Speaker 1: Factors are Alfins, Patrick Drawing, Parford textole what a win
Speaker 1: for this Miami Dolphin team. Wow? What is up? Dolphins?
Speaker 1: And welcome to the Drivetime Podcast, part of the Miami
Speaker 1: Dolphins official podcast network, covering your Miami Dolphins each and
Speaker 1: every day. How's it going everybody? 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: we have a bunch of your questions to get to
Speaker 1: via the Twitter mail bag. But first we're gonna roll
Speaker 1: through an introduction of the undrafted free agent class and
Speaker 1: get you updated on all the rookies that are signed, sealed,
Speaker 1: and delivered, plus a brief look at the notion that
Speaker 1: quarterbacks on big contracts can't win Super Bowl titles, as
Speaker 1: well as the benefit of a quarterback on a rookie deal.
Speaker 1: All of that and more on this Thursday, May the
Speaker 1: fourteenth edition of the Drivetime Podcast. Miami First, and we
Speaker 1: have signed, sealed, and delivered seven of the Miami Dolphins
Speaker 1: eleven draft picks from last month's annual NFL Selection Meeting.
Speaker 1: First Real Quick, Ray Kwon, Davis, Brandon Jones, Solomon Kinley,
Speaker 1: Jason Strowbridge, Curtis Weaver, and Blake Ferguson all signed four
Speaker 1: year rookie contracts and quarterback to a tongue. Voloa is
Speaker 1: the first of the first round selections both for the
Speaker 1: Dolphins and the NFL league wide to sign his rookie contract,
Speaker 1: and that, of course is a four year deal with
Speaker 1: a fifth year team option. Standard business there in the
Speaker 1: first round. Great work by the Dolphins to get the
Speaker 1: business side out of the way and make football the
Speaker 1: only thing most of our draft class has to worry
Speaker 1: about right now. And that rookie contract for twa brings
Speaker 1: up a topic that I always see debated and one
Speaker 1: that I just don't think holds a lot of water
Speaker 1: once you bring context to the table. First, though, let's
Speaker 1: just call a spade a spade. In a league that
Speaker 1: has a salary cap and a league where one position
Speaker 1: commands by far the greatest chunk of that cap, when
Speaker 1: you have an established veteran at the position, I mean,
Speaker 1: we're seeing contracts start to go up to thirty million
Speaker 1: dollars a p y for quarterbacks, and I'm sure Super
Speaker 1: Bowl champion and League m v P. Patrick Mahomes will
Speaker 1: nudge that number closer to forty million when he is
Speaker 1: finally due his payday. So in a league where the
Speaker 1: cap is roughly two million, of course, having a thirty
Speaker 1: million dollar quarterback makes filling out the rest of the
Speaker 1: roster the other fifty two spots a little more challenging.
Speaker 1: That's basic logic. That's why you often see teams get
Speaker 1: aggressive early in that rookie contract window for the quarterback
Speaker 1: and will typically start to surround the young quarterback with
Speaker 1: weapons by year number two. Hell, we even saw it
Speaker 1: last year from our two rivals, with the Jets going
Speaker 1: out and getting Levy on Bell and Jamison Crowder for
Speaker 1: Sam Donald and the Bills going out and getting John
Speaker 1: Brown and Cole Beasley last year, on top of trading
Speaker 1: first to fawn digs this year. But the Dolphins are
Speaker 1: in a unique position as far as the general league
Speaker 1: is concerned because of the work last year to sort
Speaker 1: sort of reset the cap and really clear off essentially
Speaker 1: every penny of those old contracts from the previous regime
Speaker 1: and give themselves such a fresh slate. They were able
Speaker 1: to build this thing under one succinct vision, and we've
Speaker 1: talked about that on length on this podcast. Even with
Speaker 1: this past free agency class, Miami are in a good
Speaker 1: position to be aggressive if they want to be next
Speaker 1: year and can continue building out this roster with both
Speaker 1: quality starters and depth from top down. I ask, what's
Speaker 1: the harm and adding more talent and giving yourself more
Speaker 1: flexibility and more depth. It's a win win because salary
Speaker 1: cap unused. Though it can be rolled over, it's there
Speaker 1: to be used. So I look at the idea of
Speaker 1: bolstering positions, bolstering your roster, and just being the best
Speaker 1: possible team you can be from player number one, whoever
Speaker 1: that might be, all the way down to player number
Speaker 1: fifty three, whoever that might be, and really extend that
Speaker 1: to the ninety man roster. Actually I should go back
Speaker 1: and say fifty five men on roster now with the
Speaker 1: new rules. But going down to the man on the roster,
Speaker 1: Brian Flores and Chris Career, this is what they do.
Speaker 1: They evaluate, They turn over stones. They are not going
Speaker 1: to arrest until they think of all the options that
Speaker 1: are available to them. Obviously not using other teams rosters,
Speaker 1: because you can't just go out there and sign someone
Speaker 1: else's player unless you have to give something back to
Speaker 1: them in a trade. But if there's a player out
Speaker 1: there that's available and they think that player is an
Speaker 1: upgrade to one of the nineties spots on the roster,
Speaker 1: take it. That's how you become a better football team.
Speaker 1: That's how you create more competition, and so you not
Speaker 1: only have more talent on the roster, you create this environment.
Speaker 1: You breed this culture of competition, which just makes everybody
Speaker 1: on the roster better because you have to work. I mean,
Speaker 1: even personally speaking, before I got hired by the Miami Dolphins,
Speaker 1: other podcasts out there drove me to be better. If
Speaker 1: someone dropped an episode or dropped an article that I
Speaker 1: thought was maybe ahead of me, or looked at something
Speaker 1: that I hadn't done yet. I wanted to make something
Speaker 1: of my own that was better, to make myself stand
Speaker 1: out more because I want to make this a career
Speaker 1: for myself. So I was driven by my competitors. Same
Speaker 1: thing works here on the football field. So the Dolphins
Speaker 1: are in a position where they can go out there
Speaker 1: and search for players on the open market, even if
Speaker 1: they are deep at that position, because improve the roster.
Speaker 1: So to tie this whole thing back to the quarterback.
Speaker 1: According to over the cap dot Com, the Dolphins have
Speaker 1: the eighteenth most expensive quarterback room in all of football
Speaker 1: and among the least amount of future assets owed. And
Speaker 1: with the experience veteran who played really well last year
Speaker 1: and Ryan Fitzpatrick we all know, the fifth overall pick
Speaker 1: in the draft and to a tongue of Valoa and
Speaker 1: the fanfare and the praise he gets from so many
Speaker 1: scouts and pundits around the league. And still speaking of
Speaker 1: cheap quarterback contracts, we still have a twenty three year
Speaker 1: old Josh Rosen here, who really because the Cardinals paid
Speaker 1: so much of the initial money on his contract upfront,
Speaker 1: with that signing bonus, the Dolphins have a super cheap
Speaker 1: contract on a twenty three year old Josh Rosen who
Speaker 1: is still growing and developed upping and Brian Flores has
Speaker 1: mentioned that growth he's seen from Josh Rosen and Jake
Speaker 1: Rudoc there as well, who had a strong preseason and
Speaker 1: training camp last year. So that's a great spot for
Speaker 1: this team to be in. The talent to financial resources
Speaker 1: committed balance is really in favor of the team because
Speaker 1: you've got a good deep quarterback room and it's not
Speaker 1: costing you all that much, so that means a window
Speaker 1: of four to five years for your championship. Your quote unquote,
Speaker 1: and I'm doing air quotes right now, you're super Bowl window. Right.
Speaker 1: That's where I disagree, because sure, factually it is true
Speaker 1: that the quarterback on the big top five level contract
Speaker 1: hasn't won a Super Bowl and quite some time. That
Speaker 1: is a fact. But facts don't mean a lot without context,
Speaker 1: like the context that Matt Ryan is in that category.
Speaker 1: When the Falcons led to three in a Super Bowl game,
Speaker 1: does that nearly improbable? Actually, until that point was improbable comeback?
Speaker 1: Mean that he was the team's problem that year? Far
Speaker 1: from it, of course not. He was the league m
Speaker 1: v P and broke the record for passer rating in
Speaker 1: a single season. What about the year prior Cam Newton
Speaker 1: goes off for an m v P season, played in
Speaker 1: a Super Bowl game, didn't win it, but they played
Speaker 1: in it. Would you take a fifteen and one season
Speaker 1: and come up just one game short of a championship?
Speaker 1: How about in two thousand nine when Peyton Manning and
Speaker 1: the Colts were on the fringe of a championship, but
Speaker 1: that on side kick at halftime or to start a
Speaker 1: second half rather really swung the game towards the underdog Saints.
Speaker 1: These are all examples of how you could still be
Speaker 1: a damn good football team if you have an elite
Speaker 1: quarterback on that big contract. And the best tweet I saw,
Speaker 1: I forget who was from some My apologies for not
Speaker 1: crediting properly, but someone had tweeted out that sure it
Speaker 1: is tougher to build a roster with the massive contract quarterback,
Speaker 1: but you know, it's even harder winning a championship without
Speaker 1: having that guy established at quarterback. So the point is this,
Speaker 1: there's no one way to skin a cat, so to speak.
Speaker 1: As long as you have clear vision and are not
Speaker 1: making moves from desperation to bill voids on the roster
Speaker 1: and try to prolong your own job security, then you
Speaker 1: can find find ways into the winner circle from really
Speaker 1: any route. There's no one way to do it. But
Speaker 1: for the time being, the Dolphins are in a nice
Speaker 1: spot in regards to the cap situation for the immediate
Speaker 1: and long term future, and a lot of that has
Speaker 1: to do with the quarterback room being more talented than
Speaker 1: the money it's owed. Alright, speaking of contracts, we have
Speaker 1: ten brand new undrafted free agents that we haven't talked
Speaker 1: about on this podcast. Let's go ahead and dive into
Speaker 1: the ten players we have not broken down, the only
Speaker 1: ten players on this roster we have not yet broken down,
Speaker 1: and we start at the wide receiver position with Matt Cole,
Speaker 1: who was a four year letter winner at McKendree University,
Speaker 1: where he was named Great Lakes Valley Conference Special Teams
Speaker 1: Player of the Year as a senior in twenty nineteen.
Speaker 1: He caught forty three balls for nine hundred thirty nine
Speaker 1: yards last year and twelve touchdowns. Both the yardage and
Speaker 1: touchdowns were school records there at McKendree. He also had
Speaker 1: twenty three kickoff returns for six hundred and twenty five
Speaker 1: yards one score, and eight punt returns for two hundred
Speaker 1: and eight yards. And a cool thing about Matt Cole,
Speaker 1: he was the Prospect X from this year. And what
Speaker 1: that is is the mm QBS Kalin Coller has an
Speaker 1: annual Prospect X where they kind of hide the sleeper
Speaker 1: type of prospect that no one knows about, and they
Speaker 1: reveal him once he signs or gets drafted by a team.
Speaker 1: And this year that happened to be Matt Cole. And
Speaker 1: there's a really cool story up on the Palm Beach
Speaker 1: post written by hal Habib about Matt Cole and about
Speaker 1: the phone call between he and Brian Flores and how
Speaker 1: that phone call left Matt in tears and he knew
Speaker 1: that Miami was the place for him. So this kid
Speaker 1: can return kicks. He is a big, big play waiting
Speaker 1: to happen. And you see that return ability after he
Speaker 1: catches the football. He can turn basic little screens or
Speaker 1: drag routes or mesh concepts and turn them into big
Speaker 1: place for touchdowns with a subtle little move in the
Speaker 1: open field. And he creates a lot of big plays
Speaker 1: after the catch with that run after the catch ability.
Speaker 1: Also in the wide receiver room. Kirk Merritt, who spent
Speaker 1: the last two years in Arkansas State after coming out
Speaker 1: of East Mississippi Community College, and we all know about
Speaker 1: them from the show on Netflix chance you which, by
Speaker 1: the way, if you haven't watched that show, go watch
Speaker 1: every single season front to back right now, a terrific
Speaker 1: program on Netflix. Kirk Merritt earned all Sunbelt honors both
Speaker 1: years he was there. He caught seventy balls for eight
Speaker 1: hundred and six yards and twelve touchdowns last year as
Speaker 1: a senior and eighty three grabs for one thousand five
Speaker 1: yards and seven touchdowns. As a junior, his eighty three
Speaker 1: catches were third in school history and led the Sun
Speaker 1: Belt Conference last season. And you want to talk about
Speaker 1: speed again with this player. He has a track background
Speaker 1: as well as so many of these Dolphins rookies do.
Speaker 1: He was a Louisiana state champion in high school in
Speaker 1: the one hundred meters, so he can flat out scoot.
Speaker 1: Those are the two receivers. Let's go ahead and move
Speaker 1: to the tight end position where the Dolphins bring in
Speaker 1: a former defensive player and Bryce Stirk out of Montana State.
Speaker 1: And though he was a defensive player playing off the edge,
Speaker 1: is kind of a linebacker slash defensive and conversion player.
Speaker 1: He will make that jump to tight end where he
Speaker 1: did play back in high school at the position before
Speaker 1: he got to Montana State. On the defensive side, he
Speaker 1: did play two seasons at Montana State where he was
Speaker 1: second team fcs L American Honors. And we're gonna start
Speaker 1: with don L. Stanley out of South Carolina. This guy
Speaker 1: is a six year college player. He started all three
Speaker 1: interior offensive line positions in his career, but primarily as
Speaker 1: a center each of the last two seasons, and Chris
Speaker 1: Kaufman on Twitter at c K Parrott, You guys probably
Speaker 1: know who he is, does a lot of great work
Speaker 1: for the three Yards per Carry podcast. He had some
Speaker 1: videos showing Stanley going up against Christian Wilkins and Dexter
Speaker 1: Lawrence and javon kinlaw and practice every single day. All
Speaker 1: the guys that he faces in the SEC really kind
Speaker 1: of have him battle tested throughout the course of his career,
Speaker 1: and you would think maybe that would get him drafted.
Speaker 1: It did not, But this guy just goes up there
Speaker 1: and physically matches up against some of the best players
Speaker 1: currently getting drafted high in the last couple of NFL
Speaker 1: drafts in Wilkins, in Lawrence, and obviously now this year
Speaker 1: in javon Kin law And So Stanley a five year
Speaker 1: letter winner there from twenty nineteen and three year starter
Speaker 1: at South Carolina. He finished his career with fifty games played,
Speaker 1: thirty eight starts, twenty three at center, eleven at left guard,
Speaker 1: and four at right guard. He was a team captain
Speaker 1: for his senior season and also won the team's Leadership Award,
Speaker 1: an Unselfish Teammate award on the offensive side of the ball,
Speaker 1: so sounds like he fits the bill here for being
Speaker 1: a team first, tough, smart player under Brian Flores in Miami.
Speaker 1: Also along the offensive line Jonathan Hubbard, who was a
Speaker 1: four year letterman out of Northwestern State. He played in
Speaker 1: thirty two games with twenty six starts, primarily at tackle.
Speaker 1: He helped the Demon offense established school records and passing
Speaker 1: yardage each of the last two seasons. And the third
Speaker 1: member of the undrafted offensive line group is Nick Kltmeyer,
Speaker 1: a three year letterman at Kansas State, playing in all
Speaker 1: thirty eight games of his career. He started all thirteen
Speaker 1: games at right tackle as a senior last year and
Speaker 1: earned honorable mention all Big Twelve honors. He played his
Speaker 1: freshman season at Western Illinois before transferring to Kansas State.
Speaker 1: And we do have some testing numbers here for colt
Speaker 1: Meyer did eight teen bench on the eighteen reps on
Speaker 1: the bench rather twenty five and a half inch vertical
Speaker 1: jump eight ft one on the broad here at eight
Speaker 1: to one three cone time. He has a massive wingspan.
Speaker 1: That's where you really see the impacts here. He has
Speaker 1: thirty four and a quarter inch arms and an eighty
Speaker 1: two and a half inch wingspan, a long, tall tackle
Speaker 1: there who goes six ft seven and has, of course
Speaker 1: those thirty four and a quarter inch arm So coming
Speaker 1: out of Old Miss, he was a four year letterman
Speaker 1: and three year starter there at Old Miss, where he
Speaker 1: played in forty eight games with thirty six starts. He
Speaker 1: finished with a career one thirty two tackles, ten and
Speaker 1: a half sacks, and his ten point five career sacks
Speaker 1: are eleventh and program history. He earned second team All
Speaker 1: SEC honors as a senior last year, and his thirty
Speaker 1: tackles were the most in the conference by a nose
Speaker 1: tackle defensive line. So ray lima one of two defensive
Speaker 1: tackles signed as undrafted free agents. The other one Benito Jones.
Speaker 1: This is a guy's name you might have heard a
Speaker 1: lot in draft circles or on mock drafts. He goes
Speaker 1: six ft one and packs a three twenty one pound
Speaker 1: package in that tight contact compact frame that he has,
Speaker 1: and he uses his hands very active, can slip blocks
Speaker 1: in short spaces and just finds a way to keep
Speaker 1: active and keep moving and staying in the play as
Speaker 1: he's gonna go ahead and keep after even if he
Speaker 1: loses initially and gets himself into the backfield, into the
Speaker 1: gap and trying to make an impact on that defensive line. Up. Next,
Speaker 1: we've got Tysha and Render, who is an edge. He
Speaker 1: went to Middle Tennessee State, and you might recall him
Speaker 1: as the famed rainy photo of Belichick during the scouting
Speaker 1: combine when he went to scout Render individually at his
Speaker 1: pro day at Middle Tennessee State. He was a senior
Speaker 1: in twenty nineteen, started all twelve games and had a
Speaker 1: career high forty nine tackles. Also recorded three and a
Speaker 1: half sacks, one pick, five pass breakups, two fumble recoveries,
Speaker 1: and too forced fumbles. And while I can tell you
Speaker 1: I watched some Iowa State and Old Miss football this
Speaker 1: past season, I did not catch any Middle Tennessee State games.
Speaker 1: So I'm gonna go off this scouting report from the
Speaker 1: sports hub dot com coaches speaking after his pro day
Speaker 1: there at Middle Tennessee quote, big Rend is a guy
Speaker 1: that can throw on Tuesday practice tape in the dog
Speaker 1: days of the season and witness him on the back
Speaker 1: side of a play run the opposite direction from him,
Speaker 1: and he would turn and bust his butt to make
Speaker 1: a quote save the day play. He consistently had effort
Speaker 1: that we would use as an example of how to
Speaker 1: play defensive football. Combine that with his physical attributes, he's
Speaker 1: got a chance to be great for somebody on Sundays.
Speaker 1: He grew a ton as a leader slash person over
Speaker 1: the years I was with him, and I enjoyed watching
Speaker 1: him work to become better end quote and last but
Speaker 1: not least, more of an off ball linebacker and kyl
Speaker 1: And Johnson out of Pittsburgh. He started all thirteen games
Speaker 1: there last season after transferring from Florida as a graduate
Speaker 1: pick up. Fifty four tackles, six and a half sacks,
Speaker 1: two forced fumbles earned honorable mention all a CC honors.
Speaker 1: At Florida, Johnson played in thirty three games with nine starts,
Speaker 1: totaling eighty three tackles and one sack for the Gators defense.
Speaker 1: So those are the ten undrafted free agents. And if
Speaker 1: you happen to find yourself at training camp and want
Speaker 1: to know what number of these guys where. The tight
Speaker 1: end Bryce Stirk number eighty seven, the wide receivers Kirk
Speaker 1: Merritt number eighty three, and Matt Cole number eighty two,
Speaker 1: along the offensive line, Donnel Stanley seventy two, Nick Caltmeyer
Speaker 1: seventy nine, Jonathan Hubbard seventy one. On the defensive line,
Speaker 1: Ray Lima seventy six, Benito Jones off the edge, Tyshan
Speaker 1: Render number sixty four, and linebacker Kylan Johnson number fifty nine. Alright,
Speaker 1: let's go ahead and get to your questions on the mailbag.
Speaker 1: You guys know the drill by now. I put the
Speaker 1: call out on Twitter. You respond with your questions. I
Speaker 1: answered them here on the podcast best I can, and
Speaker 1: the first one to hear from Baron Brown. He's at
Speaker 1: Baron Brown. Makes it very easy on me not having
Speaker 1: to put anounced names I can't figure out with current personnel.
Speaker 1: How do you see the Dolphins safety position shaking out
Speaker 1: our McCain and row the week one starter as well.
Speaker 1: I think that you have to be very loose with
Speaker 1: your term starter by definition on this football team in general,
Speaker 1: because they're just gonna play guys that match up best
Speaker 1: with what they think the opponent does best, and that's
Speaker 1: gonna be a weekly thing they adapt to. Now, one
Speaker 1: thing you look at at the safety position, and we
Speaker 1: talked about it on the Tuesday podcast from the notes
Speaker 1: from Daniel Jeremiah the defensive principles of some of the
Speaker 1: defensive schemes that are similar to what the Dolphins do
Speaker 1: under Brian Flores. And this is the note for the
Speaker 1: safety's size speed. Guy have to be able to cover
Speaker 1: man to man. Former corners moved inside ideal if they
Speaker 1: have the size. Ball skills and judgment are essential more
Speaker 1: than speed and athletic abilities. So when you look at
Speaker 1: those notes, Brandon Jones played safety, played slot corner. Bobby
Speaker 1: McCain was drafted as a slot cornerback, played free safety
Speaker 1: last year. Eric Rowe played all three cornerback positions before
Speaker 1: moving to safety last season as well by n Jones
Speaker 1: quarterback safety, kind of a little bit of both of
Speaker 1: those in his time at Dallas and at Yukon. So
Speaker 1: these players can do multiple things, and so I think
Speaker 1: you're gonna see that they're gonna try to find a
Speaker 1: way to get the best five or six players on
Speaker 1: the field, regardless of what their exact position distinctions are.
Speaker 1: He also asked who are the leaders right now? To
Speaker 1: start he asked about McCain row. I think that's a
Speaker 1: good combination to start with because veterans guys that have
Speaker 1: proven themselves in this league. They're gonna get the job first,
Speaker 1: and the rookies are gonna have to play better than
Speaker 1: them and outperform them and beat them out for the jobs.
Speaker 1: This next one here from Salez Dice at Big Salas
Speaker 1: your thoughts on signing Warford, which is Larry Warford, the
Speaker 1: recently released offensive lineman of the New Orleans Saints on
Speaker 1: a one year deal like Ted Carriss. Well, first, I
Speaker 1: can't speculate on the length of his contract, how much
Speaker 1: money he might command. That would just be speculation, which
Speaker 1: I'm not really into here on this podcast. But I
Speaker 1: think that Larry Warford is a really good player. I
Speaker 1: think that last year maybe didn't fit with what the
Speaker 1: Saints want to be on offense. We talked about it previously.
Speaker 1: I think on an earlier podcast, how they have Alvin
Speaker 1: Kamara and mark ing him and ingram was kind of
Speaker 1: more of the power guy Alvin Camara gave him more
Speaker 1: options in the passing game, and then Ingram Lee's last
Speaker 1: year and they try to be a little more flexible
Speaker 1: that way with Kamara in the passing game and the
Speaker 1: stretch game and being more of a wide zone team,
Speaker 1: and they go out and get Caesar Ruise on top
Speaker 1: of getting Eric McCoy last year, and both those guys
Speaker 1: do a lot to get out in space. So I
Speaker 1: think in terms of salary cap commitments, they had to
Speaker 1: Larry Warford and what he did for their scheme, it
Speaker 1: just made sense for the two depart company because Warford
Speaker 1: might be a better fit somewhere else. As far as
Speaker 1: his fit on the field here, yeah, I think I
Speaker 1: think he's a good player that has that power and
Speaker 1: size combination. Of Dolphins are really going after this offseason
Speaker 1: and it always helps to add experience and talent to
Speaker 1: your offensive line. So if they think he's a player
Speaker 1: that can help them out and the price is right,
Speaker 1: I'm sure they'll explore it. Now. As far as my
Speaker 1: inside knowledge of that, I have none, so it's pure speculation,
Speaker 1: but yeah, Warford is a good player and a lot
Speaker 1: of teams will be happy to have that guy up front.
Speaker 1: Next question here from Tone Toto. He's at Tone Lantern
Speaker 1: on Twitter. What is your goal with the new job
Speaker 1: for this football season? Just to be consistent and always
Speaker 1: be turning out quality content. That's been my goal since
Speaker 1: I started all of this way back in two thousands, sixteen.
Speaker 1: I think it was, and my main goal is just
Speaker 1: to work as hard as I can to bring that content,
Speaker 1: whether it's you know, flagging down guys for interviews, really
Speaker 1: getting into the weeds with film, whether it's players or coaches,
Speaker 1: or in depth analytics, and just trying to provide an
Speaker 1: inside access for the fans out there to this Dolphins
Speaker 1: football team, because as a fan myself, the number one
Speaker 1: thing I always wanted was more access. And that's my
Speaker 1: goal here is to provide Dolphins fans with the best
Speaker 1: inside access they can find here on the Drive Time
Speaker 1: podcast and also bring some fun, some entertainments on my
Speaker 1: own personality into the podcast. I've always thought podcast really
Speaker 1: live or die by the host. Like for me, I
Speaker 1: could listen to a podcast that really didn't have content
Speaker 1: or a topic that I was necessarily into, but as
Speaker 1: long as the host is good and does a good
Speaker 1: job of it, I think that's what makes the podcast
Speaker 1: the best. So trying to inject some of my personality
Speaker 1: into the Dolphins information that I love to bring to
Speaker 1: you guys, that's my overall owl here for Drive Time.
Speaker 1: Matt Ferrera at Matt Ferreira Underscore eleven asks what are
Speaker 1: the key differences we can expect in chan Gailey's new offense. Matt,
Speaker 1: I don't want to leave you hanging here, but we
Speaker 1: talked about this on the Tuesday podcast, so I would
Speaker 1: just recommend going back, so we're not so repetitive. But
Speaker 1: I don't want to leave your question out to dry,
Speaker 1: so just check out the Tuesday podcast. Kyle Smith at
Speaker 1: Kyle Smith sixty six. What's your feelings on The Princess Bride?
Speaker 1: I don't think I've seen it. Is that is that
Speaker 1: a common movie to have seen? I haven't seen it,
Speaker 1: so I apologize I don't have one. Next question from
Speaker 1: Dolphins Fan eight two at Dolphins Fan eight two. Do
Speaker 1: you think Flora's and this defense will be able to
Speaker 1: slow down the high power offenses like Kansas City and Baltimore?
Speaker 1: Because every time I get excited about the Dolphins, I
Speaker 1: remember those two teams still exist. Those are obviously the
Speaker 1: two those are the teams to beat right now in
Speaker 1: the a f C. Last year's you know, regular season champion,
Speaker 1: last year's Super Bowl champion with the Chiefs, and of
Speaker 1: course the Ravens going fourteen and two and just looking
Speaker 1: in destructible on offense and on defense for that matter.
Speaker 1: They played so well for the course of the entire season.
Speaker 1: But I've been thinking about this a lot to going
Speaker 1: back to like the a f C Championship game for instance,
Speaker 1: and the Patriots planned that day with Brian Flores calling plays,
Speaker 1: was really to hem Patrick Mahomes inside the pocket and
Speaker 1: forcing him to beat you on structure, and they got
Speaker 1: in the first half and completely shut the Chief's offense down. Now,
Speaker 1: Mahomes is so hard to hold back that he eventually
Speaker 1: got going in that second half. But I think you
Speaker 1: look at that plan, you look at what Emmanuel Ogbah
Speaker 1: shack laws and do and what Kyle van Noy can
Speaker 1: do from a rush multiple package perspective in terms of
Speaker 1: he can come down off the edge, he can be
Speaker 1: in the A gaps the B gaps and rush that way.
Speaker 1: And both those two big defensive ends do so well
Speaker 1: to shrink the pocket while containing the pocket. And what
Speaker 1: I mean by that is they're so big and strong,
Speaker 1: and an og Bas case so long, they can just
Speaker 1: bull rush into that tackle and it condenses the pocket.
Speaker 1: But it also keeps the quarterback from fleeing either direction.
Speaker 1: So what you want to do, I think with these
Speaker 1: quarterbacks that are so dangerous on the move and off
Speaker 1: script is you want to try to find a way
Speaker 1: to limit that off script ability and then make them
Speaker 1: beat you through the play call and within that structure,
Speaker 1: because even though they're still good in that area, that's
Speaker 1: your best bet to beat them. So I think that
Speaker 1: with flores vision for what he wants to be defensively,
Speaker 1: I think that if he can execute it, then will
Speaker 1: be in good hands. It's gonna be a tall, tall
Speaker 1: order because you don't just shut down elite quarterbacks like
Speaker 1: that without having a lot of talent and a very
Speaker 1: good scheme and game plan. So it will be a challenge.
Speaker 1: But I think if history has given us any indication,
Speaker 1: if there's a coach that I trust to do it,
Speaker 1: it would be Brian Floores and his defense. So those
Speaker 1: are matchups I can't wait to see, like in a
Speaker 1: year or two down the road, as true measuring sticks
Speaker 1: like the Chiefs this year, for instance, we get them
Speaker 1: in December on Week fourteen December. That's gonna be a
Speaker 1: great measuring stick for how far this defense is into this.
Speaker 1: You know, new program of Brian Flores. Cannot wait for
Speaker 1: that game. This one from will he's at underscore, Will
Speaker 1: Reeves underscore. Who leads the team in rushing next year
Speaker 1: and how many yards do they get? Well, we know
Speaker 1: this team wants to be a physical, smash you in
Speaker 1: the mouth offense with the way they've built that offensive line,
Speaker 1: and to go out and get a guy like Jordan
Speaker 1: Howard who does bring that physicality and that mentality that
Speaker 1: he's gonna run through people, and the fact that he
Speaker 1: has such good vision. We've talked about the Brett Coleman
Speaker 1: video up on YouTube, the episode breaking down Jordan Howard's
Speaker 1: rookie season and how he's able to read blocks and
Speaker 1: read leverage and make his cuts accordingly. I think that
Speaker 1: bodes very well. I think Matt Breeda could also do
Speaker 1: the same for as far as leading the team and rushing,
Speaker 1: but I think that maybe he'll be more inclined in
Speaker 1: the passing game and have more production that way, whereas
Speaker 1: Jordan Howard gets more of his production in the rushing game.
Speaker 1: So a nice equal one to punch that basically, I
Speaker 1: think could probably come pretty close in terms of total yardage,
Speaker 1: But for rushing I'll go Jordan Howard with a slight
Speaker 1: nod over Matt Breeda. There. Next question from Justin Holcome
Speaker 1: at Finnsider Hulk, who is the player you expect to
Speaker 1: make the biggest jump this year. I'm gonna go with
Speaker 1: Christian Wilkins, the defensive tackle, last year's first round draft pick.
Speaker 1: I think they did so well to add so many
Speaker 1: parts around him. He's gonna get a lot of one
Speaker 1: on one matchups inside and that guy can win with quickness,
Speaker 1: he can win with power. He had a good year
Speaker 1: last year. The stats don't necessarily say that, and Brian
Speaker 1: Floor has mentioned this at his post draft presser that
Speaker 1: he's not too concerned about status for defensive lineman or
Speaker 1: any player for that matter. They can have a good
Speaker 1: game without stats, and I think that really applied to
Speaker 1: Christian Wilkins a lot last year because he was doing
Speaker 1: such a good job taken on blocks, reset and line
Speaker 1: of scrimmage and really just holding the point of attack
Speaker 1: in his gap. I think that he's going to kind
Speaker 1: of pair that together get the pass rush going. We
Speaker 1: saw it kind of late in the season last year.
Speaker 1: I would expect Christian Wilkins to have a big step
Speaker 1: forward in your number two. Next question here from Noah
Speaker 1: at Bullet to three seven how many games do you
Speaker 1: see to us starting or playing this year? If any, well, look,
Speaker 1: it's the best player is gonna play. I know it's
Speaker 1: it's Ryan Fitzpatrick's job, and that's how it should be.
Speaker 1: Right now. Any rookie's gonna have to go ahead and
Speaker 1: take a job from a veteran ahead of them. But
Speaker 1: we saw it for sixteen games last year. It doesn't
Speaker 1: matter what the outside perspective is. Brian Floor is going
Speaker 1: to play the best player and I don't see any
Speaker 1: reason to think that would not apply to the quarterback
Speaker 1: position or any position on the entire roster. Best player plays.
Speaker 1: Next question from Texas Finnman. He's at Texas Finnman on Twitter.
Speaker 1: How is two us read in his second and third progressions?
Speaker 1: That's that's where he shines the most. I mean, you
Speaker 1: can go watch any of the breakdowns from Dan Orlovsky
Speaker 1: or Mark Sanchez, the guys that have their own you know,
Speaker 1: platforms or ESPN or YouTube channel. You can look at
Speaker 1: the ESPN Plus episode with Nick Saban breaking down that
Speaker 1: read against I think it was Missouri last season or
Speaker 1: two It gets to his fourth read on a deep
Speaker 1: post to Jerry Judy, he processes so fast. That's that's
Speaker 1: to me with the accuracy is the best aspect of
Speaker 1: his game. Next one to hear from j D Finns Fan,
Speaker 1: he is at let's find the at at j D
Speaker 1: Finns Fan. Any new news on this upcoming season's chance
Speaker 1: of being a full go with full occupancy at stadiums
Speaker 1: or are they still looking at quarter full model right now? Well,
Speaker 1: it sounds like the plan right now is to go
Speaker 1: forward as is. Of course, things change every single day.
Speaker 1: I'm not gonna sit here and try to be a
Speaker 1: medical expert or project these things. Because I even watched
Speaker 1: you know, Dr Fauci for instance, or even like Scott
Speaker 1: Van Pelt had on Adrian war Zanowski who was like,
Speaker 1: I'm not making any commitments. I don't know what's going
Speaker 1: to happen. It's a day by day basis and that's
Speaker 1: kind of how we just have to go with this.
Speaker 1: But right now teams are preparing for a full season.
Speaker 1: It's crazy, man. I'm as excited as anybody to get
Speaker 1: things back to normal, to get down to South Florida
Speaker 1: and get this thing go, and get this new season
Speaker 1: ahead with this new team that looks so exciting on paper.
Speaker 1: I think we're all hoping for the best, and right
Speaker 1: now the plan is to go forward as is, but
Speaker 1: of course things can change by the day. Next question
Speaker 1: here from J Perez fifteen thirty at G Perez fifteen thirty.
Speaker 1: How much has your life changed over the last year, Well, substantially,
Speaker 1: I mean, going from a podcast that was successful but
Speaker 1: just didn't have the notoriety because it was such a
Speaker 1: small time platform with locked On there, and of course
Speaker 1: they are growing and doing great things at locked On,
Speaker 1: it's just to bring that credibility is certainly nice to
Speaker 1: have the backing of the organization. To have the access
Speaker 1: has been unreal. I mean, I've talked to people that
Speaker 1: I never would have thought I would talk to in
Speaker 1: my life because of this job. The work has been great,
Speaker 1: the co workers have been great, We've had consistent content.
Speaker 1: Seeing my name up on Miami Dolphins dot com is
Speaker 1: still a dream come true to me. And as far
Speaker 1: as like personal growth, I mean, I got this job,
Speaker 1: I graduated college, my wife is gonna have a baby
Speaker 1: any day now. So it's been a really crazy year
Speaker 1: for me and I'm super super grateful for all of it.
Speaker 1: Next question here from Anthony Measter at Mester tweets on
Speaker 1: Twitter if you go on the road with the team
Speaker 1: to New York, can I buy you a slice of pizza?
Speaker 1: Cut to the image of me saying, gonna get myself
Speaker 1: a New York slice? Then I walk into a sparrow.
Speaker 1: Little office reference for you guys there. But absolutely, man,
Speaker 1: I would love that. I I don't know what the schedule,
Speaker 1: the travel schedules like, but I will be at all
Speaker 1: the games this year. So if you are in one
Speaker 1: of the visiting cities, the Dolphins had to go ahead
Speaker 1: and let me know on Twitter and we'll try to
Speaker 1: make something happen. I want to watch college football. That's
Speaker 1: I'm gonna put that out there. I want to watch
Speaker 1: college football on Saturdays. That's my go to jam on Saturdays.
Speaker 1: If we have college football this year, So pizza and football,
Speaker 1: I'll be there. Let's go ahead and do one more
Speaker 1: here from Jake Shankles at Shankles, Jake, what are the
Speaker 1: top positions of need at this point? Well, you know
Speaker 1: this is gonna be very pc sounding, I'm sure, but
Speaker 1: every position, Man, if they can approve a position, they're
Speaker 1: gonna go ahead and look to do that. But I
Speaker 1: think right now you look at the roster. You have
Speaker 1: to feel good about the defensive backfield improvements, the linebacker improvements,
Speaker 1: the defensive line improvements. They made a bunch of investments
Speaker 1: and really went heavy on the offensive line. Got two
Speaker 1: new running backs in here, didn't really make a lot
Speaker 1: of changes to the tight end group. Did add Michael
Speaker 1: Roberts and Bryce Stirk, the undrafted free agent. I'll just
Speaker 1: go ahead and subscribe to the theory that you can
Speaker 1: never have enough defensive backs and cornerbacks, and you can
Speaker 1: never have enough good offensive lineman up front. And a
Speaker 1: league that for a number of years now has been
Speaker 1: pretty scarce on the offensive lines, I'll go those two spots,
Speaker 1: add dear defense, add de your offensive line, and you
Speaker 1: can never be too deep at those spots. All right,
Speaker 1: that's gonna go ahead and be our time for this
Speaker 1: edition of the Drivetime podcast. I appreciate you guys putting
Speaker 1: those questions out there. If you want to get a
Speaker 1: question on a future podcast, leave us a five star
Speaker 1: rating and I'll read those on the podcast and answer
Speaker 1: them for you guys. Easier for me to find those,
Speaker 1: quicker for me to find those, and of course it
Speaker 1: helps the podcast out. So go ahead, put your questions
Speaker 1: in the review section on Apple Podcast. Go ahead and
Speaker 1: subscribe to the podcast there at Apple or Spotify or
Speaker 1: wherever you get your podcast from. Leave us that rating,
Speaker 1: leave us that review. Give me a follow on Twitter.
Speaker 1: It's at Wingfield, NFL. Follow the Dolphins at Miami Dolphins,
Speaker 1: check out the fish Tank and the Audible podcast, and
Speaker 1: of course Miami Dolphins dot com. Until next time finds
Speaker 1: up