August 29, 2025 • 33 mins
Travis is joined by Dolphins Defensive Coordinator Anthony Weaver to discuss the vision of the Dolphins defense in the second year, strengthening the middle of that unit, connecting to players, how the game has changed since he was a player and much more. Plus, Travis’ takeaways from the month of August.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is Drivetime with Travis Wingfield.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
What is Up Dolphins? And welcome to the Draft Time Podcast.
I am your host, Travis Wingfield. And on today's show,
camp and preseason, all of that is a wrap. We
are one week away from the Colts Preview podcast next Thursday.
Today on the show, however, we're gonna put a bow
on the entire month of August and give you all
my takeaways from the month of August. Plus to kick
(00:34):
the show off, a very special guest today, Dolphins defensive
coordinator Anthony Weaver, joins the show from the Baptist Health
Studios inside the Baptist Health Training Complex. This is the
Draft Time Podcast. What's Up Dolphins? And welcome back into
the Draft Time Podcast. And my guest today is a
man that I've been looking forward to having on the
(00:55):
show here for quite some time. He is the defensive
coordinator of your Miami Dolphins, and I believe the longest
drive in the entire building, Anthony Weaver, Man, what's up?
Three ten, three twenty off of tea these days? That's
the average, right, it.
Speaker 3 (01:08):
Needs to be windated.
Speaker 4 (01:09):
That's if that's the case, and I'm dealing with a
back my low backspot of me right now, So I'm
not getting anywhere.
Speaker 3 (01:15):
Close to that.
Speaker 2 (01:16):
Tiger Woods have a back injury. Once he came back
and was fifty, he is elite?
Speaker 5 (01:20):
Is I believe in you?
Speaker 2 (01:21):
But all jokes ISID I want to go back to
football and start there because we've every time I ask
your players about you, they always talk about your experience
as a player and how that helps you connect with them,
And so I want to get that from your perspective
on how your playing career helped inform you about your
ability to connect with players as a coach.
Speaker 3 (01:38):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (01:38):
I think initially at the CUFFE started to think, oh, well,
I've walked in their shoes, right, there's a lot of
things that they're going through on the field that I
can relate to. What I think is actually gives me
more like credibility with the guys. Are really the hardships
I had, particularly when I went to Houston, right, pretty
high paid free agent and to be honest, like just
(02:00):
failed there, Like didn't didn't meet the expectations I set
for myself and Neville got cut in that moment. As
a player, you just think it's the worst thing that
happen to you. Ever right, and you're like, oh my god,
like I'm a failure, Like how can I recover from this?
But in hindsight, what you what you realized was a
problem was actually a gift now that I'm coaching, because
when I see players going through these similar troubles, and
(02:23):
all of them do at some point one time or another,
I can help coach them through that.
Speaker 3 (02:27):
So outside of the things.
Speaker 4 (02:29):
That that I've been through and I've lived through on
the field and know what they're going through there, I
think the bigger place that I can be of assistance
is in dealing with some hardships and failures they're going through.
Speaker 2 (02:38):
The first thing that comes to mind when you talk
about that's like Zach Sealer, Right, We talked about him
in a press conference recently, where it's like, Zach, we
cut that guy in Baltimore and now he's here balling out.
Speaker 3 (02:46):
He doesn't Dolphins. How incredible is that? Right? But that
that's the story of so many, right.
Speaker 4 (02:52):
You know the you know the first round picks, you
know the superstars, but there's eighty five percent in the
league that isn't that, right, who are striving to get
that And those are the guys you got to you
got to make sure you touch the most.
Speaker 2 (03:03):
That's what makes camp in August and preseason fun to
me is that the unknowns that they pop up and
it makes you know everyone's predictions go out the window,
like week one, it seems like. So that connection does
seem so authentic with your players, and it's it's fun
to watch them afar and up close, obviously, but you're
ultimately judged by the seventeen tapes you put out there
every single year. But there's more than just schemes and
what you can cook up for you know, putting quarterbacks
(03:24):
through stressful you know, looks and everything. That relationship with
your players, like, why is that so important to you?
To establish that first and foremost?
Speaker 3 (03:31):
It's everything, Right.
Speaker 4 (03:33):
I've always said that that if you want to if
you want to take a team from good to great,
then you need to you need to develop relationships on
one another. U It can be transcending for a football
team where you're not just playing for each other, but
you're playing for their family and their kids, and their
wives and their girlfriends and all those things.
Speaker 3 (03:49):
So you have to have that.
Speaker 4 (03:51):
You have to build trust and build that connection just
so you can you can be as connected a team
and reach whatever you're ceiling.
Speaker 2 (03:58):
Maybe, yeah, it makes perfect sense. And I think this
is kind of a lead into this question. Was those
first two answers, What is your favorite part of coaching?
It probably is that I'm guessing maybe not, But what
brings you the most fulfillment when it comes to your
career as a coach?
Speaker 4 (04:10):
I think it's just just seeing the growth and evolution
of players. And the beauty in this is that you
get a new crop every year, right, so they're usually
like unmolded balls of clay. And when you start to
when you start to give them the wisdom that you've
essentially gathered over the years and you start to see
them develop, it's it's almost like raising the kid, right
you see them walk for the first time and you
see them have successes. Like the same joy that I
(04:33):
have as a parent I have with watching these players
become better and ultimately like maximize their God given ability,
which is all we're trying to do.
Speaker 2 (04:42):
You're talking my language right now, but my daughter started kindergarten.
Just seeing that growth, it's it makes you so proud
that it's the best thing in the entire world. I'm
sure that's something similar when it comes to being a
football coach. And you know, on the topic of this team,
we've heard all off season, and you know, it's been
so consistent about the cultureless team wants to set and build,
you know, through draft and getting young, hungry players and
creating competition. And this team just looks on the outside
(05:05):
to me so hungry. How would you measure the growth
of this team's camaraderie through the spring, in the summer,
and how beneficial is all of that to the ultimate
goal for this team?
Speaker 4 (05:14):
It's been huge, right, And it's not to say we
weren't a connected team a year ago, but this team
feels different and it's really been spearheaded by our head coach,
right Mike from day one has just emphasized the connectivity
of the unit and making sure we're not worried about results,
but just in the process and how we do things.
And that's huge, particularly when you're practicing and get your
(05:36):
own team right, because it's so easy right in this
macho alpha world to get to get caught up in
wins and losses on plays when ultimately all that matters
is how you're doing things and the results will come.
And then he's given us opportunities to just hang and
hang with each other. Right that this road trip we
just went on for ten eleven days, I can't tell
you how many guys that I wouldn't expect to be
(05:56):
hanging out together were And when you that like it,
just it pays so many dividends down the road.
Speaker 5 (06:03):
Do you get a chance to be part of those
hangs a.
Speaker 3 (06:05):
Little bit with the players? I did? I did. I
joined a couple.
Speaker 4 (06:08):
Let's see, I went to the linebacker dinner and then
the outside backer and d line dinner. I ate like
I was going to prison when we got back, So
I'm working off some of that way.
Speaker 3 (06:18):
But no, it was awesome.
Speaker 4 (06:19):
It's just awesome just again just being with those guys
in a different environment where kind of they dropped the
shit a little bit and you can just develop more
personal relationship. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (06:29):
It reminds me of like travel ball as a kid, right,
you around the teammates and you develop a relationship on
the ruin some of those tournaments. And one thing that
we always hear from coach speaking of like the culture
aspect of this team Coach McDaniel, and of course is
he talks when his desire to hire you as a
defensive coordinator came through what your scheme does to challenge
his offensive scheme, and he said that the day that's
something very interesting about how it's simple for the defense
(06:51):
to digest, but it makes it so hard on the offense.
For all the stuff you guys can get to without
giving away your secrets. What does that mean or like,
what does that look like?
Speaker 3 (06:59):
Yeah, that's that's everything. I think.
Speaker 4 (07:03):
What you're always trying to do is make really have
the illusion of complexity where you know, you move a
couple of pieces or you change some fronts and you
show some disguises and the offenses is guessing right, they
can't be right, And all you're trying to do is
make sure you're not the crappy poker player at the table.
And we've just found a way to make it digestible
for players where it's not. It's it's simple for us,
(07:26):
but harden everybody else.
Speaker 2 (07:27):
What's the old saying, if you can't spot the fish,
you're the fish at the card table.
Speaker 4 (07:30):
Absolutely, absolutely, And there's genius in the simplicity. Yeah, I
have to think about doing simple better and trying to
make that complicated.
Speaker 5 (07:38):
So on that front seven.
Speaker 2 (07:39):
You talked about going out with the linebackers and in
front guys like birds of a feather, Right, that's where
you played in your career. You wind up for sure
falling around those guys. But I look at this group
and the fan base is so excited about too. Defensive tackle, edge,
off ball, linebacker. These groups are so deep. I mean,
you've got four or five, six, seven guys some of
these spots that can they look like they can play.
Why is it important for the defense that you want
to play for those spots to be so deep.
Speaker 4 (08:01):
I've always thought that you build different from the inside out, right, Yeah,
you have to make sure that you try to make
these offenses one dimensional. Off of a team can run
the ball downhill on you, you're gonna have issues, right,
So we try to eliminate that with some of the
guys that we've hadded, and obviously try to protect our
backers who need to be fast and to run. In
order to do that, you gotta have some bulk and
(08:22):
then ultimately you got to be able to rush the
passer and a lot of that, a lot of that,
you know, you need middle push, you need guys to
disrupt the middle of the pocket. Fortunately have that right
with Zach Sealer and Kenneth Grant some of the other guys,
We've got it. And then when they get that mental push,
you need your edges to come alive, and that in
turn helps the secondary rights. It's rushing coverage together. I've
been on teams that have had one and not the other,
(08:43):
and those things don't work for those things that work
very well. So I think we have the perfect mix
here of cover guys and rushers and linebackers that can
cover ground who are physical. So I'm super excited about
the potential of the group.
Speaker 2 (08:56):
When you are talking about front seven play or set
in the edge, or you know, disrupting a app as
a pass rusher, whatever it might be upfront, do you
or does anybody else ever pull up old Anthony Weaver.
Speaker 5 (09:05):
Tape to show the examples.
Speaker 2 (09:06):
I think someone talks about showing something on the offensive
side once upon time, does that.
Speaker 1 (09:09):
Come up on defense?
Speaker 3 (09:10):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (09:10):
Yeah, so, well a couple of instances right there. There's
a clip today of our Assistan DP coach Deshaun Shed
getting beat by Julio Jones, which there could.
Speaker 3 (09:19):
Be a lot of people on that tape.
Speaker 4 (09:21):
Anybody, right and then a few weeks back, we were trying
to emphasize like interceptions and tips and overthrowers and trying
to get those those plays, and Kim J. Cotton, our
assistantd line coach and Deshaun pulled up a clip from
me from like two thousand and six, which also happens
to be the heaviest I've ever been as a player.
So I had to pick and had like a twenty
(09:41):
yard return, but I looked like I got stung by
because I mean I hardly recognized the guy out there.
Speaker 3 (09:47):
Just too funning.
Speaker 5 (09:48):
I love you.
Speaker 2 (09:49):
It's I was telling coach a Rougia the other day, like,
your releases look pretty good going againstow scores getting off
the line.
Speaker 3 (09:54):
I know, but I think he's in the cold tub
every night too.
Speaker 2 (09:57):
So I told myself, I think you slowed down a
little bit, and he was like, man, I'm looking old
out there.
Speaker 3 (10:01):
My knees hurt. With how many releases they try to show.
Speaker 5 (10:05):
It's too much.
Speaker 2 (10:06):
It's late into the dog days every time to back
it off a little bit less, some of the receivers
go af from like that, let's pause for a quick
break and come back on the other side with more
from my chat with Dolphins defensive coordinator Anthony Weaver.
Speaker 5 (10:19):
It's a little bit more of a serious note here.
Speaker 2 (10:21):
Obviously, you know, the league has changed so much since
you played, and even in the last couple of years.
Speaker 5 (10:25):
I mean, it seems like it changes every single year.
Speaker 2 (10:27):
But I'm curious to get your perspective over you know,
a two decades span, give or take, how much from
a defensive perspective, have you noticed the league changed from
what it was and how you call a defense or
maybe just how the defense is played from early two
thousands towards here in twenty twenty five.
Speaker 3 (10:41):
I mean, it's night and days. It's crazy, right, right,
it's night and day.
Speaker 4 (10:44):
I think back when I was playing, if a team
got in slot formation, that was exotic.
Speaker 3 (10:49):
Right.
Speaker 4 (10:50):
So now when you include all the motion shifting, the
mobility of the quarterbacks, it's just becomes such so much
more of a space game where it used to be like,
let's see if we can get three yards and knock
people off the ball and three yards and cloud of dust. Right,
people aren't lining up and running nice, so you don't
have two hundred and sixty pounds mic backers and things
(11:10):
like that.
Speaker 3 (11:10):
Anymore.
Speaker 4 (11:12):
So because of that, I think it's more exciting for
the fan base too. You know, you don't have as
many ten to seven games, but the x's nose and
the strategy involved in just trying to eliminate space, whether
that'd be with speed or force from our end, is
still the same.
Speaker 3 (11:27):
You're just operating with more space now.
Speaker 2 (11:29):
Yeah, I kind of feel like we jumped the shark
a little bit a few years back when it was
like forty to thirty games on average that Rams and
Chiefs game. Once upon time that was like fifty five
to fifty one. Like I kind of like a little
more defense.
Speaker 5 (11:39):
I'm sure you do.
Speaker 4 (11:40):
Yeah, I think at that point the offensive scheme was
ahead of the defensive scheme and it's starting to even
out a little bit more now.
Speaker 5 (11:47):
Yeah, it makes perfect sense.
Speaker 2 (11:48):
Like I said, it makes for a better product to me,
even though fantasy heads might not agree with all that,
but I think it's a better product. And kind of going,
you know, deeper into this conversation about the staff in
your second year here. I'm curious because it is your
second year is the DC, and you've talked about the
collaboration with your staff. Here, a couple of times in
press conferences. What excites you the most about having that
continuity and coming back for a second year with you again?
Speaker 4 (12:08):
Yeah, First, I think I have an outstanding staff, right,
just from from top to bottom on all levels. Right,
you start up front with Ryan Crow and Clarkey and
KNJ do a tremendous job of those guys, and you
go to linebackers with Joe Barry and Matt O'donnald and
my secondary I got like seal Team six back there
with those guys, right with coach Duker and Rugo and
(12:28):
Slow the bigger Deshaun said, of course, for get to
mention him. But the biggest thing I think coming into
year two is it's just alignment and vision. I think
year one really I was really the only person I
was able to come from Baltimore. So not only were
we trying to teach the players what we were looking for,
what I was looking for, but I was also trying
to teach the coaches. And there's a lot of trial
(12:51):
and error in that. Well, we don't have to do
that anymore. We found that probably about a third way
through the season last year. We figured out a rhythm
and what there's just an alignment of how we all
want it to look like. And now that we have that,
we've just been chasing all the small, intricate details which
can take us from good degrees. So just super excited
about where we're at, and just it's just it's not
(13:13):
just us as a staff, but that there's a trickle
down there now right or even from a players standpoint,
they can see the confidence in us and what we're doing.
Speaker 5 (13:20):
That must accelerate the starting point. Right.
Speaker 3 (13:24):
Well, absolutely were.
Speaker 4 (13:26):
We were so much further ahead at this point in
June than we were the year prior because of that.
Speaker 2 (13:32):
Yeah, I love I love hearing that, and it's it's
content to be on both sides of the football, the
offensive staff and here for quite a while together as well.
And kind of going back to the question about you know,
Mike crediting your defensive scheme with giving his offensive scheme
issues in the past, or the most challenge you wanted
to face, I'd ask that question to you in reverse.
How does this offense challenge you and your staff on
that defense?
Speaker 4 (13:50):
Yeah, this is a this is not a one sided question, right.
I was unfortunately on the other side of the field
in twenty three when they hung up six hundred on us,
which force us into a complete, like off season study
on how we're not going to allow that to happen again.
So it's the same thing, just the speed, the motions,
(14:12):
the accuracy of the quarterback, how everything looks the same.
It is an absolute nightmare, and I'm glad fortunately that
I just have to practice against it most of the time.
Speaker 2 (14:23):
The amount of times I've seen the four sixty six
and six game for two is probably one.
Speaker 5 (14:27):
That's my favorite movie at this point.
Speaker 4 (14:28):
It's one of those things right now that I'm here,
it's like, oh, yeah, that's great, but it's a scar.
It's very much a scar, and that scap gets ripped
open every time I see that.
Speaker 5 (14:36):
It's too funny, good stuff.
Speaker 2 (14:37):
Man, it's the fan base loves it, maybe not so
much of those tide of the ball. That's how this
league goes. I'll finish with this. So you've spent again
months collaborating with your staff and putting hours out on
the grass, and now that the season is here, what
did you learn about this group over the course of
all that sweat equity from you know, back in phase
one of OTA's to where we are now with the
season right around the corner.
Speaker 4 (14:55):
It's a determined bunch and they've been that way since
day one. The guys that are returning, and what I've
told them, and I've believed this wholeheartedly, is that even
though last season a lot of it was seen as
a disappointment, I see a team that was two and
six and responded right when it would have been very
easily to fold up, shot right in the quit. We
(15:18):
didn't do that. So hopefully we continue to building that
momentum and take that into twenty five season with some
interjections of talent and you know, just personalities and guys
that are just as hungry as the ones that were here.
So super excited and the word is definitely a determined bunch.
Speaker 2 (15:35):
As if we needed more reason to be excited about football,
it's almost here in the Dolphins season. Almost back right
around the corner, Dolphins defensive corner to Anthony Weaver, appreciate
your time today, Yeah, of course, of course, and away
he goes, and we're going to get into the camp
takeaways here in just one second. But I've talked about
it on the podcast last year. I talked about it
throughout the course of this offseason. Kind of, you know,
(15:57):
putting the defensive acquisitions through the prism of what does
Anthony Weavers defense do at a high level, and how
can this new personnel in twenty twenty five take what
we saw in twenty four and expand upon that and
take it to a different level. And I keep going
back to the construction of the defenses that are trying
(16:18):
to do similar things to what that twenty twenty three
Ravens defense did when they had Anthony Weaver on staff,
with Zachary Orr, with Mike McDonald, with Denard Wilson. That
have all gone across the league as a head coach
in Seattle and then d c's in Tennessee, Miami and Baltimore, respectively,
And that's what they've tried to do. They've built out
the front, They've loaded up the edges with multiple guys,
(16:40):
and really put their stamp on the middle linebacker position
as one of the most important in the defense. And
we've seen, you know, Jordan Brooks was one of the
first signings of Anthony Weaver's defense here last year in Miami.
We see them go after Anthony Walker to kind of
you know, supplement David Long. Both those moves didn't work
in twenty four they move off of that. They find
Dodson mid season who becomes an instant hit, and then
(17:02):
they go out and they get Willie Gay and kJ
Britt that look to kind of, you know, fortify that
position in terms of what they want from that spot.
And so I just think that you had a very
successful first year here with coach Weaver run on this defense,
and then you were able to develop continuity on the
defensive staff and better envision what that looks like. And
you heard him talk about it there right, the idea
(17:24):
that you know, the first year here he was kind
of teaching the staff what he looks for and now
they've got a full year of that under their belt.
He talked about that one third mark of the season
kind of being where things turned around for them a
little bit. And I go back to like the Arizona
and Buffalo games, when you're without Zach Seeler, it's a
pretty pretty difficult, you know, position to fill, as they
(17:45):
were down their key guy on the front. But he
comes back and you get you know, showings like fifteen
points at the Los Angeles Rams, nineteen points against the Raiders,
fifteen points against the Patriots thirty against the Packers that
was just an ugly game all around, and then the
win over the Jets, and they did a good job
against the Texans and did a great job against Purty
and the forty nine ers and the Browns the following week.
(18:06):
Like you can see where that transition, that pivot began
to kind of take hold for this defense. And I'm
so excited about how they can grow off of that
and build off of that, and not just from what
we saw a year ago and guys like Chop Robinson
taking a big step in his second year, but man,
all the additions they made to really funnel this idea
of let's make it tough on the quarterback. Let's pressure him,
(18:29):
let's move him off the spot, let's make him hesitant
in his first read and his decisions, and let's go
ahead and populate at the back end with guys that
can find the football, that have good eyes and zone coverage,
but also can you know moonlight as press man cover corners,
and guys that play multiple spots that allow us to
disguise all of our coverages. Like watch the tape with
Jason Marshall Junior this preseason and you're seeing him a
(18:51):
Minka Fitzpatrick operate in a lot of the same type
of capacity that I think was probably some of the
vision there for Ashton Davis before his injury, but from
a different position. And it allows you to be flexible
and move guys around and if you have a hard
time figuring out when you watch the games, that's how
the quarterback views that too. So I think the concept
of play good run defense, that's where he started on
(19:13):
the interview right, talking about clogging things up and playing
the run from light boxes, which is how this league
operates nowadays, and it's why you know, a lot of
us are excited about the idea of Oli Gordon running
against a defense that has to protect the deep part
of the field against Reek and waddle with you know,
maybe even Taj Washington getting some burn out there as well.
But it's the same concept defensively, and in order to
(19:34):
be able to defend, you know, against the run with
light boxes, you need Zack Seeler, you need Kenneth Grant,
you need Jordan Phillips, you need Jordan Brooks, like they've
got the pieces to let that happen. And then once
we can create third downs, whether the sack. You know,
the pressure gets home for a sack, or they force
the ball out hot and it allows a cornerback or
a safety who's just playing, you know, off drop coverage.
(19:56):
Eyes in the quarterback read that pressure out and there's
drive on the foot, go make a play. I think
you're gonna get a lot more takeaways this year from
this defense, and even if they allow twenty five points
per game, if they can flip the game on its
head once or twice with a big takeaway and give
the offense a short field. This offense hasn't had short
fields in a couple of years now. Takeaways had been
really down. And I don't think that was a Coach
(20:19):
Weaver defensive thing last year. I think it was more
about the personnel and the lack of pressure they got
because of the absence of Chubb and Phillips. And I
mean you're playing Emmanuel Ogba, who I think is a
great dude and was a good player for a long time,
but probably was a little bit slower last year, maybe
lost a step, lost some juice at this point of
his career, Like he was kind of your top edge
before Chop Robinson developed and became who he was in
(20:41):
the second half of the season and now Chops even better,
and that depth of rush, the ability to be multiple
with speed and power, and the ability to condense guys
and move guys outside and operate rush games off that
we saw in the Jags game in the preseason, albeit exhibition,
and a backup offensive line and a backup quarterback. But
where does your protection go when you have Phillips and
(21:01):
Chop aligned to the same side. Who's the tackle going
to pick up? Can the guard handle the speed of
Chop around his inside post when the tackle has to
be worried about, you know, handling Jalen Phillips one on one.
There is just so much to sort through with how
you block these guys up front. And I think that's
pretty damn intentional with how they went about this offseason.
Speaker 1 (21:18):
So I'm excited about it.
Speaker 2 (21:19):
Let's go ahead and take a break right there, come
back and do my August takeaways to close out this podcast.
That's next Drivetime podcast brought to you by Auto Nation.
A month of football practice and fake football games brings
us to this point and brings us to the point
of the year where everyone gets off their takes and
their predictions, and it usually all goes awry. Speaking of that,
(21:42):
We're gonna have the preview podcast of the entire NFL
season on Tuesday, where I predict everyone's record, every playoff game,
every single game of the regular season for that matter,
and the end of season awards. So do not miss
that and see how right or how wrong I probably
am on all those predictions. But for now, it was
a month of a lot, I mean, twenty practices, three games,
(22:03):
eleven day road trip, all getting ready for that opener
against the Colts next Sunday, not this Sunday, next Sunday.
And I've got a few takeaways for you. We're gonna
have this on the HP episode, but I want to
go ahead and go more in depth here on the
podcast with this and to kind of parlay the last
segment into this one. The first takeaway is the many
options of Anthony Weaver in that front seven. And we
(22:26):
kind of went over this, but you know, McDaniel had
mentioned this in a couple of press conferences previously. The
idea to hire Weaver ahead of the twenty four season
was due in large part to the fact that the
scheme that he brought with him had given Miami and
the Shanahan type of offenses issues. I posted this or
I where did I write this? I think in the
(22:47):
Antheon Weaver feature on the team yearbook this year discussing
how that Ravens defense allowed just sixteen points per game
and had sixty quarterback sacks that year, and not only that,
they held the Niners in Dolphins who averaged for the
Niners it was twenty eight points per game for the
Dolphins twenty nine and a half points per game. They
held those offenses to nineteen points in those two games,
(23:09):
and they were back to back games late in the
season when they were really cooking that time of year,
and McDaniel talks about how that was a system that
had given his you know, offense's fits and to me,
it's a best of both world situation because you have
this ability to you know. And this is something that
I think Brett Coleman the Film Room YouTube channel covered
(23:29):
about the complexities of this defensive system where they have
like one word tags for their rush games up front
and everybody knows them from every position, so you can
simply rifle through the many presentations and sim pressures and
overloads and stunts and twists and games up front that
you run, and it makes it boil down to this
that Mike McDaniel said, which is it's simple for the
(23:52):
defense to digest, but complex for the offense to dissect.
That's actually my phrase all phrasing there, but it's the
same idea. But last year they didn't really have the
pieces to run that. I mean, we've talked about it
at length now. Without Chubb and Phillips, Chopp was was
pretty green and kind of a you know, at first,
kind of a third down rusher before he kind of
got his run defense going there a little bit. Sealer
(24:12):
missed some time in the middle of the season. Kalai
Is Campbell a good player, but not a you know,
not some spring chicken who's playing nine hundred snaps in
the season. They were so limited that you saw Emmanuel
Ogback come in here, who wasn't a fit for the
defense in my opinion, and play a hefty workload. Quentin
Bell was starting for half the season, and he's kind
of kind of falling into, you know, recording this ahead
(24:32):
of time. Will he be on the roster, Will he
be a sixth or seventh edge for you that kind
of play special teams and not much else. And those
were guys that were prominent snap takers, and now you're
going to be looking at like if you get into
the injuries, you know, Matt Judon is like a top guy.
So everywhere you look, I would say last year's Edge
two would have been like Edge six on this year's
football team.
Speaker 3 (24:53):
Right.
Speaker 2 (24:54):
So when you have the ability to create more pressure
and get to those games and utilize more of what
Zen Stealer can do, I just think you're gonna really
heat up quarterbacks no matter what the offensive line, who
the quarterback is, or who you face against you every
week on offense. So it does start upfront with that guy,
Zack Stealer Kenneth Grant. I think the two of them together,
(25:15):
their size and speed profiles and the length of Zack Sealer,
the pick stunts, all they can do. It's a nice
blend of youth and experience, and quite frankly, I think
when he gets his game up to standard in terms
of the technique and fundamentals, I think Grant's going to
surpass everybody on the defensive line, Stealer included, and be
the best player on this front. Last year was the
best year of Bonito Jones' career, and quite frankly, I
(25:35):
think he's going to get bumped sooner than later by
Jordan Phillips because of what he did this summer and
what I think he'll do come games in September. We've
talked about the return at the outside linebacker position with
Chop Robinson. I just think there's too much to handle
there for opposing offenses when you want to get three
of them on the field together. Talk about seventy two
career sacks form Matthew Judahon. Just the dichotomy of speed
(25:56):
and power in this group really does a lot to
open up the rush lanes and then exploit them once
they are opened up. The additions of Britt and Willie
Gay at that linebacker position behind Brooks and Dodson, I mean,
that's fast, physical, elite technique and guys that are dogs
and hungry and want to play at a high level,
and they kind of hold each other to a certain standard.
This Dolphins front seven, to kind of put a bow
(26:18):
on the takeaway, might be the best in the league.
I think it's one of the deepest and has a
chance to be the very top one in the league,
especially when you factor in the idea that has one
of the best defensive play callers and game plan designers
we saw back in twenty twenty four. So first takeaway,
Anthony Weaver has a defense that fits his vision to
create chaos in that front seven. The second takeaway, and
(26:38):
this is an expansion of that a little bit here.
This rookie class has a chance to be very good
and can turn what was kind of a soft rebuild.
And Kyle Krabs covered this so well and has Lockdown
Dolphins podcast this offseason. The Rams doing this a couple
of years ago. The Niners are kind of undergoing something
similar where you had these good, loaded, veteran laden teams
(26:58):
and then once that kind of hit, you had to pivot.
And for the Rams, it was a soft rebuild coming
off a year where Stafford got injured and everybody predicted
them me included, to win four or five games that year,
and they spammed their roster with like a you know,
literally forty rookies and they get five or six of
them to hit, and all of a sudden, you've got
cheap labor that it contributes to your roster in a big, big,
(27:19):
big way. And I think you've seen that develop in
the right direction. I'm not gonna go all the way
and say it's a success so far or yet I
should say, but so far it has been because Kenneth
Grant I think is going to be Dexter Lawrence, Like,
I really believe that's his upside. Jonas of I and Aya,
I thought preseason was up and down, but once they
start kind of game playing for this stuff and giving
him some more help in terms of the protection, you'll
(27:39):
see his ability to move buys in the running game
really kind of make this Dolphins team more tough, more physical,
and more versatile in the running game. And then, arguably
the most productive player from the entire rookie class was
Jordan Phillips, who I think is already like a pretty
damn good nose tackle who can develop the pass rush
game as he goes along. Jason Marshall Junior began playing
nickel two weeks ago, and we'll see. I don't want
(28:01):
to get too far in front of myself here, but
it looks really good, especially with how they can disguise
all the stuff they do on the back end because
of his football IQ that I just wasn't really aware of.
It was kind of a new thing that hits you
across the face. And this is why camp is so
imperative and why these practices in these games mean so much,
because we might have might have learned about a player
that we didn't know about coming into this that could
(28:22):
be a really big impact player back on the offensive
side of the football like Alli Gordon looks like a
four minute offense short yardage and possibly even like every
down guy that can be a bellcow for you and
help take some of the pressure off de von A
chant Zeke Bigger's looked really good as an end, non
a defensive tackle. Don't listen to people think he's a
nose tackle because he's not. He plays zero snaps and
nose tackle. This summer is like Grant and Phillips, plenty
(28:44):
of quality preseason tape. Dante Trader I think has a
chance to be a at very least a good special
teamers and sub package safety for you. Quinn Ewers made
some plays and has a chance to develop in this offense.
Like McDaniel, talked about building the culture of this team
through the draft, and it's way too early to make
any problem, but the early returns are very promising. And finally,
our third takeaway the offensive balance I think has returned
(29:07):
in terms of getting the run game going again. The
run game struggled big time in the second half of
last season, seventy two yards per game on the ground
without Austin Jackson. The injuries at that position at running back,
the quarterback being out for the lineup for so many
games changes the equation there. But all these reinforcements I
think supplement that entire process. You know, we talked about
(29:27):
savike I Naya and James Daniels that allow you to
go more than just outside zone were last year. I
thought the guards with Robert Jones and leam Meikenberg limited
your outside zone game, and they weren't, you know, big
body movers enough to be able to run inside zone
and duo and even power concepts and counter the way
the Dolphins have this preseason, those two guys flanking Aaron
(29:48):
Brewer in the pivot, which just makes for a lock
solid three man interior and then outside. I think getting
Patrick Paul on the practice field every day and playing
possibly seventeen games if he does all of that, yeah,
I think would actually be an upgrade on to Ron Armstead,
because as great as he was, I don't think that
he you know, twelve games of armsteads better than seventeen
games of Patrick Paul and then Austin Jackson pretty much
(30:10):
just has to stay healthy.
Speaker 1 (30:11):
You know what you have there?
Speaker 2 (30:12):
He is a tone setter off the right side of
the offensive line. Nick Westbrook, A Keene to me is
like your best blocking edge, and that's tight ends or otherwise.
You know, we'll see about Julian Hill in that department
this year. But the skill players gave you depth as well.
Beyond Tyreek and Wadham Leake Washington looks awesome. Looks like
a big time space eater that can eat up one
on one coverage. DS Gridge a good camp Taj. Washington
(30:35):
has that kind of speed element nobody else has. I
just think the entire offseason for the Dolphins was intentional.
Speaker 1 (30:40):
They got deeper.
Speaker 2 (30:40):
I thought they got more physical, and they put in
a ton of work at training camp this year to
refine that craft and I cannot wait to watch how
it develops. My takeaway number four A bonus here for
you guys is you pretty clearly know the parts of
the roster you might have to game plan around this year,
right Because I keep getting these takes in my.
Speaker 1 (30:59):
Inbox DMS or on my mentions.
Speaker 2 (31:02):
That's like, I can't believe they went into the season
with this you know type of question at tight end cornerback.
It's like, show me more than two teams across the league,
like Baltimore and Philadelphia are pretty much the only teams
that have you know, every room is not a question mark,
like there's no question marks in your roster. Every team
has question marks and you have to find a way.
Just like when you have injuries in season. Everyone thinks
(31:23):
you lose Tyreek Hill for a game, you can't win
that game, and they go out and beat the Jets
thirty to nothing. Like when you're down a part or
two for a couple of games, you can game plan
around that part. And when you go into the season
with your roster construction a certain way, you know how
you have to game plan that. I think part of
that is this front taking pressure off the cornerbacks. They're
not going to ask these guys to go play press
man coverage and hold up for four seconds every single step.
Speaker 1 (31:44):
They would be crazy to do that.
Speaker 2 (31:46):
At the tight end position, They're not going to ask
these guys to do you know, a lot in terms
of like being having a guy that is both a
blocker and a receiver. I guess two different positions in
the F and the Y. So I think those two
spots are the are the big question marks. I do
not subscribe to the idea of the offensive line depth
is bad because two quality depth pieces are out right
now and we'll return in Meyer and Eichenberg. I thought
(32:07):
Brunskill was good. I thought key On Smith showed enough
promise to keep his development going here. I thought Larry
Boram had a good preseason despite people wanting to confirm
their priors there.
Speaker 1 (32:16):
And we'll see how it all shakes out.
Speaker 2 (32:18):
But I think that that's kind of what you have
to game plan around right now is potentially the cornerback
position and the tight end spot and every other spot
on the roster has good starters and good depth in it,
and I'm excited about that.
Speaker 1 (32:29):
There you go. That's the show.
Speaker 4 (32:30):
You all.
Speaker 2 (32:30):
Please be sure to come back tomorrow for a mailback episode.
Put your questions in on the Twitter, the tweet that
I sent out, the post, whatever the hell the website's
called now, and we'll do that podcast tomorrow. Take Monday off,
have the Tuesday preview podcast. And then once Wednesday gets here,
it's all Colts content the rest of the week as
the season is just around the corner.
Speaker 1 (32:48):
In the meantime, you all.
Speaker 2 (32:49):
Please be sure to subscribe, rate, review the show, follow
me on social at me for NFL the team at
Miami Dolphins. Check out the YouTube channel for the episode
of Dolphins HQ covering this content tonight on the YouTube channel,
and last button, not least, Miami Dolphins dot com.
Speaker 1 (33:05):
Until next time, Fin's up Caroline, Cameron and Willow Daddy.
He's coming home.
This is Drivetime with Travis Wingfield.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
What is Up Dolphins? And welcome to the Draft Time Podcast.
I am your host, Travis Wingfield. And on today's show,
camp and preseason, all of that is a wrap. We
are one week away from the Colts Preview podcast next Thursday.
Today on the show, however, we're gonna put a bow
on the entire month of August and give you all
my takeaways from the month of August. Plus to kick
(00:34):
the show off, a very special guest today, Dolphins defensive
coordinator Anthony Weaver, joins the show from the Baptist Health
Studios inside the Baptist Health Training Complex. This is the
Draft Time Podcast. What's Up Dolphins? And welcome back into
the Draft Time Podcast. And my guest today is a
man that I've been looking forward to having on the
(00:55):
show here for quite some time. He is the defensive
coordinator of your Miami Dolphins, and I believe the longest
drive in the entire building, Anthony Weaver, Man, what's up?
Three ten, three twenty off of tea these days? That's
the average, right, it.
Speaker 3 (01:08):
Needs to be windated.
Speaker 4 (01:09):
That's if that's the case, and I'm dealing with a
back my low backspot of me right now, So I'm
not getting anywhere.
Speaker 3 (01:15):
Close to that.
Speaker 2 (01:16):
Tiger Woods have a back injury. Once he came back
and was fifty, he is elite?
Speaker 5 (01:20):
Is I believe in you?
Speaker 2 (01:21):
But all jokes ISID I want to go back to
football and start there because we've every time I ask
your players about you, they always talk about your experience
as a player and how that helps you connect with them,
And so I want to get that from your perspective
on how your playing career helped inform you about your
ability to connect with players as a coach.
Speaker 3 (01:38):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (01:38):
I think initially at the CUFFE started to think, oh, well,
I've walked in their shoes, right, there's a lot of
things that they're going through on the field that I
can relate to. What I think is actually gives me
more like credibility with the guys. Are really the hardships
I had, particularly when I went to Houston, right, pretty
high paid free agent and to be honest, like just
(02:00):
failed there, Like didn't didn't meet the expectations I set
for myself and Neville got cut in that moment. As
a player, you just think it's the worst thing that
happen to you. Ever right, and you're like, oh my god,
like I'm a failure, Like how can I recover from this?
But in hindsight, what you what you realized was a
problem was actually a gift now that I'm coaching, because
when I see players going through these similar troubles, and
(02:23):
all of them do at some point one time or another,
I can help coach them through that.
Speaker 3 (02:27):
So outside of the things.
Speaker 4 (02:29):
That that I've been through and I've lived through on
the field and know what they're going through there, I
think the bigger place that I can be of assistance
is in dealing with some hardships and failures they're going through.
Speaker 2 (02:38):
The first thing that comes to mind when you talk
about that's like Zach Sealer, Right, We talked about him
in a press conference recently, where it's like, Zach, we
cut that guy in Baltimore and now he's here balling out.
Speaker 3 (02:46):
He doesn't Dolphins. How incredible is that? Right? But that
that's the story of so many, right.
Speaker 4 (02:52):
You know the you know the first round picks, you
know the superstars, but there's eighty five percent in the
league that isn't that, right, who are striving to get
that And those are the guys you got to you
got to make sure you touch the most.
Speaker 2 (03:03):
That's what makes camp in August and preseason fun to
me is that the unknowns that they pop up and
it makes you know everyone's predictions go out the window,
like week one, it seems like. So that connection does
seem so authentic with your players, and it's it's fun
to watch them afar and up close, obviously, but you're
ultimately judged by the seventeen tapes you put out there
every single year. But there's more than just schemes and
what you can cook up for you know, putting quarterbacks
(03:24):
through stressful you know, looks and everything. That relationship with
your players, like, why is that so important to you?
To establish that first and foremost?
Speaker 3 (03:31):
It's everything, Right.
Speaker 4 (03:33):
I've always said that that if you want to if
you want to take a team from good to great,
then you need to you need to develop relationships on
one another. U It can be transcending for a football
team where you're not just playing for each other, but
you're playing for their family and their kids, and their
wives and their girlfriends and all those things.
Speaker 3 (03:49):
So you have to have that.
Speaker 4 (03:51):
You have to build trust and build that connection just
so you can you can be as connected a team
and reach whatever you're ceiling.
Speaker 2 (03:58):
Maybe, yeah, it makes perfect sense. And I think this
is kind of a lead into this question. Was those
first two answers, What is your favorite part of coaching?
It probably is that I'm guessing maybe not, But what
brings you the most fulfillment when it comes to your
career as a coach?
Speaker 4 (04:10):
I think it's just just seeing the growth and evolution
of players. And the beauty in this is that you
get a new crop every year, right, so they're usually
like unmolded balls of clay. And when you start to
when you start to give them the wisdom that you've
essentially gathered over the years and you start to see
them develop, it's it's almost like raising the kid, right
you see them walk for the first time and you
see them have successes. Like the same joy that I
(04:33):
have as a parent I have with watching these players
become better and ultimately like maximize their God given ability,
which is all we're trying to do.
Speaker 2 (04:42):
You're talking my language right now, but my daughter started kindergarten.
Just seeing that growth, it's it makes you so proud
that it's the best thing in the entire world. I'm
sure that's something similar when it comes to being a
football coach. And you know, on the topic of this team,
we've heard all off season, and you know, it's been
so consistent about the cultureless team wants to set and build,
you know, through draft and getting young, hungry players and
creating competition. And this team just looks on the outside
(05:05):
to me so hungry. How would you measure the growth
of this team's camaraderie through the spring, in the summer,
and how beneficial is all of that to the ultimate
goal for this team?
Speaker 4 (05:14):
It's been huge, right, And it's not to say we
weren't a connected team a year ago, but this team
feels different and it's really been spearheaded by our head coach,
right Mike from day one has just emphasized the connectivity
of the unit and making sure we're not worried about results,
but just in the process and how we do things.
And that's huge, particularly when you're practicing and get your
(05:36):
own team right, because it's so easy right in this
macho alpha world to get to get caught up in
wins and losses on plays when ultimately all that matters
is how you're doing things and the results will come.
And then he's given us opportunities to just hang and
hang with each other. Right that this road trip we
just went on for ten eleven days, I can't tell
you how many guys that I wouldn't expect to be
(05:56):
hanging out together were And when you that like it,
just it pays so many dividends down the road.
Speaker 5 (06:03):
Do you get a chance to be part of those
hangs a.
Speaker 3 (06:05):
Little bit with the players? I did? I did. I
joined a couple.
Speaker 4 (06:08):
Let's see, I went to the linebacker dinner and then
the outside backer and d line dinner. I ate like
I was going to prison when we got back, So
I'm working off some of that way.
Speaker 3 (06:18):
But no, it was awesome.
Speaker 4 (06:19):
It's just awesome just again just being with those guys
in a different environment where kind of they dropped the
shit a little bit and you can just develop more
personal relationship. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (06:29):
It reminds me of like travel ball as a kid, right,
you around the teammates and you develop a relationship on
the ruin some of those tournaments. And one thing that
we always hear from coach speaking of like the culture
aspect of this team Coach McDaniel, and of course is
he talks when his desire to hire you as a
defensive coordinator came through what your scheme does to challenge
his offensive scheme, and he said that the day that's
something very interesting about how it's simple for the defense
(06:51):
to digest, but it makes it so hard on the offense.
For all the stuff you guys can get to without
giving away your secrets. What does that mean or like,
what does that look like?
Speaker 3 (06:59):
Yeah, that's that's everything. I think.
Speaker 4 (07:03):
What you're always trying to do is make really have
the illusion of complexity where you know, you move a
couple of pieces or you change some fronts and you
show some disguises and the offenses is guessing right, they
can't be right, And all you're trying to do is
make sure you're not the crappy poker player at the table.
And we've just found a way to make it digestible
for players where it's not. It's it's simple for us,
(07:26):
but harden everybody else.
Speaker 2 (07:27):
What's the old saying, if you can't spot the fish,
you're the fish at the card table.
Speaker 4 (07:30):
Absolutely, absolutely, And there's genius in the simplicity. Yeah, I
have to think about doing simple better and trying to
make that complicated.
Speaker 5 (07:38):
So on that front seven.
Speaker 2 (07:39):
You talked about going out with the linebackers and in
front guys like birds of a feather, Right, that's where
you played in your career. You wind up for sure
falling around those guys. But I look at this group
and the fan base is so excited about too. Defensive tackle, edge,
off ball, linebacker. These groups are so deep. I mean,
you've got four or five, six, seven guys some of
these spots that can they look like they can play.
Why is it important for the defense that you want
to play for those spots to be so deep.
Speaker 4 (08:01):
I've always thought that you build different from the inside out, right, Yeah,
you have to make sure that you try to make
these offenses one dimensional. Off of a team can run
the ball downhill on you, you're gonna have issues, right,
So we try to eliminate that with some of the
guys that we've hadded, and obviously try to protect our
backers who need to be fast and to run. In
order to do that, you gotta have some bulk and
(08:22):
then ultimately you got to be able to rush the
passer and a lot of that, a lot of that,
you know, you need middle push, you need guys to
disrupt the middle of the pocket. Fortunately have that right
with Zach Sealer and Kenneth Grant some of the other guys,
We've got it. And then when they get that mental push,
you need your edges to come alive, and that in
turn helps the secondary rights. It's rushing coverage together. I've
been on teams that have had one and not the other,
(08:43):
and those things don't work for those things that work
very well. So I think we have the perfect mix
here of cover guys and rushers and linebackers that can
cover ground who are physical. So I'm super excited about
the potential of the group.
Speaker 2 (08:56):
When you are talking about front seven play or set
in the edge, or you know, disrupting a app as
a pass rusher, whatever it might be upfront, do you
or does anybody else ever pull up old Anthony Weaver.
Speaker 5 (09:05):
Tape to show the examples.
Speaker 2 (09:06):
I think someone talks about showing something on the offensive
side once upon time, does that.
Speaker 1 (09:09):
Come up on defense?
Speaker 3 (09:10):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (09:10):
Yeah, so, well a couple of instances right there. There's
a clip today of our Assistan DP coach Deshaun Shed
getting beat by Julio Jones, which there could.
Speaker 3 (09:19):
Be a lot of people on that tape.
Speaker 4 (09:21):
Anybody, right and then a few weeks back, we were trying
to emphasize like interceptions and tips and overthrowers and trying
to get those those plays, and Kim J. Cotton, our
assistantd line coach and Deshaun pulled up a clip from
me from like two thousand and six, which also happens
to be the heaviest I've ever been as a player.
So I had to pick and had like a twenty
(09:41):
yard return, but I looked like I got stung by
because I mean I hardly recognized the guy out there.
Speaker 3 (09:47):
Just too funning.
Speaker 5 (09:48):
I love you.
Speaker 2 (09:49):
It's I was telling coach a Rougia the other day, like,
your releases look pretty good going againstow scores getting off
the line.
Speaker 3 (09:54):
I know, but I think he's in the cold tub
every night too.
Speaker 2 (09:57):
So I told myself, I think you slowed down a
little bit, and he was like, man, I'm looking old
out there.
Speaker 3 (10:01):
My knees hurt. With how many releases they try to show.
Speaker 5 (10:05):
It's too much.
Speaker 2 (10:06):
It's late into the dog days every time to back
it off a little bit less, some of the receivers
go af from like that, let's pause for a quick
break and come back on the other side with more
from my chat with Dolphins defensive coordinator Anthony Weaver.
Speaker 5 (10:19):
It's a little bit more of a serious note here.
Speaker 2 (10:21):
Obviously, you know, the league has changed so much since
you played, and even in the last couple of years.
Speaker 5 (10:25):
I mean, it seems like it changes every single year.
Speaker 2 (10:27):
But I'm curious to get your perspective over you know,
a two decades span, give or take, how much from
a defensive perspective, have you noticed the league changed from
what it was and how you call a defense or
maybe just how the defense is played from early two
thousands towards here in twenty twenty five.
Speaker 3 (10:41):
I mean, it's night and days. It's crazy, right, right,
it's night and day.
Speaker 4 (10:44):
I think back when I was playing, if a team
got in slot formation, that was exotic.
Speaker 3 (10:49):
Right.
Speaker 4 (10:50):
So now when you include all the motion shifting, the
mobility of the quarterbacks, it's just becomes such so much
more of a space game where it used to be like,
let's see if we can get three yards and knock
people off the ball and three yards and cloud of dust. Right,
people aren't lining up and running nice, so you don't
have two hundred and sixty pounds mic backers and things
(11:10):
like that.
Speaker 3 (11:10):
Anymore.
Speaker 4 (11:12):
So because of that, I think it's more exciting for
the fan base too. You know, you don't have as
many ten to seven games, but the x's nose and
the strategy involved in just trying to eliminate space, whether
that'd be with speed or force from our end, is
still the same.
Speaker 3 (11:27):
You're just operating with more space now.
Speaker 2 (11:29):
Yeah, I kind of feel like we jumped the shark
a little bit a few years back when it was
like forty to thirty games on average that Rams and
Chiefs game. Once upon time that was like fifty five
to fifty one. Like I kind of like a little
more defense.
Speaker 5 (11:39):
I'm sure you do.
Speaker 4 (11:40):
Yeah, I think at that point the offensive scheme was
ahead of the defensive scheme and it's starting to even
out a little bit more now.
Speaker 5 (11:47):
Yeah, it makes perfect sense.
Speaker 2 (11:48):
Like I said, it makes for a better product to me,
even though fantasy heads might not agree with all that,
but I think it's a better product. And kind of going,
you know, deeper into this conversation about the staff in
your second year here. I'm curious because it is your
second year is the DC, and you've talked about the
collaboration with your staff. Here, a couple of times in
press conferences. What excites you the most about having that
continuity and coming back for a second year with you again?
Speaker 4 (12:08):
Yeah, First, I think I have an outstanding staff, right,
just from from top to bottom on all levels. Right,
you start up front with Ryan Crow and Clarkey and
KNJ do a tremendous job of those guys, and you
go to linebackers with Joe Barry and Matt O'donnald and
my secondary I got like seal Team six back there
with those guys, right with coach Duker and Rugo and
(12:28):
Slow the bigger Deshaun said, of course, for get to
mention him. But the biggest thing I think coming into
year two is it's just alignment and vision. I think
year one really I was really the only person I
was able to come from Baltimore. So not only were
we trying to teach the players what we were looking for,
what I was looking for, but I was also trying
to teach the coaches. And there's a lot of trial
(12:51):
and error in that. Well, we don't have to do
that anymore. We found that probably about a third way
through the season last year. We figured out a rhythm
and what there's just an alignment of how we all
want it to look like. And now that we have that,
we've just been chasing all the small, intricate details which
can take us from good degrees. So just super excited
about where we're at, and just it's just it's not
(13:13):
just us as a staff, but that there's a trickle
down there now right or even from a players standpoint,
they can see the confidence in us and what we're doing.
Speaker 5 (13:20):
That must accelerate the starting point. Right.
Speaker 3 (13:24):
Well, absolutely were.
Speaker 4 (13:26):
We were so much further ahead at this point in
June than we were the year prior because of that.
Speaker 2 (13:32):
Yeah, I love I love hearing that, and it's it's
content to be on both sides of the football, the
offensive staff and here for quite a while together as well.
And kind of going back to the question about you know,
Mike crediting your defensive scheme with giving his offensive scheme
issues in the past, or the most challenge you wanted
to face, I'd ask that question to you in reverse.
How does this offense challenge you and your staff on
that defense?
Speaker 4 (13:50):
Yeah, this is a this is not a one sided question, right.
I was unfortunately on the other side of the field
in twenty three when they hung up six hundred on us,
which force us into a complete, like off season study
on how we're not going to allow that to happen again.
So it's the same thing, just the speed, the motions,
(14:12):
the accuracy of the quarterback, how everything looks the same.
It is an absolute nightmare, and I'm glad fortunately that
I just have to practice against it most of the time.
Speaker 2 (14:23):
The amount of times I've seen the four sixty six
and six game for two is probably one.
Speaker 5 (14:27):
That's my favorite movie at this point.
Speaker 4 (14:28):
It's one of those things right now that I'm here,
it's like, oh, yeah, that's great, but it's a scar.
It's very much a scar, and that scap gets ripped
open every time I see that.
Speaker 5 (14:36):
It's too funny, good stuff.
Speaker 2 (14:37):
Man, it's the fan base loves it, maybe not so
much of those tide of the ball. That's how this
league goes. I'll finish with this. So you've spent again
months collaborating with your staff and putting hours out on
the grass, and now that the season is here, what
did you learn about this group over the course of
all that sweat equity from you know, back in phase
one of OTA's to where we are now with the
season right around the corner.
Speaker 4 (14:55):
It's a determined bunch and they've been that way since
day one. The guys that are returning, and what I've
told them, and I've believed this wholeheartedly, is that even
though last season a lot of it was seen as
a disappointment, I see a team that was two and
six and responded right when it would have been very
easily to fold up, shot right in the quit. We
(15:18):
didn't do that. So hopefully we continue to building that
momentum and take that into twenty five season with some
interjections of talent and you know, just personalities and guys
that are just as hungry as the ones that were here.
So super excited and the word is definitely a determined bunch.
Speaker 2 (15:35):
As if we needed more reason to be excited about football,
it's almost here in the Dolphins season. Almost back right
around the corner, Dolphins defensive corner to Anthony Weaver, appreciate
your time today, Yeah, of course, of course, and away
he goes, and we're going to get into the camp
takeaways here in just one second. But I've talked about
it on the podcast last year. I talked about it
throughout the course of this offseason. Kind of, you know,
(15:57):
putting the defensive acquisitions through the prism of what does
Anthony Weavers defense do at a high level, and how
can this new personnel in twenty twenty five take what
we saw in twenty four and expand upon that and
take it to a different level. And I keep going
back to the construction of the defenses that are trying
(16:18):
to do similar things to what that twenty twenty three
Ravens defense did when they had Anthony Weaver on staff,
with Zachary Orr, with Mike McDonald, with Denard Wilson. That
have all gone across the league as a head coach
in Seattle and then d c's in Tennessee, Miami and Baltimore, respectively,
And that's what they've tried to do. They've built out
the front, They've loaded up the edges with multiple guys,
(16:40):
and really put their stamp on the middle linebacker position
as one of the most important in the defense. And
we've seen, you know, Jordan Brooks was one of the
first signings of Anthony Weaver's defense here last year in Miami.
We see them go after Anthony Walker to kind of
you know, supplement David Long. Both those moves didn't work
in twenty four they move off of that. They find
Dodson mid season who becomes an instant hit, and then
(17:02):
they go out and they get Willie Gay and kJ
Britt that look to kind of, you know, fortify that
position in terms of what they want from that spot.
And so I just think that you had a very
successful first year here with coach Weaver run on this defense,
and then you were able to develop continuity on the
defensive staff and better envision what that looks like. And
you heard him talk about it there right, the idea
(17:24):
that you know, the first year here he was kind
of teaching the staff what he looks for and now
they've got a full year of that under their belt.
He talked about that one third mark of the season
kind of being where things turned around for them a
little bit. And I go back to like the Arizona
and Buffalo games, when you're without Zach Seeler, it's a
pretty pretty difficult, you know, position to fill, as they
(17:45):
were down their key guy on the front. But he
comes back and you get you know, showings like fifteen
points at the Los Angeles Rams, nineteen points against the Raiders,
fifteen points against the Patriots thirty against the Packers that
was just an ugly game all around, and then the
win over the Jets, and they did a good job
against the Texans and did a great job against Purty
and the forty nine ers and the Browns the following week.
(18:06):
Like you can see where that transition, that pivot began
to kind of take hold for this defense. And I'm
so excited about how they can grow off of that
and build off of that, and not just from what
we saw a year ago and guys like Chop Robinson
taking a big step in his second year, but man,
all the additions they made to really funnel this idea
of let's make it tough on the quarterback. Let's pressure him,
(18:29):
let's move him off the spot, let's make him hesitant
in his first read and his decisions, and let's go
ahead and populate at the back end with guys that
can find the football, that have good eyes and zone coverage,
but also can you know moonlight as press man cover corners,
and guys that play multiple spots that allow us to
disguise all of our coverages. Like watch the tape with
Jason Marshall Junior this preseason and you're seeing him a
(18:51):
Minka Fitzpatrick operate in a lot of the same type
of capacity that I think was probably some of the
vision there for Ashton Davis before his injury, but from
a different position. And it allows you to be flexible
and move guys around and if you have a hard
time figuring out when you watch the games, that's how
the quarterback views that too. So I think the concept
of play good run defense, that's where he started on
(19:13):
the interview right, talking about clogging things up and playing
the run from light boxes, which is how this league
operates nowadays, and it's why you know, a lot of
us are excited about the idea of Oli Gordon running
against a defense that has to protect the deep part
of the field against Reek and waddle with you know,
maybe even Taj Washington getting some burn out there as well.
But it's the same concept defensively, and in order to
(19:34):
be able to defend, you know, against the run with
light boxes, you need Zack Seeler, you need Kenneth Grant,
you need Jordan Phillips, you need Jordan Brooks, like they've
got the pieces to let that happen. And then once
we can create third downs, whether the sack. You know,
the pressure gets home for a sack, or they force
the ball out hot and it allows a cornerback or
a safety who's just playing, you know, off drop coverage.
(19:56):
Eyes in the quarterback read that pressure out and there's
drive on the foot, go make a play. I think
you're gonna get a lot more takeaways this year from
this defense, and even if they allow twenty five points
per game, if they can flip the game on its
head once or twice with a big takeaway and give
the offense a short field. This offense hasn't had short
fields in a couple of years now. Takeaways had been
really down. And I don't think that was a Coach
(20:19):
Weaver defensive thing last year. I think it was more
about the personnel and the lack of pressure they got
because of the absence of Chubb and Phillips. And I
mean you're playing Emmanuel Ogba, who I think is a
great dude and was a good player for a long time,
but probably was a little bit slower last year, maybe
lost a step, lost some juice at this point of
his career, Like he was kind of your top edge
before Chop Robinson developed and became who he was in
(20:41):
the second half of the season and now Chops even better,
and that depth of rush, the ability to be multiple
with speed and power, and the ability to condense guys
and move guys outside and operate rush games off that
we saw in the Jags game in the preseason, albeit exhibition,
and a backup offensive line and a backup quarterback. But
where does your protection go when you have Phillips and
(21:01):
Chop aligned to the same side. Who's the tackle going
to pick up? Can the guard handle the speed of
Chop around his inside post when the tackle has to
be worried about, you know, handling Jalen Phillips one on one.
There is just so much to sort through with how
you block these guys up front. And I think that's
pretty damn intentional with how they went about this offseason.
Speaker 1 (21:18):
So I'm excited about it.
Speaker 2 (21:19):
Let's go ahead and take a break right there, come
back and do my August takeaways to close out this podcast.
That's next Drivetime podcast brought to you by Auto Nation.
A month of football practice and fake football games brings
us to this point and brings us to the point
of the year where everyone gets off their takes and
their predictions, and it usually all goes awry. Speaking of that,
(21:42):
We're gonna have the preview podcast of the entire NFL
season on Tuesday, where I predict everyone's record, every playoff game,
every single game of the regular season for that matter,
and the end of season awards. So do not miss
that and see how right or how wrong I probably
am on all those predictions. But for now, it was
a month of a lot, I mean, twenty practices, three games,
(22:03):
eleven day road trip, all getting ready for that opener
against the Colts next Sunday, not this Sunday, next Sunday.
And I've got a few takeaways for you. We're gonna
have this on the HP episode, but I want to
go ahead and go more in depth here on the
podcast with this and to kind of parlay the last
segment into this one. The first takeaway is the many
options of Anthony Weaver in that front seven. And we
(22:26):
kind of went over this, but you know, McDaniel had
mentioned this in a couple of press conferences previously. The
idea to hire Weaver ahead of the twenty four season
was due in large part to the fact that the
scheme that he brought with him had given Miami and
the Shanahan type of offenses issues. I posted this or
I where did I write this? I think in the
(22:47):
Antheon Weaver feature on the team yearbook this year discussing
how that Ravens defense allowed just sixteen points per game
and had sixty quarterback sacks that year, and not only that,
they held the Niners in Dolphins who averaged for the
Niners it was twenty eight points per game for the
Dolphins twenty nine and a half points per game. They
held those offenses to nineteen points in those two games,
(23:09):
and they were back to back games late in the
season when they were really cooking that time of year,
and McDaniel talks about how that was a system that
had given his you know, offense's fits and to me,
it's a best of both world situation because you have
this ability to you know. And this is something that
I think Brett Coleman the Film Room YouTube channel covered
(23:29):
about the complexities of this defensive system where they have
like one word tags for their rush games up front
and everybody knows them from every position, so you can
simply rifle through the many presentations and sim pressures and
overloads and stunts and twists and games up front that
you run, and it makes it boil down to this
that Mike McDaniel said, which is it's simple for the
(23:52):
defense to digest, but complex for the offense to dissect.
That's actually my phrase all phrasing there, but it's the
same idea. But last year they didn't really have the
pieces to run that. I mean, we've talked about it
at length now. Without Chubb and Phillips, Chopp was was
pretty green and kind of a you know, at first,
kind of a third down rusher before he kind of
got his run defense going there a little bit. Sealer
(24:12):
missed some time in the middle of the season. Kalai
Is Campbell a good player, but not a you know,
not some spring chicken who's playing nine hundred snaps in
the season. They were so limited that you saw Emmanuel
Ogback come in here, who wasn't a fit for the
defense in my opinion, and play a hefty workload. Quentin
Bell was starting for half the season, and he's kind
of kind of falling into, you know, recording this ahead
(24:32):
of time. Will he be on the roster, Will he
be a sixth or seventh edge for you that kind
of play special teams and not much else. And those
were guys that were prominent snap takers, and now you're
going to be looking at like if you get into
the injuries, you know, Matt Judon is like a top guy.
So everywhere you look, I would say last year's Edge
two would have been like Edge six on this year's
football team.
Speaker 3 (24:53):
Right.
Speaker 2 (24:54):
So when you have the ability to create more pressure
and get to those games and utilize more of what
Zen Stealer can do, I just think you're gonna really
heat up quarterbacks no matter what the offensive line, who
the quarterback is, or who you face against you every
week on offense. So it does start upfront with that guy,
Zack Stealer Kenneth Grant. I think the two of them together,
(25:15):
their size and speed profiles and the length of Zack Sealer,
the pick stunts, all they can do. It's a nice
blend of youth and experience, and quite frankly, I think
when he gets his game up to standard in terms
of the technique and fundamentals, I think Grant's going to
surpass everybody on the defensive line, Stealer included, and be
the best player on this front. Last year was the
best year of Bonito Jones' career, and quite frankly, I
(25:35):
think he's going to get bumped sooner than later by
Jordan Phillips because of what he did this summer and
what I think he'll do come games in September. We've
talked about the return at the outside linebacker position with
Chop Robinson. I just think there's too much to handle
there for opposing offenses when you want to get three
of them on the field together. Talk about seventy two
career sacks form Matthew Judahon. Just the dichotomy of speed
(25:56):
and power in this group really does a lot to
open up the rush lanes and then exploit them once
they are opened up. The additions of Britt and Willie
Gay at that linebacker position behind Brooks and Dodson, I mean,
that's fast, physical, elite technique and guys that are dogs
and hungry and want to play at a high level,
and they kind of hold each other to a certain standard.
This Dolphins front seven, to kind of put a bow
(26:18):
on the takeaway, might be the best in the league.
I think it's one of the deepest and has a
chance to be the very top one in the league,
especially when you factor in the idea that has one
of the best defensive play callers and game plan designers
we saw back in twenty twenty four. So first takeaway,
Anthony Weaver has a defense that fits his vision to
create chaos in that front seven. The second takeaway, and
(26:38):
this is an expansion of that a little bit here.
This rookie class has a chance to be very good
and can turn what was kind of a soft rebuild.
And Kyle Krabs covered this so well and has Lockdown
Dolphins podcast this offseason. The Rams doing this a couple
of years ago. The Niners are kind of undergoing something
similar where you had these good, loaded, veteran laden teams
(26:58):
and then once that kind of hit, you had to pivot.
And for the Rams, it was a soft rebuild coming
off a year where Stafford got injured and everybody predicted
them me included, to win four or five games that year,
and they spammed their roster with like a you know,
literally forty rookies and they get five or six of
them to hit, and all of a sudden, you've got
cheap labor that it contributes to your roster in a big, big,
(27:19):
big way. And I think you've seen that develop in
the right direction. I'm not gonna go all the way
and say it's a success so far or yet I
should say, but so far it has been because Kenneth
Grant I think is going to be Dexter Lawrence, Like,
I really believe that's his upside. Jonas of I and Aya,
I thought preseason was up and down, but once they
start kind of game playing for this stuff and giving
him some more help in terms of the protection, you'll
(27:39):
see his ability to move buys in the running game
really kind of make this Dolphins team more tough, more physical,
and more versatile in the running game. And then, arguably
the most productive player from the entire rookie class was
Jordan Phillips, who I think is already like a pretty
damn good nose tackle who can develop the pass rush
game as he goes along. Jason Marshall Junior began playing
nickel two weeks ago, and we'll see. I don't want
(28:01):
to get too far in front of myself here, but
it looks really good, especially with how they can disguise
all the stuff they do on the back end because
of his football IQ that I just wasn't really aware of.
It was kind of a new thing that hits you
across the face. And this is why camp is so
imperative and why these practices in these games mean so much,
because we might have might have learned about a player
that we didn't know about coming into this that could
(28:22):
be a really big impact player back on the offensive
side of the football like Alli Gordon looks like a
four minute offense short yardage and possibly even like every
down guy that can be a bellcow for you and
help take some of the pressure off de von A
chant Zeke Bigger's looked really good as an end, non
a defensive tackle. Don't listen to people think he's a
nose tackle because he's not. He plays zero snaps and
nose tackle. This summer is like Grant and Phillips, plenty
(28:44):
of quality preseason tape. Dante Trader I think has a
chance to be a at very least a good special
teamers and sub package safety for you. Quinn Ewers made
some plays and has a chance to develop in this offense.
Like McDaniel, talked about building the culture of this team
through the draft, and it's way too early to make
any problem, but the early returns are very promising. And finally,
our third takeaway the offensive balance I think has returned
(29:07):
in terms of getting the run game going again. The
run game struggled big time in the second half of
last season, seventy two yards per game on the ground
without Austin Jackson. The injuries at that position at running back,
the quarterback being out for the lineup for so many
games changes the equation there. But all these reinforcements I
think supplement that entire process. You know, we talked about
(29:27):
savike I Naya and James Daniels that allow you to
go more than just outside zone were last year. I
thought the guards with Robert Jones and leam Meikenberg limited
your outside zone game, and they weren't, you know, big
body movers enough to be able to run inside zone
and duo and even power concepts and counter the way
the Dolphins have this preseason, those two guys flanking Aaron
(29:48):
Brewer in the pivot, which just makes for a lock
solid three man interior and then outside. I think getting
Patrick Paul on the practice field every day and playing
possibly seventeen games if he does all of that, yeah,
I think would actually be an upgrade on to Ron Armstead,
because as great as he was, I don't think that
he you know, twelve games of armsteads better than seventeen
games of Patrick Paul and then Austin Jackson pretty much
(30:10):
just has to stay healthy.
Speaker 1 (30:11):
You know what you have there?
Speaker 2 (30:12):
He is a tone setter off the right side of
the offensive line. Nick Westbrook, A Keene to me is
like your best blocking edge, and that's tight ends or otherwise.
You know, we'll see about Julian Hill in that department
this year. But the skill players gave you depth as well.
Beyond Tyreek and Wadham Leake Washington looks awesome. Looks like
a big time space eater that can eat up one
on one coverage. DS Gridge a good camp Taj. Washington
(30:35):
has that kind of speed element nobody else has. I
just think the entire offseason for the Dolphins was intentional.
Speaker 1 (30:40):
They got deeper.
Speaker 2 (30:40):
I thought they got more physical, and they put in
a ton of work at training camp this year to
refine that craft and I cannot wait to watch how
it develops. My takeaway number four A bonus here for
you guys is you pretty clearly know the parts of
the roster you might have to game plan around this year,
right Because I keep getting these takes in my.
Speaker 1 (30:59):
Inbox DMS or on my mentions.
Speaker 2 (31:02):
That's like, I can't believe they went into the season
with this you know type of question at tight end cornerback.
It's like, show me more than two teams across the league,
like Baltimore and Philadelphia are pretty much the only teams
that have you know, every room is not a question mark,
like there's no question marks in your roster. Every team
has question marks and you have to find a way.
Just like when you have injuries in season. Everyone thinks
(31:23):
you lose Tyreek Hill for a game, you can't win
that game, and they go out and beat the Jets
thirty to nothing. Like when you're down a part or
two for a couple of games, you can game plan
around that part. And when you go into the season
with your roster construction a certain way, you know how
you have to game plan that. I think part of
that is this front taking pressure off the cornerbacks. They're
not going to ask these guys to go play press
man coverage and hold up for four seconds every single step.
Speaker 1 (31:44):
They would be crazy to do that.
Speaker 2 (31:46):
At the tight end position, They're not going to ask
these guys to do you know, a lot in terms
of like being having a guy that is both a
blocker and a receiver. I guess two different positions in
the F and the Y. So I think those two
spots are the are the big question marks. I do
not subscribe to the idea of the offensive line depth
is bad because two quality depth pieces are out right
now and we'll return in Meyer and Eichenberg. I thought
(32:07):
Brunskill was good. I thought key On Smith showed enough
promise to keep his development going here. I thought Larry
Boram had a good preseason despite people wanting to confirm
their priors there.
Speaker 1 (32:16):
And we'll see how it all shakes out.
Speaker 2 (32:18):
But I think that that's kind of what you have
to game plan around right now is potentially the cornerback
position and the tight end spot and every other spot
on the roster has good starters and good depth in it,
and I'm excited about that.
Speaker 1 (32:29):
There you go. That's the show.
Speaker 4 (32:30):
You all.
Speaker 2 (32:30):
Please be sure to come back tomorrow for a mailback episode.
Put your questions in on the Twitter, the tweet that
I sent out, the post, whatever the hell the website's
called now, and we'll do that podcast tomorrow. Take Monday off,
have the Tuesday preview podcast. And then once Wednesday gets here,
it's all Colts content the rest of the week as
the season is just around the corner.
Speaker 1 (32:48):
In the meantime, you all.
Speaker 2 (32:49):
Please be sure to subscribe, rate, review the show, follow
me on social at me for NFL the team at
Miami Dolphins. Check out the YouTube channel for the episode
of Dolphins HQ covering this content tonight on the YouTube channel,
and last button, not least, Miami Dolphins dot com.
Speaker 1 (33:05):
Until next time, Fin's up Caroline, Cameron and Willow Daddy.
He's coming home.
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