaker 2: are going to be even more frequent because he's going
Speaker 2: to have better knowledge of the system and how to
Speaker 2: exploit certain things. So I'm just telling you, I'm just
Speaker 2: telling you, and we're going to talk more about this
Speaker 2: here with coach McDaniel's media availability additional sound bites. I
Speaker 2: want to play for you guys here in just one second.
Speaker 2: I'm just telling you, get ready, get ready for the season. Okay,
Speaker 2: you're probably got some expectations about how they fizzled the
Speaker 2: last two years, and that's fair. I'm I'm a little
Speaker 2: bit scared about it myself, to be honest with you,
Speaker 2: just because it's happened and you've got battered Dolphins syndrome
Speaker 2: Dolphins fan syndrome. But I'm just telling you just get
Speaker 2: ready for it, because it's going to happen this year
Speaker 2: and it's going to be freaking glorious. I want to
Speaker 2: go ahead and play some soundbites here from head coach
Speaker 2: Mike McDaniel who touched on the benefit of having key
Speaker 2: players miss practices and kind of the balance of guys
Speaker 2: being here for voluntary workouts versus not, And I want
Speaker 2: to go ahead and play this very long SoundBite where
Speaker 2: he talks about the benefit of being in year three
Speaker 2: of the program, how it can benefit guys who can
Speaker 2: take some time off the grass, but also the opportunity
Speaker 2: that it affords younger players looking to make their mark
Speaker 2: here on the twenty twenty four Miami Dolphins.
Speaker 4: There's probably two things existing simultaneously in that, you know,
Speaker 4: this is all voluntary, but there's ways to get better
Speaker 4: in a team environment each and every day.
Speaker 3: So for me individually, you.
Speaker 5: Know, kind of a asking each circumstance. You know, the
Speaker 5: good good news is with this team and with the
Speaker 5: players on it there they communicate with me very well,
Speaker 5: so I kind of know what's coming. As long as
Speaker 5: they know what's coming, you can plan for the opportunity.
Speaker 5: And we've we've i mean shooting the two seasons that
Speaker 5: that have been the head coach here.
Speaker 3: You you see how much.
Speaker 5: Your your roster's depth comes into question as the course
Speaker 5: of the season goes. When there aren't guys you know
Speaker 5: on a certain day attending practice, there are guys that
Speaker 5: supremely benefit from that. And you know, the the the
Speaker 5: biggest thing is as a team, I think the connectivity
Speaker 5: where where people's expectations on how we how how our
Speaker 5: standard of practice is, uh we we haven't Anybody that
Speaker 5: hasn't been.
Speaker 3: Hasn't been at practice.
Speaker 5: People getting more reps because of it, have taken advantage
Speaker 5: of it in that they've known their assignment and we're
Speaker 5: actually coaching them on technique and fundamentals within the play
Speaker 5: and not what they should be doing. So because the
Speaker 5: team and their mindset in the way they've really gone
Speaker 5: about it. This offseason, we've had a tremendous offseason of
Speaker 5: growth really in our schematics and our fundamentals because people
Speaker 5: have taken advantage of opportunities, So that doesn't necessarily.
Speaker 3: That's not always the case.
Speaker 5: So in situations where people don't rise and rise to
Speaker 5: the challenge or really understand the opportunity presented when they
Speaker 5: may be getting reps with the ones instead of the twos,
Speaker 5: or they may be getting reps with the twos instead
Speaker 5: of the threes. When people don't rise to those occasions,
Speaker 5: it substantially affects your team. Uh, I'm happy to say
Speaker 5: that we've had really a lot of growth in what
Speaker 5: we're trying to do in our practices.
Speaker 3: And uh, the the guys that the.
Speaker 5: Guys that haven't been here in an in a voluntary situation,
Speaker 5: I don't see it hurting our team right now.
Speaker 2: And the follow up question or I guess the next
Speaker 2: question in this line of questioning was about the presence
Speaker 2: of one Tyreek Hill, Jalen Waddle and Odell Beckham on
Speaker 2: the field together. And have you seen those guys working
Speaker 2: out together just yet. Let's go ahead and hear from
Speaker 2: coach on that and why maybe it's not that big
Speaker 2: of a deal that they haven't been on the field
Speaker 2: together in the month of May.
Speaker 5: Their individual processes through the off season where they're at.
Speaker 3: We we haven't had.
Speaker 5: That opportunity yet, but that that's uh, that's you know,
Speaker 5: and I'm not in any hurry to to see that
Speaker 5: there's a you know, each individual has to ear earn
Speaker 5: their keep and earn their targets, and so having all
Speaker 5: three at the same time isn't necessarily a big deal
Speaker 5: to me. It's each and every one of them understanding
Speaker 5: our offense, how to separate in the time of the play,
Speaker 5: understanding where where, how.
Speaker 3: To align, and who and what to block.
Speaker 5: All of those things are more the most important to me,
Speaker 5: especially as you are right live in the offseason.
Speaker 2: This last one here was the follow up to the
Speaker 2: question about those three, and it was more about Tyreek Hill.
Speaker 2: And I remember really kind of raving about this back
Speaker 2: in twenty twenty two how Tyreek kind of taught the
Speaker 2: Dolphins how to practice, and not that there was nobody
Speaker 2: that knew how to practice, but he set a certain
Speaker 2: standard that was kind of like, oh, that's the guy
Speaker 2: that is an ap All Pro every year and eclipse
Speaker 2: his fifteen hundred yards every year and leads the NFL
Speaker 2: in long touchdowns every year and is literally the bane
Speaker 2: of the existence of most defensive coordinators who have to
Speaker 2: call defense to handle what he offers from a just
Speaker 2: dynamic can flip the game on its head in a
Speaker 2: moment's notice type of way. So the question about him
Speaker 2: taking less practice reps, and I talked about it last year.
Speaker 2: I remember being like, I don't see Tyreek out here
Speaker 2: as much as we did, even last training camp for instance,
Speaker 2: And all he did was go off and have a
Speaker 2: year where he threatened for two thousand yards before he
Speaker 2: had an injury. That kind of basically took that entire
Speaker 2: idea off the table. But I want to go ahead
Speaker 2: and play this SoundBite as he talks as Coach McDaniel
Speaker 2: talks about Tyreek's ability to take some time down because
Speaker 2: of the knowledge in the system. Let's go ahead and
Speaker 2: throw it one more time here to Coach.
Speaker 5: McDaniel, another great benefit of year three, especially with the
Speaker 5: guys that this is their third year. You know in
Speaker 5: this program, you know, with me as the head coach,
Speaker 5: understanding who they are and how to you know best
Speaker 5: serve those individuals is huge. So knowing Tyreek's all or
Speaker 5: nothing type of mindset on the grass. Yes, we do
Speaker 5: take that into account. There's uh, there's multiple times that
Speaker 5: he's you know, usually trying to talk us into it,
Speaker 5: but we're talking him out of participation on.
Speaker 3: On the field. Knowing where his.
Speaker 5: Uh ferrari horsepower is at and uh and making sure
Speaker 5: that stays that way. So uh, it is very helpful
Speaker 5: with some of some of the types of practice players
Speaker 5: we have, knowing them and being able to keep them
Speaker 5: out of harm's way as best we can.
Speaker 2: And I know we're talking about receivers in this instance,
Speaker 2: but it applies to most players. And you know, McDaniel
Speaker 2: mentioned this in a press conference I think it was last
Speaker 2: week before the first open OTA session to the media
Speaker 2: about to traveling from you know, South Florida to California
Speaker 2: to meet with John Beck, and I just I kept
Speaker 2: thinking about this because and this is why I gave
Speaker 2: you that preamble about just wait for the season and
Speaker 2: wait to see what this's off looks like, because it's
Speaker 2: going to be, in my opinion, the best in the
Speaker 2: league by a good gap. But to not have to
Speaker 2: come in here and drill an offense and try to
Speaker 2: get the terminology down and try to get your favorites
Speaker 2: and your least favorites, and finding out which calls are
Speaker 2: preferable to your skill set and all the stuff that
Speaker 2: goes into learning a new offense. I refer to this
Speaker 2: all the day time in the podcast I'll Never Forget.
Speaker 2: There was a Packers and Lions Monday Night game and
Speaker 2: they had the Manning Cast where they were talking about
Speaker 2: Jared Goff in his second year of the Ben Johnson
Speaker 2: offense and Peyton Manning. We had always heard that the
Speaker 2: first year was kind of the learning filling out process,
Speaker 2: and Bruce arians had made the comment about eight games
Speaker 2: how long it takes to kind of get things down,
Speaker 2: and Peyton's like, by year three is when I felt
Speaker 2: the most comfortable. And damn it, who is the quarterback
Speaker 2: you're trying to kind of emulate the most. If you're
Speaker 2: to a tongue by loa, it's Peyton Manning because the
Speaker 2: skill sets are similar in terms of Peyton didn't have
Speaker 2: the biggest arm. He had a good enough arm like
Speaker 2: Tua does. He beats you between the ears by being
Speaker 2: so maniacal in his approach to the game and being
Speaker 2: so studious and just downright smarter than everybody else in
Speaker 2: the field that he was able to do the things
Speaker 2: we just talked about with Tua moving defenses with his
Speaker 2: body position and beginning the throwing emotion before he's even
Speaker 2: delivered or conveyed to the defense, that he knows where
Speaker 2: he's going with the ball. Like these high level nuances
Speaker 2: are what truly makes great quarterback play. And so for
Speaker 2: Tua to have not only this is what I like
Speaker 2: in the offense, this is what I don't like. I
Speaker 2: know how to work on the things I don't like.
Speaker 2: Now he can take all of that. And I knew
Speaker 2: he was going to get better because of year three.
Speaker 2: Where I didn't know I was going to see a
Speaker 2: better Tua was just improving the overall quarterback mechanic function
Speaker 2: of his entire game. Because it was one practice. But
Speaker 2: I came away watching this guy saying, he's got more
Speaker 2: yardage on each club, He's got more shots in the back,
Speaker 2: if he has hit to draw, if he has hit
Speaker 2: to cut, he can do all of that, and just
Speaker 2: the overall easy efficiency is going to make it for
Speaker 2: a more repeatable swing or in this instance, a throwing
Speaker 2: motion for a quarterback because he's gone out west to
Speaker 2: work with a quote unquote swing coach, And so you
Speaker 2: have the benefit of the third year in the offense
Speaker 2: and the increased knowledge and the increased familiarity with your
Speaker 2: teammates and your coaches and the system and the terminology
Speaker 2: and everything that goes into the evolving offense that McDaniel
Speaker 2: runs here. But now you've added a better swing, a
Speaker 2: better stroke right on top of that. I just I
Speaker 2: think the sky's limitman, because as a amateur golfer trying
Speaker 2: to make these references applicable to the fan base out there,
Speaker 2: as someone who has worked very hard on the driving
Speaker 2: range the last two years to try to get a
Speaker 2: golf swing figured out, Man, when you can kind of
Speaker 2: step aside and really drill on the swing and get
Speaker 2: that thing more efficient and make it a more repeatable
Speaker 2: stroke that you can count on and give yourself a
Speaker 2: better shot dispersion on each and every swing, it's the
Speaker 2: same exact thing for a quarterback. And Man, again, one practice,
Speaker 2: I'm telling you the quarterback is better. Physically, he's better,
Speaker 2: and we are knew that in year three the mental
Speaker 2: aspect of the game was going to be better too.
Speaker 2: So I'm beyond fired up here. On May the twenty
Speaker 2: nine thinking about how this Dolphins team is going to
Speaker 2: run rough shot on the rest of the National Football League,
Speaker 2: and let's go ahead and call it a podcast right there.
Speaker 2: Friday's episode, We're gonna come back and talk a lot
Speaker 2: about the questions you guys post to me on the mailbag,
Speaker 2: some inappropriate questions out there that we're very funny, but
Speaker 2: I cannot talk about them on the professional podcast, but
Speaker 2: I see you out there. We'll go ahead and address
Speaker 2: everything you guys asked that it is appropriate though, on
Speaker 2: the podcast, and the next week we have three OTA practices,
Speaker 2: and then after that it is back to two times
Speaker 2: a week. We're gonna have the NFL preview of the
Speaker 2: divisional guests. We'll do that again this year. We'll have
Speaker 2: some walking talks or some chats I should say, with
Speaker 2: players at the media day session this year that we'll
Speaker 2: play throughout the summer, so lots to come your way
Speaker 2: here on the Draft Time podcast, even though football goes
Speaker 2: away for a few weeks and then right around the
Speaker 2: corner training camp in the month of July and football
Speaker 2: we'll be back in no time. But in the meantime
Speaker 2: that is going to be my time. You all, please
Speaker 2: be sure to subscribe to the podcast on Apple, Spotify,
Speaker 2: wherever you get your podcast from. Go ahead and leave
Speaker 2: us a rating, leave us a review. You can follow
Speaker 2: me on social at WINFLD, NFL the team at Miami Dolphins.
Speaker 2: Check out the fish Tank podcast with my guys Seth
Speaker 2: and Juice. The Brian Hartlin episode very very good. I
Speaker 2: hadn't really heard Heartline speak publicly that much previously to this,
Speaker 2: but you can just get the sense why he was
Speaker 2: such an effective player and a really good coach and
Speaker 2: a great recruiter that he is now at Ohio State.
Speaker 2: The YouTube channel for med Availabilities, Dolphins Today, drave Time content,
Speaker 2: so much more, and last but not least, Miami Dolphins
Speaker 2: dot Com. Until next time. Fin's Up, Caroline and Cameron. Daddy,
Speaker 2: He's coming o.