Speaker 1: To remove Golan deep speedways peas do.
Speaker 2: From the Baptist Health Studios inside the Baptist Health Training Complex.
Speaker 2: This is Drivetime with Travis Wingfield. He's my avands in
Speaker 2: the playoffs. What is up Dolphins? And welcome to the
Speaker 2: Drive Time Podcast. I am your host, Travis Wingfield. And
Speaker 2: on today's show, we began the interviews with your Miami
Speaker 2: Dolphins free agentc We kick it off with tight end
Speaker 2: John Newsmith. We'll talk to John who we'll talk about
Speaker 2: his game on the field. We'll also talk to Justin
Speaker 2: Felder who covered him in Atlanta to get to know
Speaker 2: the person a little bit more. From the Baptist Health
Speaker 2: Studios inside the Baptist Health Training Complex. This is the
Speaker 2: Drive Time Podcast us new Dolphins tight end John new
Speaker 2: Smith joining us now new Dolphins tight end John new Smith, Johnny,
Speaker 2: welcome in. How is Miami treating you so far?
Speaker 3: Man? Awesome?
Speaker 4: This is uh, this is home and I'm getting that
Speaker 4: that home field kind of love you know everywhere.
Speaker 3: Man.
Speaker 4: So I'm excited to be here, excited to be a Dolphin.
Speaker 4: Can't wait to get the work.
Speaker 2: You're back right. You grew up in Okala, went to
Speaker 2: FIU I'm always curious because, like I'm kind of new
Speaker 2: to the area as well. People always say, like you
Speaker 2: live in Florida. It's like, I live in South Florida.
Speaker 2: So can you help us describe the difference between Central
Speaker 2: Florida and South Florida.
Speaker 4: Big difference those two different states, and need to split
Speaker 4: those states, man, Like from the culture to the food,
Speaker 4: to the you know, the way it looks everything. It
Speaker 4: is literally two different states, man. You know Central Florida
Speaker 4: and South Florida. Central Florida, it could you know, it
Speaker 4: could look like the middle of Alabama, you know what
Speaker 4: I mean, or you know, Texas or something like that.
Speaker 4: You know, South Florida you kind of getting more city fields,
Speaker 4: you know what I mean with Miami and you know
Speaker 4: Boca and you know you kind of get you know,
Speaker 4: more of that vibe man. And uh, you know, so,
Speaker 4: guy's gotta you know, God, when gods get here, man,
Speaker 4: they got to learn quick that.
Speaker 3: You know, those are those are two.
Speaker 2: Different places, a little more glitting glamor down here.
Speaker 3: Yeah, man, it's like a who's who?
Speaker 2: That's right, go to a heat game and see all
Speaker 2: the stars in the sidelines down there. Let's go ahead
Speaker 2: and get some football here and talk about the offense
Speaker 2: you're joining here. Because this offense, this coach has had
Speaker 2: a lot of success with tight ends in the past.
Speaker 2: Everyone knows about Kittle and san Franz Derm Smith had
Speaker 2: career highs across the board last year. How do you
Speaker 2: think your skills fit into this Dolphins offense?
Speaker 3: I think it's a match made man. It's uh.
Speaker 4: You know, first off, let me beyond excited to be
Speaker 4: an offense. You know that was number one leave through
Speaker 4: the entire season, that shuit. So to be able to
Speaker 4: bring a little bit more versatility to that side of
Speaker 4: the ball, a little bit more explosiveness, and just being
Speaker 4: the dynamic player that I am. You know, I'm excited
Speaker 4: about the light and the limits that we could reach, man,
Speaker 4: because honestly, I think the sky's the limit, you know
Speaker 4: what I mean. So to be able to come in
Speaker 4: here and be another explosive addition to this offense, you know,
Speaker 4: I think we're going to reach you know a lot
Speaker 4: of a lot of great places.
Speaker 2: You mentioned versatility, So I've I've heard people compare like
Speaker 2: receiver lineups or eligibles to basketball teams. You got your
Speaker 2: speedy guard, your shooters. You're big man in the middle, right,
Speaker 2: do you view receivers in that same vein and kind
Speaker 2: of a fall up to that? Do you think that
Speaker 2: your play style really compliments what Tyreek and will do
Speaker 2: on the outside.
Speaker 3: Yeah?
Speaker 4: Man, you know, I consider myself a speed guy. I mean,
Speaker 4: I mean, you got to, man, you know, putting up
Speaker 4: twenty one miles an hour, you know at two hundred
Speaker 4: you know, forty five fifty pounds, you know what I mean.
Speaker 4: You know, that's that's that's no easy, no easy tax
Speaker 4: for a big god that is considered a big guy.
Speaker 3: Man.
Speaker 4: But you know, obviously, you know, with speed all over
Speaker 4: the field, not even not only those guys, but guys
Speaker 4: coming out of the backfield, you know what I mean.
Speaker 4: And you know that's that's going to give defenses problems.
Speaker 3: Man.
Speaker 4: So we got to continue to put all our heads together,
Speaker 4: be selfless, you know what I mean, you know, going
Speaker 4: out there playing for one another, and we'll get to
Speaker 4: where we want to go.
Speaker 2: Good six guys, last, you're in the top ten of
Speaker 2: next Gen's fastest ball carriers the NFL. You can get
Speaker 2: on that list to sure, you think, I mean.
Speaker 3: I got to the pressure on you know, I'm in
Speaker 3: a room.
Speaker 4: You know, you you run fast with fast guys, man,
Speaker 4: so you know that's uh, you know, those guys will
Speaker 4: be pushing me out there in practice every day, and uh,
Speaker 4: you know, I'm it's funny now because I'll be considered
Speaker 4: one of the slow ones out of those out of
Speaker 4: this group.
Speaker 3: Man. So I'm gonna be uh working my butt off
Speaker 3: every day. Man.
Speaker 4: You know, make sure that we're in the best position
Speaker 4: go win ourselves, you know, championship.
Speaker 2: I think you'll be all right with the size difference
Speaker 2: kind of helps you out in that regard. A little
Speaker 2: bit to the size speed combinations is pretty good, so
Speaker 2: you'll be all right right there. So one of the
Speaker 2: things that stands out speaking of size and speed is
Speaker 2: you run after the catch ability. Your stats jump off
Speaker 2: the page, jumps off the film. What makes that part
Speaker 2: of your game so successful in this offense that really
Speaker 2: prides itself on run after the catch.
Speaker 4: Yeah, it's just something that you know, I've kind of
Speaker 4: hung I had on my whole career in football. A
Speaker 4: lot of guys, you know, coming out of high school,
Speaker 4: you know, I was considered undersize and kind of smaller
Speaker 4: than you know, what typical you know, college scouts were
Speaker 4: looking forward, you know what I mean. So you know
Speaker 4: I always said, okay, well I'm gonna give you an
Speaker 4: element of the game that you know, you can't turn down.
Speaker 4: And obviously everybody didn't take a chance on me coming
Speaker 4: out of high school.
Speaker 3: But it was only one fyu and.
Speaker 4: Uh, you know, I got so much love and respect
Speaker 4: for that, for that uh, for that school man, that
Speaker 4: that that university, because of just what it did for me,
Speaker 4: not only as a football player but as a man,
Speaker 4: you know, taking a chance on me and allow me
Speaker 4: to realize, like, yo, it doesn't matter, you know, where
Speaker 4: the opportunity is you as long as you get that opportunity,
Speaker 4: take advantage of it. And I kind of always just
Speaker 4: had a trip on my shoulder, man, So my run
Speaker 4: after the catch ability is a lot of it's a
Speaker 4: lot of things few behind that, you know what I mean.
Speaker 3: And you know.
Speaker 4: That's just kind of what I hung my head on,
Speaker 4: like I said, my whole career and being able to
Speaker 4: make guys missing space, being able to you know, bring
Speaker 4: some momentum, you know, you know when you make plays man,
Speaker 4: and you catch a ball, you know, two three yards
Speaker 4: in the flat and able to make two three guys
Speaker 4: miss and go get a first down.
Speaker 3: Man.
Speaker 4: That brings a lot of energy in juice to the
Speaker 4: sideline and I guess the other guys rolling.
Speaker 3: You know this This game is the game of momentum.
Speaker 3: I'm a big believer in that.
Speaker 4: You know, I've been around for going on eight years now,
Speaker 4: so I've seen a lot of football, man, and to
Speaker 4: be able to bring that momentum to this offense, it's exciting.
Speaker 2: Think you might get some of those chances off the
Speaker 2: wide zone play action they run here and south for
Speaker 2: it kind of fits you pretty well right there. Speaking
Speaker 2: of that, head coach Mike McDaniel designs this offense and
Speaker 2: Moe ranked offense in the NFL with his coaching staff. Obviously,
Speaker 2: you mentioned hard Knocks kind of being a bit of
Speaker 2: a selling point to you on your media availability. But
Speaker 2: I'm curious about actually meeting coach because that's you know,
Speaker 2: TV and you see the edited version of it. I
Speaker 2: love hearing first impression stories of head coach Mike McDaniel.
Speaker 2: What was your first impression when you.
Speaker 3: Met coach Listen Man?
Speaker 4: When I when I first saw him, you know, I
Speaker 4: didn't know if he was a professor a college professor,
Speaker 4: you know what I mean, something alone that sort. But
Speaker 4: when I heard him speak, I was like, yo, just
Speaker 4: do those stuff, you know what I mean. I heard
Speaker 4: him talk and I saw him coach and seeing him,
Speaker 4: you know, get along with his players, and I'm like.
Speaker 3: I'm special about this dude. Man, you know what I mean.
Speaker 4: You know, you may you know, catch you at first,
Speaker 4: go out of his appearance, man, But he loves the game.
Speaker 4: He knows the game, and you know, he's a guy
Speaker 4: that takes care of his players. And I got so
Speaker 4: much respect for coaches that understand, like, you know, at
Speaker 4: the end of the day, you know, your your career,
Speaker 4: so to say, in some way, shape or form, is
Speaker 4: in the palms of their hands, you know what I mean.
Speaker 4: And for him to understand that and recognize that and
Speaker 4: want the best for the players, man, you can't. It's
Speaker 4: ready to find that. So I'm happy to be here, man,
Speaker 4: and it's extremely excited the coach, Mike McDaniel, wouldn't want
Speaker 4: to be anywhere else and just ready to get to it.
Speaker 2: New head coach, new quarterback. You've talked about a little
Speaker 2: bit already your media availability, but I want to hear
Speaker 2: your perspective on what you've seen from watching two a
Speaker 2: tongue of level from Afar. I know you haven't had
Speaker 2: a chance to meet with him yet, but just watching
Speaker 2: him on tape, watching him play, what have you seen
Speaker 2: from the Dolphins quarterback?
Speaker 3: I alluded to this earlier.
Speaker 4: Man, I've been watching tour a benefit of his game
Speaker 4: since his Alabama days. I'm seeing him, you know, make
Speaker 4: plays in big time games, you know what I mean,
Speaker 4: And you know, coming in and stepping in, you know
Speaker 4: when you know things wasn't going right for his team,
Speaker 4: and you know, just you know, just having that poison
Speaker 4: since a young kid, man so had a lot of
Speaker 4: respect for his game. I think he's one of the
Speaker 4: most accurate, if not the most accurate quarterback in the NFL.
Speaker 4: You know, I've saw it on film. I think this
Speaker 4: guy can make any throw in the field. You know,
Speaker 4: I think, uh, you know, obviously me coming into this
Speaker 4: offense will you know, even make things easier for him.
Speaker 3: And you know, I'm excited to play with them. Man,
Speaker 3: a guy like that catching.
Speaker 4: Passes from him, you know, it's you know, it's also
Speaker 4: gonna make my job a lot easier.
Speaker 2: So in doing some research on your background, Johnny saw
Speaker 2: that you have four children, three boys, one girl, and
Speaker 2: you know, father of two myself, and so I always
Speaker 2: say that, you know, being a father has made me
Speaker 2: a vastly better human being. So I'm curious to ask
Speaker 2: you that question. What have your children done to make
Speaker 2: you a better father and a better person?
Speaker 4: Just told me patience, man, I think that's the number
Speaker 4: one thing that h You know, my my, my babies, man,
Speaker 4: have provided me with life. You know, God has blessed
Speaker 4: me with four amazing babies. Thankful each and every one
Speaker 4: of them, you know. And I would say that, you know,
Speaker 4: just patience and appreciation, you know what I mean, the
Speaker 4: things that you know we may get stressed out about
Speaker 4: at times. You look at them and you know, you
Speaker 4: walk through those doors and his daddy, Daddy, daddy, and
Speaker 4: you're like.
Speaker 3: You know, my problems, ain't that big man? You know
Speaker 3: what I mean?
Speaker 4: Like I get to come home and enjoy this and
Speaker 4: you know they're just grateful with you know, seeing it, Dad,
Speaker 4: you know what I mean.
Speaker 3: So you know those kids many, man, you.
Speaker 4: Know, so special beyond you know, special for me in
Speaker 4: a place where you know it's a lot going on
Speaker 4: in my NFL career and a lot going on, and
Speaker 4: you know the career that I have, but you know,
Speaker 4: to be able to come home with those kids and
Speaker 4: you know.
Speaker 3: They don't even care about that. Man, you know what
Speaker 3: I mean, it means the world to me.
Speaker 2: When you're losing the field, you win every time you
Speaker 2: get home. It's always a win when you walk through
Speaker 2: those doors. Johnny Smith brand New Dolphins tied to appreciate
Speaker 2: your time today. Man, can't wait to watch you spike
Speaker 2: the ball means on across the street.
Speaker 3: Over there and maybe do a backflip. You know what
Speaker 3: I mean. We'll see you think. Yeah, we gotta put it.
Speaker 2: To the test, put it to the Thanks. I appreciate it.
Speaker 3: I appreciate you.
Speaker 2: One down, several more to go on the player interviews.
Speaker 2: One thing to those about these guys really across the
Speaker 2: board so far and meeting them is like soft spoken
Speaker 2: but a certain level of confidence and football intelligence that
Speaker 2: comes across when you talk to these guys. I think
Speaker 2: that's going to be a theme you kind of pick
Speaker 2: up throughout the course of this free agent class. So
Speaker 2: great stuff there. Let's go ahead and take our first break,
Speaker 2: come back on the other side and talk a little
Speaker 2: bit about John news Smith's game, what he can bring
Speaker 2: to the Dolphins that and we'll also talk to Justin
Speaker 2: Felder to get to know John new Smith even more.
Speaker 2: That's all next Draft Time podcast, your host Travis Wingfield,
Speaker 2: brought to you by Auto Nation. We talked about John
Speaker 2: Newsmith's game on the podcast last week a little bit,
Speaker 2: but I want to go a little more in depth here,
Speaker 2: having a chance to go back and watch through some
Speaker 2: of his tape with not just the Falcons, but also
Speaker 2: the Titans and even the Patriots. I got that backwards
Speaker 2: the Falcons, the Patriots, and even a little bit of
Speaker 2: the Titans where his game really materialized to begin his
Speaker 2: career as he was kind of paired there with Delaney Walker,
Speaker 2: if you guys might remember that name the Tantasey Titans.
Speaker 2: He was kind of the second tight end and their
Speaker 2: two tight end packages and they ran lots of that,
Speaker 2: and I think that John who was one of those
Speaker 2: guys when you watch that tape, when you watch the
Speaker 2: Patriots tape as well, because they signed Hunter Henry that
Speaker 2: year and almost kind of wanted to recreate their you know,
Speaker 2: their Gronkowski and Hernandez package pre everything that happened with
Speaker 2: Aaron Hernandez, but they were electric through a personnel package
Speaker 2: that wasn't all that common or at all common in
Speaker 2: the National Football League back in those days, and they
Speaker 2: brought in both of those players. And I think that
Speaker 2: when you look at how the Titans used him and
Speaker 2: how the Patriots maybe envisioned using him, but it didn't
Speaker 2: work out that way because the Patriots offense since Brady
Speaker 2: left has been absolutely atrocious, right, But I think the
Speaker 2: vision for that was one one like souped up receiver
Speaker 2: type of tight end, and then a guy that is
Speaker 2: also that but gives you a little bit in terms
Speaker 2: of his inline game. And I don't think John Who's
Speaker 2: gonna line up at the why frequently and go knock
Speaker 2: you know, defensive ends off the football. That's not his game.
Speaker 2: But he does give you the flexibility in the sense
Speaker 2: that he can hit those split flow blocks. He can
Speaker 2: you know, set an edge and hold the edge and
Speaker 2: wall that thing off or your sea gap runs in
Speaker 2: this outside zone system. He can help and chip in
Speaker 2: pass protection. But typically in the passing game, you're gonna
Speaker 2: want him out in your routes because of his ability
Speaker 2: to exploit matchups because of his ability to just understand
Speaker 2: and have feel for soft spots, Like I don't think
Speaker 2: you envision John Who as a tight end per se.
Speaker 2: I think he's kind of just an eligible and that's
Speaker 2: a seamless transition between receiver tight end and multiple things
Speaker 2: that he can do. I think something else that he
Speaker 2: does is you can put him out in the screen game.
Speaker 2: You know your trips, package, your stacks, and your bunches,
Speaker 2: and you can either throw him the ball from those looks.
Speaker 2: But also now, because we know the Dolphins receivers as
Speaker 2: try hard and as much effort and will as they
Speaker 2: have as blockers, they're small guys, right, And so if
Speaker 2: I have a one hundred and ninety pound receiver at
Speaker 2: the point of my stay compared to a two hundred
Speaker 2: and fifty pound tight end at the point in my stack,
Speaker 2: who do you think has a better chance to execute
Speaker 2: a block on a two hundred pound cornerback, someone who's
Speaker 2: giving up weight to that guy, or somebody that has
Speaker 2: fifty pounds on that guy. And it works because you
Speaker 2: can stand up and throw him the football and he
Speaker 2: can be the one that makes guys miss, whether it's
Speaker 2: with power or speed, A stiff arm or a cutback.
Speaker 2: Like he's elusive and strong, and that's really the genesis
Speaker 2: of his entire game is the combination of speed and
Speaker 2: strength with physicality, and it shows up in short yardage
Speaker 2: situations whether you're throwing him the football or asking him
Speaker 2: to do some blocking. Again, it's not it's not gonna
Speaker 2: be who can I think of here? It was Anthony
Speaker 2: Fossano a good example. I mean, Julian Hill is a
Speaker 2: guy that pretty much just blocked last year. Right, It's
Speaker 2: not that it's not gonna be that, But I think
Speaker 2: that he gives you enough to where you can show
Speaker 2: those looks and create certain looks as a counter because
Speaker 2: of what he offers in that realm, if that makes sense.
Speaker 2: But man, when I watch him run his routes, that
Speaker 2: that's really where I get the most I guess glee
Speaker 2: out of this signing because he really has a knack
Speaker 2: for attacking leverage. And you'll see all the time, like
Speaker 2: teams will cover players like this with different types of
Speaker 2: looks and structures, and you know principles for their defense.
Speaker 2: Like sometimes you'll see an Eric Rowe type come down
Speaker 2: and try to stab him with his arm right the
Speaker 2: jab stam and get that stab in there to reroute
Speaker 2: and try to force the timing of the route to
Speaker 2: get impacted. But he doesn't let that happen. Man, He's
Speaker 2: got the strong armswipe. He has the quick feet to
Speaker 2: kind of make that target a moving target, so to speak,
Speaker 2: and to get off those presses and reroutes and then
Speaker 2: from there, Like this team almost never ran mesh last year,
Speaker 2: and like Kyle Krabs and I are like, hey, run
Speaker 2: more mesh. Mesh is simply when you have two crossing
Speaker 2: routes from either side of the field to go over
Speaker 2: the middle of the football field and it naturally rubs
Speaker 2: and picks linebackers, and you can do that against man
Speaker 2: coverage and spring some leaks. I think that John hu
Speaker 2: Smith gives you a really good option for a guy
Speaker 2: that can do that because you can sell run game action.
Speaker 2: But also, no, I'm not going to the second level
Speaker 2: to pick off a linebacker in a run block. I'm
Speaker 2: going up there to run a route and probably rub
Speaker 2: him with you know, waddle or Tyreek coming back the
Speaker 2: other direction on that mesh. Look, we'll go ahead and
Speaker 2: throw a spot throw in there and try to get
Speaker 2: a big run after the catch. Because of what Johnny
Speaker 2: Smith offered from his pre snap alignment, his pre snap look,
Speaker 2: his physicality at the release, his physicality and ability to understand,
Speaker 2: you know, how to attack the certain zones and looks
Speaker 2: of defenses because he understands, Oh, they're in zone, there's
Speaker 2: my you know, there's my hook defender. I know his
Speaker 2: landmark drop. I'm gonna run my route to that spot
Speaker 2: to set that pick. Oh that's a man coverage.
Speaker 3: Look.
Speaker 2: I know how to you know, basically rub this run
Speaker 2: this rub that doesn't trip up my receiver, doesn't get
Speaker 2: me flag, it's a legal play. He just has those veteran, nuanced,
Speaker 2: savvy types of things about him to his game. And again,
Speaker 2: the functional strength that you see in the rerouting, the
Speaker 2: ability to run this the you know, those different types
Speaker 2: of spot routes and get off press. It shows up very,
Speaker 2: very frequently in his ability to run with the football
Speaker 2: after the catch. He's so strong and so thick around
Speaker 2: the ways that he's tough to bring down and you
Speaker 2: see guys just bounce off of him. So I think
Speaker 2: that he can show the quarterback his numbers. I think
Speaker 2: he gives you a he makes your checkdown options more
Speaker 2: attractive for a quarterback that maybe last year didn't throw
Speaker 2: a checkdown enough, because now you can say, hey to like,
Speaker 2: it's not going to be a four yard gain. It
Speaker 2: might be a couple times, but a few times he'll
Speaker 2: break it for a big gainer. So I think that
Speaker 2: that kind of security blanket almost the versatility of his game.
Speaker 2: I believe that you kind of have, you know, John
Speaker 2: who's kind of the receiving guy of the two tight ends.
Speaker 2: When you think about him and Durham smyth, it opens
Speaker 2: up some twelve personnel packages for more flexibility. But I
Speaker 2: just love, I love, love, love what it does for
Speaker 2: the screen game, not just for the blocking aspect, but
Speaker 2: for what he can do catching the football and making
Speaker 2: plays with it in his hands. So I think that
Speaker 2: this is a really good fit. I think that John
Speaker 2: Embry kind of as his man here. I think that
Speaker 2: is the same case for Mike McDaniel. I go back
Speaker 2: to the Greg Olsen comments on the Dallas Cowboys game,
Speaker 2: when he called that game with Kevin Burkhart back on
Speaker 2: Christmas even how impressed he said that he was by
Speaker 2: Mike McDaniel and meeting him and those coaches production meetings,
Speaker 2: and when he introduced himself to McDaniel saying, I love
Speaker 2: your offense, but man, where's the tight end at? And
Speaker 2: Mike said that's coming in year three? I think that
Speaker 2: John Who's that guy?
Speaker 3: Man?
Speaker 2: He was a guy that I highlighted when he got
Speaker 2: released from the Falcons, A guy that I've always been
Speaker 2: a fan of, going back to the Titans and Patriots days.
Speaker 2: I just really think highly of him and think that
Speaker 2: it's going to be a good fit here. And he's
Speaker 2: a bit of a curveball compared to what you have
Speaker 2: with Reek and Waddle, and it's going to help you
Speaker 2: in your perimeter blocking game. I mean, this guy, can
Speaker 2: you know? We have so many running players that go
Speaker 2: outside wide. It's been basically you know, three hundred and
Speaker 2: ten pound offensive lineman out there or one hundred and
Speaker 2: ninety pound wide receivers. Now we have a guy that
Speaker 2: can get out in space and do some of that
Speaker 2: stuff at two fifty with you know, agility and power
Speaker 2: in the blocking game for not just the screen game,
Speaker 2: but for the wide running game as well. So A
Speaker 2: big fan of this acquisition. If I had to stack
Speaker 2: the stack the free agents in order of how impactful
Speaker 2: I think they will be I would put John Who
Speaker 2: right there at the top him. Him and Jordan Brooks
Speaker 2: are probably my top two so far. Those guys in
Speaker 2: Aaron Brewer I think will be your three most productives,
Speaker 2: but I would say John Who has a case as
Speaker 2: number one. And my whole thing here is that I
Speaker 2: think that this Dolphins offense should focus on just being
Speaker 2: the top offense in the NFL and whatever happens defensively,
Speaker 2: like makes the difference between how deep you can go
Speaker 2: in the playoffs, for sure, But I think that if
Speaker 2: you have the top offense in the NFL, you're a
Speaker 2: playoff team. You're gonna get int the plaoffs. Go back
Speaker 2: and look at top ten offenses from the last ten years.
Speaker 2: All those teams typically make the playoffs. You do it
Speaker 2: defensively not the case. So I've always been a proponent
Speaker 2: of putting your eggs in the offensive basket, and I
Speaker 2: think John Us Smith be the first guy that Dolphins
Speaker 2: acquired and not hurting them in the camp formula. All
Speaker 2: of those things comprehensively made this a great decision, a
Speaker 2: great fit, and I think that he's gonna have a
Speaker 2: big impact in his first year for the mmy Dolphins.
Speaker 2: So John h.
Speaker 3: Smith.
Speaker 2: We've heard from him, we've analyzed his game. Let's go
Speaker 2: ahead and take our last break right there. Come back
Speaker 2: on the other side, and I'm going to talk to
Speaker 2: a person that covered John hus Smith in Atlanta. That's
Speaker 2: all next Draft Time Podcast to your host, Travis Wingfield,
Speaker 2: brought to you by Auto Nation. We are joined now
Speaker 2: by a sports reporter for Fox five Sports in Atlanta,
Speaker 2: Justin Felder. Justin, Welcome into the Draft Time Podcast.
Speaker 3: Travis.
Speaker 1: Appreciate you having me.
Speaker 2: Very happy to have you on here and appreciate you
Speaker 2: taking some time today for us and to help us
Speaker 2: get to know our new tight end a little bit
Speaker 2: better here in John hus Smith. And I'll start with this.
Speaker 2: I'm curious about his locker room presence, you know, the
Speaker 2: weight that his voice carries with teammates, because for a
Speaker 2: guy to go into his eighth season pretty rare for
Speaker 2: the average careers about three three and a half years.
Speaker 2: So year number eight for John Hue Smith, I have
Speaker 2: to imagine he's learned a few things about leadership. But
Speaker 2: I'm curious how you would describe his locker room presence
Speaker 2: and the weight that his voice carried among his teammates.
Speaker 1: You know, it's kind of interesting, Travis.
Speaker 5: I remember one of our first sit downs with John
Speaker 5: Ou and it probably happened in every interview he did
Speaker 5: after signing with the Falcons, people said leadership and talked
Speaker 5: about a lot of young guys in the room and
Speaker 5: how's he going to lead? And I remember him saying
Speaker 5: several versions of you know, I just got here, guys.
Speaker 5: But he really did seem to slide into that leadership
Speaker 5: role right away.
Speaker 1: I mean, he was a veteran, you know, having played
Speaker 1: in Tennessee, which was specifically of interest to a.
Speaker 5: Lot of folks because he played for Arthur Smith when
Speaker 5: he was an assistant there, the former Falcons coach, then
Speaker 5: of course going on to the Patriots as well, but
Speaker 5: having so much experience on a relatively young roster you remember,
Speaker 5: of course, young quarterback, young running back, young tight end,
Speaker 5: wide receiver, the whole nine yards. He really was one
Speaker 5: of the more established guys, especially when the skill position
Speaker 5: players day one. So I think his voice definitely, you know,
Speaker 5: carried from the start.
Speaker 1: He was a guy that that you know, you didn't.
Speaker 5: Really see any guy's faces things like that on the sideline.
Speaker 5: When you look through our video that we got during games,
Speaker 5: but definitely somebody when you to his teammates would say
Speaker 5: that his leadership stood out, somebody that they could look
Speaker 5: to and would speak up when.
Speaker 2: He Yeah, you touched on the young offense that Falcons
Speaker 2: had last year with you mentioned the quarterback, the tight end,
Speaker 2: the running back, the whole gauntlet. Really was a pretty
Speaker 2: young group there, and I kind of want to zero
Speaker 2: in on two spots there because obviously in that tight
Speaker 2: end room he had Kyle Pitts, who, you know, tight
Speaker 2: ends don't get drafted that high. Tight Ends don't run
Speaker 2: that way. Tight Ends don't look like Kyle Pitts do.
Speaker 2: He's supposed to be, you know, one of those generational
Speaker 2: types of players, and maybe the stats haven't gone that
Speaker 2: way for him early on his career. I'm curious what
Speaker 2: you think the impact that John who had on Kyle Pits.
Speaker 2: And then also, you know for a young quarterback who
Speaker 2: they always say it's tight ends kind of security blanket
Speaker 2: for Desert Ritter, who didn't really work out for Desmond
Speaker 2: in Atlanta. He's now with the Cardinals, But just curious
Speaker 2: about his impact on those two young players at his position,
Speaker 2: and then of course the most important position in the quarterback.
Speaker 5: Yeah, well start with Kyle Pitts, and both of them
Speaker 5: talked Johndrew Smith and Kyle Pitts spoke very highly of
Speaker 5: each other from the start, and the reason was they
Speaker 5: both kind of have a little bit of a shit background,
Speaker 5: being from Philadelphia or the Philadelphia area, and it's funny
Speaker 5: you talk to either of them separately about the other guy,
Speaker 5: and they both would kind of joke about, well, I'm
Speaker 5: from the real Philadelphia, he is from a different part.
Speaker 1: That just said that. They kind of went back and forth.
Speaker 5: So they had a really strong relationship from the start,
Speaker 5: giving each other a hard time, but both of them
Speaker 5: said that they really hit it off from day one
Speaker 5: with a shared background, you know, coming up from history,
Speaker 5: which I guess part of that was given each other
Speaker 5: a hard time.
Speaker 1: And having fun with it.
Speaker 5: So it seemed like, you know, he had a really
Speaker 5: good impact on Kyle Pitts from everything we heard from Kyle,
Speaker 5: the way he spoke of him. And yeah, it was
Speaker 5: a tough season for Kyle Pitts, you know, having to
Speaker 5: deal with a bunch, so you can only having that
Speaker 5: calming presence in the tight end room could only be.
Speaker 1: A benefit there.
Speaker 5: And then as far as Desmond Ridder goes again, you know,
Speaker 5: Johonnay Smith put up career numbers really working with Desmond Ritter.
Speaker 5: It was an offense that you know, I think a
Speaker 5: lot of Falcons fans would say or if you watch
Speaker 5: this team didn't click on a lot of different levels.
Speaker 5: But I mean he had his most receiving yards of
Speaker 5: his career, did John U. Smith his most receptions in
Speaker 5: his career as targets. So one it spoke to take
Speaker 5: chempistry with Desert Ritter, but also the trust that Arthur
Speaker 5: had at so.
Speaker 1: He was able to do a lot of different things.
Speaker 5: Definitely seem to have a tempistry from day one with
Speaker 5: Desbon really produced in a way that I think a
Speaker 5: lot of folks outside of the Falcons building maybe weren't
Speaker 5: expecting And probably it's a big reason why that you know,
Speaker 5: the Dolphins took interest in him and he was able
Speaker 5: to further his career there.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think you talk about the production you had
Speaker 2: this year. I look at what he does like in
Speaker 2: the screen game for instance, like breaking off screenplays for
Speaker 2: sixty yard touchdowns. Don't know many tit ends that can
Speaker 2: do that, and he looks like one of those guys
Speaker 2: that can is he did last year and you know,
Speaker 2: just not a chance to chat with John oh here
Speaker 2: recently for the podcast and he was on just before
Speaker 2: you came on the show here with us, and man,
Speaker 2: what an enlightening calming presence like that was the first
Speaker 2: thing that was just how kind of calm he was,
Speaker 2: which I think again from seven years experience of doing
Speaker 2: this right, the whole media car wash, the whole new
Speaker 2: building now eventually in the no new teammates. But I'm
Speaker 2: curious if you guys in Atlanta, albeit for just one season,
Speaker 2: had a chance to notice that in the media availabilities
Speaker 2: and if not, what did you pick up from his mediavailabilities?
Speaker 5: Yeah, calming, professional, and I would say honest.
Speaker 1: Honest would be one of the words that would come
Speaker 1: to mind.
Speaker 5: Again, you know, falcons high expectations last year didn't exactly
Speaker 5: go as planned.
Speaker 1: And Johnny was one of those guys that.
Speaker 5: Would really shoot you straight, you know, when things were
Speaker 5: not going well.
Speaker 1: He was honest about it. He was the one that
Speaker 1: would say, you know, things need to change, we need
Speaker 1: to do this, this and this, this is what I'm
Speaker 1: not seeing.
Speaker 5: He was one of those guys that we knew we
Speaker 5: could go to and hear what was really going on,
Speaker 5: not just we're going to go back to practice, go
Speaker 5: back to the drawing board, ticket one game at a time,
Speaker 5: which wow, true is not as insightful as we would
Speaker 5: hope to bring to Falcons fans. So he was a
Speaker 5: guy that I personally really appreciated just the honesty that
Speaker 5: he would bring. And the other thing you just talking
Speaker 5: to him. He is a calm guy, super nice. I'm
Speaker 5: sure you guys had an awesome conversation as well, but also.
Speaker 1: Just kind of has that footballs.
Speaker 5: You just talk to him and just hit his demeanor
Speaker 5: can be especially having those those tough, honest conversations after
Speaker 5: losses where you'd hear.
Speaker 1: From him, just the toughness comes through that.
Speaker 5: That shows you one why I'm sure teammates take him
Speaker 5: real seriously, and two I play for this long in
Speaker 5: the league just having that as well, that that seriousness,
Speaker 5: that toughness that you know, will we'll get his hands dirty,
Speaker 5: not just catching passes scoring touchdowns, but we'll do the
Speaker 5: dirty work.
Speaker 1: So those were those were the things that kind of
Speaker 1: came across.
Speaker 5: But he was he was certainly a guy that I
Speaker 5: know I'm not the only one in the media, but
Speaker 5: I'll speak for personally enjoyed talking to him because of
Speaker 5: the insight and the honesty he would give us something
Speaker 5: to team.
Speaker 2: Yeah, we have a media Good Guy Award that we
Speaker 2: hand out here every year and it's given to the
Speaker 2: person that displays the best professionalism and colop operation with
Speaker 2: the media, and last year I believe was the most.
Speaker 2: We had the most players received votes of any year
Speaker 2: since they've been doing that, and it was tough to
Speaker 2: choose a winner. It sounds like John who might kind
Speaker 2: of make that decision tough again this year. And it
Speaker 2: kind of jies with how the Dolphins build their locker
Speaker 2: room with guys that are you know, of that like
Speaker 2: minded mindset. There so really good stuff. Justin Felder Fox
Speaker 2: five Sports in Atlanta, you're the man, Justin, thank you
Speaker 2: again for your time. I really appreciate it.
Speaker 1: Man, Hey, thanks for having me. Travis appreciate it.
Speaker 2: And there he goes, and you know, like I do
Speaker 2: a lot of those interviews, and it's funny because, like,
Speaker 2: not all beat writers are bubbly, happy, go lucky people.
Speaker 2: In fact, I would say often it's the opposite. But
Speaker 2: every once in a while, you get a couple of guys,
Speaker 2: or I should say a guy like like a Justin
Speaker 2: Felder who is just top notch, elite, good dude, that's
Speaker 2: what he was there for us, so appreciate his time.
Speaker 2: I want to go ahead and finish up here on
Speaker 2: the show by talking about some additional news that has
Speaker 2: come down over the last couple of hours here on
Speaker 2: this Thursday afternoon, and I'm probably gonna do the podcasters
Speaker 2: curse and record this ahead of the noon release on
Speaker 2: Friday for this podcast when I assume we're going to
Speaker 2: sign twelve more players, because hey, we signed three more
Speaker 2: guys reportedly on Thursday afternoon and you know ten free
Speaker 2: agents cap Opealypse right right, all that was a thing
Speaker 2: right good call there. So Kendall Fuller is reportedly going
Speaker 2: to be joining the Miami Dolphins. And you talk about
Speaker 2: a top notch cover corner, a top notch veteran presence,
Speaker 2: a top notch versatile, positionless type of defender that can
Speaker 2: move about the formation, play inside, play outside. He was
Speaker 2: a nickel defender in Kansas City. His entire career goes
Speaker 2: to Washington and the Alex Smith trade, believe or not,
Speaker 2: and They turned him into a perimeter cornerback who can
Speaker 2: kick inside, who can blitz, who can fit the run.
Speaker 2: And you probably saw a tweet out there the Dolphins
Speaker 2: signed Jordan Fuller, who allowed nine touchdowns last Yeah, it's
Speaker 2: Kyle Fuller. It's not Jordan Fuller. Like, my god, man,
Speaker 2: what are we doing? What are we doing? Cap opolips right,
Speaker 2: got Kendall Fuller is a feisty playmaker who understands man
Speaker 2: and zone coverage, how to play leverage. You're gonna get
Speaker 2: a defense this year, guys, And I'm so excited about
Speaker 2: the makeup of what I'm seeing in the back end
Speaker 2: right now. The back seven. You swap out Jordan Brooks
Speaker 2: for Jerome Baker, a player who was all Ford all
Speaker 2: the time. Right, Jerome didn't really play backwards that often.
Speaker 2: Jordan brook can play backwards and he can play a
Speaker 2: second or third tier back beyond what most linebackers are
Speaker 2: capable of, and creates so much range for that one
Speaker 2: position on the interior part of the football field to
Speaker 2: span that part. Then you have matchup guys all over
Speaker 2: the back end. It's kind of like the Ravens last year.
Speaker 2: Big surprise, right, Anthony Weaver has a Baltimorevens type of
Speaker 2: defense where he can match up with Javon Holland, with
Speaker 2: Jayaln Ramsey, with Kendall Fuller, and then now we just
Speaker 2: have luxuries in what camp Smith and Cater Koho and
Speaker 2: Nick Edom and Ethan Bonner can do because you pretty
Speaker 2: much have enough guys as it is right now at
Speaker 2: your top line that you're basically fighting for depth and
Speaker 2: for you know, a third or fourth role within the
Speaker 2: defensive backfield and playing time. So I love I talked
Speaker 2: about the Jordan Brooks move. I talked about this John
Speaker 2: news Smith move, Kendall Fuller, Aaron Brewer as well. I
Speaker 2: thig if you have a lot of these moves, this
Speaker 2: one goes right to the top. I think this guy
Speaker 2: can flat out play. He's been a baller for a
Speaker 2: long long time, and he just changes the complexion of
Speaker 2: your defense. I think that you're gonna look at these
Speaker 2: moves in an individual you know scope, and say like,
Speaker 2: good player, bad player, whatever you might think of the player,
Speaker 2: this one's good. But also have the vision for the
Speaker 2: grand or the more macro view of like this defense
Speaker 2: is being built to play a certain way, and that's
Speaker 2: what you have here. I think so far with the
Speaker 2: moves we've seen getting better in that back end. We
Speaker 2: also added another person upfront, which I think still requires
Speaker 2: a little bit more. We know about Neville Gallimore from
Speaker 2: the Cowboys was added reportedly on Wednesday, and then on
Speaker 2: Thursday we heard reports about but you know Jones coming
Speaker 2: back to the myn Dolphins. He got some reps for
Speaker 2: the Lions and played some good foot all up there
Speaker 2: at that nose tackle position, and that's really a spot
Speaker 2: that Dolphins haven't had for a couple of years now.
Speaker 2: Like Raekwon Davis was the nose tackle here, but he
Speaker 2: so frequently played so high and because of his height
Speaker 2: that he would often invite blockers into his chest plate
Speaker 2: and get knocked off the football. And that, to me
Speaker 2: is why there was such minimal playmaking from that player
Speaker 2: and from that position in the last couple of years
Speaker 2: here was because of the height. And so Bando Jones
Speaker 2: is a little bit more of a squatty body who
Speaker 2: can get under guys and kind of control reps that way.
Speaker 2: And he really developed and grew his game when he
Speaker 2: was up in Detroy, so a better player than what
Speaker 2: we saw him leave Miami as and I recorded this
Speaker 2: podcast and had it ready to go on Thursday night
Speaker 2: for a Friday at noon publishing, and of course, as
Speaker 2: that's the curse that you get here, the Dolphins announced
Speaker 2: per Reports another acquisition. And in that podcast I had said,
Speaker 2: I think we need one more guy with Gallimore, with
Speaker 2: Jones to kind of replace the work of what Christian
Speaker 2: Wilkins did last year in so many roles, in so
Speaker 2: many positions. And they go out and get Jonathan Harris
Speaker 2: from Denver, so between Jones at the nose tackle, and
Speaker 2: then Harris from Denver who can play kind of some
Speaker 2: backside one but mostly three technique and variations of two
Speaker 2: or two I and four and four I all those positions,
Speaker 2: and then with Benito Jones in the nose tackle spot
Speaker 2: and Neville Gallimore who played nose tackle for the Cowboys
Speaker 2: at three hundred and two pounds, the exact same thing
Speaker 2: they did to Mazzi Smith this year, their first round
Speaker 2: pick who did not perform well because well, that's not
Speaker 2: his position. Same exact thing with Gallimore, who was a
Speaker 2: stud coming out a first round draft pick four years
Speaker 2: ago of those Dallas Cowboys. So he joins the fold
Speaker 2: as a rotational type of guy with Benito Jones alongside
Speaker 2: Zach Seeler. So you're getting better, You're getting more quality
Speaker 2: in that area. I think maybe one more guy might
Speaker 2: do the trick in that position. Maybe it's a high
Speaker 2: draft pick as well, so you have some options to
Speaker 2: fill that role out there. And then also a tight end.
Speaker 2: Joey Forston was a guy that missed the entire twenty
Speaker 2: twenty three season to a shoulder injury with the Chiefs,
Speaker 2: but he has mega upside, probably a guy competing for
Speaker 2: a job alongside like Julian Hill in the back end
Speaker 2: of that tight end room. But man, there is upside
Speaker 2: dripping off this guy. He has elite athletic ability in
Speaker 2: that position group. And I feel like I'm forgetting one
Speaker 2: Benito Fuller and forced to know know them all there,
Speaker 2: So busy, busy offseason, cap Op lips right, good call there.
Speaker 2: Let's go ahead and ge out here for the podcast.
Speaker 2: We're gonna be doing these podcasts just like this for
Speaker 2: the next couple of weeks. Here a couple of guys
Speaker 2: in the pod, talk to them, talk to beatwires who
Speaker 2: covered them, break down their their games and analyze their games,
Speaker 2: how they fit in the team. It's gonna be a
Speaker 2: lot of fun here in the podcast, taking us really
Speaker 2: into April on the free agency contest. So keep it
Speaker 2: locked right here with us on the Draft Time podcast.
Speaker 2: You all please be sure to subscribe. I think Monday
Speaker 2: is gonna be Jordan Brooks and Anthony Walker, I believe
Speaker 2: is the plan there. And then Jordan Brooks I have
Speaker 2: a Seahawks Beatwirish, Michael Sean Dugger, and then for Walker,
Speaker 2: I'm not sure quite yet. We'll figure that out, and
Speaker 2: then we'll do Poyer and Neil together brew like we're
Speaker 2: gonna do all of them, we do all them. That's
Speaker 2: coming up. Subscribe, rate review, follow me on social at
Speaker 2: Winkle NFL, the team at Mimy Dolphins. Check out the
Speaker 2: fish Tank podcast with my guy Seth and Jews. Check
Speaker 2: out the YouTube channel for the video version of all
Speaker 2: these interviews we cut them with have be Role made
Speaker 2: a really pretty video out of that thanks to the
Speaker 2: content guys on the other side of the wall from
Speaker 2: the that got that YouTube channel, and last but not least,
Speaker 2: Miami Dolphins dot com. The five Things piece on each
Speaker 2: of these guys, written by Gil Boy Staying busy. All
Speaker 2: coming up on Mimi Dolphins dot Com until next time.
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