March 5, 2025 • 41 mins
We wrap-up the on-field workout notes from the 2025 NFL Scouting Combine and discuss the tackle-to-guard conversion pipeline. Plus, E.J. Snyder from Bootleg Football joins us to play Day 3 match maker for the Miami Dolphins.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:07):
What is up, Dolphins and welcome to the Draft Time Podcast.
I am your host, Travis Wingfield, and on today's show,
our last edition of Combine Coverage, I'm going to go
ahead and recap the offensive side of the football what
we saw on the field before Friday show we pivot
to the free agency portion of the calendar as freegency
begins just next week. We'll also hear from EJ. Snyder
(00:28):
and talk about some potential Dolphins fits in this year's
draft as well. All of that and more from the
Baptist Hell Studios inside the Baptist Health Training Complex. This
is the Draft Time Podcast. Aye, before we get into EJ,
I want to kick this thing off here and kind
of talk about some Combine notes. But before I even
(00:48):
get to that, discuss something I saw from the great
Brandon Thorne. I wanted to get him on the podcast
back in Indianapolis, but our schedules never quite intersected. He
is the public sure of the Trench Warfare newsletter where
he breaks down all things offensive and defensive line play.
Kind of a difficult level to analyze, especially for the
(01:10):
common fan. And that's why I think Brandon's content is
so good because he's one of the few guys that
has carved out a space for himself with regards to
doing offensive line specific content. And that's just to me,
the most misunderstood position by common fans across any sport,
and quite frankly, folks that do what I do for
a living. It's a tough thing to identify responsibilities and assignments.
(01:34):
And that's why I think that certain offensive line grades
should not be factored in at all. Soap box point aside.
He wrote about the tackle to guard pipeline conversion in
the NFL, and I found it fascinating because of what
Will Campbell did in Indianapolis and because of what some
folks think Marcus bo even armand Membu who I will
(01:57):
go into draft night having him as my OT one
on my final big board. Josh Simmons number two closely
behind him. But here's what Brandon said. Zach Martin, Joe Tooney,
Joel Buttonio, Brandon Schurf are four of the best guards
of the last decade, with twenty two Pro Bowls among them.
All of them were very good, productive offensive or rather
accomplished college tackles at left tackle. Tyler Smith, Sam Cosmy,
(02:21):
Elijah Vera, Tucker are three of the better young guards
in the league, and they are in the same boat.
And he also notes this list is not exhaustive. Robert Hunt,
for instance, was a right tackle at ULL and kicked
in the guard and got a nine figure contract. Projecting
a very good tackle inside to guard isn't a slight.
In fact, more players should embrace it. This class is
(02:41):
shaping up to be a shot in the arm of
the aging crop of guards closer to the beginning of
their careers than the end. He listed Campbell from LSU,
Kelvin Banks from Texas, Jonah Savina from Arizona, Gray's Abel
from North Dakota State, Jalen Rivers from Miami, bo from Purdue,
Emery Jones from LSU As College tackles that can move
inside in this year's class. And that's not even exhaustive
(03:03):
to that point. And again, we saw Miami take Robert
Hunt and keep him there in twenty twenty two after
his first career start in twenty twenty and some of
twenty twenty one as well was at that right tackle
position right and we saw them move Connor Williams all
the way inside after he was an NFL guard who
was a college tackle. We saw them cross tran keyon
Smith this preseason to play some guard. Liam and Robert
(03:25):
Jones were both collegiate tackles. Isaiah Winn was a tackle
in college. You guys get what I'm getting at here, right,
And that's really true of all the Shanahan Tree systems.
The Niners do it just like we do it. The
Packers have moved both Elton Jenkins and Zach Tom inside.
Tom was originally inside, has gone back outside since then.
Sean Ryan was a tackle in college guard in the pros.
(03:46):
The Rams have done it all across their line.
Speaker 2 (03:48):
It is at the in.
Speaker 1 (03:49):
Vogue move excuse me for this offensive system, and that's
something to keep an eye on because again, I think
some of the best potential guards in this class will
be former tackles like a bow Banks. Maybe even Will
Campbell makes it to thirteen, because Jordan Reed from ESPN
did project that will happen and that Miami will take him.
Speaker 2 (04:07):
Now, will they?
Speaker 1 (04:08):
Because that would go against conventional thinking. Although you could
argue like he is at one point going to play
tackle in this offense, but then you're kind of saying, like, well,
I'm betting against Patrick Paul or Austin Jackson down the road,
which I don't think they'll do that because they believe
in those players as cornerstones, and for what it's worth,
I don't believe either Paul or Austin will be interior
(04:30):
players in this offense anytime soon, if you were thinking that.
So fascinating stuff all around. I tend to think this
year's draft class is better to go defense early and
that that can change and pivot based upon how the
board falls. But Tyler Warren's kind of the one guy
up top offensively that makes some sense to me. Otherwise,
(04:51):
I'm looking at what I think is going to be
a top ten talent who falls at defensive tackle, maybe
a corner. Maybe you take a jack of all trades
and a Nick Worry. I just feel like the defensive
positions could have more to offer if you can't get
warm in that thirteenth pick. Let's go ahead and button
up this first segment here before I get to EJ
talking about what happened on the field during the combine
(05:13):
workouts and Tyler shook the Louisville quarterback that has kind
of become that guy I think for a lot of
folks and.
Speaker 2 (05:20):
Better here than Jackson Dart.
Speaker 1 (05:22):
I really don't understand this Jackson Dart hype, and perhaps
that is the you know, the quarterback class tends to
get pushed up. I have gone back to the film
on Shedur Sanders and really softened my stance on him.
Not even a first round player for me, so I
think Tyler Shook though. Man, he was made for this event.
He's slaying the football all over the field. He was
(05:42):
always going to look awesome in shorts, but it's the
fact that he's six foot four and ran a sub
four seven forty yard dash that made him a winner
for me. That's ninety third percent tile in height, eighty
fifth percent tile in straight line speed, and the athletic
ability is there as well as the ability to drop
the arm angle and throw all kinds of shortstop throws,
very attractive part of his game. And then Brady Cook
(06:02):
from Missouri was a four to six guy with a
thirty seven inch vertical ten foot seven broad jumps. So
there's your athlete of the class right there. Now more
important positions like running back here. I got plenty of
notes on a class that perhaps Miami isn't even venturing into.
But we shall see Quinn Shawn Judkins was the one
that to me made himself a first round prospect with
(06:22):
what he did. And I look at the pass protection
reel in college and it was awesome. And then I
watch him jump eleven feet on the broad two hundred
and twenty pounds, like, oh, yeah, that makes sense. He's
the most explosive player that has a lot of weight
behind those pads and he plays with pure power. He'll
knock you in the mouth. Go watch his organ tape
where he just popped guys in the mouth consistently. As
pass rushers. He runs a four to four to eight
(06:44):
like get the hell out of here, thirty eight and
a half inch vertical. All of these are eighty fifth
percentile or better with a weight at running back ninetieth
percent tile. He's a first round player. I don't think
he'll go there. So is he an option at forty eight, Yeah,
he would be. Would that be a little bit overkill?
Yeah it would be. But maybe you pick up an
additional pick somewhere and you can go after this guy
(07:06):
and change your temperament, change your mentality on day number two.
Although I do fear he's worked himself above the forty
eighth pick, and that would seem to be quite a
luxury for the Miami Dolphins. Speaking of luxuries, Travon Henderson
his teammate at Ohio State. If you want more speed,
I mean he worked out just like the tapes said
he would four four three a one to five six
ten split, thirty eight and a half inch for ten
(07:27):
to nine broad jump. Those are my two favorite backs
in the entire class. I would have no issues. Well,
that's removing Ashton genty obviously he's like a top ten pick.
But I would have no issue if both Jenkins and
Henderson went in the first round. But I do think Judkins'
style would really complete the Dolphins running back room.
Speaker 2 (07:44):
But both these players are really really fun.
Speaker 1 (07:46):
I also think by shell Touton from Virginia Tech would
give you some of that. And he was listed at
two hundred and twenty pounds going into this and came
out of it with two oh six. Can we get
our scals right? Like, what the hell's going on there?
Because the offensive line measurements were way off from Senior
Bowl two. But this was Brett Coleman's matchmaker pick. On
the Thursday podcast, he said four three, five Tooton goes
(08:07):
four to three to two to two right and again,
two hundred and six pounds, forty point five inch vertical
ten oh five broad. He also had fifty three percent
of his yards at VTech came on breakaway runs, and
you know your boy loves that. If we if we're
gonna run the ball a lot, I want to have
home run hitters. His four to four to one shuttle
was only thirty percent tile, which just says that you're
(08:27):
basically not like gonna be a shifty in tight spaces back.
But when you just run outside zone, just hit your
top bend speed, find decrease and go. There's not a
lot of start stop in this offense in at that position.
So I think he still fits there. Omar and Hampton
the North Carolina back, I mean it just continues here right,
thirty eight inch vertical, ten to five broad four four
seven one five six ten split. He's also two hundred
(08:49):
and twenty one pounds. Like, what the hell is going
on here? Man? These two hundred and twenty pounds backs
are not supposed to move like that. And we do
have one of those guys in Jalen Wright, who is
already being talked about in my as that kind of
physical presence alongside Devon Ahchen. So all of this is
to say, you're looking for your third running back because
Miami's got their top two guys right now and it
should be that way. R J. Harvey at a UCF
(09:11):
clocked a four to four flat. That's a ninety seven
percent tile and with his receiving skills makes me pretty
damn intrigued. If you can find either him or by
shell tooton on day three, I would be very into that.
The guy that kind of fell the most for me
was Iowa's Caleb Johnson. He was saying he was going
to run four to three and then seeing that with
his outside zone reel had me fired up to be
(09:32):
a possible Dolphin in the future. But then he runs
a four to five three, which is what I expected
it to be.
Speaker 2 (09:37):
I would be interested.
Speaker 1 (09:38):
However, on day number three, at receiver Jack Besh from TCU,
his six eight seven three cone time was one of
the biggest needle moving moments of the entire weekend. I
thought I saw that wiggle on his college tape, and
at that size, we're talking about a really, really tough
cover for cornerbacks because he can go over the top
of you and he can shake you, especially in on one
(10:00):
coverage situations, which he would get every rep in this offense,
because hey, guess what You've got Tyreek Hill and Jilen Waddle.
And despite what we think about Tyreek and the way
he handled the year, he's still gonna get double coverage
a lot. Jayden Higgins out of Iowa State, I had
a really tough time on him at the Senior Bowl.
I saw some reps where I thought, like, that movement
will play, but then I saw some reps where I'm like,
I don't think he can move well enough to shake free.
(10:23):
And you guys know how I feel about you know,
Keon Coleman. I just I can't put a figure on
it as far as how I can project the way
he moves with just my eyes. But then he gave
us the numbers to kind of back up what I
thought I was on tape. Potentially with the four four
seven at six foot four, two hundred and fourteen pounds,
a ten to eight broad, thirty eight inch vertical one
(10:44):
five to three ten splits, so he gets off the
ball quickly. I think between him and Besh and then
you get it a little bit with a little bit
less polish. With saving on Williams from TCU, you're gonna
have some Day two options to select big body wide
receivers without having to sacrifice on speed. Speaking of speed,
my biggest folloer was Tesz Johnson from Oregon, and I
loved his tape in college. But he weighs as much
(11:06):
as I do, one hundred and fifty six pounds four
five six forty. I kind of can't believe it, and
he plays way faster on tape. In fact, his six
's eighty three three cone time that to me demonstrates
the slant routes that he would catch and take to
the house. And he had better long speed than what
he ran in Indy. I wouldn't be surprised if we
heard that he had some kind of ailment. But still
(11:27):
at one fifty six, dude, you got to go four two.
Brother Jalen Nole from Iowa State. He made me run
to the tape immediately, and I kind of wanted to
like make a Keunny Steells comparison, but I think he's
like better, more explosive. He has the same like if
he's even he's leaving juice that both Reek and Waddle do.
He glides around the field and can utilize that acceleration
(11:47):
from a stop and off of his brakes four to three,
nine one, five to ten split, forty one and a
half inch vertical, eleven to two, broad, six eight two
three comb. You can take away the tape and that's
gonna make him drafted on one hundred just on athletic
ability alone, and oh, by the way, twenty three reps
at two hundred and twenty five pounds on the bench press,
he was best or tied for best in both jumps
(12:09):
and the bench with those time speeds.
Speaker 2 (12:12):
Wowsa.
Speaker 1 (12:13):
Kyle Williams Washington State, Go Kooks. The tape is fantastic.
Just jumps off as a really good football player, but
I didn't know how well he was gonna run, and
he goes out there in blazes a four to four
to two. He wasn't great in the jumps, but he's
a polished route runner who I look at maybe early
day three is a really good option for the Miami Dolphins.
And then receiver one for me is still Elik a
minor from Sanford. Four to four to seven was a
(12:35):
big win for him. He has the best release game
in the entire class, just as good top at the
top of the route. He gave Travis Hunter fits he
was ninetieth percentile in his jumps as well. One guy
that I thought confirmed what I thought I saw on
tape Pat Bryant from Illinois. He moves like a cargo barge,
and we knew that from the tape. Tight ends Mason
Taylor from LSU man his gauntlet was an example of
(12:58):
an athlete who is perfectly in tune with the mechanics
of every body part that he has.
Speaker 2 (13:03):
And that's how you.
Speaker 1 (13:03):
Have to be that effortless glide. Right down that line,
I go back to a golf analogy. The reason that
golf is so hard is because your hands and your
hips incorporate two opposing forces simultaneously. Think about it as
a really dumb down version as patting your head while
rubbing your belly. It's like one of those things you
kind of have to think about, right. That's the golf swing.
(13:24):
That's athletes knowing how their body moves. And watching Mason
run around, I just see innate superior fundamentals at play always.
That just tells me that he's put in his ten
thousand hours and quite frankly, I have connections that have
told me that as well, and he's just wrapped it
so frequently he can do it without thinking about it,
which is literally the key to doing it at the
NFL level. The Dolphins credo under Mike McDaniel has been fast, physical,
(13:48):
elite technique. He's the quintessential example of all three of
those things. And again I'm close to Mason's circle. Believe
me when I tell you this. He is the real
deal as a person and how he works. Tyler Warren
is the apple of my eye for this offense. But
there's a good chance he's gone, and if he is,
I would go defense in that first pick and then
try whatever the hell I can do to get Mason
(14:09):
Taylor at forty eight or going up a little bit
to get him. Gunner Helm from Texas had a horrible
four to nine three forty that did not match his tape.
Then you find out that he sprained his ankle on
a false start for the before the first run, and
then went through the entire drill or the entire day
of workouts with that ankle injury. I bet he's a
four to six guy. His pro day. Jackson Hawes from
Georgia Tech did what he needed to do, probably the
(14:31):
best true why tight end outside of Tyler Warren in
this class, and he was above average in the upper
fiftieth percentile on the speed numbers, with eightieth percent tile
or more on the jumps and in the seventies of
this height and weight.
Speaker 2 (14:44):
That's a good day for Jackson Hawes.
Speaker 1 (14:45):
And then Jalen Conyers from Texas Tech ran a six
nine to four to three cone at two hundred and
sixty pounds. Only one tight end that had that weight
out of one hundred and forty nine of them since
nineteen ninety nine weighed that much and ran that fast.
That is you gotta make that comment. Also, please don't
ever talk to me about Harold Fan and Junior over
(15:06):
the next two months, please and thank you. I am
just not interested in someone who does not block and
runs a four to seven. Let's go ahead and finish
up on the offensive line where all you guys want
to talk about this. Tyler Booker was in the ninth
percentile of his ten split. I gotta say, look, I
appreciate everyone we get that comes on the show and
gives us their time and I talked about this with
(15:27):
the mina Chime segment, saying the Dolphins have to go
guard at number thirteen and mocking Tyler Booker to us.
I had two big time draft analysts on the show
tell me that he made the most sense. I just
can't stress enough how far off that take is. It's
not gonna happen. I guarantee it Men's warehouse. Not only
has a guard never been drafted in the first round
(15:47):
in this offensive system, getting back to the nineteen eighties,
you really think they're gonna take a guy that moves
that slow off the football. It's the antithesis of how
it's taught here. Just the ignorance on that topic drives
me insane. It's not gonna happen Will Campbell. If they're
gonna do it, it's this guy because he has rare,
freaky movement skills. The seventy seven three eighth inch wingspan
(16:09):
is the smallest wingspan by a tackle since twenty eleven,
so he might have played himself out of that position
if he is a guard, though he is like Zach
Martin now he was eighty fifth percentile or better in
all the speed metrics, and his tape suggest the floor
is as high as anybody in this class that goes
to like ninety nine percent tile if he's at the
guard position. Miles Fraser from LSU, his teammate, is going
(16:31):
to go a lot higher than I would have thought
a month ago. This is probably my guy in the
class at this position, him and Jackson Slater. He's three
hundred and twenty pounds, had ninety percent tile jumps and
average speed metrics in the fifties. But I'm pairing that
with explosiveness with a true badass on tape, someone who
seriously wants to inflict pain on every d line he faces.
Speaker 2 (16:50):
He's going to be a beast.
Speaker 1 (16:51):
Probably have to use maybe that third round picking the
comp area to get him. How about Ariante Esri from Minnesota?
Probably my top choice if they go offensive line at thirteen,
because I think that Campbell will be gone.
Speaker 2 (17:03):
I think that Membo will be gone. I also Josh.
Speaker 1 (17:07):
Simmons is a guy that I like in that spot too,
But talk about a fit here man ninetieth percent tile
in both the ten and twenty splits. His forty was
also a ninetieth percent tile at three hundred and thirty
one pounds. Also, with his broad jump, he was ninety
percent tile. He also has the best tape of anybody
against Abdul Carter, Kelvin Banks. I'm kind of out on
Calvin Banks. He did not run nearly as well as
(17:28):
I thought he would, just seventy fifth percent tile and
the speed of the thirtieth percentile weight.
Speaker 2 (17:32):
I would not like that pick.
Speaker 1 (17:33):
At thirteen at all, Hall and Pierce from Rutgers had
the second longest wingspan since nineteen ninety nine, eighty eight
and a quarter inch. He's six foot eight, three hundred
and forty pounds. I've never seen him play, so I
have no idea what his tape is like. And then
Membo ran a four to nine to one at three
thirty two, which is a surprise to nobody. Nine o
seven broad was the best among the group. He's explosive
as hell. He's going to be a top five pick
(17:54):
in my opinion. And then Gray's Abel from North Dakota
State followed an awesome senior Bowl with the best vert
of the group group thirty six and a half inches.
Speaker 2 (18:01):
So there you go.
Speaker 1 (18:02):
Combine notes in the book, We're gonna have EJ. Snider
on the podcast here in just one second to finish
out this show, and then Friday we'll have rht Lewis
on to finish up our combine chats. Let's go ahead
and take our first break right here. Draft Time Podcast,
your host Travis Wingfilm, brought to you by I Don't Knowation.
Joining me today is the other half of the Bootleg
(18:22):
Football podcast. We had Brett Coleman on earlier and now
I'm excited to be joined by his co host e J.
Speaker 2 (18:28):
Snyder.
Speaker 1 (18:28):
Also, you can check him out on the Bear Era
podcast covering his Chicago Bears.
Speaker 2 (18:33):
EJ. What's up man? NFL combine?
Speaker 3 (18:35):
Leaving the dream kind of like Christmas Eve for those
of us that really love the.
Speaker 1 (18:40):
Draft, And that's why we just jumped on the air
after getting some technical difficulties sorted out, and I told
you I had something to say to you that I
wanted to put on the air.
Speaker 2 (18:49):
I think it's almost that's loud.
Speaker 1 (18:51):
I think it's kind of hilarious that you're, like, you
make this reference to Christmas Eve for those of us
that care about it, But you're so meticulous in your preparation,
like you know this, man, it's already in in your head.
But here you are with a full page full and no.
It's like, I just appreciate the meticulousness you have, a buddy.
Speaker 2 (19:07):
It's part of doing this work for me.
Speaker 3 (19:10):
Whenever anybody is going to give me the benefit of
time to prep, I'll take it. I got that question yesterday.
They're like, do you want the agenda? I was like,
of course I want the agenda. It's going to help
make the thoughts that I can bring and share more cohesive.
Doesn't mean that you can't deviate. In fact, you almost
always do as you know. But if you start with
that roadmap and you have an idea, it just makes
(19:31):
for better content.
Speaker 1 (19:32):
It's not like, well I could look it up, You've
got most of it there. Take care of it on
the front end the back and will be much easier.
That's that's how I approach this whole business as well.
Speaker 2 (19:41):
EJ.
Speaker 1 (19:41):
I want to start with this for you in this draft,
because you know, shoot, what's his name, I think Billy?
On Twitter, Billy M had a great tweet about how like,
I think it's actually no such thing as a bad draft,
and he had the famous meme right of like the
unpopular opinion, and people took it the wrong way saying like, oh,
you mean there's literally no team can have a bad draft.
He's like, no, there's a collection of talent. You can't
(20:02):
have a bad draft in general. And that's the knock
you keep hearing across this year's draft. We had Daniel
Jeremiah on it who talked about how you can load
up on stars in this draft. Might not be the
massive crop of all pros, but they're stars all over
this draft. And so what I want to ask you
about is how would you define this year's class, Like
what makes it special?
Speaker 2 (20:20):
What's unique about it? What makes it tick?
Speaker 1 (20:22):
When you think about the twenty twenty five class, What
is the first thing that comes to your mind as
a whole.
Speaker 2 (20:27):
I guess yeah, it's a great question, Travis.
Speaker 3 (20:29):
And one I'm being asked a lot today, and one
I really kind of want to dig into because I
think this draft has been unfairly labeled as bad and
that's I think an oversimplification of what people say about
this draft. I don't think it's a bad draft. I
think it's a very good draft. I think when people
say bad, it is a synonym for it lacks a
(20:51):
bunch of players at flashy positions, so the quarterback class
you'll hear about over and over again as as lighter
or weaker than typical years. Same thing with wide receiver.
Those are i'll say high visibility positions and people who
don't spend a lot of time on the draft.
Speaker 2 (21:08):
And I'm that's fully okay, I'm one of the weird ones.
Speaker 3 (21:12):
When you really dig in and look at this draft,
there is a wide middle class of players that will
be productive pros for years and years and build the
base of your team. To me as a draft analyst,
that's a good draft. That's an exciting draft. That's a
draft where you can really make some hay as a
general manager. But I think the bad label comes because
there's not the flash that people are used to, so
(21:33):
they just go ass not good.
Speaker 1 (21:35):
And the funny part about that is we're getting that
commentary from people that we you know, run in these
circles with. And if you're listening to this podcast, there's
no way that you only care about the top ten
picks the draft. You listen to this podcast because you
care what Miami might do in the seventh round, you know,
come Day three of the draft. And so, like I
understand for the casual fan, like, oh, there's not you know,
six quarterbacks that I have keep an eye on this year.
Speaker 2 (21:57):
So maybe that's the disconnect.
Speaker 1 (21:58):
But like, we're here with a group full of people
that feel the same way about it that you and
I do, So I don't understand the disconnect there.
Speaker 3 (22:03):
Yeah, I don't think that among the folks that really
put in the time, and you have Daniel, Jeremiah and
you know, I'm sure you'll have Dane and Jordan Reid's
here and I talked to all those guys. Matt Miller's
coming in tonight. You know, we have these conversations about
what do you feel?
Speaker 2 (22:18):
What do you see?
Speaker 3 (22:19):
And you asked me about the strength of the class,
and we'll get into that, but overall, we asked that
question and it's resounding. Nobody has said I actually really
think it's a weak draft or bad draft or a
thin draft.
Speaker 2 (22:30):
People say the same thing throughout the middle.
Speaker 3 (22:33):
It's an exciting draft and we're gonna see a lot
of movement that maybe we quote unquote don't expect because
when you have a lot of similar grades, teams are
gonna view them differently because of their coaching styles or
their current roster build or whatever else, and we're gonna
see them pick players much quote unquote earlier, and then
maybe we think they should. For every action that happens
(22:53):
like that, there's a corresponding move down the board and
a players available later that you thought maybe wasn't gonna
be there. So I think it's gonna be really exciting
year for the NFL Draft.
Speaker 2 (23:02):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (23:02):
One of the themes I've been discussing all week long
with my guest is how the Dolphins, you know, they
have needs, And I think another big misconception is that
kind of the way of business in modern NFL is
a lot of one and two year deals, short term deals,
and that produces a heavy turnover rate every single year.
And so I see, you know, and this is across
(23:22):
all fan bases, like they're worried about the number of
needs they have, like but that's just kind of how
it works nowadays. So I think that this draft also
offers something that has beneficial to Miami in the sense
that they really are kind of set at a lot
of the key positions. Your quarterbacks, receivers, your tackles. They
got two young tackles in there, you know, on top
of Toront Armstead, who will see what happens with him
long term. Here, they've got young Edges and Chop and
(23:44):
Jalen Phillips and Jalen Ramsey still there at the cornerback position,
so that the key spots are kind of spoken for.
But they have all these these needs at you know,
I don't want to say less than positions, but positions that,
in terms of your resource allocation, are going to cost
you less. And those are the group that have a
way of finding more talent deeper in the draft. And
(24:05):
EJ correct me if I'm wrong, man, but I feel
like it's a perfect spot for the Dolphins to get
their pickings in with, you know, having a couple of
safeties that are on are going to hit free agency,
having a defensive tackle spot that's kind of not really
set in stone right now, the guard position, all these
spots that are cheaper than the quarterbacks and the receivers.
I think they have a chance to kind of knock
it out of the park there. And there's a lot
(24:25):
to choose from in this particular draft. You asked me
earlier about the strength of this draft class, defensive tackle
is absolutely one.
Speaker 3 (24:32):
I'm sure with DJ you talked about it that last year.
At this time, he had twenty something grades of defensive
tackles that were draftable twenty three something like that. This
year he's got forty two, forty one, forty two danes
the same way.
Speaker 2 (24:44):
It's literally doubled.
Speaker 3 (24:46):
So if you are one of those teams like the
Dolphins that lines up needs with availability, yes, you have
multiple chances throughout this draft to not only do it early,
you could do it late. You can wait for one
of those guys that we talked about at the top
that might slide down because you know, I the beholder,
somebody like somebody else better, and you get to the
third or even fourth round, you're looking at a guy
(25:06):
that probably would have been taken in the second last year.
He's still available in the fourth and he's going to
contribute to your football team. So that kind of depth
is available in this draft at defensive tackle, at running back,
at tight end. You know, could even be tackled depending
on how you look at the class. As long as
you're not looking for frontline first day number one starter,
(25:27):
you can get tackle depth in this draft. So launch
of positions that, yeah, maybe a little bit less sexy
than you know, the typical but if you need to
build your football team, this year is the year to
do it.
Speaker 1 (25:41):
So I'm gonna give you a pretty specific question here
because you talked about the tackle depth, yeah, provided to Ron.
Armstead's not back with the Miami Dolphins, and again we
don't know for sure whether which way that's going to go.
Mike McDaniel had meshinat has press conference that they're going
to operate as if he is not back, and he
hasn't made the decision yet, and I think part of
the stuff, part of the thing that could kind of,
you know, influence that decision making is you took Patrick
(26:04):
Paul in the second round last year and he played
really well in his reps as rookie. And then Austin Jackson,
who has been a really good player the last couple
of years despite some injuries here and there. I think
when you talk about the swing tackle position, it's so
imperative in today's NFL, especially you know, Austin's missed some games.
Speaker 2 (26:20):
Tron. We'll see if he's back, but he's missed some games.
Speaker 1 (26:23):
You kind of have to have that third tackle, and
I think a lot of times, especially with how linemen
are developed nowadays in the college game, you might lean
more towards a veteran in that position. But let's say
that Miami doesn't get that on the free agent market.
This is a very specific question, so I hope you're
ready for it, like day two, maybe early day three.
Speaker 2 (26:42):
Can you think of.
Speaker 1 (26:42):
A tackle prospect that kind of catches your fancy that
maybe is a guy that can come in learn the
system in August, in through the preseason, not have to
worry about starting games right away, and get that development
on track in case he has to come into a
game in October November and can be ready as a rookie.
Speaker 2 (26:58):
It's a very on the nose us, but who.
Speaker 1 (27:00):
Give me, basically a tackle that you think is NFL
ready that might not go super early.
Speaker 2 (27:04):
It's so specific. It is specific. However, it's a position that.
Speaker 3 (27:08):
Not only the Dolphins are in because as any NFL team,
even if you've got a pair that you like of
starting NFL tackles, you really have to think about what
your team looks like without either one of them, because
they're a rolled ankle or a sprain elbow away from
being out, and then how does your team look? And
that looks actually quite different. So third tackle swing tackle
(27:29):
becomes incredibly important, and yes, development curves and system matches
become really important because you might need that guy in
game four of his career or game ten. And there
are guys in this draft you talk about end of
day two range going into the.
Speaker 2 (27:45):
Top of day three.
Speaker 3 (27:46):
Really when you're going to be spending a resource on
that position. I think Marksimbow from Purdue is a really
interesting guy that is going to be somewhere, maybe after
this week a little bit higher. He might be up
in the eighties, but if he slid down into the nineties,
that's absolutely a value pick.
Speaker 2 (28:04):
Charles Grant is a name.
Speaker 3 (28:06):
That your listeners might not be super familiar with tackle
from William and Mary, and that's the reason, and that
again he's gonna have a great week here at the
comment is a very good athlete. He's gonna show out.
These tests are really made for him. But his tape
is also good. It's a level of competition question that
he answered some of those in his All Star game.
We'll see how the Dolphins in particular feel about him.
(28:27):
But he's going to be a again end of day
two tight pick. If you're going farther down the board
than that, I like John Williams. I saw him at
the Shrine Bowl. He's Cincinnati's tackle. He showed me some things.
Logan Brown from Kansas, it's another guy I liked. I
was watching their running back Devin Neil kept looking at
their tight ends and tight ends blocked tremendously, and then
you kind of move into tackle and you're like, tackle's
(28:49):
taking care of guys.
Speaker 2 (28:50):
Who's that.
Speaker 3 (28:51):
It's Logan Brown. He's in this draft as well. And
then way way down the board, I know you're a
Kugart heart as a pole is a fantastic player. Attackley
didn't play football in high school. Started trying to block
pass rushers in the Pac twelve last year, which is
(29:12):
not too ridonculous.
Speaker 2 (29:14):
No last year, okay, okay, okay, okay.
Speaker 3 (29:15):
So he's been two years and this year he played
the dregs of the zombie Pac twelve, right, but improved
so much and great player, very strong again. Got to
interview him, got to learn a little bit about his
journey as an athlete, but also how he's thinking about it,
how he takes coaching, how much progress he's made in
just two years. And you look at the feet again,
former basketball player, he's got great size, he's getting the strength.
Speaker 2 (29:39):
Might be a.
Speaker 3 (29:39):
Year away from being at full strength NFL style, but
there's so much to work with there. And if you
look at mock drafts or big boards right now, some
of them he's not even on the ones he is on.
He's in like the two eighties, which is a not
draftable grade. I don't think he's gonna be there two
and a half months from now. I think he'll be
up in the two orders. You two, Victis, That's still
(30:01):
an incredible value at a very important position.
Speaker 1 (30:04):
That's why I wanted to get you in the show
because we're talking about potential pipeline developmental guys, and that's
kind of where Miami has to go this year because
of the I guess cyclical nature of their team building
philosophy that was so draft heavy for the first couple
of years of this build. It got aggressive going after
veteran talent, which has been a big production piece for
the Miami Dolphins team offensively and defensively. But now it's
(30:25):
kind of time to restock the cupboard and get those
pipeline pieces in their developmental willhouse. And by the way,
Charles Grant did crack DJ's top fifty. I don't know
if you saw that, Yeah, yeah, forty eight or forty nine,
something like that in the top fifty there, so's he
has not slept on anymore if he was. Let's close
with this EJ the quarterback position, and you remember this summer.
I always love to tell the audience that if you
(30:48):
want to get smarter about football, watch the Bootleg divisional previews.
They go down every single team. They knock out every
single acquisition and coaching change and scheme and what it
might look like and how all that fits together. It's
the best content you can find out there to get
yourself ready for the season. Over the course of the summer.
You go out to the beach with your family, you
go out to the park, you go you dial up
a YouTube episode of the Bootleg Football podcast and get
(31:09):
smarter about football. And I clipped off your discussion about
QB two a Tongua Bai looa. And you know, I
don't I'm not interested in fighting against narratives anymore because
I feel like he's proven that we don't have to
do that anymore. You know, health issues aside, but his
production on the field has been very, very good, a
very good quarterback. But my question for you is, and
(31:30):
I asked coach mcdanielis so no pressure, no no no
pressure going in comparison against the head coach to Miami Dolphins.
But when you think about how his career has evolved
from you know, kind of RPO quarterback in the start
to a downfield merchant who was taking these deep shots
and connecting for Tyreek and Wall for all these massive yards.
Then this last year defense has kind of shifted and
they had to play the quick game way more.
Speaker 2 (31:50):
And it wasn't RPO.
Speaker 1 (31:51):
It was just like, get through the progression, bang bang
ball out in two seconds. Let's keep them offense move him,
And I thought his efficiency in executing the off was
the best version of to a tongue of I looa.
Whether you agree or not is besides the point. I'm
curious what the offense looks like. Do they pivot? How
does how do they build around that fact? Do you
try to go back to the aerial attack? Like what
(32:12):
does this Dolphins offense to you need to do to
take the next step in twenty twenty five and not
just you know, be a team that when he's healthy
wins eleven twelve games, but to get to that point
and then knock the door down once they.
Speaker 2 (32:23):
Get into the postseason. Another long specific question for you.
Speaker 3 (32:25):
It is a long specific question, and all I have
to do is be better than the head coach. So
no big deal, no, I really, as I look at
the Dolphins, I don't worry about their offense. Really again,
as long as two is healthy and leading this offense,
the Dolphins are a very effective team and they win
a lot of games in that alignment, in that position,
let's put it that way. So I don't worry about
(32:47):
their offense for the first three months of the season.
When I do have concerns about their offense, and it's
not because they haven't invested in the offensive line. They
don't have that smash mouth piece to them. They can,
in certain situations grind out small amounts of yards. What
I don't feel like they can do is grind out
whole games using that philosophy. Because they do lean so
(33:09):
heavily on to his skills and their receiver skill set,
and they're very, very good at it.
Speaker 2 (33:12):
That's hard to do, especially.
Speaker 3 (33:14):
As the weather turns lousy and you guys go north
at the end of the season. Fields can be sloppy
and you just need that ability. We saw through the
playoffs with all the teams that were available in the playoffs,
the further you went, the better those teams were at
running the ball, and the team that won the championship
was the best team out running the ball.
Speaker 2 (33:33):
The Dolphins need to develop some of that. I'm not
saying pivot to.
Speaker 3 (33:37):
Becoming a smath mouth football team and forget about all
the other stuff. If you can marry those two to
a more effective balance, I think your chances as the
season progresses are better.
Speaker 1 (33:48):
And we've heard both Chris Career and Mike McDaniel address that.
In fact, McDaniel said at a press conference on Tuesday,
like we probably will invest both in freegency and in
the draft in that position. So it sounds like you're
not breaking news there with those guys. But what does
that look like because we've seen, you know, the Rams
kind of made a similar pivot over the last couple
of years and they went heavy in freegency on the
offensive line, and the way coach McDaniel spoke, it sounds
(34:11):
like they're thinking the same thing. And I kind of
like the idea of the veteran acquisitions there too, because
it's more plug and played ready to roll.
Speaker 2 (34:17):
What does that look like for Tua?
Speaker 1 (34:19):
Because my thought is if you have all that stuff
we just talked about in his game and then you
marry that with a team that can punch in the
mouth and run a four minute offense and kill some
clock and kill some games, I kind of feel like
he's the perfect quarterback to put.
Speaker 2 (34:33):
In that situation. Like am I crazy?
Speaker 3 (34:35):
Like you're not crazy? And I think it's good for him.
And it seems odd to be on a podcast saying, hey,
to a throwing a little bit less is good for him.
It's going to protect him, it's going to give the
team something to lean on that is not just specifically him.
It's a lot of pressure for any quarterback right to
take some pressure off. Hey, best friend of a quarterback
is a strong run game, you know, a very sure
(34:57):
handed tight end as an outlet.
Speaker 2 (34:58):
These are classic things that people say typically about younger quarterbacks,
but believe me, older quarterbacks appreciate it too. So what
does it look like.
Speaker 3 (35:05):
It's funny you say heavy heavy's doing a lot of
work in that phrase, because not only did they invest heavily,
but they also went heavier. It's three hundred and thirty
pounds each on the inside of that rams offensive line.
Dolphins can go a little bit that route too and
just try and beat people up. We're seeing that sort
of it's a pendulum in the NFL, and we're seeing
it swing back to a heavy dose of a heavy
(35:26):
run game with big guys, more gap in power coming
right at you, trying to knock those smaller linebackers off
the ball in the second level and then hoping you're
running back can beat one guy and then you're getting
those extra yards. If the Dolphins can do that and
Tua has to do less again, we've seen he can
do more, but let's not require it every game and
(35:46):
down the stretch so that we're a little bit more
insulated from any possibility, whether that's bad weather, whether that's health,
whether that's health outside of toua right, other players on
the offense who are keys that might go down.
Speaker 2 (35:57):
You know, you lose a waddle for four games. Hey,
if you've got strong.
Speaker 3 (36:00):
Power run game, it's gonna mean a little bit less
and you might drop one less of those games, which
at the end, as you know, can add up to
a division.
Speaker 2 (36:08):
Makes a big difference.
Speaker 1 (36:09):
I think I think we saw some of that in
twenty twenty three when they had Austin Jackson, Rob Hunt
grinding out there and Connor Williams. Those guys got banged
up late in the season and I think kind of
went back in the same direction you're talking about there.
But yeah, I just I really view that as like
kind of their their you know, their pathway back into
playoff relevance and winning games at that point of the season.
I'll close with this, and you know, this is a
(36:29):
conversation you have to have around two at this point
because of what he's put on tape in terms of
the availability, is that they're gonna have to find a
backup quarterback for him this year, and whether that's in
the draft or in free agency, we don't know.
Speaker 2 (36:40):
Again, Coach McDaniel mentioned that.
Speaker 1 (36:41):
He believes it will will exhaust resources in both areas
and find out who's the best fit for that. In
terms of who might be the best fit, it's not
gonna be a first round pick, we know that much,
but a Day two guy that you think might maybe
surprise some folks in terms of how high they go
for the quarterback.
Speaker 2 (36:57):
Maybe a Day three guy. I didn't ask.
Speaker 1 (37:00):
Coach that because I feel like he wouldn't divulge that
information to me. I just could get the hunch that
he wouldn't. But Jordan Reid gave me a couple of names.
So that's what you're up against in this one.
Speaker 3 (37:07):
Oh jeez, well, position the parade of luminarias that you're
stacking me up.
Speaker 2 (37:12):
I'm just proving your worth.
Speaker 1 (37:13):
I'm showing the folks those are the folks that you
can compete with because you're that thick of a rockstar.
Speaker 3 (37:17):
I deeply appreciate it. It would be great if you
could buy quarterback futures because I think Kyle McCord is
gonna have a very good week when the drills start
later on this week here Nity, and I think.
Speaker 2 (37:31):
He's one of those guys that's in the mix in
the middle of.
Speaker 3 (37:33):
The depending on how you look at it, the second tier,
the third tier at quarterbacks.
Speaker 2 (37:37):
I think he's gonna quote unquote rise right.
Speaker 3 (37:40):
If you are familiar with Syracuse's offense, it will not
be much of a surprise to you. That was a
killer's row of offense and he was the trigger guy
all year long. I think he's gonna surprise some people
here and again, if you can buy the future ticket
right now and say, can we get.
Speaker 2 (37:57):
Him where he is right now come draft time, that
would be a great value for the Dolphins.
Speaker 3 (38:00):
I don't think they're gonna have that luxury because he
is gonna rise, so you're gonna be probably looking farther
down in the draft than that. I'm gonna go with
Seth Hennigan A Memphis a good deal. I would go
with Seth Hennigan there. He has some things in his
game that I appreciate and like and think would be
let's say, amplified working with a guy like coach McDaniel,
(38:22):
and I think there's a lot there to work with.
I don't think it would be a huge shift from
what he did in college. Every quarterback coming from college
to the pros has adjustments to make less or so,
and he's got skills that already made to plug into.
Both the offenses are all three of the offenses we've
talked about in terms of iterations of the Dolphins offense.
Speaker 2 (38:43):
So gonna be available later on down. But also a.
Speaker 3 (38:46):
Guy I think is going to add a little bit
of shine to his star over the next four to
five days.
Speaker 2 (38:50):
Jordan's quarterbacks for Colin McCord and Dylan Gabriel.
Speaker 3 (38:53):
Just in case you were, oh, Dylan, I could absolutely
see Dylan if they were going for the same thing
they had into it, yeah, because he is a very
quick distributor, sees the ball or sees the field very well,
and he'll throw over the middle.
Speaker 2 (39:04):
Even though I'll.
Speaker 3 (39:05):
Tell you this, I was at a Lead eleven this
summer got to see Dylan because every year they have
three guys back as alumni counselors.
Speaker 2 (39:13):
For those of you that don't know, at Lead eleven.
Speaker 3 (39:15):
Is a passing camp for top end high school prospects
who are getting ready to commit to college or have
already committed to college.
Speaker 2 (39:21):
Dylan was one of the lum counselors.
Speaker 3 (39:23):
They came back, and I gotta say, there's a lot
of guys I don't recognize as specially from college, because
they wear helmets and this is just shirt and shorts
on a field in San Diego in the middle of July,
and I was with somebody and I said, who's that
he goes that's Dylan Gabriel, dude, And I was like, really, okay,
Dylan's a little shorter.
Speaker 2 (39:42):
Than I thought he was. But when you watch the tape,
he doesn't play short.
Speaker 1 (39:45):
Yeah. I think also the fact that he has so
many college reps too, I can kind of bypass what
the Dolphins need in that position, which I think is
someone that's ready to step in and win games in
twenty twenty five, because the sure if two goes down,
you know you win. If they just win one more
of those games this year, they're probably playing January once again.
Speaker 2 (40:01):
So great stuff, EJ. You're the man.
Speaker 1 (40:03):
The Bootleg Football Podcast as well as the Bear Era podcast.
Tell the folks what they can find from you guys
this week here in India.
Speaker 3 (40:10):
Oh, Bootlegs, you're gonna have a ton of content. We're
actually back on the field for drills. The NFL was
silly enough to put us back down there again, So
not only will you see field level content from drills,
but also we're going to get to record a podcast
on the field after drills conclude, So all that will be.
Speaker 2 (40:24):
On Bootleg Channel on YouTube and Bear Era.
Speaker 3 (40:27):
We're doing live streams once a month in the off
season or so, making some connections here with some of
the Chicago press and some current Bear players, So look for.
Speaker 2 (40:35):
All that on YouTube as well. At bear Era. Hard
work pays off, folks.
Speaker 1 (40:38):
You do enough good hard work, you can find yourself
on the field of the scouting combine. Just like bretton AJJ,
appreciate your time today, man, thank you. That's absolutely no
happy to have the chance, and away he goes. Let's
go ahead and wrap the show up right there. Subscribe,
rate review, follow me on social at Wingfold NFL, and
the team at Miami Dolphins. Check out the fish Tank
podcast with Seth and you use and the YouTube channel
(41:01):
for Dolphins HQ Media Availabilities, and so much more. Last,
but not least, Miami Dolphins dot Com. Until next time.
Speaker 2 (41:07):
Fins up. Caroline and Cameron Daddy were just coming home.
What is up, Dolphins and welcome to the Draft Time Podcast.
I am your host, Travis Wingfield, and on today's show,
our last edition of Combine Coverage, I'm going to go
ahead and recap the offensive side of the football what
we saw on the field before Friday show we pivot
to the free agency portion of the calendar as freegency
begins just next week. We'll also hear from EJ. Snyder
(00:28):
and talk about some potential Dolphins fits in this year's
draft as well. All of that and more from the
Baptist Hell Studios inside the Baptist Health Training Complex. This
is the Draft Time Podcast. Aye, before we get into EJ,
I want to kick this thing off here and kind
of talk about some Combine notes. But before I even
(00:48):
get to that, discuss something I saw from the great
Brandon Thorne. I wanted to get him on the podcast
back in Indianapolis, but our schedules never quite intersected. He
is the public sure of the Trench Warfare newsletter where
he breaks down all things offensive and defensive line play.
Kind of a difficult level to analyze, especially for the
(01:10):
common fan. And that's why I think Brandon's content is
so good because he's one of the few guys that
has carved out a space for himself with regards to
doing offensive line specific content. And that's just to me,
the most misunderstood position by common fans across any sport,
and quite frankly, folks that do what I do for
a living. It's a tough thing to identify responsibilities and assignments.
(01:34):
And that's why I think that certain offensive line grades
should not be factored in at all. Soap box point aside.
He wrote about the tackle to guard pipeline conversion in
the NFL, and I found it fascinating because of what
Will Campbell did in Indianapolis and because of what some
folks think Marcus bo even armand Membu who I will
(01:57):
go into draft night having him as my OT one
on my final big board. Josh Simmons number two closely
behind him. But here's what Brandon said. Zach Martin, Joe Tooney,
Joel Buttonio, Brandon Schurf are four of the best guards
of the last decade, with twenty two Pro Bowls among them.
All of them were very good, productive offensive or rather
accomplished college tackles at left tackle. Tyler Smith, Sam Cosmy,
(02:21):
Elijah Vera, Tucker are three of the better young guards
in the league, and they are in the same boat.
And he also notes this list is not exhaustive. Robert Hunt,
for instance, was a right tackle at ULL and kicked
in the guard and got a nine figure contract. Projecting
a very good tackle inside to guard isn't a slight.
In fact, more players should embrace it. This class is
(02:41):
shaping up to be a shot in the arm of
the aging crop of guards closer to the beginning of
their careers than the end. He listed Campbell from LSU,
Kelvin Banks from Texas, Jonah Savina from Arizona, Gray's Abel
from North Dakota State, Jalen Rivers from Miami, bo from Purdue,
Emery Jones from LSU As College tackles that can move
inside in this year's class. And that's not even exhaustive
(03:03):
to that point. And again, we saw Miami take Robert
Hunt and keep him there in twenty twenty two after
his first career start in twenty twenty and some of
twenty twenty one as well was at that right tackle
position right and we saw them move Connor Williams all
the way inside after he was an NFL guard who
was a college tackle. We saw them cross tran keyon
Smith this preseason to play some guard. Liam and Robert
(03:25):
Jones were both collegiate tackles. Isaiah Winn was a tackle
in college. You guys get what I'm getting at here, right,
And that's really true of all the Shanahan Tree systems.
The Niners do it just like we do it. The
Packers have moved both Elton Jenkins and Zach Tom inside.
Tom was originally inside, has gone back outside since then.
Sean Ryan was a tackle in college guard in the pros.
(03:46):
The Rams have done it all across their line.
Speaker 2 (03:48):
It is at the in.
Speaker 1 (03:49):
Vogue move excuse me for this offensive system, and that's
something to keep an eye on because again, I think
some of the best potential guards in this class will
be former tackles like a bow Banks. Maybe even Will
Campbell makes it to thirteen, because Jordan Reed from ESPN
did project that will happen and that Miami will take him.
Speaker 2 (04:07):
Now, will they?
Speaker 1 (04:08):
Because that would go against conventional thinking. Although you could
argue like he is at one point going to play
tackle in this offense, but then you're kind of saying, like, well,
I'm betting against Patrick Paul or Austin Jackson down the road,
which I don't think they'll do that because they believe
in those players as cornerstones, and for what it's worth,
I don't believe either Paul or Austin will be interior
(04:30):
players in this offense anytime soon, if you were thinking that.
So fascinating stuff all around. I tend to think this
year's draft class is better to go defense early and
that that can change and pivot based upon how the
board falls. But Tyler Warren's kind of the one guy
up top offensively that makes some sense to me. Otherwise,
(04:51):
I'm looking at what I think is going to be
a top ten talent who falls at defensive tackle, maybe
a corner. Maybe you take a jack of all trades
and a Nick Worry. I just feel like the defensive
positions could have more to offer if you can't get
warm in that thirteenth pick. Let's go ahead and button
up this first segment here before I get to EJ
talking about what happened on the field during the combine
(05:13):
workouts and Tyler shook the Louisville quarterback that has kind
of become that guy I think for a lot of
folks and.
Speaker 2 (05:20):
Better here than Jackson Dart.
Speaker 1 (05:22):
I really don't understand this Jackson Dart hype, and perhaps
that is the you know, the quarterback class tends to
get pushed up. I have gone back to the film
on Shedur Sanders and really softened my stance on him.
Not even a first round player for me, so I
think Tyler Shook though. Man, he was made for this event.
He's slaying the football all over the field. He was
(05:42):
always going to look awesome in shorts, but it's the
fact that he's six foot four and ran a sub
four seven forty yard dash that made him a winner
for me. That's ninety third percent tile in height, eighty
fifth percent tile in straight line speed, and the athletic
ability is there as well as the ability to drop
the arm angle and throw all kinds of shortstop throws,
very attractive part of his game. And then Brady Cook
(06:02):
from Missouri was a four to six guy with a
thirty seven inch vertical ten foot seven broad jumps. So
there's your athlete of the class right there. Now more
important positions like running back here. I got plenty of
notes on a class that perhaps Miami isn't even venturing into.
But we shall see Quinn Shawn Judkins was the one
that to me made himself a first round prospect with
(06:22):
what he did. And I look at the pass protection
reel in college and it was awesome. And then I
watch him jump eleven feet on the broad two hundred
and twenty pounds, like, oh, yeah, that makes sense. He's
the most explosive player that has a lot of weight
behind those pads and he plays with pure power. He'll
knock you in the mouth. Go watch his organ tape
where he just popped guys in the mouth consistently. As
pass rushers. He runs a four to four to eight
(06:44):
like get the hell out of here, thirty eight and
a half inch vertical. All of these are eighty fifth
percentile or better with a weight at running back ninetieth
percent tile. He's a first round player. I don't think
he'll go there. So is he an option at forty eight, Yeah,
he would be. Would that be a little bit overkill?
Yeah it would be. But maybe you pick up an
additional pick somewhere and you can go after this guy
(07:06):
and change your temperament, change your mentality on day number two.
Although I do fear he's worked himself above the forty
eighth pick, and that would seem to be quite a
luxury for the Miami Dolphins. Speaking of luxuries, Travon Henderson
his teammate at Ohio State. If you want more speed,
I mean he worked out just like the tapes said
he would four four three a one to five six
ten split, thirty eight and a half inch for ten
(07:27):
to nine broad jump. Those are my two favorite backs
in the entire class. I would have no issues. Well,
that's removing Ashton genty obviously he's like a top ten pick.
But I would have no issue if both Jenkins and
Henderson went in the first round. But I do think Judkins'
style would really complete the Dolphins running back room.
Speaker 2 (07:44):
But both these players are really really fun.
Speaker 1 (07:46):
I also think by shell Touton from Virginia Tech would
give you some of that. And he was listed at
two hundred and twenty pounds going into this and came
out of it with two oh six. Can we get
our scals right? Like, what the hell's going on there?
Because the offensive line measurements were way off from Senior
Bowl two. But this was Brett Coleman's matchmaker pick. On
the Thursday podcast, he said four three, five Tooton goes
(08:07):
four to three to two to two right and again,
two hundred and six pounds, forty point five inch vertical
ten oh five broad. He also had fifty three percent
of his yards at VTech came on breakaway runs, and
you know your boy loves that. If we if we're
gonna run the ball a lot, I want to have
home run hitters. His four to four to one shuttle
was only thirty percent tile, which just says that you're
(08:27):
basically not like gonna be a shifty in tight spaces back.
But when you just run outside zone, just hit your
top bend speed, find decrease and go. There's not a
lot of start stop in this offense in at that position.
So I think he still fits there. Omar and Hampton
the North Carolina back, I mean it just continues here right,
thirty eight inch vertical, ten to five broad four four
seven one five six ten split. He's also two hundred
(08:49):
and twenty one pounds. Like, what the hell is going
on here? Man? These two hundred and twenty pounds backs
are not supposed to move like that. And we do
have one of those guys in Jalen Wright, who is
already being talked about in my as that kind of
physical presence alongside Devon Ahchen. So all of this is
to say, you're looking for your third running back because
Miami's got their top two guys right now and it
should be that way. R J. Harvey at a UCF
(09:11):
clocked a four to four flat. That's a ninety seven
percent tile and with his receiving skills makes me pretty
damn intrigued. If you can find either him or by
shell tooton on day three, I would be very into that.
The guy that kind of fell the most for me
was Iowa's Caleb Johnson. He was saying he was going
to run four to three and then seeing that with
his outside zone reel had me fired up to be
(09:32):
a possible Dolphin in the future. But then he runs
a four to five three, which is what I expected
it to be.
Speaker 2 (09:37):
I would be interested.
Speaker 1 (09:38):
However, on day number three, at receiver Jack Besh from TCU,
his six eight seven three cone time was one of
the biggest needle moving moments of the entire weekend. I
thought I saw that wiggle on his college tape, and
at that size, we're talking about a really, really tough
cover for cornerbacks because he can go over the top
of you and he can shake you, especially in on one
(10:00):
coverage situations, which he would get every rep in this offense,
because hey, guess what You've got Tyreek Hill and Jilen Waddle.
And despite what we think about Tyreek and the way
he handled the year, he's still gonna get double coverage
a lot. Jayden Higgins out of Iowa State, I had
a really tough time on him at the Senior Bowl.
I saw some reps where I thought, like, that movement
will play, but then I saw some reps where I'm like,
I don't think he can move well enough to shake free.
(10:23):
And you guys know how I feel about you know,
Keon Coleman. I just I can't put a figure on
it as far as how I can project the way
he moves with just my eyes. But then he gave
us the numbers to kind of back up what I
thought I was on tape. Potentially with the four four
seven at six foot four, two hundred and fourteen pounds,
a ten to eight broad, thirty eight inch vertical one
(10:44):
five to three ten splits, so he gets off the
ball quickly. I think between him and Besh and then
you get it a little bit with a little bit
less polish. With saving on Williams from TCU, you're gonna
have some Day two options to select big body wide
receivers without having to sacrifice on speed. Speaking of speed,
my biggest folloer was Tesz Johnson from Oregon, and I
loved his tape in college. But he weighs as much
(11:06):
as I do, one hundred and fifty six pounds four
five six forty. I kind of can't believe it, and
he plays way faster on tape. In fact, his six
's eighty three three cone time that to me demonstrates
the slant routes that he would catch and take to
the house. And he had better long speed than what
he ran in Indy. I wouldn't be surprised if we
heard that he had some kind of ailment. But still
(11:27):
at one fifty six, dude, you got to go four two.
Brother Jalen Nole from Iowa State. He made me run
to the tape immediately, and I kind of wanted to
like make a Keunny Steells comparison, but I think he's
like better, more explosive. He has the same like if
he's even he's leaving juice that both Reek and Waddle do.
He glides around the field and can utilize that acceleration
(11:47):
from a stop and off of his brakes four to three,
nine one, five to ten split, forty one and a
half inch vertical, eleven to two, broad, six eight two
three comb. You can take away the tape and that's
gonna make him drafted on one hundred just on athletic
ability alone, and oh, by the way, twenty three reps
at two hundred and twenty five pounds on the bench press,
he was best or tied for best in both jumps
(12:09):
and the bench with those time speeds.
Speaker 2 (12:12):
Wowsa.
Speaker 1 (12:13):
Kyle Williams Washington State, Go Kooks. The tape is fantastic.
Just jumps off as a really good football player, but
I didn't know how well he was gonna run, and
he goes out there in blazes a four to four
to two. He wasn't great in the jumps, but he's
a polished route runner who I look at maybe early
day three is a really good option for the Miami Dolphins.
And then receiver one for me is still Elik a
minor from Sanford. Four to four to seven was a
(12:35):
big win for him. He has the best release game
in the entire class, just as good top at the
top of the route. He gave Travis Hunter fits he
was ninetieth percentile in his jumps as well. One guy
that I thought confirmed what I thought I saw on
tape Pat Bryant from Illinois. He moves like a cargo barge,
and we knew that from the tape. Tight ends Mason
Taylor from LSU man his gauntlet was an example of
(12:58):
an athlete who is perfectly in tune with the mechanics
of every body part that he has.
Speaker 2 (13:03):
And that's how you.
Speaker 1 (13:03):
Have to be that effortless glide. Right down that line,
I go back to a golf analogy. The reason that
golf is so hard is because your hands and your
hips incorporate two opposing forces simultaneously. Think about it as
a really dumb down version as patting your head while
rubbing your belly. It's like one of those things you
kind of have to think about, right. That's the golf swing.
(13:24):
That's athletes knowing how their body moves. And watching Mason
run around, I just see innate superior fundamentals at play always.
That just tells me that he's put in his ten
thousand hours and quite frankly, I have connections that have
told me that as well, and he's just wrapped it
so frequently he can do it without thinking about it,
which is literally the key to doing it at the
NFL level. The Dolphins credo under Mike McDaniel has been fast, physical,
(13:48):
elite technique. He's the quintessential example of all three of
those things. And again I'm close to Mason's circle. Believe
me when I tell you this. He is the real
deal as a person and how he works. Tyler Warren
is the apple of my eye for this offense. But
there's a good chance he's gone, and if he is,
I would go defense in that first pick and then
try whatever the hell I can do to get Mason
(14:09):
Taylor at forty eight or going up a little bit
to get him. Gunner Helm from Texas had a horrible
four to nine three forty that did not match his tape.
Then you find out that he sprained his ankle on
a false start for the before the first run, and
then went through the entire drill or the entire day
of workouts with that ankle injury. I bet he's a
four to six guy. His pro day. Jackson Hawes from
Georgia Tech did what he needed to do, probably the
(14:31):
best true why tight end outside of Tyler Warren in
this class, and he was above average in the upper
fiftieth percentile on the speed numbers, with eightieth percent tile
or more on the jumps and in the seventies of
this height and weight.
Speaker 2 (14:44):
That's a good day for Jackson Hawes.
Speaker 1 (14:45):
And then Jalen Conyers from Texas Tech ran a six
nine to four to three cone at two hundred and
sixty pounds. Only one tight end that had that weight
out of one hundred and forty nine of them since
nineteen ninety nine weighed that much and ran that fast.
That is you gotta make that comment. Also, please don't
ever talk to me about Harold Fan and Junior over
(15:06):
the next two months, please and thank you. I am
just not interested in someone who does not block and
runs a four to seven. Let's go ahead and finish
up on the offensive line where all you guys want
to talk about this. Tyler Booker was in the ninth
percentile of his ten split. I gotta say, look, I
appreciate everyone we get that comes on the show and
gives us their time and I talked about this with
(15:27):
the mina Chime segment, saying the Dolphins have to go
guard at number thirteen and mocking Tyler Booker to us.
I had two big time draft analysts on the show
tell me that he made the most sense. I just
can't stress enough how far off that take is. It's
not gonna happen. I guarantee it Men's warehouse. Not only
has a guard never been drafted in the first round
(15:47):
in this offensive system, getting back to the nineteen eighties,
you really think they're gonna take a guy that moves
that slow off the football. It's the antithesis of how
it's taught here. Just the ignorance on that topic drives
me insane. It's not gonna happen Will Campbell. If they're
gonna do it, it's this guy because he has rare,
freaky movement skills. The seventy seven three eighth inch wingspan
(16:09):
is the smallest wingspan by a tackle since twenty eleven,
so he might have played himself out of that position
if he is a guard, though he is like Zach
Martin now he was eighty fifth percentile or better in
all the speed metrics, and his tape suggest the floor
is as high as anybody in this class that goes
to like ninety nine percent tile if he's at the
guard position. Miles Fraser from LSU, his teammate, is going
(16:31):
to go a lot higher than I would have thought
a month ago. This is probably my guy in the
class at this position, him and Jackson Slater. He's three
hundred and twenty pounds, had ninety percent tile jumps and
average speed metrics in the fifties. But I'm pairing that
with explosiveness with a true badass on tape, someone who
seriously wants to inflict pain on every d line he faces.
Speaker 2 (16:50):
He's going to be a beast.
Speaker 1 (16:51):
Probably have to use maybe that third round picking the
comp area to get him. How about Ariante Esri from Minnesota?
Probably my top choice if they go offensive line at thirteen,
because I think that Campbell will be gone.
Speaker 2 (17:03):
I think that Membo will be gone. I also Josh.
Speaker 1 (17:07):
Simmons is a guy that I like in that spot too,
But talk about a fit here man ninetieth percent tile
in both the ten and twenty splits. His forty was
also a ninetieth percent tile at three hundred and thirty
one pounds. Also, with his broad jump, he was ninety
percent tile. He also has the best tape of anybody
against Abdul Carter, Kelvin Banks. I'm kind of out on
Calvin Banks. He did not run nearly as well as
(17:28):
I thought he would, just seventy fifth percent tile and
the speed of the thirtieth percentile weight.
Speaker 2 (17:32):
I would not like that pick.
Speaker 1 (17:33):
At thirteen at all, Hall and Pierce from Rutgers had
the second longest wingspan since nineteen ninety nine, eighty eight
and a quarter inch. He's six foot eight, three hundred
and forty pounds. I've never seen him play, so I
have no idea what his tape is like. And then
Membo ran a four to nine to one at three
thirty two, which is a surprise to nobody. Nine o
seven broad was the best among the group. He's explosive
as hell. He's going to be a top five pick
(17:54):
in my opinion. And then Gray's Abel from North Dakota
State followed an awesome senior Bowl with the best vert
of the group group thirty six and a half inches.
Speaker 2 (18:01):
So there you go.
Speaker 1 (18:02):
Combine notes in the book, We're gonna have EJ. Snider
on the podcast here in just one second to finish
out this show, and then Friday we'll have rht Lewis
on to finish up our combine chats. Let's go ahead
and take our first break right here. Draft Time Podcast,
your host Travis Wingfilm, brought to you by I Don't Knowation.
Joining me today is the other half of the Bootleg
(18:22):
Football podcast. We had Brett Coleman on earlier and now
I'm excited to be joined by his co host e J.
Speaker 2 (18:28):
Snyder.
Speaker 1 (18:28):
Also, you can check him out on the Bear Era
podcast covering his Chicago Bears.
Speaker 2 (18:33):
EJ. What's up man? NFL combine?
Speaker 3 (18:35):
Leaving the dream kind of like Christmas Eve for those
of us that really love the.
Speaker 1 (18:40):
Draft, And that's why we just jumped on the air
after getting some technical difficulties sorted out, and I told
you I had something to say to you that I
wanted to put on the air.
Speaker 2 (18:49):
I think it's almost that's loud.
Speaker 1 (18:51):
I think it's kind of hilarious that you're, like, you
make this reference to Christmas Eve for those of us
that care about it, But you're so meticulous in your preparation,
like you know this, man, it's already in in your head.
But here you are with a full page full and no.
It's like, I just appreciate the meticulousness you have, a buddy.
Speaker 2 (19:07):
It's part of doing this work for me.
Speaker 3 (19:10):
Whenever anybody is going to give me the benefit of
time to prep, I'll take it. I got that question yesterday.
They're like, do you want the agenda? I was like,
of course I want the agenda. It's going to help
make the thoughts that I can bring and share more cohesive.
Doesn't mean that you can't deviate. In fact, you almost
always do as you know. But if you start with
that roadmap and you have an idea, it just makes
(19:31):
for better content.
Speaker 1 (19:32):
It's not like, well I could look it up, You've
got most of it there. Take care of it on
the front end the back and will be much easier.
That's that's how I approach this whole business as well.
Speaker 2 (19:41):
EJ.
Speaker 1 (19:41):
I want to start with this for you in this draft,
because you know, shoot, what's his name, I think Billy?
On Twitter, Billy M had a great tweet about how like,
I think it's actually no such thing as a bad draft,
and he had the famous meme right of like the
unpopular opinion, and people took it the wrong way saying like, oh,
you mean there's literally no team can have a bad draft.
He's like, no, there's a collection of talent. You can't
(20:02):
have a bad draft in general. And that's the knock
you keep hearing across this year's draft. We had Daniel
Jeremiah on it who talked about how you can load
up on stars in this draft. Might not be the
massive crop of all pros, but they're stars all over
this draft. And so what I want to ask you
about is how would you define this year's class, Like
what makes it special?
Speaker 2 (20:20):
What's unique about it? What makes it tick?
Speaker 1 (20:22):
When you think about the twenty twenty five class, What
is the first thing that comes to your mind as
a whole.
Speaker 2 (20:27):
I guess yeah, it's a great question, Travis.
Speaker 3 (20:29):
And one I'm being asked a lot today, and one
I really kind of want to dig into because I
think this draft has been unfairly labeled as bad and
that's I think an oversimplification of what people say about
this draft. I don't think it's a bad draft. I
think it's a very good draft. I think when people
say bad, it is a synonym for it lacks a
(20:51):
bunch of players at flashy positions, so the quarterback class
you'll hear about over and over again as as lighter
or weaker than typical years. Same thing with wide receiver.
Those are i'll say high visibility positions and people who
don't spend a lot of time on the draft.
Speaker 2 (21:08):
And I'm that's fully okay, I'm one of the weird ones.
Speaker 3 (21:12):
When you really dig in and look at this draft,
there is a wide middle class of players that will
be productive pros for years and years and build the
base of your team. To me as a draft analyst,
that's a good draft. That's an exciting draft. That's a
draft where you can really make some hay as a
general manager. But I think the bad label comes because
there's not the flash that people are used to, so
(21:33):
they just go ass not good.
Speaker 1 (21:35):
And the funny part about that is we're getting that
commentary from people that we you know, run in these
circles with. And if you're listening to this podcast, there's
no way that you only care about the top ten
picks the draft. You listen to this podcast because you
care what Miami might do in the seventh round, you know,
come Day three of the draft. And so, like I
understand for the casual fan, like, oh, there's not you know,
six quarterbacks that I have keep an eye on this year.
Speaker 2 (21:57):
So maybe that's the disconnect.
Speaker 1 (21:58):
But like, we're here with a group full of people
that feel the same way about it that you and
I do, So I don't understand the disconnect there.
Speaker 3 (22:03):
Yeah, I don't think that among the folks that really
put in the time, and you have Daniel, Jeremiah and
you know, I'm sure you'll have Dane and Jordan Reid's
here and I talked to all those guys. Matt Miller's
coming in tonight. You know, we have these conversations about
what do you feel?
Speaker 2 (22:18):
What do you see?
Speaker 3 (22:19):
And you asked me about the strength of the class,
and we'll get into that, but overall, we asked that
question and it's resounding. Nobody has said I actually really
think it's a weak draft or bad draft or a
thin draft.
Speaker 2 (22:30):
People say the same thing throughout the middle.
Speaker 3 (22:33):
It's an exciting draft and we're gonna see a lot
of movement that maybe we quote unquote don't expect because
when you have a lot of similar grades, teams are
gonna view them differently because of their coaching styles or
their current roster build or whatever else, and we're gonna
see them pick players much quote unquote earlier, and then
maybe we think they should. For every action that happens
(22:53):
like that, there's a corresponding move down the board and
a players available later that you thought maybe wasn't gonna
be there. So I think it's gonna be really exciting
year for the NFL Draft.
Speaker 2 (23:02):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (23:02):
One of the themes I've been discussing all week long
with my guest is how the Dolphins, you know, they
have needs, And I think another big misconception is that
kind of the way of business in modern NFL is
a lot of one and two year deals, short term deals,
and that produces a heavy turnover rate every single year.
And so I see, you know, and this is across
(23:22):
all fan bases, like they're worried about the number of
needs they have, like but that's just kind of how
it works nowadays. So I think that this draft also
offers something that has beneficial to Miami in the sense
that they really are kind of set at a lot
of the key positions. Your quarterbacks, receivers, your tackles. They
got two young tackles in there, you know, on top
of Toront Armstead, who will see what happens with him
long term. Here, they've got young Edges and Chop and
(23:44):
Jalen Phillips and Jalen Ramsey still there at the cornerback position,
so that the key spots are kind of spoken for.
But they have all these these needs at you know,
I don't want to say less than positions, but positions that,
in terms of your resource allocation, are going to cost
you less. And those are the group that have a
way of finding more talent deeper in the draft. And
(24:05):
EJ correct me if I'm wrong, man, but I feel
like it's a perfect spot for the Dolphins to get
their pickings in with, you know, having a couple of
safeties that are on are going to hit free agency,
having a defensive tackle spot that's kind of not really
set in stone right now, the guard position, all these
spots that are cheaper than the quarterbacks and the receivers.
I think they have a chance to kind of knock
it out of the park there. And there's a lot
(24:25):
to choose from in this particular draft. You asked me
earlier about the strength of this draft class, defensive tackle
is absolutely one.
Speaker 3 (24:32):
I'm sure with DJ you talked about it that last year.
At this time, he had twenty something grades of defensive
tackles that were draftable twenty three something like that. This
year he's got forty two, forty one, forty two danes
the same way.
Speaker 2 (24:44):
It's literally doubled.
Speaker 3 (24:46):
So if you are one of those teams like the
Dolphins that lines up needs with availability, yes, you have
multiple chances throughout this draft to not only do it early,
you could do it late. You can wait for one
of those guys that we talked about at the top
that might slide down because you know, I the beholder,
somebody like somebody else better, and you get to the
third or even fourth round, you're looking at a guy
(25:06):
that probably would have been taken in the second last year.
He's still available in the fourth and he's going to
contribute to your football team. So that kind of depth
is available in this draft at defensive tackle, at running back,
at tight end. You know, could even be tackled depending
on how you look at the class. As long as
you're not looking for frontline first day number one starter,
(25:27):
you can get tackle depth in this draft. So launch
of positions that, yeah, maybe a little bit less sexy
than you know, the typical but if you need to
build your football team, this year is the year to
do it.
Speaker 1 (25:41):
So I'm gonna give you a pretty specific question here
because you talked about the tackle depth, yeah, provided to Ron.
Armstead's not back with the Miami Dolphins, and again we
don't know for sure whether which way that's going to go.
Mike McDaniel had meshinat has press conference that they're going
to operate as if he is not back, and he
hasn't made the decision yet, and I think part of
the stuff, part of the thing that could kind of,
you know, influence that decision making is you took Patrick
(26:04):
Paul in the second round last year and he played
really well in his reps as rookie. And then Austin Jackson,
who has been a really good player the last couple
of years despite some injuries here and there. I think
when you talk about the swing tackle position, it's so
imperative in today's NFL, especially you know, Austin's missed some games.
Speaker 2 (26:20):
Tron. We'll see if he's back, but he's missed some games.
Speaker 1 (26:23):
You kind of have to have that third tackle, and
I think a lot of times, especially with how linemen
are developed nowadays in the college game, you might lean
more towards a veteran in that position. But let's say
that Miami doesn't get that on the free agent market.
This is a very specific question, so I hope you're
ready for it, like day two, maybe early day three.
Speaker 2 (26:42):
Can you think of.
Speaker 1 (26:42):
A tackle prospect that kind of catches your fancy that
maybe is a guy that can come in learn the
system in August, in through the preseason, not have to
worry about starting games right away, and get that development
on track in case he has to come into a
game in October November and can be ready as a rookie.
Speaker 2 (26:58):
It's a very on the nose us, but who.
Speaker 1 (27:00):
Give me, basically a tackle that you think is NFL
ready that might not go super early.
Speaker 2 (27:04):
It's so specific. It is specific. However, it's a position that.
Speaker 3 (27:08):
Not only the Dolphins are in because as any NFL team,
even if you've got a pair that you like of
starting NFL tackles, you really have to think about what
your team looks like without either one of them, because
they're a rolled ankle or a sprain elbow away from
being out, and then how does your team look? And
that looks actually quite different. So third tackle swing tackle
(27:29):
becomes incredibly important, and yes, development curves and system matches
become really important because you might need that guy in
game four of his career or game ten. And there
are guys in this draft you talk about end of
day two range going into the.
Speaker 2 (27:45):
Top of day three.
Speaker 3 (27:46):
Really when you're going to be spending a resource on
that position. I think Marksimbow from Purdue is a really
interesting guy that is going to be somewhere, maybe after
this week a little bit higher. He might be up
in the eighties, but if he slid down into the nineties,
that's absolutely a value pick.
Speaker 2 (28:04):
Charles Grant is a name.
Speaker 3 (28:06):
That your listeners might not be super familiar with tackle
from William and Mary, and that's the reason, and that
again he's gonna have a great week here at the
comment is a very good athlete. He's gonna show out.
These tests are really made for him. But his tape
is also good. It's a level of competition question that
he answered some of those in his All Star game.
We'll see how the Dolphins in particular feel about him.
(28:27):
But he's going to be a again end of day
two tight pick. If you're going farther down the board
than that, I like John Williams. I saw him at
the Shrine Bowl. He's Cincinnati's tackle. He showed me some things.
Logan Brown from Kansas, it's another guy I liked. I
was watching their running back Devin Neil kept looking at
their tight ends and tight ends blocked tremendously, and then
you kind of move into tackle and you're like, tackle's
(28:49):
taking care of guys.
Speaker 2 (28:50):
Who's that.
Speaker 3 (28:51):
It's Logan Brown. He's in this draft as well. And
then way way down the board, I know you're a
Kugart heart as a pole is a fantastic player. Attackley
didn't play football in high school. Started trying to block
pass rushers in the Pac twelve last year, which is
(29:12):
not too ridonculous.
Speaker 2 (29:14):
No last year, okay, okay, okay, okay.
Speaker 3 (29:15):
So he's been two years and this year he played
the dregs of the zombie Pac twelve, right, but improved
so much and great player, very strong again. Got to
interview him, got to learn a little bit about his
journey as an athlete, but also how he's thinking about it,
how he takes coaching, how much progress he's made in
just two years. And you look at the feet again,
former basketball player, he's got great size, he's getting the strength.
Speaker 2 (29:39):
Might be a.
Speaker 3 (29:39):
Year away from being at full strength NFL style, but
there's so much to work with there. And if you
look at mock drafts or big boards right now, some
of them he's not even on the ones he is on.
He's in like the two eighties, which is a not
draftable grade. I don't think he's gonna be there two
and a half months from now. I think he'll be
up in the two orders. You two, Victis, That's still
(30:01):
an incredible value at a very important position.
Speaker 1 (30:04):
That's why I wanted to get you in the show
because we're talking about potential pipeline developmental guys, and that's
kind of where Miami has to go this year because
of the I guess cyclical nature of their team building
philosophy that was so draft heavy for the first couple
of years of this build. It got aggressive going after
veteran talent, which has been a big production piece for
the Miami Dolphins team offensively and defensively. But now it's
(30:25):
kind of time to restock the cupboard and get those
pipeline pieces in their developmental willhouse. And by the way,
Charles Grant did crack DJ's top fifty. I don't know
if you saw that, Yeah, yeah, forty eight or forty nine,
something like that in the top fifty there, so's he
has not slept on anymore if he was. Let's close
with this EJ the quarterback position, and you remember this summer.
I always love to tell the audience that if you
(30:48):
want to get smarter about football, watch the Bootleg divisional previews.
They go down every single team. They knock out every
single acquisition and coaching change and scheme and what it
might look like and how all that fits together. It's
the best content you can find out there to get
yourself ready for the season. Over the course of the summer.
You go out to the beach with your family, you
go out to the park, you go you dial up
a YouTube episode of the Bootleg Football podcast and get
(31:09):
smarter about football. And I clipped off your discussion about
QB two a Tongua Bai looa. And you know, I
don't I'm not interested in fighting against narratives anymore because
I feel like he's proven that we don't have to
do that anymore. You know, health issues aside, but his
production on the field has been very, very good, a
very good quarterback. But my question for you is, and
(31:30):
I asked coach mcdanielis so no pressure, no no no
pressure going in comparison against the head coach to Miami Dolphins.
But when you think about how his career has evolved
from you know, kind of RPO quarterback in the start
to a downfield merchant who was taking these deep shots
and connecting for Tyreek and Wall for all these massive yards.
Then this last year defense has kind of shifted and
they had to play the quick game way more.
Speaker 2 (31:50):
And it wasn't RPO.
Speaker 1 (31:51):
It was just like, get through the progression, bang bang
ball out in two seconds. Let's keep them offense move him,
And I thought his efficiency in executing the off was
the best version of to a tongue of I looa.
Whether you agree or not is besides the point. I'm
curious what the offense looks like. Do they pivot? How
does how do they build around that fact? Do you
try to go back to the aerial attack? Like what
(32:12):
does this Dolphins offense to you need to do to
take the next step in twenty twenty five and not
just you know, be a team that when he's healthy
wins eleven twelve games, but to get to that point
and then knock the door down once they.
Speaker 2 (32:23):
Get into the postseason. Another long specific question for you.
Speaker 3 (32:25):
It is a long specific question, and all I have
to do is be better than the head coach. So
no big deal, no, I really, as I look at
the Dolphins, I don't worry about their offense. Really again,
as long as two is healthy and leading this offense,
the Dolphins are a very effective team and they win
a lot of games in that alignment, in that position,
let's put it that way. So I don't worry about
(32:47):
their offense for the first three months of the season.
When I do have concerns about their offense, and it's
not because they haven't invested in the offensive line. They
don't have that smash mouth piece to them. They can,
in certain situations grind out small amounts of yards. What
I don't feel like they can do is grind out
whole games using that philosophy. Because they do lean so
(33:09):
heavily on to his skills and their receiver skill set,
and they're very, very good at it.
Speaker 2 (33:12):
That's hard to do, especially.
Speaker 3 (33:14):
As the weather turns lousy and you guys go north
at the end of the season. Fields can be sloppy
and you just need that ability. We saw through the
playoffs with all the teams that were available in the playoffs,
the further you went, the better those teams were at
running the ball, and the team that won the championship
was the best team out running the ball.
Speaker 2 (33:33):
The Dolphins need to develop some of that. I'm not
saying pivot to.
Speaker 3 (33:37):
Becoming a smath mouth football team and forget about all
the other stuff. If you can marry those two to
a more effective balance, I think your chances as the
season progresses are better.
Speaker 1 (33:48):
And we've heard both Chris Career and Mike McDaniel address that.
In fact, McDaniel said at a press conference on Tuesday,
like we probably will invest both in freegency and in
the draft in that position. So it sounds like you're
not breaking news there with those guys. But what does
that look like because we've seen, you know, the Rams
kind of made a similar pivot over the last couple
of years and they went heavy in freegency on the
offensive line, and the way coach McDaniel spoke, it sounds
(34:11):
like they're thinking the same thing. And I kind of
like the idea of the veteran acquisitions there too, because
it's more plug and played ready to roll.
Speaker 2 (34:17):
What does that look like for Tua?
Speaker 1 (34:19):
Because my thought is if you have all that stuff
we just talked about in his game and then you
marry that with a team that can punch in the
mouth and run a four minute offense and kill some
clock and kill some games, I kind of feel like
he's the perfect quarterback to put.
Speaker 2 (34:33):
In that situation. Like am I crazy?
Speaker 3 (34:35):
Like you're not crazy? And I think it's good for him.
And it seems odd to be on a podcast saying, hey,
to a throwing a little bit less is good for him.
It's going to protect him, it's going to give the
team something to lean on that is not just specifically him.
It's a lot of pressure for any quarterback right to
take some pressure off. Hey, best friend of a quarterback
is a strong run game, you know, a very sure
(34:57):
handed tight end as an outlet.
Speaker 2 (34:58):
These are classic things that people say typically about younger quarterbacks,
but believe me, older quarterbacks appreciate it too. So what
does it look like.
Speaker 3 (35:05):
It's funny you say heavy heavy's doing a lot of
work in that phrase, because not only did they invest heavily,
but they also went heavier. It's three hundred and thirty
pounds each on the inside of that rams offensive line.
Dolphins can go a little bit that route too and
just try and beat people up. We're seeing that sort
of it's a pendulum in the NFL, and we're seeing
it swing back to a heavy dose of a heavy
(35:26):
run game with big guys, more gap in power coming
right at you, trying to knock those smaller linebackers off
the ball in the second level and then hoping you're
running back can beat one guy and then you're getting
those extra yards. If the Dolphins can do that and
Tua has to do less again, we've seen he can
do more, but let's not require it every game and
(35:46):
down the stretch so that we're a little bit more
insulated from any possibility, whether that's bad weather, whether that's health,
whether that's health outside of toua right, other players on
the offense who are keys that might go down.
Speaker 2 (35:57):
You know, you lose a waddle for four games. Hey,
if you've got strong.
Speaker 3 (36:00):
Power run game, it's gonna mean a little bit less
and you might drop one less of those games, which
at the end, as you know, can add up to
a division.
Speaker 2 (36:08):
Makes a big difference.
Speaker 1 (36:09):
I think I think we saw some of that in
twenty twenty three when they had Austin Jackson, Rob Hunt
grinding out there and Connor Williams. Those guys got banged
up late in the season and I think kind of
went back in the same direction you're talking about there.
But yeah, I just I really view that as like
kind of their their you know, their pathway back into
playoff relevance and winning games at that point of the season.
I'll close with this, and you know, this is a
(36:29):
conversation you have to have around two at this point
because of what he's put on tape in terms of
the availability, is that they're gonna have to find a
backup quarterback for him this year, and whether that's in
the draft or in free agency, we don't know.
Speaker 2 (36:40):
Again, Coach McDaniel mentioned that.
Speaker 1 (36:41):
He believes it will will exhaust resources in both areas
and find out who's the best fit for that. In
terms of who might be the best fit, it's not
gonna be a first round pick, we know that much,
but a Day two guy that you think might maybe
surprise some folks in terms of how high they go
for the quarterback.
Speaker 2 (36:57):
Maybe a Day three guy. I didn't ask.
Speaker 1 (37:00):
Coach that because I feel like he wouldn't divulge that
information to me. I just could get the hunch that
he wouldn't. But Jordan Reid gave me a couple of names.
So that's what you're up against in this one.
Speaker 3 (37:07):
Oh jeez, well, position the parade of luminarias that you're
stacking me up.
Speaker 2 (37:12):
I'm just proving your worth.
Speaker 1 (37:13):
I'm showing the folks those are the folks that you
can compete with because you're that thick of a rockstar.
Speaker 3 (37:17):
I deeply appreciate it. It would be great if you
could buy quarterback futures because I think Kyle McCord is
gonna have a very good week when the drills start
later on this week here Nity, and I think.
Speaker 2 (37:31):
He's one of those guys that's in the mix in
the middle of.
Speaker 3 (37:33):
The depending on how you look at it, the second tier,
the third tier at quarterbacks.
Speaker 2 (37:37):
I think he's gonna quote unquote rise right.
Speaker 3 (37:40):
If you are familiar with Syracuse's offense, it will not
be much of a surprise to you. That was a
killer's row of offense and he was the trigger guy
all year long. I think he's gonna surprise some people
here and again, if you can buy the future ticket
right now and say, can we get.
Speaker 2 (37:57):
Him where he is right now come draft time, that
would be a great value for the Dolphins.
Speaker 3 (38:00):
I don't think they're gonna have that luxury because he
is gonna rise, so you're gonna be probably looking farther
down in the draft than that. I'm gonna go with
Seth Hennigan A Memphis a good deal. I would go
with Seth Hennigan there. He has some things in his
game that I appreciate and like and think would be
let's say, amplified working with a guy like coach McDaniel,
(38:22):
and I think there's a lot there to work with.
I don't think it would be a huge shift from
what he did in college. Every quarterback coming from college
to the pros has adjustments to make less or so,
and he's got skills that already made to plug into.
Both the offenses are all three of the offenses we've
talked about in terms of iterations of the Dolphins offense.
Speaker 2 (38:43):
So gonna be available later on down. But also a.
Speaker 3 (38:46):
Guy I think is going to add a little bit
of shine to his star over the next four to
five days.
Speaker 2 (38:50):
Jordan's quarterbacks for Colin McCord and Dylan Gabriel.
Speaker 3 (38:53):
Just in case you were, oh, Dylan, I could absolutely
see Dylan if they were going for the same thing
they had into it, yeah, because he is a very
quick distributor, sees the ball or sees the field very well,
and he'll throw over the middle.
Speaker 2 (39:04):
Even though I'll.
Speaker 3 (39:05):
Tell you this, I was at a Lead eleven this
summer got to see Dylan because every year they have
three guys back as alumni counselors.
Speaker 2 (39:13):
For those of you that don't know, at Lead eleven.
Speaker 3 (39:15):
Is a passing camp for top end high school prospects
who are getting ready to commit to college or have
already committed to college.
Speaker 2 (39:21):
Dylan was one of the lum counselors.
Speaker 3 (39:23):
They came back, and I gotta say, there's a lot
of guys I don't recognize as specially from college, because
they wear helmets and this is just shirt and shorts
on a field in San Diego in the middle of July,
and I was with somebody and I said, who's that
he goes that's Dylan Gabriel, dude, And I was like, really, okay,
Dylan's a little shorter.
Speaker 2 (39:42):
Than I thought he was. But when you watch the tape,
he doesn't play short.
Speaker 1 (39:45):
Yeah. I think also the fact that he has so
many college reps too, I can kind of bypass what
the Dolphins need in that position, which I think is
someone that's ready to step in and win games in
twenty twenty five, because the sure if two goes down,
you know you win. If they just win one more
of those games this year, they're probably playing January once again.
Speaker 2 (40:01):
So great stuff, EJ. You're the man.
Speaker 1 (40:03):
The Bootleg Football Podcast as well as the Bear Era podcast.
Tell the folks what they can find from you guys
this week here in India.
Speaker 3 (40:10):
Oh, Bootlegs, you're gonna have a ton of content. We're
actually back on the field for drills. The NFL was
silly enough to put us back down there again, So
not only will you see field level content from drills,
but also we're going to get to record a podcast
on the field after drills conclude, So all that will be.
Speaker 2 (40:24):
On Bootleg Channel on YouTube and Bear Era.
Speaker 3 (40:27):
We're doing live streams once a month in the off
season or so, making some connections here with some of
the Chicago press and some current Bear players, So look for.
Speaker 2 (40:35):
All that on YouTube as well. At bear Era. Hard
work pays off, folks.
Speaker 1 (40:38):
You do enough good hard work, you can find yourself
on the field of the scouting combine. Just like bretton AJJ,
appreciate your time today, man, thank you. That's absolutely no
happy to have the chance, and away he goes. Let's
go ahead and wrap the show up right there. Subscribe,
rate review, follow me on social at Wingfold NFL, and
the team at Miami Dolphins. Check out the fish Tank
podcast with Seth and you use and the YouTube channel
(41:01):
for Dolphins HQ Media Availabilities, and so much more. Last,
but not least, Miami Dolphins dot Com. Until next time.
Speaker 2 (41:07):
Fins up. Caroline and Cameron Daddy were just coming home.
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