June 11, 2025 • 34 mins
The Dolphins were back on the field Wednesday and Travis has all the notes from the practice. Plus, we hear from Coach McDaniel, Jaelan Phillips, Bradley Chubb, and discuss the idea of aggressive secondary play with Storm Duck and Isaiah Johnson.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is Drivetime with Travis Wingfield.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
What is up, dollphans, and welcome to the Draft Time Podcast.
I am your host, Travis Wingfield. And on today's show,
another day of many can't practice in the books. We'll
take you through the practice notes and all the quotes
from all the guys, including Coach McDaniel, Storm, Doug, Isaiah Johnson,
Bradley Chubb, Jalen Phillips. We'll see if I have enough
(00:31):
time for a couple additional sound bites as well. I
don't want to promise it, but we'll see when we
get there. From the Baptist Hell Studios inside the Baptist
Health Training Complex. This is the Draft Time Podcast day.
So yesterday's show was one of those ones where all
the stars kind of aligned for me. And what I
mean by that is the narratives that I was tracking
(00:54):
throughout the day and getting quotes from also played out
on the field and it just kind of aim together
into this perfect goulage, if you will. Today is not
the same, and there's a decent amount of residual content
that kind of carries over from yesterday. And I queue
it up this way because I want to start to
talk about Storm Duck and Isaiah Johnson, who we talked
(01:17):
about on the podcast yesterday, as well as cater Coho
and bj Adams and Already Burns, these cornerbacks that are
taking this aggressive play style and getting production from it
on the back end. And with every practice I just
continue to see more of the same from that group.
They're showing this aptitude for aggression and being very productive
with what they're doing at the line of scrimmage in disruption,
(01:39):
whether it's a dummy press or an actual press. But
then they can carry that physicality down the stem and
challenge the catch point on a pretty damn good group
of wide receivers, right Like I talked about Storm matching
up on Tanner Connor and winning a rep against him yesterday,
and that's a guy that he has a size mismatch
or disadvantage against. And then today I saw him win
(02:01):
an outbreaker where he was able to get underneath Jalen Waddle,
who has torched just about anybody that's come across him
in this entire you know, spring portion and drive on
that throw to get a breakup on the coveted Tua
to Wattle connections so far this spring. Isaiah Johnson will
play a sound clip from him on this in just
one second. He talked about the coaches that challenged him
(02:22):
to take a step after a productive spring, and that
was meant to say to go make a play, go
go get a turnover because and you know, I'll admit
this to kind of take it back before I go
forward again. I think cornerback is one of the toughest
positions to evaluate, especially in a live setting, because oftentimes
the best corners they don't have the stats or even
(02:43):
the tangible reps in terms of the ones where they
give their best stuff. Like I think about Richard Sherman.
For years after he got a bunch of picks, early
teams were they wised up and they're like, we're not
going to go after that guy anymore because he's going
to take away more balls and he's going to allow receptions.
Speaker 1 (02:58):
NOMINDI awesome.
Speaker 2 (02:59):
Wall was that way for a long time with the
Las Vegas for the Oakland Raiders way back in the day.
I think about Sauce Gardner, who doesn't have a bunch
of picks to his name, but he's one of the
best cover corners in the entire NFL. Teams just don't
want to try the guys that can get their hands
on footballs and take it away because you know, typically
a great rep from a cornerback means there's no target,
(03:19):
right like, if they pick off the pass, they've either
done a great job of baiting the quarterback into a
bad throw or they gave the quarterbacks some indication, some
semblance that that was the best place to go with
the football. And when they completely dominate a rep, a
quarterback's going to say, yeah, I'm good. I'm not gonna
I'm not going to go that way because there is number,
you know whatever, the cornerback's number thirty seven for Isia Johnson.
(03:42):
He's all over him, So why am I going to
test him that way? And I think, you know, unless
you're watching that individual matchup, when they have those dominant reps,
it's kind of tough to see. So it's difficult to
absorb a bunch of reps from guys that way because
I'd have to basically take my attention off the rest
of practice. And I've made no secret about this fact
that cornerback. Among all the years of doing you know,
(04:04):
draft preview and giving you my thoughts on prospects what
they could be the next level. I think the lowest
batting average I have in terms of a position group
is cornerbacks. And I say all of that because once
the playmaking comes in, that's when guys tend to get noticed.
But I can't help but really glom onto this idea
(04:24):
of a second year within the defense, a defense that
really showed case. It's stuff from a zone coverage perspective,
and you take those clues in those data points to
extrapolate what it might be the next season. Right, And
we have numbers on coverage splits in terms of you know,
shell structure man versus zone press versus off.
Speaker 1 (04:46):
All of that.
Speaker 2 (04:46):
You can find that data the Monday after the game
every game you play, and obviously the cumulative you know,
whole season stats and we see stuff in camp. It's
not something you report on though. That's a rule across
the league. Don't talk about formation and motions and route
concepts like that's reporters know better than to do that.
But even if you did that, it's tough to project
(05:08):
the exact balance of what it's going to be come
September and the games when you have actual data tracking
all of that. Because I'll tell you what if a
reporter came out here and watched practice and was able
to give me man versus zone splits. I would say
you're the Hall of Fame of training camp watchers, because
that would be quite impressive. And you guys know how
I feel about taking stats like quarterback stats in practice.
(05:30):
I don't see the value in that, but this would
have quite a lot of value. But I'm not saying
we're doing that. I'm just I'm communicating how tough it
is to evaluate those players in those positions because of
all these variables. And I say all this because I
felt last year's calling card on the defense was the
string of zone coverages that really played off each other.
(05:51):
When you design plays in football, you have to every
single rule or assignment has to have a description as
to why or how the offense or defense might react
to that particular move or rule or player. And you
have to be able to unfurl a you know what
happens if ABC occurs, and you structure your plays in
(06:12):
a way that it all makes sense and tethers together.
That's that's what play scripting and play calling is all about.
It's not just like hey call the Madden four verts
versus a you know, half back slam, whatever the hell
the Madden plays are, it's it's a lot more than
that simplicity of a Madden game. And for the defense,
it was this creative you know structure in terms of
(06:35):
how those structures aligned and presented rules in a very
easily digestible way to the defensive backs and the entire defense.
Speaker 1 (06:42):
All eleven guys.
Speaker 2 (06:43):
So last year the split was twenty three percent man
coverage seventy seven percent zone coverage. That was the twenty
third highest man coverage rate in all of football. And again,
as I've told you guys all summer, in all spring
or all winter and spring, I guess that the highest
man average rate in football is typically like right on
the precipice of fifty percent. So even if you're gonna
(07:05):
play more man coverage, it doesn't even mean more than
half the time. But that structure last year, the kind
of you know, three quarters of the time zone one
quarter of the time man coverage was effective and it
worked really well with our rush games, our sim pressure
package for sure, and our blitzes in the entire package
of that year one of the defense. But now in
(07:25):
year two, as we've discussed at length, at this point
of June, you expand that menu becomes more expansive, and
we've been over that, and I think we're seeing that
play out here in the month of June on the
practice field. And when I look at it, I think
about it twofold number one, the pass rush personnel, it's
just flat out better. I mean, you return Jalen Phillips
(07:48):
and Bradley Chubb. That alone takes care of that for me.
And you think about Chop Robinson coming into year two.
I asked James Daniels today about the Dolphins front and unprompted,
the first thing he said was something to the effect
of like forty four or is really good. He's been impressive.
Then you add, you know Kenneth Grant and what I've
talked about with him, We heard from coach McDaniel on
him earlier today.
Speaker 1 (08:08):
What will play some sound on that later on the
show for you guys.
Speaker 2 (08:10):
Jordan Phillips and watching him throw those like five hundred
pound sleds like they are one hundred and fifty pound
podcasters out of the club. You toss Willie Gay and
if Emela fan will in there and all they've done
with their rush profiles, over their careers. So if the
personnel is better and the menu is deeper, then you
can probably count on more pressure, more one on one wins,
(08:34):
absence the need to blitz right, and that creates more
seven man coverage plays, and then you get into these
cool mixes of hybrid zone versus man coverage where we
can play that press aggressive style with everybody on one rep,
we can even zero you and bring everybody down into
the fit and go man across the board, and then
on another play we can show that same presentation. And
now you've got a half field hybrid coverage with a
(08:55):
manager where he goes concept like you can get so
deep into the menu, into the weeds, and the opposing
quarterback better match that in the way he prepares the
entire week. If I've lost you, let's boil it down
to this, the second aspect of my two fold here.
If I can count on more one on one rush wins,
or I just have a deeper compliment to rush the
(09:16):
way I did last year, which was through rush games, right,
that's slants and twists and pick stunts and things like that.
It can just be more effective of what I already did.
And from all that then I can gamble more, And
by gamble that might be the wrong word, because that
insinuates that you're like trying to, you know, trade off
big plays for big plays. But when you play aggressive,
(09:37):
you're the one forcing the issue, You're dictating the terms.
It's like being a strike thrower in baseball. I'm coming
after you. And maybe that increases your odds of me
leaving one fat over the plate and squaring up off
the barrel for a four hundred and fifty foot home run.
And you know that's the worst case scenario, but it
also increases my chances of getting swings and misses or
perhaps even more apt week contact and you put the
(10:00):
ball on the ground to the shortstop for a tailor
made six, four to three, and we're out of the
inning when it looked like we were in trouble with
runners on the base pass. So if I'm confident in
the rush getting home fast, I have a quarterback on
the opposite side that just saw three different zone presentations.
He gets what he thinks is that same presentation once again,
(10:21):
but then it becomes this reroute man call with safety
spamming the hot outlets within that blitz package, and they're
jumping stuff because we have confidence that we're going to
get home in two two and a half seconds. That's
a lot for the quarterback to contend with, and more
than what they had last year. And I go back
to that Rams game, like, Matthew Stafford is a borderline
Hall of Fame quarterback, and maybe if he wins in
(10:43):
their championship he is one.
Speaker 1 (10:44):
Maybe he already is one. I don't know.
Speaker 2 (10:45):
He's really damn good, right, he was swimming in that
game against a defense that was absent, those edge defenders
I talked about, We've were nicked up throughout the course
of the season, and that defense got after a really
good quarterback. It's kind of the blueprint for how I
think this entire operation wants to work, and kind of
the jumping off point for where you can get to
next against these good level quarterbacks. The Texans game was
(11:07):
the same way the Niners game down late in the
year was the same way.
Speaker 1 (11:10):
You know, C. J.
Speaker 2 (11:11):
Stroud and Brock Purty looked like middling quarterbacks, and those
are guys that have produced top ten numbers for you know,
a couple of years now. So I think back to
Anthony Weaver discussing playing connected in his last media availability
with US playing team football and how it will be
good defense, Like it's going to be good defense if
we do those things. And I think there's no mistake
(11:31):
or coincidence about how it was built from the front
seven perspective, with your first round pick being a defensive
tackle with three additions alongside Jordan Brooks and Willie Gay,
Tyrel Dodson and kJ Britt, with the return of those
guys off the edge, adding a first round pick last
year off the edge when the expectation was at some
point you would have fifteen and two back in the fold.
They've really gone after those position groups, I mean beyond
(11:54):
KG Jordan Phillips and Zeke Biggers, and they go get
Malcolm Butler as well. But my goodness, man, those are
a lot of guys to contend with. And I think
what I see, I think is a front seven that
you expect to be really good, and then a defensive
backfield that the way it's called and coached, with the
(12:14):
skills of the personnel matches what you expect to have
in that front seven. Perhaps I'm wrong, and I'm just
speculating out my backside here, and I'm completely wrong. But
that's that's what I think it think it is and
what it could look like. So with all that in mind,
after another really good practice from Storm Duck and Isaiah Johnson,
and it's kind of the same name for me here
(12:35):
multiple days in a row.
Speaker 1 (12:36):
Cater Co who fits this bill as well.
Speaker 2 (12:38):
Bja Adams, a guy that gets in the notes a
lot already Burns I've been impressed with so far through camp,
Like there's a play style there, right, And I think
back to the draft even look with Jade Barron, a
guy that I was talking about at length. If you
want to talk about his shortcoming, it was at Texas.
It was the ability to come up and press and
play that man coverage. So to me, there's breadcrumbs there
that track that this all fits together. And with the
(13:00):
way I've seen Storm and Isaiah take to the scheme
and the guys I talked about, it just kind of
clicks for me. So I wanted to ask those two
guys about some of that stuff. And I don't really
even have a particular tie in here. I just kind
of wanted to play some Isaiah Johnson's sound bites because
listen to the way this guy talks about outside perspective
and motivation and social media, which he told us he
(13:22):
doesn't even have social media, and for him at that age, like,
I'm already impressed by that by itself. Let's hear about
Isaiah Johnson on the outside noise with this cornerback group
and how he contends with that.
Speaker 3 (13:31):
I mean, at the end of the day, you got
here because of your own motivation, not because of anybody else.
Me personally, I know that for sure. He was never
an outside motivation. It was always internal for me. And
I know that's for everybody in the room, where it's
one of those things where you can't make it this
far unless you're pushing yourself to be the best. So
if you want to look at it that way, you can.
But I think for the room right now, it's just
(13:52):
everybody's trying to earn their stripes and everybody's trying to
get on that field and play ball.
Speaker 1 (13:55):
And then he was asked who teaches who in that room,
and I just loved, loved this freak answer.
Speaker 3 (14:00):
We all teach each other. It's really fun that way.
You know, we all go in there watching film together,
we all are talking to each other, seeing what somebody
does well. Asking them about it, because, like I said,
nobody has a name, So everybody's just trying to learn.
Everybody's just trying to get better than everybody's just trying
to work.
Speaker 2 (14:15):
And here he is on the thing I just talked
about for fifteen minutes about physicality, getting hands on receivers
and gives us even some more here talking about the
timing nature of today's passing offenses.
Speaker 1 (14:26):
I mean, it's just it's important.
Speaker 3 (14:27):
I mean, you can always change change the time.
Speaker 1 (14:29):
And quarterbacks and schemes.
Speaker 3 (14:31):
It's a lot of time, and nowadays, especially because of
the offensive trees that have taken over the league, and
so being able to get hands on and mess up
time and being able to be physical changes the game
for a dB makes it a lot less reactive and
coach coach ruge, they allow us to be like that.
They want physical corners who get hands on. So it's
one thing where we like again, we all learn from
each other in the film room and then we all
(14:53):
work on it every day out on the practice.
Speaker 2 (14:55):
One more here with Isaiah before we go ahead and
take our first break. He was asked about the pick
he had in Tuesday practice. Here's Isaiah Johnson.
Speaker 3 (15:02):
Yeah, it was just one of those things where again
the work's coming coming through fruition. We work on disguising
a lot, We work on trying to make the quarterback
see something that maybe might not be there, and then
at the end of the day, it's about making the play.
Coach had challenged me before practice, he said, you're doing
real well. Now it's time to make a play. So
when I have my chances, I'm thankful and I'm grateful
that I was able to make the most of it. Really,
(15:22):
that one was all about knowledge, knowing, knowing the formation,
and being able to have some expectations of what the
play is coming your way, and then at the end
of the day, being physical and attacking at attacking the
ball at the end of the play and go on
and grab it.
Speaker 2 (15:37):
We're up against the breaks, We're gonna go ahead and
take that right here. We'll come back on the other
side and hear from Storm Duck and talk about the
play of those two guys a little bit more. We'll
get into some more practice notes, talk about Tua e
Chan Wattle Chubb fill ups a bunch of notes for
you guys from today's practice. That's next Draft Time Podcast.
Brought to you by Auto Nation. I got three soundbites
(15:57):
here from Dolphins cornerback Storm Duck. Let's go ahead and
kick it off with him answering a similar question for
Isaiah Johnson about the value the impact of rerouting guys
at the land of scrimmage getting hands on players.
Speaker 1 (16:08):
Here's Storm Duck.
Speaker 4 (16:09):
Yeah, No, definitely. I mean all of us really like to,
you know, get hands on and be physical because I
mean at the corner position. And I mean, as you know,
offenses they've allowed like Tom and a lot in a
simple you know, kick slide or whatever the technique might
be inch that can throw off the offense. So I
mean it's fun, you know, just being able to compete,
I mean with the receiver of room, like every single
(16:29):
day to come out there, it's been fun. So they
get us better, we get them better. So you know,
it's a lot of back and forth. But in the
day we're having fun with it.
Speaker 2 (16:37):
Back to Storm again here for a discussion about the
versatility of this defense and how playing multiple positions, and
this is really true of the front where we really
learned this last year of the defense and the ability
to get to all the different rush games. Playing every
spot and having knowledge from all those spots, well, it
pertains to the defensive backfield too.
Speaker 1 (16:52):
Here's Storm Duck.
Speaker 2 (16:53):
I'm playing multiple positions and how it gives you a
better understanding for the entire defense and allows you to
play fast. Yeah.
Speaker 4 (16:59):
I think the more you know, the more or the
faster you can play.
Speaker 5 (17:02):
Like at dB.
Speaker 4 (17:03):
So obviously know what you know, where the safety is,
what the linebackers are, nickel corners.
Speaker 2 (17:08):
Knowing where you know.
Speaker 4 (17:09):
Your help is, where your help isn't I think all
that goes into you know, playing fast and you know,
being smoothed.
Speaker 1 (17:14):
Last one here for Storm.
Speaker 2 (17:15):
And we've talked about the competitive nature of these practices
and the young roster and how it breeds competition naturally
that way, and I think you think about that in
terms of the on field play. But one thing that
maybe you don't think about for me or anybody is
the idea of how you prepare because you have to
be on your stuff because if you're not and somebody
else is and you get surpassed in the depth chart
(17:37):
that way, shame on you, right. So it generates this
this urgency to be on top of the playbook, and
you get that sense from talking to these players.
Speaker 1 (17:46):
Here's Storm duck on just that now I think.
Speaker 4 (17:48):
So, I mean it comes down to the you know
how much and you know, look at the playbook and
you know how how you apply it because I mean
and the coaches give it to us, you know, in
great ways. You know, whether it's visually going out in
the field, like every type of learning you are is
the way it's taught here. So there's no way for
you not to you know, know what you're supposed to do,
not to say like you know, I mean, with any profession,
(18:09):
you will make a mistake at Tom's. But what we're
taught here is like every.
Speaker 3 (18:14):
Learning can learn it.
Speaker 4 (18:16):
It could probably be broken down to like a little
kid or you know, you know, an older person. So
interview it is a great job, and I'm just glad
to have opportunity to play man.
Speaker 2 (18:25):
That was my first time talking to Storm at length,
and I really really sharp dude. All right, let's go
ahead and continue on here. And you know, I try
my best to not root for certain things in practice,
but I got to give you guys a little bit
of inside baseball on what happened today. I was leaning
towards Willie Gay as my Player of the day after
(18:47):
he made two plays in coverage and one against the run,
and I was like, this guy's all over the field
showing those chops in coverage, and this is something I have,
you know, long wondered and perhaps can ask down the road.
But we look, you know, we know in these camps
that you can sometimes get guys that cheat the play, right,
they know the offense, the offense knows the defense and
what you want to do. I used to ask Oj
McDuffie all the time about this, and Oj would every
(19:10):
single time, Man, they cheat every play. He thought, every
dB cheats every rep. And I'm sure a cornerback would
say the same thing about a receiver across the ball.
But anyway, Willie, he had this rep and you know,
football boiled down to its core element.
Speaker 1 (19:25):
Is this right?
Speaker 2 (19:26):
It's how can we create space by manipulating where you
think you need to go? So if the player knows
what the offense is going to do to manipulate him,
then you can just cheat your way right into the
correct position. Now I don't think that's the case here,
but Willy was just all over the place and coverage
and it started on a rep where they tried to
move Willy to the flat where Tua pumps that way
(19:46):
and then attacks the window that gets created from his
vacancy there. But Willy is able to put his foot
in the ground, flip his hip, get back vertical into
the passing lane and prevent another to a Chan completion
early in practice. Quick aside here h Chan and Wattle
eight again today a Chan. If you removed the number
off his jersey and the name on the back, I
(20:06):
would say, who's that receiver oute there that's looking like
the best player on the damn team. He looks that
good as a receiver, like running routes and just smooth
out of breaks, the way he catches the ball and
doesn't fight it with his hands. I've just been loving
what I'm seeing from him every single day. And we
talked about the elevation on the touchdown catch yesterday, the
way I saw him snatch throws directly over the ball
(20:27):
in traffic over the middle of the field. Today, I
think twenty eight is the biggest problem for defenses that
we've seen, you know, in three years from his own perspective,
and this is a guy that has twenty five hundred
scrimmage yards in twenty eight career games like it's rare production,
and to me, what I'm seeing right now in June
looks like the best version of himself. And then with Wattle,
(20:47):
cut and paste it from every other day. There are
so many plays where the other nine guys on the
field it just doesn't matter. And what I mean by
that is that Tua and Waddle are so on the
same page, and the ball is out so fast the
other routes the pass protection, it's irrelevant because even if
you beat your guy, the ball's already gone, doesn't matter.
That's trust from Tua that Waddle is going to be
(21:08):
exactly where he's supposed to be, and it's Waddle knowing
where Tua likes him to be and getting there on
time every single time. I saw a completion today where
waddal did the exact same thing I talked about for
months now. The outside leverage cornerback who's designed to take
away the outbreaking route and he can take that inside
release and get back outside for the completion. It's all
over his tape. Saw it again today in practice. It's
(21:28):
so impressive and such an underrated aspect of Wattle's game.
He also caught a quick hitter over the middle where
the ball was on top of his helmet, and he
snatched that thing clean, got the ball back down to
protect himself. Not going to take a hit in practice,
but practice how you play right. Another great practice from him,
and he and Tua connected a whole bunch today. Tua
did have a pick today, the first one we've seen
so far in spring ball. I think he must have
(21:50):
expected the route depth to be further than it was
because he overthrew the thing by a lot and we
just never ever see that from QB one. I'm speculating there,
But Dante Trader is the officiary of this. He reels
this pick in and yeah, I'm telling you this because
these dudes run to the football, it's non negotiable. And
Trader is often the guy on the scene there back
to the linebackers and Willie so he has that coverage,
(22:13):
you know, feel and flip the hips and run down
the field rep on a cham where I'm like, all right,
that'll freaking play from a linebacker. Then they throw this
quick hitter to Azukama and Willy at this point is
just gliding along the tips of the blades of grass
and he's there in Azu Kama's face the minute the
ball is caught, and if we are live, it would
have been a collision that would have made highlights.
Speaker 1 (22:33):
He caps it.
Speaker 2 (22:34):
Willy does by having a similar rep to the earlier
coverage rep where he camped in the curl flat again,
then flashes back inside to the hook zone and picks
off as Zach Wilson pass and takes it back for six.
I am a huge fan of Willy's game, and we
saw that today. Jordan Brooks had a rep where he
matched a thirty yard vertical route from tanner' connor and
Tanner began to pull away because he's just a faster player.
(22:56):
That's most you know, athletic tight ends are faster than linebackers.
But the quarterback had to get off that read because
Brooks was in good coverage for too long. So that's
a big time win there for a linebacker who can
also come downhill and impact your run game of blitz
the quarterback. That's a three down player and a star
linebacker that you have there. He also had a play
where he came from the backside and then wrapped the
(23:17):
playside edge for a run stuff. He looks ready to
rock and roll right now. Tyrell Dotson had an excellent
chase and tackle or a tag off we're not hitting
in practice late in the day. And kJ Britt had
one of those reps we saw on his Tampa tape
where he read his keys, fired his gun and just
beat everybody off the snap to get into the backfield
for a tackle for lost. Those linebackers, man, they are impressive.
(23:37):
And speaking of linebackers of the outside variety, we had
Bradley Chubb and Jaln Phillips available for media and Bradley
Chubb in the Orange Jersey, and I just want to
play some soundbites from these guys because they're just so
their introspective like knowledge of where they've been and I
suppose outlook on life. You know, for one guy that's
(24:00):
what eight years younger than me, however old Bradley is,
or and Jalen who's like fifteen years younger than me,
like I learned from these guys because they're wise beyond
their years. I want to go ahead and just play
some sound here from Jalen Phillips when I asked him,
you know, you're so good at finding silver linings, and
these last two years must have been so tough on you,
Like what was the silver lining for you in these
last two years? And I just love the way his
(24:22):
brain works. Let's go ahead and throw it to JP.
Speaker 5 (24:25):
It's like helped me kind of like recenter myself as
a person, spend more time developing certain relationships that normally
I wouldn't have been able to if I was still
playing during that time. And just in general, it's just
like another good reminder that even when you think you've
overcome adversity, something's always going to come. So if anything
is just very humbling, very sobering, and so, you know,
(24:46):
I think overall, I think with the Achilles, there's a
lot other different silver linings. You know, I was able
to graduate different things like that. I mean even with
the ACL, I was able to do a fellowship for
profit and community, was interning for real estate company, so
doing some different things, allowing myself to kind of expare
myself outside of the field. But yeah, I mean silver
(25:07):
lining is in general, like I'm gonna be fine, Like
it's not really anything long term that's gonna bother me.
So it hasn't been that bad, to be honest.
Speaker 2 (25:14):
Let's actually go ahead and go to McDaniel here, who
spoke about this before practice, about you know, the injury
rateing football is one hundred percent. How everyone's gonna have to,
you know, face it at some point, but how the
mental toughness to not think about something you can't control,
right the uncontrollables. It's incumbent upon the player to be
able to harness that mindset and execute it. And he
(25:37):
was saying, Jalen Phillips is really the guy that you
can do that the best. Let's go ahead and throw
to coach McDaniel right here.
Speaker 6 (25:42):
If you can't control injuries, you have to be disciplined
enough not to think about it and think about your
technique and fundamentals. Very very adept, very we have the
appropriate person for that challenge in Jalen Phillips.
Speaker 2 (25:56):
Jillen did discuss a little bit about some of his
football training he's working on in trying to get a
couple of things tightened up, but wasn't going to divulge
too much of his secrets in that media available. Let's
go ahead and finish up here on this side with
Bradley Chubb, who spokes in the media, and I don't
really have a lot I want to play from Bradley here.
He was in the Orange Jersey today, so that kind
of tells you about the spring he's had and how
excited he's to get back on the field the team
(26:17):
is to have him back. So I wanted to play
this SoundBite because we heard coach talk about it on
Tuesday morning about like the way he sets a tone
and basically like, hey, if you're gonna come out here
and be like, oh practice, Like look at Bradley Chubb
who just had to miss a whole year worth of
practice and he's itching to get back out there. Here's
Bradley Chubb and how pumpedy is we back on the
field and the meaning it is it has for him.
Speaker 7 (26:37):
Like going through OTA's and like being on side of
during OTA's is two totally different things, you know what
I mean? When you actually putting in their blood, sweat
and tears with the guys, like that's how you bond,
that's how you connect. So like sitting back last year,
I could try to lead from the back, but it
just wasn't It just wasn't the same. And you know,
just being able to be out here running around and
like physically getting up on guys, dapping them up like,
good job. I'm about to go do the same thing
like that. That just brings a different energy, a different tone.
(26:59):
And that's what I try to do this year, man,
this whole offseason. Just let guys know that this is
not promised, you know what I mean, and each and
every day you got to earn it. God is fortunate
enough to put us in this position, man, so we
just got to take advantage of it.
Speaker 2 (27:12):
Let's take a break rate there, come back on the
other side of financial hope with some more practice notes,
some more soundbites. That's all next Draft Time podcast, brought
to you by Autnation. Let's start with some practice notes
here to kind of string us through the end of
the episode. Here, I had some more offensive line notes
than I previously had.
Speaker 1 (27:32):
I thought.
Speaker 2 (27:32):
Jonah savit Naya was flat out awesome today. He was
washing down the front side of the offense or the
backside of the defensive line, getting some push in the
front side. The quarterbacks had really clean pockets on some
pass play stuff where they were able to survey deep
and decide to either take those shots or not throw
it and get to their checkdowns, which you have to
have time to execute an offense that can work top
(27:55):
down like that. But he also had a couple of
runs where he where Jonah and or rather with the offense,
had some runs where Jonah and Pat were driving the
driving force of opening lanes and Jalen Wright continues to
find those cutback lanes. I love when he runs to
one direction and then presses the backside and has that
jump cut that springs him through, like on this particular
run with Jonah and Pat washed down that backside and
(28:17):
puts Jalen in a one on one position against the
safety twenty yards downfield to decide whether or not it's
going to be a twenty yard run or a fifty
yard touchdown.
Speaker 1 (28:25):
I thought, speaking of Patrick.
Speaker 2 (28:26):
Paul, he's been getting these battles against all these you know,
edge guys we can throw at him every single day,
and there's lots of wins, and there's some wins from
the defensive guys there as well.
Speaker 1 (28:36):
I thought.
Speaker 2 (28:36):
He and Grays and Murphy had a really fun battle
to watch. He and Chop Robinson had some good battles.
Chop did get him for one sack, I had Grayson
beating him for a run stuff, but otherwise Patrick got
his wins, and especially in that run game, as well
as setting those pockets for two in the quarterbacks on
those deep shots they were taking in practice. But he's
he's been you know, Chopping and Grayson have been winning
every single day. So for him to go up against
(28:58):
those guys and score his wins, I thought that was
really impressive. I think Larry Boram had a really nice week.
H Chan found some room off his side and he's
able to seal that forced defender around the edge.
Speaker 1 (29:08):
And just a couple of quick pace notes here.
Speaker 2 (29:10):
Cam Good had a nice run stuff beating Jalen Conyers,
the rookie tight end, going up against Alie Gordon the
running back. Bj Adams had another great jam get back
into phase, pin to the sideline. Can test the catch
rep this one on theoise. Those guys have been going
all camp long so far. Zeke Bigger had a swim
move that got him into the backfield for a tag
off on Alexander Madison. Artie Burns for the second straight
(29:32):
day has a really impressive work rerouting. He got to
this little flare on the outside to a running back
and made out a tight window and the ball went
incomplete as a result, Elijah Campbell, And this is kind
of a general safety's note, but just watching the way
these safeties can kind of creep down and get themselves
into positions where I don't know if the quarterbacks aren't
seeing them, and that's part of the design of the defense.
(29:54):
But he just continues to find his way. All these
guys mc morris, Campbell, ify Trader, these guys keep finding
their ways to impact throws over the middle of the field.
It kind of reminds me of how the Texans played
us last year with bringing those safeties and you know,
challenging some of those middle of the field throws and
really forcing offenses to say, hey, if you don't have
(30:16):
the time to get vertical on us, which we just
had a whole segment about how the concept of this
pass rush and aggressive band coverage can force the issue
on that and utilize your safeties to come down and
be the enforcers in that second level. And I saw
Elijah Campbell do that for closing down on a swing
route for nothing. These safeties have consistently been in position
against those passes in the middle of the field, and
it really encourages me for what's to come this season.
(30:38):
What else we got here. Let's play some more audio
to close things up here about thirty one minutes into
the podcast so far, y'all, I want to play two
sound bites here from coach McDaniel. One on Nick Westbrook Akine.
But first let's go ahead and play this SoundBite on
Kenneth Grant.
Speaker 1 (30:51):
Here's coach, but.
Speaker 6 (30:52):
Early on, I could tell he had the respect and
regard of as of veteran teammates by the little things
that he does, understanding the importance of his role on
the team. He came in with a veteran like understanding
of needing to be one hundred percent on what he's
(31:14):
asked to do, his technique in fundamentals, and he works endlessly,
So you're you're hitting a home run with the team
when a first round draft pick comes in with that mindset,
So we can work with that, and veterans know you
can count on that.
Speaker 2 (31:31):
To conclude here, a bit of a carry over from
the Tuesday podcast talking about Nick Westbrook, a KINE coach,
was asked about NWY before practice on Wednesday.
Speaker 1 (31:39):
Here's coach. One more time, I've seen a guy that.
Speaker 6 (31:44):
Has already found a really cool role within the team
and that this is a dog competitor that brings it
each and every day. You've also seen him express some
mental fortitude as he's you know, working working with a
new team and also managing some stuff that doesn't keep
(32:09):
He was wasn't on the field every day, which ended
up being something that was obvious to everybody around that
this dude is locked in because he gains in his game,
you know, while managing an injury and being on the
field and then being off, and then somebody on the
(32:30):
day he's off makes a mistake and he he uh
utilizes their mistake and applies it to his game and
does it correctly. So those types of things. His growth
at his line of scrimmage game has been super encouraging
from from our camp and uh, you know, just really
(32:51):
uh finding a guy that I think the core of
the room can depend on that is really going after
it and the appropriate fashion invaluable to the team and
to the young guys and how to be a professional
football and make a living in this.
Speaker 2 (33:07):
Man, I'm sure I'm excited about the prospect of Nick Westbrook,
a Kine and second year Malik Washington in that receiver's room,
pushing Reek and waddle and just giving us a really deep,
well rounded room of complimentary skills.
Speaker 5 (33:19):
There.
Speaker 2 (33:20):
So there you go. In the meantime, that's going to
be my time. You all please be sure subscribe, rate,
review the show, follow me on social at winkled NFL,
and of course follow the team at Miami Dolphins. Check
out our YouTube show, which is also on CBS for
Miami Dolphins HQ. Check out the YouTube channel for media availabilities,
drive time content, and so much more. And last, butt
(33:41):
not least, Miami Dolphins dot com. Until next time, Finn's Up.
Speaker 1 (33:44):
Caroline Cameron, Daddy
This is Drivetime with Travis Wingfield.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
What is up, dollphans, and welcome to the Draft Time Podcast.
I am your host, Travis Wingfield. And on today's show,
another day of many can't practice in the books. We'll
take you through the practice notes and all the quotes
from all the guys, including Coach McDaniel, Storm, Doug, Isaiah Johnson,
Bradley Chubb, Jalen Phillips. We'll see if I have enough
(00:31):
time for a couple additional sound bites as well. I
don't want to promise it, but we'll see when we
get there. From the Baptist Hell Studios inside the Baptist
Health Training Complex. This is the Draft Time Podcast day.
So yesterday's show was one of those ones where all
the stars kind of aligned for me. And what I
mean by that is the narratives that I was tracking
(00:54):
throughout the day and getting quotes from also played out
on the field and it just kind of aim together
into this perfect goulage, if you will. Today is not
the same, and there's a decent amount of residual content
that kind of carries over from yesterday. And I queue
it up this way because I want to start to
talk about Storm Duck and Isaiah Johnson, who we talked
(01:17):
about on the podcast yesterday, as well as cater Coho
and bj Adams and Already Burns, these cornerbacks that are
taking this aggressive play style and getting production from it
on the back end. And with every practice I just
continue to see more of the same from that group.
They're showing this aptitude for aggression and being very productive
with what they're doing at the line of scrimmage in disruption,
(01:39):
whether it's a dummy press or an actual press. But
then they can carry that physicality down the stem and
challenge the catch point on a pretty damn good group
of wide receivers, right Like I talked about Storm matching
up on Tanner Connor and winning a rep against him yesterday,
and that's a guy that he has a size mismatch
or disadvantage against. And then today I saw him win
(02:01):
an outbreaker where he was able to get underneath Jalen Waddle,
who has torched just about anybody that's come across him
in this entire you know, spring portion and drive on
that throw to get a breakup on the coveted Tua
to Wattle connections so far this spring. Isaiah Johnson will
play a sound clip from him on this in just
one second. He talked about the coaches that challenged him
(02:22):
to take a step after a productive spring, and that
was meant to say to go make a play, go
go get a turnover because and you know, I'll admit
this to kind of take it back before I go
forward again. I think cornerback is one of the toughest
positions to evaluate, especially in a live setting, because oftentimes
the best corners they don't have the stats or even
(02:43):
the tangible reps in terms of the ones where they
give their best stuff. Like I think about Richard Sherman.
For years after he got a bunch of picks, early
teams were they wised up and they're like, we're not
going to go after that guy anymore because he's going
to take away more balls and he's going to allow receptions.
Speaker 1 (02:58):
NOMINDI awesome.
Speaker 2 (02:59):
Wall was that way for a long time with the
Las Vegas for the Oakland Raiders way back in the day.
I think about Sauce Gardner, who doesn't have a bunch
of picks to his name, but he's one of the
best cover corners in the entire NFL. Teams just don't
want to try the guys that can get their hands
on footballs and take it away because you know, typically
a great rep from a cornerback means there's no target,
(03:19):
right like, if they pick off the pass, they've either
done a great job of baiting the quarterback into a
bad throw or they gave the quarterbacks some indication, some
semblance that that was the best place to go with
the football. And when they completely dominate a rep, a
quarterback's going to say, yeah, I'm good. I'm not gonna
I'm not going to go that way because there is number,
you know whatever, the cornerback's number thirty seven for Isia Johnson.
(03:42):
He's all over him, So why am I going to
test him that way? And I think, you know, unless
you're watching that individual matchup, when they have those dominant reps,
it's kind of tough to see. So it's difficult to
absorb a bunch of reps from guys that way because
I'd have to basically take my attention off the rest
of practice. And I've made no secret about this fact
that cornerback. Among all the years of doing you know,
(04:04):
draft preview and giving you my thoughts on prospects what
they could be the next level. I think the lowest
batting average I have in terms of a position group
is cornerbacks. And I say all of that because once
the playmaking comes in, that's when guys tend to get noticed.
But I can't help but really glom onto this idea
(04:24):
of a second year within the defense, a defense that
really showed case. It's stuff from a zone coverage perspective,
and you take those clues in those data points to
extrapolate what it might be the next season. Right, And
we have numbers on coverage splits in terms of you know,
shell structure man versus zone press versus off.
Speaker 1 (04:46):
All of that.
Speaker 2 (04:46):
You can find that data the Monday after the game
every game you play, and obviously the cumulative you know,
whole season stats and we see stuff in camp. It's
not something you report on though. That's a rule across
the league. Don't talk about formation and motions and route
concepts like that's reporters know better than to do that.
But even if you did that, it's tough to project
(05:08):
the exact balance of what it's going to be come
September and the games when you have actual data tracking
all of that. Because I'll tell you what if a
reporter came out here and watched practice and was able
to give me man versus zone splits. I would say
you're the Hall of Fame of training camp watchers, because
that would be quite impressive. And you guys know how
I feel about taking stats like quarterback stats in practice.
(05:30):
I don't see the value in that, but this would
have quite a lot of value. But I'm not saying
we're doing that. I'm just I'm communicating how tough it
is to evaluate those players in those positions because of
all these variables. And I say all this because I
felt last year's calling card on the defense was the
string of zone coverages that really played off each other.
(05:51):
When you design plays in football, you have to every
single rule or assignment has to have a description as
to why or how the offense or defense might react
to that particular move or rule or player. And you
have to be able to unfurl a you know what
happens if ABC occurs, and you structure your plays in
(06:12):
a way that it all makes sense and tethers together.
That's that's what play scripting and play calling is all about.
It's not just like hey call the Madden four verts
versus a you know, half back slam, whatever the hell
the Madden plays are, it's it's a lot more than
that simplicity of a Madden game. And for the defense,
it was this creative you know structure in terms of
(06:35):
how those structures aligned and presented rules in a very
easily digestible way to the defensive backs and the entire defense.
Speaker 1 (06:42):
All eleven guys.
Speaker 2 (06:43):
So last year the split was twenty three percent man
coverage seventy seven percent zone coverage. That was the twenty
third highest man coverage rate in all of football. And again,
as I've told you guys all summer, in all spring
or all winter and spring, I guess that the highest
man average rate in football is typically like right on
the precipice of fifty percent. So even if you're gonna
(07:05):
play more man coverage, it doesn't even mean more than
half the time. But that structure last year, the kind
of you know, three quarters of the time zone one
quarter of the time man coverage was effective and it
worked really well with our rush games, our sim pressure
package for sure, and our blitzes in the entire package
of that year one of the defense. But now in
(07:25):
year two, as we've discussed at length, at this point
of June, you expand that menu becomes more expansive, and
we've been over that, and I think we're seeing that
play out here in the month of June on the
practice field. And when I look at it, I think
about it twofold number one, the pass rush personnel, it's
just flat out better. I mean, you return Jalen Phillips
(07:48):
and Bradley Chubb. That alone takes care of that for me.
And you think about Chop Robinson coming into year two.
I asked James Daniels today about the Dolphins front and unprompted,
the first thing he said was something to the effect
of like forty four or is really good. He's been impressive.
Then you add, you know Kenneth Grant and what I've
talked about with him, We heard from coach McDaniel on
him earlier today.
Speaker 1 (08:08):
What will play some sound on that later on the
show for you guys.
Speaker 2 (08:10):
Jordan Phillips and watching him throw those like five hundred
pound sleds like they are one hundred and fifty pound
podcasters out of the club. You toss Willie Gay and
if Emela fan will in there and all they've done
with their rush profiles, over their careers. So if the
personnel is better and the menu is deeper, then you
can probably count on more pressure, more one on one wins,
(08:34):
absence the need to blitz right, and that creates more
seven man coverage plays, and then you get into these
cool mixes of hybrid zone versus man coverage where we
can play that press aggressive style with everybody on one rep,
we can even zero you and bring everybody down into
the fit and go man across the board, and then
on another play we can show that same presentation. And
now you've got a half field hybrid coverage with a
(08:55):
manager where he goes concept like you can get so
deep into the menu, into the weeds, and the opposing
quarterback better match that in the way he prepares the
entire week. If I've lost you, let's boil it down
to this, the second aspect of my two fold here.
If I can count on more one on one rush wins,
or I just have a deeper compliment to rush the
(09:16):
way I did last year, which was through rush games, right,
that's slants and twists and pick stunts and things like that.
It can just be more effective of what I already did.
And from all that then I can gamble more, And
by gamble that might be the wrong word, because that
insinuates that you're like trying to, you know, trade off
big plays for big plays. But when you play aggressive,
(09:37):
you're the one forcing the issue, You're dictating the terms.
It's like being a strike thrower in baseball. I'm coming
after you. And maybe that increases your odds of me
leaving one fat over the plate and squaring up off
the barrel for a four hundred and fifty foot home run.
And you know that's the worst case scenario, but it
also increases my chances of getting swings and misses or
perhaps even more apt week contact and you put the
(10:00):
ball on the ground to the shortstop for a tailor
made six, four to three, and we're out of the
inning when it looked like we were in trouble with
runners on the base pass. So if I'm confident in
the rush getting home fast, I have a quarterback on
the opposite side that just saw three different zone presentations.
He gets what he thinks is that same presentation once again,
(10:21):
but then it becomes this reroute man call with safety
spamming the hot outlets within that blitz package, and they're
jumping stuff because we have confidence that we're going to
get home in two two and a half seconds. That's
a lot for the quarterback to contend with, and more
than what they had last year. And I go back
to that Rams game, like, Matthew Stafford is a borderline
Hall of Fame quarterback, and maybe if he wins in
(10:43):
their championship he is one.
Speaker 1 (10:44):
Maybe he already is one. I don't know.
Speaker 2 (10:45):
He's really damn good, right, he was swimming in that
game against a defense that was absent, those edge defenders
I talked about, We've were nicked up throughout the course
of the season, and that defense got after a really
good quarterback. It's kind of the blueprint for how I
think this entire operation wants to work, and kind of
the jumping off point for where you can get to
next against these good level quarterbacks. The Texans game was
(11:07):
the same way the Niners game down late in the
year was the same way.
Speaker 1 (11:10):
You know, C. J.
Speaker 2 (11:11):
Stroud and Brock Purty looked like middling quarterbacks, and those
are guys that have produced top ten numbers for you know,
a couple of years now. So I think back to
Anthony Weaver discussing playing connected in his last media availability
with US playing team football and how it will be
good defense, Like it's going to be good defense if
we do those things. And I think there's no mistake
(11:31):
or coincidence about how it was built from the front
seven perspective, with your first round pick being a defensive
tackle with three additions alongside Jordan Brooks and Willie Gay,
Tyrel Dodson and kJ Britt, with the return of those
guys off the edge, adding a first round pick last
year off the edge when the expectation was at some
point you would have fifteen and two back in the fold.
They've really gone after those position groups, I mean beyond
(11:54):
KG Jordan Phillips and Zeke Biggers, and they go get
Malcolm Butler as well. But my goodness, man, those are
a lot of guys to contend with. And I think
what I see, I think is a front seven that
you expect to be really good, and then a defensive
backfield that the way it's called and coached, with the
(12:14):
skills of the personnel matches what you expect to have
in that front seven. Perhaps I'm wrong, and I'm just
speculating out my backside here, and I'm completely wrong. But
that's that's what I think it think it is and
what it could look like. So with all that in mind,
after another really good practice from Storm Duck and Isaiah Johnson,
and it's kind of the same name for me here
(12:35):
multiple days in a row.
Speaker 1 (12:36):
Cater Co who fits this bill as well.
Speaker 2 (12:38):
Bja Adams, a guy that gets in the notes a
lot already Burns I've been impressed with so far through camp,
Like there's a play style there, right, And I think
back to the draft even look with Jade Barron, a
guy that I was talking about at length. If you
want to talk about his shortcoming, it was at Texas.
It was the ability to come up and press and
play that man coverage. So to me, there's breadcrumbs there
that track that this all fits together. And with the
(13:00):
way I've seen Storm and Isaiah take to the scheme
and the guys I talked about, it just kind of
clicks for me. So I wanted to ask those two
guys about some of that stuff. And I don't really
even have a particular tie in here. I just kind
of wanted to play some Isaiah Johnson's sound bites because
listen to the way this guy talks about outside perspective
and motivation and social media, which he told us he
(13:22):
doesn't even have social media, and for him at that age, like,
I'm already impressed by that by itself. Let's hear about
Isaiah Johnson on the outside noise with this cornerback group
and how he contends with that.
Speaker 3 (13:31):
I mean, at the end of the day, you got
here because of your own motivation, not because of anybody else.
Me personally, I know that for sure. He was never
an outside motivation. It was always internal for me. And
I know that's for everybody in the room, where it's
one of those things where you can't make it this
far unless you're pushing yourself to be the best. So
if you want to look at it that way, you can.
But I think for the room right now, it's just
(13:52):
everybody's trying to earn their stripes and everybody's trying to
get on that field and play ball.
Speaker 1 (13:55):
And then he was asked who teaches who in that room,
and I just loved, loved this freak answer.
Speaker 3 (14:00):
We all teach each other. It's really fun that way.
You know, we all go in there watching film together,
we all are talking to each other, seeing what somebody
does well. Asking them about it, because, like I said,
nobody has a name, So everybody's just trying to learn.
Everybody's just trying to get better than everybody's just trying
to work.
Speaker 2 (14:15):
And here he is on the thing I just talked
about for fifteen minutes about physicality, getting hands on receivers
and gives us even some more here talking about the
timing nature of today's passing offenses.
Speaker 1 (14:26):
I mean, it's just it's important.
Speaker 3 (14:27):
I mean, you can always change change the time.
Speaker 1 (14:29):
And quarterbacks and schemes.
Speaker 3 (14:31):
It's a lot of time, and nowadays, especially because of
the offensive trees that have taken over the league, and
so being able to get hands on and mess up
time and being able to be physical changes the game
for a dB makes it a lot less reactive and
coach coach ruge, they allow us to be like that.
They want physical corners who get hands on. So it's
one thing where we like again, we all learn from
each other in the film room and then we all
(14:53):
work on it every day out on the practice.
Speaker 2 (14:55):
One more here with Isaiah before we go ahead and
take our first break. He was asked about the pick
he had in Tuesday practice. Here's Isaiah Johnson.
Speaker 3 (15:02):
Yeah, it was just one of those things where again
the work's coming coming through fruition. We work on disguising
a lot, We work on trying to make the quarterback
see something that maybe might not be there, and then
at the end of the day, it's about making the play.
Coach had challenged me before practice, he said, you're doing
real well. Now it's time to make a play. So
when I have my chances, I'm thankful and I'm grateful
that I was able to make the most of it. Really,
(15:22):
that one was all about knowledge, knowing, knowing the formation,
and being able to have some expectations of what the
play is coming your way, and then at the end
of the day, being physical and attacking at attacking the
ball at the end of the play and go on
and grab it.
Speaker 2 (15:37):
We're up against the breaks, We're gonna go ahead and
take that right here. We'll come back on the other
side and hear from Storm Duck and talk about the
play of those two guys a little bit more. We'll
get into some more practice notes, talk about Tua e
Chan Wattle Chubb fill ups a bunch of notes for
you guys from today's practice. That's next Draft Time Podcast.
Brought to you by Auto Nation. I got three soundbites
(15:57):
here from Dolphins cornerback Storm Duck. Let's go ahead and
kick it off with him answering a similar question for
Isaiah Johnson about the value the impact of rerouting guys
at the land of scrimmage getting hands on players.
Speaker 1 (16:08):
Here's Storm Duck.
Speaker 4 (16:09):
Yeah, No, definitely. I mean all of us really like to,
you know, get hands on and be physical because I
mean at the corner position. And I mean, as you know,
offenses they've allowed like Tom and a lot in a
simple you know, kick slide or whatever the technique might
be inch that can throw off the offense. So I
mean it's fun, you know, just being able to compete,
I mean with the receiver of room, like every single
(16:29):
day to come out there, it's been fun. So they
get us better, we get them better. So you know,
it's a lot of back and forth. But in the
day we're having fun with it.
Speaker 2 (16:37):
Back to Storm again here for a discussion about the
versatility of this defense and how playing multiple positions, and
this is really true of the front where we really
learned this last year of the defense and the ability
to get to all the different rush games. Playing every
spot and having knowledge from all those spots, well, it
pertains to the defensive backfield too.
Speaker 1 (16:52):
Here's Storm Duck.
Speaker 2 (16:53):
I'm playing multiple positions and how it gives you a
better understanding for the entire defense and allows you to
play fast. Yeah.
Speaker 4 (16:59):
I think the more you know, the more or the
faster you can play.
Speaker 5 (17:02):
Like at dB.
Speaker 4 (17:03):
So obviously know what you know, where the safety is,
what the linebackers are, nickel corners.
Speaker 2 (17:08):
Knowing where you know.
Speaker 4 (17:09):
Your help is, where your help isn't I think all
that goes into you know, playing fast and you know,
being smoothed.
Speaker 1 (17:14):
Last one here for Storm.
Speaker 2 (17:15):
And we've talked about the competitive nature of these practices
and the young roster and how it breeds competition naturally
that way, and I think you think about that in
terms of the on field play. But one thing that
maybe you don't think about for me or anybody is
the idea of how you prepare because you have to
be on your stuff because if you're not and somebody
else is and you get surpassed in the depth chart
(17:37):
that way, shame on you, right. So it generates this
this urgency to be on top of the playbook, and
you get that sense from talking to these players.
Speaker 1 (17:46):
Here's Storm duck on just that now I think.
Speaker 4 (17:48):
So, I mean it comes down to the you know
how much and you know, look at the playbook and
you know how how you apply it because I mean
and the coaches give it to us, you know, in
great ways. You know, whether it's visually going out in
the field, like every type of learning you are is
the way it's taught here. So there's no way for
you not to you know, know what you're supposed to do,
not to say like you know, I mean, with any profession,
(18:09):
you will make a mistake at Tom's. But what we're
taught here is like every.
Speaker 3 (18:14):
Learning can learn it.
Speaker 4 (18:16):
It could probably be broken down to like a little
kid or you know, you know, an older person. So
interview it is a great job, and I'm just glad
to have opportunity to play man.
Speaker 2 (18:25):
That was my first time talking to Storm at length,
and I really really sharp dude. All right, let's go
ahead and continue on here. And you know, I try
my best to not root for certain things in practice,
but I got to give you guys a little bit
of inside baseball on what happened today. I was leaning
towards Willie Gay as my Player of the day after
(18:47):
he made two plays in coverage and one against the run,
and I was like, this guy's all over the field
showing those chops in coverage, and this is something I have,
you know, long wondered and perhaps can ask down the road.
But we look, you know, we know in these camps
that you can sometimes get guys that cheat the play, right,
they know the offense, the offense knows the defense and
what you want to do. I used to ask Oj
McDuffie all the time about this, and Oj would every
(19:10):
single time, Man, they cheat every play. He thought, every
dB cheats every rep. And I'm sure a cornerback would
say the same thing about a receiver across the ball.
But anyway, Willie, he had this rep and you know,
football boiled down to its core element.
Speaker 1 (19:25):
Is this right?
Speaker 2 (19:26):
It's how can we create space by manipulating where you
think you need to go? So if the player knows
what the offense is going to do to manipulate him,
then you can just cheat your way right into the
correct position. Now I don't think that's the case here,
but Willy was just all over the place and coverage
and it started on a rep where they tried to
move Willy to the flat where Tua pumps that way
(19:46):
and then attacks the window that gets created from his
vacancy there. But Willy is able to put his foot
in the ground, flip his hip, get back vertical into
the passing lane and prevent another to a Chan completion
early in practice. Quick aside here h Chan and Wattle
eight again today a Chan. If you removed the number
off his jersey and the name on the back, I
(20:06):
would say, who's that receiver oute there that's looking like
the best player on the damn team. He looks that
good as a receiver, like running routes and just smooth
out of breaks, the way he catches the ball and
doesn't fight it with his hands. I've just been loving
what I'm seeing from him every single day. And we
talked about the elevation on the touchdown catch yesterday, the
way I saw him snatch throws directly over the ball
(20:27):
in traffic over the middle of the field. Today, I
think twenty eight is the biggest problem for defenses that
we've seen, you know, in three years from his own perspective,
and this is a guy that has twenty five hundred
scrimmage yards in twenty eight career games like it's rare production,
and to me, what I'm seeing right now in June
looks like the best version of himself. And then with Wattle,
(20:47):
cut and paste it from every other day. There are
so many plays where the other nine guys on the
field it just doesn't matter. And what I mean by
that is that Tua and Waddle are so on the
same page, and the ball is out so fast the
other routes the pass protection, it's irrelevant because even if
you beat your guy, the ball's already gone, doesn't matter.
That's trust from Tua that Waddle is going to be
(21:08):
exactly where he's supposed to be, and it's Waddle knowing
where Tua likes him to be and getting there on
time every single time. I saw a completion today where
waddal did the exact same thing I talked about for
months now. The outside leverage cornerback who's designed to take
away the outbreaking route and he can take that inside
release and get back outside for the completion. It's all
over his tape. Saw it again today in practice. It's
(21:28):
so impressive and such an underrated aspect of Wattle's game.
He also caught a quick hitter over the middle where
the ball was on top of his helmet, and he
snatched that thing clean, got the ball back down to
protect himself. Not going to take a hit in practice,
but practice how you play right. Another great practice from him,
and he and Tua connected a whole bunch today. Tua
did have a pick today, the first one we've seen
so far in spring ball. I think he must have
(21:50):
expected the route depth to be further than it was
because he overthrew the thing by a lot and we
just never ever see that from QB one. I'm speculating there,
But Dante Trader is the officiary of this. He reels
this pick in and yeah, I'm telling you this because
these dudes run to the football, it's non negotiable. And
Trader is often the guy on the scene there back
to the linebackers and Willie so he has that coverage,
(22:13):
you know, feel and flip the hips and run down
the field rep on a cham where I'm like, all right,
that'll freaking play from a linebacker. Then they throw this
quick hitter to Azukama and Willy at this point is
just gliding along the tips of the blades of grass
and he's there in Azu Kama's face the minute the
ball is caught, and if we are live, it would
have been a collision that would have made highlights.
Speaker 1 (22:33):
He caps it.
Speaker 2 (22:34):
Willy does by having a similar rep to the earlier
coverage rep where he camped in the curl flat again,
then flashes back inside to the hook zone and picks
off as Zach Wilson pass and takes it back for six.
I am a huge fan of Willy's game, and we
saw that today. Jordan Brooks had a rep where he
matched a thirty yard vertical route from tanner' connor and
Tanner began to pull away because he's just a faster player.
(22:56):
That's most you know, athletic tight ends are faster than linebackers.
But the quarterback had to get off that read because
Brooks was in good coverage for too long. So that's
a big time win there for a linebacker who can
also come downhill and impact your run game of blitz
the quarterback. That's a three down player and a star
linebacker that you have there. He also had a play
where he came from the backside and then wrapped the
(23:17):
playside edge for a run stuff. He looks ready to
rock and roll right now. Tyrell Dotson had an excellent
chase and tackle or a tag off we're not hitting
in practice late in the day. And kJ Britt had
one of those reps we saw on his Tampa tape
where he read his keys, fired his gun and just
beat everybody off the snap to get into the backfield
for a tackle for lost. Those linebackers, man, they are impressive.
(23:37):
And speaking of linebackers of the outside variety, we had
Bradley Chubb and Jaln Phillips available for media and Bradley
Chubb in the Orange Jersey, and I just want to
play some soundbites from these guys because they're just so
their introspective like knowledge of where they've been and I
suppose outlook on life. You know, for one guy that's
(24:00):
what eight years younger than me, however old Bradley is,
or and Jalen who's like fifteen years younger than me,
like I learned from these guys because they're wise beyond
their years. I want to go ahead and just play
some sound here from Jalen Phillips when I asked him,
you know, you're so good at finding silver linings, and
these last two years must have been so tough on you,
Like what was the silver lining for you in these
last two years? And I just love the way his
(24:22):
brain works. Let's go ahead and throw it to JP.
Speaker 5 (24:25):
It's like helped me kind of like recenter myself as
a person, spend more time developing certain relationships that normally
I wouldn't have been able to if I was still
playing during that time. And just in general, it's just
like another good reminder that even when you think you've
overcome adversity, something's always going to come. So if anything
is just very humbling, very sobering, and so, you know,
(24:46):
I think overall, I think with the Achilles, there's a
lot other different silver linings. You know, I was able
to graduate different things like that. I mean even with
the ACL, I was able to do a fellowship for
profit and community, was interning for real estate company, so
doing some different things, allowing myself to kind of expare
myself outside of the field. But yeah, I mean silver
(25:07):
lining is in general, like I'm gonna be fine, Like
it's not really anything long term that's gonna bother me.
So it hasn't been that bad, to be honest.
Speaker 2 (25:14):
Let's actually go ahead and go to McDaniel here, who
spoke about this before practice, about you know, the injury
rateing football is one hundred percent. How everyone's gonna have to,
you know, face it at some point, but how the
mental toughness to not think about something you can't control,
right the uncontrollables. It's incumbent upon the player to be
able to harness that mindset and execute it. And he
(25:37):
was saying, Jalen Phillips is really the guy that you
can do that the best. Let's go ahead and throw
to coach McDaniel right here.
Speaker 6 (25:42):
If you can't control injuries, you have to be disciplined
enough not to think about it and think about your
technique and fundamentals. Very very adept, very we have the
appropriate person for that challenge in Jalen Phillips.
Speaker 2 (25:56):
Jillen did discuss a little bit about some of his
football training he's working on in trying to get a
couple of things tightened up, but wasn't going to divulge
too much of his secrets in that media available. Let's
go ahead and finish up here on this side with
Bradley Chubb, who spokes in the media, and I don't
really have a lot I want to play from Bradley here.
He was in the Orange Jersey today, so that kind
of tells you about the spring he's had and how
excited he's to get back on the field the team
(26:17):
is to have him back. So I wanted to play
this SoundBite because we heard coach talk about it on
Tuesday morning about like the way he sets a tone
and basically like, hey, if you're gonna come out here
and be like, oh practice, Like look at Bradley Chubb
who just had to miss a whole year worth of
practice and he's itching to get back out there. Here's
Bradley Chubb and how pumpedy is we back on the
field and the meaning it is it has for him.
Speaker 7 (26:37):
Like going through OTA's and like being on side of
during OTA's is two totally different things, you know what
I mean? When you actually putting in their blood, sweat
and tears with the guys, like that's how you bond,
that's how you connect. So like sitting back last year,
I could try to lead from the back, but it
just wasn't It just wasn't the same. And you know,
just being able to be out here running around and
like physically getting up on guys, dapping them up like,
good job. I'm about to go do the same thing
like that. That just brings a different energy, a different tone.
(26:59):
And that's what I try to do this year, man,
this whole offseason. Just let guys know that this is
not promised, you know what I mean, and each and
every day you got to earn it. God is fortunate
enough to put us in this position, man, so we
just got to take advantage of it.
Speaker 2 (27:12):
Let's take a break rate there, come back on the
other side of financial hope with some more practice notes,
some more soundbites. That's all next Draft Time podcast, brought
to you by Autnation. Let's start with some practice notes
here to kind of string us through the end of
the episode. Here, I had some more offensive line notes
than I previously had.
Speaker 1 (27:32):
I thought.
Speaker 2 (27:32):
Jonah savit Naya was flat out awesome today. He was
washing down the front side of the offense or the
backside of the defensive line, getting some push in the
front side. The quarterbacks had really clean pockets on some
pass play stuff where they were able to survey deep
and decide to either take those shots or not throw
it and get to their checkdowns, which you have to
have time to execute an offense that can work top
(27:55):
down like that. But he also had a couple of
runs where he where Jonah and or rather with the offense,
had some runs where Jonah and Pat were driving the
driving force of opening lanes and Jalen Wright continues to
find those cutback lanes. I love when he runs to
one direction and then presses the backside and has that
jump cut that springs him through, like on this particular
run with Jonah and Pat washed down that backside and
(28:17):
puts Jalen in a one on one position against the
safety twenty yards downfield to decide whether or not it's
going to be a twenty yard run or a fifty
yard touchdown.
Speaker 1 (28:25):
I thought, speaking of Patrick.
Speaker 2 (28:26):
Paul, he's been getting these battles against all these you know,
edge guys we can throw at him every single day,
and there's lots of wins, and there's some wins from
the defensive guys there as well.
Speaker 1 (28:36):
I thought.
Speaker 2 (28:36):
He and Grays and Murphy had a really fun battle
to watch. He and Chop Robinson had some good battles.
Chop did get him for one sack, I had Grayson
beating him for a run stuff, but otherwise Patrick got
his wins, and especially in that run game, as well
as setting those pockets for two in the quarterbacks on
those deep shots they were taking in practice. But he's
he's been you know, Chopping and Grayson have been winning
every single day. So for him to go up against
(28:58):
those guys and score his wins, I thought that was
really impressive. I think Larry Boram had a really nice week.
H Chan found some room off his side and he's
able to seal that forced defender around the edge.
Speaker 1 (29:08):
And just a couple of quick pace notes here.
Speaker 2 (29:10):
Cam Good had a nice run stuff beating Jalen Conyers,
the rookie tight end, going up against Alie Gordon the
running back. Bj Adams had another great jam get back
into phase, pin to the sideline. Can test the catch
rep this one on theoise. Those guys have been going
all camp long so far. Zeke Bigger had a swim
move that got him into the backfield for a tag
off on Alexander Madison. Artie Burns for the second straight
(29:32):
day has a really impressive work rerouting. He got to
this little flare on the outside to a running back
and made out a tight window and the ball went
incomplete as a result, Elijah Campbell, And this is kind
of a general safety's note, but just watching the way
these safeties can kind of creep down and get themselves
into positions where I don't know if the quarterbacks aren't
seeing them, and that's part of the design of the defense.
(29:54):
But he just continues to find his way. All these
guys mc morris, Campbell, ify Trader, these guys keep finding
their ways to impact throws over the middle of the field.
It kind of reminds me of how the Texans played
us last year with bringing those safeties and you know,
challenging some of those middle of the field throws and
really forcing offenses to say, hey, if you don't have
(30:16):
the time to get vertical on us, which we just
had a whole segment about how the concept of this
pass rush and aggressive band coverage can force the issue
on that and utilize your safeties to come down and
be the enforcers in that second level. And I saw
Elijah Campbell do that for closing down on a swing
route for nothing. These safeties have consistently been in position
against those passes in the middle of the field, and
it really encourages me for what's to come this season.
(30:38):
What else we got here. Let's play some more audio
to close things up here about thirty one minutes into
the podcast so far, y'all, I want to play two
sound bites here from coach McDaniel. One on Nick Westbrook Akine.
But first let's go ahead and play this SoundBite on
Kenneth Grant.
Speaker 1 (30:51):
Here's coach, but.
Speaker 6 (30:52):
Early on, I could tell he had the respect and
regard of as of veteran teammates by the little things
that he does, understanding the importance of his role on
the team. He came in with a veteran like understanding
of needing to be one hundred percent on what he's
(31:14):
asked to do, his technique in fundamentals, and he works endlessly,
So you're you're hitting a home run with the team
when a first round draft pick comes in with that mindset,
So we can work with that, and veterans know you
can count on that.
Speaker 2 (31:31):
To conclude here, a bit of a carry over from
the Tuesday podcast talking about Nick Westbrook, a KINE coach,
was asked about NWY before practice on Wednesday.
Speaker 1 (31:39):
Here's coach. One more time, I've seen a guy that.
Speaker 6 (31:44):
Has already found a really cool role within the team
and that this is a dog competitor that brings it
each and every day. You've also seen him express some
mental fortitude as he's you know, working working with a
new team and also managing some stuff that doesn't keep
(32:09):
He was wasn't on the field every day, which ended
up being something that was obvious to everybody around that
this dude is locked in because he gains in his game,
you know, while managing an injury and being on the
field and then being off, and then somebody on the
(32:30):
day he's off makes a mistake and he he uh
utilizes their mistake and applies it to his game and
does it correctly. So those types of things. His growth
at his line of scrimmage game has been super encouraging
from from our camp and uh, you know, just really
(32:51):
uh finding a guy that I think the core of
the room can depend on that is really going after
it and the appropriate fashion invaluable to the team and
to the young guys and how to be a professional
football and make a living in this.
Speaker 2 (33:07):
Man, I'm sure I'm excited about the prospect of Nick Westbrook,
a Kine and second year Malik Washington in that receiver's room,
pushing Reek and waddle and just giving us a really deep,
well rounded room of complimentary skills.
Speaker 5 (33:19):
There.
Speaker 2 (33:20):
So there you go. In the meantime, that's going to
be my time. You all please be sure subscribe, rate,
review the show, follow me on social at winkled NFL,
and of course follow the team at Miami Dolphins. Check
out our YouTube show, which is also on CBS for
Miami Dolphins HQ. Check out the YouTube channel for media availabilities,
drive time content, and so much more. And last, butt
(33:41):
not least, Miami Dolphins dot com. Until next time, Finn's Up.
Speaker 1 (33:44):
Caroline Cameron, Daddy
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