Speaker 1: Practice Patrick throwing Parker Touchtowner. What a win for this
Speaker 1: Miami Dolphin team. Wow? What is up? Dolphins? And welcome
Speaker 1: to the Drivetime Podcast, part of the Miami Dolphins official
Speaker 1: podcast network covering your Miami Dolphins. I am your host,
Speaker 1: Travis Wingfield, and I am here to bring you your
Speaker 1: daily dose of Miami Dolphins football. And on today's show,
Speaker 1: Mel Kiper has a new mock draft and Daniel Jeremiah
Speaker 1: published his Dolphins dream mock. We're gonna cover both of
Speaker 1: those and get more into the draft as we are
Speaker 1: just one month away from the draft kicking off as
Speaker 1: scheduled as planned. On April Plus, we had video conferences
Speaker 1: with the new free agents for your Miami Dolphins. We're
Speaker 1: gonna cover those quotes and give you a preview of
Speaker 1: our film review podcast coming up next week. All of
Speaker 1: that and more here on this Friday March edition of
Speaker 1: the Drivetime Podcast miamime. So, we had a Mel Kuiper
Speaker 1: conference call on Wednesday where he discussed some Dolphins options
Speaker 1: in the draft, and he also published his most recent
Speaker 1: mock draft up on ESPN. But first, I want to
Speaker 1: get to Daniel Jeremiah because I love the way he
Speaker 1: comprehensively covers this thing in terms of who are the
Speaker 1: best players on his board? How does he think the
Speaker 1: draft will unfold? And I love having that two pronged
Speaker 1: approach because those two answers should be different. Teams value
Speaker 1: players different than other teams, and scouts all have different
Speaker 1: opinions on players. So that's what makes the draft so
Speaker 1: great is the variety and all these mock drafts and
Speaker 1: all these ideas. But to me, Jeremiah covers it so
Speaker 1: comprehensively because he'll give you team needs or talk about
Speaker 1: specific team fits. And so he laid out his perfect
Speaker 1: Dolphins draft for picks five, eighteen, twenty six, thirty nine
Speaker 1: and fifty six, the first two rounds of the draft,
Speaker 1: and I want to go ahead and go over that
Speaker 1: here on the podcast and give you a bit of
Speaker 1: insight on the players he selected for Miami at those spots.
Speaker 1: And the nice thing you notice here is that he
Speaker 1: considers these first two rounds to be really premium picks.
Speaker 1: And the Dolphins have five picks in those two rounds,
Speaker 1: so five premium picks to add to this roster. And
Speaker 1: if you guys have seen my Twitter timeline at Wingfield NFL,
Speaker 1: I tweeted out a PF graphic that shows the impact
Speaker 1: of free agency and the improvement of every single roster
Speaker 1: in the NFL, whether it was adding wins or losing wins.
Speaker 1: And they're basing it off war, which I know is
Speaker 1: a baseball stat wins above replacement, but it applies to
Speaker 1: football as well. And in terms of value added to
Speaker 1: the roster, only the Arizona Cardinals added more war to
Speaker 1: their organization this offseason in free agency, and the Dolphins
Speaker 1: have just done so well to add core parts to
Speaker 1: the football team, not just fixing needs on the roster,
Speaker 1: but adding the same type of players, the same character,
Speaker 1: the same theme within these players, and giving themselves so
Speaker 1: much flexibility on draft Day. And if you heard the
Speaker 1: interviews with each of those players on the Drivetime podcast,
Speaker 1: you'll recognize that theme and recognize that the Dolphins vision
Speaker 1: was very singular this offseason in terms of getting everybody
Speaker 1: on the same page. And you're also gonna notice that
Speaker 1: in the quotes today we have on this podcast from
Speaker 1: the video conference call with the entire Dolphins in South
Speaker 1: Florida media with each of the Dolphins free agents. So
Speaker 1: we'll get to that here in just one second, But
Speaker 1: I want to get back to the stream draft from
Speaker 1: Daniel Jeremiah, the fifth pick in the draft quarterback to
Speaker 1: a tongue of voloa. He has him listed there. We've
Speaker 1: heard his podcast co host Bucky Brooks refer to to
Speaker 1: a tongue of voloa as the best quarterback in this draft,
Speaker 1: above Joe Burrow, who right now has been the consensus
Speaker 1: number one overall pick on NFL dot com, on ESPN
Speaker 1: dot com, on the Draft Network, pretty much any website
Speaker 1: you want to look at. Joe Burrow goes number one
Speaker 1: overall to the Bengals, but there are also plenty of
Speaker 1: scouts that have to a tongue of voloa as the
Speaker 1: number one quarterback like Bucky Brooks, and here his co
Speaker 1: host list tongue of Voloa as the best option at
Speaker 1: number five for this Dolphins football team. And if you
Speaker 1: haven't seen it yet, To himself posted a video to
Speaker 1: his Instagram showing him working out, and there was some
Speaker 1: pretty pretty strong reaction to that video surfacing and what
Speaker 1: it might mean about his medicals going forward. And obviously
Speaker 1: I'm not going to speculate on that because all we
Speaker 1: have available to that is the video and what he
Speaker 1: looked like. But the reactions from several media major outlets
Speaker 1: referring to to a looking much better than they anticipated
Speaker 1: he would at this stage of his recovery, showed you
Speaker 1: the footwork, and that's been something into his game that
Speaker 1: has always been strong, is that strong lower half and
Speaker 1: the mechanical proficiency and how smooth and easy glide he
Speaker 1: is working below the waist, getting into his drop, getting
Speaker 1: into his setup, and the ability to both get off
Speaker 1: the spot when he sends his pressure, but also get
Speaker 1: himself to his next target and the next read in
Speaker 1: the progression, to work through those progressions and get the
Speaker 1: football out quickly and help his offensive line that way,
Speaker 1: help his receivers that way. If you hear any receiver
Speaker 1: talk about playing the position in the NFL, they will,
Speaker 1: to a man tell you that they want the ball
Speaker 1: out quick, Get it out now. I'm open right now,
Speaker 1: give me a chance to make a play. And that's
Speaker 1: been a strength to his game because both his feet
Speaker 1: and his eyes work at ultimate proficiency in terms of
Speaker 1: speed and processing their hardwired together, and that allows him
Speaker 1: to make his decisions but also execute those decisions as
Speaker 1: quickly as he makes them within his mind. So a
Speaker 1: great combination there for a quarterback. Jeremiah thinks that that
Speaker 1: makes two a tongue of Voloa the best option at
Speaker 1: number five for the Dolphins in this upcoming draft at
Speaker 1: number eighteen, going a little bit off the reservation here
Speaker 1: in terms of what the general consensus has been at
Speaker 1: this spot. And I actually saw Jeremiah tweet this guy
Speaker 1: could be the first receiver off the entire board, and
Speaker 1: that is to a tongue of Voloha's Alabama teammate, not
Speaker 1: Jerry Judy, but Henry Ruggs. So Daniel Jeremiah, the Move
Speaker 1: the Sticks podcast host and lead draft analysts for NFL
Speaker 1: Network has two of going at number five to the
Speaker 1: Dolphins and his dream draft, and Henry Ruggs, the speed
Speaker 1: receiver number eight teen going to Miami out of Alabama,
Speaker 1: and Henry Ruggs one the entire combine in terms of
Speaker 1: the forty yard dash time that was to be expected,
Speaker 1: he actually had a chance. A lot of people thought
Speaker 1: to John Ross is four to forty yard dash record
Speaker 1: set back. I want to say it was, and he
Speaker 1: didn't get that. He had four to seven on the
Speaker 1: forty yard dash. But this guy is much more than
Speaker 1: just a speed receiver. He can really run routes, he
Speaker 1: can really get in and out of breaks. He can
Speaker 1: play inside, he can play outside, and he is a
Speaker 1: production machine. Caught twenty five touchdowns on nineties six targets
Speaker 1: or ninety six touches, I should say in his college career,
Speaker 1: so pretty much of the time one out of every
Speaker 1: four touches he has goes to the house. This guy
Speaker 1: is electric when he gets the football. He can take
Speaker 1: slants to the house, He can get by you vertically,
Speaker 1: really really electrifying player. And the summer saying one of
Speaker 1: the top receivers on this draft board that could go
Speaker 1: in the top ten, maybe even number one receiver off
Speaker 1: the board overall for Jeremiah at number twenty six. Offensive
Speaker 1: tackle Austin Jackson out of USC And if you haven't
Speaker 1: heard this guy's story, you're missing out one of the
Speaker 1: players in this draft that I think helps us kind
Speaker 1: of maintain perspective about what we do in football terms
Speaker 1: of what life means, because this guy essentially bypassed an
Speaker 1: entire off season where he couldn't really fully work out
Speaker 1: because he donated bone marrow to his sister who was
Speaker 1: a perfect blood match and needed that transplant so she
Speaker 1: could continue her life as is, and Jackson was the
Speaker 1: first one to step in and make that happen. So
Speaker 1: he pretty much sacrificed his offseason workout regimen. And Jeremiah
Speaker 1: has referred to this on the Move the Sticks podcast
Speaker 1: that he and people around the USC program mentioned it
Speaker 1: took some time for him to get back, but once
Speaker 1: he did and once he got to full strength, he
Speaker 1: was back to his same self. And he's just twenty
Speaker 1: years old. So the upside on this tackle with rare,
Speaker 1: rare athletic traits. He's a big, big guy, and I
Speaker 1: think that he really attaches himself to that leadership mentality.
Speaker 1: I mean, what more leadership and selfless mentality can you
Speaker 1: exhibit than putting someone else over yourself when it comes
Speaker 1: to your profession and life. Just the ultimate selfless sacrifice
Speaker 1: for Austin Jackson. And he's a damn good football player too.
Speaker 1: At thirty nine here on Daniel Jeremiah's Dolphins Dream Draft
Speaker 1: is more Arlan Davidson out of Auburn, the defensive lineman,
Speaker 1: and he listened as a defensive end, but really this
Speaker 1: guy can play anywhere along that defensive line. We talk
Speaker 1: about techniques on this podcast all the time. Pretty much
Speaker 1: what you're looking at is over the nose tackle is
Speaker 1: a zero technique, and that's gonna range all the way
Speaker 1: out to what's called a wide nine technique, and that's
Speaker 1: the widest alignment for a down defensive lineman. But Davidson
Speaker 1: can pretty much play anywhere between. I wouldn't even put
Speaker 1: him past playing the nose tackle position. He can play
Speaker 1: that one tech. He can kick all the way out
Speaker 1: to the five, maybe even the seven, And the seven
Speaker 1: is gonna be the one that lines up out wide
Speaker 1: around the tight end five, over the town or on
Speaker 1: the outside shoulder of the offensive tackle, and your two
Speaker 1: techniques and three techniques are gonna be more condensed inside.
Speaker 1: And Davidson can do that. And he has the lateral
Speaker 1: agility and quickness and the arm and handwork to make
Speaker 1: himself kind of skinny and tough to block when he
Speaker 1: shoots those gaps and dives in and twist and slants
Speaker 1: and stunts and runs all the games you can do
Speaker 1: on a defensive line. This guy can get it done
Speaker 1: in a variety of ways. And Joe Burrow himself, we
Speaker 1: talked about the consensus or sort of the can and
Speaker 1: just number one overall quarterback in this draft. He talked
Speaker 1: about the toughest game that he played last year was
Speaker 1: against Auburn, and it was the game where the l
Speaker 1: s U offense, this high flying, record setting offense, was
Speaker 1: really restricted more than had been at any point in
Speaker 1: the season. He talked about how that matchup was so
Speaker 1: difficult because that Auburn front line was able to give
Speaker 1: them so many issues up front, and L s U
Speaker 1: is gonna put three four of these guys on their
Speaker 1: offensive line into the draft, but because of guys like
Speaker 1: Derek Brown and Marlon Davidson, the Auburn defensive line was
Speaker 1: tough to deal with for that L s U high
Speaker 1: flying offense. And I think Davidson's a great fit in
Speaker 1: terms of what he can do play multiple positions, can
Speaker 1: rush the passer, has had a hard edge. A good
Speaker 1: pick there at number thirty nine according to Daniel Jeremiah,
Speaker 1: and we talked about the L s U offensive line
Speaker 1: pick number fifty six in Jeremiah's Dream Dolphins Draft into
Speaker 1: your offensive line. He played center last year for L
Speaker 1: s U Lloyd Cushionberry and I really fell in love
Speaker 1: with this guy in the post season scouting process watching
Speaker 1: his work at the Senior Bowl, because he just takes
Speaker 1: such good angles to the football. He can really drop
Speaker 1: that anchor and drop that lower half and squat and
Speaker 1: hold up the pressure in terms of bull rushes. He
Speaker 1: can mirror in terms of quickness and going back and
Speaker 1: forth and passing off stunts and games. Very smart, heavy
Speaker 1: type of football player, big time leader. We detailed him
Speaker 1: in the Scouting Combine preview here back in my first
Speaker 1: week on the job for the Miami Dolphins here on
Speaker 1: the Drivetime Podcast part of the official Miami Dolphins podcast network.
Speaker 1: We previewed Cushion Berry and some of the character background
Speaker 1: and character detail of him, and he was awarded with
Speaker 1: the right to wear a number eighteen jersey for l
Speaker 1: s U, a distinction given to two players on that team,
Speaker 1: one on offense, one on defense. Calavon Chason War on
Speaker 1: the defensive side of the ball, Cushion Berry War on
Speaker 1: the offensive side of the ball. While he wore it
Speaker 1: in practice because restrictions didn't allow the offensive linemen to
Speaker 1: wear the number eighteen jersey, but he earned that and
Speaker 1: that eighteen jersey represents representing the state of Louisiana, representing
Speaker 1: the l s U football program and everything they stand
Speaker 1: for both and excellence on and off the field. So
Speaker 1: there's your character check, there's your leadership, there's your selfless mentality,
Speaker 1: and I think Jeremiah does a good job hitting on
Speaker 1: those notes here with that vision for leadership, guys that
Speaker 1: are willing to make the sacrifices necessary to become great
Speaker 1: football players and that can jive in with a positive
Speaker 1: locker mentality, a positive locker room mindset, something we're gonna
Speaker 1: hear about from several of the Dolphins newest free agent
Speaker 1: editions here in just one sec. But before we do that,
Speaker 1: Tongue by Loah, Henry Ruggs, Austin Jackson, and Marlon Davidson,
Speaker 1: Lloyd Cushionberry Jeremiah's top five picks and his dream Dolphins draft.
Speaker 1: I want to get now over to the mel Kiper
Speaker 1: mock draft, and Keiper has no variation with his fifth
Speaker 1: pick and the draft for the Miami Dolphins. But first
Speaker 1: I want to read his top five picks of this
Speaker 1: ESPN three point ol mock draft. It was published on March.
Speaker 1: He has Joe Burrow going to the Bengals number one,
Speaker 1: Chase Young going to Washington number two, the defensive end
Speaker 1: from Ohio State, highly regarded as the best player in
Speaker 1: this draft by many many draft pundits, including the Draft Network.
Speaker 1: Jeff Akuda, the top cornerback in this year's class, pretty
Speaker 1: much unanimously across the board, goes to Detroit to take
Speaker 1: for Darius Slay there and the Lions, and then the
Speaker 1: Giants come back with Isaiah Simmons, the versat will do
Speaker 1: everything linebacker there from Clemson. Although you can play him
Speaker 1: at safety, you can play him at slot cornerback, you
Speaker 1: can play him on your defensive line, can do everything.
Speaker 1: At pick number five, he has the Dolphins taking again
Speaker 1: quarterback to a tongue of voloa. And since we already
Speaker 1: covered to his footwork in the processing and the feet
Speaker 1: being hardwired to the eyes, let's talk now about his
Speaker 1: long ball. Because in that same video where he posted
Speaker 1: his workout and he put a caption on it of
Speaker 1: practicing social distancing with the long ball, and so the
Speaker 1: sense of humor clearly is there, But so is that
Speaker 1: long ball in his repertoire. We've talked about this on
Speaker 1: previous podcast about how he essentially played in three separate
Speaker 1: offenses in his three years there. At Alabama his first
Speaker 1: year coming off the bench in that National championship game
Speaker 1: in seventeen, really ran a lot of zone read, had
Speaker 1: twelve carries in that game and only played the second half.
Speaker 1: But then comes back and overtime and hits the big
Speaker 1: game winner touchdown past Devanta Smith after he took a
Speaker 1: sack on first down, gets himself into some hot water,
Speaker 1: and then rescues it after that with a big time
Speaker 1: touchdown throw with great anticipation, really impressive trajectory and perfect
Speaker 1: accuracy on that throw. And that's kind of what he
Speaker 1: does to put the ball downfield on those arcing deep throws.
Speaker 1: He throws it with anticipation, he recognizes the coverage and
Speaker 1: gets that thing out quickly and gives us player a
Speaker 1: chance to run underneath it and make a big play
Speaker 1: after the catch. And that was really the theme of
Speaker 1: Alabama offense was taking those vertical shots and taking advantage
Speaker 1: of all those speed and dynamic Round one type receivers
Speaker 1: they had there at Alabama. Then you come back this
Speaker 1: season and he changed coordinators again and turns into more
Speaker 1: of a let's take what the defense gives us, Let's
Speaker 1: stay on schedule, let's be smart about our decisions here
Speaker 1: and just really make this offense click and give these
Speaker 1: playmakers opportunities. And he was so sharp in that area,
Speaker 1: getting the ball out underneath, getting the ball to his
Speaker 1: check downs, moving the defense with his eyes, and putting
Speaker 1: the football where it had to go. So you look
Speaker 1: at his tape throughout the course of his college career, intermediate, short, deep,
Speaker 1: whatever it was, he really excelled throwing the football to
Speaker 1: all areas of the field. Now there are two more
Speaker 1: picks in this first round mock draft from mel Keeper
Speaker 1: up on ESPN Mock Draft three point oh. He has
Speaker 1: the Dolphins taking a running back at pick number eighteen,
Speaker 1: Georgia's DeAndre Swift. And my favorite thing personally about DeAndre
Speaker 1: Swift is how smooth he catches the football as a
Speaker 1: pass catcher and then turns right up field and there's
Speaker 1: no lost movement like sometimes you'll see a player catch
Speaker 1: the ball and they kind of have to regather and
Speaker 1: get themselves squared up field. But he just catches that
Speaker 1: thing seamlessly and turns it and goes. It's really impressive,
Speaker 1: and you see that in his running ability as well.
Speaker 1: A one cut guy that can really explode through the whole,
Speaker 1: really be dynamic at the point and make guys miss
Speaker 1: in the open field or in short spaces. So he
Speaker 1: gives you a major shot in the arm to the
Speaker 1: tailback position as well. And then it pick twenty six
Speaker 1: he has Miami taking offensive tackle out of Houston. Josh
Speaker 1: Jones and talking about the Senior Bowl and Lloyd Cushionberry,
Speaker 1: I don't think anybody showed better improvement throughout the Senior
Speaker 1: Bowl week than Josh Jones. And that's the number one
Speaker 1: thing you look for at the Senior Bowl is how
Speaker 1: does the guy respond to the Tuesday practice when you
Speaker 1: kind of load up all this install on them, and
Speaker 1: then through the course of Wednesday and Thursday in the
Speaker 1: one on one drills, understanding with the coaches want out
Speaker 1: of you, how much improvement can you show? And Josh
Speaker 1: Jones was so locked down on that Thursday practice that
Speaker 1: took place indoors there down in Mobile at their facility,
Speaker 1: and he was just locking guys up, and he was
Speaker 1: matching the speed rushes, mirroring, working back inside, redirecting all
Speaker 1: the stuff you want to see from the elite left
Speaker 1: tackle prospect. Josh Jones was doing that and sell Mel
Speaker 1: Kuiper has him at pick for Miami, blocking for DeAndre
Speaker 1: Swift and to a tongue of Valoa in an offense
Speaker 1: heavy draft for Mel Kuiper on ESPN and where his
Speaker 1: theme on the draft was on offense. The Dolphins signed
Speaker 1: ten players in fury agency, seven of those coming on
Speaker 1: the defensive side of the football. And we'll talk to
Speaker 1: some of those guys here on the podcast later or
Speaker 1: play their audio from their media press conferences via zoom
Speaker 1: over the video platform here on this Thursday, recording this
Speaker 1: podcast for Friday March. But I want to get to
Speaker 1: an interview Kyle Van Noyd did with Ian Rappaport on
Speaker 1: the rap Sheet and Friends podcast back on March sixteenth,
Speaker 1: just before he signed on March eighteen with the Miami
Speaker 1: Dolphins and raps. She asked him a question heading into
Speaker 1: free agency, how his mindset might change as he goes
Speaker 1: out to the free agent market and does not have
Speaker 1: a team. And here was Kyle's answer, which I found
Speaker 1: I found to be very refreshing and very enlightening from
Speaker 1: the Dolphins new linebacker. You know, I don't think my
Speaker 1: mindset is going to change at all as far as
Speaker 1: the player I am or how I envision them and
Speaker 1: my goals each and every year always to get better,
Speaker 1: always to be a leader on the team, and just
Speaker 1: be disruptive. Um now it's hopefully being able to set
Speaker 1: up my family and um be with the team or
Speaker 1: go back to the team that views me as a
Speaker 1: priority and that same mindset, that same mentality on a
Speaker 1: daily basis has been one of the teams of Brian
Speaker 1: Flores as core tenants that he wants to build here
Speaker 1: in Miami. So you can definitely see the relationship there
Speaker 1: between he and Kyle van Noy and how Van Noy
Speaker 1: can really perpetuate that message throughout the locker room, throughout
Speaker 1: the team, and throughout the building in South Florida. Now,
Speaker 1: there was another great question about playing multiple positions and
Speaker 1: comparing Kyle Van Noy to the honey Badger to Tyrone Matthew,
Speaker 1: who moves all across the formation. Obviously, Tyron Matthew plays
Speaker 1: on the back seven, van Noy in the front seven,
Speaker 1: but the comparison is apt and rap. She ended the
Speaker 1: question by asking him where do you want to play
Speaker 1: in terms of which position? Here was Van Noy's answer, Yeah,
Speaker 1: that's it, so that I love that question because I
Speaker 1: don't necessarily compare myself to Honey Badger at all, because
Speaker 1: you know, I don't like to get compared to other players.
Speaker 1: I'm my own player. I did try to I try
Speaker 1: to tell people that that's me and him have that
Speaker 1: same mindset. As far as he doesn't care about playing
Speaker 1: safety nickel corner, it doesn't matter he's on the field.
Speaker 1: That's my same mindset. It doesn't matter if I'm d
Speaker 1: n inside linebacker, outside linebacker, I'm lined up over the
Speaker 1: the damn center. I just loved and have a passion
Speaker 1: for football and want to be the best of my ability.
Speaker 1: And you know, with that being said, you don't I'm
Speaker 1: never going to probably be in that category of the
Speaker 1: Pro Bowls or the All Pros because I don't have
Speaker 1: a position. You gotta have a position to win those
Speaker 1: things like and I'm okay with that because I love football.
Speaker 1: Obviously I want those things. Those are personal goals. But
Speaker 1: at the end of the day, I want to win,
Speaker 1: and that's my mindset. I want to do whatever it
Speaker 1: takes to win football games. I mean, what more do
Speaker 1: you to hear than that? Right there? That is Brian
Speaker 1: Floores message through a player into locker room into the building.
Speaker 1: Like I mentioned, just the perfect answer to that question.
Speaker 1: Wants to win, doesn't care about individual accomplishment, individual accolades.
Speaker 1: Wants to be able to play multiple positions and impact
Speaker 1: the game, help us teammates. You just love that answer
Speaker 1: from Kyle van Noy And on the topic of good
Speaker 1: answers at press conferences among these free agents, we the
Speaker 1: Dolphins media had a chance to catch up with eight
Speaker 1: of the ten fur agent signings on Zoom Video Conferences
Speaker 1: on Thursday, and I want to just go through and
Speaker 1: mention some of the top quotes that I pulled from
Speaker 1: these interviews and try to find some different quotes compared
Speaker 1: to what we got on the interviews in the Drivetime
Speaker 1: podcast last week. And if you guys want to see
Speaker 1: these interviews in their entirety, you can find them on YouTube,
Speaker 1: the Miami Dolphins official YouTube channel, or anywhere you get
Speaker 1: your Dolphins information on socials, the website. We're gonna have
Speaker 1: this content for you guys everywhere we have content. But
Speaker 1: I want to go through some of the quotes that
Speaker 1: I found interesting or intriguing so far on these interviews,
Speaker 1: and we're just gonna go ahead and go in order
Speaker 1: of how these interviews were laid out to us. Very
Speaker 1: first up on our little interview circuit was linebacker e
Speaker 1: Land and Roberts, and he said something that I found
Speaker 1: very intriguing about not having the ability to take free
Speaker 1: agent visits and how much of a factor that was
Speaker 1: for him in his free agency period and how much
Speaker 1: it might have hampered him. And he basically said it
Speaker 1: wasn't a factor because he knew the kind of program
Speaker 1: that Brian Flores ran, and how he knew that everybody
Speaker 1: in that building would be of a similar mindset, of
Speaker 1: an intense workman like mindset. And you can just tell
Speaker 1: the infectious personality, the infectious work ethic that Brian Flores
Speaker 1: breeds in Miami, and these free agents, to a man,
Speaker 1: they all agree that's the reason they wanted to come here.
Speaker 1: Ted Carriss talked to me about drinking a gallon of
Speaker 1: milk every day back in high school. He talked about
Speaker 1: the leadership aspect of Brian Flores. But I want to
Speaker 1: mention another thing he said here about his workout regiments
Speaker 1: so far during coronavirus. He said that his neighbor across
Speaker 1: the street has a weight rack in his garage, So
Speaker 1: he goes over there and lifts weights in the garage
Speaker 1: and then runs up and down the streets and gets
Speaker 1: his band work in as well. But he also made
Speaker 1: a really good point about how he perceives Brian Flores
Speaker 1: defense playing on the other side of the football, and
Speaker 1: he mentioned that, you know, he was a sixth offensive lineman,
Speaker 1: the interior reserve offensive lineman for the Patriots for those
Speaker 1: years that Brian Flores coach the linebackers and the defensive
Speaker 1: coordinator there in New England. And he mentioned that with
Speaker 1: the Brian Flores defense, you're gonna have big, tough guys
Speaker 1: on that defensive line. Anytime you play Flora's teams, it's
Speaker 1: gonna be a tough day for the guys inside. Lots
Speaker 1: of hitting and covering guys up. And the covering guy's
Speaker 1: up reference is just about alignment where they aligned pre snap.
Speaker 1: But the physical aspect of the hitting thing, that's no secret.
Speaker 1: We talked to Brian Flores at training camp last year.
Speaker 1: Every single day he made the message the point we
Speaker 1: gotta beat blocks, we gotta tackle, We've gotta block guys
Speaker 1: on the other side of the football. And so when
Speaker 1: it comes to the physical aspect of the game. He
Speaker 1: really reinforces that mentality. It's big for him to be
Speaker 1: physical and to be the tougher player in every single game.
Speaker 1: Up next was Byron Jones, and he, too, like these
Speaker 1: other guys, was fantastic on the interviews. He had a
Speaker 1: great quote where he talked about wanting to be the
Speaker 1: catalyst for the culture in Miami and how pumped up
Speaker 1: and excited he is to come to Miami because it's
Speaker 1: a team with a direction, a team on the come up,
Speaker 1: and that he recognized that pretty much from his own perspective,
Speaker 1: but also throughout the rest of the league that everybody
Speaker 1: he spoke to, and you guys heard this on Drivetime,
Speaker 1: everybody that Byron Jones spoke to said that Brian Flores
Speaker 1: or just had great things to say about Brian Flores.
Speaker 1: He said, quote flow as a young coach, He's got
Speaker 1: young energy. I heard he's intense. I talked to a
Speaker 1: lot of people throughout the league and they all had
Speaker 1: great things to say about Brian Flores. He also was
Speaker 1: asked about his teammates that were added to the roster,
Speaker 1: and Jones wasn't shy about it. We got some ballers,
Speaker 1: he said, no doubt about that. He's excited to be
Speaker 1: a part of this defense, this new direction and the
Speaker 1: challenges of being a leader and being the vocal voice
Speaker 1: in the locker room for your Miami Dolphins. So getting
Speaker 1: the production and the leadership aspect from Byron Jones as
Speaker 1: a priority, I think Miami struck gold there. He also
Speaker 1: joked about his interception total and how yeah, he's gotta
Speaker 1: do better picking the foot ball off and mentioned that
Speaker 1: his ball production is not quite there yet, but not
Speaker 1: so fast, my friend. Forty three career pass breakups, that's
Speaker 1: ball production right there. Getting your hands in the football,
Speaker 1: the football shaped weird man like, you're not gonna catch
Speaker 1: you every single time, especially when you're playing in that
Speaker 1: tight coverage, staying in phase, staying in tight man coverage.
Speaker 1: It's tough to get picks when you're doing that. And
Speaker 1: if he can just break the pass up and take
Speaker 1: guys out of the route concept altogether, I mean, if
Speaker 1: you're not getting targeted, that means you're probably doing your job.
Speaker 1: So I think that that whole thing is completely overblown.
Speaker 1: He has fantastic ball production with forty three career pass
Speaker 1: breakups in the NFL. We then had a chance to
Speaker 1: catch up with Jordan Howard, new Dolphins running back, and
Speaker 1: he brings that physical mentality to his interviews, to the game,
Speaker 1: to the locker room. That's what he wants to do.
Speaker 1: Someone asked him a question about what his role might
Speaker 1: be in Miami or if they had predetermined a role
Speaker 1: for him in those contract negotiations, and he said, no,
Speaker 1: I just want to help the team win whatever way
Speaker 1: I can, So that mindset still on that same brand there.
Speaker 1: He talked about being physical and how he wants to
Speaker 1: hit the ball the defender before they hit him. That's
Speaker 1: his mindset. That's how he would describe his running style
Speaker 1: and if you want to talk about physicality in the
Speaker 1: game of football in general. On the other side of
Speaker 1: the ball, defensive end Emmanuel Ogball. I had a chance
Speaker 1: to go over his tape. We're gonna cover this on
Speaker 1: next week's podcast. That dude plays physical, physical football. When
Speaker 1: he hits you, when he strikes you with those hands,
Speaker 1: those guys feel it. A lot of times he's dent
Speaker 1: in that edge backwards. That's fun to watch. We'll cover
Speaker 1: that again next week on the podcast. But the main
Speaker 1: takeaway from me on a Manual's interview with the South
Speaker 1: Florida Media was that he said he got cleared from
Speaker 1: his torn peck which cost him the last six games
Speaker 1: and the playoffs in Super Bowl last year for Kansas
Speaker 1: City with a torn peck muscle. He said that he
Speaker 1: was cleared four to five weeks ago from that peck
Speaker 1: to work on field drills, although obviously he can't do
Speaker 1: that right now because of the restrictions with coronavirus, but
Speaker 1: he is doing some conditioning push ups and sit ups.
Speaker 1: But as soon as we can get back to life
Speaker 1: and get back to football, og ball is gonna be
Speaker 1: out there and be a full go for practices for
Speaker 1: your Miami dolf is now. He also mentioned the reason
Speaker 1: he came to Miami common theme here right. He said
Speaker 1: that a lot of teams were on him in free agency.
Speaker 1: The Dolphins were on him hard, but that he wanted
Speaker 1: to choose the Dolphins because he wanted to play for
Speaker 1: coach Flora's one of the best defensive minds in football
Speaker 1: in Oga's words. And up next was Kyle van Noy
Speaker 1: And if you haven't had a chance to see Kyle
Speaker 1: van Noy talk or see videos where he's miked up,
Speaker 1: go over to YouTube right now and check out the
Speaker 1: Kyle van Noy video, because this guy just illuminates personality
Speaker 1: and kindness and you would just never know that he's
Speaker 1: this rough and tough and rugged football player when you
Speaker 1: consider his off the field demeanor and just how kind
Speaker 1: of gentle sounding he is. But he had some very
Speaker 1: good sound clips on this availability, and I want to
Speaker 1: go ahead and start right here with the first one
Speaker 1: where he was asked about Brian Flores, and he said,
Speaker 1: with a big smile on his face, you probably wish
Speaker 1: you could play for him if you played football. The
Speaker 1: toughness that he has, the grit that he has, He's
Speaker 1: the same guy every day. He's ready to go to
Speaker 1: work every single day. Also said that he doesn't like
Speaker 1: being called a linebacker or a defensive end because he's
Speaker 1: just a football player. And we know how important that is.
Speaker 1: And Brian Flores his position less defense, versatility, rushing the
Speaker 1: pastor playing the run, dropping into coverage, he does it all.
Speaker 1: But you didn't just sign van Noy for how great
Speaker 1: of a guy he is, for how much production he
Speaker 1: gives you on the football field, and for his versatility.
Speaker 1: You also signed him because of his leadership and he's
Speaker 1: more than well aware of that, knows that he's one
Speaker 1: of the older players on this young football team, and
Speaker 1: that he is really excited about embracing that leadership role
Speaker 1: to help the younger guys not just on the football field,
Speaker 1: but off of it as well, and then saving the
Speaker 1: best for the last. Somebody asked a question, I believe
Speaker 1: it was ESPNS cam Wolfe asked him a question about
Speaker 1: his best Floras story, and he thought on it for
Speaker 1: a second, but then came back with this story. With
Speaker 1: the Patriots, it was a December day, late in the season,
Speaker 1: cold out there in Foxborough, and they had a bad practice.
Speaker 1: Things were not going well, and Flora's kind of gathered
Speaker 1: the leader being Kyle Van Noy and Dante high Tower
Speaker 1: of that linebacker room and said, look, guys, we're not
Speaker 1: doing this the right way today. We're not just out
Speaker 1: here just to be out here. We're trying to get
Speaker 1: things done. And Kyle spoke about how that resonated with
Speaker 1: him on the practice field at that moment. But once
Speaker 1: they got into the film room and they were shown
Speaker 1: the lack of energy or the lack of enthusiasm at practice,
Speaker 1: and it really woke them up as to say like
Speaker 1: we need this kick in the pants right now to
Speaker 1: get things going, to get things cranking, and that kind
Speaker 1: of change the energy for the week. Then during the
Speaker 1: game on Sunday, as you're preparing for the game all
Speaker 1: week long, the same situation they're preparing for that got
Speaker 1: that note from Brian Flores shows up in the game
Speaker 1: and both Van Noy and high Tower made a play
Speaker 1: on the football and they come back to the sideline
Speaker 1: and they're kind of rising. Coach Flora's about not being
Speaker 1: out here just to be out here, so he has
Speaker 1: that teaching mentality that resonates with the team, But they
Speaker 1: also have the comfortability and the familiarity with Brian Flores
Speaker 1: to be able to joke around, to mess around with him.
Speaker 1: So it's not like that players coach where they love
Speaker 1: him because he's easy and doesn't set strong boundaries. It's
Speaker 1: the players coach that has these strict boundaries and knows
Speaker 1: when to be serious when to be tough, and having
Speaker 1: that balance, that very delicate balance, is how you earn
Speaker 1: respect in this league. And then finally, I wanted to
Speaker 1: throw this last note on here because this is like
Speaker 1: my favorite thing as a lifelong football fan, the Finns.
Speaker 1: I'm a West coast I grew up on the West coast,
Speaker 1: so the games were always at ten o'clock am for
Speaker 1: me out here. And when the Fins get that win
Speaker 1: in the ten am window, you have the rest of
Speaker 1: the day to watch the afternoon games and then to
Speaker 1: watch the night game. And it's just so much better,
Speaker 1: so much more enjoyable to watch other teams play when
Speaker 1: you have a Dolphins win in your back pocket. And
Speaker 1: Vanoy mentioned the exact same thing, how much he loves
Speaker 1: getting that win in the one o'clock Eastern window and
Speaker 1: then going home and enjoying the night with the win
Speaker 1: in his back pocket and watching other teams play ball.
Speaker 1: So check out the YouTube stuff, Miami Dolphins YouTube. Channe know,
Speaker 1: we have all the videos of these interviews. We've got
Speaker 1: one more to get to, but I want to just
Speaker 1: make him mention to go out and go out there
Speaker 1: and check these videos out, because these guys all have personality.
Speaker 1: They're all very well versed in the leadership, the versatility,
Speaker 1: all the things we've preached on this podcast for the
Speaker 1: month that I've been doing it. Now, these guys all
Speaker 1: really really emanate that personality and that style. I promise
Speaker 1: you're going to enjoy it, and we'll go ahead and
Speaker 1: finish up here with Shack Lawson, defensive end coming over
Speaker 1: from Buffalo. You heard him on the podcast last week
Speaker 1: and he kind of reiterated a lot of those points
Speaker 1: about what makes him a special football player and why
Speaker 1: he decided to join the Miami Dolphins, mentioned reuniting with
Speaker 1: Mary and Hobby, his former defensive line coach at Clemson.
Speaker 1: Talked about the differences between he and Christian Wilkins and
Speaker 1: said the only difference between he and Christian is that
Speaker 1: Christian has done everything, and by that he means score
Speaker 1: a touchdown on the offensive side of the ball. So
Speaker 1: clearly Shack trying to help the team win in any
Speaker 1: way he can. He was also asked about what it
Speaker 1: means to him to set the edge, and you could
Speaker 1: tell a certain sense of right. He even said himself,
Speaker 1: he takes pride in not letting anybody out of his
Speaker 1: gap because on defense, you're gonna be responsible for certain
Speaker 1: gaps on the defensive line, and Shack has that off
Speaker 1: the edge, mainly setting the edge as the defensive end,
Speaker 1: and he really takes pride and setting that edge, making
Speaker 1: sure nobody gets out of his gap, and also resetting
Speaker 1: the line of scrimmage by shocking the offensive line, moving
Speaker 1: them backwards and pushing them into the ball carrier. And
Speaker 1: he said, that's how you get to those TFLs. And
Speaker 1: of course, Shack had the second most TFLs among defensive
Speaker 1: lineman last season in the NFL. So again, go check
Speaker 1: out all those videos on the Miami Dolphins YouTube channel.
Speaker 1: Will probably have him up on the social media's as
Speaker 1: well here soon, and I want to give you guys
Speaker 1: a quick glimpse into what we're doing on the podcast
Speaker 1: next week. I've got about six or seven players done
Speaker 1: in terms of watching author reps from tape last year.
Speaker 1: Been a busy week doing that, and we're gonna get
Speaker 1: kind of into the weeds on that all twenty two
Speaker 1: and tell you what makes these players special and a
Speaker 1: big reason why so many pundits around the league are
Speaker 1: saying this Miami Dolphins team really did a good job
Speaker 1: in free agency of improving this roster, and just how
Speaker 1: intelligent these guys are when it comes to playing on
Speaker 1: the field, knowing their job and getting that job done.
Speaker 1: And it really points to this idea about all the
Speaker 1: veteran leadership the Dolphins brought in this offseason, which could
Speaker 1: really help in a possibly shortened off season with the
Speaker 1: coronavirus going around. That plus the presence of young leaders
Speaker 1: like Christian Wilkins, Jerome Baker, Ray Kawad McMillan, and not
Speaker 1: to mention the vets that have been here for a
Speaker 1: couple of years, like a Bobby McCain for instance. There's
Speaker 1: a theme building here and that theme was really perpetuated
Speaker 1: by this year's free agency class. So checking on the
Speaker 1: podcast next week, we're gonna go in on the film
Speaker 1: on several of these guys, like, for instance, I tweeted
Speaker 1: on Thursday, I believe it was maybe it was Wednesday
Speaker 1: about Byron Jones and a one on one rep against
Speaker 1: Terry McLaurin of Washington, who ran a four three five
Speaker 1: forty yard dash at the Combine just last year. And
Speaker 1: Byron Jones goes stride for stride with him on a
Speaker 1: post route where he's playing from outside leverage, which means
Speaker 1: he's already outflanked to the post route and he just
Speaker 1: stays in that hip pocket showing you the world class speed.
Speaker 1: So we're gonna go over several plays like that tell
Speaker 1: you which plays that you should go check out on
Speaker 1: game Pass to get a good feel for what these
Speaker 1: guys can do best here in Miami. Will have all
Speaker 1: that next week, But as for today's podcast, that's gonna
Speaker 1: be my time. You all, please be sure to subscribe
Speaker 1: to the podcast on Apple, podcast, Spotify, wherever you get
Speaker 1: your shows from. Go ahead and leave us a rating,
Speaker 1: leave us a review, Follow me on Twitter at Wingfield NFL,
Speaker 1: follow the Dolphins at Miami Dolphins, and of course check
Speaker 1: out the fish Tank and Audible podcast as well as
Speaker 1: Miami Dolphins dot com and the YouTube channel for all
Speaker 1: those videos. Until next time, fins Up, It's up. It's Up.