Speaker 1: To on the Move, Golin, Deep Speedlins, Past Hell. From
Speaker 1: the Baptist Health Studios inside the Baptist Health Training Complex.
Speaker 1: This is Drivetime with Travis Wingfield. He's got my advans
Speaker 1: in the playoffs. What is up Dolphins? And well done
Speaker 1: to the Draft Time Podcast. I am your host, Travis Wingfield.
Speaker 1: And on today's show, our final divisional preview of the summer.
Speaker 1: That means that football is right around the corner and
Speaker 1: I cannot wait. We're gonna talk about the Bills, the Jets,
Speaker 1: and the Patriots very in depth. We'll sort of breeze
Speaker 1: through your Miami Dolphins because we're gonna do two episodes,
Speaker 1: one on the offense, one on the defense to finish
Speaker 1: up the summer series. Plus my chat with Dolphins tight
Speaker 1: end Julian Hill. From the Baptist Health Studios inside the
Speaker 1: Baptist Health Training Complex. This is the Drivetime Podcast. Hey Jaffir,
Speaker 1: really quickly before we get going here. I think a
Speaker 1: lot of you probably listen to the show as well
Speaker 1: that I did the show that kind of got me
Speaker 1: into podcasting and football podcasting in general. Full transparency, and
Speaker 1: I'm ashamed to admit this my first podcasts I ever
Speaker 1: listened to was the Joe Rogan Experience back in twenty fifteen,
Speaker 1: I think is when it was twenty fourteen, twenty fifteen,
Speaker 1: and I used to love the long form format of
Speaker 1: those shows and just kind of bsing and shooting the
Speaker 1: breeze with his friends and talking about random things. And
Speaker 1: then he kind of became you know what he is now,
Speaker 1: and that's when the show to me was no longer
Speaker 1: interesting putting Alex Jones in the podcast, like Okay, let's
Speaker 1: go ahead and get the hell away from this. And
Speaker 1: one of the jobs that I worked, one of the
Speaker 1: many jobs I worked before football, I was in water
Speaker 1: and fire restoration and smoke restoration, and I would drive
Speaker 1: around the Yakamaw Valley in the state of Washington today
Speaker 1: different sites, and I would estimate how much repairs would
Speaker 1: cost for homes that were damaged by smoke, fire or water.
Speaker 1: And so with all that driving, I needed something to
Speaker 1: listen to that wasn't music, and I graduated towards podcasts,
Speaker 1: and Bill Burr was one of the podcasts I first
Speaker 1: started listening to. Two Bears, One Cave came in later
Speaker 1: on down the line. I can't remember any of the
Speaker 1: comedy podcast, but it was mostly football, and I was
Speaker 1: really scouring for good national football podcasts, which you know
Speaker 1: now it seems like they're kind of tough to get
Speaker 1: because I just think it's really tough to cover three
Speaker 1: to two teams on on a podcast every single day,
Speaker 1: because it's hard to know enough about three two teams,
Speaker 1: like I give you guys UDFA information, you can't know
Speaker 1: that about thirty two teams. And there was like a
Speaker 1: pro football weekly podcast that was inconsistent, and the one
Speaker 1: that always stood out to me was the Around the
Speaker 1: NFL podcast with Dan Hansis, Greg Rosenthal, Mark Sessler, and
Speaker 1: the late Chris Westling, and it like annoyed me at first.
Speaker 1: I thought they talked about like their softball team, like
Speaker 1: I found them in the summertime, so they were, you know,
Speaker 1: doing what I'm doing right now, and I was like,
Speaker 1: where's the football talk? And then the show continued on
Speaker 1: and I got to know the hosts more and it
Speaker 1: became like, you know, almost like Friends, and I think
Speaker 1: Friends is a terrible show, quite frankly, but it became
Speaker 1: like where you knew how Rachel was going to react,
Speaker 1: you knew how Joy was going to react, and that
Speaker 1: was what became the show, and there was so much
Speaker 1: magic behind that, and in fact, they are the model
Speaker 1: of what I tried to be as a podcaster in
Speaker 1: terms of I want to be as informative as possible,
Speaker 1: and I think there was two guys in the show
Speaker 1: that could provide good football information, but they also had
Speaker 1: the touch of mirth, and that's what the other two
Speaker 1: guys came in, and that was what kind of brought
Speaker 1: the whole show together. And it was in the top
Speaker 1: ten and sports podcast downloads for a decade, and I
Speaker 1: don't know the reason behind it, but the NFL media
Speaker 1: decided to cut it just cold turkey, like their last
Speaker 1: episode was in May. It was six weeks ago, and
Speaker 1: they just announced a new show that I just listened
Speaker 1: to for the first time, NFL Daily, with only Rosenthal
Speaker 1: as the host, and it just kind of has me
Speaker 1: feeling melancholy, kind of having me reflective about my own
Speaker 1: podcasting career and my media career. And I don't know
Speaker 1: where I'm going with this, but it was a huge
Speaker 1: inspiration to what you now hear, and it's now gone
Speaker 1: and it makes me very, very sad. So I just
Speaker 1: wanted to communicate that with you. And let you guys
Speaker 1: know that one of my biggest inspirations behind podcasting is
Speaker 1: no more. And that makes me like I have so
Speaker 1: much nostalgia, Like I was in the Awkward Dad but
Speaker 1: at the hospital listening to the Around the NFL podcast
Speaker 1: when my daughter was born. I remember listening to the
Speaker 1: podcast on the flight to Hawaii for my wedding, the
Speaker 1: entire trip down there, Like that podcast was a big
Speaker 1: part of my life, my professional development, and it is
Speaker 1: now no more. So very sad day. And speaking of sad,
Speaker 1: let's talk about the Buffalo Bills, and they're sad sex
Speaker 1: So last year in the AFC East, they won the
Speaker 1: division again because we couldn't take care of business down
Speaker 1: the stretch with the same record as US at eleven
Speaker 1: and six. They were a divisional round exit that year.
Speaker 1: And I cannot forget my favorite moment in the NFL
Speaker 1: last year, probably above any Dolphins game, which and I've
Speaker 1: always been like this, maybe you guys are too. Let
Speaker 1: me know if you are or you are or not.
Speaker 1: I kind of like the suffering of our rivals even
Speaker 1: more than our own success. Like as long as the
Speaker 1: Jets exist, I think I'll be happy because they always
Speaker 1: find ways to invent new ways to crush their fan base,
Speaker 1: and I just really really like that with the Buffalo Bills.
Speaker 1: It's kind of similar in terms of how they lose
Speaker 1: games down the stretch, even though it's not as gratifying
Speaker 1: because they make it further than us. And I don't
Speaker 1: think it's right to be like, oh, you guys lost
Speaker 1: in the playoffs, like, yeah, we were further than you though,
Speaker 1: Like shut up, dude. So what I did like, though,
Speaker 1: was that Broncos loss last year. That was probably the
Speaker 1: best reaction I had. I woke up my kids. That's
Speaker 1: not a good thing to do, but I woke up
Speaker 1: my kids by yelling when they threw that flag and
Speaker 1: the Broncos lined up again to run that kickback and
Speaker 1: put it through the uprights to knock Buffalo to five
Speaker 1: and five. We were six and three, knowing that they
Speaker 1: had the Eagles, Chiefs and Cowboys coming up, and we
Speaker 1: had the Raiders and the Jets and the Commanders and
Speaker 1: Titans coming up. It just felt like a division clinching moment.
Speaker 1: And I tweeted how the Dolphins hadn't lost to a
Speaker 1: winning team or something to that effect. Because the Buffalo's
Speaker 1: record had dropped to five and five, and the next
Speaker 1: day in practice, walking back into the indoor, Mike White
Speaker 1: calls me out and goes, hey, that was a great tweet.
Speaker 1: So that was a really fun week for me. And
Speaker 1: when the Bills in that game, the offense was sputtering
Speaker 1: yet again, and I think it was it was one
Speaker 1: of the former quarterback content careaters. It was like Orlowski
Speaker 1: or O'Sullivan or Chase Daniel. I forget who it is exactly,
Speaker 1: but they said that the moment you have a player's
Speaker 1: only meeting, you might as well call it a season
Speaker 1: because it's done. It's over. But that wasn't the case
Speaker 1: for Buffalo. They axed Ken Dorsey, they promoted Joe Brady,
Speaker 1: installed a whole new offense, and they rolled the Jets.
Speaker 1: They damn near pulled off that overtime win over the Eagles,
Speaker 1: which after that one, you know, they're six and six,
Speaker 1: they go into their buy. We improved the nine and
Speaker 1: three by beating Washington, beating the absolute breaks off Washington.
Speaker 1: But from there they beat the Chiefs by three, and
Speaker 1: that was a game that I regret watching personally, rooting
Speaker 1: for the Bills to win that game to help our
Speaker 1: seating at the top of the AFC Conference. I probably
Speaker 1: should have just taken the you know, the guaranteed division
Speaker 1: title right there with a Buffalo win. Not that my
Speaker 1: rooting had any impact on the game, but I recall
Speaker 1: thinking about that very specifically. And then they roll the Cowboys,
Speaker 1: which was a game we needed them to lose. Then
Speaker 1: they escape East and stick and the Chargers. If they
Speaker 1: just had lost that damn game, we would have clinch
Speaker 1: the division on Christmas Eve. Then they beat the Patriots,
Speaker 1: barely had to survive a late drive by the Patriots,
Speaker 1: and then they beat us with the dam punt return
Speaker 1: to get to the Steelers in the wild card round.
Speaker 1: They roll up that team and then they lose to
Speaker 1: Casey once again. Lots of turmoil, lots of perseverance. A
Speaker 1: long article that I read that took me like a
Speaker 1: full week to get through about Sean McDermott's ways, and
Speaker 1: I think they kind of rallied around that article and
Speaker 1: the galvanized the team. Lots of change in season, lots
Speaker 1: of change offseason, which began with the trade of their
Speaker 1: biggest star outside of their quarterback, quarterback in Stefon Diggs,
Speaker 1: and that spawned a bunch of moves at wide receiver
Speaker 1: as they brought in Curtis Samuel, who I still think
Speaker 1: can play ball if he's healthy. He's a really good player.
Speaker 1: Matt Collins, who's a special teams guy that's kind of
Speaker 1: like a fourth receiver, right Marquez Valdez Scantling has been
Speaker 1: a fourth receiver's entire career, So that's who they brought
Speaker 1: in to replace. Defon Diggs, no one's even closest Von
Speaker 1: Diggs ability, especially not Keon Coleman, their second round draft pick, who,
Speaker 1: by the way, their entire draft strategy of let's go
Speaker 1: ahead and trade out of a spot where there's a
Speaker 1: difference making player at a position we desperately need. Let's
Speaker 1: go ahead and give him to our biggest rival, a
Speaker 1: team that we cannot be, and give Mahomes a vertical
Speaker 1: threat that's probably going to be, you know, one of
Speaker 1: the best in the NFL. Let's get out of that
Speaker 1: and go get a guy that can't separate in Keon Coleman.
Speaker 1: I don't understand it at all. This podcast might come
Speaker 1: back to bite me when we if Keon Coleman goes
Speaker 1: off against US. I don't get it from a process standpoint, like, okay,
Speaker 1: another receiver that cannot separate. You already have like four
Speaker 1: of those, so I didn't get that. Mitch Trubisky's the
Speaker 1: new backup there, the old backup, and the new backup.
Speaker 1: Will Clapp was brought in the center. They also brought
Speaker 1: in Lyyl Collins, who I know Dolphins fans are going
Speaker 1: to say, why can't we do that? Well, he hasn't
Speaker 1: been good in like four years. Just FYI defensive tackle
Speaker 1: Austin Jackson. I like these defensive end moves. Casey two
Speaker 1: Hill from Washington, Dwayne's moved from Jacksonville. Those guys are
Speaker 1: both good players. To offset some losses they had there
Speaker 1: as well, Linebacker Dion Jones has kind of had a
Speaker 1: and down career, and then safety Mike Edwards's replacement for
Speaker 1: a couple of safeties they lost in both Micah Hyde
Speaker 1: and Jordan Poyer, who I always thought were kind of
Speaker 1: the guys that drove that defense. Mentioned Stefan Diggs's loss.
Speaker 1: They also lose Mitch Morse, who was a stalwart, the
Speaker 1: absolute anchor in the middle of their offensive line. Saran
Speaker 1: Neil comes down here to join our special teams as well.
Speaker 1: They lose Gabe Davis, who I thought was the same
Speaker 1: issue they had with Keon Coleman, can't separate. They lose
Speaker 1: poona Ford. Leonard Floyd is the loss that I'm most
Speaker 1: excited about because he was a one on one winner.
Speaker 1: He would beat one on ones anytime he gave it
Speaker 1: to him, and the Bills find ways to create those
Speaker 1: for him. He was a problem in their past rush plan.
Speaker 1: He is no more in Buffalo. Dan Jackson has gone
Speaker 1: to Carolina, Jordan Phillips goes to the Giants. Tim Settle
Speaker 1: is also gone, and so is cornerback Trey Right Trey White.
Speaker 1: What do they do well? I think they uncovered something
Speaker 1: in the run game last year with James Cook, and
Speaker 1: they do it with a lot of power lead trying
Speaker 1: to lean on defensive lines to take them out of
Speaker 1: their high octane rushes, which can of course be nega
Speaker 1: by a quarterback that does so much to you know,
Speaker 1: spoil good pass rush wins as well, and that's the
Speaker 1: thing I think they do the best is they put
Speaker 1: a cape on the damn quarterback. I think the Bills
Speaker 1: are a good football team, and they have been for
Speaker 1: a while. But I think if you take Josh Allen
Speaker 1: off of that team who I know. Dolphins fans love
Speaker 1: to talk about the giveaways and the interceptions, like Marino
Speaker 1: threw a lot of picks to you guys, and he
Speaker 1: was a great player, like Josh. Allen's a great freaking player.
Speaker 1: To me, there is a I think Mahomes is in
Speaker 1: his own class. I think Allen's in his own class.
Speaker 1: I think there's a big drop off to the third
Speaker 1: best quarterback in the NFL. I just think that's how
Speaker 1: it is. He makes rushers miss unlike anybody we've ever
Speaker 1: seen before. And he's one of the most productive runners,
Speaker 1: whether it's designed runs or scrambles, and you just can't
Speaker 1: hurt him, like you hit the guy and he doesn't
Speaker 1: get hurt. Last year, they made the OC change and
Speaker 1: they went to this RPO read out the middle of
Speaker 1: the field attack, and it was very unnatural for Josh,
Speaker 1: who's not a timing and rhythm thrower. He's not an
Speaker 1: anticipatory thrower. He's not a spot thrower, like he does
Speaker 1: not play that style of football. But he just keeps creating.
Speaker 1: And when they go into those series long slim umps,
Speaker 1: he was always the one with a scramble or a
Speaker 1: scramble to a throw to pull them out of it.
Speaker 1: I talk a lot about how overrated creating as a
Speaker 1: quarterback is in this league. Josh Allen kind of transcends that,
Speaker 1: like he is so good at it that you actually
Speaker 1: can build an offense around it. But there's he's one
Speaker 1: of one, so good luck trying to replicate that. That's
Speaker 1: why I think it's so silly that so much quarterback
Speaker 1: evaluation and scouting is based upon like, well, look at
Speaker 1: what Josh Allen does. Okay, go, yeah, good, look at
Speaker 1: what Michael Jordan did. Go find one of those. Go
Speaker 1: look at what Lebron James did. Go find one of those.
Speaker 1: Those guys don't grow on trees. They are rare, rare breeds.
Speaker 1: And to pat myself on the back, which is probably
Speaker 1: annoying to you, like that's why I said he was
Speaker 1: coming out of Wyoming. I remember watching that final year
Speaker 1: at Wyoming and being like, this dude is a stud
Speaker 1: and his stats sucked, and all my friends that were
Speaker 1: you know, we were amateurs at the time, especially myself,
Speaker 1: and those guys definitely not working in the NFL right now,
Speaker 1: will always be like, well he was he was six
Speaker 1: for fifteen and like, yeah, twelve of those not twelve,
Speaker 1: eight of those misses were drop passes where with the
Speaker 1: ball right in the money after escaping three pass rushers,
Speaker 1: Like the tape was so good and that's who he's become.
Speaker 1: The NFL. They also on defense, vary their coverages and
Speaker 1: their pre snap presentations and play a good one gap
Speaker 1: style that generates early pressure that forces the quarterback to
Speaker 1: throw into these well constructed zones. They seem to know
Speaker 1: where the hots are. They know how to kind of
Speaker 1: crowd that area where you want to spam the field.
Speaker 1: As an offensive designer, play designer, and they can create
Speaker 1: pressure that forces you into throws into coverage and it
Speaker 1: creates takeaways. Like Tua doesn't usually play his best ball
Speaker 1: against Buffalo outside of the two games in twenty twenty two, Right,
Speaker 1: what's the concern or fatal flaw against the Buffalo Bills?
Speaker 1: Do they have enough of the skill spots? I say
Speaker 1: vehemently no. And I like Curtis Samuel, I don't think
Speaker 1: very highly of Keon Coleman. I like Khalil Shakur, but
Speaker 1: that's Dalton king k is a good player. Dawson Knox
Speaker 1: is a good player, and James Cook is a good player,
Speaker 1: but that's like twentieth in the league at best. And
Speaker 1: that's it was a big problem for the Bills last year.
Speaker 1: Go watch the Bills tape. There was long drought, so
Speaker 1: they just did not do much as an offense. Uh,
Speaker 1: one of these days, one of these hits talking about
Speaker 1: fatal flaws is going to finally impact Josh Allen. Right,
Speaker 1: I was talking about with Seahawks fans all the time,
Speaker 1: like Russell Wilson, when he loses his legs, it's gonna
Speaker 1: be a sharp decline. And I was I took the
Speaker 1: bullet on that take for a long time because Russell
Speaker 1: Wilson's one of the best quarterbacks to ever play this
Speaker 1: damn game. But the decline happened fast and he is now,
Speaker 1: you know, on his third team in four years. And
Speaker 1: it's that's what happens for Josh Allen every week. I
Speaker 1: watch this dude absorb these insane, huge level of contact
Speaker 1: saying insane huge hits and he just plays through it
Speaker 1: and he gets up. I thought he had a was
Speaker 1: it two years ago? I thought we had he was
Speaker 1: gonna get Tommy John But he like played the next week,
Speaker 1: cool man like this guy is indestructible. What else is
Speaker 1: a big flaw is don't discount the loss of Mitch Morse.
Speaker 1: They didn't have a single offensive line miss a snap
Speaker 1: last year. If that happens again, then like, okay, you
Speaker 1: tip your cap to the luck the football lut gods. Right,
Speaker 1: it's not gonna happen again. I they have a brand
Speaker 1: new secondary Poyer and Hyde, where the communicators the Sean
Speaker 1: McDermott on the field. I almost made a joke there about,
Speaker 1: you know, his distasteful nine to eleven content. But I'm
Speaker 1: not gonna do it. I'm not gonna do that. Not
Speaker 1: gonna do it. Trey White's also gone, which he was
Speaker 1: kind of a shadow of himself, but he's also coming
Speaker 1: off into Achilles' injury. But it's a lot of change there.
Speaker 1: Rasull Douglas. I wish the Packers hadn't just given him
Speaker 1: away to Buffalo because he became a really good cornerback
Speaker 1: for them. Christian Benford has beaten out their first round
Speaker 1: pick kyer Elam when he was a sixth round pick
Speaker 1: that same year, and he's been a pretty good player
Speaker 1: for them on the perimeter. And then Tarren Johnson's the
Speaker 1: guy in the slot that makes it all go. But
Speaker 1: it's a new day with Mike Edwards and then Taylor
Speaker 1: Rap I think of the guys that are gonna start
Speaker 1: back there, and that to me is a sharp decline
Speaker 1: from what you had in Hide and Bloyer, especially when
Speaker 1: you consider the mental reps they had together and that
Speaker 1: chemistry they had in the back end. So interesting things
Speaker 1: about Buffalo and some big storylines the post Digs era. Look,
Speaker 1: there was a lot of consternation between Alan and Diggs,
Speaker 1: and you know, Josh is not the choir boy that
Speaker 1: I think a lot of folks think he might be,
Speaker 1: and there was some stuff that he was you know,
Speaker 1: I know he's got the hate Steinfeld relationship, and he
Speaker 1: was kind of maybe not being faithful to his previous
Speaker 1: girlfriend prior to that, and there was some stuff that
Speaker 1: was on his mind. And that Bengals lost a couple
Speaker 1: of years ago when Stefon Diggs blew up on him
Speaker 1: on the sideline, and the last year in the playoff game,
Speaker 1: they went dead again, So I think there was a
Speaker 1: big issue there. I'm curious. So they come out of
Speaker 1: that better. Sometimes you do come out of that better,
Speaker 1: but you can't replace a player like Stefon Diggs. So
Speaker 1: that's a very interesting dynamic there between those two guys
Speaker 1: and that team. How do they cobble together an offense
Speaker 1: with a full offseason after sort of doing it in
Speaker 1: season last year? There's no way they come back with
Speaker 1: the same RPO attack, right, No way or will they?
Speaker 1: That's all kind of Joe Brady knows. So I'm curious
Speaker 1: to see that. And then Bobby Babbage the first time DC.
Speaker 1: I like him a lot as a leader and a
Speaker 1: guy that can speak, you know, and communicate to his players.
Speaker 1: But we'll see what he can bring as an actual
Speaker 1: defensive corner and last of that position was unfulfilled after
Speaker 1: Leslie Fraser left in twenty twenty two. Some final roster thoughts.
Speaker 1: We kind of covered this, but receiver turnover, that's the
Speaker 1: biggest question I have. You kind of need Keon Coleman
Speaker 1: to be a number one right away. They have a
Speaker 1: nice collection of tackles, Dion Dawkins as a beast, spencer
Speaker 1: rounds a plus player, and whatever they get from Lyle
Speaker 1: Collins to me as a bonus. Then Connor McGovern inside
Speaker 1: is a good replacement for Mitch Morse. Not as good,
Speaker 1: but it gets them by and their guard position. Like
Speaker 1: people talk about Osirius Torrance, who was not good last year.
Speaker 1: He struggled a lot. He's in line to get one
Speaker 1: of the jobs, and otherwise I don't know who the
Speaker 1: other guards are gonna be. That's a kind of a
Speaker 1: training camp question. Getting Matt Mulano back is massive. I'm
Speaker 1: stoked that Leonard Floyd is gone between Smoot Rossoue Rossue Rousseau.
Speaker 1: Why can't I say that Casey two hill aj Epines.
Speaker 1: So they kind of need somebody else'll step up. But
Speaker 1: still very solid inside with Daikwan Jones and at Oliver,
Speaker 1: but they did lose their depth behind those guys with
Speaker 1: both Phillips and Settle departing. Otherwise, what can they tell
Speaker 1: about Miami Dolphins. I think the Bills went through the
Speaker 1: offseason that you were sort of led to believe the
Speaker 1: Dolphins would undergo this cap opalypse that I guess he's
Speaker 1: saying that there one year deals prevented the cap opilipse,
Speaker 1: and we're like, yeah, that's what we were saying the
Speaker 1: whole time. Bro, Both teams lost a lot of players,
Speaker 1: but Miami was able to get a lot of guys
Speaker 1: in where Buffalo did not. I think Miami got better
Speaker 1: at some key spots. I think Buffalo will sort of
Speaker 1: count on some guys incumbently taking the next step. Is
Speaker 1: that a word? But I think the quarterback allows him
Speaker 1: a lot of liberties because he is a special talent.
Speaker 1: And that brings us to your Miami Dolphin. Let's go
Speaker 1: through this quickly here before the first break and before
Speaker 1: it gets to Julian Hill eleven and six second in
Speaker 1: the AFC East Wildcard loss to Kansas City. You know
Speaker 1: about that nine and three start crushing loss the Titans
Speaker 1: that would have seen the division wrapped up on Christmas
Speaker 1: Eve if we just survived the final three damn neance
Speaker 1: of that football game, the destruction at the hands of
Speaker 1: the Ravens. Have banged up offense that couldn't do enough
Speaker 1: against Buffalo with their few opportunities after Bill's long drives,
Speaker 1: which I see he praise about the defense in that game, Like, nah, dude,
Speaker 1: the Bills just turned the ball over in the red zone.
Speaker 1: They had like four hundred and fifty yards in that game.
Speaker 1: And then playing in a freezer against Mahomes and just
Speaker 1: like that, the most fun season you has a Dolphins
Speaker 1: fan twenty plus years is over to combat that, bringing
Speaker 1: in Odell Beckham, John new Smith love those additions so
Speaker 1: so much, as you guys know. We'll talk about that
Speaker 1: more on the podcast tomorrow, Sorry Thursday, Jack Driscoll, Kalais Campbell,
Speaker 1: Neville Galimore, t R Tart, Benito Jones. Among the big
Speaker 1: additions there Shack Barrett off the edge, Jordan Brooks and
Speaker 1: Anthony Walker at linebacker, Kendall Fuller a big, big ad
Speaker 1: at the cornerback spot, and then Jordan Poyer, Marcus May
Speaker 1: with our first round pick being Chop Robinson on the
Speaker 1: way out. Like the end list to me is impressive,
Speaker 1: especially like there's a couple of names here that I
Speaker 1: think are big losses, but there was a lot more
Speaker 1: imports I think are bigger gets as well. Cedric Wilson Junior,
Speaker 1: Robert Hunt, that's a big one to meet. Connor Williams
Speaker 1: will see what his knee injury winds up being for
Speaker 1: wherever he goes this year. Christian Wilkins and ray Kwon Davis.
Speaker 1: One of those guys is a fantastic football player. One
Speaker 1: of those guys I thought was replacement level of the
Speaker 1: entire time he was here. Andrew Van Ginkel loved his game.
Speaker 1: He was a nice talent that we definitely got the
Speaker 1: most of in five years. Xavian Howard and Brandon Jones
Speaker 1: two guys that I thought had really rough twenty twenty threes.
Speaker 1: What do they do well? What do we do well?
Speaker 1: We marry the run and pass and play on time
Speaker 1: better than any offense in football. We mix our options
Speaker 1: in the offense to create ultimate conflict and force you
Speaker 1: to defend the entire field. We stretch the field and
Speaker 1: run concepts that forces the defense into pick your poison situations.
Speaker 1: We bring way wave of rushers off the edge. What's
Speaker 1: a better combination of JP, Chubb, Barrett and Chopps a foursome?
Speaker 1: There isn't one, although, of course their injury status is
Speaker 1: going into the year is a bit of a question.
Speaker 1: Multiplicity on the back end and your two best corners
Speaker 1: that can play in the slot. That opens up a
Speaker 1: whole different world that literally no other team in the
Speaker 1: NFL has that benefit of Ramsey and Fuller and their
Speaker 1: ability to play inside. You're gonna love watching what they
Speaker 1: can do with coach Anthony Weaver. What's the concern or
Speaker 1: fatal flaw though, are the exact same things you guys
Speaker 1: know about matching physicality late in the season. Can they
Speaker 1: push the pile on third and one? Can they stop
Speaker 1: Isaiah Pacheco running game winning on the row when the
Speaker 1: offense has to communicate through more hand signals and verbal
Speaker 1: communication and get into the land scrimmage ahead of the
Speaker 1: play clock and getting the playoff that's been an issue
Speaker 1: for two years. And then the interior offensive line concerns me,
Speaker 1: even though it's a kind of a team principle. That's
Speaker 1: where you know, if you've got a pinchpennies, that's where
Speaker 1: it usually happens. But you know, Williams and hunt out
Speaker 1: for Brewer and driscoll. Is a pretty significant downgrade, which
Speaker 1: we are all aware of interesting things about this team.
Speaker 1: Can we get over the playoff drout? Can we get
Speaker 1: over the hump? That would be a nice start here
Speaker 1: to do that. A third straight dominant year from Tua.
Speaker 1: I thought that two years of dominance would kind of
Speaker 1: shift the narrative. It hasn't for some reason, or maybe
Speaker 1: it has, I don't know. Can Tyreek threaten team records
Speaker 1: in his third season already? Can he get two thousand
Speaker 1: yards or get close to it again, and how do
Speaker 1: they better distribute the football to play teams that take
Speaker 1: away ten to seventeen. You can't take away Hill and
Speaker 1: Wall for a whole game. But having there were so
Speaker 1: many situations last year where we just could not separate
Speaker 1: from anybody else and it kind of cost us, you know,
Speaker 1: series in possessions. Final roster thoughts yet again, a loaded
Speaker 1: roster with talent and depth at the positions that most
Speaker 1: correlate with winning. I think there's an absolute direction about
Speaker 1: what this program needs and the team has been built accordingly.
Speaker 1: What can we learn from the Dolphins about the Dolphins? Everything? Right?
Speaker 1: All right, let's go ahead and take our first break
Speaker 1: right there, come back on the other side and welcome
Speaker 1: in my guest tight end Julian Hill. He was great
Speaker 1: to talk to you. That's next Draft Time Podcast to
Speaker 1: your host, Travis Wingfield, brought to you by AutoNation. Joining
Speaker 1: me now is Dolphins tight end and Hill here on
Speaker 1: the Drive Time podcast. Julian. Welcome in man year two.
Speaker 1: It's it's got to be way different today than it
Speaker 1: was a year ago this time.
Speaker 2: Right, definitely, definitely, I think less stressful now. The stress
Speaker 2: stress is still there, but you know, you just know
Speaker 2: your way around the park now, So that's how I
Speaker 2: like to say it.
Speaker 1: It's like you know, you know which road to get
Speaker 1: off of, like which exits you take, and did you
Speaker 1: get all settled in your first Like how long is
Speaker 1: it take to get settled in for a rookie in
Speaker 1: the first year in terms of like your apartment or
Speaker 1: wherever you're staying and all that stuff.
Speaker 2: I think it takes an entire year, yeah, because every
Speaker 2: week is new, whether it's an away game, whether it's
Speaker 2: a different phase of O t as, whether it's finding
Speaker 2: your apartment, standing in the hotel, getting the car. Like,
Speaker 2: I think every every week is new. So I think
Speaker 2: its it took me an entire year. Yeah, that's sure
Speaker 2: what most wikies can say the same.
Speaker 1: So I I go multiple places. I'm just my fifth
Speaker 1: year here. I go multiple places where I still have
Speaker 1: on my my apps. Is my map app on my phone?
Speaker 1: Like I don't know where I'm going still? It's so
Speaker 1: confusing down here.
Speaker 2: Yeah, for sure, I still use my maps as well.
Speaker 2: Every time I go somewhere.
Speaker 1: I guess so proud of myself on my find something
Speaker 1: without using it. It's like all right, unlocked an accomplishment there. Okay,
Speaker 1: So I was telling you before you got on the
Speaker 1: on the air here that me, like so many other
Speaker 1: you know, sports writers and podcasters, like we're in this
Speaker 1: industry because we failed as athletes. And so for me,
Speaker 1: it's always so fascinating to me to learn what you
Speaker 1: guys go through in so many different ways and the
Speaker 1: player like yourself, for instance, u dfa small school, probably
Speaker 1: not a lot of pop and in publicy out there
Speaker 1: for you, but you come in hearing you grind and
Speaker 1: you make the team. I'm just so curious to hear
Speaker 1: you talk about the stress being less that fine line
Speaker 1: of as a UDFA trying to make a team where
Speaker 1: it's like, if I make the team, I get you know,
Speaker 1: a certain a certain level of pay right that first year,
Speaker 1: Versus if I don't, I gotta try to find a
Speaker 1: way to get on a squad next year. I just
Speaker 1: want to hear from your experience what that entire experience
Speaker 1: was like last year from unknown UDFA to tied end
Speaker 1: for the Miami Dolphins.
Speaker 2: Well, you know, I always say, first and foremost, I
Speaker 2: gotta I gotta give that particular the journey itself. I
Speaker 2: gotta go I gotta go gone right. I think he
Speaker 2: put me in a great position. And also I gotta
Speaker 2: give credit to my head coach from college, Mike Mintor.
Speaker 2: He played in the NFL for ten years for one team.
Speaker 2: That's hard to do. He played his entire career, and
Speaker 2: the things he taught me. Being from a small school,
Speaker 2: being from uh, like you said, there's there's not a
Speaker 2: lot of pop. It created a certain type of tenacity
Speaker 2: within myself and a drive self motivating. So when I
Speaker 2: got here last year, you know, I already knew I
Speaker 2: was at the bottom of the depth chart.
Speaker 3: It was.
Speaker 2: It was already proven, and they also drafted another tight
Speaker 2: end as well, rookie, so I knew I had to,
Speaker 2: you know, look look within and find that that that
Speaker 2: courage and that that bravery. I like to say, you
Speaker 2: know a lot of people don't like to admit is
Speaker 2: you got to be brave a lot of scenarios. But
Speaker 2: I was not afraid to take that on. I made
Speaker 2: it a goal of mine to whatever team took a
Speaker 2: chance on me, if I'm not walking down the body
Speaker 2: bag or getting carried off, I'm not coming out the
Speaker 2: door literally on the field right right right. And that
Speaker 2: was my mindset, and it propelled me to you know,
Speaker 2: where I'm by where I was at by the end
Speaker 2: of the season. And again I gotta give credit to
Speaker 2: my position room Durham Smite. Uh.
Speaker 3: He led me very well.
Speaker 2: You know, he's another guy that's been on one team,
Speaker 2: he's been here for so I'll be a fool not
Speaker 2: to pick up game and pick up insight from him
Speaker 2: and ask him questions and opposition coach coach Embo Man,
Speaker 2: he coached some of the greatest.
Speaker 3: Tight ends have ever played the game. It's crazy, you
Speaker 3: know what I mean.
Speaker 2: So I was always a sponge And again, like I said,
Speaker 2: I knew I was coming in as the bottom of
Speaker 2: the depth rock guy, but that never that never scared me.
Speaker 2: It almost made me. I want to challenge myself for
Speaker 2: you more. The competition. You know, I'm a big believer
Speaker 2: that competition is a breather. Either gonna run or you're
Speaker 2: gonna You're gonna you know what I'm saying, You're gonna
Speaker 2: stay in there.
Speaker 3: So and it's totality.
Speaker 2: Man, It definitely wasn't experienced and I'm grateful for it
Speaker 2: that I'm still hungry.
Speaker 3: I'm still chasing a lot more.
Speaker 1: So, absolutely Yeah, that's that's uh. I always that almost
Speaker 1: sounds like it's like it's final, right, like you did it,
Speaker 1: you made it, but like there's so much more left
Speaker 1: in you football career. So I don't want to make
Speaker 1: that sound like that. But I want to go back
Speaker 1: to Durham smite because he is like a north Star, right,
Speaker 1: like you go to that guy. He just knows everything,
Speaker 1: like for a media guy like myself, Like I'm gonna
Speaker 1: talk to Durham because he knows exactly what happened on
Speaker 1: that play that I want to know about. Like we
Speaker 1: talk about his experience and how valuable it's been to.
Speaker 3: Here for sure.
Speaker 2: Yeah, like I said, man, he's been here is a
Speaker 2: tire career.
Speaker 3: I can't stress that enough. Like I saw last year.
Speaker 2: Man, guys they come and they go and for a
Speaker 2: guy to go through multiple coaching changes, for a guy
Speaker 2: to uh, you know, come in and not be the
Speaker 2: profound starter immediately and work his way up. Man, he's
Speaker 2: he's a he's an open book. He's he's always willing
Speaker 2: to put me on game as as we say, right,
Speaker 2: but I think mostly man in his his work ethic,
Speaker 2: it's little as you can't compare how he gets down
Speaker 2: to a lot of people. So I see why, you know,
Speaker 2: he's still in his building. I see why he's still
Speaker 2: making plays. I see why he takes his job seriously.
Speaker 2: I'm just grateful that, you know, he's one of my
Speaker 2: leaders in that position room. He must be, he must
Speaker 2: be pretty thrilled.
Speaker 1: But he's getting in the same offense for the third
Speaker 1: straight year because when early in his career he was
Speaker 1: it was different oc every year, and that speaks to
Speaker 1: his ability to be able to jump scheme like that
Speaker 1: and be just as effective as he's been his entire career.
Speaker 1: You also talked a little bit in that opening answer
Speaker 1: just about you know, the process. I'm curious, was there
Speaker 1: a moment where you were like, all right, I can
Speaker 1: do this, or were you always of that mindset, or
Speaker 1: was like a certain moment where it clicked for you
Speaker 1: of just curious that entire rookie year. Was it like,
Speaker 1: I don't know, or there was just a moment where
Speaker 1: you were like, I can do this, I can play it,
Speaker 1: I can make this team.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I definitely.
Speaker 2: I think when we got the camp, once we got
Speaker 2: the camp and how the playbooks started to you know,
Speaker 2: make here. But it rapped up. But at the same
Speaker 2: time it started to make a little bit more sense.
Speaker 2: And as the season and the speed of the game
Speaker 2: started to go, you know, in camp and we're playing
Speaker 2: against other teams that will practice against other teams the
Speaker 2: preseason games, after all those things started to granp up.
Speaker 2: It put me in a mind state like, man, you
Speaker 2: you can, because first, there's no way you're gonna be
Speaker 2: able to step in that hood or if you don't
Speaker 2: have confidence in yourself. Because if you don't have confidency yourself,
Speaker 2: whether you're gonna think the coaches or the players looking
Speaker 2: at you're gonna have confidence there. So I realized that,
Speaker 2: and I realized, like, I have to take that on.
Speaker 2: I have to believe in myself. And once I did, man,
Speaker 2: it shot me up.
Speaker 1: One of the cool things about your job last year
Speaker 1: was all the jet motion going in Roussill formation and
Speaker 1: picking off those those edge the force defender in the
Speaker 1: running game. Was that something like pretty new to you,
Speaker 1: because I don't imagine you're doing a lot of that,
Speaker 1: you know, anywhere much less Campbell. But and then and
Speaker 1: just like what was that fun? That's like a fun
Speaker 1: role to to fulfill, isn't it definitely.
Speaker 2: Again I talked about my mindset, right, my mindset was
Speaker 2: whatever they want me to I'm doing it as cliche
Speaker 2: as that sound like, it was real for me, so
Speaker 2: they couldn't tell me, Yo, it's line up in the
Speaker 2: backfield and just stand there. I'm gonna smile up in
Speaker 2: the backfield and stand there. But it definitely was a
Speaker 2: fun role. I love I love the physicality of the game.
Speaker 2: It's something that one of my favorite parts of the game.
Speaker 2: And again, like I said, I'm going to just do
Speaker 2: my two said, that's all.
Speaker 3: That's all this is.
Speaker 2: It's a team game and I'm here to be available,
Speaker 2: give my two cents, put my two sets in whenever
Speaker 2: they need me, whatever they want me to do, and
Speaker 2: I'm I'm gonna go hard at it.
Speaker 1: What's fun to watch? Like I said, man, I'm curious.
Speaker 1: Let's go ahead and jump forward to the season. Here,
Speaker 1: get one more question for you. And it's just something
Speaker 1: that you focused on, particularly the soft season, because I know,
Speaker 1: like rookie year, like coach talks about all the time,
Speaker 1: like the rookie year is you go from All Star
Speaker 1: Games to training for the Combiner for your Pro day.
Speaker 1: It's it's you're working out for track events, and then
Speaker 1: all of a sudden you got to pull back to
Speaker 1: football and it's prety many camps and that's OTAs and
Speaker 1: you get six weeks off and then it's training camp
Speaker 1: and then like you just never get a breather. Right now,
Speaker 1: you've had a chance to kind of step back and maybe,
Speaker 1: like I compare a football to golf a lot like
Speaker 1: work on your swing, right, Like you have a chance
Speaker 1: to go back to the lab and kind of work
Speaker 1: on your swing. What are some things you did this
Speaker 1: off season to kind of get better?
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think the biggest statement was the details of
Speaker 2: my position, whether that's in the run game, my footwork
Speaker 2: in the run game, how I fail up on a defender,
Speaker 2: not trying to you know, kill them all the time.
Speaker 2: It's not a kill immediately, you have to you have
Speaker 2: to block them before you kill them, right. Sure, So
Speaker 2: I'm up in the past game, just working on my
Speaker 2: I coordination a little bit better and my focus and
Speaker 2: being able to run routes a little bit better and
Speaker 2: get more fluid in my mobility. So it's all every
Speaker 2: part of the of a Titian's game. You know, I
Speaker 2: really I really holed in on the details and at
Speaker 2: the same time learning. You know, I played a lot
Speaker 2: of time in the in the film room on the mistakes.
Speaker 2: I watched Durham a lot last year. Again, he's a
Speaker 2: top rated run blocker in the in the NFL. I'll
Speaker 2: be a fool not too. And now we got John Knu,
Speaker 2: one of the best yachting runners in the So you know,
Speaker 2: I watched a lot of film on Kittle. You know,
Speaker 2: he's one who's pristine in this particular offense. So yeah, man,
Speaker 2: just the details of the game, details of my position,
Speaker 2: and I'm ready to, you know, do what I need
Speaker 2: to do for this team this year.
Speaker 1: Illed you one more question because you mentioned johnn It
Speaker 1: hasn't been working been like working with Johnny Smith.
Speaker 3: It's amazing.
Speaker 1: Man.
Speaker 2: He's he's a he's next to nine, you know what
Speaker 2: I mean. He's a great guy off the field. Me
Speaker 2: he's a guy that you can come up to. And
Speaker 2: he's again he's like Durham, he's an open book. So
Speaker 2: I know, I heard a lot of the horror stories
Speaker 2: of these vets that you know, don't really like the
Speaker 2: young guys. But I've blessed and lucky enough to have
Speaker 2: two great guys who put a lot of things on tape,
Speaker 2: did a lot of stuff in this game for a
Speaker 2: long time. And I'm just awesome and glad that I
Speaker 2: get to see you to learn from them guys.
Speaker 1: That kind of seems to be the case throughout the
Speaker 1: whole building, right, Like they're so like they're nice, Like
Speaker 1: everyone's nice to meet, Like you don't have to be
Speaker 1: like you don't, but everyone's just so great.
Speaker 3: I think it's because you're in Miami. Yeah. Nice.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it was a little happily with the sunset, that's
Speaker 1: for sure. Julian Hill, appreciate you, tied Ben, thank you,
Speaker 1: and away he goes. I love those stories about u
Speaker 1: DFAs and like, to me, the stress of training camp
Speaker 1: and trying to get your way up to cut down
Speaker 1: day and make the roster because of what it can
Speaker 1: do in terms of your pocketbook for your futures, Like
Speaker 1: if you don't make the team, you don't have guaranteed money,
Speaker 1: but if you do, you're like guaranteed to be able
Speaker 1: to continue playing professional football or pursuing it for a
Speaker 1: few more years, because, like you know, a half million
Speaker 1: dollars whatever it is can get you by it for
Speaker 1: quite a while so that stuff fascinates me, and Julian
Speaker 1: worked his butt off to earn that right to be
Speaker 1: that player. Let's go ahead and take our last break
Speaker 1: right there, come back on the other side and tell
Speaker 1: you how bad the Juts and Patriot. Sorry. That's next
Speaker 1: Draftime podcast, your host Travis Wingfield, brought to you by
Speaker 1: I don'tation. Two teams left to discuss on the All
Speaker 1: thirty two summer preview series, and that the two teams
Speaker 1: that I hate the most. Let's just be honest about it.
Speaker 1: I hate these teams. I especially hate this next one. Now,
Speaker 1: the latter team, the New England Patriots. Are you like me?
Speaker 1: Does that ever happen to you? The turboat team? Does
Speaker 1: the success that was just so perpetual? Did it make
Speaker 1: your hatred sort of regress a little bit? Like it's
Speaker 1: almost like when you get to a point to where
Speaker 1: you realize, like this is never gonna happen for me,
Speaker 1: Like I'm not good enough at this thing, or this
Speaker 1: is like a too tough in an industry, Like rooting
Speaker 1: against the Patriots to no avail every year just kind
Speaker 1: of became futile and like my hatred almost turned to respect,
Speaker 1: or like acceptance, maybe that certain stage of grief of acceptance,
Speaker 1: and now they're so bad. I don't really revel in
Speaker 1: them bottoming out last year, did you. I don't know,
Speaker 1: because this next team is the one that I love
Speaker 1: to hate the most. I love that we beat him
Speaker 1: by sixty four to thirteen aggregate last year. I hate
Speaker 1: that we lost that game in New York on our
Speaker 1: third string quarterback two years ago. I even hate in
Speaker 1: twenty nineteen and they got a free pass interference on
Speaker 1: Nick Needham that was not a pass interference to win
Speaker 1: that game for him, even though we needed losses of
Speaker 1: the time. I just hate losing to the Jets. I
Speaker 1: love when they have misery. And let's just go ahead
Speaker 1: and get into this. Snoll interjects some thoughts throughout this
Speaker 1: whole thing. So they're twenty twenty three recaps seven to ten,
Speaker 1: third place in the AFC East, and it's like, have
Speaker 1: a normal season challenge for the New York Jets, right,
Speaker 1: because the fact that they're getting these win totals with
Speaker 1: the quarterback production they've gotten the last couple of years
Speaker 1: is honestly nothing short of a miracle for them. Four
Speaker 1: snaps into the season and the guy they built a
Speaker 1: shrine around, the guy that they gave full autonomy and
Speaker 1: full power over every single decision in the organization, the
Speaker 1: guy that they buckled out the knee for, the guy
Speaker 1: that it was picked up on hard knocks. When Sala
Speaker 1: had a point in the in the headset during a
Speaker 1: preseason game, Rogers disagreed, and Slaw immediately was like, yeah,
Speaker 1: you're right. Like the whole construction of this idea of
Speaker 1: getting Aaron Rodgers and their defensive coordinator showing them a
Speaker 1: clip of a not a routine throw, but not a
Speaker 1: crazy throw in practice and being like, that's our guy,
Speaker 1: that's our quarterback, that's our quarterback. Like we talked about
Speaker 1: the Patriots and Bill Belichick getting after Tom Brady even
Speaker 1: when he was a you know, six time world champion.
Speaker 1: I don't think this style of approach works. It didn't work,
Speaker 1: And in fact, we need to cut the bs out
Speaker 1: of the building, right, all that stuff, and then you're
Speaker 1: like running a freaking campaign with brainworm guy, you know,
Speaker 1: Like I just I think that there's when you look
Speaker 1: at this roster, I'm so all over the place right now.
Speaker 1: There are so many things where you can look at
Speaker 1: it and be like, this all makes sense, this all
Speaker 1: tracks for a team that's gonna win games. But every
Speaker 1: year you have to try to find the unique circumstances
Speaker 1: to take you to the uncertained, uncertain, uncertain outcomes that
Speaker 1: we're gonna get every single year in the national football Like,
Speaker 1: take what you think you know right now? Half of
Speaker 1: those things are going to be wrong. So when you
Speaker 1: look at the Jets on paper, everyone's gonna say ten
Speaker 1: win team at least, but you have to try to
Speaker 1: find the situations that will lead to the surprise outcome,
Speaker 1: which is a surprise on paper, even though every year
Speaker 1: we get sixteen surprise outcomes, right, like sixteen teams are
Speaker 1: not who we thought they were going to be. And
Speaker 1: with the Jets and the retention of Nathaniel Hackett, like,
Speaker 1: did you guys watch that offensive structure last year? It
Speaker 1: was awful with Rogers and everything that he puts the
Speaker 1: team through. I don't know, man, I just I don't know.
Speaker 1: I do not know. Let's get back into the actual
Speaker 1: meat and bones of this. You know, he's back and
Speaker 1: the guy that had to replace him four snaps into
Speaker 1: the season was the number two overall pick draft where
Speaker 1: they blew that by not losing enough games to get
Speaker 1: Trevor Lawrence, and then they took the worst guy of
Speaker 1: that entire draft class and his year last year goes
Speaker 1: like he would have thought it was. I mean, he
Speaker 1: can't play the position. And the reason why we don't
Speaker 1: get excited about Pro day throws or a couple of
Speaker 1: games here and there with some scramble, you know, offscript
Speaker 1: throws like you have to see the field to play quarterback.
Speaker 1: They do get that surprise opening day win over Buffalo,
Speaker 1: lose the next three, win three straight, then lose five
Speaker 1: straight before destroying c. J. Stroud in the Houston Texans
Speaker 1: only to get ran out of hard Rock Stadium, despite
Speaker 1: the fact that we were down to Ron Armstead, by
Speaker 1: the fact that we were down Tyreek Hill, despite the
Speaker 1: fact that we were down Devon h Chan, despite the
Speaker 1: fact that we were down Javon Holland and Xavier Howard
Speaker 1: and our whole damn team was out, and we still
Speaker 1: won that game by thirty points. And then they win
Speaker 1: two of the final three games to finish seven to ten.
Speaker 1: The tough part for them is how often do defenses
Speaker 1: stay great. I've had this discussion on the podcast many times.
Speaker 1: Most great defenses give you two or three years. Sometimes
Speaker 1: they give you a fourth. If that third year year
Speaker 1: is the most you're gonna get out of it, that
Speaker 1: means this is the last ride. And in fact, their
Speaker 1: entire offseason has been structured around the idea like this is,
Speaker 1: we have to win this year, and of course they do.
Speaker 1: For Joe Douglas, for Robert solid to be back, they
Speaker 1: have to go to the playoffs this year. They just
Speaker 1: have to make that happen. Here's the big moves. I
Speaker 1: like what they did at tackle. They brought in Tyron Smith,
Speaker 1: who is basically Toron Armstead in terms of his ability
Speaker 1: and his availability. Morgan Moses not as good, also has
Speaker 1: some availability issues. He was there previously went to Baltimore,
Speaker 1: played better now he's back. We'll see how that works out.
Speaker 1: But their first round pick oloof for Shann who was
Speaker 1: an absolute monster, an absolute stud, and they hit that
Speaker 1: out of the park. They also brought in John Simpson
Speaker 1: on the offensive line to play guard. They brought in
Speaker 1: Mike Williams, who's coming off was it an acl last year.
Speaker 1: I think late in the year that took his the
Speaker 1: rest of his season a way. He's old and he
Speaker 1: wasn't an explosive player as it was. He can win
Speaker 1: a fifty to fifty ball, but we'll see about his availability.
Speaker 1: Quarterback Tyrod Taylor. That's the best WOAE they made all
Speaker 1: off season was getting a good backup quarterback because I
Speaker 1: think that Tyrod can take them to you know, eight
Speaker 1: or nine wins. Leaky Foto the defensive tackle from Utah
Speaker 1: that I liked a few years back. Javon kin Law,
Speaker 1: the former first round pick of the Niners that has
Speaker 1: not worked out so far. Hassan Reddick was the big
Speaker 1: addition on defense, but he doesn't want to be there
Speaker 1: apparently like he hasn't showed up yet. Isaiah Oliver was
Speaker 1: a big addition at the cornerback spot. On the way out.
Speaker 1: I thought this loss was bigger than any of the
Speaker 1: additions they made this offseason, and maybe not Tyron Smith
Speaker 1: included in that. But Bryce Huff gave Austin Jackson more
Speaker 1: issues than anybody else he faced last year. Bryce Huff
Speaker 1: is a hell of a football player. Why they let
Speaker 1: him go is beyond me, although it's not because you
Speaker 1: overpaid for other guys at the position, like drafting Will
Speaker 1: McDonald the first round. You could us that pick somewhere
Speaker 1: else and kept Bryce Huff. That was a big mistake
Speaker 1: in my opinion. They also lost John Frankly Myers is
Speaker 1: a good player. They also lost Karl Lawson, who didn't
Speaker 1: play good for them, but he had success previously. Quentin
Speaker 1: Jefferson's a big loss. Jordan Whitehead was an up and
Speaker 1: down player. He's gone, Zach Wilson and then Lake and
Speaker 1: Tomlinson the guard or they signed. It was kind of
Speaker 1: a buzz of a freezer for them. What do they
Speaker 1: do well? They have a number one receiver and a
Speaker 1: bell cow back that allows them to find and isolate
Speaker 1: matchups when they can, and a quarterback when he plays,
Speaker 1: who sees the field as well as any quarterback to
Speaker 1: ever do it. And that's more than they've had offensively
Speaker 1: in a long long time. Right. This offense has been
Speaker 1: the Seattle Mariners to bring you, guys into my world,
Speaker 1: the Mimy Dolphins of two thousand and nine, if they've
Speaker 1: been that team for a long long time. I think
Speaker 1: the offensive line might be a strength after years of
Speaker 1: the converse. The tackle spot is almost impervious to attrition now, right,
Speaker 1: which is gonna have to be And you know because
Speaker 1: Smith and Moses are so banged up so often. But
Speaker 1: Olufashanu is he gonna like? I would play him opening
Speaker 1: day personally, but we'll see what happens with that. But
Speaker 1: he's a great third tackle, my god. I like Joel Tipman,
Speaker 1: I like Elijah Vera Tucker, but he misses more time
Speaker 1: than he plays. So if they get all five of
Speaker 1: those guys playing like, that's a good offensive line. But
Speaker 1: we'll see what happens come you know, October. I'm glad
Speaker 1: we play this team in December with all the injury
Speaker 1: player like the injury prone players, they have two games
Speaker 1: in December. Is nice for them for that reason, although
Speaker 1: we also get banged up a lot too. What else
Speaker 1: they do well? They disrupt, impress, but they can also
Speaker 1: get over aggressive and missed. Like think about two deep
Speaker 1: balls to Waddle last year and won the Tyreege. That
Speaker 1: was three game changing plays on their top two cornerbacks
Speaker 1: last year. I mean, that's what happens. You have the
Speaker 1: best receivers in the league, but they get after most
Speaker 1: other teams in that way, and that pairs so well
Speaker 1: with a one gap play on fire, get uphill and
Speaker 1: go after the quarterback. In the running game, which is
Speaker 1: also leads to a concern or fatal flaw, is they
Speaker 1: don't defend the edges very well. And that's why an
Speaker 1: offense like ours, we always get big rips in the
Speaker 1: running game off the edge. They have to find a
Speaker 1: way to defend the entire field with that aggressive style.
Speaker 1: I think Miami gets them out of that better than
Speaker 1: any other team in the National Football League. What's the
Speaker 1: other concern, Oh, I don't know. A forty year old
Speaker 1: quarterback who is the biggest distraction in the NFL, the
Speaker 1: biggest sociopath in the NFL coming off an Achilles injury
Speaker 1: and the entire thing hinges on him. I wouldn't want
Speaker 1: to count on that guy for all of that. I mean,
Speaker 1: they told us as much in Hard Knocks. That's also
Speaker 1: a lot of pieces on the team that fall into
Speaker 1: that category. Tyron Smith, Mike Williams, Like, if all three
Speaker 1: of those guys are down, this team is back to
Speaker 1: winning five games again. Did they get better up front?
Speaker 1: I don't think they did. Franklin Myers and Jefferson and
Speaker 1: Huff is a massive part of what they've done. And
Speaker 1: Reddick is a no show. He didn't show up to
Speaker 1: Ota said, Will McDonald last year their first round pick
Speaker 1: a healthy scratch at one point, so I think they
Speaker 1: regress in that regard to some inariking things about their
Speaker 1: biggest storylines. One of the more fascinating teams to me,
Speaker 1: outside of my hatred for them, I could see him
Speaker 1: winning eleven games if it all goes right, I could
Speaker 1: see him winning five games. And a big reason for
Speaker 1: that floor is they didn't make a change in offensive
Speaker 1: cornator despite the fact that there was absolutely no rhyme
Speaker 1: or reason to the offense. If you say, well, Aaron
Speaker 1: Rodgers runs the offense, that's a problem, get it. We
Speaker 1: got that right. It's a big problem for them. He's
Speaker 1: been not good for a long time now, especially with
Speaker 1: Denver and now with the Jets, And how does this
Speaker 1: team handle a slow star. If that happens, they have
Speaker 1: a pretty easy schedule. I expect him to get blown
Speaker 1: out and opening Day against the Niners, but then it's
Speaker 1: like Titans and Patriots. So if they get off to
Speaker 1: a two to one start, maybe it's gonna be okay.
Speaker 1: But what if they lose one of those games and
Speaker 1: things snowball? Because this team has not handled adversity. Will
Speaker 1: in the past. I don't think they will this year either.
Speaker 1: And then Robert Sala, I think is a good coach.
Speaker 1: I think the minute he is let go, if that happens,
Speaker 1: he'll be snatched up as a top DC. But the
Speaker 1: results have not been there. So what happens to him
Speaker 1: if they don't win this year, He's going to be gone.
Speaker 1: Final roster thoughts. If you get twenty twenty one Rogers,
Speaker 1: you are golden. Anything else? Who the hell knows? Man
Speaker 1: Garrett Wilson's a baller, but he's not been able to
Speaker 1: carry the offense. Jalen Ramsey blanked him in the game
Speaker 1: down here, and beyond Mike Williams, it gets thin very fast.
Speaker 1: I like the linebackers and Quincy Williams and CJ. Moseley
Speaker 1: probably the best off ball combo in the conference. It
Speaker 1: all looks good on paper, but we know teams don't
Speaker 1: win games on paper, and there's just seemingly always something
Speaker 1: there with this team. And I think that quarterback distraction
Speaker 1: potential is a very real thing. What can they tell
Speaker 1: us about the Miami Dolphins, Well, they're a good study
Speaker 1: on the all in philosophy, because while it might be
Speaker 1: great this year, what the hell does twenty twenty five
Speaker 1: look like for the New York Jets. It's gonna be
Speaker 1: right back to where they always are, in the basement
Speaker 1: in the AFC East. The Patriots four and thirteen and
Speaker 1: fourth place last year. How weird is it to have
Speaker 1: them in the cellar? They played us in Philly tight early,
Speaker 1: and I guess that was impressive. I guess. Then they
Speaker 1: get a win over the Jets, and then the Wheels
Speaker 1: came off three straight losses, two blowouts. They get that
Speaker 1: surprise win over Buffaloe of my favorite games of the
Speaker 1: year as well, where the offense came to life, and
Speaker 1: then it was right back to the same ole lose
Speaker 1: the next five games. It was so weird to see
Speaker 1: the Patriots at two and ten and they win two
Speaker 1: of the final five to finish their lowest win total
Speaker 1: in thirty one years. Pretty crazy. Plenty of change here.
Speaker 1: Brady left in twenty twenty, now it's Belichick in twenty
Speaker 1: twenty four. They have the replacement for both of those guys,
Speaker 1: albeit take two at quarterback with Mac Jones not working out,
Speaker 1: and they are now here for the rookie seasons in
Speaker 1: Drake may and Gerrod Mayo. The big moves for them
Speaker 1: at tackle. Chakuma okafor is going to replace Trent Brown.
Speaker 1: I suppose Antonio Gibson's in. They replay Zeke Elliott, Austin
Speaker 1: Hooper's there, Jacoby Brissette, Jake Briskett Big Slops is the
Speaker 1: backup quarterback, or maybe he starts. I don't know what
Speaker 1: the plan is gonna be there. Hopefully he starts Week
Speaker 1: four under they see him and Drake may kJ Osborne.
Speaker 1: I love his game. He's a nice number three receiver.
Speaker 1: Sioni Taki Takei a good linebacker for the Browns. And
Speaker 1: then O'Shane Ximinez, a big addition off the edge on
Speaker 1: the way out. Staples Lawrence Guy was there forever, Adrian Phillips,
Speaker 1: Mac Jones, Trent Brown, Miles, Bryant Gasicki's on his third
Speaker 1: team in three years. Zeke Elliott and Mack Wilson exits
Speaker 1: when they do well. This was a thing from the
Speaker 1: old Guard, but I doubt it changes under Mayo. They
Speaker 1: play fundamentally sound, with a macro view on the situation.
Speaker 1: Defensively and force you into long drives. They tackle well,
Speaker 1: they limit big plays, you know, force a twelve thirteen
Speaker 1: play drive to score on them. This is all spearheaded
Speaker 1: by talented defensive backs like Kyle Dugger, one of the
Speaker 1: best safeties in the game. Christian Gonzalez is going to
Speaker 1: be an absolute stud and then Jonathan Jones is very
Speaker 1: good and for some reason does a great job on
Speaker 1: Cheetah every time he sees him. And then they know
Speaker 1: who they are. In the running game. They are a big,
Speaker 1: powerful offensive line. Although Trent Brown is gone Okafoor he
Speaker 1: places him Michael Unwino, one of the biggest people movers
Speaker 1: in the entire National Football League, and Cole Strange offers
Speaker 1: a little bit of everything alongside David Andrews has been
Speaker 1: a great player for a long time for them. What's
Speaker 1: the concern or the fatal flaw for the New England Patriots. Well,
Speaker 1: they're not a good team yet. The obligatory quarterback rookie
Speaker 1: quarterback mentioned here, provided he starts the season. They had
Speaker 1: a long, long, long way to go at the skills spots.
Speaker 1: I like Javon Baker. I thought Pop Douglas was a
Speaker 1: great distion last year. I like kg Osborne, I like
Speaker 1: Jalen Polk, but measure this against other teams. They are
Speaker 1: still a bottom five skill group. The calling card for
Speaker 1: years was the ability to two gap and play light
Speaker 1: boxes with lots of defensive backs in the field that
Speaker 1: could be versatile and mix and match. But a lot
Speaker 1: of those guys have left, you know. I thought that
Speaker 1: losing so many guys in the like and Adrian Phillips
Speaker 1: Frants this was a big part of that, and then
Speaker 1: Lawrence guy ap promtin is a big part of that,
Speaker 1: though Christian Barmore and Devon Godshaw do a great job
Speaker 1: of this one gapping and helping or two gaping helping
Speaker 1: keep their linebackers clean. And then, like most teams, beyond
Speaker 1: the secondary starters, the depth is very very thin, and
Speaker 1: we saw that ravage them a season ago, especially in
Speaker 1: the games against US. Some interesting things about them, biggest storylines.
Speaker 1: Drake May had great junior tape, a bad senior tape,
Speaker 1: and sometimes those guys can be early hits. Josh Allen
Speaker 1: and Justin Herbert are good examples of that, and Drake
Speaker 1: May had the same issues with his surrounding cast in
Speaker 1: North Carolina completely going away that final year. He should
Speaker 1: have come out two years ago. I guess he was
Speaker 1: a third pick of the draft, so he made the
Speaker 1: right decision Gerard Mayo first season post Belichick era. That
Speaker 1: fascinates me. And then will it be personnel or will
Speaker 1: it be secondary driven? How how close will this team
Speaker 1: resemble the Belichick Patriots? I cannot wait to find out
Speaker 1: the answer to that this season. Some final roster thoughts.
Speaker 1: I liked their draft class a lot and thought they
Speaker 1: were smart to make some value additions in free agency.
Speaker 1: So many teams that are this far away will take
Speaker 1: the big swings and it might get them another win
Speaker 1: or too early on, but a handcuffs them in the
Speaker 1: long haul. I thought they were frugal and smart to
Speaker 1: get bargain buys this offseason that can help their football team.
Speaker 1: It's better at the skill spots. Has a long way
Speaker 1: to go. They have a quarterback to be excited about.
Speaker 1: He's got to learn and develop. He's got a lot
Speaker 1: of physical traits, but it's tough that I like is
Speaker 1: not there yet. The offensive line is good, not great,
Speaker 1: and the secondary looks prett damn good with a pass
Speaker 1: rush that should still be good. Judon back j Beck.
Speaker 1: Gonzalez's back had a lot of big pieces out last
Speaker 1: year with injuries, and what can they tell USBOU the
Speaker 1: Miami Dolphins. We use this a lot lately. Totally different
Speaker 1: team cycles, so not much my predictions on July fifteenth
Speaker 1: right now, and these can change. I'm going Dolphins twelve
Speaker 1: to thirteen wins. I think we're right back in the
Speaker 1: same mix we were last year. Buffalo going ten or eleven,
Speaker 1: although I could convince myself to get to twelve. I
Speaker 1: think they're still a very good football team. The Jets
Speaker 1: eight to nine wins and the Patriots six or seven
Speaker 1: wins should be a competitive fun division. My division superlatives.
Speaker 1: Josh Allen's the best quarterback. I know you don't want
Speaker 1: to hear that, but it's the truth. Best non quarterback
Speaker 1: on offense is Tyreek Hill. I'm taking Jialen Ramsey as
Speaker 1: the best player on defense in the division over anybody
Speaker 1: on the Jets. I just think that Ramsey is a
Speaker 1: different beast. The best coach to me is Mike McDaniel Olufashan,
Speaker 1: who is the top rookie. It was kind of an
Speaker 1: easy choice there. It's pretty much the only guy that
Speaker 1: I you know, Drake May. I don't think it's gonna
Speaker 1: be as productive as a rookie. And my fantasy sleeper
Speaker 1: is Malik Washington. Keep an eye out for him. All Right,
Speaker 1: there you go. That's the end of the entire NFL
Speaker 1: landscape starting on Thursday. It's back to all Dolphins Thursday
Speaker 1: of the offense, Monday the defense, and then we're gonna
Speaker 1: have a Wednesday practice recap. Podcast. Training camp kicks off
Speaker 1: in just over a week. Make sure you're tuned in
Speaker 1: for all of that. I'm gonna be doing some podcast
Speaker 1: appearances across the landscape as well, But think the Dive Bar.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna do their show. I think the taping of
Speaker 1: Sideline t should already be out. And I'm also gonna
Speaker 1: doing Melissa Marino Marissa Marino sorry on Dolphins Talk in
Speaker 1: her show, I believe. So just keeping out for me
Speaker 1: around the social gonna be all over ig and Twitter
Speaker 1: and the podcast feed and Miami Dolphins dot com in
Speaker 1: the coming weeks. My vacation is officially over. In the meantime,
Speaker 1: you all please be sure to subscribe to the podcast.
Speaker 1: Leave us are ready, leave us review. You can follow
Speaker 1: me on social at Winkful NFL and the team at
Speaker 1: Miami Dolphins. She got the fish Tank podcast with Seth
Speaker 1: and Juice. The YouTube channel for media availabilities, Dolphins Today,
Speaker 1: drive time content, so much more, and last but not least,
Speaker 1: to Miami Dolphins dot Com until next time. Fins up
Speaker 1: hell on Cameron Daddy, He's coming home.