March 28, 2025 • 34 mins
With free agency winding down we will take a look at the remainder of the NFL dot com big board. Plus, prospect deep dives begin as options for the 13th pick start to crystalize over the next month. Up first, Georgia safety Malaki Starks. Plus, your mailbag questions and a mock draft round up.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:08):
What is up, Dolphins, And welcome to the Drift Time Podcast.
I am your host, Travis Wingfield, and on today's show,
we are looking at the remaining free agency list. We
are parsing through some mock drafts. We are doing a
deep dive. I'm one of the most commonly mocked players
to the Miami Dolphins, and though I saw plenty of
questions in the mail bag, I'm going to answer just
(00:29):
three of those. I will get to more of them
later on on future episodes. Here of the podcast from
the Baptist Health Studios inside the Baptist Health Training Complex.
This is the Drive Time Podcast. Free agency has sloan
to a crawl, but there are still plenty of names
out there that I think can help impact football teams.
(00:49):
We're gonna go ahead and kick this off as we
are kind of pivoting in towards draft content season for
the next few weeks. Here on the show, I want
to maintain the idea of potential veterans improvements and what's
on the market out there as the Dolphins look to
round out a few more holes on the roster that exist.
Right because it is April or I guess it's still
late March when you hear this podcast. But it's about
(01:11):
to be April, and we don't play a football game
for five months, so there's plenty of time to round
out the roster and get your ninety guys that you
can carve down to fifty three eventually, and I imagine
that will include some of the guys not just off
this list, but off the general free agent list in general.
So let's go ahead and talk about a few of
the guys that make sense. I put a couple of
positions on here that I don't think will be priorities
(01:34):
in terms of the kind of bargain shopping you're doing here,
but I just put them on there because, like, you
can never have enough good football players, and especially the
two spots.
Speaker 2 (01:42):
That I have outside of team needs.
Speaker 1 (01:44):
I took away tight end, took away quarterback, took away
running back. I just don't think that's gonna be a
spot that Dolphins are kicking around. We'll see if that's
the case or not. But I put the team needs
and a couple of positions just because the guys I
think would be good cheap options maybe as like summertime signing.
Go ahead and start with the spot that everybody wants
to know about the offensive line. There's still four guys
(02:05):
out there that I think could either start at one
of the guard positions, you know, depending on where James
Daniels lands, or could be valuable backups within you know,
those roles and tackle capacities as well. And it starts
with the guy that we have discussed in the podcast
plenty and Will Hernandez, who is a bigger body, stouter
player who has a little bit more power and would
(02:27):
signal more of that kind of adaptable scheme shift that
I think we are getting and have seen the beginning
groundwork being laid for that with some of the additions
you've seen between Pharaoh Brown, Nick Westbrook Akine. Not that
they aren't outside zone players, but I think that they
feature something that can give you a one B punch
to your knockout punch, and that is true for James
(02:49):
Daniels and for Larry Boram as well, and so Will Hernandez.
I think his ability to win in short spaces, to
connect on duo blocks, to be a good pass protector,
I think that he would be a very valuable starting
guard for you from day one, for probably pretty cheap
as well. We just saw Tevin Jenkins go for like
three million bucks a year, so the market was kind
of off on his idea or on his contract. I
(03:09):
think Will Hernandez, with a bunch of experience and snaps
in this league is kind of in that same frame
of mind. Speaking of experience, Brandon Sheriff is like, I mean,
he's played a billion snaps, He's played both guard positions,
He's been around the block for quite a while. I
don't think he's the mover he used to be, but
I think you would feel really good about slotting him
into one of the starting guard jobs, even if he's
(03:30):
not the most athletic player at this stage of his career.
For this offense, I think he's an upgrade over what
you have. I also think Daniel Brunskill is an upgrade
over what you have. I also like his game a lot,
for the fact that he can play literally all five
positions and he has experience in the scheme. Now, what
that also could lend itself to is if they've gone
over the tape and decided we've seen him in this
(03:50):
offense and we don't like the way it looks like
where Larry Boram didn't really run this offense, but we
can project that maybe it's better with the system. Maybe
you saw brun Skill in the offense and said, like,
not for me, pass. I don't know, but I think
that he's an option out there for you among these
four guys. And last, but certainly not least, this is
a guy I talked about early on in the process,
and Joe Noteboom again guard and tackle experience, played for
(04:11):
the Rams. I think his tape was pretty good. So
I think there's four guys out there that can really
help you. I think all four of those guys would
be favorites to start should you land one of them.
And I think all five of them are going to
be less than five million bucks a year, So not
a bad crop that ILL still choose from for your
Miami Dolphins ahead of the draft. I have one wide
receiver on here, and Kyle Kraft is gonna hate this.
I think most of you probably won't like it very
(04:32):
much either. It kind of harkens back to my love
of Brandon Cooks for so long and seeing him go
off to the back to the Saints I was. I
sent it to Kyle and said, like, hey, he still
can play. Look at look at the contract that he got,
and he thought that was, you know, a good attempt
at trying to validate my take on Brandon Cooks. Tyler
Lockett is that guy, and it's mostly because of his
ability to get vertical, to get down the field, to
(04:55):
be a real veteran route runner, a guy that can
you know, separate in the intermedia and deep part of
the field. I just think that he would be a
good option to have for like depth and almost like
an ancillary role in the event that you lose a
riek or a waddle for a game or two, or
for multiple games. And that's why I think that he
would be more of like an August signing, like hey,
come in here, learn the system. Maybe even a veteran
(05:16):
practice squad guy that kind of like learns the ropes
for a little bit, just kind of thinking outside the box.
Speaker 2 (05:20):
I don't know if that's what he's gonna.
Speaker 1 (05:21):
Want to do at the stage of his career, but
if he's open to it, I wouldn't mind seeing him
as a depth piece behind all those guys, even behind
Westbrook a Kine for the third spot on the receiving
depth chart at.
Speaker 2 (05:32):
A position of bigger need.
Speaker 1 (05:34):
A defensive tackle I think Kalais Campbell is still like
option one, two and three. If you can get him back,
everything else kind of seems to fall into place, especially
with the draft class that I think afford you a
potential significant role playing snap eater with both pick thirteen
and pick forty eight, depending on where you go there.
I think Kenneth Grant from Michigan makes a lot of
(05:55):
sense at thirteen. I think that Alfred Collins at forty
eight makes a bunch of cents and guys that would
both to me play more than half your snaps as rookies.
So if you can get Kalais and one of those guys,
all of a sudden, it goes from this group that
you feel like is kind of lacking to a position
of strength, or you round it out in the aggregate
with a Rakwon Davis who signed last year for seven
(06:17):
million bucks. I think it would be a significant reduction
to that cost if you were to return Marlon Davidson,
another rotation guy that was on that list from the
Titans that I quite like his game in a you know,
thirty percent snap taking role. And then again, I'm just
going to emphasize Kalais Campbell kind of is the guy
that can reset this entire position group for the Miami Dolphins.
Now off the edge is that second position group I
(06:37):
was telling you about that I don't think is one
of need right now. And I saw a mock draft
that had us taking an edge at thirteen. I just
can't imagine that happens with what's gone down this free agency,
with all of the edges they have, the retention of
Bradley Chubb, with the growth of Chop Robinson, with what
I expect JP to be this year, on top of
guys that can play edge as kind of a secondary
(06:57):
role to their their you know, their day job. And
Willie Gay is an off ball linebacker compared to an edgebrusher. Like,
we have so many guys in that spot that I
don't think you'll see a high draft pick spent there,
But if you want to like continue to round out depth,
Travis Gibson was a once upon a time, a Day
three draft pick that has been around the block a
little bit, played in the system, has some good pass
rushing chops. And then John Kaminski from the Lions has
(07:19):
had some injury issues, which you know, it's kind of
up our alley, but he's had some good pass rush
production too from the Lions. So a couple of guys
to keep an eye out there off the edge if
you're trying to find like a fourth or fifth guy
that maybe you feel I can compete with Quintin Bell
and Mohammed Kamara for depth this season at the cornerback
in safety spots. There's some names I still like there,
and you're getting more into the veteran aspect here, and
I think you can maybe talk yourself out of some
(07:42):
of these guys that are on the wrong side of
age thirty, like a Mike Hilton, but he's been a
kind of a mercenary of a slot cornerback for a
long time now. I think that he could continue that
role and bounce around the league or maybe find a
home for a couple of years. But I wouldn't be
opposed to signing a veteran presence, a leader in the
defensive back field that can play multiple spots in Mike
Hilton Asante. Samuel Junior is the one that I'm most
(08:04):
intrigued by, but he has a potentially very serious injury
that he's kind of contending with, and he's been open
about what happened with that shoulder and how it might
impact his career. But if that causes a reduction and cost,
I would be very curious about that. And then Myles
Bryant formerly of the Patriots, is kind of a depth
piece there. To just give you another body in the room.
I think you're gonna have to draft this spot probably
(08:24):
pretty early if unless the plan is to go in
and say, between Cam Smith, Storm Duck Ethan Bonner, you know,
Jason Matrie, Isaiah Johnson, maybe the best man win the job.
I think that that might be a little bit short
sighted of an idea, but I could see it being
the thought because you've invested in that position with those
players and their developmental tracks. But I think you're probably
best served to think about, you know, Jday Baron, to
(08:47):
think about, you know, uh, Jacob Parrish. To think about
Kobe Bryant in the third round or fourth round. To
think about Savon Revel in the second round, someone that
can be a starting cornerback for you right away. At safety,
there's two players I think are just awesome on this list.
I'm surprised they're still out there. Quite frankly. Marcus Williams
is the obvious one because he was on the defense
that Anthony Weaver coached for a couple of years there
(09:08):
in Baltimore. He was a signal caller, a post safety
that had really good ball skills, but he also had
injury issues that kept him off the field throughout the
course of the last couple of years for the Ravens,
you know in and out of the lineup previously with
the Saints. Is a great player for them too. And
then Julian Blackman, who again has injury issues too, but
a great player from depth in terms of playing the run.
He has good coverage skills, good anticipation, good ball skills.
(09:30):
I think both those two guys will start in the
NFL next year. If they are here, I would have
them both as safety one should they make that trip.
So a couple of names think about that are still
remaining on the free agent list. It's not gonna, you know,
happen overnight. It's far from over, but I think it's
worth talking about some of those names. Quick pivot here,
let's go ahead and get into our mock draft roundup.
(09:50):
We'll go ahead and do that here in segment one,
and I took a look at a few mock drafts
out there I think it's good to check by here
every once in a while. We'll probably do one more
of these before the draft, just to kind of give
you a sense of what the experts are talking about
out there. And I started off with Daniel Jeremiah March
eighteenth mock Draft when he went cam Ward Abdul, Carter
Shador Sanders, Travis Hunter, Jalen Walker, Ashton Genty armand Membu
(10:13):
Mason Graham, Jahad Campbell, Will Campbell, Sorry, both those guys
go back to back, and then Jaday Baron and Matthew
Golden the receiver going up top there to the Cowboys
right ahead of us, which means the big board basically
gives you Tyler Warren, Malachi Starks, Will Johnson in that range,
and Kenneth Grant too for that matter. There's a pretty
(10:34):
big gap on his own fifty rankings, which tells me
you're kind of choosing from that list of players. And
he went with Malachi Starks, the safety from Georgia. He wrote,
the further we get into the evaluation process, the more
teams I find are in love with Starks' game. He
would be a plug and player replacement for Javon Holland
with the versatility to play as a high safety or nickelback.
And he spelled Javon Holland's name wrong. That's kind of funny.
(10:56):
I think this makes a lot of sense. You think
about this Bill Belichick quote that you can't have a
good defense with dumb safeties. Well, Starks is that dude.
He is a traffic cop, a certain type of character.
I mean the references you see from Georgia that he
was the leader of that unit. You look at Daniel
Jeremiah's blurp. He sounds the kind of player that you
set and forget. You don't have to worry about distractions
in South Florida because he's a football first type of guy.
(11:18):
And we've talked about how a lot of these free agents,
you know, were guys that are all ball. They take
it very seriously, and we heard coaching Chris at the
end of the season press conference emphasized, you know, a
tighter leash, tighter parameters, less player, you know, freedom in
terms of what you're allowed to do with you know,
kind of writing your own ticket, and how do you
do that besides bringing in guys that emphasize that for you,
(11:39):
Guys that you don't have to self police like they
can do it for themselves. Starks fits that mold on
top of being a fantastic football player, and in fact,
I went to start looking in depth at these guys
that I believe are Round one options day by day here.
So why don't we go ahead and do that with
Starks in just a second, But first some more mock
draft round up stuff. CBS Sports is Ryan Wilson has
Walter Nolan. I think it's way too high for him.
(12:01):
I think he's going to be a really good pass brusher,
but he's a two down player, and I think this pick,
taking a two down player at pick thirteen is really
bad business. Yahoo's Nate Tye and Charles McDonald have Starks
there as well, and then PFF has Calvin Banks, which
to me is just a total lack of team awareness
and what they're going to do. But we shall see.
Maybe I'm the wrong one there, but I don't see
that happening. ESPN Mike Tannebaum wrote one, and Chris Coffin
(12:22):
had a great point on Twitter.
Speaker 2 (12:23):
About how.
Speaker 1 (12:25):
He is friends with someone who represents Josh Simmons. I'm
getting that terribly wrong, but it just doesn't make a
lot of sense that you're going to, you know, take
a tackle on the second round that needed a year
of development. He got that, he got some reps, he
got a full year of practice in the system, and
then you're just going to bail on that before you
even let it come to fruition. I don't see that happening.
And then Chad Ruder had a four round mock draft
(12:46):
NFL dot Com where he killed it until the fourth
round when he butchered it or the rather the third round,
but he had us trading down with the Cardinals who
came up for Kelvin Banks at thirteen, and we wind
up taking a player that I have rated way higher
than Calvin Banks and Jade Baron the dB from Texas.
And then he came back with Xavier Wats from nore
Dame at picked forty eight. I I mean, you've you've
(13:07):
nailed down your secondary with those two picks. I love
that start to the draft. And then he comes back
and gets Elijah Royo in the third round, the pick
we get from the Cardinals in that trade down with
the Cardinals for you know, to run.
Speaker 2 (13:18):
Out your tight end room.
Speaker 1 (13:19):
But then he comes back with Daon Walker from Kentucky,
the you know, three hundred and forty fifty pound defensive
tackle who say he's gonna run a four to six
and ran a five to five and has like no
pop in his legs. Skinny legs doesn't really drive eybody
off the ball. Got sit up at the Senior Bowl
by two hundred and eighty pound Willie Lampkin a bunch
of times. Not intrigued by that quarterback. Dylan Gabriel rounds
it out, which I think. I don't think they'll be
(13:39):
quarterback that high. I think Zach Wilson is your young
quarterback investment.
Speaker 2 (13:43):
We'll see.
Speaker 1 (13:43):
It could be wrong, but that's kind of my take
on that. The second fourth rounder was part of the
trade with the Cardinals, so they gave us. They gave
us pick sixteen and seventy eight, and we gave them
pick thirteen and one to thirty five. So for three
spots in round one, you moved up fifty seven spots
from rounds four to three. I think it's very interesting
and I'm really curious to see what trades look like
in this traffic, because I think that fewer quarterbacks up
(14:04):
at the top of the draft tend to lead to
fewer trades, and then where we are I just don't know.
I mean, there are a million and one permutations here,
but just generally speaking, I'm not sure there's going to
be a ton of trade down value there. But again,
never say never, right If a team falls in love
with the guy and they think that his name is
about to be called, then all bets are off. But
then you have to balance is losing a few spots
(14:27):
in the middle rounds worth a day three trade up.
It's all very fascinating to me with what could happen.
Let's go ahead and take a break right there, come
back and begin our deep dive project here on potential
picks at number thirteen overall. We'll kick it off with
Malachi Starks, the Safety from Georgia. That's Next Draft Time podcast,
your host Travis Wingfield, brought to you by a donation.
Speaker 2 (14:57):
If you thought the People's Court was going anywhere, you
were sorely mistaken.
Speaker 1 (15:02):
We're talking about some prospects right now, and we'll do
this through the course of the next month. I want
to get into the possible options at pick thirteen. I
want to talk about Day two guys. I want to
get into Day three. I even want to talk about
you dfa potential guys that might fit the system and
be your home for all things Miami Dolphins Draft. I
know that Kyle krabsfella has a great hairline and some
pretty good draft takes as well, but we are also
(15:25):
going to provide you with a different opinion. And Kyle
and I have a pretty shared aesthetic. I think it's
a y kbs if you know what I'm talking about.
We know some football, but there's always differences. I've given
him crap for a long time about his take on
xavierst Repro. I told him he was too slow. When
he said, no, he's a great player, and I said, well,
he ran a four to seven. So I don't know
about all that, but I digress. So we're gonna do
(15:46):
a bunch of that here over the course of the
next month leading into the draft. In fact, as I
tape this on a Wednesday, we are one month away
from the NFL Draft, right? No?
Speaker 2 (15:55):
Was that two days ago? Is it twenty fourth? I'm wrong?
Four weeks away? Whatever? Who cares?
Speaker 1 (16:00):
La Kai Starks is up today and he's the safety
from Georgia and I had a chance to watch him
on tape.
Speaker 2 (16:05):
What a football player he is.
Speaker 1 (16:06):
Man, I start with the play intelligence, and you're going
to hear me refer to this a lot in the
next month or so. I talked about it, I think
already on the show the Belichick quote you'll never see
a good defense with a dumb safety. And when you
watch Malachai Starks play, he's kind of the makes it
right guy, you know, not that Georgia is sitting back
there banking on blown coverages and missed assignments because of
(16:27):
their NFL talent defense they have. But he's not really
a like one snap I have one job type of player,
and he can be that because he sees concepts before
they unfold. And you'll hear me talk about this. This
will be the first thing I talk about with safety play.
With quarterbacks, it's how well can you see the route
concepts unfold and play fast? To me, it's the exact
(16:50):
same thing for safeties. For receivers, it's how well can
you release half line of scrimmage. For cornerbacks, it's how
well can you disrupt and feel and get a change
of direction, how quick change of direction. For pass rushers,
it's how explosive all your hands and your first step quick.
There's things I look at initially, and for safeties, it's
how do you process the routes in front of you
(17:10):
because you can play from depth position and kind of
use the information developing underneath you before you make your commitment.
If you're the smartest player on the field, you can
make plays before they happen, the same way a quarterback can.
So that's why I look for for safeties, and it's
just all over his tape. So I watched another Dame game.
I watched the Texas game in the playoffs, and I
(17:32):
watched the Clemson game for this deep dive. In another
Dame game, they wanted to run these three verticals from
the strength, which which is the wide side of the field,
and they wanted to bring the backside receiver from the
weakness of the formation on a crossing route. And it's
a very common like third and long play, run three verticals,
replace that space with a backside crosser and try to
get a catch and run opportunity for like twelve plus
(17:53):
yards and move the chains. And since he was a
split field safety to the field where those three verticals ran,
he just felt it. He felt all three of those
guys getting depth beyond him, and he saw the backside
crossing route and drove on that and cut it off
at the pass. Usually you'll see guys play that passively,
sit back on your heels, allow the information to absorb,
(18:13):
and then the actual action to happen, and then Okay,
now I'm gonna go because it's one hundred percent where
if I'm anticipating, maybe it's eighty percent. But I'll take
the sure thing and you give up the completion and
then you wind up having to make a tackle in
the open field. But because he drove on it, he
didn't give up a completion and tackle him for five
yards and get off the field.
Speaker 2 (18:32):
He took away the pass.
Speaker 1 (18:34):
Ryley Leonard has to tuck the football on scrambles and
runs himself into a sax. Rather than punting on fourth
and five, they're punting on fourth and seventeen. That's twelve yards.
That's a first down for the offense. You get what
I'm saying. So he makes plays like that on the
regular And if you run these generic spacing concepts at him,
you know, slant flat is the first commindation you'll put
in the playbook any spring where you run a flat
(18:56):
route from the inside receiver and a slant route from
the outside receiver. I confuse the coverage there get a
natural pick. I can't tell you how many times I
saw teams run two man route combinations that are designed
to stretch the hook and the curl flat defender. What's
the hook defender. It's between the numbers at about you know,
five to eighteen yards. Depending on what type of offense
the opposing offense runs, you can stretch that hook zone accordingly,
(19:18):
the curl flap is outside the numbers, playing that curl zone,
but also the flap to the run, the throws to
the running backs, the screen passes that kind of stuff,
and he adds another hat into the mix consistently against
those looks. So if you run slant flat, you can
run your hook flare basically the exact same concept where
you run a receiver right around the numbers and he
(19:38):
either slants into the field or comes back down the
stem and you run your flat route or your flare
route or your little hook route to the perimeter. And
that creates this combination that creates natural rubs. And based
on how those combos looks, Starks knows when the hook
or sl route plants his foot that there's no longer
a vertical threat because it would be a wheel route
(19:58):
from a running back who's probably slower, and by the
time that unfolds, the pass rush should be getting home.
So he can pick that out and drive on the
hook and take it away. And he does it all
the time. These are like second and ten automatic, you know,
five yard gains to get yourself into two good third
down situations. He can turn those third and fives into
third and tens, or maybe even more in third and
(20:19):
fifteen by a sack. And if you run those generic
concepts at him, just good luck. I can't tell you
how many times I saw him sniff those out. It's
all over his tape. He's going to be one of
the smartest players on the field for you from day one.
I would say, maybe even the smartest you know, depending
on your team. For here, it's tough to beat Ramsey
in that regard or Jordan Brooks, but he would compete
with those guys. And when I think about how those
(20:40):
defense uses versatility among its front to disguise rushes and
sim pressures, you can put a lot of stress on
the back end of your defense to get it right,
not just by tackling really well in space, but to
see where the hots are, because if you have a
heady safety who can drive on the hots against a
five man pressure and the quarter has to come off
(21:01):
that and go to a secondary reid, it's probably a
sack or at least you know, Zach Steeler has a
run at the quarterback, and if he misses him, you
know it's gonna happen like once a year, maybe good luck.
I mean that's the entire crux of this defense and
most defenses today. So I thought it was awesome. Now
there are times, because no prospect is perfect, where this
can burn him. The anticipation offenses can kind of exploit this.
(21:22):
Like he was in the slot versus Texas and they
ran this little switch release, which is the inside guy
goes out, outside guy goes in. Confused your coverage concepts there,
and it's from a bunch set, so they're right next
to each other, and Matthew Golden fakes the flat and
then runs this whip route back across the face, which
is right behind the original slant and pick route the
first receiver ran and starks Over commits to the flat
(21:43):
and gives up a twenty yard catch and run inside.
But I think that more football that he sees means
that he'll he'll learn from those mistakes. The same mistakes
don't happen over and over for him again, so I
think he'll use those negative reps as learning tools. Even
you know at you know, as a rookie in the
NFL athletically, you know this is why player testing is
not the gospel for me. Don't get me wrong. I
(22:04):
use it as much as anybody, so I don't shy
away from it. But he scored just a five to
one to five relative athletic scorecard with twenty third and
twenty fifth percent tile shuttle in three cone times. I
don't think that tracks on his tape, don't. I don't
see that when I see him playing. In fact, I
have a rep to talk about on Matthew Bond here
in just a second. But that and a thirty third
percent tile vertical, a forty third percent tile weight. But
(22:26):
he did, however, have an eighty third percentile forty yard dash,
which that would tract more of what I saw on tape, and.
Speaker 2 (22:31):
All of that aside.
Speaker 1 (22:33):
Just watch the tape, nerd, right, like I know that's
a convenient way to put it when you don't get
the metrics you want. But the way that he closes
and flips his hips and locates the ball and plays
the football, he's just a stud.
Speaker 2 (22:45):
He had a pick.
Speaker 1 (22:45):
Against Clemson in the opener where he's a man coverage
in the slot. He squats on the little out and
up and then turns and gets vertical stays and phase
and makes this spinning, pure wet interception. Just incredible football play,
and somebody put on x a list of All Pro
safe if he's with underwhelming testing numbers like Earl Thomas,
Brian Branch and Xavier McKinney all had ARAS scores in
the low fives, just like Malachi Starks did. And then
(23:08):
there's just the tape right like he would line up
in man coverage against a bunch as the point man
and then win the foot race with Isaiah Bond on
a drag route or his I said Matthew Bond earlier.
Isaiah Bond, his play speed is so much faster than
his testing time was. He gets downhill against the run
super super quickly. He does not jog after the football,
He sprints after it. They didn't play him down on
(23:29):
the run fits almost ever, and he only has twenty
one pass rush reps over twenty five hundred career college snaps,
which makes me wonder how much they view him as
a fit here, because you can't be a safety in
this defensive you know't blitz the quarterback. But I think
he can do that. It's one of those things where
just because he didn't do it doesn't mean he can't
do it. I think his starttop explosiveness, his sheer will
(23:50):
could make for an impactful blitzer. He's a great tackler,
just a six percent miss tackle rate, which is a
great rate for a linebacker. It's exceptional for a player
who plays mostly twenty yards off the football. My conclusion
is the fit is just so apparent the Ravens did
with the Kyle Hamilton, where he plays split field in
the post, comes down in the box. It's not even
necessarily how he fits in those roles per se, but
(24:11):
just how he processes and can take himself to the
correct position based on his read. I think the best
way you can describe it is that he kind of
gives you twelve players on defense, or rather the illusion
of twelve players. Because he takes away space that he occupies,
but he's also thinking multiple steps ahead, so the deception
of your offense kind of goes out the window because
he's right there with me. Forgive me for the crowd
(24:33):
that hates comparisons, but to me, it's a kin to
Zach Thomas. But at safety, I know he's going to
beat you pre snap from back there just about every
play because he's smarter than you. I do think the
limited athletic ability and the fact that he doesn't have
any pass rush profile are the questions the Dolphins will have.
It makes me wonder, and with the signing of ifimlafan
Wu getting Willie Gay, I tend to think they might
(24:53):
curry favorite to a player more like Nick e Man.
Worry more than Starks because he's kind of that Jeremy
Chinn type of chess piece that Derwin James. I don't know,
it's a tough call neither of them. Maybe it's neither
of them and it's Lathan Ransom in the third round
or Billy Bowman in the fourth round. I don't know,
tough one to figure out, but I think that Stark's
remains on that short list for me. At pick thirteen,
but I think he's on the back end of it.
(25:14):
I'll give you more information as I get to Tyler Warren,
Jday Barron and Kenneth Grant. So that's my Malachai Stark's
deep dive. That's the verdict. Let's go ahead and take
our last break right there, come back and do a
few of your mail bag questions here on the Draft
Time podcast, your host Travis Wingfield, brought to you by Autnation.
Speaker 2 (25:33):
Mel to here.
Speaker 1 (25:40):
Oh yes, it is time for the Drive Time mail Bag.
I put the call out on social media, you reply
with your questions. I answer them here on the show.
And you guys went Ham on this this week? Are
we still saying went Ham? I think I'm showing my
age with that. But I'm only going to answer three
on this show because I wound up getting in depth
Malachi Starks and the mock draft round up and the
(26:02):
remaining free agents. But guess what, we have plenty of
shows to come your way in the next couple of weeks,
so I will do this throughout several shows, and those
questions will be relevant as we go along. So I'll
get to your questions. If you answered ask them on
blue Sky at Dan Pe. As the roster currently stands,
which position is the biggest area of need for the
Dolphins Defensive tackles, safety, inside lineback or inside off, interior
(26:24):
offensive line, close enough, cornerback or other. I think you
pretty much nailed it in terms of the roster construction,
and it's somewhat like fitting, isn't it? Like we've been
over this at least one hundred times on this show
since the Jets game wrapped and we moved on the
twenty twenty five. The meat and potatoes positions were where
this draft was strong, and I think there are starting
(26:46):
safeties and corners and defensive tackles throughout the top one
hundred picks of this year's draft if you if you
get the right guy and you develop them right correctly.
The interior offensive line might not have that kind of depth,
but I think there's a lot of convert op there.
You know, Ariante Esery from Minnesota as a first rounder
in my book, I don't think I'll go that high,
but he's a tackle that could be a guard convert.
(27:08):
But I'm not seeing that is common thought across the
draft landscape. I think he could be an option. I
think that Miles Fraser and Jackson Slater from LSU and
Sacramento State are Day two guys that could be Day
one stars for you. There's also some free agents out
there at this spot we covered earlier. But yeah, you
see the roster really round into form so far in
training Earth and a free agency. I think you could
(27:29):
play a game tomorrow with what you've got at most positions,
but there's probably a couple you have to add some
bodies out, like across the defensive tackle position, you know,
maybe cornerback. It depends on how you evaluate some of
the roster, but I think going into the draft, the
idea for this team is always to have as few
needs as possible, and I think that over the next
month you could see that round more into form here
(27:49):
as we go ahead. But I think you pretty much
nailed a defensive tackle with you know, potentially Klay as
Campbell coming back safety. I think right now you probably
need another guy to add to that mix, if a
surefire starter in terms of the competition interior offensive line.
I think the same thing about safety, and then it's
really a cornerback too. I kind of feel the same
way about all four of those spots.
Speaker 2 (28:08):
That you name, So there you go.
Speaker 1 (28:10):
Next one here from at the real Cody, what players
currently on the roster in positions of need do you
think can fill the void? Example, could Elijah Campbell or
Patrick mc morris be the starter this year?
Speaker 2 (28:21):
To me, the areas of need.
Speaker 1 (28:22):
Are defensive tackle, guard, cornerback two and safety. But of
course talk about whatever holes and players you think of.
So you and Dan are on the same page in
terms of the team needs. And I'm with you, right
there with you. I love this question because I feel
like we spend this time of year trying to name shop,
you know, to plug the holes remaining on the roster.
And it's so funny because you can do this like
(28:43):
in December, and you can tell yourself like, hey, Stefan
Diggs is thirty plus years old, he's coming off a
major knee injury that he suffered in October, and his
previous team basically auditioned by subtraction to him because he
was a problem. And you talk yourself out of a
player through all of that, and then after a few
months goes by, I'm sure Patriots fans are watching his
(29:06):
bills tape saying like, oh, we got this star receiver,
it's like, yeah, from a couple of years ago, and
I think that you wind up talking yourself into certain
names even if you know those names aren't what they
used to be. And that's why I say, like, name
shopping can get you in such trouble. But I think
that you know this is across the league, that the
best way to fill out your remaining holes in the
(29:28):
roster is with incumbent growth that can turn a good
roster into a great one. And across the league, like
there are fans, for instance, of all thirty two teams
right now that are expecting a second year jump from
their third round pick or a third year jump from
their fourth round pick or whatever it is. Just for
an example, like we all think Patrick Paul is going
to be like a big time left tackle at least
(29:50):
if you watched his tape last year, whereas mel Kiper,
who probably didn't watch any Dolphins games, thinks like, oh,
his Houston tape is who he is, and so I
don't feel confident about that. Like there's different percent from
what we think about other teams and how those teams'
fan bases feel. And I think you've hit it with
Patrick McMorris here. I think Elijah Campbell is a really
good special teams a slash like third or fourth safety,
(30:10):
but I think mc morris has upside to potentially be
more than that. He was consistently making plays in training camp,
he had that outstanding preseason game where he was the
best player in the damn field. Then he gets hurt
and goes to that sort of forgotten territory that happens
with injured players unfortunately right especially ones that have not
proven themselves yet as pros. I think that he can
(30:31):
compete with ifatumlafan Wu as they both have similar skill
sets in terms of what they do best, not that
they're the same player, but I think they can occupy
similar roles within this defense. And that's what has me
excited about this iteration of this build. I think in
the past you could look at this roster and be like, man,
if we could just stay healthy, we are loaded. But
now it's like, well, if this guy goes down, I
(30:52):
feel pretty good about this guy ready to fill in
for him. And maybe the top end part of the
roster isn't as like uphoik is at once, but there's
no bottom out options unless we just get wiped out
like we have at the edge position or the cornerback
position a few years ago. And we aren't even done
doing it all. So I mean, like, look at the
Bills last year. They were a team that regressed, right,
I'm using air quotes. Regressed in terms of their talent. No,
(31:14):
they just like lopped off from the higher price talent
that maybe wasn't always available for him and got deeper.
And they probably had the best version of their football
team going into that Chiefs game of the playoffs that
they lost, Like they probably felt better about that team
than they have any team previous. So we have the
whole draft to go. I don't think free agency is
over yet. I doubt we signed our last player from
now until training camp. But I think that mc morris
(31:36):
is the best example. I would also include Jalen Wright,
who is hardly an unknown, but I could see him
going from sixty eight carries to two hundred. I hope
that's what happens. I mean, we'll see, but I think
he's very capable of that. Mohammed Kamara, Grayson Murphy, you know,
MO saw some action last year. I think it's fair
to expect a second year jump from him, and I
am so high on Grays and Murphy. I'm super bummed
that he got hurt in preseason, but I think he
(31:58):
could be an impact player. You've got guys like Andrew Meyer,
Jason Maitre, Isaiah Johnson TOAJ Washington who got hurt in
training camp or in in in a spring ball last year,
a few of the guys I'm excited to watch in
your number two last one here from at Florida Politico.
I get that right, who who's best? Who is the
best offensive linean free agent we could reasonably sign. I
(32:19):
think Brandon Schirf and Will Hernandez and Daniel Brunskill are
still remaining on that top or on the free agent
list that could be nice options. I mentioned all those
guys earlier. I also omitted Mark Glowinski, who's been a dependable,
versatile piece for the Colts. Shaq Mason got cut by
the Texans, so he's still out there. There's still plenty
of guys to look at that could that could maybe
(32:40):
be your starting left guard or if it's you know,
Daniels's left guard at the right guard position, or an
upgrade over Lea Mikenberg. Like, There's still plenty of options
out there, and I would be surprised. We'll see, I
don't I don't know anything for sure, but I would
be surprised if they're done in free agency at that spot.
Would be pretty surprised by that. All right, there you go.
That's gonna be my time this edition of the podcast.
(33:01):
On Monday, we were supposed to have Charles Davis. We're
having some difficulty getting the scheduling done there, so I
can't promise you him just yet. We shall see if
that goes ahead. We also have Mike McDaniel's Monday Owners
Meeting media availability, which should have some good stuff about
these free agents. First time we'll hear from the coach
after these what twelve or fifteen signings and resignings we've
(33:21):
had so far, So we'll have that on the Monday podcast.
We'll have Kyle Krabs at some point. We'll continue doing
these deep dives on potential Pick thirteen prospects plenty to
come your way here in the Drift Time Podcast. In
the meantime, you all please be sure to subscribe, rate,
review the show, follow me on social at Winfield, NFL.
Follow the team at Miami Dolphins. Check out Seth and
(33:42):
Juice on the Fish Tank podcast. Check out the YouTube
channel for Dolphins HQ, drivetime interviews, media availabilities, and so
much more. Last, but not least, Miami Dolphins dot com.
Until next time, Finn's up, Caroline and Cameron, Daddy, you
come and hold
What is up, Dolphins, And welcome to the Drift Time Podcast.
I am your host, Travis Wingfield, and on today's show,
we are looking at the remaining free agency list. We
are parsing through some mock drafts. We are doing a
deep dive. I'm one of the most commonly mocked players
to the Miami Dolphins, and though I saw plenty of
questions in the mail bag, I'm going to answer just
(00:29):
three of those. I will get to more of them
later on on future episodes. Here of the podcast from
the Baptist Health Studios inside the Baptist Health Training Complex.
This is the Drive Time Podcast. Free agency has sloan
to a crawl, but there are still plenty of names
out there that I think can help impact football teams.
(00:49):
We're gonna go ahead and kick this off as we
are kind of pivoting in towards draft content season for
the next few weeks. Here on the show, I want
to maintain the idea of potential veterans improvements and what's
on the market out there as the Dolphins look to
round out a few more holes on the roster that exist.
Right because it is April or I guess it's still
late March when you hear this podcast. But it's about
(01:11):
to be April, and we don't play a football game
for five months, so there's plenty of time to round
out the roster and get your ninety guys that you
can carve down to fifty three eventually, and I imagine
that will include some of the guys not just off
this list, but off the general free agent list in general.
So let's go ahead and talk about a few of
the guys that make sense. I put a couple of
positions on here that I don't think will be priorities
(01:34):
in terms of the kind of bargain shopping you're doing here,
but I just put them on there because, like, you
can never have enough good football players, and especially the
two spots.
Speaker 2 (01:42):
That I have outside of team needs.
Speaker 1 (01:44):
I took away tight end, took away quarterback, took away
running back. I just don't think that's gonna be a
spot that Dolphins are kicking around. We'll see if that's
the case or not. But I put the team needs
and a couple of positions just because the guys I
think would be good cheap options maybe as like summertime signing.
Go ahead and start with the spot that everybody wants
to know about the offensive line. There's still four guys
(02:05):
out there that I think could either start at one
of the guard positions, you know, depending on where James
Daniels lands, or could be valuable backups within you know,
those roles and tackle capacities as well. And it starts
with the guy that we have discussed in the podcast
plenty and Will Hernandez, who is a bigger body, stouter
player who has a little bit more power and would
(02:27):
signal more of that kind of adaptable scheme shift that
I think we are getting and have seen the beginning
groundwork being laid for that with some of the additions
you've seen between Pharaoh Brown, Nick Westbrook Akine. Not that
they aren't outside zone players, but I think that they
feature something that can give you a one B punch
to your knockout punch, and that is true for James
(02:49):
Daniels and for Larry Boram as well, and so Will Hernandez.
I think his ability to win in short spaces, to
connect on duo blocks, to be a good pass protector,
I think that he would be a very valuable starting
guard for you from day one, for probably pretty cheap
as well. We just saw Tevin Jenkins go for like
three million bucks a year, so the market was kind
of off on his idea or on his contract. I
(03:09):
think Will Hernandez, with a bunch of experience and snaps
in this league is kind of in that same frame
of mind. Speaking of experience, Brandon Sheriff is like, I mean,
he's played a billion snaps, He's played both guard positions,
He's been around the block for quite a while. I
don't think he's the mover he used to be, but
I think you would feel really good about slotting him
into one of the starting guard jobs, even if he's
(03:30):
not the most athletic player at this stage of his career.
For this offense, I think he's an upgrade over what
you have. I also think Daniel Brunskill is an upgrade
over what you have. I also like his game a lot,
for the fact that he can play literally all five
positions and he has experience in the scheme. Now, what
that also could lend itself to is if they've gone
over the tape and decided we've seen him in this
(03:50):
offense and we don't like the way it looks like
where Larry Boram didn't really run this offense, but we
can project that maybe it's better with the system. Maybe
you saw brun Skill in the offense and said, like,
not for me, pass. I don't know, but I think
that he's an option out there for you among these
four guys. And last, but certainly not least, this is
a guy I talked about early on in the process,
and Joe Noteboom again guard and tackle experience, played for
(04:11):
the Rams. I think his tape was pretty good. So
I think there's four guys out there that can really
help you. I think all four of those guys would
be favorites to start should you land one of them.
And I think all five of them are going to
be less than five million bucks a year, So not
a bad crop that ILL still choose from for your
Miami Dolphins ahead of the draft. I have one wide
receiver on here, and Kyle Kraft is gonna hate this.
I think most of you probably won't like it very
(04:32):
much either. It kind of harkens back to my love
of Brandon Cooks for so long and seeing him go
off to the back to the Saints I was. I
sent it to Kyle and said, like, hey, he still
can play. Look at look at the contract that he got,
and he thought that was, you know, a good attempt
at trying to validate my take on Brandon Cooks. Tyler
Lockett is that guy, and it's mostly because of his
ability to get vertical, to get down the field, to
(04:55):
be a real veteran route runner, a guy that can
you know, separate in the intermedia and deep part of
the field. I just think that he would be a
good option to have for like depth and almost like
an ancillary role in the event that you lose a
riek or a waddle for a game or two, or
for multiple games. And that's why I think that he
would be more of like an August signing, like hey,
come in here, learn the system. Maybe even a veteran
(05:16):
practice squad guy that kind of like learns the ropes
for a little bit, just kind of thinking outside the box.
Speaker 2 (05:20):
I don't know if that's what he's gonna.
Speaker 1 (05:21):
Want to do at the stage of his career, but
if he's open to it, I wouldn't mind seeing him
as a depth piece behind all those guys, even behind
Westbrook a Kine for the third spot on the receiving
depth chart at.
Speaker 2 (05:32):
A position of bigger need.
Speaker 1 (05:34):
A defensive tackle I think Kalais Campbell is still like
option one, two and three. If you can get him back,
everything else kind of seems to fall into place, especially
with the draft class that I think afford you a
potential significant role playing snap eater with both pick thirteen
and pick forty eight, depending on where you go there.
I think Kenneth Grant from Michigan makes a lot of
(05:55):
sense at thirteen. I think that Alfred Collins at forty
eight makes a bunch of cents and guys that would
both to me play more than half your snaps as rookies.
So if you can get Kalais and one of those guys,
all of a sudden, it goes from this group that
you feel like is kind of lacking to a position
of strength, or you round it out in the aggregate
with a Rakwon Davis who signed last year for seven
(06:17):
million bucks. I think it would be a significant reduction
to that cost if you were to return Marlon Davidson,
another rotation guy that was on that list from the
Titans that I quite like his game in a you know,
thirty percent snap taking role. And then again, I'm just
going to emphasize Kalais Campbell kind of is the guy
that can reset this entire position group for the Miami Dolphins.
Now off the edge is that second position group I
(06:37):
was telling you about that I don't think is one
of need right now. And I saw a mock draft
that had us taking an edge at thirteen. I just
can't imagine that happens with what's gone down this free agency,
with all of the edges they have, the retention of
Bradley Chubb, with the growth of Chop Robinson, with what
I expect JP to be this year, on top of
guys that can play edge as kind of a secondary
(06:57):
role to their their you know, their day job. And
Willie Gay is an off ball linebacker compared to an edgebrusher. Like,
we have so many guys in that spot that I
don't think you'll see a high draft pick spent there,
But if you want to like continue to round out depth,
Travis Gibson was a once upon a time, a Day
three draft pick that has been around the block a
little bit, played in the system, has some good pass
rushing chops. And then John Kaminski from the Lions has
(07:19):
had some injury issues, which you know, it's kind of
up our alley, but he's had some good pass rush
production too from the Lions. So a couple of guys
to keep an eye out there off the edge if
you're trying to find like a fourth or fifth guy
that maybe you feel I can compete with Quintin Bell
and Mohammed Kamara for depth this season at the cornerback
in safety spots. There's some names I still like there,
and you're getting more into the veteran aspect here, and
I think you can maybe talk yourself out of some
(07:42):
of these guys that are on the wrong side of
age thirty, like a Mike Hilton, but he's been a
kind of a mercenary of a slot cornerback for a
long time now. I think that he could continue that
role and bounce around the league or maybe find a
home for a couple of years. But I wouldn't be
opposed to signing a veteran presence, a leader in the
defensive back field that can play multiple spots in Mike
Hilton Asante. Samuel Junior is the one that I'm most
(08:04):
intrigued by, but he has a potentially very serious injury
that he's kind of contending with, and he's been open
about what happened with that shoulder and how it might
impact his career. But if that causes a reduction and cost,
I would be very curious about that. And then Myles
Bryant formerly of the Patriots, is kind of a depth
piece there. To just give you another body in the room.
I think you're gonna have to draft this spot probably
(08:24):
pretty early if unless the plan is to go in
and say, between Cam Smith, Storm Duck Ethan Bonner, you know,
Jason Matrie, Isaiah Johnson, maybe the best man win the job.
I think that that might be a little bit short
sighted of an idea, but I could see it being
the thought because you've invested in that position with those
players and their developmental tracks. But I think you're probably
best served to think about, you know, Jday Baron, to
(08:47):
think about, you know, uh, Jacob Parrish. To think about
Kobe Bryant in the third round or fourth round. To
think about Savon Revel in the second round, someone that
can be a starting cornerback for you right away. At safety,
there's two players I think are just awesome on this list.
I'm surprised they're still out there. Quite frankly. Marcus Williams
is the obvious one because he was on the defense
that Anthony Weaver coached for a couple of years there
(09:08):
in Baltimore. He was a signal caller, a post safety
that had really good ball skills, but he also had
injury issues that kept him off the field throughout the
course of the last couple of years for the Ravens,
you know in and out of the lineup previously with
the Saints. Is a great player for them too. And
then Julian Blackman, who again has injury issues too, but
a great player from depth in terms of playing the run.
He has good coverage skills, good anticipation, good ball skills.
(09:30):
I think both those two guys will start in the
NFL next year. If they are here, I would have
them both as safety one should they make that trip.
So a couple of names think about that are still
remaining on the free agent list. It's not gonna, you know,
happen overnight. It's far from over, but I think it's
worth talking about some of those names. Quick pivot here,
let's go ahead and get into our mock draft roundup.
(09:50):
We'll go ahead and do that here in segment one,
and I took a look at a few mock drafts
out there I think it's good to check by here
every once in a while. We'll probably do one more
of these before the draft, just to kind of give
you a sense of what the experts are talking about
out there. And I started off with Daniel Jeremiah March
eighteenth mock Draft when he went cam Ward Abdul, Carter
Shador Sanders, Travis Hunter, Jalen Walker, Ashton Genty armand Membu
(10:13):
Mason Graham, Jahad Campbell, Will Campbell, Sorry, both those guys
go back to back, and then Jaday Baron and Matthew
Golden the receiver going up top there to the Cowboys
right ahead of us, which means the big board basically
gives you Tyler Warren, Malachi Starks, Will Johnson in that range,
and Kenneth Grant too for that matter. There's a pretty
(10:34):
big gap on his own fifty rankings, which tells me
you're kind of choosing from that list of players. And
he went with Malachi Starks, the safety from Georgia. He wrote,
the further we get into the evaluation process, the more
teams I find are in love with Starks' game. He
would be a plug and player replacement for Javon Holland
with the versatility to play as a high safety or nickelback.
And he spelled Javon Holland's name wrong. That's kind of funny.
(10:56):
I think this makes a lot of sense. You think
about this Bill Belichick quote that you can't have a
good defense with dumb safeties. Well, Starks is that dude.
He is a traffic cop, a certain type of character.
I mean the references you see from Georgia that he
was the leader of that unit. You look at Daniel
Jeremiah's blurp. He sounds the kind of player that you
set and forget. You don't have to worry about distractions
in South Florida because he's a football first type of guy.
(11:18):
And we've talked about how a lot of these free agents,
you know, were guys that are all ball. They take
it very seriously, and we heard coaching Chris at the
end of the season press conference emphasized, you know, a
tighter leash, tighter parameters, less player, you know, freedom in
terms of what you're allowed to do with you know,
kind of writing your own ticket, and how do you
do that besides bringing in guys that emphasize that for you,
(11:39):
Guys that you don't have to self police like they
can do it for themselves. Starks fits that mold on
top of being a fantastic football player, and in fact,
I went to start looking in depth at these guys
that I believe are Round one options day by day here.
So why don't we go ahead and do that with
Starks in just a second, But first some more mock
draft round up stuff. CBS Sports is Ryan Wilson has
Walter Nolan. I think it's way too high for him.
(12:01):
I think he's going to be a really good pass brusher,
but he's a two down player, and I think this pick,
taking a two down player at pick thirteen is really
bad business. Yahoo's Nate Tye and Charles McDonald have Starks
there as well, and then PFF has Calvin Banks, which
to me is just a total lack of team awareness
and what they're going to do. But we shall see.
Maybe I'm the wrong one there, but I don't see
that happening. ESPN Mike Tannebaum wrote one, and Chris Coffin
(12:22):
had a great point on Twitter.
Speaker 2 (12:23):
About how.
Speaker 1 (12:25):
He is friends with someone who represents Josh Simmons. I'm
getting that terribly wrong, but it just doesn't make a
lot of sense that you're going to, you know, take
a tackle on the second round that needed a year
of development. He got that, he got some reps, he
got a full year of practice in the system, and
then you're just going to bail on that before you
even let it come to fruition. I don't see that happening.
And then Chad Ruder had a four round mock draft
(12:46):
NFL dot Com where he killed it until the fourth
round when he butchered it or the rather the third round,
but he had us trading down with the Cardinals who
came up for Kelvin Banks at thirteen, and we wind
up taking a player that I have rated way higher
than Calvin Banks and Jade Baron the dB from Texas.
And then he came back with Xavier Wats from nore
Dame at picked forty eight. I I mean, you've you've
(13:07):
nailed down your secondary with those two picks. I love
that start to the draft. And then he comes back
and gets Elijah Royo in the third round, the pick
we get from the Cardinals in that trade down with
the Cardinals for you know, to run.
Speaker 2 (13:18):
Out your tight end room.
Speaker 1 (13:19):
But then he comes back with Daon Walker from Kentucky,
the you know, three hundred and forty fifty pound defensive
tackle who say he's gonna run a four to six
and ran a five to five and has like no
pop in his legs. Skinny legs doesn't really drive eybody
off the ball. Got sit up at the Senior Bowl
by two hundred and eighty pound Willie Lampkin a bunch
of times. Not intrigued by that quarterback. Dylan Gabriel rounds
it out, which I think. I don't think they'll be
(13:39):
quarterback that high. I think Zach Wilson is your young
quarterback investment.
Speaker 2 (13:43):
We'll see.
Speaker 1 (13:43):
It could be wrong, but that's kind of my take
on that. The second fourth rounder was part of the
trade with the Cardinals, so they gave us. They gave
us pick sixteen and seventy eight, and we gave them
pick thirteen and one to thirty five. So for three
spots in round one, you moved up fifty seven spots
from rounds four to three. I think it's very interesting
and I'm really curious to see what trades look like
in this traffic, because I think that fewer quarterbacks up
(14:04):
at the top of the draft tend to lead to
fewer trades, and then where we are I just don't know.
I mean, there are a million and one permutations here,
but just generally speaking, I'm not sure there's going to
be a ton of trade down value there. But again,
never say never, right If a team falls in love
with the guy and they think that his name is
about to be called, then all bets are off. But
then you have to balance is losing a few spots
(14:27):
in the middle rounds worth a day three trade up.
It's all very fascinating to me with what could happen.
Let's go ahead and take a break right there, come
back and begin our deep dive project here on potential
picks at number thirteen overall. We'll kick it off with
Malachi Starks, the Safety from Georgia. That's Next Draft Time podcast,
your host Travis Wingfield, brought to you by a donation.
Speaker 2 (14:57):
If you thought the People's Court was going anywhere, you
were sorely mistaken.
Speaker 1 (15:02):
We're talking about some prospects right now, and we'll do
this through the course of the next month. I want
to get into the possible options at pick thirteen. I
want to talk about Day two guys. I want to
get into Day three. I even want to talk about
you dfa potential guys that might fit the system and
be your home for all things Miami Dolphins Draft. I
know that Kyle krabsfella has a great hairline and some
pretty good draft takes as well, but we are also
(15:25):
going to provide you with a different opinion. And Kyle
and I have a pretty shared aesthetic. I think it's
a y kbs if you know what I'm talking about.
We know some football, but there's always differences. I've given
him crap for a long time about his take on
xavierst Repro. I told him he was too slow. When
he said, no, he's a great player, and I said, well,
he ran a four to seven. So I don't know
about all that, but I digress. So we're gonna do
(15:46):
a bunch of that here over the course of the
next month leading into the draft. In fact, as I
tape this on a Wednesday, we are one month away
from the NFL Draft, right? No?
Speaker 2 (15:55):
Was that two days ago? Is it twenty fourth? I'm wrong?
Four weeks away? Whatever? Who cares?
Speaker 1 (16:00):
La Kai Starks is up today and he's the safety
from Georgia and I had a chance to watch him
on tape.
Speaker 2 (16:05):
What a football player he is.
Speaker 1 (16:06):
Man, I start with the play intelligence, and you're going
to hear me refer to this a lot in the
next month or so. I talked about it, I think
already on the show the Belichick quote you'll never see
a good defense with a dumb safety. And when you
watch Malachai Starks play, he's kind of the makes it
right guy, you know, not that Georgia is sitting back
there banking on blown coverages and missed assignments because of
(16:27):
their NFL talent defense they have. But he's not really
a like one snap I have one job type of player,
and he can be that because he sees concepts before
they unfold. And you'll hear me talk about this. This
will be the first thing I talk about with safety play.
With quarterbacks, it's how well can you see the route
concepts unfold and play fast? To me, it's the exact
(16:50):
same thing for safeties. For receivers, it's how well can
you release half line of scrimmage. For cornerbacks, it's how
well can you disrupt and feel and get a change
of direction, how quick change of direction. For pass rushers,
it's how explosive all your hands and your first step quick.
There's things I look at initially, and for safeties, it's
how do you process the routes in front of you
(17:10):
because you can play from depth position and kind of
use the information developing underneath you before you make your commitment.
If you're the smartest player on the field, you can
make plays before they happen, the same way a quarterback can.
So that's why I look for for safeties, and it's
just all over his tape. So I watched another Dame game.
I watched the Texas game in the playoffs, and I
(17:32):
watched the Clemson game for this deep dive. In another
Dame game, they wanted to run these three verticals from
the strength, which which is the wide side of the field,
and they wanted to bring the backside receiver from the
weakness of the formation on a crossing route. And it's
a very common like third and long play, run three verticals,
replace that space with a backside crosser and try to
get a catch and run opportunity for like twelve plus
(17:53):
yards and move the chains. And since he was a
split field safety to the field where those three verticals ran,
he just felt it. He felt all three of those
guys getting depth beyond him, and he saw the backside
crossing route and drove on that and cut it off
at the pass. Usually you'll see guys play that passively,
sit back on your heels, allow the information to absorb,
(18:13):
and then the actual action to happen, and then Okay,
now I'm gonna go because it's one hundred percent where
if I'm anticipating, maybe it's eighty percent. But I'll take
the sure thing and you give up the completion and
then you wind up having to make a tackle in
the open field. But because he drove on it, he
didn't give up a completion and tackle him for five
yards and get off the field.
Speaker 2 (18:32):
He took away the pass.
Speaker 1 (18:34):
Ryley Leonard has to tuck the football on scrambles and
runs himself into a sax. Rather than punting on fourth
and five, they're punting on fourth and seventeen. That's twelve yards.
That's a first down for the offense. You get what
I'm saying. So he makes plays like that on the
regular And if you run these generic spacing concepts at him,
you know, slant flat is the first commindation you'll put
in the playbook any spring where you run a flat
(18:56):
route from the inside receiver and a slant route from
the outside receiver. I confuse the coverage there get a
natural pick. I can't tell you how many times I
saw teams run two man route combinations that are designed
to stretch the hook and the curl flat defender. What's
the hook defender. It's between the numbers at about you know,
five to eighteen yards. Depending on what type of offense
the opposing offense runs, you can stretch that hook zone accordingly,
(19:18):
the curl flap is outside the numbers, playing that curl zone,
but also the flap to the run, the throws to
the running backs, the screen passes that kind of stuff,
and he adds another hat into the mix consistently against
those looks. So if you run slant flat, you can
run your hook flare basically the exact same concept where
you run a receiver right around the numbers and he
(19:38):
either slants into the field or comes back down the
stem and you run your flat route or your flare
route or your little hook route to the perimeter. And
that creates this combination that creates natural rubs. And based
on how those combos looks, Starks knows when the hook
or sl route plants his foot that there's no longer
a vertical threat because it would be a wheel route
(19:58):
from a running back who's probably slower, and by the
time that unfolds, the pass rush should be getting home.
So he can pick that out and drive on the
hook and take it away. And he does it all
the time. These are like second and ten automatic, you know,
five yard gains to get yourself into two good third
down situations. He can turn those third and fives into
third and tens, or maybe even more in third and
(20:19):
fifteen by a sack. And if you run those generic
concepts at him, just good luck. I can't tell you
how many times I saw him sniff those out. It's
all over his tape. He's going to be one of
the smartest players on the field for you from day one.
I would say, maybe even the smartest you know, depending
on your team. For here, it's tough to beat Ramsey
in that regard or Jordan Brooks, but he would compete
with those guys. And when I think about how those
(20:40):
defense uses versatility among its front to disguise rushes and
sim pressures, you can put a lot of stress on
the back end of your defense to get it right,
not just by tackling really well in space, but to
see where the hots are, because if you have a
heady safety who can drive on the hots against a
five man pressure and the quarter has to come off
(21:01):
that and go to a secondary reid, it's probably a
sack or at least you know, Zach Steeler has a
run at the quarterback, and if he misses him, you
know it's gonna happen like once a year, maybe good luck.
I mean that's the entire crux of this defense and
most defenses today. So I thought it was awesome. Now
there are times, because no prospect is perfect, where this
can burn him. The anticipation offenses can kind of exploit this.
(21:22):
Like he was in the slot versus Texas and they
ran this little switch release, which is the inside guy
goes out, outside guy goes in. Confused your coverage concepts there,
and it's from a bunch set, so they're right next
to each other, and Matthew Golden fakes the flat and
then runs this whip route back across the face, which
is right behind the original slant and pick route the
first receiver ran and starks Over commits to the flat
(21:43):
and gives up a twenty yard catch and run inside.
But I think that more football that he sees means
that he'll he'll learn from those mistakes. The same mistakes
don't happen over and over for him again, so I
think he'll use those negative reps as learning tools. Even
you know at you know, as a rookie in the
NFL athletically, you know this is why player testing is
not the gospel for me. Don't get me wrong. I
(22:04):
use it as much as anybody, so I don't shy
away from it. But he scored just a five to
one to five relative athletic scorecard with twenty third and
twenty fifth percent tile shuttle in three cone times. I
don't think that tracks on his tape, don't. I don't
see that when I see him playing. In fact, I
have a rep to talk about on Matthew Bond here
in just a second. But that and a thirty third
percent tile vertical, a forty third percent tile weight. But
(22:26):
he did, however, have an eighty third percentile forty yard dash,
which that would tract more of what I saw on tape, and.
Speaker 2 (22:31):
All of that aside.
Speaker 1 (22:33):
Just watch the tape, nerd, right, like I know that's
a convenient way to put it when you don't get
the metrics you want. But the way that he closes
and flips his hips and locates the ball and plays
the football, he's just a stud.
Speaker 2 (22:45):
He had a pick.
Speaker 1 (22:45):
Against Clemson in the opener where he's a man coverage
in the slot. He squats on the little out and
up and then turns and gets vertical stays and phase
and makes this spinning, pure wet interception. Just incredible football play,
and somebody put on x a list of All Pro
safe if he's with underwhelming testing numbers like Earl Thomas,
Brian Branch and Xavier McKinney all had ARAS scores in
the low fives, just like Malachi Starks did. And then
(23:08):
there's just the tape right like he would line up
in man coverage against a bunch as the point man
and then win the foot race with Isaiah Bond on
a drag route or his I said Matthew Bond earlier.
Isaiah Bond, his play speed is so much faster than
his testing time was. He gets downhill against the run
super super quickly. He does not jog after the football,
He sprints after it. They didn't play him down on
(23:29):
the run fits almost ever, and he only has twenty
one pass rush reps over twenty five hundred career college snaps,
which makes me wonder how much they view him as
a fit here, because you can't be a safety in
this defensive you know't blitz the quarterback. But I think
he can do that. It's one of those things where
just because he didn't do it doesn't mean he can't
do it. I think his starttop explosiveness, his sheer will
(23:50):
could make for an impactful blitzer. He's a great tackler,
just a six percent miss tackle rate, which is a
great rate for a linebacker. It's exceptional for a player
who plays mostly twenty yards off the football. My conclusion
is the fit is just so apparent the Ravens did
with the Kyle Hamilton, where he plays split field in
the post, comes down in the box. It's not even
necessarily how he fits in those roles per se, but
(24:11):
just how he processes and can take himself to the
correct position based on his read. I think the best
way you can describe it is that he kind of
gives you twelve players on defense, or rather the illusion
of twelve players. Because he takes away space that he occupies,
but he's also thinking multiple steps ahead, so the deception
of your offense kind of goes out the window because
he's right there with me. Forgive me for the crowd
(24:33):
that hates comparisons, but to me, it's a kin to
Zach Thomas. But at safety, I know he's going to
beat you pre snap from back there just about every
play because he's smarter than you. I do think the
limited athletic ability and the fact that he doesn't have
any pass rush profile are the questions the Dolphins will have.
It makes me wonder, and with the signing of ifimlafan
Wu getting Willie Gay, I tend to think they might
(24:53):
curry favorite to a player more like Nick e Man.
Worry more than Starks because he's kind of that Jeremy
Chinn type of chess piece that Derwin James. I don't know,
it's a tough call neither of them. Maybe it's neither
of them and it's Lathan Ransom in the third round
or Billy Bowman in the fourth round. I don't know,
tough one to figure out, but I think that Stark's
remains on that short list for me. At pick thirteen,
but I think he's on the back end of it.
(25:14):
I'll give you more information as I get to Tyler Warren,
Jday Barron and Kenneth Grant. So that's my Malachai Stark's
deep dive. That's the verdict. Let's go ahead and take
our last break right there, come back and do a
few of your mail bag questions here on the Draft
Time podcast, your host Travis Wingfield, brought to you by Autnation.
Speaker 2 (25:33):
Mel to here.
Speaker 1 (25:40):
Oh yes, it is time for the Drive Time mail Bag.
I put the call out on social media, you reply
with your questions. I answer them here on the show.
And you guys went Ham on this this week? Are
we still saying went Ham? I think I'm showing my
age with that. But I'm only going to answer three
on this show because I wound up getting in depth
Malachi Starks and the mock draft round up and the
(26:02):
remaining free agents. But guess what, we have plenty of
shows to come your way in the next couple of weeks,
so I will do this throughout several shows, and those
questions will be relevant as we go along. So I'll
get to your questions. If you answered ask them on
blue Sky at Dan Pe. As the roster currently stands,
which position is the biggest area of need for the
Dolphins Defensive tackles, safety, inside lineback or inside off, interior
(26:24):
offensive line, close enough, cornerback or other. I think you
pretty much nailed it in terms of the roster construction,
and it's somewhat like fitting, isn't it? Like we've been
over this at least one hundred times on this show
since the Jets game wrapped and we moved on the
twenty twenty five. The meat and potatoes positions were where
this draft was strong, and I think there are starting
(26:46):
safeties and corners and defensive tackles throughout the top one
hundred picks of this year's draft if you if you
get the right guy and you develop them right correctly.
The interior offensive line might not have that kind of depth,
but I think there's a lot of convert op there.
You know, Ariante Esery from Minnesota as a first rounder
in my book, I don't think I'll go that high,
but he's a tackle that could be a guard convert.
(27:08):
But I'm not seeing that is common thought across the
draft landscape. I think he could be an option. I
think that Miles Fraser and Jackson Slater from LSU and
Sacramento State are Day two guys that could be Day
one stars for you. There's also some free agents out
there at this spot we covered earlier. But yeah, you
see the roster really round into form so far in
training Earth and a free agency. I think you could
(27:29):
play a game tomorrow with what you've got at most positions,
but there's probably a couple you have to add some
bodies out, like across the defensive tackle position, you know,
maybe cornerback. It depends on how you evaluate some of
the roster, but I think going into the draft, the
idea for this team is always to have as few
needs as possible, and I think that over the next
month you could see that round more into form here
(27:49):
as we go ahead. But I think you pretty much
nailed a defensive tackle with you know, potentially Klay as
Campbell coming back safety. I think right now you probably
need another guy to add to that mix, if a
surefire starter in terms of the competition interior offensive line.
I think the same thing about safety, and then it's
really a cornerback too. I kind of feel the same
way about all four of those spots.
Speaker 2 (28:08):
That you name, So there you go.
Speaker 1 (28:10):
Next one here from at the real Cody, what players
currently on the roster in positions of need do you
think can fill the void? Example, could Elijah Campbell or
Patrick mc morris be the starter this year?
Speaker 2 (28:21):
To me, the areas of need.
Speaker 1 (28:22):
Are defensive tackle, guard, cornerback two and safety. But of
course talk about whatever holes and players you think of.
So you and Dan are on the same page in
terms of the team needs. And I'm with you, right
there with you. I love this question because I feel
like we spend this time of year trying to name shop,
you know, to plug the holes remaining on the roster.
And it's so funny because you can do this like
(28:43):
in December, and you can tell yourself like, hey, Stefan
Diggs is thirty plus years old, he's coming off a
major knee injury that he suffered in October, and his
previous team basically auditioned by subtraction to him because he
was a problem. And you talk yourself out of a
player through all of that, and then after a few
months goes by, I'm sure Patriots fans are watching his
(29:06):
bills tape saying like, oh, we got this star receiver,
it's like, yeah, from a couple of years ago, and
I think that you wind up talking yourself into certain
names even if you know those names aren't what they
used to be. And that's why I say, like, name
shopping can get you in such trouble. But I think
that you know this is across the league, that the
best way to fill out your remaining holes in the
(29:28):
roster is with incumbent growth that can turn a good
roster into a great one. And across the league, like
there are fans, for instance, of all thirty two teams
right now that are expecting a second year jump from
their third round pick or a third year jump from
their fourth round pick or whatever it is. Just for
an example, like we all think Patrick Paul is going
to be like a big time left tackle at least
(29:50):
if you watched his tape last year, whereas mel Kiper,
who probably didn't watch any Dolphins games, thinks like, oh,
his Houston tape is who he is, and so I
don't feel confident about that. Like there's different percent from
what we think about other teams and how those teams'
fan bases feel. And I think you've hit it with
Patrick McMorris here. I think Elijah Campbell is a really
good special teams a slash like third or fourth safety,
(30:10):
but I think mc morris has upside to potentially be
more than that. He was consistently making plays in training camp,
he had that outstanding preseason game where he was the
best player in the damn field. Then he gets hurt
and goes to that sort of forgotten territory that happens
with injured players unfortunately right especially ones that have not
proven themselves yet as pros. I think that he can
(30:31):
compete with ifatumlafan Wu as they both have similar skill
sets in terms of what they do best, not that
they're the same player, but I think they can occupy
similar roles within this defense. And that's what has me
excited about this iteration of this build. I think in
the past you could look at this roster and be like, man,
if we could just stay healthy, we are loaded. But
now it's like, well, if this guy goes down, I
(30:52):
feel pretty good about this guy ready to fill in
for him. And maybe the top end part of the
roster isn't as like uphoik is at once, but there's
no bottom out options unless we just get wiped out
like we have at the edge position or the cornerback
position a few years ago. And we aren't even done
doing it all. So I mean, like, look at the
Bills last year. They were a team that regressed, right,
I'm using air quotes. Regressed in terms of their talent. No,
(31:14):
they just like lopped off from the higher price talent
that maybe wasn't always available for him and got deeper.
And they probably had the best version of their football
team going into that Chiefs game of the playoffs that
they lost, Like they probably felt better about that team
than they have any team previous. So we have the
whole draft to go. I don't think free agency is
over yet. I doubt we signed our last player from
now until training camp. But I think that mc morris
(31:36):
is the best example. I would also include Jalen Wright,
who is hardly an unknown, but I could see him
going from sixty eight carries to two hundred. I hope
that's what happens. I mean, we'll see, but I think
he's very capable of that. Mohammed Kamara, Grayson Murphy, you know,
MO saw some action last year. I think it's fair
to expect a second year jump from him, and I
am so high on Grays and Murphy. I'm super bummed
that he got hurt in preseason, but I think he
(31:58):
could be an impact player. You've got guys like Andrew Meyer,
Jason Maitre, Isaiah Johnson TOAJ Washington who got hurt in
training camp or in in in a spring ball last year,
a few of the guys I'm excited to watch in
your number two last one here from at Florida Politico.
I get that right, who who's best? Who is the
best offensive linean free agent we could reasonably sign. I
(32:19):
think Brandon Schirf and Will Hernandez and Daniel Brunskill are
still remaining on that top or on the free agent
list that could be nice options. I mentioned all those
guys earlier. I also omitted Mark Glowinski, who's been a dependable,
versatile piece for the Colts. Shaq Mason got cut by
the Texans, so he's still out there. There's still plenty
of guys to look at that could that could maybe
(32:40):
be your starting left guard or if it's you know,
Daniels's left guard at the right guard position, or an
upgrade over Lea Mikenberg. Like, There's still plenty of options
out there, and I would be surprised. We'll see, I
don't I don't know anything for sure, but I would
be surprised if they're done in free agency at that spot.
Would be pretty surprised by that. All right, there you go.
That's gonna be my time this edition of the podcast.
(33:01):
On Monday, we were supposed to have Charles Davis. We're
having some difficulty getting the scheduling done there, so I
can't promise you him just yet. We shall see if
that goes ahead. We also have Mike McDaniel's Monday Owners
Meeting media availability, which should have some good stuff about
these free agents. First time we'll hear from the coach
after these what twelve or fifteen signings and resignings we've
(33:21):
had so far, So we'll have that on the Monday podcast.
We'll have Kyle Krabs at some point. We'll continue doing
these deep dives on potential Pick thirteen prospects plenty to
come your way here in the Drift Time Podcast. In
the meantime, you all please be sure to subscribe, rate,
review the show, follow me on social at Winfield, NFL.
Follow the team at Miami Dolphins. Check out Seth and
(33:42):
Juice on the Fish Tank podcast. Check out the YouTube
channel for Dolphins HQ, drivetime interviews, media availabilities, and so
much more. Last, but not least, Miami Dolphins dot com.
Until next time, Finn's up, Caroline and Cameron, Daddy, you
come and hold
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