Speaker 1: What is up, Dolphans And welcome to the Draft Time Podcast.
Speaker 1: I am your host, Travis Wingfield, and on today's show,
Speaker 1: I am pretty damn fired up, pretty fired up to
Speaker 1: be here where I am today in Indianapolis for the
Speaker 1: twenty twenty five NFL Scouting Combine, and it is a
Speaker 1: veritable who's who of heavy hitter, draft content creators, and
Speaker 1: NFL media landscape. I even saw Greg Rosenthal from the
Speaker 1: NFL Daily Podcast, who does his comedy podcast with Anthony
Speaker 1: jessel Nick, got a shout out a JARVP to him.
Speaker 1: That felt very good. But on today's show, we're gonna
Speaker 1: have head coach Mike McDaniel twenty ish minutes of coach
Speaker 1: with me.
Speaker 2: Can't miss that.
Speaker 1: We're also gonna have Daniel Jeremiah on the program, and
Speaker 1: we're gonna hear from Mike McDaniel's press conference where he
Speaker 1: answered a lot of big time questions for this Dolphins
Speaker 1: roster heading into the off season. We'll go ahead and
Speaker 1: play that give some thought to you on his answers
Speaker 1: from the Indiana Convention Center in Indianapolis, Indiana.
Speaker 3: This is.
Speaker 2: The Draft Time Podcast.
Speaker 1: Up first, my chat with Miami Dolphins head coach Mike
Speaker 1: McDaniel joining us today on a special episode of Dolphins
Speaker 1: HQ and the Draft Time Podcast. A man who needs
Speaker 1: no introduction the head coach of the Miami Dolphins, Mike McDaniel, coach.
Speaker 2: What's up, man?
Speaker 3: But didn't you just introduce me?
Speaker 1: You know, like I gotta say your name. At least
Speaker 1: people know who we're talking to you. Even though we're
Speaker 1: in a.
Speaker 2: Two shot, they can see.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I feel that.
Speaker 2: Got to bring you on.
Speaker 4: I'm doing all right, man, We're just starting. We had
Speaker 4: our first evening of formal interviews with with with some players.
Speaker 4: It'll be nine two of that. Just got a press
Speaker 4: or done. Ready to roll?
Speaker 1: Man, Do the players get like your jokes and your
Speaker 1: quick whips that you typically have for people?
Speaker 4: I don't necessarily intend sometimes that my favorite jokes are
Speaker 4: ones that a low percentage.
Speaker 2: It hits with Yeah, I know what you mean.
Speaker 3: So I'm more motivated.
Speaker 4: By hitting an intentional small sect.
Speaker 3: I kind of think it's funny when people don't get
Speaker 3: my humor.
Speaker 1: I'm the guy in the theater that laughs at the
Speaker 1: scene of the movie that no one else laughs at,
Speaker 1: laughs at like the big part, and I'm like not
Speaker 1: laughing like.
Speaker 4: Like when did you laugh when Bambi when Bambi's mom died.
Speaker 1: Not We're not going that direction. More so like the
Speaker 1: like the deep cut humor. Not not so much like
Speaker 1: the dark humor. Yeah, so I want to get into
Speaker 1: the story that are are a great beat writer. On
Speaker 1: our Beat, Marcel Luis Jock from ESPN wrote about your
Speaker 1: days at Yale and working with coach Henley and just
Speaker 1: reading the story, you know, you talked about some of
Speaker 1: the drills and stuff that you put Chandler through and
Speaker 1: some of the unique it measures you guys would go
Speaker 1: to to get him better at football, and I just
Speaker 1: can kind of replicate almost my own passion for football
Speaker 1: and sports and media, because like, I'm so obsessed with this,
Speaker 1: but it doesn't really translate to other walks of life
Speaker 1: that same way.
Speaker 2: I'm curious for you.
Speaker 1: Are you obsessed about things like that also or is
Speaker 1: it just a football thing that you're wired that way with.
Speaker 3: It's good, It's a really good question.
Speaker 4: I think I'm pretty passionate about, Like, uh, that's gonna selling.
Speaker 3: Learning.
Speaker 4: Sociology and the science of of people is something that
Speaker 4: I've always been into.
Speaker 3: I think, Uh, you know, i I'm into.
Speaker 4: Really all sports, but you know, particularly I would say
Speaker 4: I couldn't get around the like the the experiments that
Speaker 4: you had to do within the sociology major, but just
Speaker 4: the the natural or the the history of of the
Speaker 4: movement of people and and and and uh uh.
Speaker 3: I don't know by de facto psychology.
Speaker 4: That's a strong interest of mine that I do utilize
Speaker 4: within within my job, but it's uh, sometimes I'm checking
Speaker 4: it out outside of my job as well.
Speaker 5: Well.
Speaker 1: It seems like that like scheming plays as the perfect
Speaker 1: like make up for a football coach.
Speaker 4: To me, yeah, I get that a lot more often
Speaker 4: than not. People are like, you look like the perfect football.
Speaker 2: That real imposing figure.
Speaker 3: Right now, I've made you to coach football.
Speaker 1: People trust my tak a football because like one hundred
Speaker 1: and fifty pounds says, like, this guy was football. He's
Speaker 1: been on the field a few times, right, speaking of
Speaker 1: those drills, man, like the one handed catch story about him,
Speaker 1: like laying on the ground and you trying to pepper
Speaker 1: him with football, so get him to make one hand
Speaker 1: and catches. And then the story they write about marsl
Speaker 1: wrote about how he made a big one handed catch
Speaker 1: to win a game. Just take me through kind of
Speaker 1: the creation of finding new ways, like new inventive ways
Speaker 1: to make football players better at football.
Speaker 4: Well, I think it's kind of like pattern recognition, and
Speaker 4: you know, I always thought that there's like you know,
Speaker 4: I always thought there was a way to get players
Speaker 4: to see the game like the coach and if you
Speaker 4: work on how you communicate what you're looking at, you
Speaker 4: look at how you frame stuff. I think, to me,
Speaker 4: that's the biggest thing is you're trying to get players
Speaker 4: in any way, shape or form to be able to
Speaker 4: see the game the way you are.
Speaker 3: And that is an ever evolving process.
Speaker 4: That I have to add that that to me, you're
Speaker 4: always working on because you're you're trying to be the
Speaker 4: best for the players and for the organization, and to
Speaker 4: do that you have to improve otherwise you'll get passed
Speaker 4: it by those you might be in front of.
Speaker 1: And a big part of that obviously is the coaching
Speaker 1: staff and develop the delegation. Rather, I should say to
Speaker 1: those coaches and on your staff. We saw a coach
Speaker 1: BEV coach Weave Frank Smith all interview for jobs over
Speaker 1: the last you know, twelve eighteen month period. Eventually you're
Speaker 1: going to lose a good coach at some point as
Speaker 1: how this this business works. But I'm wondering about, you know,
Speaker 1: the long tenured staffers that you have in place. You
Speaker 1: talked about this in your press conference, the pipeline of
Speaker 1: developmental coaches. Just curious what that looks like from your perspective,
Speaker 1: to create a pipeline not for just player development, but
Speaker 1: getting your coaches that same type of developmental pop Well.
Speaker 3: I think it's the ultimate.
Speaker 4: Like one of the things that was so beneficial in
Speaker 4: my career was when I was given the opportunity to
Speaker 4: do a job, I was ready for it.
Speaker 3: And all that that encompasses.
Speaker 4: So being able to be in house and see the
Speaker 4: pros and cons from a removed perspective of how everything's
Speaker 4: handled gives you an added cheat code as well as
Speaker 4: I think uniformity from coaches within your whole staff in
Speaker 4: how they are articulating an objective or a responsibility or
Speaker 4: a technique that to me is the only way to
Speaker 4: ensure the clearest mode.
Speaker 3: Of coaching communication.
Speaker 4: So to me, I don't I think think the both.
Speaker 3: Both parties are served, players and coaches are served.
Speaker 4: When you have enough coaches to treat some of the
Speaker 4: guys in the uh some of the three, four, fifth, whatever,
Speaker 4: as though there're the one in two, all the while
Speaker 4: getting reps to actually for those guys to actually coach
Speaker 4: the one and two.
Speaker 2: That probably comes from your your perspective as grinding.
Speaker 4: From the absolutely in that and what what ends up
Speaker 4: happening is the strength of the nucleus of your your
Speaker 4: your youngest or your position assistant coaches that what happens
Speaker 4: is all right, so you move. So a guy gets
Speaker 4: an opportunity and leaves, and there's upward mobility. But then
Speaker 4: who's in charge of being the the the scribe of
Speaker 4: how what we are as an offense, Well, that comes
Speaker 4: to comes down on Frank. FRANKTT is the one that's gone.
Speaker 3: It's on me. Whereas in a.
Speaker 4: Situation like this, those guys are experts at what has
Speaker 4: happened during the course of the year because they've.
Speaker 1: Lived in and as your coaching staff develops and changes
Speaker 1: over the years, because again turnover in this league is
Speaker 1: very common. Bobby slowk rejoins up with you here to
Speaker 1: get back to work with you. What what does he
Speaker 1: bring to the coaching staff man?
Speaker 4: What a what a fortunate opportunity we had in this
Speaker 4: situation because realistically, Bobby Sloke is coming here to only
Speaker 4: add value, not taking any responsibility away from from the
Speaker 4: other coaches.
Speaker 3: But you want to talk his.
Speaker 4: His working relationship with Frank Smith and their ability to
Speaker 4: present to me their opinions on you know, when we
Speaker 4: get together and finalize the game plan. You know, Bobby
Speaker 4: Sloke's ability to to be in and out of the
Speaker 4: quarterback room and his you know, my first hand knowledge
Speaker 4: of his ability to work with people in a constructive
Speaker 4: manner that is very comfortable for all parties. I already
Speaker 4: know how well he'll continue to work with coach Bevell
Speaker 4: and TUIs play as well. So really really unexpected opportunity
Speaker 4: that I feel very fortunate because there's.
Speaker 3: Two guys that I.
Speaker 4: Directly trained to be a coordinator type role in the
Speaker 4: National Football League or michae Lefloor and Bobby Slogan. To
Speaker 4: have one of those guys is monumental when the game
Speaker 4: is about how many people are a collection of people
Speaker 4: seeing things the same way.
Speaker 1: Yeah, So that's kind of my fall up to that
Speaker 1: as it goes back to the idea of you know,
Speaker 1: the cooks in the kitchen concept and you know, for
Speaker 1: folks that don't know like the way a game plan
Speaker 1: builds out, like you do certain parts on Tuesday, Wednesday
Speaker 1: through like yeah, right, zone, throw down, all that stuff.
Speaker 1: So it's this big puzzle you're putting together every single week,
Speaker 1: and you've talked a lot about how your approach is
Speaker 1: to like overplay and then how do we adjust what
Speaker 1: they're overplaying to take advantage of that space, Like all
Speaker 1: those eyes, all those different thoughts in that room.
Speaker 2: I have to imagine that kind of helps you.
Speaker 1: Like if you get stuck on a situation, like maybe
Speaker 1: Bobby or Frank or Coach Bev, someone can be like, hey,
Speaker 1: I see it differently, So what if we don't go
Speaker 1: with this idea.
Speaker 6: That kind of how it works in that collaboration, absolutely,
Speaker 6: and the power is in those people having the ability
Speaker 6: to see it through my vision and so when they
Speaker 6: disagree inherent they are acknowledging.
Speaker 3: What might be my resistance.
Speaker 4: And so then you have powerful You come to powerful agreements,
Speaker 4: epiphanies and nuanced details when you can have differing opinions
Speaker 4: coming from the same lens. So we're not talking astrophysics
Speaker 4: versus biology, you know what I mean?
Speaker 1: Yeah, both over my completely By the way, that's the
Speaker 1: way over my pre pay grade. Here, Let's let's go
Speaker 1: with continuity first, and we'll go to the new coming
Speaker 1: coach and Craig Ackerman, but back to Coach Weaver here
Speaker 1: for a second. Continuity on the defensive side of the
Speaker 1: football is going to be new for you here the
Speaker 1: first time we'll have the same DC and back to
Speaker 1: back seasons. How excited you about the stability of that provider.
Speaker 4: I'm super excited because I felt a tangible shift last
Speaker 4: year during the season on when collectively the whole group
Speaker 4: got it, and I had felt that the year previous,
Speaker 4: and to be able to start in the off season
Speaker 4: program closer to you know what I think it's all about,
Speaker 4: which is, you know, focusing on technique and fundamentals. More
Speaker 4: so than anything, it just takes your whole pie of
Speaker 4: time allotment and significantly emphasizes and creates a much large
Speaker 4: larger piece of the pie that is technique and fundamental development,
Speaker 4: which is ultimately what you want to do.
Speaker 3: Be that continuity.
Speaker 4: I'm very excited because I think it's the perfect storm
Speaker 4: of really really liking schematically where we're at, and then
Speaker 4: guys being able to build upon something which which is
Speaker 4: a huge.
Speaker 3: That's what the off season is about.
Speaker 1: It sounds like it's more of like second nature, So
Speaker 1: you're not it's more reactive than thinking on the field.
Speaker 2: Is that kind of what that brings?
Speaker 3: Absolutely?
Speaker 4: Absolutely, and and realistically you're just trying to get guys
Speaker 4: to be in concert in multiple problem solving situations with tonality.
Speaker 3: Uh, you know, we want to.
Speaker 4: Be fast physical with elite technique. Want to be fast
Speaker 4: and physical and have elite technique. You generally have to
Speaker 4: think about your technique more than fast and physical, So
Speaker 4: you have to train that. The faster that you can
Speaker 4: be in the mode of thinking about your technique and
Speaker 4: not your what your responsibility is, the better off we are.
Speaker 4: And I see us being able to get to that
Speaker 4: spot in May as opposed to September or October.
Speaker 1: Gosh, my golf swing could do some continuity in itself, ma'am. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's so tough to replicate over and over again. But
Speaker 1: well for a different days, yeah different Yeah, Yes, let's
Speaker 1: let's go to special teams sh real quick. So coach
Speaker 1: Craig Ackerman's here, what what made you attracted to the
Speaker 1: idea of bringing him in?
Speaker 4: Well, first off, I had multiple people within my own
Speaker 4: staff guys who don't typically recommend people aggressively speak on
Speaker 4: his behalf then, you know, for me getting you know,
Speaker 4: seeing what he was able to do in Tennessee and
Speaker 4: then how that ended, and then the time he spent
Speaker 4: in LA and being so close with so many guys there.
Speaker 4: I already felt like I had an idea who the
Speaker 4: guy was before I met him, But the nuts and
Speaker 4: bolts of why he's our special teams coordinator was because
Speaker 4: of how our working relationship was was going, in my opinion,
Speaker 4: to excel it. I think his his interest in football,
Speaker 4: there's a lot of overlap and how I see it
Speaker 4: and the connectivity of really really you know, it's like.
Speaker 3: Writing a perfect essay in English.
Speaker 4: You get it back from your English teacher and you
Speaker 4: have these lots these words scratched out because they're unnecessary,
Speaker 4: right to the point that that's kind of how he
Speaker 4: sees instruction, constantly attacking. How are we telling these guys
Speaker 4: what we want them to do, what's the common commonality
Speaker 4: with how they're taking the coaching, and how do we
Speaker 4: best get players to work in concert and be their
Speaker 4: best self? So really really excited about that working relationship.
Speaker 4: I think We're gonna benefit from that because he's He's
Speaker 4: a guy.
Speaker 3: That will.
Speaker 4: Well, with absolute certainty, develop and maintained relationships with the
Speaker 4: players and then develop players, which is the whole point
Speaker 4: of coaches.
Speaker 1: Absolutely, So I tend to fixate on things here and
Speaker 1: there with my podcast especially, and one of the things
Speaker 1: I'm really into this year is the cyclical nature of
Speaker 1: the NFL and how we went through you know, the
Speaker 1: old prime running back of the Ricky Williams, Priest Holmes,
Speaker 1: you know, Clinton Portis types of days, to the five
Speaker 1: thousand yard passers being like four or five guys in league.
Speaker 1: Now it seems like we're kind of pivoting back more
Speaker 1: towards the running game, as the world champions just ran
Speaker 1: the ball six hundred and twenty one times this season
Speaker 1: and all the way to that championship. I'm curious where
Speaker 1: you view the league that lens of the cyclical nature
Speaker 1: and where it is today with you know, the running
Speaker 1: game being so prevalent or maybe making a comeback a
Speaker 1: little bit.
Speaker 3: Well, yeah, there's a confluence of issues. I think.
Speaker 4: Reactionary the past game, defensive coaches experiencing more pass game
Speaker 4: productivity than they're used to.
Speaker 3: Led to.
Speaker 4: You know, there's a lot of there's a confluence of
Speaker 4: higher execution from a pass game standpoint, as well as
Speaker 4: more multiplicity and how teams approach every play pre snap.
Speaker 3: People are motioning more and all that.
Speaker 4: So the league's uniformity and problems solving how people are
Speaker 4: seeing what works and take. We kind of got a
Speaker 4: more consistent approach from defenses really really this season. So
Speaker 4: that cyclical nature I think is an unnatural derivative of emphasis.
Speaker 3: What statistically, every.
Speaker 4: Stat that you can look up will will show not
Speaker 4: just the Miami Dolphins, but the whole league is facing
Speaker 4: more two high safety defenses.
Speaker 3: What does that mean?
Speaker 4: Well, simple math, there's four players outside of the core
Speaker 4: seven run players as opposed to single safety which there's eight,
Speaker 4: So you have more space.
Speaker 3: To run, bigger gains.
Speaker 4: When guys are and eventually, if offenses start scoring three
Speaker 4: or four touchdowns a game while running the ball, then
Speaker 4: you'll see another change. You know, But I too find
Speaker 4: interest in that that you know, this this trend I
Speaker 4: see it from I see it or I felt it
Speaker 4: starting in twenty eighteen kind of with the Chicago Bears success,
Speaker 4: and yeah, it's something that you should be interested in
Speaker 4: because it's league wide and it's real.
Speaker 1: How does that adjust the way you view two going
Speaker 1: into a new season and how you construct your off
Speaker 1: around your quarterback? Fieltimate point guard right, because we saw
Speaker 1: him your first first two years pitch the ball all
Speaker 1: over the lot. The air yard stat was you know
Speaker 1: up there, which people seem to love. And this year
Speaker 1: it came back down to more like quick game and
Speaker 1: more quick execution of finding those quick checkpoints.
Speaker 2: And you know the quick progression that you talked.
Speaker 1: About in your press conference is how do you put
Speaker 1: that whole pie together and see what the best you
Speaker 1: know approaches for Tua and how to construct it around
Speaker 1: him in twenty twenty five.
Speaker 4: Well, I think each and every one of those like
Speaker 4: philosophical decisions, you know, the broad ones are based upon
Speaker 4: all of the variables. And when you're talking about, you
Speaker 4: know the success that we had throwing long yardage football,
Speaker 4: teams were going to force us in this past season.
Speaker 4: I want to say the first nine games they played
Speaker 4: us very conservatively and it wasn't until we played the
Speaker 4: where our execution and taking advantage of what because what
Speaker 4: are they doing? They're just standing people further back pre snap,
Speaker 4: giving you pre snap yardage instead of throwing footballs at defenders.
Speaker 4: We choose to throw whether they or not, but you
Speaker 4: have to execute it at a way that they feel
Speaker 4: threatened so they stop giving you so much pre snap depth.
Speaker 4: So to me, the evaluating all the circumstances where our
Speaker 4: strengths and weaknesses are. You know, maybe you tack down
Speaker 4: the field more when your matchups are favorable from pass rush,
Speaker 4: so you can protect a little bit longer.
Speaker 3: All of those things.
Speaker 4: My biggest thing for him is the execution of short
Speaker 4: intermediate allows for long If you don't want those deep
Speaker 4: pre snap looks, make them pay for it, which is
Speaker 4: what our focus is all off season. That I just
Speaker 4: talked to him about. I think this past Saturday when
Speaker 4: we were at the DCC.
Speaker 2: Yeah, saw you guys rolling through there. That was a
Speaker 2: how was the event by the way?
Speaker 3: For it was awesome.
Speaker 4: I love that event that you're going to talk about.
Speaker 3: A cool comment.
Speaker 4: A cool way to handle trauma that is ever pervasive
Speaker 4: is to come together as a collective and the best
Speaker 4: manifestation possible.
Speaker 3: That's what I see that event as I.
Speaker 2: Love that very good stuff.
Speaker 3: Coach.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna have to do one quick personal thing right quick,
Speaker 1: because I wanted to show my kids a little bit
Speaker 1: of love on the trip right here.
Speaker 2: I told them I would hold these up for Caroline
Speaker 2: and camera.
Speaker 1: My two kids drew me these pictures to take with
Speaker 1: me to Indian Outoise missed me so very much. I
Speaker 1: wanted to close with that by them on YouTube. They
Speaker 1: are gonna be fired up to see me and you
Speaker 1: and they're drawing. So coach, appreciate your times.
Speaker 3: Well, it's awesome.
Speaker 4: And I will just FaceTime my daughter because you didn't
Speaker 4: give me a heads up on that and I should.
Speaker 3: Have brought her artwork. Dan it. Travis, you're a great dad.
Speaker 4: That's a cool shoutout and great job staying within the lines.
Speaker 2: Yeah, can you tell which one is a two year
Speaker 2: old and the four year old?
Speaker 1: Is that?
Speaker 2: They grow quick man. Coach, appreciate you.
Speaker 3: Man, Thank you awesome. It was great.
Speaker 1: Away he goes quick break in the action rate there
Speaker 1: come back on the other side with another heavy hitter,
Speaker 1: Daniel Jeremiah. That's next Draft Time podcast, your host Travis Wingfield,
Speaker 1: brought to you by Auto Nation. What's Up Dolphins, Welcome
Speaker 1: back into Dolphins HQ and the Draft Time Podcast, joined
Speaker 1: by None other than the great Daniel Jeremiah DJ.
Speaker 5: What's up man, Oh, it's great to be with you.
Speaker 7: I feel like this is a groundhog's day time and
Speaker 7: look forward to the conversation.
Speaker 1: I do have new questions for you there atually this
Speaker 1: time around, and I want to start with some general
Speaker 1: team building concepts here because in doing all my podcasts
Speaker 1: and my shows here of the last couple of months,
Speaker 1: you look at the Dolphins needs right now, and free
Speaker 1: agency's gonna you know, change a lot of that obviously,
Speaker 1: but Miami's pretty well set at like the premium spots.
Speaker 1: They've got their quarterback, they've got their wide outs, their tackles,
Speaker 1: they've got their edge rushers. They just they opened up
Speaker 1: a need at cornerback, but for the most part, their
Speaker 1: needs are largely at the secondary positions.
Speaker 5: Right.
Speaker 1: So, when you have that focus going into the offseason,
Speaker 1: what do you think should be the approach for how
Speaker 1: you attack that off season?
Speaker 7: Well, I think the nice thing is when you when
Speaker 7: you have the main things taken care of, is that
Speaker 7: you can you can shop towards the top of the
Speaker 7: market at some of these secondary positions where.
Speaker 5: Everybody else has got to use all their capital. The
Speaker 5: resources with draft picks, with free agency to go.
Speaker 7: Attack those foundational pieces and maybe like, okay, we'll skimp
Speaker 7: a little bit on the secondary pieces. I think if
Speaker 7: you're the Dolphins, this is a chance to go get
Speaker 7: some some premium players at some of these other spots.
Speaker 1: It kind of reminds me a little bit of the
Speaker 1: lines a couple of years ago, and they were, you know,
Speaker 1: much bemoaned about the Jamiir Gibbs and Sam Laporter, Jack Campbell,
Speaker 1: Brian Branch and all of a sudden, those are top
Speaker 1: five players with their positions, right, do you kind of.
Speaker 3: Get it right? Though?
Speaker 7: They had the foundation in place? And so once you
Speaker 7: do that, that's the argument, like I'll take us off
Speaker 7: in another direction. But that's the argument on the running
Speaker 7: back thing to me is people say, well, do you
Speaker 7: believe you take running backs high? You don't take running
Speaker 7: back high? Well, I believe when you have the main
Speaker 7: things taken care of, take them as high as you
Speaker 7: want because all their carries are gonna matter.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: I mean, Gibbs has certainly made them look smart on
Speaker 1: that decision. But is that kind of where this draft
Speaker 1: can be had a little bit because I look at
Speaker 1: the safety group is super deep. The tight ends are
Speaker 1: incredibly deep. The Dolphins can kind of make some hay
Speaker 1: and some positions they have needs at.
Speaker 5: Yeah, I think I think you're right on.
Speaker 7: I think when you look at tight ends, I would
Speaker 7: throw running backs in there. Safeties is another one. Interior
Speaker 7: offensive lineman. Yeah, I think there's there's good players there.
Speaker 7: And again some some teams have so many other major
Speaker 7: holes to fill that you know, I can't I can't
Speaker 7: remember a year where I have a running back and
Speaker 7: two tight ends my top seven players in the draft, right,
Speaker 7: and I don't think they're all going to go in
Speaker 7: the top seven picks. So you're gonna get that type
Speaker 7: of value in this draft later on in the draft.
Speaker 1: And then Loveland a couple spots behind that too, right, Yeah, No, I've.
Speaker 7: Got I think I have five for Warren and Loveland
Speaker 7: sevens and seven. I've got gent three, So three five
Speaker 7: and seven running back and two tight ends.
Speaker 5: Kind of a weird year.
Speaker 2: Do you think they'll go that high or I don't think.
Speaker 5: They will, But that means that constitute's value later on.
Speaker 2: Sure, it makes perfect sense.
Speaker 1: And with that in mind, the Dolphins again groundhogs that
Speaker 1: we've had this interview several times. We do this quest
Speaker 1: type of question every single year. You know, in the
Speaker 1: past it was Get two with his weapons, well Waddle
Speaker 1: and Tyriker there and now Johnny Smith. So with that
Speaker 1: in mind, with how the Dolphins have shown you they
Speaker 1: can throw the ball all over the lot and gain
Speaker 1: the yards and win games that way when Too was healthy,
Speaker 1: do you think there needs to be an emphasis on
Speaker 1: maybe a kind of philosophical pivot in terms of being
Speaker 1: more in tune to the meat of the offensive line
Speaker 1: and the defensive line and kind of building the trenches
Speaker 1: out that way for them. Yeah.
Speaker 7: I think there's going to be an Eagles effect this year,
Speaker 7: and teams are going to look at it. I was,
Speaker 7: you know, talking with somebody in their organization and they
Speaker 7: were comparing, you know, their defensive front to another team,
Speaker 7: and another team they're having this conversation. Another team said,
Speaker 7: you know, I think I think our front four compares
Speaker 7: favorably with your front four, and they said, that's great,
Speaker 7: and we have four more behind those guys.
Speaker 5: So yeah, that's like that.
Speaker 7: There's value in talent and depth in the trenches on
Speaker 7: both sides. So yeah, I think if you're looking to
Speaker 7: take that next step, and you're the Dolphins and you
Speaker 7: want to make a little bit deeper push. I do
Speaker 7: think there's a need, especially on the offensive side of
Speaker 7: the ball, get some more dominant players on the interior.
Speaker 1: You think that's here to stay. The cyclical nature of
Speaker 1: you know, used to be used to be Rick K. Williams,
Speaker 1: Priest Holmes, you know, ride, you're running back, and then
Speaker 1: we transition to the more five thousand yard passers. But
Speaker 1: now with the Eagles six hundred and twenty one rush
Speaker 1: attempts last year, you think the running game is kind
Speaker 1: of making a return with all these two high looks
Speaker 1: teams are getting.
Speaker 7: Yeah, I think, look, you're trying to find ways to
Speaker 7: move the football against that shell coverage look, but you're
Speaker 7: also trying to find ways to get explosives. And the
Speaker 7: Eagles have found out, you know, one way you can
Speaker 7: get explosives is by the looks that you present in
Speaker 7: terms of you know, you want to go heavy personnel.
Speaker 7: Now you're going to get them out of that shell,
Speaker 7: and then you're going to be able to not only
Speaker 7: pop some runs which they've been able to do, but
Speaker 7: you also get some more favorable looks in the pass game.
Speaker 5: But you have to have the threat that, like we
Speaker 5: are going to run the football.
Speaker 2: Does Devon Hm interest you in that interest and that?
Speaker 7: Yeah, no, LEAs no question. So you've got a home
Speaker 7: run hitter. And then it's just the opportunity. Now can
Speaker 7: we move people at the line of scream? It's just
Speaker 7: great the runway.
Speaker 1: Yeah, just the smallest crease and he can certainly make
Speaker 1: you pay for that. So I want to talk about
Speaker 1: the Dolphins defense a little bit. Here are gonna be
Speaker 1: a lot of change on that side of the football.
Speaker 1: Javon holl and Jordan Poyer both are free agents. They
Speaker 1: lost Christian Wilkins last Yearkalais Campbell will see what his
Speaker 1: return looks like. Jordan Brooks a big hit at linebacker
Speaker 1: form last year. I'm curious you had some time in Baltimore.
Speaker 1: I know that's kind of one of your bread and
Speaker 1: butters organizations there. Our defensive coordinator comes from Baltimore and
Speaker 1: kind of implemented his own version of that Ravens defense.
Speaker 1: Who do you think are some of the best fits
Speaker 1: for what Anthony Weaver runs on defense in this year's draft?
Speaker 7: Well, I look at a guy like John Campbell as
Speaker 7: somebody who'd just be a fun chess piece there, and
Speaker 7: someone who off the ball provides that that speed and
Speaker 7: range and versatility. This new little trend that I've you know,
Speaker 7: kind of picked up on over the last year is
Speaker 7: finding guys that can win his pass streusshers from different
Speaker 7: entry points. And he's one that you can blitz him
Speaker 7: from off the ball. You can let him rush off
Speaker 7: the edge if you'd like. He can compliment the guys
Speaker 7: you already have there in that capacity. But more than
Speaker 7: anything else, I just think I think of that the
Speaker 7: Baltimore defense in the Baltimore style. To me, it's more
Speaker 7: so than where we align the chess pieces. It's just
Speaker 7: fast and physical like that combination. And that's one for
Speaker 7: you right there.
Speaker 1: But there's a few guys in that mold as well,
Speaker 1: like a Shamar Stewart, right, I think Kenneth Grant. When
Speaker 1: you look at the defensive line up front, and you know,
Speaker 1: I know, you know, Mason Graham's gonna go super high.
Speaker 2: Kenneth Grant's probably gonna go high.
Speaker 1: Walter Nolan, how do you kind of how do you
Speaker 1: stack the defensive tackles early in this year's draft.
Speaker 7: I think they're different flavors you know, to me, like
Speaker 7: Mason Graham up there.
Speaker 5: At the top of that position group is just rock solid.
Speaker 7: And you have to take this back to him because
Speaker 7: I'm curious to see someone who's been around Kelly Greg previously.
Speaker 7: He to me is like the newer, like souped up
Speaker 7: Kelly Greg. Like people don't remember Kelly Greg. How good
Speaker 7: of a player he was wrestling background, never on the ground,
Speaker 7: leverage and balance like, that's Mason Graham to me. Then
Speaker 7: to me it's Kenneth Grant, just because the upside of
Speaker 7: what he can be it's not there yet, but you
Speaker 7: can see it.
Speaker 5: And that again it goes back to me.
Speaker 7: With the Lodi Nada seeing somebody that you know, at
Speaker 7: that size it's not supposed to move like that, so
Speaker 7: he'd be two for me. And then now you kind
Speaker 7: of get into, Okay, what do you want an upfield guy?
Speaker 7: Walter Nolan's gonna give you that with his twitch and
Speaker 7: ability to get up the field. You want somebody with
Speaker 7: inside outside flexibility. You know Stuart can do that can
Speaker 7: move him him around. Mikel Williams as someone who watched
Speaker 7: him rush from a three technique is pretty awesome as well.
Speaker 7: So you know, having that versatility. It's just they're all
Speaker 7: different flavors.
Speaker 1: We actually took our top guy and that rotation from
Speaker 1: Baltimore a few years back, off Waivers and Zach Stealler. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and he's turned into, for my money, I mean underrated players.
Speaker 5: I don't know why he does not get more to love.
Speaker 1: I think he's one. I mean, twenty sacks the last
Speaker 1: two years. Easy that I happened to be a little
Speaker 1: bit into that. But with him in mind, and how
Speaker 1: you kind of build it around him because he's one
Speaker 1: of those you know, ninety percent he's just such a
Speaker 1: freak ninety percent snaps every single Sunday for us. And
Speaker 1: he only missed his first two career games because he
Speaker 1: got poked in the eye and practice and broken orbital bone.
Speaker 1: Other than that, he plays every single game. How do
Speaker 1: you kind of build out the rotation around it like that?
Speaker 1: Because in Baltimore we've seen that, right, It's all about,
Speaker 1: to your point, different alignments. We need to be able
Speaker 1: to shift and run games from different positions. How do
Speaker 1: you kind of build out that group around a Zach
Speaker 1: Sealler as the mainstay of there?
Speaker 7: Well, I think you get guys, you know when you
Speaker 7: have a stud and you have somebody that's going to
Speaker 7: command attention. Now, I just want somebody who can win
Speaker 7: one on ones because you're going to get him. You're
Speaker 7: going to have one on one opportunities elsewhere. So whether
Speaker 7: that's your you know, whatever mode you used to get
Speaker 7: that win, whether you're a power guy, whether you're someone
Speaker 7: who can you know, get up the field or is
Speaker 7: athletic enough to cross people's face and win that way,
Speaker 7: I think you're finding guys that can just win.
Speaker 5: Just find guys you can win one on one.
Speaker 1: What'd you make of Chop Robinson's rookie year and how
Speaker 1: he can possibly kind of expanded his second year.
Speaker 5: It's all in there. It's all in there.
Speaker 7: He's got all the ability and you saw a lot
Speaker 7: of a lot of heat, a lot of pressure.
Speaker 5: I think you're just going to see him continue to grow.
Speaker 5: He was.
Speaker 7: He was so interesting coming out because the explosiveness, the
Speaker 7: raw tools were so like eye popping, and there's a
Speaker 7: want to sometimes when guys aren't as polished as rushers,
Speaker 7: but then you can see, yeah, but there's just like
Speaker 7: the best way to describe, like just a strain to
Speaker 7: finish on those plays. He's going to figure it out,
Speaker 7: and so I would buy a lot of that stock.
Speaker 1: Yeah, when he got hot last year, it was like
Speaker 1: it was like when a hit ors, He's a beach
Speaker 1: ball in in the maass box, like he just didn't miss.
Speaker 2: He was constantly putting pressure on guys.
Speaker 1: Let's move back into the defensive backfield because again, mention
Speaker 1: the safeties that we have coming up for contracts this year.
Speaker 1: They just released Kendall Fuller, So Jayalen Ramsey's still in
Speaker 1: to okay or coohu back here. What about some defensive
Speaker 1: backs do you I think could fit this Dolphins defense
Speaker 1: within the first couple of rounds of this year's draft.
Speaker 7: Well, I mean, look, Xavier Wats is an interesting one,
Speaker 7: someone who just take the football away. He's fun to
Speaker 7: watch there at Notre Dame. You know, Malachi Starks is
Speaker 7: up there at the high point. I like, there's Woodson
Speaker 7: from cow is one of my favorites who you know,
Speaker 7: I go back to the we had a Scout School
Speaker 7: presentation when I was with the Ravens with Lionel Vital
Speaker 7: who had been with Bill Belichick for a long time,
Speaker 7: and I always remember when he talked about safeties at
Speaker 7: Belichick just said, you can't win in the NFL consistently
Speaker 7: with the dumb safety. So you and everything I've heard
Speaker 7: about this kid at Cow is how incredibly smart he is.
Speaker 7: He's a leader, he's a communicator, a traffic cop, so
Speaker 7: to speak. So and he's gonna be six three, two
Speaker 7: hundred and ten plus pounds. He's probably gonna run for four.
Speaker 7: So you know he's got that going for him as well.
Speaker 1: A lot of those guys this year, it seems like
Speaker 1: they are going to just sprung out of the gym
Speaker 1: of the South Carolina kid.
Speaker 2: I can't Pronomer how even worried he can appreciate that.
Speaker 1: Yeah, he's one of my favorites. Okay, let's wrap it
Speaker 1: up here. Dolphins have picked thirteen forty eight. Where do
Speaker 1: you think of some of the options in those two
Speaker 1: spots in terms of just who your favorites are for
Speaker 1: who could go off of.
Speaker 7: The well thirteen, I think interior offensive line, You're gonna
Speaker 7: have some really good options there. I love Booker to me,
Speaker 7: he's plug and play and I think he sets that
Speaker 7: real firm pocket for Tua.
Speaker 5: Membo can play tackle, can play guard.
Speaker 7: I think both those guys either one of those I
Speaker 7: think would be home run picks there to solve a
Speaker 7: need and also get value with like really really good
Speaker 7: football players at that point in time. Now we get
Speaker 7: into the second round, you can get into that safety discussion.
Speaker 5: Watts is you know around that area.
Speaker 7: If you want to go get a talented defensive lineman
Speaker 7: that can rush and get up the field. Gosh, there's
Speaker 7: gonna be a whole host of guys. It's it's hard
Speaker 7: because they're so similarly graded. There's gonna be guys that
Speaker 7: go in the bottom of first and there's gonna be
Speaker 7: guys that go forty five to fifty five. There's no
Speaker 7: difference between him. E'sarakum from Boston College. If you told
Speaker 7: me he was a thirtieth pick or the forty eighth pick,
Speaker 7: I would believe you. But that would give you another
Speaker 7: option there for some fun edge rush. Yeah.
Speaker 1: And I want to close this because I saw this
Speaker 1: debate on social media and people are saying bad clash
Speaker 1: and there's a response of like, there's no such thing
Speaker 1: as a bad class, right. Where do you come down
Speaker 1: on that in terms of like, I know it's at
Speaker 1: the maybe the high end talent, isn't there in this
Speaker 1: year's class. But you can always find players every year, right.
Speaker 7: Well, I just think to me, I always look at
Speaker 7: a successful draft is can you get three You get
Speaker 7: three starters in a draft that's a really good draft.
Speaker 7: You get four starters like you're you're really cooking. So
Speaker 7: this is a starter draft. It might not be a
Speaker 7: star draft, but there's starters littered all throughout. So I
Speaker 7: think that's how you have to approach it. Is we're
Speaker 7: gonna get guys, We're gonna put in a position. We're
Speaker 7: not gonna have to worry about that position for the
Speaker 7: next five to seven.
Speaker 1: Years, which I feel like again matches that first question
Speaker 1: about the premium spots versus the kind of meat and
Speaker 1: potatoes the Dolphins have to rend out there.
Speaker 5: One hundred percent. You can fill those cracks.
Speaker 1: Daniel Jeremia NFL network. You can find them on NFL
Speaker 1: Combine coverage all weekend long.
Speaker 5: You and Rich right, you can be together.
Speaker 2: It's good.
Speaker 7: Amazingly, we don't ever get on each other's nerves together
Speaker 7: for that long that's a long days, but we have fun.
Speaker 1: And I also saw that you were tuned out on
Speaker 1: Padres baseball, but you saw a manny Machado golf shot,
Speaker 1: and I got you back in golf shot, I got.
Speaker 5: You into baseball.
Speaker 7: Yeah, he just he flushed it and then I know
Speaker 7: he had tennis elbow last year.
Speaker 5: He's healthy. Telling you every sleeping on us.
Speaker 7: You know, the Dodgers and their five bazillion dollars payroll,
Speaker 7: We're not going anywhere.
Speaker 5: We're gonna be competitive.
Speaker 1: Well, hey, my Salo Mariners. I think we signed one
Speaker 1: play at the off season Donovan Salono.
Speaker 5: Hey, Padre, Yeah, I know.
Speaker 1: That's why I had to get you on here and
Speaker 1: talk to you about what's he bringing us third base.
Speaker 7: Why he's gonna get a chance to watch your pitchers
Speaker 7: lose two to one on a nightly basis.
Speaker 5: That's what he's gonna get.
Speaker 3: You kill me.
Speaker 2: You're the best man. I appreciate your time. Was always
Speaker 2: like you, and away he goes.
Speaker 1: We're gonna come back on the other side and finish
Speaker 1: up this podcast. We're not gonna play the press conference
Speaker 1: audio because you heard enough of coach already on the show,
Speaker 1: but I'll give you the most important deadbits from that
Speaker 1: press conference. That's next Draft Time podcast. Your host Travis Wingfield,
Speaker 1: brought to you by Auto Nation.
Speaker 2: Let's do a.
Speaker 1: Rapid fire segment here real quick on Coach McDaniel's press conference,
Speaker 1: which happened on Tuesday morning, and you guys probably saw
Speaker 1: the tweets by now all the action going on out
Speaker 1: there around coach and the Miami Dolphins. It's entire scouting
Speaker 1: combine as teams address the biggest questions about their offseason.
Speaker 1: And speaking of that, the biggest one was the first
Speaker 1: question of the day, and it kind of circled back
Speaker 1: to the biggest concern that I know all of you
Speaker 1: out there have and quite frankly myself a little bit too,
Speaker 1: but the offensive line and the history or rather the
Speaker 1: future I should say, of Tron Armstead, and it kind
Speaker 1: of sounds like the Dolphins have made a decision that
Speaker 1: they're going to go ahead and proceed as if he
Speaker 1: will not be on the team, or rather that he
Speaker 1: might be in retirement.
Speaker 2: Because of the.
Speaker 1: Critical nature of having that information for them off the
Speaker 1: top is paramount to how they approach the off season.
Speaker 2: And with Patrick Paul and Austin Jackson into those.
Speaker 1: Guys, you feel pretty good about their ability to slide
Speaker 1: into those starting spots and give you your top two
Speaker 1: tackles and then, of course the need for a swing
Speaker 1: tackle will be paramount this offseason, but also the biggest
Speaker 1: part of the entire deal, which it sounds like tarn
Speaker 1: There's report out that I said that he will be
Speaker 1: willing to reduce his figure for the season to make
Speaker 1: the contract easier to move off of, or if the
Speaker 1: Dolphins keep around to pay him that way too, So
Speaker 1: plenty of stuff to cover on that. Also, the biggest
Speaker 1: question of the entire thing was a question regarding the
Speaker 1: investment in the offensive line, and McDaniel mentioned that he
Speaker 1: believes they will invest both in the draft and in
Speaker 1: free agency. But the part that I thought was very
Speaker 1: interesting was he said, quote, I think we have a
Speaker 1: tangible opportunity to improve that and that starts in free
Speaker 1: agency with a couple of guys that we have targeted
Speaker 1: that you think you can get a deal done with them,
Speaker 1: and that continues into the draft. So it sounds like
Speaker 1: they are very much in tune to this free agency class.
Speaker 1: And you guys know, I've been a big fan of
Speaker 1: this guard class. I think there's a lot of value
Speaker 1: and not a lot of overspending that has to happen
Speaker 1: to make this team better in that position. And it
Speaker 1: sounds like the team is in lockstep with that thinking
Speaker 1: as well. More thoughts here that kind of got the
Speaker 1: sense that the question about the running back room was
Speaker 1: more about Devon a Chan and Jalen Wright, which I
Speaker 1: believe it should be. As you guys know, it sounds
Speaker 1: like it'll be the one two punch there and then
Speaker 1: trying to round out the room with the rest of
Speaker 1: this class, draft and free agency, which kind of to
Speaker 1: me said no thanks on Ashton gent at thirteen, but
Speaker 1: we'll see, we'll see if we get to that point. Also,
Speaker 1: Tyreek Hill did in fact have risk surgery. He will
Speaker 1: be running and working out this offseason, but will not
Speaker 1: catch footballs until about the summertime, so don't expect to
Speaker 1: see a lot of him in the OTA process. But
Speaker 1: also to me, sounds like a guy that will be
Speaker 1: back on the roster in twenty twenty five. So plenty
Speaker 1: of good stuff. So you can check out the entire
Speaker 1: press conference on the Dolphins YouTube channel. He touched on
Speaker 1: Anthony Weaver's return on the coaching staff pipeline. There are
Speaker 1: some national questions that don't really you know, pertain to us,
Speaker 1: but good stuff. They're all across the board from coach
Speaker 1: and also by the way he gave us the famed
Speaker 1: he's earned the right to test the free agent market, which,
Speaker 1: if you recall, that was the same language used around
Speaker 1: Christian Wilkins and Mikeasicki. So he gone probably seems that way.
Speaker 1: All right, let's go ahead and call it a podcast
Speaker 1: right there. Tomorrow we're gonna come back. We have Jordan Reed,
Speaker 1: we have Brett Coleman, we have Marcel Louis Jock, we
Speaker 1: have Dolphins scouts. We have all kinds of heavy hitters
Speaker 1: this week from the floor at the Scouting Combine here
Speaker 1: at the Indiana Convention Center.
Speaker 2: Until then, you all.
Speaker 1: Please be sure to subscribe to the podcast, leave us
Speaker 1: a rating, leave us a review. You can follow me
Speaker 1: on social at winkel NFL and the team at Miami Dolphins.
Speaker 1: Check out the fish Tank Podcast with my guys Seth
Speaker 1: and Juice the YouTube channel for a brand new episode
Speaker 1: of Dolphins HQ. We have some fun little vignettes, if
Speaker 1: you will, of me going around town being an absolute idiot.
Speaker 1: That's some of my favorite stops around in Indianapolis. You
Speaker 1: can find on that show. In addition to the interviews
Speaker 1: and content here from the Combine and last but not least,
Speaker 1: my written Combine notebook up on Miami Dolphins dot com.
Speaker 1: Until next time, Ben's up. Caroline Cameron, Daddy, please come
Speaker 1: and hold