Speaker 1: Factors are factor throwing 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 Happy Monday? I am your host,
Speaker 1: Travis Wingfield. And on today's show, we have three more
Speaker 1: parts remaining to the training camp roster preview series. We're
Speaker 1: going to continue that today with the off ball linebackers,
Speaker 1: taking a look at current and former Ohio State teammates
Speaker 1: Ray Kwadon McMillan and Jerome Baker, the newcomers and commu
Speaker 1: Gruge Hill and Landon Roberts and the rest of this
Speaker 1: linebacker group, plus coach Flora has met with the media
Speaker 1: on Monday, will cover the highlights, will detail the Chester
Speaker 1: Rogers signing, and as always, get you caught up on
Speaker 1: the latest from Davy. All of that and more on
Speaker 1: this Monday, August the tenth edition of the Drivetime Podcast. First,
Speaker 1: let's go ahead and get to coaches media for Monday,
Speaker 1: August the tenth, he spoke and answered several questions from
Speaker 1: the South Florida media. Let's go ahead, and play the hits.
Speaker 1: And we start with a question about momentum from last
Speaker 1: season heading into and you know by now that coach
Speaker 1: Flora's is going to talk about today and how this
Speaker 1: team can get better and taking that day by day approach,
Speaker 1: the day by day mindset. Well, he was pretty blunt
Speaker 1: and pretty transparent about how he feels about the idea
Speaker 1: of momentum from one season carrying over into the next.
Speaker 1: I don't think I don't think any to be honest,
Speaker 1: which I think is in the past, and um, every
Speaker 1: year is a little bit different. This year is no
Speaker 1: different from that standpoint. So you know, the things that
Speaker 1: happened a year ago, you know, good or bad, we
Speaker 1: we we were just kind of focused on getting better
Speaker 1: each and every day and uh, you know, putting last
Speaker 1: year's last year and just trying to just trying to improve,
Speaker 1: get better, Uh, you know, build some team chemistry, learn
Speaker 1: and grow as a as a team right now. So
Speaker 1: I'm not really worried about anything going to happen in a
Speaker 1: a year ago. And I actually do think that's one
Speaker 1: thing that maybe football fans can get a little bit
Speaker 1: distracted by, is the idea of momentum or carry over
Speaker 1: even within the course of a season itself. Like last year,
Speaker 1: for instance, we talked about the five and four finish.
Speaker 1: That team played much better than the stretch than it
Speaker 1: did in the first half of the season. You don't
Speaker 1: always go based upon the previous week or the previous
Speaker 1: month of the previous season. And that's coach floress mindset.
Speaker 1: What can we do today to make the football team
Speaker 1: better for tomorrow, And that's the approach you should be taking.
Speaker 1: Right up next, coach was asked about how he feels
Speaker 1: about the possibility of no fans or fans in the
Speaker 1: stands this season. Look, we love that fans in the stands.
Speaker 1: I'd love to have them, um home Way. Obviously, the
Speaker 1: fans are a big part of the game, and you look,
Speaker 1: we're we're not We're we're not out there without their support.
Speaker 1: So it's it's that from that standpoint, it is important
Speaker 1: to me. But um, look, there's a pandemic. I think
Speaker 1: we need to um, you know, obviously use caution, which
Speaker 1: we're doing here in our building, and um you know,
Speaker 1: as a as a and as a country, I think
Speaker 1: we're all trying to um, you know, use use proceed
Speaker 1: with caution in all our daily activities. So look, if
Speaker 1: we can have fans, I mean I think and and
Speaker 1: have them at the games in a safe way, and
Speaker 1: I'm mom all forward, Um, if you know the people
Speaker 1: will make those decisions, I don't think that's the the
Speaker 1: right thing to do. Then you know, then we'll play
Speaker 1: without fans, and of course it will be an adjustment
Speaker 1: period for everybody this season, coach Flora's and the Miami
Speaker 1: Dolphins included. And here he discusses the possibility of quarantining
Speaker 1: certain players or just looking into contingencies for how to
Speaker 1: approach this unique season this year in the NFL. Yeah,
Speaker 1: we've we've we've we've looked into really every possible scenario,
Speaker 1: so that being one of them. Look, a lot of
Speaker 1: our meetings are zoom right now, so everyone is you
Speaker 1: know from that standpoint is uh, you know, in the quarantine,
Speaker 1: so in a lot of ways that it takes care
Speaker 1: of it excuse me, takes care of itself. Uh. But yeah,
Speaker 1: we we've thought about that. We talked to me you know,
Speaker 1: that scenario as well as you know a plethora of
Speaker 1: other scenarios. So, uh, I think we've got to a
Speaker 1: plan in place that we feel good about and up next,
Speaker 1: I wanted to ask coach a question about his training
Speaker 1: camp schedule and how that changes and differs year to year.
Speaker 1: Good morning, coach. Um, this year is obviously unique, but
Speaker 1: just generally speaking, do your training camp scripts scripts differ
Speaker 1: year to year based on things like coaching and personnel changes. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I think every every years it's different. So you know,
Speaker 1: to set a script and you know one year and
Speaker 1: think that you're just gonna copy and paste it into
Speaker 1: the next year. I mean that's you know, because of
Speaker 1: different players, different coaches, different just different things that you're
Speaker 1: doing as a team. I think you know, on a
Speaker 1: daily basis, you know, you've gotta be able to change, adapted,
Speaker 1: to be flexible the way the same way you're gonna
Speaker 1: want you your your team to be able to ad apt,
Speaker 1: to be flexible within the game. So yeah, they changed script,
Speaker 1: change the practice, the daily practice schedules change, and obviously
Speaker 1: this year everything is a little bit different. So um,
Speaker 1: anyone who's setting with specifically you know, training camp schedule, practice, UM,
Speaker 1: this year is definitely different. So um, we're all gonna
Speaker 1: have to be able, We're gonna all gonna have to adapt.
Speaker 1: And one unique thing about not just this season on
Speaker 1: the football field, but for the media, is that questions
Speaker 1: tend to get a little bit back and forth because
Speaker 1: it's just on the same field and same approach of
Speaker 1: alive in person press conference. And we go back here
Speaker 1: to a question about COVID and about the approach and
Speaker 1: precautions to dolphins are taking to combat that. I mean, look,
Speaker 1: I think we we take things name by day by
Speaker 1: day and try to, um, you know, use caution and
Speaker 1: you know testing. You know that we're doing, um, you know,
Speaker 1: continue the testing distance, wear masks and we just kind
Speaker 1: of string those days together. UM. When we do that
Speaker 1: as a as an entire league, then we're gonna put
Speaker 1: ourselves in the best position to play, you know, as
Speaker 1: many games as we can play. And that's really all
Speaker 1: we can do. Um To make predictions on whether or
Speaker 1: not we can do this or that, I mean, I
Speaker 1: don't want to get into all that. All I'll say is, uh,
Speaker 1: you know, we're gonna try to wear our masks where
Speaker 1: our contact tracers uh no distance and do the best
Speaker 1: we can. And look, this is obviously we all know that. UM,
Speaker 1: you know, it's an an airborne virus and you know
Speaker 1: people can get infected quickly. So all we can do
Speaker 1: is is do our best to um prevent that from happening.
Speaker 1: And I think if we do that, you know, we'll
Speaker 1: give ourselves a chance to play a full season, which
Speaker 1: is all you know, that's all, that's all we can do.
Speaker 1: And I'm gonna go ahead and let this next question
Speaker 1: just play out in full because it's Armando cell Girl
Speaker 1: of the Miami Herald, and you hear a little bit
Speaker 1: of humor in Flora's as we sponsor sell girl's question,
Speaker 1: but also a good answer to a good question. Morning flow. UM,
Speaker 1: I'm wondering if you could share your thinking, um in
Speaker 1: the hiring of Steve Marshall, And UM, I know that
Speaker 1: putting together anensive line is difficult. What are the what
Speaker 1: are what are the challenges of doing it in fourteen
Speaker 1: padded practices. I'm gonna get all your questions this week, Armando,
Speaker 1: So Marshall four to I'll get him all, get him
Speaker 1: all yet. So Steve UM, obviously, UM, you know once
Speaker 1: we what would chan we wanted to you know, uh, well,
Speaker 1: I thought that was important to go with someone who
Speaker 1: was you know, familiar with that with that style of play,
Speaker 1: so that that UM, that played a role in hiring Steve.
Speaker 1: And Um, he's a good coach. He's a he's a teacher,
Speaker 1: a very good teacher of old line play. Um. And
Speaker 1: he and I just had a good you know, I
Speaker 1: had a good feeling and a good vibe. Right. Um,
Speaker 1: we had our let's go our interview process. So he
Speaker 1: worked well with chain, he worked one with the offensive staff. Um,
Speaker 1: he's a good coach. He's a tough coach. He asked
Speaker 1: a lot of his players. Um, and so far it's
Speaker 1: been it's been, it's been good. Obviously we haven't Um,
Speaker 1: it's been all walk through. But you know, we can
Speaker 1: only evaluate, you know what what what we're doing far.
Speaker 1: So UM, I've been pleased with that. As far as
Speaker 1: the padded practices, Uh, look, it's gonna be you know,
Speaker 1: this is gonna be the least amount of work you know,
Speaker 1: across the league at any for all teams, UM, leading
Speaker 1: police amount of practice no preseason games, you know, in
Speaker 1: the history of the NFL. I think everyone kind of
Speaker 1: knows and understands that. So, UM, is it enough? Uh,
Speaker 1: it's gonna have to be enough this year. So we're
Speaker 1: gonna do our best to try to build a caremaraderie
Speaker 1: on the offensive line, on the defensive line, in the
Speaker 1: quarterback room, in the dB room. Um as a coaching staff,
Speaker 1: and you know, not make excuses about only being this
Speaker 1: or only being that. Just do our best with the
Speaker 1: with the time we have. And again, every every rep
Speaker 1: is going to be is is that much more important?
Speaker 1: Every um, every meeting is that much more important. That's
Speaker 1: that's the message we've we've conveyed to the players. I
Speaker 1: get him all amando. So a little bit there of
Speaker 1: the lighter side of coach, but also the message that
Speaker 1: he puts out to the team, to the players this
Speaker 1: year that we are going to control we can control.
Speaker 1: So a good mix there of coach Flora's. Up next
Speaker 1: a question about cornerback Byron Jones, who assigned this offseason. Man,
Speaker 1: that feels like a long time ago, but Flora's broke
Speaker 1: down the trades they saw in Byron Jones that attracted
Speaker 1: the Dolphins to sign the quarterback, including some fancy shoes.
Speaker 1: Was a smart player. Um Uh, he's a tough player.
Speaker 1: I think he can tackle. Um, it's a good cover skills,
Speaker 1: he's got length, um, he's got some leadership qualities, and
Speaker 1: he's a he's a talented player. You know, we're happy
Speaker 1: to have him. Uh. Obviously there's some improvements you can
Speaker 1: make of his game, like uh, like all players and
Speaker 1: like all coaches, like everyone, you can all improve get better. Um. Well, yeah,
Speaker 1: we're pleased with him so far. You know where we
Speaker 1: I joke around with him a little bit. He wears
Speaker 1: some nice shoes, so I was, I was on him
Speaker 1: a little bit today. UM. But he's he's good. He's
Speaker 1: been fun to spend some time with. UM. And it's
Speaker 1: it's nice to see guys getting to know each other
Speaker 1: and uh, you know, guys from different teams and just
Speaker 1: trying to you know, pull this whole thing together. Um.
Speaker 1: But uh yeah, no, very pleased with with that addition. Look,
Speaker 1: it's we're still in the very early phase of on
Speaker 1: the pads on. We haven't put a helmet on. I
Speaker 1: got a long way to go. Um, and he's got
Speaker 1: to make some improvements. We all have to make improvements
Speaker 1: and if we hopefully will, I know he'll work towards that.
Speaker 1: And with college football and the news this week and
Speaker 1: the possibility of a season or no season, coach Florence
Speaker 1: addresses how the Dolphins will have contingencies in plays with
Speaker 1: their scouting staff and approach the evaluation for next year's
Speaker 1: class if there is no college football games this fall,
Speaker 1: talking about the scouts who would be on the road
Speaker 1: right now, all that stuff. Here's Flora's on the plans
Speaker 1: in place in case there is no college football. Yeah,
Speaker 1: we're monitoring that obviously from a scouting standpoint, this is
Speaker 1: the time where a lot of guys would be out
Speaker 1: on the road and looking at the prospects for for
Speaker 1: next season. Um. Yeah, if there's not a college season
Speaker 1: with it's something we've talked about, Chris, myself, Brandon, Marvin Allen. Um,
Speaker 1: if we have a plan in place for you know,
Speaker 1: how we're going to go about this scouting season if
Speaker 1: we if there is no season, And yeah, obviously those
Speaker 1: those conversations will be ongoing, and those conversations obviously gonna
Speaker 1: stay between us. But yeah, you know that would be
Speaker 1: I think everyone loves college football. I want to see
Speaker 1: to see it, but UM, we don't feel like it's
Speaker 1: going to be a safe environment, um for those young men,
Speaker 1: and you know, and that's the decision they make, and
Speaker 1: UM where we all have to live with that. UM.
Speaker 1: But from our standpoint looking down the road, which we're
Speaker 1: always doing that as well, and we have to make
Speaker 1: some adjustments and we will. Um. With all that said,
Speaker 1: you know, my focus is, you know, on on this
Speaker 1: team right now today, so I'm kind of monitoring that
Speaker 1: from afar and really Chris handles more and more of
Speaker 1: that than you know, really all of that, I should say. Um,
Speaker 1: So when he gets on you guys can ask him
Speaker 1: about it, and we'll go ahead and wrap up coaches
Speaker 1: media availability with his last answer here talking about new
Speaker 1: Dolphins defensive coordinator Josh Boyer, their history together and what
Speaker 1: the coach brings to the defensive coordinator position. Obviously, I've
Speaker 1: worked with Josh for a long time. Uh, he is
Speaker 1: a very good teacher. Uh. Defensively, UM, he's uh, he's tough,
Speaker 1: he's smart, he works extremely hard. UM, and I think
Speaker 1: he's got a good report with the player. So UM,
Speaker 1: I'm you know, very excited too to see him lead
Speaker 1: the defense. UM. I think he's gonna do Uh. I
Speaker 1: think he's gonna do a good job. And at the
Speaker 1: same time, you know, there's we got a long way
Speaker 1: to go, a lot of work to do. M These
Speaker 1: guys not even you know, hit in the field yet
Speaker 1: in pads or even helmet. So um. But yeah, I'm
Speaker 1: excited for josh Um and I think he's I think
Speaker 1: he's going to do a good job with this opportunity,
Speaker 1: and there he goes. Dolphins head coach Brian Flora's addressing
Speaker 1: the media on this Monday, August the tenth edition of
Speaker 1: the Drivetime podcast. We have a couple more segments I
Speaker 1: want to touch on here before we get out of
Speaker 1: here for the day. The Dolphins made some roster moves
Speaker 1: over the weekend. We'll touch on more of those at
Speaker 1: the end of the show. Make sure we get everything
Speaker 1: up to date for you guys here on Drive Time.
Speaker 1: The Dolphins added receiver Chester Rogers, formerly of the Indianapolis Colts,
Speaker 1: over the weekend. Signed the receiver, and the first two
Speaker 1: years he spent in Indy, he was primarily a perimeter receiver,
Speaker 1: took more snaps on the outside then on the inside
Speaker 1: there according to Pro Football Focus. But however, since nine
Speaker 1: hundred and forty six of his one thousand eighty eight
Speaker 1: snaps came from inside at that slot position, inen he
Speaker 1: caught seventy five point six percent of his slot targets.
Speaker 1: That was ninth among receivers with at least thirty two
Speaker 1: targets from the slot. Again Pro Football Focus my source there.
Speaker 1: In general, he finished tenth in the NFL and catch
Speaker 1: rate that season. Working back to team and some of
Speaker 1: the success he had there with Andrew Luck in Indie,
Speaker 1: and you pull up his work on game pass working
Speaker 1: in plenty of those tight, condensed splits in close to
Speaker 1: the formation, working off bunches and stacks. A lot of
Speaker 1: the stuff you'll see in close to the formation, like,
Speaker 1: for instance, go look at Sean mcveigh's offense with the rams.
Speaker 1: They make everything tight and condensed and run off of
Speaker 1: stacks where you have multiple options in the passing game
Speaker 1: kind of stacked on top of each other to create
Speaker 1: better opportunities for releases and maybe even some confusion there
Speaker 1: in the defensive secondary as well. So he played plenty
Speaker 1: of entight splits on the offense for the Colts in
Speaker 1: the last couple of seasons. And he would also help
Speaker 1: in protection a little bit with chips off the edge,
Speaker 1: one of the benefits you can have when you play
Speaker 1: inside like that. And he had a game against the
Speaker 1: Houston Texans and the playoffs back in where he would
Speaker 1: chip J J. Watt a few times in that game.
Speaker 1: He also has a nice little wiggle at the top
Speaker 1: of his route. He did run a four four nine
Speaker 1: at his Grambling Pro day back in of course, that's
Speaker 1: the last time he'll run a forty yard dash, And
Speaker 1: according to his player profile dot com profile, he has
Speaker 1: an agility score which is a combination of the twenty
Speaker 1: yard shuttle and three cone time of ten point nine
Speaker 1: two That ranks in the four percentile for wide receivers.
Speaker 1: And so you see some of that shake at the
Speaker 1: top of his route in that statistics there, but provides
Speaker 1: that background some context for that statistic there, as well
Speaker 1: as the punt return game, as he can kind of
Speaker 1: get off of his spot and make someployees in the
Speaker 1: kicking game. We'll touch more on that here in just
Speaker 1: one second. Like the way he choose up the soft
Speaker 1: spot when defensive backs are in off coverage just kind
Speaker 1: of creates a better target for the quarterback to throw. Two.
Speaker 1: Looked very comfortable working the hook in behind the linebackers.
Speaker 1: Again that inside slot possition. You're gonna to be a
Speaker 1: tough guy work in that middle part of the field,
Speaker 1: as he did the last couple of years there in Indianapolis,
Speaker 1: and he had a real natural feel and chemistry where
Speaker 1: the timing of the routes and the football were typically
Speaker 1: on point there with luck in Indianapolis. Completion rate will
Speaker 1: prove that he definitely has that possession receiver mentality when
Speaker 1: he embraces the contact on those catches over the middle.
Speaker 1: You know, the player drops in between that triangle of
Speaker 1: defenders behind the linebackers underneath the safety. He catches the football,
Speaker 1: tucks it away and lunges upfield. Smart player that way,
Speaker 1: And of course that's one of the tenants here of
Speaker 1: Brian Floora is getting smart players onto the football team.
Speaker 1: Watching all of his targets en you notice he has
Speaker 1: a real knack for coming back to the football, a
Speaker 1: good way to earn the quarterbacks trust where they break
Speaker 1: off the top of the route and work back to
Speaker 1: the quarterback rather than drifting on that route like the
Speaker 1: way he feels comfortable catching the football away from his body.
Speaker 1: Several examples of that on his tape and just two
Speaker 1: drops back in according to Pro Football Focus, leading of
Speaker 1: course to that high catch rate. And I mentioned the
Speaker 1: kicking game, and here's a little bit of info regarding
Speaker 1: the value of having multiple capable return men back there.
Speaker 1: It continues a theme from a tweet that I wrote
Speaker 1: back on May six that I pulled back up here
Speaker 1: about how many players the Dolphins added this offseason with
Speaker 1: return ability. Of course, Jachim Grant was lost for the
Speaker 1: year at one point last season, Preston Williams as well,
Speaker 1: So you start digging in to the punt return depth
Speaker 1: chart there, And at the time of that tweet it
Speaker 1: was six players added to the roster that had pretty
Speaker 1: considerable return resumes at the college level, and Chester Rogers
Speaker 1: would be number seven. So Brandon Jones, the kid from Texas,
Speaker 1: the third round draft pick. He returned fourteen punts and
Speaker 1: three kickoffs. Malcolm Perry returned twenty kickoffs in college. Noah Ignogeny,
Speaker 1: the first round draft pick out of Auburn, had forty
Speaker 1: four kickoff returns there at college, two of those for touchdowns.
Speaker 1: Matt Brita has five career kickoff returns. Both of the
Speaker 1: Dolphins under afted free agent receivers, Both Kirk Merritt and
Speaker 1: Matt Cole had some kick returning experience. Matt Cole had
Speaker 1: twenty three kickoff returns last year and eight punts. He
Speaker 1: scored one of each of those, and Kirk Merritt returned
Speaker 1: eleven kicks at Arkansas State. You obviously have Jachem Grant,
Speaker 1: Preston Williams, Isaiah four. They all return kicks last year
Speaker 1: for the Dolphins as well. And depth just is not
Speaker 1: exclusive to the offense or defense. It matters on special
Speaker 1: teams as well. And Rogers has sixty career punt returns
Speaker 1: in his football career, and he's pretty consistent with his
Speaker 1: average yards per return. He was at nine point two
Speaker 1: yards in his rookie season, had a bit of a
Speaker 1: dip in twenty seventeen down to eight yards per return,
Speaker 1: but then right back up to nine point three eighteen,
Speaker 1: and a career best last season at nine point eight
Speaker 1: yards per punt return. That's a really good looking number
Speaker 1: there from a punt returner. In total, he's played two
Speaker 1: hundred and six career snaps on special teams. It'll be
Speaker 1: interesting to see how he fits into that room, how
Speaker 1: he acclimates and gets involved with Josh Grizzard in that
Speaker 1: wide receiver room. All right, let's go ahead and continue
Speaker 1: on with the training camp preview series here on the
Speaker 1: Drivetime podcast. We left left you off with the edge
Speaker 1: rushers and edge defenders, and today we talk about the
Speaker 1: linebackers playing more so off the football, and again to
Speaker 1: kind of get back into this topic of how it
Speaker 1: can be difficult for me or for anybody to differentiate
Speaker 1: what roles players playing on this football team, because as
Speaker 1: Flora's talks about, as Josh Bowyer talks about, as the
Speaker 1: offensive coaching staff talks about, as everyone here involved on
Speaker 1: the Miami Dolphins operation talks about, we're gonna be flexible,
Speaker 1: We're gonna be week to week, we're gonna attack our
Speaker 1: opponent accordingly. And so with that, you kind of have
Speaker 1: some varying roles on the particular positions, especially in the
Speaker 1: front seven of the defense. But I did my best
Speaker 1: to separate those guys. And let's go ahead and get
Speaker 1: now in to the off ball linebackers and start in
Speaker 1: order of jersey number with a newcomer a land and
Speaker 1: Roberts played four years for the New England Patriots, entering
Speaker 1: his first here with Miami. He's gonna wear a number
Speaker 1: forty four, just a great linebacker number as far as
Speaker 1: I'm concerned. He went to Houston. He'll be twenties six
Speaker 1: years old on opening Day and he has another one
Speaker 1: of these Dolphins coming over to reunite with Brian Flores,
Speaker 1: with Josh Boyer, that defensive staff, and he really embodies
Speaker 1: much of the mental and physical makeup the coach wants
Speaker 1: and his players. A throwback, a physical downhill pursuit player
Speaker 1: that seeks and initiates contact and beats blocks by taking
Speaker 1: them head on. That's what football is all about. In
Speaker 1: my opinion, the most fun football to watch is those
Speaker 1: guys being aggressive and letting the pads pop, especially out
Speaker 1: here in practice when you can hear it all. According
Speaker 1: to Pro Football Focus, Roberts had one thousand, seven hundred
Speaker 1: two defensive snaps on his resume, eight hundred and fifty
Speaker 1: four of those and run defense, one is a pass rusher,
Speaker 1: and six in coverage. He's played three special team snaps
Speaker 1: as well, and rounded out his game last season with
Speaker 1: seventy snaps as a fullback, and evident from his workload,
Speaker 1: his prowess in the run game is where Miami's new
Speaker 1: linebacker really shines the brightest. He had ninety two career
Speaker 1: run stops on those eight hundred and fifty four running plays.
Speaker 1: That's a ten point eight percent run stop percentage, and
Speaker 1: he missed only two tackles last season. Very sure tackler
Speaker 1: there at the second level, physical and versatile. He checks
Speaker 1: the preferred boxes on character, leadership, and football i Q
Speaker 1: as well. To go back to his NFL dot Com
Speaker 1: scouting report by Lance zer Line. In the draft evaluation,
Speaker 1: zir Line called Roberts a coaches dreams saying quote a
Speaker 1: coach's dream. Tremendous leader on and off the field. Worked
Speaker 1: all off season to loosen his hips and improved flexibility.
Speaker 1: Loves to hit and has a nose for the football
Speaker 1: instinctive with an uncanny ability to consistently sniff out the
Speaker 1: best path of the ball. Lives on a downhill track
Speaker 1: and makes high percentage of tackles near the line of scrimmage.
Speaker 1: Chest up, wrap up. Tackler has heart for days, square
Speaker 1: in his scrapes and mirrors running backs effectively. Of course,
Speaker 1: talking about working in coverage there on tailbacks. His college
Speaker 1: coach called Roberts one of the best leaders he's ever
Speaker 1: been around, and raves about his work, ethic and passion
Speaker 1: for the game. End quote. There up next on a
Speaker 1: linebacker list and number another player rather in the forties
Speaker 1: Calvin Munson was just activated, actually off the non football
Speaker 1: injury list, so welcome back Calvin. He has four accrued seasons,
Speaker 1: second in the NFL here number forty eight out of
Speaker 1: San Diego State, twenty five years old opening day. He
Speaker 1: was signed from the Patriots practice squad back in December
Speaker 1: and played a significant workload in the final two games
Speaker 1: of ten. He was called upon for ninety eight snaps
Speaker 1: in those two victories over the Bengals, and Patriots played
Speaker 1: seventy six on defense, twenty two on special teams, and
Speaker 1: that Bengals game was a very strong debut. Four tackles,
Speaker 1: two of them for run stops, and he had positive
Speaker 1: grades both and run defense, tackling and overall defense, I
Speaker 1: should say all three of those categories. And Flora spoke
Speaker 1: about the traits that Munson exhibited the attracted the Dolphins
Speaker 1: to the linebacker last December and making that signing off
Speaker 1: the New England practice squad quote from a toughness standpoint,
Speaker 1: from an intelligent standpoint, I knew we had a lot
Speaker 1: of the things that we cover it, which is why
Speaker 1: he was up there up in New England talking about there.
Speaker 1: Of course we learned about those things about him up there.
Speaker 1: I thought he played well last week. I think he's
Speaker 1: been a really good addition and quote and the last
Speaker 1: player here in the forties Sam Agua of then first
Speaker 1: season last year in the NFL, second with the Dolphins,
Speaker 1: coming in number forty nine out of Texas Tech, twenty
Speaker 1: seven years old on opening day. And this guy had
Speaker 1: plenty of workout scheduled last off season, a former CFL standout,
Speaker 1: decided to choose the Miami Dolphins and signed down here
Speaker 1: in Miami, and he made an immediate impact as he
Speaker 1: opened camp with the first team, showing off some of
Speaker 1: the explosive nature of his game both in coverage as
Speaker 1: a blitzer. He can really kind of move that first
Speaker 1: step quickness. O Guavin was second among all NFL linebackers
Speaker 1: and pass rush reps last season with two d and
Speaker 1: thirty two. He was behind only Donta high Tower in
Speaker 1: New England who had to seventy seven, and also Jamie
Speaker 1: Collins in New England was third with one eight nine
Speaker 1: pass rush snaps per Pro Football Focus, the result of
Speaker 1: those rush opportunities was twenty three pressures, three and a
Speaker 1: half sacks, and nine quarterback hits. He also contributed in
Speaker 1: the run game with seven tackles for loss and eighteen
Speaker 1: run stops as well. Here's a quote from Flora's talking
Speaker 1: about what general manager Chris Greer and his personnel's a
Speaker 1: saw on Sam Mguavin when they made the decision to
Speaker 1: sign him last offseason. Quote. They saw Sam and saw speed,
Speaker 1: saw athleticism, saw a tough kid. He's a talented guy
Speaker 1: who has some developmental characteristics. He's done a good job.
Speaker 1: We give him something, he does a good job with it,
Speaker 1: and we'll give him more. That's kind of what I
Speaker 1: told the team. Look, if you do a good job,
Speaker 1: then we'll try to give you a couple more things
Speaker 1: to do. And I think that's what training camp is
Speaker 1: all about. End quote. So a good little insight there
Speaker 1: into Brian Flores's mind about how guys can earn themselves
Speaker 1: reps in training camp by doing a good job with
Speaker 1: what they're given and then can have their roles expanded
Speaker 1: from there and kind of add more to the plate
Speaker 1: there as players play well in training camp. Up next,
Speaker 1: we venture into the fifties as another newcomer here and
Speaker 1: Camu Gruge a Hill. He has four seasons in the NFL,
Speaker 1: entering his first with the Miami Dolphins, number fifty one
Speaker 1: out of Eastern Illinois. He's gonna be twenty six years
Speaker 1: old on opening day. In the newest linebacker has career
Speaker 1: tackles eleven for a loss. He has a pick, a sack,
Speaker 1: two passes defense, and two forced fumbles and one recover
Speaker 1: re in his career. He has six pressures on forty
Speaker 1: one career pass rush reps and has never a lot
Speaker 1: of touchdown on three hundred and fifty seven career coverage snaps.
Speaker 1: His passer rating against checks in at a very impressive
Speaker 1: eighty three point six quarterback rating, throwing into his coverage
Speaker 1: area in a two hundred and thirty pounds On top
Speaker 1: of his special team's exploits, he has also developed into
Speaker 1: a rotational defender in the course of his career, with
Speaker 1: six hundred and fifty one defensive snaps the last two years,
Speaker 1: a considerable jump from the eighty six snaps he played
Speaker 1: the first two years of his NFL career, and special
Speaker 1: teams were where he made his biggest impact. Voted a
Speaker 1: twenty nineteen captain for the Philadelphia Eagles for his contributions,
Speaker 1: he has one thousand, nine two career special team snaps
Speaker 1: and average of two hundred and seventy three reps every
Speaker 1: year since entering the league. He's made twenty six career
Speaker 1: special teams tackles, and he exhibits a lot of the
Speaker 1: traits that Flora's desires and a player, as he detailed
Speaker 1: Flora's did in December conference call when talking about the
Speaker 1: then Philadelphia linebacker. Quote, First, he's a great kid. He's smart,
Speaker 1: he's coachable as a year, he's athletic, he's got good speed,
Speaker 1: he can play multiple possessions, good in the kicking game.
Speaker 1: I really liked him. I'm not surprised he's done a
Speaker 1: good job there over in Philadelphia. And quote and if
Speaker 1: you want to hear more good takes there from Cammu
Speaker 1: grug Hill talking about his time with Brian Flores. I
Speaker 1: did interview Commu as well as the rest of the
Speaker 1: Dolphins free agent signings back on a Drivetime podcast in March,
Speaker 1: and he had some really good things to say about
Speaker 1: coach Flores and the one year they spent together up
Speaker 1: there in New England back in Up next on our list,
Speaker 1: another incumbent linebacker Ray Kwon McMillan has three seasons all
Speaker 1: with the Dolphins entering year number four here in number
Speaker 1: fifty two out of Ohio State, gonna be twenty four
Speaker 1: years old on opening day. Man he and Jerome Baker
Speaker 1: are pups still and they have some experience in the NFL,
Speaker 1: and like Roberts, McMillan is an aggressive block defeating physical
Speaker 1: presence and that second level of your Dolphins defense. He
Speaker 1: seeks and destroys contact. Man, he makes the pads pop
Speaker 1: when they come on in training camp, whether it's from
Speaker 1: a fullback on a lead block, or a pulling guard
Speaker 1: or a running back trying to square him up in
Speaker 1: the whole, he will go out and get that contact
Speaker 1: and make that person pay for it. As a result,
Speaker 1: McMillan has some of the best run defending PFF metrics
Speaker 1: in the NFL since he came back from the a
Speaker 1: C Lighten and from October onward. That season, he led
Speaker 1: all linebackers and run stops with forty three over a
Speaker 1: twelve game stretch, and just for some comparison's sake there
Speaker 1: during that span, the second place run stuffer in the
Speaker 1: run stop category was Luke keik Ley with thirty, so
Speaker 1: McMillan had thirteen more than the next highest ranked player
Speaker 1: on that list. He continued his downhill prowess last season
Speaker 1: with thirty one more run stops in thirteen games. He
Speaker 1: missed three with an injury, and the thirty one run
Speaker 1: stops on two hundred and seventy nine reps against the
Speaker 1: run gave McMillan an eleven point one run stop percentage
Speaker 1: that ranked fifth among NFL linebackers that played at least
Speaker 1: one hundred and fifty run down snaps and Flores never
Speaker 1: passes up an opportunity to praise the work that McMillan
Speaker 1: puts in, both in the preparation aspect of the game
Speaker 1: as well as keeping his body in peak physical condition.
Speaker 1: Quote from last summer. He's worked extremely hard over the summer.
Speaker 1: He came in great shape. He's on top of everything
Speaker 1: in the meetings. I think he's done a really great
Speaker 1: job and quote. And McMillan has an Ohio State teammate,
Speaker 1: former Buckeye team here in Miami with him in Jerome Baker,
Speaker 1: his second or rather his third season with the Dolphins,
Speaker 1: now number fifty five out of Ohio State, again just
Speaker 1: twenty three years old on opening day. These guys are
Speaker 1: still super young. His first year playing in Brian Flores
Speaker 1: defense last season, and he quickly earned that green dot
Speaker 1: on his helmet, the distinguished green dot, which identifies the
Speaker 1: player who has radio communication with the sideline. His snap count,
Speaker 1: total versatility, and overall capability in all three phases of
Speaker 1: defense really demonstrated Baker's value in that Dolphins defense last season.
Speaker 1: And Flora's discussed the many skills as well as the
Speaker 1: amount of work the coaching staff put on his plate
Speaker 1: at the start of camp last summer. Quote, He's done
Speaker 1: a really good job. He's learned the concepts and the
Speaker 1: defenses to a solid level, and he's learned multiple positions. Obviously,
Speaker 1: he's asked. He can tackle, he's smart, he's tough. He's
Speaker 1: got some leadership qualities which I talked about a little
Speaker 1: bit in the spring, and that's starting to develop a
Speaker 1: little bit as well. And to quote and Coach Floors
Speaker 1: then continued talking about Baker's game in that same press conference,
Speaker 1: this time with a greater focus on those physical traits
Speaker 1: and the ability to do multiple things on defense. Quote,
Speaker 1: this is a talented guy. He can win a one
Speaker 1: on one pass rush at the linebacker position. We're gonna
Speaker 1: ask him to do a few things. We're gonna ask
Speaker 1: him to rush, We're gonna ask him to cover, We're
Speaker 1: gonna ask him to tackle, play in the run game.
Speaker 1: So depending on what we have called, he may have
Speaker 1: to win on one on one. He may be involved
Speaker 1: in his scheme, or he may have the freedom to
Speaker 1: do either or and quote and Baker finished thirteenth last
Speaker 1: year among linebackers with sixteen quarterback pressures and eleven in
Speaker 1: the NFL in twenty nine with forty six run stops.
Speaker 1: Two more linebackers to go this one James Crawford, number
Speaker 1: fifty seven out of Illinois. He's coming back home to
Speaker 1: South Florida. Has two seasons in the NFL, entering year
Speaker 1: number two with the Miami Dolphins. Years old on opening Day,
Speaker 1: he twenty three career snaps on defense, and seventeen of
Speaker 1: those came last last season with the Miami Dolphins. His
Speaker 1: career began with the Packers after he signed as an
Speaker 1: undrafted free agent and made the opening day roster. He
Speaker 1: would then go on to play in all sixteen games,
Speaker 1: primarily on the special teams unit. He made six special
Speaker 1: teams tackles and tally three hundred and twenties seven reps
Speaker 1: on that unit. As a rookie. He played forty five
Speaker 1: snaps last year on Danny Croftsman's Miami Dolphins kick and
Speaker 1: punt teams and kicking punt coverage teams as well. And
Speaker 1: for Crawford, coming back to Miami is a homecoming. Like
Speaker 1: several of these other players here on this roster, he
Speaker 1: was born in Deerfield Beach and played his prep ball
Speaker 1: at the legendary St. Thomas Aquinas High School down here
Speaker 1: in South Florida. And we wrapped this thing up with
Speaker 1: the only rookie of the group, undrafted kyl and Johnson
Speaker 1: out of pit fifty nine on the jersey twenty three
Speaker 1: years old opening Day. And like Crawford, he's coming back
Speaker 1: to the state of Florida. That's where his college career
Speaker 1: began at the University of Florida. He played in twenty
Speaker 1: five games there and then thirteen games last year in
Speaker 1: his final season in college with the Pitt Panthers. He
Speaker 1: totaled one and thirty two combined tackles, eleven for a
Speaker 1: loss seven sacks in his college career. He goes six
Speaker 1: ft two two d and thirty pounds, and he transferred
Speaker 1: to Pitt in his final college season, which gave him
Speaker 1: more opportunities, according to him, to rush the quarterback. And
Speaker 1: he was right that pitt defense was ferocious and he
Speaker 1: picked up six and a half of his seven career
Speaker 1: sacks as a pit panther in college, and so he too,
Speaker 1: kyl and Johnson gives you some explosiveness at that linebacker
Speaker 1: position to rush the quarterback with. Okay, we touched on
Speaker 1: the Chester Rogers acquisition. The Dolphins also brought back receiver
Speaker 1: Ricardo Lewis, formerly of the Cleveland Browns and formerly of
Speaker 1: the Miami Dolphins. He was released back in July, but
Speaker 1: he is back in the building now working with the
Speaker 1: wide receivers. We also had a retirement as Ray Smith,
Speaker 1: the defensive tackle who was claimed off of waivers from
Speaker 1: the forty niners last month as well, has been placed
Speaker 1: on the reserve retirement list. So a few acquisitions and
Speaker 1: roster changes over the weekend, But that'll do it for
Speaker 1: today's Monday edition of the Drive Time podcast. You all
Speaker 1: please be sure to subscribe to the podcast on Apple, podcast, Spotify,
Speaker 1: wherever you get your podcast from. Find us there, subscribe,
Speaker 1: rate and review the show. Give me a follow on Twitter,
Speaker 1: it's at Wingfield, NFL. Follow the Dolphins at Miami Dolphins.
Speaker 1: Check out the fish Tank and the Audible podcast. The
Speaker 1: fish Tank had Dave Hide on last week. The Audible
Speaker 1: had Jesse Davis on their podcast last week as well,
Speaker 1: and of course Miami Dolphins dot com we have the
Speaker 1: Daily Blitz article all these training camp previews, and of
Speaker 1: course we'll have all the media availability recaps up on
Speaker 1: the website, including Brian Flores's Monday media availability on Miami
Speaker 1: Dolphins dot com. As for today's time, that is my time.
Speaker 1: Until next time, fins up.