Speaker 1: Practice are Dolphins Taffrick touchdown? 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 each and every day.
Speaker 1: How's it going everybody? It is Tuesday. I am your host,
Speaker 1: Travis Wingfield, and as always I am here to bring
Speaker 1: you your daily dose of Miami Dolphins football. And on
Speaker 1: today's show, the defensive backs are gonna get there go
Speaker 1: on the training camp roster preview series, will break it
Speaker 1: down into cornerbacks and safeties. Safeties tomorrow, Corners up. Today
Speaker 1: we'll talk about separation created stats among white outs and
Speaker 1: corners and the value of contestant catches. And we'll put
Speaker 1: those two together and look at one of the premier
Speaker 1: matchups at Dolphins Camp. I'll give you some of the
Speaker 1: best quotes from Jerome Baker's Reddit. Asked me anything from
Speaker 1: Tuesday morning, and I'll get some thoughts on last Chance
Speaker 1: You and a food delivery service app that did me
Speaker 1: wrong on Monday night. All of that and more on
Speaker 1: this Tuesday, August the eleventh edition of the Drive Time Podcast.
Speaker 1: One of my favorite things about doing the podcast and
Speaker 1: having the kind of open line of communication with the
Speaker 1: fans of the team and listeners of the show, is
Speaker 1: that when something comes across my timeline or across my desk,
Speaker 1: whatever you want to call that, that's good enough for
Speaker 1: an entire show topic. And we're gonna get into the
Speaker 1: cornerback preview here in just one moment on the podcast.
Speaker 1: And I'm still for that because I have tons of
Speaker 1: good nuggets on these guys in that room. And I've
Speaker 1: also tweeted before about some of the potential matchups we're
Speaker 1: gonna see at Dolphins training camp practice. These are the
Speaker 1: guys that will go up against the cornerbacks, the wide receivers,
Speaker 1: and about the importance of separation created It's a long
Speaker 1: form study produced by five thirty eight dot com. It
Speaker 1: was written by Josh Hermsmeyer and it was brought to
Speaker 1: my attention on Twitter by user at d Wildermouth, Thank you,
Speaker 1: Mr Muth. And they created and measured a stat called
Speaker 1: separation over expected, a stat that accounts for the number
Speaker 1: of variables like distance of target route ran, the coverage,
Speaker 1: the quarterback's arm strength, and anticipation skills. A multitude of
Speaker 1: statistics went into this idea, and of course, as we
Speaker 1: do here on drive time, I wanted to relate it
Speaker 1: to the dolphins and their receivers. So the first graph
Speaker 1: in the story is a cumulative average separation chart by
Speaker 1: distance or yards of the target, and it dates back
Speaker 1: to seen So it's a three year study. And they
Speaker 1: differentiate between play action and non play action passes, which
Speaker 1: of course makes sense because that deception on the play
Speaker 1: call can create some hesitation by even a step or
Speaker 1: two by the defensive back and that changes the idea
Speaker 1: of the study. So using nonplay pass the average separation
Speaker 1: on a pass at zero yards right at the line
Speaker 1: of scrimmage is about four yards of separation. Essentially, your
Speaker 1: screen calls right and that distance stays similar up through
Speaker 1: about eight to nine yards off the line. Then it
Speaker 1: starts to tell off. By the time you're down the
Speaker 1: field twelve yards, that average separation created has already dropped
Speaker 1: to a full yard down to three yards of separation.
Speaker 1: Get to twenty yards downfield, it's at two and a
Speaker 1: half and by thirty yards it's all the way down
Speaker 1: to two yards of separation. So where am I going
Speaker 1: with this? Well, you listen to the show, you know
Speaker 1: there's always an end destination to what we're talking about here.
Speaker 1: I'm heading for the forest, to the forest to find
Speaker 1: some trees, and those trees are called DeVante Parker and
Speaker 1: Preston Williams. And the Dolphins don't have any players on
Speaker 1: the highest separation verse expected or the worst s o
Speaker 1: E list on the short targets, the quick targets under
Speaker 1: ten yards, and that's primarily gonna be your inside guys
Speaker 1: like slot receivers, tight ends, running backs, and that makes sense, right,
Speaker 1: the guys that uncover the quickest inside there closest to
Speaker 1: the quarterback. And we also don't have anybody on the
Speaker 1: best or worst list for intermediate passes, and that further
Speaker 1: you get into the study. That's where my point starts
Speaker 1: to really resonate about what this list means for contestant
Speaker 1: catches and separation of the receivers in the NFL. And
Speaker 1: you look at the list of the worst separation over
Speaker 1: expected in the intermediate portion of the field, DeAndre Hopkins,
Speaker 1: who for my money is the best damn receiver in
Speaker 1: the league, is on the bottom of that list. Not
Speaker 1: only his twenty nineteen season ranks dead last eighteen season
Speaker 1: is third from bottom. You've got t Y Hilton, Kenny
Speaker 1: Golladay twice on the list, Allen Robinson, Julio Jones is
Speaker 1: on that list. So let me get to the deep balls.
Speaker 1: And we do have a dolphin on one of the lists.
Speaker 1: It's Devonte Parker and it's on the bottom of the list.
Speaker 1: He's surrounded by the likes of Odell Beckham, Mike Evans,
Speaker 1: Larry Fitzgerald, Jarvis Landry, even Tyler Lockett, who is known
Speaker 1: for his vertical exploits down the football field. All of
Speaker 1: those guys are on this list. Now I may have
Speaker 1: lost you again as you wonder, Travis, where the hell
Speaker 1: are we going here? We'll just buckle up and let
Speaker 1: me drive us there. When scouting players at the college level,
Speaker 1: I've seen the debate about contested catches. I remember Tee
Speaker 1: Higgins last year from Clemson making play after play after play.
Speaker 1: Eventually he goes to the thirty third overall pick to
Speaker 1: the Cincinnati Bengals, and I came across a comment one time,
Speaker 1: and I forget who it was from draft Twitter is
Speaker 1: a va vast place, saying that those contested catches make
Speaker 1: said scout wary because he should be creating more consistent
Speaker 1: separation at the college level. But the other side says,
Speaker 1: at a certain point, that's just who a player is,
Speaker 1: a guy that can outrebound everybody at any given time.
Speaker 1: And something of a sidebar that I think factors into
Speaker 1: the conversation was on Twitter again earlier in the week
Speaker 1: and Lance Zerline, who we reference on this podcast all
Speaker 1: the time, from NFL dot Com, was showing off some
Speaker 1: Rondale More clips, the perdue wide receiver who will enter
Speaker 1: the draft next year, about how he patiently attacks the
Speaker 1: cornerback and gets the corner to commit his play side
Speaker 1: or boundary side hip and then cross his face accordingly,
Speaker 1: and a former NFL player in that thread, I think
Speaker 1: it was Darius Butler said the cornerback has to know
Speaker 1: that in a four by one formation, the backside receiver
Speaker 1: the one of the four by one. He has to
Speaker 1: know the likelihood of that route being a slant is
Speaker 1: a very very high likelihood. And some other NFL guys
Speaker 1: replied in the conversation turned into how tough it is
Speaker 1: to create consistent separation at the NFL level. Cornerbacks just
Speaker 1: do not let you get wide open at this level,
Speaker 1: and that's where this entire point comes to its climax.
Speaker 1: If Mike Evans, DeAndre Hopkins, Julio Jones, the game's premier
Speaker 1: receivers are creating minimal separation, then how do we think
Speaker 1: they are catching one hundred balls for dred yards and
Speaker 1: ten touchdowns every single year? Because they catch contested footballs.
Speaker 1: And that was DeVante Parker's game last year. It's been
Speaker 1: his game since forever. I broke this down on the
Speaker 1: Wide Receiver Pod a couple of weeks back, talking about
Speaker 1: his ability to use his frame to force the defender
Speaker 1: to try to play through him, and that can cause
Speaker 1: either a lack of play on the ball or a
Speaker 1: past interference call. We saw in Devonte's rookie year. We
Speaker 1: saw it with Tannehill, Cutler, Matt Moore. We saw a
Speaker 1: ton last year with Ryan Fitzpatrick. The passes against the Eagles,
Speaker 1: the touchdown in the Jets game at home, the touchdown
Speaker 1: against the Giants, the flee flicker against the Bengals, that
Speaker 1: post route in the opener against Baltimore. It's become his
Speaker 1: signature play, skying above the defensive back and pulling the
Speaker 1: football down contested, the signature play that created the second
Speaker 1: most yards on contested catches in the NFL last year,
Speaker 1: according to rohto baller dot com, he had four hundred
Speaker 1: yards that was second to Kenny Golladay in Detroit. He
Speaker 1: was fourth on player profile dot COM's completed air yards
Speaker 1: that's attacking vertically down the football field fifth and total
Speaker 1: distance of target number five in terms of volume deep
Speaker 1: targets and fourth in the NFL. And yards gained on
Speaker 1: passes thrown twenty plus yards downfield with four hundred and
Speaker 1: seventy eight yards there and second and touchdowns on those
Speaker 1: deep passes with five. And he was eight in the
Speaker 1: league in contested catch rate at fifty one point four percent.
Speaker 1: How tough does that have to be on defensive back
Speaker 1: who's in prime position with no separation whatsoever, and Davante
Speaker 1: is still pulling down more than half of those balls
Speaker 1: even when the coverage is good. It's like in baseball,
Speaker 1: you do your job right, you hit a line drive
Speaker 1: into the gap and the right fielder comes over and
Speaker 1: dives and makes a great catch. You hit the balls
Speaker 1: hard as you could, but it just went right to
Speaker 1: a It's the same idea here. Preston Williams was tenth
Speaker 1: and average target distance per player profile dot Com. He
Speaker 1: was fourteenth and contested catch rate, pulling down forty seven
Speaker 1: point six percent of those contested footballs. He was fifty
Speaker 1: seven in yards on passes throwing twenty yards or more
Speaker 1: down the field with one forty three, but that was
Speaker 1: from half of a season. You pro orate that to
Speaker 1: two six yards, doubling it up, and he's in the
Speaker 1: top twenty there as well. So vertical passing threats with
Speaker 1: that height who excel in a game where the average
Speaker 1: separation is less than two yards that far down the field.
Speaker 1: That is an exciting development that we had in and
Speaker 1: hopefully continues on into and back to Parker here real quick,
Speaker 1: as a little transition into our cornerback preview, I want
Speaker 1: to start adding in some camp battles that I'm super
Speaker 1: intrigued by over the next couple of days here on
Speaker 1: the Drivetime Podcast part of the Miami Dolphins podcast network.
Speaker 1: And to clarify, not actual position battles like who's gonna
Speaker 1: win the slot cornerback job or who wins the right tackle,
Speaker 1: right guard, whatever offensive line position is up for grabs,
Speaker 1: but the best matchup that we get with regards to
Speaker 1: the one on one matchups or in the team periods
Speaker 1: going against each other, and it's got to be Devanta
Speaker 1: Parker on Byron Jones. I like the idea of doing
Speaker 1: something of a tale of the Tape on these And
Speaker 1: since we already gave you the rundown on Devanta Parker's
Speaker 1: data and what led to him being the fifth leading
Speaker 1: receiver in the entire National Football League, fourth among all
Speaker 1: wide doubts and this battle of contested catches that I
Speaker 1: can't wait to see on the field, let's talk about
Speaker 1: Byron Jones, who was near the top of the leader
Speaker 1: board and so many big time advanced metric categories. Player
Speaker 1: Profile had him at number two and yards per target
Speaker 1: allowed number seven, and total cumulative yards allowed on the
Speaker 1: season number nine and receptions allowed, and he was fourth
Speaker 1: in catch rate allowed, so that tells you that he too,
Speaker 1: is frequently in good position. But as we learned from
Speaker 1: Devanta Parker stats, that doesn't always matter because when UNC
Speaker 1: wants the ball, Unk's gonna go get it. And I'm
Speaker 1: not much for fantasy football, but they do have Jones
Speaker 1: at number one and fantasy point allowed per coverage snap
Speaker 1: number five and points allowed per target number three and
Speaker 1: total fantasy points allowed and fourth and catch rate and
Speaker 1: fourth in their stat that they call a coverage rating.
Speaker 1: So top five across the board there in terms of
Speaker 1: permitting fantasy guys from going off against him on the
Speaker 1: offensive side of the ball. And let's do one more
Speaker 1: here for good measure, here's a next gen stat the
Speaker 1: details tight window throws as created by NFL next Gen Stats.
Speaker 1: Fifty percent of throws to Byron Jones last year to
Speaker 1: his man and coverage wound up being what they considered
Speaker 1: tight window throws. As I put air quotes on a podcast,
Speaker 1: has never worked in the history of podcasts, but I'll
Speaker 1: keep on doing it. But fifty percent of throws at
Speaker 1: Byron jones man last year were tight window throws. That
Speaker 1: was by far the best in the NFL. Number two
Speaker 1: was Jamale Dean of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He forced
Speaker 1: forty eight percent of throws at his man to be
Speaker 1: into tight windows. Trey Herndon and Casey Hayward were next
Speaker 1: on that list, and for good measure, the two all
Speaker 1: Pro cornerbacks and staff On Gilmour and Trey White were
Speaker 1: in that stat respectively, So some good company there for
Speaker 1: Byron Jones to be in. So when it is Jones
Speaker 1: versus Parker, there's gonna be tight coverage because they're almost
Speaker 1: always is in the NFL, especially going up against the
Speaker 1: cornerback like Jones who can stay in that hip pocket
Speaker 1: so well, there's gonna be an all out, no holds
Speaker 1: bar battle, a cage match, only instead of trying to
Speaker 1: go up and get a championship belt off the top
Speaker 1: of the cage, they're trying to pull footballs down. And
Speaker 1: that satisfies my wrestling reference quota here on the podcast
Speaker 1: for the rest of the entire season. Let's go ahead
Speaker 1: now and transition up to the piece on Miami Dolphins
Speaker 1: dot Com as we continue on as we have for
Speaker 1: a couple of weeks now taking a look at every
Speaker 1: position on this Miami Dolphins roster with the training camp
Speaker 1: roster preview series, and today we do go in to
Speaker 1: the cornerback room that was coached last year by Josh Boyer.
Speaker 1: This year, Jeral Alexander takes things over as Boyer gets
Speaker 1: the promotion to defensive coordinator. And there's so many cool
Speaker 1: stats in this group from Pro Football Focus and otherwise.
Speaker 1: I want to go ahead and go through some of
Speaker 1: that stuff for you guys here on this edition of
Speaker 1: Drive Time, we start again in order of jersey number,
Speaker 1: which means number twenty two. Tay Hayes is up first.
Speaker 1: His first recruit season last year in the NFL, entering
Speaker 1: number two with the Miami Dolphins, Appalachian state product number
Speaker 1: twenty three on the jersey, and he was really thrust,
Speaker 1: as some of these guys were late in the season
Speaker 1: into that sinker swim situation. Get on the field, how
Speaker 1: can you perform? And he did really well from the
Speaker 1: metric standpoint. The December waiver claim was targeted sixteen times
Speaker 1: in two games, one and seven snaps on defense, twenty
Speaker 1: on special teams. So he got here and he played
Speaker 1: right away, and on those sixteen targets, he allowed three completions.
Speaker 1: That's eight teen point eight percent completion for fifty five
Speaker 1: yards three point four four yards per target. And just
Speaker 1: for a reference point on that last step, the best
Speaker 1: guys in the league are usually up around nine yards
Speaker 1: per target, the best receivers, and that kind of Mendoza
Speaker 1: line where it's like above average or below, it's right
Speaker 1: around seven seven and a half yards per target. So
Speaker 1: tay Hayes, although on a very short sample size three
Speaker 1: point four or four yards per target, with two pass
Speaker 1: breakups and a path star rating against of just forty
Speaker 1: one point four. He also chipped in with seven tackles,
Speaker 1: three of those for run stops. He earned comprehensive praise
Speaker 1: for his coverage and tackling from Brian Flores last year,
Speaker 1: who said, quote, t jumped right in and played a
Speaker 1: significant amount of snaps last week in his first game
Speaker 1: against Cincinnati. He made a few plays and was competitive
Speaker 1: on most of the coverage. I thought he tackled well.
Speaker 1: It's a good start. I think we need to build
Speaker 1: on that in practice meetings and walk throughs and hopefully
Speaker 1: duplicate that type of performance again. And quote up next.
Speaker 1: We talked about him already a little bit. The Dolphins
Speaker 1: free agent signing in the off season at the position
Speaker 1: Byron Jones five seasons there in Dallas, coming over for
Speaker 1: his first in Miami, number twenty four. He was thirty
Speaker 1: one in Dallas, twenty four here out of Connecticut, twenty
Speaker 1: seven years old on opening day. Is still a very
Speaker 1: young player, and there are many traits to point to
Speaker 1: Byron Jones really as the quintessential cornerback. He's durable, he
Speaker 1: missed one game in five years. He's physical and effective
Speaker 1: against the run, three d and forty nine career tackles.
Speaker 1: He's versatile two thousand and sixty seven career snaps as
Speaker 1: a corner, two thous an eight hundred thirty six as
Speaker 1: a safety, and most importantly, he is a blanket and coverage.
Speaker 1: Since switching to cornerback full time and eighteen, Jones has
Speaker 1: allowed seventy six catches on one D and thirty six
Speaker 1: targets at a completion rate of just fifty five point
Speaker 1: eight percent. And we heard Flores talk about Jones on
Speaker 1: his Monday media availability earlier in the week, talking about
Speaker 1: a smart, tough player, guy that can tackle, good coverage skills,
Speaker 1: good length, good leadership qualities, a talented player that we're
Speaker 1: happy to have. And speaking of that toughness, there was
Speaker 1: a play a couple of years back. I forget the game,
Speaker 1: I forget which year, exactly where they showed Byron Jones
Speaker 1: knee kind of pop out of place. There, he pops
Speaker 1: it back in, stands back up, doesn't miss a snap. Tough,
Speaker 1: durable player and Byron Jones and he is an athletic
Speaker 1: marvel to the t blew the doors off NFL combine.
Speaker 1: He paced all dbs and several categories like the vertical
Speaker 1: jump at forty four and a half inches, the broad
Speaker 1: jump which is still a world record to this day
Speaker 1: at one forty seven inches, three cone six point seven
Speaker 1: eight seconds, twenty yard shuttle under four seconds, a sixty
Speaker 1: yard shuttle under eleven seconds. He has rare length and
Speaker 1: athletic combination, and that makes him a difficult task for
Speaker 1: receivers to earn clean releases on when he lines up
Speaker 1: in that press man coverage. He has the relative athletics
Speaker 1: scorecard of near perfection kent Lee Platts r a S
Speaker 1: scorecard out of ten, which takes all athletic testing at
Speaker 1: the combine, protas and stuff and puts it into an
Speaker 1: ultimate score out of ten. He ranked nine nine six
Speaker 1: on that scorecard. Again, that world record broad jump and
Speaker 1: the forty four and a half inch vertical just ridiculous
Speaker 1: testing metrics there for Byron Jones and player profile dot
Speaker 1: Com to reference them once more. Has him ranked second
Speaker 1: and yards per target allowed at five point one. Last season,
Speaker 1: he allowed the ninth fewest receptions per game and two
Speaker 1: point two and the fourth fewest yards with three fifty one,
Speaker 1: and he ranked fourth in both coverage rating and catch
Speaker 1: rate allowed last year among all National Football League cornerbacks.
Speaker 1: Up next on our list, another guy that locks things
Speaker 1: down on the outside, Xavian Howard four more seasons here
Speaker 1: in Miami, entering number five, number twenty five out of Baylor.
Speaker 1: Twenty seven years old on opening day, so both he
Speaker 1: and Byron Jones twenty seven years old. Since x entered
Speaker 1: the league back in twenty sixteen, he has as many
Speaker 1: interceptions thirteen as touchdowns allowed per Pro Football Focus. He's
Speaker 1: limited opposing quarterbacks to a seventy five point three passer
Speaker 1: rating and a completion rate of just fifty five point
Speaker 1: four percent. Playing the football and disrupting the timing of
Speaker 1: the passing game are two of the Feathers and Howard's
Speaker 1: cap But he's also a very efficient tackler one d
Speaker 1: forty tackles, twenty four missed opportunities, so five percent tackle
Speaker 1: rate very good numbers out there on the edge. He
Speaker 1: plays the game with physicality and confidence. Nothing is easy
Speaker 1: when facing twenty five and aqua. He will challenge receivers
Speaker 1: every step of the way on the route at the line,
Speaker 1: at the top of the stem, at the catch point.
Speaker 1: I thought the interception last year in the Pittsburgh game,
Speaker 1: going up against Juju Smith Schuster was a great example
Speaker 1: of how physical and how challenging he can be to
Speaker 1: a receiver every step of the way, making you earn
Speaker 1: everything you get. Dolphins extended Howard in the spring of
Speaker 1: twenty nineteen, and Brian Flores had this to say about
Speaker 1: the abilities of X. Quote. He's got good length, he's
Speaker 1: got good strength at the line of scrimmage, He's got
Speaker 1: really good ball skills. He tackles well. I think he's
Speaker 1: just a good overall player. Again, he doesn't have all
Speaker 1: the answers. He's not the perfect player. I don't think
Speaker 1: there is one. Obviously, it's an imperfect game. But he
Speaker 1: does a lot of the things that we like and
Speaker 1: he's a team player. End quote. Up next on the
Speaker 1: cornerback preview jersey number thirty for the Miami Dolphins. Nate
Speaker 1: Brooks another one of these guys that came in late
Speaker 1: last year and had some pop his first season in
Speaker 1: the NFL last year, second entering here with the Dolphins
Speaker 1: out of North Texas. Twenty four years old, he signed
Speaker 1: as an undrafted free agent with the Cardinals in twenty nineteen,
Speaker 1: found his way onto the Patriots practice squad. Then on
Speaker 1: December tenth, the Dolphins signed Brooks and elevated him to
Speaker 1: the active roster. He played three games for the Dolphins,
Speaker 1: total nine one snaps on defense and fourteen on special teams.
Speaker 1: He started the Week seventeen win in New England and
Speaker 1: played the third most snaps among Dolphins cornerbacks. In that game,
Speaker 1: he permitted only two catches on five targets, playing twenty
Speaker 1: eight of his thirty snaps as a perimeter corner. He
Speaker 1: broke up one pass, didn't miss a tackle on eleven
Speaker 1: attempts all season long, and also chipped in with a
Speaker 1: run stop. So some late season success there for Nate Brooks.
Speaker 1: Tay Hey some of the guys that got called up
Speaker 1: late in the year and performed well down the stretch
Speaker 1: for the Miami Dolphins. Another guy that got called into
Speaker 1: the lineup after not playing much early on is Ken Webster.
Speaker 1: His first accrued season last year, entering number two with
Speaker 1: the Miami Dolphins, number thirty one out of Old Miss
Speaker 1: twenty four years old on opening day, and again he
Speaker 1: played sparingly through the first three games of the season,
Speaker 1: just nine snaps on defense and then he was called
Speaker 1: up for two hundred and seventeen snaps. The rest of
Speaker 1: the way, he made nineteen tackles and didn't miss one
Speaker 1: one percent tackler on the edge. He was terrific at
Speaker 1: getting ball carriers to the ground, wrapping, squeezing, pulling him down,
Speaker 1: and four of those tackles were run stops within two
Speaker 1: yards of the line of scrimmage. And among some other
Speaker 1: young cornerbacks, he earned some praise from coach Flores for
Speaker 1: what they bring to the table. I think those guys
Speaker 1: play hard. Talking about Ken Webster, they worked the techniques,
Speaker 1: they try to be physical at the line of scrimmage.
Speaker 1: All those guys can run pretty well. We're trying to
Speaker 1: develop everyone on the team. I think you can kind
Speaker 1: of see some progress in the back end with those guys. Look,
Speaker 1: they're all hard working kids. It's very important to each
Speaker 1: one of them. They listen, they're attentive, and they've had
Speaker 1: a little bit of production and quote he was talking
Speaker 1: about Nick need Hum and Ken Webster in that quote
Speaker 1: right there, and on the topic of young cornerbacks on
Speaker 1: this Dolphins roster. Jamal Perry is up next first season
Speaker 1: in the NFL entering number two here with the Miami Dolphins.
Speaker 1: I should say, first a crude season, he was on
Speaker 1: practice squads prior to that, and first up, he was
Speaker 1: Jamal Wills last year and the name spelling of his
Speaker 1: first name was j O m A L. It is
Speaker 1: now j A m A L. As he made that
Speaker 1: name change and honoring his stepfather. And Jamal wears number
Speaker 1: thirty three out of Iowa State, twenty five years old
Speaker 1: on Opening Day. He was signed by the Eagles before
Speaker 1: making his way to the Patriots practice squad as an
Speaker 1: undrafted free agent in seven team. That's where he played
Speaker 1: under defensive Coordina there for the Patriots and Brian Flores.
Speaker 1: He had fifty eight tackles, two tackles for loss, and
Speaker 1: a pick last season. His versatility was what most intrigued
Speaker 1: Dolphins to go ahead and bring Wilts down here to Miami.
Speaker 1: As Flora's discussed what made the Dolphins want to go
Speaker 1: after a couple of Patriots like Eric Row and Jamal
Speaker 1: Wilts and now Jamal Perry. Of course, here's what Flora's
Speaker 1: had to say. Quote. I think they're both smart. I
Speaker 1: think they both played discipline football. I think they work hard.
Speaker 1: And they tackle. They're pretty good cover guys. I think
Speaker 1: they're versatile, they can play multiple positions, and again, they
Speaker 1: have familiarity with how we do things, and I think
Speaker 1: that's helped some of the other guys here on the
Speaker 1: roster end quote up next, we talked about him already.
Speaker 1: Nick need Um first season last year, undrafted out of
Speaker 1: UTEP Texas l passo entering year number two as a
Speaker 1: pro here with the Miami Dolphins. He wears number forty,
Speaker 1: twenty three years old on opening day, and the evolution
Speaker 1: of Nick Needham's season last year really was one of
Speaker 1: the more intriguing storylines individually on this twenty nine team
Speaker 1: Miami Dolphins team. He starts that preseason opener and then
Speaker 1: began the year on the Dolphins practice squad and didn't
Speaker 1: get the call up until Week six, but he never
Speaker 1: looked back from that point forward. In that NFL debut,
Speaker 1: he pitched a coverage shutout with no catches allowed on
Speaker 1: three targets and playing seventeen coverage snaps. Also had a
Speaker 1: pass break up in that game, and his workload would
Speaker 1: then increase each week for the next month as he
Speaker 1: settled into a starting position on the outside at cornerback,
Speaker 1: he allowed only a completion percentage of fifty nine and
Speaker 1: a half. He picked off two passes, made fifty four
Speaker 1: tackles with just seven missed attempts. As a tackler. He
Speaker 1: also made seventeen run stops, very involved up around the
Speaker 1: line of scrimmage, and he registered five quarterback pressures on
Speaker 1: just fifteen pass rush reps. That's easy for me to say,
Speaker 1: including one sack last year, So thirty percent of the
Speaker 1: time getting home as a rusher and then one time
Speaker 1: getting that sack as well. Flores talked last November about
Speaker 1: Nick Needham after a two game stretch where he held
Speaker 1: quarterbacks to a fifty percent completion rate and a four
Speaker 1: point oh six yards per target and the initial impression
Speaker 1: that Needham gave the Dolphins Brian floor Us and Josh Boyer.
Speaker 1: Flora says, quote Josh Boyer, it's March, and he says,
Speaker 1: I think I've got a kid from UTEP who's pretty decent.
Speaker 1: And when he says pretty decent, that means he's probably
Speaker 1: pretty good. We brought him as a free agent and
Speaker 1: he did some good things and O t a s
Speaker 1: he had some struggles like most rookies, doing the preseason
Speaker 1: and wasn't quite ready, so he put him on the
Speaker 1: practice squad. This is the National Football League. That's the
Speaker 1: journey of a lot of guys in the NFL. It's
Speaker 1: part of their journey. I should say he spent a
Speaker 1: few weeks on the practice squad. I think getting released
Speaker 1: and going through the process took him through a little
Speaker 1: bit of the reality of what the NFL could be.
Speaker 1: It could be over in a heartbeat. He embraced that
Speaker 1: challenge and turned things around quickly. And I would say
Speaker 1: he took everything a little bit more seriously meetings, practices,
Speaker 1: walk through his weightlifting, nutrition and quote. And I think
Speaker 1: that that type of work ethic and that type of
Speaker 1: mentality and that type of story and journey that Flora's
Speaker 1: talks about there can really resonate in the locker room
Speaker 1: and kind of have an impact on other guys, Like
Speaker 1: he talked about with Eric Rowe and Jamal Will it's
Speaker 1: kind of helping guys get acclimated, and a story like
Speaker 1: this can really provide some backdrop for some guys that
Speaker 1: want to, you know, cut out a role in this
Speaker 1: league and cut out a role on this team and
Speaker 1: work their way into it. If you work hard enough
Speaker 1: and make enough plays, you can get out there too.
Speaker 1: And up next on our list here is Picasso Nelson Jr.
Speaker 1: No accrued seasons, entering his first with the Miami Dolphins,
Speaker 1: number forty five out of Southern Miss, Gonna be twenty
Speaker 1: four years old on opening day. He was added to
Speaker 1: the roster earlier this month, back on August three. He
Speaker 1: spent last season with the Colts practice squad after signing
Speaker 1: as a U d f A. He played fifty games
Speaker 1: in college at Southern Miss, picked up two hundred two tackles,
Speaker 1: fifteen pass breakups, five picks, and a forced fumble. He
Speaker 1: also earned academic All conference honors and the Southern Miss
Speaker 1: Best Male Citizen Award in eight team. He ran a
Speaker 1: four eight at his pro day back in twenty nineteen
Speaker 1: and had a thirty nine inch vertical and one twenty
Speaker 1: eight inch broad jumps. A very explosive player there in
Speaker 1: those testing metrics. Finally, speaking of explosion, another rookie here.
Speaker 1: First round draft pick number thirty overall out of Auburn,
Speaker 1: He's number forty six on the roster. He's been wearing
Speaker 1: number twenty three out there in practice, but that's not
Speaker 1: quite official just yet. So he's going up here on
Speaker 1: the piece as forty six Noah IgG Banogny iig Bonogny
Speaker 1: for those of you trying to get that down. Still
Speaker 1: twenty years old on opening day, this guy is still
Speaker 1: a pup. His coaches at Auburn could not say enough
Speaker 1: about his passion for the game and competitive toughness on Saturdays.
Speaker 1: Here's what Gus Malson had to say. He's one of
Speaker 1: the defensive leaders. He has a presence about him. He
Speaker 1: played with a lot more confidence this spring. He plays
Speaker 1: with an edge that carries over for a lot of people.
Speaker 1: And quote talking about the impact you can have in
Speaker 1: your will and your desire and how it impacts your teammates.
Speaker 1: Here's what Auburn defensive backs coach Wesley McGriff had to
Speaker 1: say about Iggy's attitude. It's phenomenal. There were times we
Speaker 1: had to run him out of the building and quote
Speaker 1: talking about him putting in the extra work and then saying, hey, dude,
Speaker 1: go home, go be a kid, go like, relax and
Speaker 1: enjoy the rest of your night. And he was in
Speaker 1: there working and that work ethic pair as well with
Speaker 1: some very eye popping athletic traits that he has. A
Speaker 1: former high school triple jump national champion, ig Banogny displayed
Speaker 1: rare athletic ability at this year scouting combine four four
Speaker 1: eight in the forty thirty seven in vertical, one inches
Speaker 1: on the broad that checked in and the percentile among cornerbacks.
Speaker 1: Chris Career talked about the draft pick after the Dolphins
Speaker 1: made the selection on the first round back in April,
Speaker 1: talking about the five ft eleven one nineties seven pound
Speaker 1: corner He was the best player on the board for us.
Speaker 1: We felt really good about Noah. We got to know him.
Speaker 1: This is a passing league, as everyone says, you can
Speaker 1: never have enough cornerbacks. Brian Flores came from a really
Speaker 1: good defensive team when we hired him, and they had
Speaker 1: a lot of corners as well. At the end of
Speaker 1: the day, the way this league is offensively, it's a
Speaker 1: premium position and the more you have, the better it
Speaker 1: breeds competition. He's a competitive kid that we really liked
Speaker 1: in the process. And Ignogeny was a receiver convert played
Speaker 1: the first two years there Auburn at receiver, moved over
Speaker 1: to cornerback and he posted an impressive stack going up
Speaker 1: against some of the country's best receivers. There in the SEC.
Speaker 1: You know about Jamaar Chase and Justin Jefferson. There l
Speaker 1: s U, you know about DeVonta Smith and Jerry Judy,
Speaker 1: Henry Ruggs and Jalen Waddle. At Alabama, this guy went
Speaker 1: tote toe with some of the best, and on eight
Speaker 1: hundred and seventy nine coverage snaps in his college career,
Speaker 1: he surrendered just three touchdowns over the course of almost
Speaker 1: nine coverage snaps. So noagnogamy rounds out our cornerback room,
Speaker 1: a good, deep looking room here in Miami, and that
Speaker 1: leaves us with just the safeties and the specialist to
Speaker 1: get to. On tomorrow's podcast, we'll cover the safeties and
Speaker 1: play some sound for you guys on that podcast as well.
Speaker 1: Very excited for all that. Some more content coming your
Speaker 1: way this week. We also had Jerome Baker do a
Speaker 1: Reddit a m A asked me anything earlier on Tuesday morning,
Speaker 1: and he really covered a variety of topics, including some
Speaker 1: of the funniest players in the Dolphins team. The energy
Speaker 1: source that was Christian Wilkins. That is Christian Wilkins, So
Speaker 1: go check that out. I'm gonna read back three answers
Speaker 1: for you guys right here that I thought were the
Speaker 1: best from his entire thing. Up first, talking about what
Speaker 1: Coach Flora's and playing for Coach Flora's is like compared
Speaker 1: to other coaches. Here's what Jerome had to say. Coach
Speaker 1: Flow is a unique coach. What I mean by that
Speaker 1: is he learns you, the players, and he tries in
Speaker 1: any way to get you a play at the maximum level.
Speaker 1: If it's challenging you with words, if it's challenging you mentally,
Speaker 1: he does everything to get you to be the best
Speaker 1: player you can be. He does a great job establishing
Speaker 1: trust with guys. Once you established that, you can really
Speaker 1: push guys to their limits so they can be their best.
Speaker 1: I really appreciate that about about Coach Flow. He does
Speaker 1: a great job with that. And we've heard that before,
Speaker 1: right from a couple of the Patriots guys, the McCarty
Speaker 1: twins and mccordy brothers, talking about how he's tough but
Speaker 1: or demanding but also loving in that same regard, so
Speaker 1: Jerome Baker kind of echoing those sentiments. Another question that
Speaker 1: was asked to Jerome was the best part about playing
Speaker 1: in Miami, and he said he loves the Miami temperature,
Speaker 1: the Miami weather. How of the year, he wakes up
Speaker 1: and the sun is just beaming on his face and
Speaker 1: it gives him the energy that I need to get up.
Speaker 1: I just love the weather. Just waking up with the
Speaker 1: sun in your face, it really gets your day going.
Speaker 1: So I really appreciate that. I'm from Cleveland. So that's
Speaker 1: why L O L and I hear that, Jerome, because
Speaker 1: the other day, on the way to work, I was
Speaker 1: driving in the thought, Man, I know it's August right now,
Speaker 1: It's gonna be this way anywhere around the country. But
Speaker 1: those December and January days driving to work, you know,
Speaker 1: at six, seven, eight o'clock in the morning, when the
Speaker 1: sun is barely coming up and it's still very, very
Speaker 1: frigid and cold out there, and you have to go
Speaker 1: warm your car up. We're not gonna have that down here.
Speaker 1: So I feel that one. Jerome could not agree more.
Speaker 1: Never have to scrape the ice off my windshield again,
Speaker 1: and I am so thankful for that fact. So go
Speaker 1: check that out for yourself. It's on Reddit, the r
Speaker 1: Miami Dolphins subreddit. Jerome Baker asked me anything they have
Speaker 1: it pinned to the top of the page. There he
Speaker 1: talks about players that he studied growing up, the hardest
Speaker 1: running backs to tackle. Tons of good content in that
Speaker 1: story or that asked me anything up on Reddit. And
Speaker 1: let's go ahead and get into this real quick because
Speaker 1: I want to talk about two more things in this
Speaker 1: podcast before we jet out of here. Who else is
Speaker 1: a big fan of the show? Last Chance You? This
Speaker 1: season with John Beam, which every time I say that name,
Speaker 1: I can't help but mispronounce it like the whiskey. But
Speaker 1: it is what it is, and I think he's the
Speaker 1: reason this season. I'm only three episodes in, but this
Speaker 1: season is by far the best one in the entire series. Now,
Speaker 1: don't get me wrong, I'm all about the villain on
Speaker 1: TV shows. My favorite character and Silicon Valley is Gavin
Speaker 1: Belson by a mile. My favorite character in the Office
Speaker 1: is Ryan, which I know everyone hates that answer. I
Speaker 1: love the character that causes the conflict in the show.
Speaker 1: But when you go to Jason Brown and Buddy Stevens,
Speaker 1: the previous two coaches, that wasn't really coaching. It was
Speaker 1: more just yelling and cursing at players and demeaning them.
Speaker 1: And that was something else entirely. It's great to see
Speaker 1: the mutual respect that beam here at Laney College and
Speaker 1: the fifth season of Last Chance You and his players
Speaker 1: share and how cool is that the heat coached to
Speaker 1: Von Bess, former Dolphins receiver back in high school and
Speaker 1: three episodes in. I'm sure I'll get some mentions here
Speaker 1: on Twitter that serve as spoilers, But who else can
Speaker 1: you talk about besides Dior Walker, the receiver slash quarterback,
Speaker 1: sleeping in his car, a very fractured relationship with his father,
Speaker 1: a position change, and still he balls out. And that's
Speaker 1: kind of the entire roster to this point in the show.
Speaker 1: A bunch of kids that just have these gut wrenching
Speaker 1: stories but somehow turned out to be great kids. And
Speaker 1: that's the definition of compelling television for me, and with
Speaker 1: my wife and daughter back home in the state of Washington,
Speaker 1: miss you guys, I'm watching plenty of Netflix. I'm gonna
Speaker 1: go ahead and pump out a bunch of these Netflix
Speaker 1: Last Chance You episodes probably this week and finish this
Speaker 1: thing up. And I can't pronounce his name and I
Speaker 1: won't even try. With the Polynesian kid with the two
Speaker 1: kids himself and watching him be a father to those
Speaker 1: little girls. That kind of stuff just hits me differently
Speaker 1: these days, and I really really enjoy that storyline as well.
Speaker 1: Highly highly recommend the show, like make it the next
Speaker 1: show in your queue, And if you haven't seen any
Speaker 1: of the previous seasons, you don't have to go back
Speaker 1: and watch it in order, but I would. I would
Speaker 1: start with number one just so you can see the
Speaker 1: evolution of the coaches. The show covers at the three
Speaker 1: different programs there at East Mississippi Community College and UH
Speaker 1: Independence there in Kansas I think it is, and now
Speaker 1: at Laney College in Oakland, and by the way, in
Speaker 1: season one a current Miami Dolphins in there, and wide
Speaker 1: receiver Kirk Merritt. Let's go ahead and close this podcast
Speaker 1: up with the customer complaint of the day. I won't
Speaker 1: say which one it is, but I tried using a
Speaker 1: food delivery service app for the first time last night.
Speaker 1: Second time last night. Checked that second time I used
Speaker 1: this app and things did not go well. Is it
Speaker 1: always like this when you order food to your place?
Speaker 1: I put the order when I left the facility right
Speaker 1: around six thirty or so. It says the food will
Speaker 1: be at my place at seven fifteen. That's absolutely perfect.
Speaker 1: Let's go. The heat are playing. I'm all set for
Speaker 1: the night I get home. It updates to say my
Speaker 1: new delivery time is seven thirty five to seven forty five.
Speaker 1: Not great, but not a big deal either. Finally, at
Speaker 1: seven forty and the app changes to arriving soon. Boom baby,
Speaker 1: where you're flying. Food is gonna be here any second now,
Speaker 1: Only it wasn't. It stayed there on the Arriving Soon
Speaker 1: up until eight fifteen, and I finally started to get
Speaker 1: a little bit concerned that maybe it wasn't coming, so
Speaker 1: I called the restaurant and they said, the order never
Speaker 1: came in. So why is the app update in the
Speaker 1: status if the order never came in? Like, what is
Speaker 1: in the program that's causing this? So they take my order,
Speaker 1: it gets to my house an hour later. You want
Speaker 1: talk about the Hungrys? Oh buddy, never again with that app.
Speaker 1: I will take your recommendations on which of the food
Speaker 1: delivery service apps as best. Please let me know because
Speaker 1: I need it. I am Bachelor lifestyle right now. I'm
Speaker 1: not gonna cook every night. I'll cook sometimes, but I'm
Speaker 1: not a big fan of cooking, So let me know
Speaker 1: which of the food service delivery apps is the very
Speaker 1: best out there. And with that, let's go ahead and
Speaker 1: get out of here. As you all, please be sure
Speaker 1: to subscribe to the podcast on Apple podcast, Spotify, or
Speaker 1: wherever you get your podcast from. Go ahead and subscribe,
Speaker 1: rate and review the show. Give me a follow on Twitter.
Speaker 1: It's at Wingfield, NFL Fall the Dolphins at Miami Dolphins.
Speaker 1: There's a new episode of Dolphins Today up on the website,
Speaker 1: up on YouTube. Check that out, the Fish Tank and
Speaker 1: the Audible podcast, and of course, Miami Dolphins dot com
Speaker 1: your daily source for all things Miami Dolphins football. Until
Speaker 1: next time, fins up.