Speaker 1: To us fires touch style by waddle stuck into the
Speaker 1: end zone of Miami Boy, tight froll type window. They
Speaker 1: had to get that touchdown on that play. They get it.
Speaker 1: What is up, Dolphans And welcome to the Drive Time Podcast,
Speaker 1: part of the Miami Dolphins podcast network, covering your team,
Speaker 1: your Miami Dolphins. How's it going everybody? I am your
Speaker 1: host Travis Wingfield And on today's show, a new player
Speaker 1: to evaluate. Running back Sony Michelle has signed with the
Speaker 1: Miami Dolphins. Will get into his game and what he brings.
Speaker 1: Plus we'll hear from the offensive staff on the Michelle edition,
Speaker 1: and the entire coaching staff on mini camps, the new
Speaker 1: players they've added, and a whole heck of a lot
Speaker 1: more assistant coaches. Media Day one of my favorite days
Speaker 1: in the calendar. When we get it, We've got that
Speaker 1: covered today, and a whole lot more from the Baptist
Speaker 1: Health Studios inside the Baptist Health Training Calm Plex. This
Speaker 1: is the Drive Time Podcast, alright, A new signing. Always
Speaker 1: love a chance to crack open the tape and my
Speaker 1: favorite analytics sites to learn about a new player, well
Speaker 1: maybe not learn, you better know these guys around the
Speaker 1: league ahead of time in this industry, but a deep
Speaker 1: dive to get to know them further. That's always been
Speaker 1: my favorite thing to do, and today we get that
Speaker 1: chance with running back Sony Michelle, who agreed to a
Speaker 1: contract with the Miami Dolphins on Tuesday. Here's a quote
Speaker 1: that I pulled from my sit down with Chris Greer
Speaker 1: and Mike McDaniel back before the scouting combine, back when
Speaker 1: they first kind of got together after McDaniel was hired,
Speaker 1: and talking about the running back position. And I keep
Speaker 1: going back to this. After the Edmunds signing, after the
Speaker 1: most Sart signing, now after the Michelle signing quote, Mike
Speaker 1: prepared a tape of what he's looking for at the
Speaker 1: running back position. It was a great teaching moment for
Speaker 1: the scouts and the offensive coaching staff who came in
Speaker 1: and listened to It. Was a good visual opportunity for
Speaker 1: all the scouts and coaches to be in one room
Speaker 1: talking about what we're looking for at the position and
Speaker 1: things Mike has had success at finding in San Francisco.
Speaker 1: Are scouts really appreciated that. So from San Francisco raheam Mostert.
Speaker 1: They were also very familiar with a back they saw
Speaker 1: twice a year in Chase Edmonds in Arizona, and we
Speaker 1: know about what he added to the room and with
Speaker 1: regards to his rushing e p A added the explosive
Speaker 1: passing game nature, the ability to hit big runs and
Speaker 1: pass protection. Gonna die in that pocket with my quarterback
Speaker 1: with two a tongue voloa the way I did k
Speaker 1: one Kyler Murray. That's what Chase Edmonds told me on
Speaker 1: my interview with him on the Drive Time podcast. Most
Speaker 1: are great speed to the perimeter, passing game prowess as well,
Speaker 1: screen game can help and pass protection. Again, a guy
Speaker 1: in San Francisco, a guy from the Cardinals, a guy
Speaker 1: from the Rams, another guy that the Niners saw two
Speaker 1: times a year, and really a guy that played in
Speaker 1: the McVeigh system, a guy that has run behind fullbacks
Speaker 1: in New England. So versatile potential fits here in the system.
Speaker 1: It creates opportunities for you to be flexible with how
Speaker 1: you make your calls, with how you rotate your personnel.
Speaker 1: And if guys get banged up, they are now deep.
Speaker 1: Like we'll talk about this here in just one second,
Speaker 1: but the Rams picked up Michelle after the Acres injury
Speaker 1: back in training camp last year, and they still had
Speaker 1: Darryl Henderson, but they wanted to be deep there, and
Speaker 1: come late in the year when Acres was down and
Speaker 1: Darryl Henderson was down, they relied on Sony Michelle and
Speaker 1: all he did was pile up five forty rushing yards
Speaker 1: in six games. So depth is always a great thing
Speaker 1: to have, and the Dolphins got deeper at the running
Speaker 1: back spot today. But we start here with the five
Speaker 1: Things piece up on Miami Dolphins dot Com helping you
Speaker 1: get to know new Dolphins running back Sony Michelle. And
Speaker 1: the first thing is, well, another South Florida homecoming. We
Speaker 1: know by now South Florida is the absolute mecca of
Speaker 1: football in this country. Right, another one of South Florida's
Speaker 1: favorite football sons returns home with the signing of Sony Michelle.
Speaker 1: We had Sam Madison Patrick Sir tan back on the
Speaker 1: staff here with the defensive backs West welcome back here
Speaker 1: to coach the wide receivers, Teddy Bridgewater, a very prominent
Speaker 1: local high school star here and probably the best quarterbacks
Speaker 1: to come out of South Florida ever as far as
Speaker 1: high school goes. And now you get Sony Michelle, the
Speaker 1: son of Haitian immigrants who moved to the States right
Speaker 1: after Michelle's older sister was born, and he lands at
Speaker 1: Powerhouse American Heritage High School in Plantation. That's juice is
Speaker 1: stomping grounds over there, and a lot of X player
Speaker 1: stomping grounds there. He rushed for four thousand, seven hundred
Speaker 1: fifty eight yards sixty three touchdowns in his three varsity seasons.
Speaker 1: I saw a really cool stat graphic about this year's
Speaker 1: draft class and how many players were specialized athletes, as
Speaker 1: in only one sport athletes, and I think it was
Speaker 1: something like twelve of this year's draft class only played
Speaker 1: one sport and sixty percent of them played two or
Speaker 1: more sports. And there's obviously missed a number, there's a
Speaker 1: missing chunk of that number of that equation, but it
Speaker 1: was something to that effect. It's a big, big differentiator
Speaker 1: between single sport athletes and two sport athletes. And the
Speaker 1: reason I'm telling you that is because Michelle also won
Speaker 1: districts in high school in both the one hundred and
Speaker 1: two hundred meter dashes as a member of the American
Speaker 1: Heritage track team, and then all he did from that
Speaker 1: point was continued to have a dominant dominant stats, this
Speaker 1: time at a major college at the University of Georgia.
Speaker 1: Michelle capped a four year career with a birth in
Speaker 1: the College Football National Championship game. After that exhilarating My
Speaker 1: favorite all time college football playoff game was that Rose
Speaker 1: Bowl between Oklahoma and Georgia that year. And that was
Speaker 1: all after a career where he had four thousand, two
Speaker 1: hundred thirty four yards in the ground and thirty nine
Speaker 1: total touchdowns. And that dominance as an amateur led to
Speaker 1: him hearing his name called on the first night of
Speaker 1: the draft in eighteen, the same year that he would
Speaker 1: score the only touchdown and Super Bowl fifty three. My
Speaker 1: apologies for Twitter for not having any idea what Roman
Speaker 1: numerals look like. I'm so inclined just to put fifty
Speaker 1: three on things, but I went ahead and went with
Speaker 1: L I I. He had the only touchdown in that
Speaker 1: Super Bowl, the thirteen three victory of the Patriots over
Speaker 1: his next team, the Los Angeles Ran Ms, and that
Speaker 1: takes us into point number two. A two times Super
Speaker 1: Bowl champion. After nine d thirty one yards on the
Speaker 1: ground that rookie season, he goes into the playoffs and
Speaker 1: has a run of legend. We talked about the aforementioned
Speaker 1: touchdown he scored. That was merely an encore performance to
Speaker 1: his showings in the divisional and conference championship rounds, because
Speaker 1: in those two games he combined for two hundred forty
Speaker 1: two rushing yards and five touchdowns. Really helped that Patriots
Speaker 1: offense carry the water to the super Bowl that season.
Speaker 1: Sprinkle in ninety four yards and the t d and
Speaker 1: the Super Bowl. Give this man three hundred thirty six
Speaker 1: yards on the ground and six touchdowns in three playoff
Speaker 1: games in his rookie season, an average of a hundred
Speaker 1: and twelve yards on the ground and two visits to
Speaker 1: pay Durt every single game. He was also an integral
Speaker 1: part of the Rams championship run this past season. Talked
Speaker 1: about that stretch of the final six games. They're only
Speaker 1: lost in that stretch was the season finale to the
Speaker 1: forty niners, who had to win that game to get
Speaker 1: into the postseason, and the Rams only saw I think
Speaker 1: they won the division regard us didn't see any seating
Speaker 1: differential there because of that loss. But over those six
Speaker 1: games where they went five and one, five hundred forty
Speaker 1: yards on a hundred twenty nine rush attempts and again
Speaker 1: cam Akers down. Darrell Henderson played just two games and
Speaker 1: carried the ball seven times during that stretch, So depth
Speaker 1: is crucial at this position. How about the stats here
Speaker 1: on Sony Michelle, but also pairing that with what he
Speaker 1: does in terms of his running style, we covered the
Speaker 1: high school in college production and but no surprise, he
Speaker 1: has continued to chew up yards as a pro. Three thousand,
Speaker 1: six hundred fourteen career rushing yards in four seasons, and
Speaker 1: he didn't see a whole lot of times. That was
Speaker 1: basically you know, three plus seasons where he's up around
Speaker 1: thirty hundred rushing yards and twenty four touchdowns, good for
Speaker 1: a career average of four point two yards per carry.
Speaker 1: He's only fumbled the ball once in the last two
Speaker 1: seasons and that's three five touches. So a sturdy, dependable
Speaker 1: ball carrier. He's a stocky to fifteen. He carries that
Speaker 1: it sounds lighter than he looks like. He carries it well,
Speaker 1: and he runs behind his pads and stays square it
Speaker 1: to the line of scrimmage and that helps him push
Speaker 1: the pile. That has also helped him be a big
Speaker 1: time third and fourth and short conversion type of back,
Speaker 1: so on carries on third or fourth down and needing
Speaker 1: just three or few yards to move the sticks. He
Speaker 1: has converted on sixty six percent of his carries. He
Speaker 1: was eleven for seventeen in that stat last season, and
Speaker 1: Pro Football Focus has him with a hundred and twenty
Speaker 1: three career miss tackles forced on eight hundred and fifty
Speaker 1: four career attempts. That's good for a broken tackle every
Speaker 1: six point nine carries. Pretty good number. He averaged two
Speaker 1: point seven four yards after initial contact a season ago,
Speaker 1: which ranked thirty four among NFL backs with at least
Speaker 1: one hundred carries. His career averages right there to two
Speaker 1: point seven three yards, and you know, I think, actually,
Speaker 1: you know, let's get back to that here at the
Speaker 1: end of this this bit. He also has ten plus rather,
Speaker 1: he has nine point four percent of the time he
Speaker 1: touches the football, it goes for ten plus yards. I'm
Speaker 1: big on the ten plus yard run, nine six total
Speaker 1: of those on the eight hundred and fifty four carries.
Speaker 1: His versatility shows up in the PFFS splits to talk
Speaker 1: about zone running, man gap scheme running, and you know
Speaker 1: that's tough to differentiate if you don't know the exact call,
Speaker 1: and you can you can see the offensive lineflow and
Speaker 1: make it out that way. But there's probably some variation there,
Speaker 1: but it comes down to this, it's almost a fifty split.
Speaker 1: And far as the way PFF tracks that, he's also
Speaker 1: no slouch whatsoever in the past Pro game, allowing just
Speaker 1: twelve career quarterback pressures on two hundred and thirty three
Speaker 1: pass blocking attempts and just five QB hits. How about
Speaker 1: the Sean McVeigh stamp of approval. Here's a quote from
Speaker 1: McVeigh when they acquired Sony Michelle. He's physical, he's tough,
Speaker 1: he's got great contact balance and really good vision. He's
Speaker 1: just strong. When you're looking at Sony Michelle, he's sturdy,
Speaker 1: a tough back. So all those things are really reflective.
Speaker 1: He's really conscientious, really smart. People forget Sony came in
Speaker 1: here at the very end of training camp and immediately
Speaker 1: was playing in week number one, where he's when he's available,
Speaker 1: where he was available, i should say, against the Chicago Bears,
Speaker 1: and then he had a huge workload against the Colts
Speaker 1: at the end of the game in Week two. His
Speaker 1: football intelligence makeup and who he is is all about
Speaker 1: the right stuff. I love working with him, but I
Speaker 1: think ultimately the physicality to build his vision and his
Speaker 1: ability to be able to fall forward and kind of
Speaker 1: be able to naturally work edges but deliver those body
Speaker 1: blows is what makes him a good physical contact runner.
Speaker 1: And that's end quote. I mean, that is essentially my
Speaker 1: scattering report on him, which we'll get to here in
Speaker 1: just one second. But who better than to hear that
Speaker 1: from Sean McVeigh. I mean, it's transparency is awesome, but
Speaker 1: just the knowledge as well obviously really shines through there.
Speaker 1: So talk about the way he works. The fifth point
Speaker 1: here on the five Things piece up on Miami Dolphins
Speaker 1: dot Com is that he's a professional from the word go.
Speaker 1: So this was a kid that was highly regarded like
Speaker 1: he you know, coming into high school, people knew about him,
Speaker 1: wanted to get him on their football team. That's how
Speaker 1: he winds up in a powerhouse like American Heritage. And
Speaker 1: you know that praise that was heaped on him by
Speaker 1: his coaches and his peers, you know you're gonna be
Speaker 1: a future pro someday. That can sometimes get into a
Speaker 1: kid's head and maybe make them think that they don't
Speaker 1: have to do certain things, but not for Sony Michelle,
Speaker 1: that only amplified his work ethic and so a couple
Speaker 1: of quotes here from former Georgia and Patriots teammates. David
Speaker 1: Andrews was drafted with UH with Sony Michelle in teen,
Speaker 1: so too was Isaiah Win. He was actually the patriots
Speaker 1: other first round pick that year out of Georgia. Here's
Speaker 1: what David Andrews had to say. I think being a
Speaker 1: senior and watching freshman come in and work hard and
Speaker 1: things like that, those kind of attributes stick out a
Speaker 1: little bit more than on the field. I mean, obviously
Speaker 1: he was a great player, but I think that stuff
Speaker 1: just his work ethic. It's stuck out, kind of that
Speaker 1: head down mentality, getting to getting the work done and
Speaker 1: not getting overwhelmed or anything like that. That was David Andrews.
Speaker 1: Here's Isaiah Win as the best part that I like
Speaker 1: about him as his leadership and his vibe. And this
Speaker 1: was his roommate in college too. I've never seen a
Speaker 1: day where he didn't feel up to working, whatever it
Speaker 1: may have been. So it's just his vibe. You can
Speaker 1: easily catch his vibe and you'll get right on points,
Speaker 1: so works the right way, has the stats, has the
Speaker 1: kind of pedigree there. He's won a lot of big
Speaker 1: football games, played big and big football games. And the tape,
Speaker 1: going back to what McVeigh said, exceptional contact balance. When
Speaker 1: you see you know Edmonds and most are kind of slash,
Speaker 1: hit it and get through the line quickly and explode.
Speaker 1: Michelle is more of a build up speed runner, and
Speaker 1: he does a nice job of setting up tacklers to
Speaker 1: come diving in to meet them with a stiff arm,
Speaker 1: a side step or lower the shoulder, and he can
Speaker 1: bounce off all those things. I also and am so
Speaker 1: appreciative of his ability to recognize what type of move
Speaker 1: he has to execute. You'll see a couple of second
Speaker 1: level defenders crash and he's not gonna look to make
Speaker 1: horizontal moves. He just gets behind those pads and burrows
Speaker 1: forward like you know that. I think that shows up
Speaker 1: in the conversion numbers, and the tape showcases him pushing
Speaker 1: piles because he's not gonna Oh, there comes three guys,
Speaker 1: let me try to spin out of this move. Now,
Speaker 1: put your head down and get three or four more
Speaker 1: yards and don't get knocked backwards. We've seen a few
Speaker 1: times before here. I know it's InVogue to say running
Speaker 1: the football is, you know, a thing of passing all that,
Speaker 1: and look, you know, I love the numbers as much
Speaker 1: as the next guy, but I think the numbers and
Speaker 1: absence of tape is a dangerous, dangerous game and the
Speaker 1: best way to communicate for information in this business. So
Speaker 1: when you look at ards after contact average and you
Speaker 1: see that ranking, you have to contextualize at thirty four
Speaker 1: in that regard. And while the difference between you know,
Speaker 1: a second and seven and a second and five might
Speaker 1: be one of those things that's kind of laughed at
Speaker 1: in the analytics community. I've seen that talked about when
Speaker 1: Pete Carroll talks about it, and you can go about,
Speaker 1: you know, whether or not the game has passed you
Speaker 1: by at a certain age or a certain level of thinking.
Speaker 1: But the difference between second and seven and second and five,
Speaker 1: and what I find odd about that kind of mocking
Speaker 1: mentality is that those percentages between second and seven second
Speaker 1: five a very very analytical driven stat Your chances of
Speaker 1: converting increase substantially with second and five. Second and short
Speaker 1: compare medium compared to second long. And that's what Michelle does.
Speaker 1: He turned second long into second medium. He's a professional runner.
Speaker 1: I noticed that's when watching is a quandary white tape
Speaker 1: last week from South Carolina, how he can kind of
Speaker 1: press the intended gap until the very last moment and
Speaker 1: squeeze every single bit of juice out of the fruit
Speaker 1: and then get back to the backside. Same thing with Sony.
Speaker 1: Backside vision is there with the patients to help set
Speaker 1: up your blocks and create advantageous situations with regards to
Speaker 1: your lineman's leverage. I think this also really helps him
Speaker 1: in those short yardage situations we talked about. He's quick
Speaker 1: to find that gap, and he can get there without
Speaker 1: being squared up by a defender, which obviously allows the
Speaker 1: foot drive to work and keep him moving north and
Speaker 1: south like pull up his goal line runs. And there's
Speaker 1: two things one never any hesitation and two very minimal
Speaker 1: occurrences of him being squared up, which is the only
Speaker 1: way you can make stops as a defense in those situations,
Speaker 1: you have to beat your man. You have to square
Speaker 1: up the back and stop his momentum completely. And to
Speaker 1: make it a baseball reference here like I like to do,
Speaker 1: it's like pitching to poor contact the batter squares up
Speaker 1: on the barrel, those chances of getting a hit increased
Speaker 1: tenfold because the ball gets hit harder. But if he's
Speaker 1: getting it off the hands, getting jammed or off the
Speaker 1: end of the bat, getting fooled, or swinging over the
Speaker 1: top of the ball or under the ball where it
Speaker 1: just barely gets a piece of the bat, that's bad contact,
Speaker 1: that's low exit velocity, and you're probably going to make
Speaker 1: an out. Sony's pitched arsenal and short yardage allows him
Speaker 1: to keep the proverbial hitters off balance and just hope
Speaker 1: that their poor contact can bloop one into the outfield
Speaker 1: grass or possibly get a seeing I single. You're just
Speaker 1: not gonna square him up very often. And lastly, he's
Speaker 1: ran behind fullbacks a lot in his career, which I
Speaker 1: think is another sign of his patients. As we know,
Speaker 1: Miami also signed alec Ingold and John Lovett this offseason.
Speaker 1: All right, that's gonna be our first break here on
Speaker 1: this edition of the Drivetime Podcast. We're gonna come back
Speaker 1: with assistant coaches. Media can't wait for this next year
Speaker 1: Drivetime Podcast, your host Travis Wingfield, brought to you by
Speaker 1: Auto Nation. Back here on this edition of the Drivetime
Speaker 1: podcast had a chance to speak to the Dolphins assistant coaches.
Speaker 1: Almost got to all of them, but I had some
Speaker 1: longer conversations with some coaches, so I didn't quite get
Speaker 1: to everybody. But we did speak to seven different coaches.
Speaker 1: I believe it was three on offense, four on defense.
Speaker 1: We'll go ahead and start here on the offensive side
Speaker 1: of the football with coach Wes Welker, who began talking
Speaker 1: about fellow former Texas Tech wide receiver Eric Azukama, the
Speaker 1: private workout they went through together. Just listen to West
Speaker 1: talk about this and also consider the value of having
Speaker 1: a Wes Welker, a guy that boy, he sure won
Speaker 1: a lot in his playing days with the mental aspect
Speaker 1: of the game, the toughness, the good hands, the ability
Speaker 1: to separate in short areas, just a valuable resource. He's
Speaker 1: going to be in that receiver's room. And here he
Speaker 1: talks about the process of evaluating a receiver like Eric
Speaker 1: Azukama and what attracted them to his game and ultimately
Speaker 1: the draft pick in the fourth round. Here's Coach Welker. Yeah, no,
Speaker 1: I mean I've watched games when I could and and
Speaker 1: I know this past year he did. He definitely stick
Speaker 1: stood out. UM you know, and then watching his film
Speaker 1: and really kind of evaluating it this year. UM. You know,
Speaker 1: his size, his hands, hands are really really good. UM.
Speaker 1: You know, they didn't have a huge route tree there
Speaker 1: in Texas tech. UM, so I think it was key
Speaker 1: to for us to really get in there and get
Speaker 1: a workout with them, and UM, you know, the workout
Speaker 1: kind of showed everything that um, we thought was possible
Speaker 1: with him. UM. You know as far as a guy
Speaker 1: that size being able to break down and come out
Speaker 1: of breaks, UM that it's a unique skill set of
Speaker 1: being able to run as fast as you can and
Speaker 1: break down at that size and then have the hands
Speaker 1: and the body strength to um make contested catches or
Speaker 1: um really be able to get that separation um because
Speaker 1: he is that size and because he can um you
Speaker 1: know stop um, which is key for for receiver. So UM,
Speaker 1: you know there's a lot to like about him and
Speaker 1: and um you know the makeup of being a Red
Speaker 1: Raider and everything else. And UM you know we're fired
Speaker 1: up to have him and look forward to uh seeing
Speaker 1: his progression. Was that a workout? Love it that you
Speaker 1: went to? It was a dolphin scout as well, it's
Speaker 1: just me and you came away thinking this is someone
Speaker 1: we maybe should have interested. Not absolutely absolutely, you know, Um,
Speaker 1: there were just certain things in the evaluation of watching
Speaker 1: on film where he couldn't you know, you saw glimpses
Speaker 1: of it, but you didn't know, and so really being
Speaker 1: able to go see a firsthand was was I think
Speaker 1: key and that you know, evaluation process of like, Okay, no,
Speaker 1: this kid's way more talented than what we initially thought,
Speaker 1: and so I thought it was a good idea to
Speaker 1: follow up with West there on that particular comment about
Speaker 1: how does that work out Taylor specifically to the player,
Speaker 1: and just kind of the process behind evaluating the receivers
Speaker 1: and what they look for. Here's coach Wi Yeah, no, absolutely,
Speaker 1: you know he's talented. You know, he's has hands, um,
Speaker 1: you know, he can make the contested catch. You know,
Speaker 1: he has size, you know, he has yack ability. Um.
Speaker 1: You know, and then you sit there and think, Okay,
Speaker 1: well does he have the skill set to um, you know,
Speaker 1: stick his foot in the ground and break away from
Speaker 1: people Kenny, Um, you know, run as fast as he
Speaker 1: can to fifteen yards and shut it down, or twenty
Speaker 1: yards or whatever it is, Um, you know how elite
Speaker 1: can he do it? Because usually guys that size they
Speaker 1: have a tougher time being able to break down in
Speaker 1: different things like that. So UM, really getting him to
Speaker 1: open up and different things like that and kind of
Speaker 1: seeing that skill set and and uh some different things
Speaker 1: that we kind of teach at the line of scrimmage
Speaker 1: and seeing if he can pick that stuff up and
Speaker 1: and uh, different things like that. So it was, you know,
Speaker 1: I think it's very beneficial being able to you know,
Speaker 1: see that in person and one on one setting. UM.
Speaker 1: I think there's certain aspects that you want to see
Speaker 1: of all guys. UM. But but I try to tailor
Speaker 1: him to what we're really kind of looking for and
Speaker 1: what we're trying to see. And UM, you know when
Speaker 1: a deal where I was like I'm worried about his
Speaker 1: hands or anything like that, it was you know more UM,
Speaker 1: you know, do you feel a speed? Do you feel
Speaker 1: his power out of breaks? Do you feel is um
Speaker 1: you know coming off the ball and different things like
Speaker 1: that that UM, you know, you can kind of tailor
Speaker 1: different routes or different things for the specific thing that
Speaker 1: you want to see. It would not be wise to
Speaker 1: leave a question about Tyreek Hill and Jillan Waddle on
Speaker 1: the cutting room floor. So I asked Coach Welker about
Speaker 1: those guys performance so far versus your expectation of what
Speaker 1: you saw. Here's Coach Welker. No, it's it's been awesome.
Speaker 1: I mean, you know, those guys are full speed all
Speaker 1: the time, and um, that's the cool thing about it. Um.
Speaker 1: You know a lot of times you get guys that
Speaker 1: are four two guys that know therefore too and don't
Speaker 1: necessarily play for two. They play for two and they
Speaker 1: do it a lot. And every time they're out there
Speaker 1: on the field, they're going as hard as they can
Speaker 1: and and um, you know you definitely feel that out
Speaker 1: there on the field. And I think the quarterbacks feel
Speaker 1: it as well. And you know, it just makes their
Speaker 1: jobs easier to you know, get the ball, uh to them,
Speaker 1: how their breaks and different things like that, And how
Speaker 1: about the way players have communicated and ask questions and
Speaker 1: just the overall interaction in the receiver's room. Here's Coach Wok.
Speaker 1: It's been good. It's been good. You know, I think, um,
Speaker 1: you know, it's always uh, you're always building relationships. Um.
Speaker 1: And so I think early on we're all feeling each
Speaker 1: other out and seeing where we're at and all those
Speaker 1: different things. But um, but no, it's it's a fun
Speaker 1: group to work with. Um. You know. Obviously, the talent
Speaker 1: level that we have in the room and all those
Speaker 1: different things is is um you know, it's it's it's
Speaker 1: a cool thing because they're talented and UM, you know,
Speaker 1: it's I think it's on all of us collectively to
Speaker 1: you know, bring the best product out of that talent
Speaker 1: out there on the field. Finally, here with coach, I
Speaker 1: asked about a theme that I asked every single coach
Speaker 1: in this availability about what does a successful O T
Speaker 1: A S or a successful phase two of the offseason
Speaker 1: program look like for you in your room? Here's well, girl,
Speaker 1: on just that, Well, I I think having a real
Speaker 1: knowledge of the offense and um, you know, we're very
Speaker 1: detailed and a lot of things, um and pretty much
Speaker 1: everything so um, you know, it starts with formations and
Speaker 1: then it goes to knowing the routes and then it's
Speaker 1: the route detail of the routes, it's the coverage is
Speaker 1: it's so it's there's always something new that we're always
Speaker 1: learning and trying to progress too. But um, you know
Speaker 1: right now, it's it's about getting the offense down and
Speaker 1: then building on the details of the offense. Let's keep
Speaker 1: it moving. Here with tight Ends coach John Embry, who
Speaker 1: I asked the same question regarding what's a successful O
Speaker 1: t a office and program look like for you. Here
Speaker 1: he is talking about just that, getting guys understand techniques
Speaker 1: the house and wise of what we're gonna do offensively.
Speaker 1: And then uh, you know, I'll tell my guys their
Speaker 1: job is to know what to do. I'm gonna teach
Speaker 1: you how and why. So um, helping them learn the
Speaker 1: offense and understand some of the concepts of what we're
Speaker 1: trying to do, but more importantly how we do it
Speaker 1: and why we do it. How about second year tight
Speaker 1: End Hunter Long, how's it going for him so far?
Speaker 1: Here's Coach emb Hunter has done. He's done very well.
Speaker 1: I've been very placed with Hunter with what he's done
Speaker 1: so far. He's put some good stuff on tape. He's
Speaker 1: working hard in the drills. All the guys are, they're
Speaker 1: all doing very well. I've been pleased as with the
Speaker 1: with the unit as a whole. And then here about
Speaker 1: the depth of the tight end room working with Mike Ka, Siki, Sethan,
Speaker 1: Carter Durham, Smith, Hunter Long Adam Shaheen. How about the
Speaker 1: depth in that Dolphin's tight end room. Yeah, you know,
Speaker 1: it's something you know, I don't know if I've ever
Speaker 1: had a room this deep before. You know, Normally it's
Speaker 1: you have two distinct guys one and two, then you
Speaker 1: have a third and you have a practice squad guy.
Speaker 1: So you always you know, I've got your development. But
Speaker 1: having guys like you said that have played a lot
Speaker 1: of you know, meaningful snaps and then have played some
Speaker 1: football on this level, you know, makes it that much
Speaker 1: better to work with guys, you know, as far as
Speaker 1: helping him get better and helping them take the next
Speaker 1: step in their careers. And then finally my favorite for
Speaker 1: last year with coach Embrey talking about joining Mike McDaniel
Speaker 1: staff and his early impressions so far I'm working for
Speaker 1: coach McDaniel talking about empowering players and coaches. Maybe my
Speaker 1: favorite part of this entire podcast. Well, I'm loving it
Speaker 1: so still undefeat it's you know, he can't beat that. Uh,
Speaker 1: but no, it's been a lot of fun. Um, it's
Speaker 1: been good to see Mike uh continue to grow in
Speaker 1: his role and how he empowers coaches and players and
Speaker 1: seeing the players starting to embrace him and you know,
Speaker 1: the philosophies and some of the things that we're trying
Speaker 1: to do and trying to get them to to also
Speaker 1: you know, come along for for things. And uh, he's
Speaker 1: done a real good job. It's it's it's been fun
Speaker 1: so far from the tight end room to the running
Speaker 1: backs room. And coach Eric Studisville asked him about your
Speaker 1: newest signing, Sony Michelle. What do you like about his game?
Speaker 1: Here's Coachy. Yeah, I think it's a veteran player that
Speaker 1: that has had a lot of success, um who's one
Speaker 1: and been productive on great teams, and he brings up
Speaker 1: veteran experience to the room that I think is a
Speaker 1: valuable incident. Some new names in the room like Sony Michelle,
Speaker 1: but also Chase Edmonds and Raheem Moster. How would coach
Speaker 1: evaluate the room's ability to kind of interact and communicate
Speaker 1: and learn new things and help each other quite well,
Speaker 1: He says, their interaction is great. They're all professionals, they're
Speaker 1: all really good. They get along with each other, they
Speaker 1: encourage each other, they talk to each other and help
Speaker 1: each other and and what's going to happen is and
Speaker 1: it's the right thing in this situation is we're gonna
Speaker 1: put them out there and they're gonna go and compete
Speaker 1: and the best, the best ones are gonna play and
Speaker 1: they're gonna play more. And that's just how it is,
Speaker 1: and that's the right way I think for things to
Speaker 1: sort out. And we'll go ahead and finish up here
Speaker 1: with coach students fill on what makes a successful phase
Speaker 1: to a successful O t A a successful offseason program.
Speaker 1: Here's coaching phase two. I think the biggest thing we're
Speaker 1: trying to get here is the teaching and the installation
Speaker 1: of our offensive system in the language so we are
Speaker 1: speaking the same language. That's the biggest thing that we're
Speaker 1: getting here. Because there's nobody on the other side of
Speaker 1: the ball. We're not working against the defensive group, so
Speaker 1: it's really teaching the playbook, the schemes, getting from you're
Speaker 1: with those things. O t As brings up the next phase.
Speaker 1: Were now there's gonna be somebody across the ball, and
Speaker 1: then we take that next step forward. But we're still
Speaker 1: short of playing the game. I mean, we're still in
Speaker 1: a huge teaching and and you know, instructional phase right now,
Speaker 1: and then hopefully this lays the groundwork for us to
Speaker 1: come back where we don't have to do quite as
Speaker 1: much of that. We're fine tuning things, we're finding things
Speaker 1: when we put the pads on in July to go work.
Speaker 1: Let's go ahead and pause right there and take our
Speaker 1: last break here on this edition of the Drivetime Podcast.
Speaker 1: Will come back and hear from Stephen Gregory, Tyrone, Mackenzie,
Speaker 1: Austin Clark, and Anthony Campanelli. Next on the Drivetime Podcast,
Speaker 1: your host Travis Wingfield, brought to you by Auto Nation.
Speaker 1: Back here on Drive Time. You know, I always love
Speaker 1: chopping it up with linebackers coach Anthony Campanelli. We start
Speaker 1: here talking about new Dolphins linebacker Channing Tindall. Like I said,
Speaker 1: those are the guys that we cover it, you know,
Speaker 1: and and it's gotta fit um from a personality standpoint,
Speaker 1: you know, he's got to be that type of that
Speaker 1: we're looking for and that defense there. I mean, they
Speaker 1: did as good a job coaching those guys as anybody
Speaker 1: in the country last year. Uh, you know, even when
Speaker 1: you talked to those guys in Indianapolis, I thought they
Speaker 1: all really really understood their system, understood when everybody was gonna. UM.
Speaker 1: So definitely well coached, then coached, hard, been coached. Well,
Speaker 1: he's a good fit for us. And just his uh personality,
Speaker 1: you know, just his beliefs about football. And you know,
Speaker 1: he's a he's a guy's guy, he's a he's our
Speaker 1: kind of guy. Really like him as a kid, really
Speaker 1: honestly enjoyed getting to know him. And here's a follow
Speaker 1: up on Tindal's tape with coach Campanelli. Um, you know,
Speaker 1: the best thing you can do is trust what you
Speaker 1: see out there in the tape, the evaluation, you know,
Speaker 1: and then you're looking at how does that fit? How
Speaker 1: does that translate to what we do? Um? And he's
Speaker 1: certainly got a skill set that we believe, you know,
Speaker 1: will translate well and um hopefully in a myriad of ways.
Speaker 1: You know. But when you watch him play special teams,
Speaker 1: you get a good feel for how hard he plays, um,
Speaker 1: you know, and how seriously he took his roles there
Speaker 1: and did a great job there. UM. Defensively, like I've
Speaker 1: said before, he's been able to do some things in
Speaker 1: pass rush, in the run game, call bridge. You get
Speaker 1: a really good feel in their system. UH is multiple
Speaker 1: as well, so there's there's some advantage to being able
Speaker 1: to watch a guy from there. And I think, um,
Speaker 1: he played on a defense full of great players, so UM,
Speaker 1: you know when you watch it, he's got as many
Speaker 1: stand out UH plays on there is UH is anybody
Speaker 1: that we got to a chance to evaluate. So I'm
Speaker 1: excited for him because he's really a good kid, and
Speaker 1: I'm excited to work with him. UM, you know, like
Speaker 1: I said, looking forward to that. And how about the
Speaker 1: young guys stepping into a room with Jerome baker Land
Speaker 1: and Robert sam Aguavin, Duke Riley, guys that have been
Speaker 1: here and played so much football and valuable Coach says,
Speaker 1: I think that's invaluable, UM on a couple of levels
Speaker 1: for our team, is very valuable because UM to have continuity,
Speaker 1: you know, and especially have continuity with really really like
Speaker 1: high character guys. So uh, I feel like I haven't
Speaker 1: worked a day since I've been here, honestly, because they're
Speaker 1: all just you know, they're tough guys that UH kind
Speaker 1: of see football and see the world very similarly probably
Speaker 1: to myself, and I enjoy that. Um, they care about
Speaker 1: the right things. And I couldn't think of a better
Speaker 1: environment for a young player, you know, to grow up in,
Speaker 1: uh than to be around those guys. Those guys are
Speaker 1: are pros and they come to work you know, early,
Speaker 1: stay late, work hard. That's just the standard every day.
Speaker 1: So he's he's walking into a very obviously a room
Speaker 1: full of good players, but a room for great guys
Speaker 1: to learn from great stuff. They're always great to catch
Speaker 1: up with Coach Camp and it's also always great to
Speaker 1: catch up with Coach Clark to fund Dolphins defensive line coach,
Speaker 1: don't conflate those two words. Uh. Here he is talking
Speaker 1: about new Dolphins outside linebacker slash defensive ent edge player
Speaker 1: out of cal Cameron Good. And if you might recognize
Speaker 1: where coach Clark went to school, well, I'll tell you
Speaker 1: right here. We went to Cow So that's a good
Speaker 1: starting points. Uh. No, you know, I think he's a
Speaker 1: really versatile guy, athletic, um smart. Uh you know, he's
Speaker 1: got the mental makeup we're looking for, um long, you know,
Speaker 1: got some good rush to him, has a lot of
Speaker 1: traits that we covered in in our edge players and
Speaker 1: um you know, excited to see him work this weekend.
Speaker 1: Coach Clark also touched on the room as a whole
Speaker 1: in the way these guys work. You might recall last
Speaker 1: year on the podcast, how many times I got Coach
Speaker 1: Clark talking about how blessed and how much he cherishes
Speaker 1: this room that he works in because of how hard
Speaker 1: guys work and how much it means to them. Says
Speaker 1: that hasn't changed this year obviously at all. And then
Speaker 1: I asked him about Ogba coming back. Did you get
Speaker 1: a bit of a fist pump about that? Of course,
Speaker 1: he says, you'll hear that here and just second. But
Speaker 1: also why he was so happy for Emmanuel Ogba. It's
Speaker 1: pumped up, man. Yeah, absolutely, Man, I was really really
Speaker 1: excited for him because he works extremely hard, um, you know,
Speaker 1: and he's a technician, he loves being here. Um, he's
Speaker 1: a good fit in the system, in the scheme we play,
Speaker 1: um and and you know he's what you want, you know,
Speaker 1: in a in a defensive end. And uh, just a
Speaker 1: great guy too off the field. You know, it's fun
Speaker 1: to coach, good person, all those things. And you know,
Speaker 1: I was fired up to Mike and everybody thought enough
Speaker 1: of him to bring him back, and uh, you know,
Speaker 1: excited for where his career is gone. Let's go ahead
Speaker 1: and finish up with coach. You're talking about guys coming
Speaker 1: back over the break and things they've worked on, and
Speaker 1: how those conversations go between he and his players. Absolutely,
Speaker 1: and I would say in the off season, for me,
Speaker 1: I look at it, Okay, what what do we want
Speaker 1: to get accomplished in these phase periods? By the time
Speaker 1: O T A s come around, you know, now is
Speaker 1: the time for heavy technique and fundamentals and fixing little areas.
Speaker 1: You know, every every player is different, every player's got
Speaker 1: different needs for where we want them to go. Um.
Speaker 1: But also there's an element of okay, what do you
Speaker 1: think about this or how is you know, is this
Speaker 1: the specific technique effective for you? Or you know the
Speaker 1: time for them to kind of keep an open forum.
Speaker 1: And uh, I would say that part of it for
Speaker 1: me has been really beneficial. I think over the last
Speaker 1: couple of years we haven't had this period. So for me,
Speaker 1: having this phase period, we can really lock in on
Speaker 1: the details of the different positions and techniques. I think
Speaker 1: it's gonna pay dividend for us when Craig out bow
Speaker 1: Tis next week. From the front to the back of
Speaker 1: the safety's coach and coach Stephen Gregory. Here he is
Speaker 1: talking about what it makes a successful O t A
Speaker 1: from his standpoint and the point, or I should say,
Speaker 1: the purpose of this time of year about installing things
Speaker 1: and getting the fundamentals down because during the season maybe
Speaker 1: you don't have as much time to work on that stuff.
Speaker 1: Here's coach Gregory, who also talked about how tight knit
Speaker 1: this coaching group is right now. Yeah, I think right now,
Speaker 1: you know, we're really just trying to focus on the fundamentals,
Speaker 1: you know, UM, trying to you know, get the guys
Speaker 1: to understand concepts and um, you know, install install some
Speaker 1: things defensively and uh, work on that communication and things
Speaker 1: like that. Really just basic stuff things that you know,
Speaker 1: during the season you don't have an opportunity to hit
Speaker 1: because you're so much into game planning and focusing on
Speaker 1: the opponent and things like that. You know, this is
Speaker 1: a great time you had to literally slow things down
Speaker 1: and hit the details of certain techniques, uh, certain fundamentals,
Speaker 1: certain things that you know translate to what those guys
Speaker 1: are doing schematically on the field and individual situations. So
Speaker 1: you know, it's going great so far. Let's finish up
Speaker 1: here with coach Gregory on a couple of Josh Boyer questions,
Speaker 1: first about just how he's felt working under Josh Boyer,
Speaker 1: and then the follow up was talking about how playing
Speaker 1: under Josh Boyer as a player while Boyer was a
Speaker 1: coach helped prepare coach Gregory to then become a coach
Speaker 1: in his own right you part answer here, Yeah, it's
Speaker 1: been great. I mean he's extremely smart. You know, I've
Speaker 1: known Josh from back when I played in New England, so, um,
Speaker 1: you know, he's extremely smart. He has a vision for
Speaker 1: how he wants uh things to be approached teach, and
Speaker 1: every day he's detailed. Um, he's always prepared. Um. And
Speaker 1: you know he's got a great personality. So you know,
Speaker 1: the interaction the working environment has been really good. I
Speaker 1: mean it's been enjoyable. You enjoy stepping into work every
Speaker 1: single day and and trying to put everything you can
Speaker 1: into it to try to make things successful. And uh,
Speaker 1: you know he helps streamline that for us as a
Speaker 1: coaching staff and as a defensive How do you think
Speaker 1: the way he coached you as a player helped prepare
Speaker 1: you to be a coach of your own Yeah, just
Speaker 1: I mean, you know, obviously he was coaching corners then
Speaker 1: I was a safety you know, back then, but you know,
Speaker 1: just his vision for you know, how certain things should
Speaker 1: be played conceptually, um, technique wise. He's a very uh,
Speaker 1: very good coach as far as technique, uh standpoint, especially
Speaker 1: at the corner position or in man coverage and things
Speaker 1: like that. Um, and from back then. You know, you know,
Speaker 1: this is going back how many years now. You know,
Speaker 1: he would probably say he was a young coach back
Speaker 1: then too, so he's probably you know, grown and evolved
Speaker 1: over over the years. But um, you know it's been great.
Speaker 1: I mean a relationship is good from back in those
Speaker 1: years when he was coaching and giving me points back
Speaker 1: then as a player, and and now here we are
Speaker 1: working together trying to come up with things, uh, cohesively
Speaker 1: to to make our players better on the field. Finishing
Speaker 1: up here with coach Mackenzie Dolphins outside linebackers. Coach asked
Speaker 1: him about Cameron Good and what's it out on tape
Speaker 1: watching the rookie from cal Um attracted me? Is you know,
Speaker 1: getting a chance when he game me on a visit,
Speaker 1: He's eager, eager to learn, eager to get better at
Speaker 1: the same time, Uh, it's something that's jumped up on tape.
Speaker 1: Was you know, he plays with great effort um, he
Speaker 1: has good range, and he has ability to play maybe
Speaker 1: you know Sam or Jack for us. You know, we'll
Speaker 1: see what happens, give him a chance to get here,
Speaker 1: and then we'll kind of see how things transferred to
Speaker 1: the NFL's of life. But um, I'm excited to work
Speaker 1: with him from a rookie to a rookie last year
Speaker 1: in jail and Phillips. How has coach Mackenzie seeing Phillips
Speaker 1: progress from what he saw on tape last year to
Speaker 1: now here in year number two, It's been great. You
Speaker 1: know if we from day one when I got the job,
Speaker 1: you know we kind of you know, start from ground
Speaker 1: zero and started working up and started kind of just
Speaker 1: going from there. You know, he wanted to be, you know,
Speaker 1: be the player that he think that he thought he
Speaker 1: could be. And I know that, you know obviously the
Speaker 1: traits that he has my value as a player, and
Speaker 1: you know, he was eager to learn. He was eager
Speaker 1: to get in here and do whatever he can. And
Speaker 1: he had the right approach. He had the right approach
Speaker 1: to you know, Hey, Jalen is even the one step
Speaker 1: to the right, one wrong hand strength, whatever it is,
Speaker 1: thumbs up, like those little details, you know, we had
Speaker 1: to clean up and get him right and help him
Speaker 1: understand the defense. Help him understand the defense in the
Speaker 1: better aspect that just um allowed him to play fast,
Speaker 1: think less, play fast and um that's kind of been
Speaker 1: the focus is the off season and it's been great.
Speaker 1: And I'll say this that you know, the approach that
Speaker 1: he's had and then the preparation we talked about the
Speaker 1: approach you know in the classroom, you know, in the
Speaker 1: in the squad room with coach Mike, or in the
Speaker 1: defensive unit coach Josh, and in my meeting room with me.
Speaker 1: You know, he's had a great approach and then that's
Speaker 1: led to some great preparation, you know during phase two
Speaker 1: to get him on the grass, you know that mini camp,
Speaker 1: you know those times that we had a chance to
Speaker 1: do some indie It's been great. You know, he's just
Speaker 1: has gradually gotten better. I'm excited to see what you know,
Speaker 1: what it looks like during regular season, yeah somebody else. Ye.
Speaker 1: So so there you go a little bit lengthy edition
Speaker 1: here of the Drivetime Podcast and We're gonna come right
Speaker 1: back tomorrow night, maybe Friday morning, we'll see when it
Speaker 1: comes out. But we'll have the schedule release podcast for
Speaker 1: you guys, not just the schedule itself. I know you're
Speaker 1: gonna know all that by the time we talk to
Speaker 1: you on the podcast, but I'm gonna break the whole
Speaker 1: thing down. We'll give you interesting schedule quirks and details,
Speaker 1: the timing of the game's pertinent matchups and details. You
Speaker 1: won't want to miss that here on the Drivetime Podcast
Speaker 1: everything you need from the Dolphins regular season schedule. In
Speaker 1: the meantime, that is gonna be my time you all.
Speaker 1: Please be sure to subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcast.
Speaker 1: Leave us a rating, leave us a review. You can
Speaker 1: follow me on Twitter at Wingfield NFL, follow the team
Speaker 1: at Miami Dolphins across all social channels. Check out the
Speaker 1: fish Tank Podcast with step and o J and our
Speaker 1: Wednesday Twitter space, The Show of Course, the YouTube channel
Speaker 1: for Mediavailabilities, and Dolphins Today. Last, but not least, Miami
Speaker 1: Dolphins to come until next time finds up Caroline Daddy,
Speaker 1: He's coming home. M