Speaker 1: What is up Dolphins and welcome to the Draft Time Podcast.
Speaker 1: I am your host, Travis Wingfield, and on today's show,
Speaker 1: so pretty big news came down across the wire today
Speaker 1: as the Dolphins will play the first ever NFL game
Speaker 1: in Madrid at the San Diego Bernabeo, a stadium that
Speaker 1: I have played many many FIFA games in but never
Speaker 1: been too personally. We're gonna welcome in Alex Mattrel from
Speaker 1: Dolphins Espanya Dolphins Club Aspanna, I should say, to talk
Speaker 1: about that game when football overseas in the country of
Speaker 1: Spain plus Divisional Weekend on Tap will pick the games
Speaker 1: there and we'll also introduce a new segment called you
Speaker 1: produced the show where I talk about things that you
Speaker 1: talked about on social media and I agree or disagree
Speaker 1: from the Baptist Health Studios inside the Baptist Health Training Complex.
Speaker 2: This is the Drift Time Podcast.
Speaker 1: Before I get into anything here quick, I just want
Speaker 1: to get this off the top because we're gonna slowly
Speaker 1: get to all the position groups in the offseason review,
Speaker 1: in the draft preview and free agency and all that stuff.
Speaker 1: But cornerbacks are a long way away. And I did
Speaker 1: a segment on the show was that Monday or maybe
Speaker 1: last Friday. I forget when it was where I talked
Speaker 1: about young impact players that you're not quite privy to yet,
Speaker 1: Guys that were either practice squad all year or someone
Speaker 1: like Andrew Meyer who spent really the entire year inactive
Speaker 1: but on the active roster, Guys that could afford you
Speaker 1: cheap contributions with regards to their rookie contracts or their
Speaker 1: contracts in general, that could give you contributions on the
Speaker 1: roster next year. And two of the guys that I omitted,
Speaker 1: and I don't know why I did this because I
Speaker 1: think they're both going to be NFL players, are Jason
Speaker 1: Maytrie and Isaiah Johnson, and I believe that they have
Speaker 1: a really good chance to not just be NFL players
Speaker 1: at some point, but impact twenty twenty five team. And
Speaker 1: since the cornerback spot is so far away in our primers,
Speaker 1: I felt like we had to get it off there.
Speaker 1: Jason Matri was a late UDFA edition, not part of
Speaker 1: the original core of udfas, which full transparency gave me
Speaker 1: a bit of an influenced perception of him. I thought like, oh,
Speaker 1: he was number eighteen on their list. I'm not going
Speaker 1: to pay much attention. And again, the udfas that you
Speaker 1: do get off the top, their odds are pretty long, right,
Speaker 1: Like three percent of udfa's make rosters. So he's not
Speaker 1: a player that I'm locked in on early at all
Speaker 1: because I put him out of my mind. And that's
Speaker 1: a lesson that I have to learn. But then Day
Speaker 1: one comes and goes, and he makes a play, Day two,
Speaker 1: another play, Day three, a few more plays, Day four.
Speaker 1: He's making all kinds of plays, showing up all over
Speaker 1: training camp. Then he gets into the preseason and just
Speaker 1: starts shutting down screens, winning one on ones against three
Speaker 1: way goes in the slot. Very very impressed by what
Speaker 1: he put on tape. And I thought he had a
Speaker 1: chance to make the club out of training camp last year,
Speaker 1: but he didn't. And not one for bold predictions here,
Speaker 1: but if I'm making one here today on this show,
Speaker 1: I think Matreal plays snaps for this team in twenty
Speaker 1: twenty five.
Speaker 2: I believe in his game that much.
Speaker 1: And guess what, he might not even be the rookie
Speaker 1: UDFA futures contract cornerback. Say that twelve times fast, that
Speaker 1: I believe in the most. That's because I watched Isaiah
Speaker 1: Johnson's step up and have quality reps against our ones
Speaker 1: in training camp. I saw him shut down Tyreek Hill
Speaker 1: on a couple of fade routes, which mismatch because he's
Speaker 1: six foot three in Tyrek is five foot nine. But
Speaker 1: I saw him have quality reps and joint practices in
Speaker 1: the preseason. And then there's the Syracuse tape that was
Speaker 1: really good. This dude can play. And oh hey, by
Speaker 1: the way, how about a ten foot nine broad, a
Speaker 1: thirty nine inch vertical, a one to five to five
Speaker 1: to ten split and doing all of this at six
Speaker 1: foot three two oh five. I think this next part
Speaker 1: is why he didn't get drafted. He ran a four
Speaker 1: to six four that is sundial measurement speed in as
Speaker 1: far as cornerbacks go. But then again, Terry and Arnold,
Speaker 1: what did he mean to the lines this year? Four
Speaker 1: point five forty time? How about Ronaldo Green for the
Speaker 1: forty nine ers clocking a four to four to nine,
Speaker 1: which is basically a four to five right and going
Speaker 1: on to be an impact starter as a rookie there
Speaker 1: or tarheb Still who basically won that Falcons game for
Speaker 1: the Chargers, the game that I talk about every damn
Speaker 1: day on the show here he ran a four or
Speaker 1: five two. So yeah, four or five is better than
Speaker 1: four to six four. But I just don't think that
Speaker 1: it's a non negotiable at that speed to be a
Speaker 1: four to four guy, or you know, from four to
Speaker 1: four to four to six four something else entirely different.
Speaker 1: And this is the segment I wanted to get into
Speaker 1: here with you guys. And look, Kyle Krabs and I
Speaker 1: talk every single day. I know that our ven diagram
Speaker 1: is vast. If that's how you say that, I would
Speaker 1: venture to guest that ninety percent of you listening to
Speaker 1: this show today probably listen to Kyle either regularly or
Speaker 1: at least periodically, So I do apologize for this, but look,
Speaker 1: Kyle and I discuss prospects and a lot of thoughts,
Speaker 1: so you probably get some decent amount of carry over there.
Speaker 1: And we talk about Dolphin's roster building again literally every
Speaker 1: single day, so you'll get some of the same stuff there, right,
Speaker 1: And I'll probably get him back on here soon to
Speaker 1: do more of this. But I just want to get
Speaker 1: into this, and it actually curtails perfectly into a new
Speaker 1: segment idea. I had the return of scanning the sosh
Speaker 1: who remembers that segment looking at the old Talleader and
Speaker 1: the new and regressed version of X. You can't even
Speaker 1: find anything when you search on there anymore.
Speaker 2: Man, it sucks.
Speaker 1: And I really missed the community of like live sporting
Speaker 1: events on there. What happened to my ski you? So
Speaker 1: I do want to do that, but I want to
Speaker 1: change the name of the segment. So this is our
Speaker 1: first dive into you produce the show. Maybe I'll do
Speaker 1: a sound drop without some point, but not right now.
Speaker 1: You produce the show. And I'm going to take a
Speaker 1: take from another one of my confidants here, one of
Speaker 1: my friends that does this as well, my man Chris
Speaker 1: Kaufman c K. Parrott on social you know, in the
Speaker 1: three yards per Carry podcast. Great information on that show.
Speaker 1: And to continue my disclaimer, you know, I talked to
Speaker 1: him on the regular and I finally got a chance
Speaker 1: to meet Chris in Tampa this summer. Huge, huge fan,
Speaker 1: not just of you know, the football takes that he has,
Speaker 1: but for what he stands for and who he is.
Speaker 2: I really like Chris. He's a good dude.
Speaker 1: And usually you do all that buttering out before you
Speaker 1: tear someone down right, So, Chris, I guess you're probably
Speaker 1: gonna hear this at some point, but let's go ahead
Speaker 1: and get into it. I am going to disagree with him,
Speaker 1: but just want to make it abundantly clear that I
Speaker 1: respect the hell of him and think that you should
Speaker 1: consume all of his content.
Speaker 2: This is like, you know it's coming. I'm setting him
Speaker 2: up for the jab here.
Speaker 1: And to bring it back to Kyle, he and I
Speaker 1: were discussing how much wiggle room we should have this year,
Speaker 1: and Kyle was able to get us to forty one
Speaker 1: million dollars in available cap space by simply executing basic restructures.
Speaker 1: That's not even touching the big contracts like to a
Speaker 1: tongue of by loa. Also, he brought back the internal
Speaker 1: free agents that he likes, which is probably pretty close
Speaker 1: to what I think, maybe two or three names different
Speaker 1: here or there, at a price higher than what they
Speaker 1: played for last year. So you're not like taking short
Speaker 1: cuts and you know, finagling this exercise to get yourself
Speaker 1: that forty one million dollars. He also had to cut
Speaker 1: Jake Bailey, Channing, Tyndall, Raheem, Moster, Durham Smyth traded tyreek
Speaker 1: Hill pre June one, and then Tron arms E retires
Speaker 1: in the scenario again didn't touch the two a tongue
Speaker 1: of bi looa contract. So that's at least four young
Speaker 1: free agents that you can sign to multi year deals,
Speaker 1: true priority free agents, right, not talking about like Tray Smith,
Speaker 1: who I think that if you buy into Tray Smith,
Speaker 1: his value at twenty million dollars decreases significantly. Probably the
Speaker 1: same player, but when he's four million dollars versus twenty
Speaker 1: million dollars, you now have a player who's worth five
Speaker 1: times less. That's how it goes, right, Like the impact
Speaker 1: is great, but you're not doing yourself any favors for
Speaker 1: team building by signing a contract like that. Like the
Speaker 1: Panthers Robert Hunt, they don't have enough players to pay
Speaker 1: money to, so it makes sense to pay that much.
Speaker 1: But if you're like a contending team that has no
Speaker 1: wiggle room because you have big players that you have
Speaker 1: to pay for, you can't afford players like that, You
Speaker 1: just can't do it. So that's kind of where I
Speaker 1: get at this with the four priority of free agents.
Speaker 1: In terms of guys like a Jordan Brooks for instance,
Speaker 1: like and This is where I come after Ck a
Speaker 1: little bit here. I don't really look and he had
Speaker 1: the post talking about all the misses. I don't look
Speaker 1: at like Robbie Chosen or Braxton Barrios as some fire
Speaker 1: or bowl offense now using them as much as you did, maybe,
Speaker 1: but like signing those guys to one year, one million
Speaker 1: dollar contracts, whatever it was, like their depth pieces, and
Speaker 1: you're going to get at least half of those wrong.
Speaker 1: That's just how it goes, because well, you signed like
Speaker 1: twenty five of those guys, and if you hit twelve
Speaker 1: of them, that's awesome.
Speaker 2: That's just how it goes.
Speaker 1: And in fact, I would say the one year investments here,
Speaker 1: especially offensively, are tough because of how tough the system
Speaker 1: is to grasp. And again other issues, not going to
Speaker 1: debate that those can be issues of their own, but
Speaker 1: on the surface, for what it is, it's tough to
Speaker 1: come in here and pick up this offense right away,
Speaker 1: as we've learned from being in it for three years.
Speaker 1: But then you look at the hits, and Chris laid
Speaker 1: this out in his post too, what do you have
Speaker 1: in common.
Speaker 2: Across those guys?
Speaker 1: Literally all of them were actual investments, like substantial investments,
Speaker 1: multi year contracts, guarantees, guys that hit right away, and
Speaker 1: you're counting on that production for this season. Kalaius Campbell notwithstanding,
Speaker 1: although I personally believe, not news, just my gut that
Speaker 1: he will come back this year.
Speaker 2: That's how I feel about that.
Speaker 1: And to go further on this, the Dolphins made a
Speaker 1: successful pivot after the twenty twenty class when that really
Speaker 1: flamed out when you signed Eric Klowers and Shaq Lawson
Speaker 1: and Byron Jones. Was good for like a year and
Speaker 1: a half, but after that, not so much to these
Speaker 1: top of market contracts, which is not the area of
Speaker 1: free agent you want to be playing in right. Mike
Speaker 1: Vrabel has a really good SoundBite on a show that
Speaker 1: he just did where he talks about two classes of
Speaker 1: free agents, guys that are in search of the right
Speaker 1: fit in situation and guys that are trying to maximize
Speaker 1: the dollar amount. Christian Wilkins the latter, John Who Smith
Speaker 1: the former. And when I look at this year's free
Speaker 1: agent class the Dolphins needs and disposition, I think you
Speaker 1: can add four or five of those guys, Guys in
Speaker 1: their mid twenties hungry for a chance to earn a
Speaker 1: raise and prove they are better players and what they
Speaker 1: showed you in their first four or five years of
Speaker 1: of NFL football, Like Andrew Van Ginkle for instance, Right,
Speaker 1: I know that's the name that's sour for a lot
Speaker 1: of us. Or an Aaron Brewer who was not a
Speaker 1: great player in Tennessee or thought of that way but
Speaker 1: now he is.
Speaker 2: Or Jordan Brooks the same thing.
Speaker 1: So if I tell you that we can get our
Speaker 1: key internals back and then go sign Tevin Jenkins Beier
Speaker 1: starting and left guard next year and bring some nasty
Speaker 1: and physicality and scheme diversity and Mackai Beckton, why not
Speaker 1: do them both at right tackle and be a power
Speaker 1: team that can run outside zone. And then you give
Speaker 1: me Diami Brown. He's gonna have the best year of
Speaker 1: his career in this offense. Our Darius Washington becomes one
Speaker 1: of the best post safeties in the league in this system,
Speaker 1: like he's become for the Ravens. And then I signed
Speaker 1: Levi On Woozlrique to be my defensive tackle alongside Seler
Speaker 1: and Campbell. And then we can draft Tyler Warren and
Speaker 1: that fixes the most issues of any player available this
Speaker 1: entire offseason can for the Miami Dolphins, Carson Schweschinger, who
Speaker 1: becomes a ninety percent snap taker alongside Jordan Brooks and
Speaker 1: Lathan Ransom, who is now my new Rashad Jones. Well,
Speaker 1: that's a much better team than what you had in
Speaker 1: twenty twenty four. And that's all very very much on
Speaker 1: the table inconceivable with what the resources they have not
Speaker 1: to diminish, you know, one year contracts for guys like
Speaker 1: tier Tart, you know, and tier Tart played well for
Speaker 1: the Chargers, and I like tier Tart, but like, I
Speaker 1: just am not going to bemoan moves like that because
Speaker 1: I don't think it adds up at all anywhere close
Speaker 1: to what you got from Jordan Brooks, from Kendall Fuller,
Speaker 1: from John new Smith, from Isaiah Win last year.
Speaker 2: Guys like that. So again, all hope is not lost.
Speaker 1: Listing out some minimum one year contract players as a
Speaker 1: referendum on the roster building for me, dog that ain't
Speaker 1: doing it, first, break right there, come back on the
Speaker 1: other side and pick the games in Divisional Round football
Speaker 1: the best weekend of the year for the general football fan.
Speaker 1: Hopefully the Dolphins get here. One year it's been twenty
Speaker 1: five years. Well to do that next year. In the
Speaker 1: Draft Time podcast, your host Travis Wingfield, brought to you
Speaker 1: by Auto Nation. And then there were eight football teams
Speaker 1: remaining for the twenty twenty four season, not us, but
Speaker 1: it is four games. There's probably like two games here
Speaker 1: that'll be good. Right, Let's go ahead and talk about
Speaker 1: Divisional round weekend. I was five and one over wild
Speaker 1: Card weekend. Had to adjust the bracket just a little
Speaker 1: bit because I had the Packers winning.
Speaker 2: That was the game I got wrong.
Speaker 1: Going to the Lions and the Commanders going to the
Speaker 1: Rams obviously not the matchups we have. It'll be Commanders
Speaker 1: at Lions on Saturday night and the Rams will travel
Speaker 1: to the Eagles for a two o'clock kickoff. That's the
Speaker 1: first year they've done that, right, It's usually been the
Speaker 1: same old one o'clock Do they make it?
Speaker 2: Man? Did they make it one o'clock and eight o'clock
Speaker 2: last year? Like? I forget?
Speaker 1: Because Conference Championship weekend is three and six thirty, right,
Speaker 1: And then, yeah, I don't know, it's different this year.
Speaker 2: I know that much.
Speaker 1: So I'm taking the Chiefs over the Texans on the
Speaker 1: Saturday four o'clock four to thirty kickoff. I thought the
Speaker 1: Texans looked pretty probably their best they've looked in the
Speaker 1: entire second half of the season in that Kansas City
Speaker 1: game last time around, and that was with the benefit
Speaker 1: of some of the better calls, you know, going for
Speaker 1: the Chiefs that might have stolen the win.
Speaker 2: From the Texans in that game.
Speaker 1: Now, they also had Tank Dell in that game, who
Speaker 1: made the biggest catch of the game for them for
Speaker 1: a touchdown in that game on the play where he
Speaker 1: blew up his entire knee and obviously he's down, and
Speaker 1: for a line that's not played well for a quarterback
Speaker 1: that hasn't seen it as clear as he did as
Speaker 1: a rookie against a rested Steve Spagnolo defense. Without Tank
Speaker 1: Dell or Stefan Diggs, that's a lot to ask man
Speaker 1: this Divisional round game at Case, he has kind of
Speaker 1: become what the old Patriots divisional round games were, double
Speaker 1: digit dogs going into the game like lamps to the slaughter.
Speaker 1: And I think the Chiefs are about to, you know,
Speaker 1: wake up as it were, which is so funny you
Speaker 1: say for a fifteen to one team that they're going
Speaker 1: to wake up with Hollywood brown back in action, everyone
Speaker 1: getting two full weeks to get healthy, Andy Reid having
Speaker 1: all that time for a game plan to cook up
Speaker 1: his voodoo magic from something we haven't seen since like
Speaker 1: the nineteen twenty five Rose Bowl or something like that.
Speaker 1: I think the Chiefs are going to win this one
Speaker 1: going away. And we go into conference Championship weekend where
Speaker 1: the season officially begins for the Chiefs and everybody has
Speaker 1: finally realized at sixteen to one, oh yeah, the Chiefs
Speaker 1: are pretty good. And then we pivot to the game
Speaker 1: in the NFC on Saturday, and I stand corrected on
Speaker 1: the biggest spread of the weekend, which belongs to the
Speaker 1: Detroit Lions. I'm not sure so sure that I see
Speaker 1: it that way quite frankly. Yes, the Lions have gotten
Speaker 1: some help back from injury, particularly Alex Anzeloni, but I
Speaker 1: don't know, man, like, they're really banged up. And I
Speaker 1: think Jayden Daniels has everything he needs from a skill
Speaker 1: set standpoint to how he can dissect and attack coverage
Speaker 1: to the weapons that he has. I think the Lions
Speaker 1: don't have a good answer for my money for Terry
Speaker 1: McLaurin or Zach Ertz for that matter, to the play caller,
Speaker 1: to everything around them to be able to go after
Speaker 1: the Lions and they're zero coverage, their cover one, their
Speaker 1: press man heavy, get underneath you and try to disrupt
Speaker 1: you from all that. Ball will come out quick in
Speaker 1: this game, and I think they'll score. The problem is
Speaker 1: Ben Johnson off a bye with a fully healthy offense
Speaker 1: against a Washington defense that has been the Achilles Hill
Speaker 1: at times this year. Yeah, the Lions might have yet
Speaker 1: another forty burger in them. By the way, the hell's
Speaker 1: Ben Johnson thinking? If the stuff is true about Vegas?
Speaker 1: The hell you doing, dude? There's so many better jobs,
Speaker 1: Like there's no quarterback You're not going to get a
Speaker 1: quarterback because you're picking eighth because Antonio Pierce is the
Speaker 1: best coach in the world at winning late games to
Speaker 1: ruin draft picks and your roster's not good.
Speaker 2: Crazy crazy.
Speaker 1: If that happens, we'll see, But that's not what we're
Speaker 1: talking about today. So I think this game will go
Speaker 1: tight into the third quarter, but the Lions pull away
Speaker 1: late and win it like thirty eight to twenty seven.
Speaker 2: Something like that.
Speaker 1: Eagles and Rams is pretty intriguing. A rematch of primetime
Speaker 1: games from earlier that was won by the Eagles, and
Speaker 1: in fact, the Rams only lost in a game where
Speaker 1: they played starters after they lost to US was this
Speaker 1: game they lost to the Seahawks in the finale, which
Speaker 1: they didn't play their starters in.
Speaker 2: But I think about that real quick.
Speaker 1: They beat Vegas, Minnesota, Seattle, lost to US, beat New England,
Speaker 1: lost to Philly, then beat No. Orleans, Buffalo, San Francisco,
Speaker 1: the Jets, and the Cardinals. They lost to the Seahawks
Speaker 1: that Jimmy G starred in that game, and they just
Speaker 1: beat Minnesota again. So I'm just saying, pretty damn good
Speaker 1: qualifying win for the good guys there. Now, I love
Speaker 1: this matchup because, in many respects, the funt the Fangio
Speaker 1: plan in twenty eighteen with the Bears that the Patriots
Speaker 1: famously caught beat in the Super Bowl to hold the
Speaker 1: Rams to just three points in that game basically inspired
Speaker 1: Sean McVeigh into a philosophical approach one that I think
Speaker 1: the Dolphins need to figure need to think about making.
Speaker 1: But ma'am, I trust the old man here as crotchy
Speaker 1: as he is in this game, and I don't think
Speaker 1: the Rams have the guns yet on defense to contend
Speaker 1: with what is just a very very good Eagles offense.
Speaker 1: I mean their protection, their physicality, the weapons they have
Speaker 1: on the outside. I think Jalen Hurts catches a bad rap.
Speaker 1: I don't think he's as good as his production necessarily
Speaker 1: says that he is. But I don't think he's as
Speaker 1: bad as all the you know, everyone that thinks that
Speaker 1: all the quarterbacks in the league besides two guys suck.
Speaker 1: I don't think the Rams are ready for what they're
Speaker 1: going to get here on Sunday. So I'm taking Philly
Speaker 1: in like a thirty one to twenty four game where
Speaker 1: it's like thirty one seventeen late, the Eagles take the
Speaker 1: air out of the ball and the Rams maybe score
Speaker 1: a late touchdown to make it look closer than it
Speaker 1: was then the big one, man, this is the best
Speaker 1: game of the entire year. Going to be an absolute movie,
Speaker 1: as the kids say, a total scene. Please Baltimore, Please.
Speaker 1: If there's one thing that can be salvaged about this season,
Speaker 1: it's keeping the Buffalo Bills ringless, you know, keeping them
Speaker 1: Steve Carrell, they have never been to the finish line,
Speaker 1: as it were. He made a move back in two
Speaker 1: thousand and five called the forty year old Virgion. That's
Speaker 1: we're making a joke of there. I think the Ravens
Speaker 1: will get this one. I think their run game mixed
Speaker 1: with what Lamar does as a passer and as a
Speaker 1: decoy in the running game is a very dangerous proposition.
Speaker 1: The Buffalo defense has struggled against teams that feature that
Speaker 1: kind of balanced the Rams game, the game that we
Speaker 1: damn near took off of their hands up in Buffalo.
Speaker 1: I think Baltimore can score, and then I think their
Speaker 1: defense can make the winning play in what will play
Speaker 1: out as a game of the year, where we get
Speaker 1: like a turnover or a stop late that wins you
Speaker 1: the game. So I have one semi close game this weekend,
Speaker 1: but then this one saves what is otherwise a bad
Speaker 1: weekend of football in terms of competitiveness, as the Ravens
Speaker 1: win thirty two to thirty. All Right, we are going
Speaker 1: to have our tight end recap on Monday Day, or
Speaker 1: our review of our roster as well as the free
Speaker 1: agency and draft picks on Monday. We're gonna bump that
Speaker 1: back one more day. We're gonna go ahead and come
Speaker 1: back on the other side of this break with my
Speaker 1: guest from Dolphins Club Aspania, Alex Mattrell. That's next Draft
Speaker 1: Time podcast, your host Travis Wingfield, brought to you by AutoNation.
Speaker 1: The big news on this Friday announced as the Dolphins
Speaker 1: will be the first ever team to play a regular
Speaker 1: season game in the country of Spain. We're gonna head
Speaker 1: out to Madrid for a football game and NFL regular
Speaker 1: season football game. Of course, we have played in London,
Speaker 1: we've played in Germany, and now we broach the Spanish
Speaker 1: territory here as one of our six global markets that
Speaker 1: we are active in here with the Miami Dolphins, one
Speaker 1: of two teams that have six global markets like that.
Speaker 1: And to help us get acquainted to football overseas and
Speaker 1: not just you know, in England and in Germany, but
Speaker 1: now into a new country, is Alex matt Morell. He
Speaker 1: is part of the Dolphins Club, a Spanya and a
Speaker 1: former Homestead native, moved to Spain recently. Man, you're kind
Speaker 1: of the perfect guy for this, Alex, Welcome into the
Speaker 1: show and thanks for joining me.
Speaker 3: Man Hey, Travis, thank you very much for inviting me.
Speaker 3: Super excited to be here. This is definitely for someone
Speaker 3: like me who recently. You know, I've been here since
Speaker 3: twenty twenty one in Spain. This is kind of like
Speaker 3: a dream come true. So I can't wait to for
Speaker 3: the Dolphins to get over here.
Speaker 1: So I have to imagine you've been to Dolphins games
Speaker 1: at hard Rock Stadium.
Speaker 2: I'm guessing so.
Speaker 3: Back pro player days, I had, know the earliest memories
Speaker 3: of you know, this torrential downpour of a game Monday
Speaker 3: night football. I think it was like two thousand and
Speaker 3: two against the Bears that we won. And then I
Speaker 3: was there for the first ever Orange Jersey game against
Speaker 3: the Washington which I think was like a Sunday night
Speaker 3: game where we kind of did a bit of a comeback.
Speaker 3: So that, you know, those two games have will forever
Speaker 3: be with some of my earliest memory raise. But yeah,
Speaker 3: going to games with my dad, going into games with
Speaker 3: the fam and stuff like that. So my stepdad is
Speaker 3: a Jets fan, so that makes it, you know, super
Speaker 3: fun sometimes, well for.
Speaker 2: Us, especially recently, it's been fair last years.
Speaker 4: I would say it's been great.
Speaker 3: Maybe not so much before that, but yeah, so but yeah,
Speaker 3: you know, it's it's always great fun. And I did
Speaker 3: get a chance to go to the game here in
Speaker 3: Germany last year, so that will you know, not let
Speaker 3: this past seas, but last last year that was an
Speaker 3: absolute fantastic of a time. And I'm super excited for
Speaker 3: this Madrid one. So it's gonna be a It's gonna
Speaker 3: be a great one.
Speaker 1: It's funny you mentioned the Bears and well formerly a
Speaker 1: different team name, but the Commander's game back from those days,
Speaker 1: because I'll never forget the Bears game. They wore the
Speaker 1: aqua on aqua that I was obsessed with and still
Speaker 1: am obsessed with, and Ricky Williams had two hundred yards
Speaker 1: for a second executive game. You're preaching to the choir
Speaker 1: on that one, and then the Washington game, I will
Speaker 1: never forget. Going to school the next day and I
Speaker 1: had a sports marketing class that was my favorite clas
Speaker 1: of all time, obviously, and the teacher would talk to
Speaker 1: us about the weekend in the NFL h on the
Speaker 1: following Monday and he was like, Jay, Fieeddler, save your
Speaker 1: guys this season, Like I'll never forget that, so really
Speaker 1: good remember what I.
Speaker 3: They would like, I mean, I remember this like the
Speaker 3: back of my hand. Was as soon as they announced
Speaker 3: Fieedler going to the game. You saw all the no.
Speaker 5: The the frustrated fans like oh man, and then he
Speaker 5: did absolutely phenomenal and he led us to that comeback,
Speaker 5: you know, with that final I think I think Ricky
Speaker 5: Williams did that final touchdown and then we were like, oh.
Speaker 4: No, he's the man.
Speaker 2: Such as life as a football fan.
Speaker 3: Man, yeah, so it was, it was great and then
Speaker 3: so yeah, I you know, it's those are some of
Speaker 3: my top memories of going to those games and uh,
Speaker 3: you know, seeing the old you know, baseball dirt patches
Speaker 3: on the field and stuff like that.
Speaker 4: So great.
Speaker 1: So okay, well that's that's a really good introduction into
Speaker 1: your life as a football fan because I want to
Speaker 1: kind of have an intersection here of you know, following
Speaker 1: this team from from South Florida, but also the global
Speaker 1: impact because you know, back then, I think the first
Speaker 1: game I think was our game against the Giants in
Speaker 1: two thousand and seven in London, the first overseas game,
Speaker 1: part of the international series that we now know as
Speaker 1: it is today. But now look at us, man, we're
Speaker 1: in so many countries. It's multiple weeks across the season
Speaker 1: and here we go into Spain. You know, I always
Speaker 1: knew that England had that big following that was yearning
Speaker 1: for American football games live on their soil. Tell us
Speaker 1: about how this is going to impact the country of Spain,
Speaker 1: the city of Madrid. How how pumped up are folks
Speaker 1: Dolphins fans are otherwise just to see football in their backyard.
Speaker 3: So it's been pretty pretty phenomenal to see the growth
Speaker 3: and the fans throughout I mean throughout Europe. I mean
Speaker 3: when I went to that Germany game, not only do
Speaker 3: we have the Dolphins Fan Club, official fan club from
Speaker 3: London and from the UK come over, but I met
Speaker 3: the French fan club, I met the German fan club,
Speaker 3: and then of course part of the here that was
Speaker 3: there supporting from the Spain Fan club, and it was
Speaker 3: just like, you know, people who never communicated, don't speak
Speaker 3: the same language, but you know, the one love that
Speaker 3: connects them all is the Dolphins, and it was pretty fantastic.
Speaker 3: Spain is still growing, They're they're you know, they're not
Speaker 3: as big as maybe Germany and England in terms of
Speaker 3: American football, but they do have a huge passion for
Speaker 3: flag football. There's a huge flag football community over here,
Speaker 3: especially in the south of Spain. All throughout, especially uh
Speaker 3: the Barcelona Dragons, which is like the American football team
Speaker 3: for Barcelona, they're a nonstought powerhouse. Madrid, I think it's
Speaker 3: getting an American football team for their league. So it
Speaker 3: is growing, and I mean, you know, fans were spread
Speaker 3: out between different teams because of how international. Also Barcelona
Speaker 3: and Madrid are with people from all over the world,
Speaker 3: you know, living there. You know, you've got fans that
Speaker 3: have moved from Mexico, fans from South America, Brazilian fans
Speaker 3: and stuff like that, and you see these small little
Speaker 3: pop ups starting to get bigger and bigger. So you know,
Speaker 3: we're hoping to kind of peak that interest. Obviously, you know,
Speaker 3: football or soccer will never you know, that will always
Speaker 3: dominate Spain, of course, but if you can just kind
Speaker 3: of peak that interest and show that you know, this
Speaker 3: game is also a great game to follow, you know,
Speaker 3: we're getting more eyes and more.
Speaker 4: Eyes, so that's what we're trying to do here.
Speaker 3: And uh, yeah, we've got fans in terms of the
Speaker 3: Dolphins football club, We've got fans from Madrid to Barcelona
Speaker 3: to all the way. I'm in Seville, so it's all
Speaker 3: the way in the south. So Seville, Malaga, all this
Speaker 3: whole covering the pretty much the whole region. So and
Speaker 3: it's it's it's it's constantly growing.
Speaker 4: We're getting more.
Speaker 3: I'm trying to get you know, people in there and
Speaker 3: just kind of watch a game. Uh, the super Bowl
Speaker 3: is actually a pretty big people tend to kind of watch.
Speaker 3: So as soon as the super Bowl comes, though, it
Speaker 3: is a little tough because I think it starts like
Speaker 3: at midnight for us and goes all the way to
Speaker 3: four o'clock in the morning, so you know, time change
Speaker 3: a little struggle. But still, I mean, you know, it's
Speaker 3: still a great time come with your mates and stuff
Speaker 3: like that, and you kind of just kind of have
Speaker 3: that experience.
Speaker 4: So it's great. It's been growing, and.
Speaker 3: Now I'm excited to see you know, you feel that,
Speaker 3: you know, the bene Vaile Stadium with you know, thousands
Speaker 3: and thousands of fans and it's going to be a
Speaker 3: spectacular showing.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm glad you mentioned the crossover between you know,
Speaker 1: obviously football being the more prominent of the two footballs,
Speaker 1: you know, American football being the second one there in
Speaker 1: terms of popularity. But like I think that as a
Speaker 1: person that appreciates both sports, Like there's a lot of crossover,
Speaker 1: Like you have to play with anticipation, you have to
Speaker 1: find soft spots in the zone. I think that people
Speaker 1: can start to appreciate the similarities in the two games
Speaker 1: and maybe, you know, I think original football. I think
Speaker 1: that they can appreciate, maybe you know, American football more
Speaker 1: than the converse because it's like, you know, Americans love
Speaker 1: like hitting in violence and physicality, so that part of
Speaker 1: the game is not there with with soccer as it were,
Speaker 1: but American football definitely is. And I think that you
Speaker 1: can kind of get some carry over there. And I'm
Speaker 1: glad you mentioned the flag football that you see around
Speaker 1: because that's the number one way, man, It's the best
Speaker 1: way to get a region of a generation into this
Speaker 1: game is playing flag football. And the Dolphins are going
Speaker 1: to be hosting flag football clinic, a flag football clinic,
Speaker 1: or they did rather back in this summer in Brazil.
Speaker 1: So cultivating stronger fan clubs through you know, these parties
Speaker 1: and activations in flag football initiatives, I think it's really cool.
Speaker 1: So do you see kids playing football around in your
Speaker 1: neighborhood and your community when you're driving down the street,
Speaker 1: do you see it often over there.
Speaker 3: So it's maybe in Madrid and Barcelona, you might see
Speaker 3: it a little bit more.
Speaker 4: In Seville.
Speaker 3: Still, it's kind of like a tiny city, small you know,
Speaker 3: big town, small, small mentality type situation. There's certain parks
Speaker 3: where at nighttime, eight o'clock at night, I think that's
Speaker 3: when you see that reservation and you see the big
Speaker 3: flag football camp. And I do have to say it's
Speaker 3: a great showing for men and boys and girls, men
Speaker 3: and women. So they've got a huge women's league and
Speaker 3: the men's league as well, so you know, and I
Speaker 3: have bought an American football and you know, try to
Speaker 3: toss it around and get some interest, and you get
Speaker 3: and you get people who are interested in because you know,
Speaker 3: they've never done it before and stuff like that.
Speaker 4: So a little little I did go.
Speaker 3: I did participate in Spain's tryout for the Olympics for
Speaker 3: their flag football Olympic team. They had about three or
Speaker 3: four tryouts throughout the country and they came to the
Speaker 3: Sevil for their southern region one and I did go
Speaker 3: and participate. And I mean we had kids from the
Speaker 3: islands coming over from different cities coming over and stuff
Speaker 3: like that.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's so cool. Man, it's again.
Speaker 1: This was always a sport that I thought was was
Speaker 1: kind of you know, domesticated to our own borders here
Speaker 1: and within the American American grounds, but it's grown so much,
Speaker 1: and it's really cool to see the interest grow, you know, nationwide.
Speaker 1: And my favorite podcast for a long time was the
Speaker 1: Around the NFL podcast until I disbanded this past summer,
Speaker 1: and they would do live shows over in the UK
Speaker 1: and they were very, very popular. So I think that
Speaker 1: there's more room for growth for not just the game
Speaker 1: but media and coverage, and it's going to continue to
Speaker 1: expand like crazy like this, And with that in mind,
Speaker 1: I have two more questions for you here, Alex Alex Mattterrell,
Speaker 1: my guest here from the Dolphins Club, Aspawnya, what does
Speaker 1: a game day look like for for you, because obviously
Speaker 1: you were a unique individual in the sense that you've
Speaker 1: had a chance to experience football games from from America
Speaker 1: where the time slots line up with your day.
Speaker 2: We're over there not so much.
Speaker 1: I know it's a lot of late nights, but I
Speaker 1: talked to the UK guys about this, talk to the
Speaker 1: Germany guys about this.
Speaker 2: Tell us about what it's like in Spain for me
Speaker 2: in the South.
Speaker 3: So you know, obviously we we here in Europe live
Speaker 3: for the one pm games. So whenever it's a one
Speaker 3: pm game, which is seven pm for us, it's fantastic great.
Speaker 3: The eight o'clock games are a little tougher, but still
Speaker 3: so if it's a one pm you know, I kind
Speaker 3: of kind of do what I got to do during
Speaker 3: the day and then I tend to find my I
Speaker 3: used to go to the hard Rock in Cevilam and
Speaker 3: then they would kind of show the games. Now in
Speaker 3: Spain we only get televised two games, two random games,
Speaker 3: so it might not always be the Dolphins, but at
Speaker 3: least you can go to the bar and kind of
Speaker 3: watch or red zone, so they might also have red zone,
Speaker 3: so depending, I think we're only really in Seville only
Speaker 3: have like two bars, which is kind of what I've
Speaker 3: been trying to do is maybe get more bars to
Speaker 3: show more American football. But you know, if they don't
Speaker 3: want to pay for the packages, who am I to
Speaker 3: tell them, But so I've been trying to incentivize them.
Speaker 3: If not, then I have a you know, bought a
Speaker 3: projector at home and kind of you know, order my
Speaker 3: favorite Tricken wing spot kind of get that whole you know,
Speaker 3: tailgating feel again. I'll invite some friends over if they
Speaker 3: want to come in, and then, you know, just make
Speaker 3: sure I just block out that time and you know,
Speaker 3: put the game on, so I'll stream the game and
Speaker 3: and and there we go.
Speaker 1: This is why, this is why football is king man,
Speaker 1: because you know, I watched the Miami Heat.
Speaker 2: I want.
Speaker 1: I'm from the Pacific Northwest. I watched my Seattle Burners.
Speaker 1: But I'm watching those games like his background noise and
Speaker 1: it's like, oh they won, time, cool they lost or whatever.
Speaker 1: But like in football, it's like every every week, every
Speaker 1: game is a massive event that you get your chicken
Speaker 1: wings to get your beer for it and you enjoy,
Speaker 1: you know, never know what's going to happen exactly.
Speaker 2: Man, it's the best.
Speaker 1: You know.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm with you.
Speaker 1: I want to I want to close on this because
Speaker 1: I have a stupid little joke for you here that
Speaker 1: I put in my notes. So I am very familiar
Speaker 1: with Santiago Bernabau. Is am I saying that?
Speaker 2: Right?
Speaker 4: Right? Right?
Speaker 2: Okare you go?
Speaker 1: So because I've played, I've scored more goals in that
Speaker 1: stadium on FIFA than anybody else in the world, but
Speaker 1: this is we're talking like twenty fourteen. So it's like
Speaker 1: Christiano Ronaldo, you know, massuit Ozil talking Luca Madrick. I've
Speaker 1: got Sergio Ramos all my corners, I'm swinging those in
Speaker 1: for him to head them into the back of the
Speaker 1: net on hald Maria. You know, I'm getting the real Madrid,
Speaker 1: the whole roster involved in my scoring there. And I
Speaker 1: was always amazed on a video game, But like that
Speaker 1: place is massive, like we have, you know, we have
Speaker 1: college football seams over here in America that you're very
Speaker 1: well aware of that are you know? One hundred plus
Speaker 1: thousand people. That's how this is. But you're telling me
Speaker 1: there's been renovations. I wasn't even aware of that. Can
Speaker 1: you tell us what's going into that stadium and what's
Speaker 1: going to look like on game? Do you think as
Speaker 1: far as atmosphere and just the overall experience.
Speaker 3: Yeah, So if you're not familiar with the Vendaval Stadium,
Speaker 3: I think it's it's kind of like build like the
Speaker 3: Roman Colisseum in the sense where it's just you're just
Speaker 3: stacked on top of everybody and you just look up
Speaker 3: and you just see rows and rows of people.
Speaker 4: It's not like a going outward motion, I believe. And
Speaker 4: then this renovation.
Speaker 3: Obviously, the Vendebauer is a legendary stadium, long long time,
Speaker 3: long history and stuff, and they wanted to modernize it.
Speaker 4: So I believe they have.
Speaker 3: I forget what's the other stadium that does this, but
Speaker 3: the field can you can drop the field and like
Speaker 3: kind of put it away, and then they bring it
Speaker 3: back whenever they're ready to use the grass because they
Speaker 3: you know, all stadiums here in Spain need real grass,
Speaker 3: so they kind of have that removable field aspect to
Speaker 3: maintain the pitch as they call it. And then you
Speaker 3: know they've modernized it with updated technology, updated seedings. I
Speaker 3: think that stadium holds close to about ninety thousand people.
Speaker 4: I'm not entirely sure. Don't quote me on that.
Speaker 3: I live in Seville, so I'm more of the you know,
Speaker 3: Betty's Sevilla fan. You know, Madrid has always been kind
Speaker 3: of like the enemy. But now you know, with Mbappe there,
Speaker 3: you got you be Bellinger there. I mean, those which
Speaker 3: are guys who have been to the Dolphins, by the way,
Speaker 3: you know, they've seen the game. I know Bellinger is
Speaker 3: a big We gave him a Dolphins jersey, so I'm
Speaker 3: sure he'll have a great time going to the game
Speaker 3: and stuff like that. But but yeah, that stadium is
Speaker 3: going to be loud, it's gonna be massive, It's it's
Speaker 3: gonna be gorgeous, and you know it's gonna be hacked.
Speaker 4: I can tell you that much.
Speaker 3: With tons of tons of fans, not only from from
Speaker 3: Spain but from all over.
Speaker 2: I think you have said it all here.
Speaker 1: My friend Alex Matt Turell, he's part of Club Dolphins
Speaker 1: or Dolphins Club Aspanya. Do you have socials? Can you
Speaker 1: plug where we can find you so the fans can
Speaker 1: get at you.
Speaker 3: Yeah, you can find me on on Instagram, you know,
Speaker 3: a Alexito with two exes. You can you know, find
Speaker 3: my journey with being a Dolphins fan around Spain, my
Speaker 3: journey through Spain.
Speaker 4: You know.
Speaker 3: I it's it's been a crazy time comparing you know,
Speaker 3: living in the US all my life, especially in Miami
Speaker 3: melting pot and coming to Spain and stuff like that.
Speaker 3: So and uh and yeah, so it's it's you know,
Speaker 3: that's my socials. Anybody who wants to hit me up,
Speaker 3: anybody who's in Europe, has any you know, questions about
Speaker 3: being an NFL fan, and I want having some advice.
Speaker 3: I'm always open and you know I'm over here supporting,
Speaker 3: supporting the team, and you know, bummy hint Miami. So
Speaker 3: I'll close it out with that. Thank you so much.
Speaker 1: Oh I love it, man, and my wife and I,
Speaker 1: like I told you off the air, we're going to
Speaker 1: have like a four month old. So we're gonna see
Speaker 1: if we can make it. We really really want to
Speaker 1: make it over there. If we do, I'm going to
Speaker 1: hit you up, my friend.
Speaker 3: So for sure, for sure we'll have h We'll have
Speaker 3: some some calamari, some nice and we'll get you a
Speaker 3: nice beer in your hands.
Speaker 1: So as the kids say, they say less, I'm there.
Speaker 1: I am definitely there. I appreciate your time today, Alex,
Speaker 1: Alex Mature. We'll see you, you know, whenever this game happens.
Speaker 1: We don't know the exact date yet, but we'll see
Speaker 1: you when we see you. And thanks again, man, I
Speaker 1: appreciate it.
Speaker 4: Thank you, Travis appreciate it.
Speaker 2: And away he goes.
Speaker 1: Really fun chat, unique interview there and looking forward to that. Man,
Speaker 1: It's gonna be a fun game and a great atmosphere
Speaker 1: over there in Madrid. In the meantime, it's gonna be
Speaker 1: my time. You all, please be sure subscribe, rate, review
Speaker 1: the show, leave us a rating and a review. Follow
Speaker 1: me on social at Wingfold NFL. 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, media availabilities and so much more. And
Speaker 1: last button, not least, Miami Dolphins dot Com. Until next time,
Speaker 1: Fin's up, Caroline, Cameron, Daddy
Speaker 2: Just coming home.