Speaker 1: Fail touchdown, miamis a drown? What is up, Dolph Fans
Speaker 1: and welcome to the Drive Time Podcast, part of the
Speaker 1: Miami Dolphins podcast network, covering your team, your Miami Dolphins.
Speaker 1: How's it going everybody? I am your host, Travis Wingfield
Speaker 1: and as always I am here to bring you your
Speaker 1: daily dose each and every day of Miami Dolphins football.
Speaker 1: And on today's show, the final day of open practice
Speaker 1: to the fans is in the books, and as we
Speaker 1: do every day, we have a report for you top performers,
Speaker 1: individual notes, and plenty of commentary from coach Flores, Kirk Merritt,
Speaker 1: Jesse Davis. A big day for the rookies as we
Speaker 1: break down some of their performances today, some situational football
Speaker 1: plenty to come here from the Baptist Health Studios inside
Speaker 1: the Baptist Health Training Complex. This is the Drive Time Podcast.
Speaker 1: I want to start this podcast by talking about food
Speaker 1: and also a reason number three and seventy eight why
Speaker 1: I'm not cut out to be a football player. Today, personally,
Speaker 1: I put down pancakes with syrup, bacon, eggs, hash browns.
Speaker 1: Then for lunch, a wedge salad with entirely too much
Speaker 1: branch dressing. Like to me, salad is about how much
Speaker 1: dressing you have and it's not good. After that Lasagna
Speaker 1: with a role to diet pepsis and four chips of
Speaker 1: hoy cookies. Not great, Bob, not great. But the players
Speaker 1: they do it a lot differently. And one of the
Speaker 1: themes of a very jovial and fun press conference today
Speaker 1: with head coach Brian Flores was about nutrition and taking
Speaker 1: care of your body, specifically in reference to Rae Kwon
Speaker 1: Davis and Kirk Merritt, who the reporters asked coach about.
Speaker 1: And here's what coach had to say about nutrition, not
Speaker 1: just for those guys, but the focus on health and
Speaker 1: putting yourself in the best possible position for peak performance.
Speaker 1: Because is that's what it's all about, right, That's why
Speaker 1: we have this state of the art training complex of perfection,
Speaker 1: That's why you have a sports science, nutrition, strength coach program,
Speaker 1: all that fun stuff. So here's Brian Floores talking about nutrition,
Speaker 1: taking care of your body, but mostly about Kirk Merritt
Speaker 1: and Rake je Davis up first, Kirk and then we'll
Speaker 1: go to Rake one. He's grown from a work habits standpoint.
Speaker 1: I think he he knows how or is learning how
Speaker 1: to UM, get on a routine, stay on a routine,
Speaker 1: believe in the routine, and believing that you know, the
Speaker 1: extra work on the jugs and the extra film study
Speaker 1: and the extra um you know reps and sets in
Speaker 1: the weight room will help him and have helped him
Speaker 1: make improvements. UM. And I think we've seen those improvements
Speaker 1: on the field, both in practice ending games, and I
Speaker 1: think he he understands that and he'll if he continues
Speaker 1: to do those things off the field, um I in
Speaker 1: the classroom, off the field, in the classroom, in the
Speaker 1: weight room from a nutrition standpoint, and he will continue
Speaker 1: to make those improvements that he's already made. So he's
Speaker 1: done a nice job, and UM, I'm very pleased with
Speaker 1: where where the growth he's made. It's cool to see
Speaker 1: the development cod take place in front of your eyes.
Speaker 1: These guys work out here every day, and going from
Speaker 1: the rookie season to their second season, I think that's
Speaker 1: where you've seen some of the most tangible growth from
Speaker 1: this football team. That's a nod obviously to Brian Flores
Speaker 1: as well as his staff. The guys, whether it's from
Speaker 1: year one to year two, year two to year three,
Speaker 1: that's where the most growth is probably going to occur.
Speaker 1: But you see it across the entire roster. And we've
Speaker 1: covered this so many times on podcasts with Jerome Baker
Speaker 1: taking leaps at certain stages of his career, but also
Speaker 1: a guy like Eric Row have the best really two
Speaker 1: year run of his career in years five and six
Speaker 1: of his career. Davante Parker the same story. So development
Speaker 1: is not just for the young guys in this program.
Speaker 1: It's about everybody and everyone's trying to get better. So
Speaker 1: it's good to hear about Kirk Merritt, who We're gonna
Speaker 1: hear more from Kirk on his own development, which I
Speaker 1: thought he gave some great answers in that regard. But
Speaker 1: I want to go now as coach talks about Ray
Speaker 1: Kwon Davis, and that's where we get into also some
Speaker 1: more talk on the nutrition and all that fun stuff.
Speaker 1: So here's coach on Dolphin's second year defensive tackle, Rake
Speaker 1: Kwon Davis. I think kans you know, his spring, his
Speaker 1: summer has been good. UM. This is another young guy,
Speaker 1: young player who UM has become. You know, we've talked
Speaker 1: a lot about two and his his growth. I think
Speaker 1: Ray Kwan has grown a lot as well, much more
Speaker 1: comfortable UM with his surroundings, with his settings again, with
Speaker 1: his routine, with how he takes care of his body, UM,
Speaker 1: the things he eats, how much he sleeps UM. I
Speaker 1: think that's something that UM. Caleb Thornhill and our our
Speaker 1: player engagement group has done a nice job of helping
Speaker 1: these guys UM, you know, with their routines UM and
Speaker 1: helping them learn how to be professionals. And I think
Speaker 1: that's something that young players need, UM. They need some
Speaker 1: itidance on that. I think you know, as an organization,
Speaker 1: we try to help them with that as coaches, as
Speaker 1: you know Caleb and his staff, as a training staff,
Speaker 1: as a as a strength and conditioning staff. I think
Speaker 1: those um you know, different groups UM are kind of
Speaker 1: coaching these young guys in that area about you know,
Speaker 1: what are the best things for you to be the
Speaker 1: best version of yourself on and off the field. And
Speaker 1: I think our staff done a nice job of that.
Speaker 1: But you know, we can talk all we want, the
Speaker 1: players have to take the information and apply. I think
Speaker 1: Rake Want has done a nice job of that and
Speaker 1: I think he's making improvement and we need to continue
Speaker 1: to make make make more improvement. I just I'd continue
Speaker 1: to love the insight there from coaches. He kind of
Speaker 1: tells us the behind the scenes of how you make
Speaker 1: this development happen, how you get guys at their peak
Speaker 1: fundamentals and technique and execution when it comes to football,
Speaker 1: but also away from the field, because it requires a
Speaker 1: great deal of discipline to put in that effort, to
Speaker 1: put in that time and to not take part in
Speaker 1: the extracurriculars like snacks and doughnuts and cakes and all
Speaker 1: that fun stuff that is just so tempting every single
Speaker 1: night for for me personally. Let's go back to Rake
Speaker 1: Uan Davis now and talk to him about his diet,
Speaker 1: but also the routine of trying to get better sleep
Speaker 1: and just doing the things that coach Flores talked about
Speaker 1: to get the most out of his performance. Here's Rake one.
Speaker 1: Most definitely just trying to eat better. You know, it's
Speaker 1: trying to go to sleep at a certain time. Um,
Speaker 1: you know, just how to get to the eight hours
Speaker 1: of sleep. You know, it's how to get that get
Speaker 1: nutrition an your body. You know, saying something healthy your
Speaker 1: body gets you going fast. Uh. I mean I have
Speaker 1: my day some day that I really do go go
Speaker 1: to bed that early, but not eight? Yeah, that kind
Speaker 1: of we all gotta means it's like seven, I don't
Speaker 1: get home and sound thirty. So yeah, I love hearing
Speaker 1: Rake one talk with the schedule the day because I
Speaker 1: feel you on that man getting up in the morning
Speaker 1: with my daughter putting her to bed. It feels like
Speaker 1: it's about a sixteen hour day by the time it
Speaker 1: all comes to its conclude ship. And then we had
Speaker 1: Kirk Merritt, and I asked him a bunch of questions,
Speaker 1: but I started off by asking him about his favorite
Speaker 1: dessert because the reporter before I had asked the question
Speaker 1: said something about nutrition and that was kind of a
Speaker 1: theme of the day. And I said, what's your go
Speaker 1: to dessert? And he said donuts. I thought donuts are
Speaker 1: pretty elite. I don't know, what do you guys think.
Speaker 1: I started thinking about it after that more. Are they elite?
Speaker 1: An elite dessert? I think they might have been. I
Speaker 1: think that might have been too strong of a phrasing, actually,
Speaker 1: because they're not ice cream and they're not cookies, which
Speaker 1: are the two elite desserts of all desserts. And he
Speaker 1: did say one thing that I thought was interesting that
Speaker 1: it's a once a week type of deal with donuts.
Speaker 1: You can get him once a week. That's it. I
Speaker 1: thought to myself, if I could get Dairy Queen Chocolate
Speaker 1: Brownie extreme blizzards down to just one per week, that
Speaker 1: would be a pretty big win. Let's go back to
Speaker 1: Kirk Merritt here, who was asked, what's a change you
Speaker 1: made in your diet or in your eating habits that
Speaker 1: has made a big result for you, produced a good
Speaker 1: result for you. Here's Kirk. Probably not e pass um.
Speaker 1: I lost couple hounds, but I feel feel way better healthier,
Speaker 1: so probably not. You pass not thirty and stay away
Speaker 1: from the shop of it now. And that's the thing, man,
Speaker 1: that's the discipline right there. Not eating past nine. That's
Speaker 1: the best time to eat. So these guys continue to
Speaker 1: show that strong discipline, not just on the football field
Speaker 1: to be one of the fewest the least penalized teams
Speaker 1: in the National Football League, but taking care of those
Speaker 1: details elsewhere in the kitchen is certainly a big area
Speaker 1: for that. And we'll go ahead and go with my
Speaker 1: questioning here for Kirk Mayor and just kind of play
Speaker 1: all the way through. You probably can't hear my audio
Speaker 1: as well. But I first started off here asking Kirk,
Speaker 1: how did it feel to get out there for a
Speaker 1: preseason game since you didn't get that opportunity last year
Speaker 1: as a rookie. And he did play a couple of snaps,
Speaker 1: like a handful of snaps last year, I think, mostly
Speaker 1: on special teams when he got the call up to
Speaker 1: the regular season roster. But this was his first good
Speaker 1: chunk of action the last couple of weeks in the preseason,
Speaker 1: so I wanted to ask him how valuable that was.
Speaker 1: It was. It was a great, great opportunity for me
Speaker 1: because that's you know, obsolutely had that preseason. But um,
Speaker 1: I feel great. It's great to practice against other teams
Speaker 1: and not your own teammates, but um, I feel I feel,
Speaker 1: I feel great about the opportunity and obviously this Sunday,
Speaker 1: just take it every day by day, touchdowns that football.
Speaker 1: Oh yes, it felt great, But I mean I wouldn't
Speaker 1: be able to do it without read throwing the ball
Speaker 1: and obviously long protecting. So what do you say about
Speaker 1: that connection you and him kind of established really in camp,
Speaker 1: because I mean it seemed like every day it was
Speaker 1: sneta marriage Oh yeah, yeah, we have. We have a
Speaker 1: good relationship. He stays literally down the street from me,
Speaker 1: so we're always hanging out and stuff. So, I mean
Speaker 1: we always go to the movies. I mean just just
Speaker 1: hang out all the time. So when we always have
Speaker 1: had that relationship, so obviously it's great to bring to
Speaker 1: the field. What's your mindset like when you get you know,
Speaker 1: you have the production and practice with with reading and
Speaker 1: the third team and you get touch promotion to live
Speaker 1: with Jacobe in the second team eventually up with two
Speaker 1: on the ones. What's that mindset like for your the
Speaker 1: reaction you have when when you get those call ups,
Speaker 1: it's it's a it's a great feeling just to know
Speaker 1: that you know, your hot word is paying off. Um,
Speaker 1: but it's not over. You know, we comp and every
Speaker 1: day and it's the NFL. So I mean, you got
Speaker 1: a great guys. We've got great guys in the receiving
Speaker 1: room competing every day, and I just gotta take a
Speaker 1: day by day and just stay stay focused. Coach. Coach
Speaker 1: always talks about your development, whether you're a young player
Speaker 1: off act, you can never stop developing. What you say
Speaker 1: about coach bizarre and not receivers room and how he's
Speaker 1: couple to developing you so far on Oh yeah, every
Speaker 1: day we we go through film good or that, UM,
Speaker 1: go through coverages to the defense. That's that's something something
Speaker 1: I wasn't really used to. UM, but this the coverages
Speaker 1: and and knowing picking up on defense. You know, I
Speaker 1: was saying, NFL they tried to disguise everything, So I
Speaker 1: mean just picking up stuff on that and releases basically
Speaker 1: everything about receiver. That's where we really go over. So
Speaker 1: like when you're in college, isn't more just like I'm
Speaker 1: gonna beat my guy, I don't have to worry about
Speaker 1: the coverage stuff, and you can't here. It's like kind
Speaker 1: of a wake up caller. I wouldn't say a wake
Speaker 1: up call, but UM, when I was in college, coach Cefalo,
Speaker 1: he taught me coverages and stuff. But you know, it's
Speaker 1: the NFL is a whole different game, know, So I
Speaker 1: wanted to just put the audio for you guys who
Speaker 1: thought he was really good, and just talked about kind
Speaker 1: of the experience of being in his position and being
Speaker 1: part of this club and you know, going through a
Speaker 1: weird season in his first year. Now coming back here
Speaker 1: and having at least a little taste of normalcy. Why
Speaker 1: don't we go ahead and just stay on media here
Speaker 1: we're so far into it and finish up with Jesse Davis,
Speaker 1: and we talked with about this and the Falcons recap
Speaker 1: about how the Dolphins really turned up the heat on
Speaker 1: Felipe Frank's with some of the games they run up front,
Speaker 1: all the twists and stunts and and loopers and the
Speaker 1: and the slants. Forgot that word there for a second.
Speaker 1: They show up front and set edg Vaughan and all
Speaker 1: the rushers getting home with all those games. So I
Speaker 1: wanted to ask Jesse how seeing that in practice helps
Speaker 1: the offensive line and how seeing all that kind of
Speaker 1: helps keep them sharp. Here's Jesse on the mental side
Speaker 1: of playing offensive line and seeing all kinds of different
Speaker 1: games from the defensive line. Yeah, I think, you know,
Speaker 1: it makes us a lot more sharper, that's for sure.
Speaker 1: I Mean it's tough, you know, obviously, a good defense,
Speaker 1: you know, give us a different lot of different looks.
Speaker 1: So it makes us communicate more, um you know, rely
Speaker 1: on each other more than like in um that aspect.
Speaker 1: So going into like with that under our belt, hopefully
Speaker 1: it'll we'll show, and I asked Jesse about something I've
Speaker 1: noticed a practice quite a lot that you always love
Speaker 1: to see, as I so often see Liam Eichenberg come
Speaker 1: over to Jesse between reps and get a little bit
Speaker 1: of player coaching. And Jesse told us it's not just
Speaker 1: him helping the youngster, but also vice versac, like, yeah,
Speaker 1: you know right now we're playing the same spot. You know,
Speaker 1: he tells me what he sees. I tell him when
Speaker 1: I see, um, what we can improve on, you know,
Speaker 1: what we can do better. So I mean he's my
Speaker 1: eyes and and I'm his, so um, you know, just
Speaker 1: hand placement, footwork, kind of that stuff, you know what
Speaker 1: I see with alignments. Let's go ahead and finish where
Speaker 1: we started and go back to coach Flores. First, the
Speaker 1: non audios to a tongue by Loo will not play
Speaker 1: in the game on Sunday. You probably saw that already
Speaker 1: on Twitter or otherwise. And that's going to be the
Speaker 1: case for the majority of the starters. And I use
Speaker 1: air quotes there because we know that starters are not
Speaker 1: necessarily a thing in full ball anymore, or necessarily on
Speaker 1: this team. But I mean, obviously you have some guys,
Speaker 1: like the offensive line and your quarterback. But you get
Speaker 1: the point. There's lots of rotation, lots of players that
Speaker 1: play multiple roles per package, but we're not going to
Speaker 1: see a lot of the guys up in Cincinnati. And
Speaker 1: then coach said they're working through the decision to see
Speaker 1: who gets what amount of reps in that game. But
Speaker 1: he did also say when asked if the performance against
Speaker 1: the Falcons, that that strong performance did not influence the decision.
Speaker 1: The decision to not play too had already been made beforehand,
Speaker 1: but I love the part where he added in that
Speaker 1: it certainly didn't hurt. Coach also told us that vaccinated
Speaker 1: or unvaccinated as the big topic around the league right now,
Speaker 1: that they're going to keep the best players and play
Speaker 1: the best players regardless of that status. And finally, why
Speaker 1: don't we go to the podium here and here from
Speaker 1: head coach Brian flora Is on just how important special
Speaker 1: teams factors in to the final fifty three. UM. I
Speaker 1: think that's a that's a big part of the the
Speaker 1: final decisions that we make. UM. You know, the kicking
Speaker 1: games obviously a big part of of a football UM,
Speaker 1: and you know, we want to be good in a
Speaker 1: kicking game. So yeah, those those when we're making those
Speaker 1: final decisions. You know, what a guy can do and
Speaker 1: you know and on special teams is part of that decision. Um.
Speaker 1: You know, the more you can do gives you, you know,
Speaker 1: more opportunity to help this team win UM or try
Speaker 1: to win games. And you know that. Yeah, it definitely
Speaker 1: comes into play. UM. But I don't think that's just
Speaker 1: you know, for for the Miami Dolphins. I think that's
Speaker 1: for across the league. UM. A block field goal, a
Speaker 1: big kickoff return, a big punt return, a missfield goal.
Speaker 1: I mean, those are all plays in the game that
Speaker 1: you know, if you if you're take them for granted,
Speaker 1: I'll come back to bite you. So UM, I would say,
Speaker 1: you know, every team in the league is uh. It
Speaker 1: makes a games some somewhat of a priority, especially when
Speaker 1: when it comes out to these cuts. All right, that's
Speaker 1: the end of our media on this podcast. Let's go
Speaker 1: ahead and get to the practice notes here. First attendance.
Speaker 1: Will Fuller was out there again for the third straight
Speaker 1: day this week. So was Davante Parker, but this time
Speaker 1: and as well in the non contact red jersey. No
Speaker 1: Albert Wilson, no Javon Holland, no Adam Panky, no Vince Bagel,
Speaker 1: and no Seethan Carter. Brandon Jones was out there working again,
Speaker 1: and I know he was out there earlier this week,
Speaker 1: but I just wanted to go ahead and put it
Speaker 1: in the notes because it's good to see twenty nine
Speaker 1: back out there after missing some time with the ankle.
Speaker 1: And I want to start with a little segment here
Speaker 1: about the practice today and the growth of our rookie class,
Speaker 1: which I thought collectively had their best day of camp.
Speaker 1: Excuse me, Jalen Waddles aren't there, We'll go in order
Speaker 1: a draft pick. Here. The catches away from the frame
Speaker 1: where he twists and contorts and elevates and goes back
Speaker 1: against his body or diving to the ground, just continues
Speaker 1: to find the football and make catches. Like every once
Speaker 1: in a while there's a off there, but he's just
Speaker 1: been so solid catching the football, and I think that
Speaker 1: continues to show that he's more than just a speed guy.
Speaker 1: Not that I ever, ever ever thought he was just that,
Speaker 1: but sometimes the speedy guys can get unfairly tabbed with
Speaker 1: that one trick pony label, and that could not be
Speaker 1: further from the truth. With Jalen Waddle who continues to
Speaker 1: just show that alpha receiver mentality in terms of that's
Speaker 1: my football, I'm gonna go get it, whether it's short, intermediate,
Speaker 1: or deep or otherwise. Jalen Phillips was in the backfield
Speaker 1: a lot on Thursday's practice, and we'll get into the
Speaker 1: one on one portion of practice here in just a
Speaker 1: moment where I thought the offensive line got it done,
Speaker 1: and in that period, phillips pass rushes were being greeted
Speaker 1: by the nice pass blocking work of some of those tackles.
Speaker 1: But then Jalen and the team period, he turned it
Speaker 1: on and I had him with at least two sacks
Speaker 1: and some more pressure on other reps. I also had
Speaker 1: him for a very strong edge set in the early
Speaker 1: run game period early in practice, and it's not just
Speaker 1: about sacks for defensive ends and outside linebackers. Much more
Speaker 1: goes into it than just sacks. And on that note,
Speaker 1: the practices take on a little bit of a different
Speaker 1: field this time of year, where it's a bit of
Speaker 1: a transition into the more regular season type of practice
Speaker 1: opposed to what you get in training camp. So the
Speaker 1: final periods have been half speed, where it's more installed
Speaker 1: and the early part of practice has been run game
Speaker 1: with some r p O work, So evaluating as far
Speaker 1: as media or like the podcast goes, I'm just not
Speaker 1: sure it's the same during this week. So it's not
Speaker 1: the same like one on one competition. Go ahead and
Speaker 1: watch these guys and watch them do battle. It's more
Speaker 1: about the team and the game plan and put in
Speaker 1: the structure of how you're going to call games in
Speaker 1: place to continue though. Javon Holland not out there today,
Speaker 1: but obviously you know that I've been very impressed by
Speaker 1: his training camp so far. Liam Eichenberg, watching him work
Speaker 1: against Emmanuel Ogba is awesome because when he wins, you know,
Speaker 1: it takes all you've got to deal with Emmanual by
Speaker 1: the strength, the length, the bull rush, all of it,
Speaker 1: but also the fluidity that he brings to be able
Speaker 1: to bend around that edge and corner to the quarterback,
Speaker 1: and of course the past rush arsenal he features. But
Speaker 1: when Liam loses, anyone loses for that matter, it's an
Speaker 1: educational moment and you're going to get some of those
Speaker 1: moments as a rookie. I mean shoot, I tweeted that
Speaker 1: he had back to back nice raps against the manual
Speaker 1: and then on one of those reps. I loved the
Speaker 1: patients he showed because one gets that Nascar get off
Speaker 1: that he shows sometimes, and it looked like trouble, like
Speaker 1: a sack off the line. But Liam didn't panic. He
Speaker 1: stayed true to that kick slide, shuffled back there, got
Speaker 1: to his landmark and didn't throw the hands early, which
Speaker 1: is so key in that in that element of the game,
Speaker 1: and was able to get a manual ran right around
Speaker 1: the quarterback on that rep. After another win, of course,
Speaker 1: I tweeted about those two plays, and then Brendan Scarlett
Speaker 1: gets him for a pass rush on the third for
Speaker 1: a possible sack. But that's where you what you want
Speaker 1: to see in camp, right You want to see win
Speaker 1: or lose and learn from it. Hunter Long he had
Speaker 1: himself a big day the third round draft pick of
Speaker 1: your Miami Dolphins. The most notable play was a thirty
Speaker 1: or so yard pass reception from two a tongue by
Speaker 1: Lowa on a beautiful ball that got up over the
Speaker 1: top of tight endy Racer himself, Eric Rowe, and you
Speaker 1: guys know that this guy has been one of the
Speaker 1: best cover men against tight ends in the league the
Speaker 1: last couple of years, and we've seen that carry over
Speaker 1: this year into camp as well as the preseason with
Speaker 1: a p BU on third down in Chicago to get
Speaker 1: off the field and then a PBu on fourth down
Speaker 1: to prevent points against Atlanta. But Hunter Long caught one
Speaker 1: on that ball in the corner, but also one down
Speaker 1: the middle on a seam between a couple of defenders.
Speaker 1: So he's really showing you some of the ability to
Speaker 1: stretch the field and the sure hands. Remember last year
Speaker 1: he led all FBS tight ends and receptions, and I
Speaker 1: think when he gets up to where you think he's
Speaker 1: maybe going full speed and looks like he can contribute
Speaker 1: in the full capacity of what he's capable of, and
Speaker 1: maybe that's now that's where the coaches to decide. But
Speaker 1: when you can get him and get sticky on the
Speaker 1: field for those twelve personnel packages, the two tight end sets,
Speaker 1: his ability to both catch and block into threaten cover
Speaker 1: two to threaten whatever kind of covered you want to
Speaker 1: run down the middle of the field. Man, I think
Speaker 1: the makings of that nice combo there with two or
Speaker 1: three tight end packages really comes together. And we know
Speaker 1: this team is deep at the position but I think
Speaker 1: that Long and Gi can compliment each other so well
Speaker 1: because Long can both Unlockasiki's talent to get out and
Speaker 1: flex out and do stuff as a receiver, but he
Speaker 1: also can flects in or can jam down in line
Speaker 1: and make the make his pay as a blocking tight end.
Speaker 1: Larnel Coleman in the seventh round, I thought I had
Speaker 1: one of his best days. And he's been getting work
Speaker 1: with the twos and even got some time with the
Speaker 1: ones today, and this is one of the more athletic
Speaker 1: tackles the entire draft class this last season by measurements sake,
Speaker 1: and I think you're seeing that on the edge and
Speaker 1: pass pro. But also there was a run play today
Speaker 1: where he got out in space, pulled out play side
Speaker 1: and carry a blog like eight or nine yards down fields.
Speaker 1: It looks pretty nice for Coleman. And then Jared Doakes.
Speaker 1: Truth be told, either I just didn't see enough of
Speaker 1: it or he didn't get a ton of reps today.
Speaker 1: But I didn't have any notes on Jared Okes, but
Speaker 1: the consistent areas of his game this camp I have
Speaker 1: noted have been the absolute just shoulder, the boom when
Speaker 1: he lowers the shoulder and some really nice agility in
Speaker 1: small areas as well. So that's the rookie draft class
Speaker 1: for the day. Very encouraging to see them put together
Speaker 1: some of their best work towards the end of camp
Speaker 1: to a demonstrate their growth, but also be to not
Speaker 1: fall victim to the dog days and the fatigue that
Speaker 1: can come with that. Here, as we get towards the
Speaker 1: end of training camp, let's get back to the rest
Speaker 1: of the team here and start as we do with
Speaker 1: the quarterbacks. I thought too was very sharp today, very
Speaker 1: very sharp day from QB one. I mentioned the ball
Speaker 1: to the hunter long. He had some nice connections with
Speaker 1: jilln waddle En grant really the entire tight end room
Speaker 1: and he found the backs. He hooked up with Vante
Speaker 1: Parker on a rope that saw Vanta get some room
Speaker 1: to run after the catch and he took off for
Speaker 1: a big gainer on that one. So good to see
Speaker 1: one to eleven cranking up again. He also had a
Speaker 1: really nice throw to Mac Collins who created some space
Speaker 1: from Xaviing Howard on a catch and run up the
Speaker 1: sideline where he got plenty of yards. And you guys
Speaker 1: certainly remember the Brian Baldinger breakdown video from last week
Speaker 1: where he went through to his tape and showed you
Speaker 1: four or five plays of him just getting the job
Speaker 1: done in multiple capacities. And there was a great example
Speaker 1: of two on the footwork on a completion work in
Speaker 1: the r P O game to waddle where he goes
Speaker 1: from the feet seeing one direction, has to flip the hips,
Speaker 1: get himself set and get that ball out there. And
Speaker 1: he just whips those things his feet and his hips
Speaker 1: and the whole body to whip the ball out. But
Speaker 1: he whips his body back into a threatening position and
Speaker 1: the ball is up and out and into the receiver's hands.
Speaker 1: You love to see that. Saw more of that today.
Speaker 1: And the ability or two US I should say, expanded
Speaker 1: athletic capabilities this season I think have been tangible so
Speaker 1: far because a lot of the time today there was
Speaker 1: some good coverage but also good past protection and so
Speaker 1: on those instances the quarterbacks kind of just chilling waiting
Speaker 1: to make a decision. And there was a couple of
Speaker 1: times where two I got out and ran the ball
Speaker 1: and I thought he really showed the ability to run
Speaker 1: in space and create yards with his legs. But even
Speaker 1: more so than that, there was one play where he
Speaker 1: rolled back against the grain and Andrew van Ginkl had
Speaker 1: closed down. It was kind of there waiting for him
Speaker 1: to just take away the boot and to ran the
Speaker 1: arc longer around Van ginkle and beat him to the spot.
Speaker 1: So that's great to see. If you can expand the
Speaker 1: pocket that way and kind of get rid of those
Speaker 1: continent defenders, that can be a big boost for your
Speaker 1: for your offensive production going forward. Asked for the receivers
Speaker 1: we talked about. I thought they had a much better
Speaker 1: day today. I mentioned Jalen Waddle already. Jachim had some
Speaker 1: really crisp looking routes where he sinks those hips and
Speaker 1: drives into his cuts and explodes out of the break
Speaker 1: on one of the rips over the middle of Jachim
Speaker 1: just comes off the line shot out of a cannon,
Speaker 1: threatens deep press the toes. You get your defensive backs
Speaker 1: to flip those hips, and then you set that thing
Speaker 1: down where he sinks the hips and turns it around,
Speaker 1: squishes the bug, pivots on that strong foot, and the
Speaker 1: ball is right there on his face mask as he
Speaker 1: turns back to the quarterback. So he and to have
Speaker 1: a nice rapport so far, but all of his routes
Speaker 1: just look the same, and that's a great trait to
Speaker 1: have for a wide receiver. Talked about Kirk Merritt, I mean,
Speaker 1: he's made plays quite literally every single day. I loved
Speaker 1: chatting with him about his progression and it's been a
Speaker 1: joy to watch him just get better and make his
Speaker 1: case to make this roster, and I think he certainly
Speaker 1: has done a good job of doing that. And finally,
Speaker 1: Malcolm Perry has had a really nice week. He's getting vertical,
Speaker 1: which you know that's kind of new to his game,
Speaker 1: but also showing some strong hands. I'm sure it he'll
Speaker 1: probably want that fourth down play from Atlanta back in
Speaker 1: the preseason game that he and two couldn't hook up on.
Speaker 1: But he's had a real nice bounce back, not that
Speaker 1: he had a bad game, but just a good week
Speaker 1: of practice so far. From Malcolm Perry. Last note here
Speaker 1: on the skill guys. Miles Gaskin is such a smooth
Speaker 1: and patient runner, and during that early game, early practice
Speaker 1: run period, he just seems to know where he can
Speaker 1: make his hey like he stretches it out and stays
Speaker 1: patient and reads those blocks and then he makes the
Speaker 1: decision and he goes and he sees that whole develop
Speaker 1: and boom, he's off. He hits it and he goes.
Speaker 1: Let's get to the offensive line here. We just talked
Speaker 1: talked about a little bit and go through some of
Speaker 1: the matchups I saw in the one on one period
Speaker 1: of practice, and yesterday it was all defensive line. So
Speaker 1: it was great to see the offense really respond and
Speaker 1: bounce back today. And to start the drill, they went
Speaker 1: down the offensive line and had five wins in a
Speaker 1: row for my money. First, Liam Eichenberg anchored on a
Speaker 1: bulrush from Manuel Ogba. We know how tough that can be.
Speaker 1: Then Robert Hunt tries to or Christian Wilkins rather tries
Speaker 1: to put a bull rush on Robert Hunt and then
Speaker 1: tries to spin out of it, and Hunt gets him
Speaker 1: to the ground on that counter move. And you heard
Speaker 1: podcast the podcast yesterday, Wilkins has been so tough to block,
Speaker 1: so for Hunt to get that kind of win and
Speaker 1: put him on the ground, that's big time. And then
Speaker 1: ray Kwon Davis, who in one on ones is as
Speaker 1: unstoppable as anybody. He puts a power move on Michael
Speaker 1: Deeter and there was no push, which I talked about
Speaker 1: that early in camp. How Deeter has shown the ability
Speaker 1: to hold up against the strength of ray Kwon Davis
Speaker 1: saw it again today. That's a beautiful sign for the
Speaker 1: Dolphins offensive line. Adam Butler then had the best rep
Speaker 1: in this five period or five rep period where he
Speaker 1: gets good surge on Kinley, but Kinley recovered and anchored
Speaker 1: and locked him out and stopped that rap before the quarterback.
Speaker 1: And then Austin Jackson absorbs an absolute bull rush from
Speaker 1: Van Ginkel, anchors that thing, redirects it back inside and says,
Speaker 1: get out of my house, out the club Son. Then
Speaker 1: it was a nice mix. Austin Jackson had a good
Speaker 1: rep on Jalen Phillips who tried to spin root, spin
Speaker 1: move and nothing doing there. Good work by Austin Jackson
Speaker 1: once again. Then they come back in Jason Strawberry gets
Speaker 1: the best of Larnel Coleman on the other tackle position.
Speaker 1: Adam Butler gave Robert Jones quite a ride on a
Speaker 1: pass rush where he just took him back into the
Speaker 1: lap of the quarterback. And then Jonathan led Better got
Speaker 1: around Robert Jones at one point as well, and he
Speaker 1: stays in there and runs the rap right around the arc.
Speaker 1: So it was a good pass rush from led Better,
Speaker 1: but a good reaction from Robert Jones to get the
Speaker 1: counter and the win on the reaction. And by the way,
Speaker 1: for led Better, haven't talked about him a whole lot
Speaker 1: this camp, but man, he's been working hard and getting
Speaker 1: some extra reps and after practice he was out there
Speaker 1: hitting the sleds long after everybody was gone. So cool
Speaker 1: to see him. Workers butt off and hopefully he gets
Speaker 1: in their chance here in the league with the Miami
Speaker 1: Dolphins or otherwise. But yeah, I think Austin Jackson has
Speaker 1: really shown growth to really get those feet set and
Speaker 1: use the ground to dig in on bull rushes. But
Speaker 1: then you reactivate the feet because once you anchor, you
Speaker 1: need to be able to react to the inside move
Speaker 1: or the upfield counter move. And I thought he was
Speaker 1: doing a good job today holding that initial surge then
Speaker 1: staying with the rep and then Solomon Kinley has quietly
Speaker 1: had a couple of really nice weeks of practice side
Speaker 1: thing pretty much going back to Chicago. He really held
Speaker 1: his own in that drill and the one on one drill,
Speaker 1: but also in pass pro and the sandwich true with
Speaker 1: Michael Dead and Robert hunt. They both to have quietly
Speaker 1: had nice weeks so far. I also think Greg Little
Speaker 1: continues to improve each day we've seen him out here.
Speaker 1: He had some rough go or some rough reps early
Speaker 1: on his first couple of days, but he's gotten better
Speaker 1: and showed some nice work today on the defensive line.
Speaker 1: What do you know of those big four are at
Speaker 1: it again and today I mostly noted Adam Butler. He
Speaker 1: was the most successful in those one on one drills
Speaker 1: not carried over into the team period. I also thought
Speaker 1: John Jenkins had himself one heck of a day. Lots
Speaker 1: to knock back on that defensive line. For John Jenkins,
Speaker 1: I put Jason Strowbridge in there for a pressure during
Speaker 1: the team period. Tyshon Render had a nice stick on
Speaker 1: a running back in the run game early on. And
Speaker 1: Andrew Van Geekl was in the backfield a little bit
Speaker 1: as a pass rusher, some sack production, maybe a couple
Speaker 1: more pressures. That's kind of been his game all throughout
Speaker 1: camp as well. And then Duke Riley came clean on
Speaker 1: a blitz and you just noticed that closing to be
Speaker 1: with Duke Riley, whether it's closing the flat on a
Speaker 1: running back, catching the football or coming around downhill on
Speaker 1: a running play, or coming up the gut on a blitz,
Speaker 1: whatever it might be. You often see that closing speed
Speaker 1: any land In Roberts Man, what a stuff, such a
Speaker 1: tones that are for your landing Roberts. You just feel
Speaker 1: his presence out there since he got back to the field.
Speaker 1: He brings the physicality every single day, and the pads
Speaker 1: are popping when Roberts is coming knocking. Jerome Baker, Bernardic McKinney.
Speaker 1: I thought both played well in coverage as well as
Speaker 1: working against the run on the defensive working off that
Speaker 1: defensive line, just good communication there. They seemed to be
Speaker 1: consistently in the correct gaps. And then Brandon Scarlett had
Speaker 1: a good rush on Ikenberg that I saw early on
Speaker 1: in practice, and then Ikenberg improved from there and just
Speaker 1: continues to play a real strong edge in the running game.
Speaker 1: And then finally in the defensive secondary. What a day
Speaker 1: for Byron Jones. A couple of pass breakups in tight
Speaker 1: coverage on some other incompletions. Nothing over the top. He
Speaker 1: and xaviing Howard together have just looked the park, getting
Speaker 1: into the flow of things as they kind of get
Speaker 1: back and ramp up to full speed for the regular season.
Speaker 1: And then Jason McCarty too was also a beast today
Speaker 1: lying sideline to sideline. There was a lot of coverage
Speaker 1: plays that forced the quarterback to hang onto the ball
Speaker 1: like I talked about in the quarterback segment and just
Speaker 1: extend the play, and a lot of that was McQuary
Speaker 1: carrying things up top. Brandon Jones back out there getting
Speaker 1: some work. A lot of fun to watch him down
Speaker 1: around the box around the l O S line of scrimmage.
Speaker 1: He's got that quick trigger trigger and extinctive nature. I
Speaker 1: think that showed up some more today. Noah Ignalogaeny Damn
Speaker 1: Near had himself a pick six and I asked him
Speaker 1: about it after practice, how you can make that happen
Speaker 1: next time, and he just said, I gotta drive one
Speaker 1: step quicker. So he's close. I continue to think he's
Speaker 1: getting closer and closer and really showing us what he
Speaker 1: really truly has in the physical talent, because it's all
Speaker 1: there for him, just has to come together. And then
Speaker 1: Clayton Federalum had a nice PBu on Chris Myrick, and
Speaker 1: then Nick need Um also continues to score p bus
Speaker 1: really every single day, talk about a workman like training
Speaker 1: camp and a strong camp. Nick need Um is among
Speaker 1: the top performers so far in all of training camp. Alright,
Speaker 1: shorter show today, Let's get to the top performers. Then
Speaker 1: go ahead and get out of here before one more
Speaker 1: practice on Friday to cover for you guys for the
Speaker 1: trip to Cincinnati, and then we're gonna transition to a
Speaker 1: more next week will be different on the podcast. Then
Speaker 1: we'll get to the regular season content the following week
Speaker 1: with a preview of a National Football League game, a
Speaker 1: regular season Dolphins game against the Patriots at four Eastern
Speaker 1: on Sunday, September. The twelve top performers today, Malcolm Perry
Speaker 1: had a good day catching the ball got vertical. Liam
Speaker 1: eichenbergs some really good pass pro work, continues to show
Speaker 1: his stuff in that area. Emmanuel Ogba has just been
Speaker 1: on a terror since about the middle of camp, almost
Speaker 1: unblockable at times. Solomon Killy got some push in the
Speaker 1: run game, but also the one on one drills and
Speaker 1: pass pro and carried that over. I thought into the
Speaker 1: team portion. Robert Hunt, Austin Jackson, I thought both had
Speaker 1: so holidays too, and then Jalen Phillips had the surge
Speaker 1: in practice after a slow start to get some sack.
Speaker 1: Production Byron Jones was great from start opening gun to
Speaker 1: the end of practice to a tongue by Low was
Speaker 1: sharp all day long. Had one near pick but it
Speaker 1: was dropped, but other than that was very sharp and
Speaker 1: then Hunter long some chunk plays in the passing game
Speaker 1: and some good work off the edge in the running game.
Speaker 1: All right, is going to be my time, Caroline. Daddy
Speaker 1: is coming home. In the meantime, you all please be
Speaker 1: sure to subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcast. Leave
Speaker 1: us a rating, leave us a review. You can follow
Speaker 1: me on Twitter at Wingfield NFL. You can follow the
Speaker 1: team at Miami Dolphins. Check out the fish Tank podcast
Speaker 1: with Seth and O J McDuffie, and of course Miami
Speaker 1: Dolphins dot com. Until next time,