April 7, 2025 • 36 mins
Three weeks out from the draft, Travis is taking a look at how some of the position groups stack up and how those battles for playing time could shape the football team this training camp. Plus, our prospect profile series continues on with Penn State TE Tyler Warren.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:06):
What is up Dolphins, and welcome to the Draft Time Podcast.
I am your host, Travis Wingfield, and on today's show,
the draft is fast approaching and we are knocking out
yet another prospect profile on a potential first round pick.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
As we look at tight end.
Speaker 1 (00:21):
Tyler Warren, the apple of my eye in this year's
draft class, and with roster depth rounding into form throughout
free agency, I wanted to look ahead to training camp
at some of the potentially intriguing battles we might see
come the month of August. From the Baptist Health Studios
inside the Baptist Health Training Complex. This is the Draft
(00:42):
Time Podcast. Off the top, very happy retirement, congratulations to
twelve year veteran one of the best tackles of the
last decade, to Ron Armstead who called it a career
on Saturday Night. So he hands the reins officially to
Patrick at left tackle, and I will be doing some
(01:02):
work on his tape from last season, providing you guys
a breakdown. Hopefully we'll have that in video form on
HQ as well, and maybe even try to get the
Big fellow on the show here and talk to him
a little bit. So that's first off the top here,
but what I wanted to look at with Paul sliding
into the left tackle position and essentially having four of
the five offensive line spots pretty much spoken for as
(01:25):
of today on April the seventh, I thought it would
be fun to look at some of the potential camp
battles we might see with what the roster currently looks like.
And you know, the first thing I learned in the NFL,
or the first thing that was really drilled into my
head from you know, a football perspective, was that everything
is a competition every single day. And the moment you
go into training camp thinking you have a concrete idea
(01:48):
of what your lineup and rotations will look like come
the second Sunday in September, when you kick it off
for real, that's when you permeate an environment that focuses
on the wrong things. Off the top of the head,
the best example of this that I can pinpoint to
the league right now is when the Bills spent a
first round pick on kyer Elum back in twenty twenty two.
And I'll never forget the content around him with the
(02:10):
Bills when he requested the playbook on the flight to
Buffalo after draft night, and it was like, Oh, this
guy's going to be a great study, which obviously he
went that high because of athletic ability.
Speaker 2 (02:21):
How could it go wrong? Right?
Speaker 1 (02:22):
That's where we always kind of take the cheese on
prospects and players is if they're smart and in their
playbook and care about the right things and their athletes,
they should work. But they don't always work out that way.
In that same draft class, they took Christian Benford one
hundred and sixty two picks later in the sixth round.
The first round draft pick didn't make it out of
his third year in Buffalo before getting cut. And that
sixth round pick just got a new contract paying him
(02:44):
roughly twenty million bucks per year. And that's what makes
this fun league, right, all the unknown that shrouded around
the league. Every single year, every single team, every single
position group has surprises that we did not forecast going
into that season. And another reason I detest the concept
that you have to land ins within your first couple
of picks.
Speaker 2 (03:02):
Don't get me wrong, it's obviously very important.
Speaker 1 (03:05):
Or rather, I suppose the best way to frame it
is that you can only possibly do it with your
first couple of draft picks. It drives me crazy because
we see impact players enter this league in every single
round and beyond the draft every single year. But that's
a separate argument for another day. Now, every coach, every regime,
every single person holding a high ranking position in this
(03:26):
league will have things they can improve upon, right, That's
true for even the best players in the NFL, and
experience is typically the only way for that to crystallize.
For coaches, for instance, especially first time head coaches. I
think in recent years, you know, in pursuit of star talent,
the Dolphins not only had to take some sacrifices in
certain areas of depth, which really, if you go back
(03:49):
the last every year of the McDaniel era has pretty
much gone by the boards because of one position group's
complete and ability to stay healthy. And you can pretty
much attach to two of those three years. But even
back in twenty two, it was the cornerbacks, right, remember
when we were playing you know, guys that were signed
to be special teams aces like Keon Crossing and Justin
Bethel as like starters, like, it was just so thin there.
(04:10):
And then in twenty three it was the edge. Last
year it was the edge again, and then the quarterback again,
so you've essentially had that happen each of the last
three years. And while you might say that type of
attrition is pretty much just unfair in any sense, the
reality is that it's happened three years in a row,
and so maybe lacking depth in certain areas, but also
(04:31):
it doesn't naturally foster an environment of competition.
Speaker 2 (04:34):
That's not to say they didn't compete.
Speaker 1 (04:35):
I would never, you know, question the efforts of these
you know, professional athletes, at least, you know, not uniformly,
Like there's obviously certain individuals that you know, need that.
But we kind of knew the starter at every single
position going into last year, right like where was the
real mystery one of the one of the two guard
spots after we learned that the Isaiah Winn was going
to be down for a while, the tight end two
(04:56):
battle between Smyth and Hill. I mean, that's just about
it outside of rotational work, and the tight end two
job is rotational work. Now, I think we'll look at
this camp with competitions at safety, defensive tackle, one of
the two guard spots, and I guess wide receiver three,
And of course the draft will reshape that. But I
feel pretty good about those competitions with how the roster
(05:20):
shakes out at the moment. All of this is a
preamble to say, to give you a disclaimer. Obviously, not
every spot is going to come down to camp performance.
You know who the quarterback is, you know who the
top two receivers are. You've got sixty percent of a
proven offensive line, eighty percent of what you is going
to be out there opening day. One of the best
defensive tackles, and Zach Seeler cornerbacks, and Jalen Ramsey, Mike
(05:41):
Backers and Jordan Brooks. It's good to have known quantities,
but I also think it's good to pit two good
players against each other or three or four at a
couple of positions and say let the best man win
and let's be You know, I mentioned this in a
podcast recently, Like that type of environment where you compete
for your job, winds up giving you applicable reps when
you need to compete on the field on Sundays and
(06:02):
with the draft still to come, you know, ten picks
and I'm I'm kind of a big believer in the
idea of trying to just accumulate more picks, like trade
back and acquire more and get yourself fourteen picks and
allow yourself to bat four hundred and find six contributors,
cause you know what that would do to this roster.
I digress, different story for a different day, and we'll
talk about different draft outcomes here in the coming weeks.
(06:22):
But you know the last time the Dolphins had a
very successful draft classes when they had a bunch of
byates at the Apple and you factor in those picks
udfas and almost certainly you know a couple of more
veteran acquisitions between now and the end of July, like
Jack Jones just got released. I know he's been a
knucklehead in two places he's been, but he's a really
good football player.
Speaker 2 (06:40):
We need a quarterback.
Speaker 1 (06:41):
I would kick the tires and that possibly, I thought
we could assess where some of those battles could occur.
And I had written that we were going to operate
under the assumption that toront will not be back, but
he gave us that news on Saturday. So updating that here,
Patrick Paul's left tackle, and with that in mind, we
have eighty percent of the offensive line ready to roll
with Austin Brew, James Daniels at one of the two
guard spots, and then Pat Paul we covered two a
(07:02):
Reek wattle at John new Smith In there. I don't
think there's a ton of mystery about the eight Chan
and Wright duo and how Alexander Madison factors into that,
which really only leaves us with three spots that I
find worthy of discussion in the segment, And quite frankly,
I'm inclined to lop off one of the three, and
in fact, I'm gonna do that because it's the same
spot I talked about last year with tight end two,
which to me is Pharaoh Brown versus Julian Hill for
(07:25):
that you know, y reps, and I don't think it's
much of a battle, if I'm being totally honest with you, guys,
receiver rolls beyond reak and waddle, and then the fifth
piece of the offensive line. Who's that other guard and
who mans the third and fourth spots and what roles
and what groupings and what personnel packages. You could probably
add swing interior offensive line and swing tackle here. I
think Keon Smith probably has his hand in both of
(07:47):
those pies. But even then, you know, again, tight end
two and why position work, I don't think it's worth
getting that far into the weeds prior to the draft.
This is a more of a you know, fostering competition
and who could be in line to surprise a training
camp type of segment. So my first one here might
even be a bit of a stretch. But the receiver spot,
we know that Nick Westbrook Akinne is more than just
an insert blocker. He's arguably the best blocking receiver in
(08:09):
the NFL. Who expands what you know about receivers, excuse me,
in the run blocking game in the in the running
game in the NFL. Like remember those old infomercials, forget
everything you know about I don't know vacuum cleaners. Okay, cool,
So forget everything you know about what you can ask
receivers to do in the running game. When it comes
to Nick Westbrook Akine. Now with Malik Washington, I would
(08:31):
say the same applies in terms of the want to
but and the tact I suppose that he plays with.
But the difference there is six two two ten versus
five eight one ninety. I legit could see NWI getting
reps that you would call for twelve personnel but actually
having eleven personnel on the field, like they match with
their nickel defense, and you get what you want because
(08:53):
they don't know that one of those three receivers is
going to jet motion wrap the edge and seal that
edge against your undersized box defender or one hundred and
seventy five pound nickel cornerback that you brought into the
field because we showed you three receivers. Now we're gonna
go ahead and block that guy and seal him for
a twelve yard Devon h Chen touchdown run on the
red zone. That and his ability to make contested catches,
(09:13):
it's not it's not like a you know, calling card
to his game.
Speaker 2 (09:17):
I wouldn't say, but he can do it.
Speaker 1 (09:18):
And just that size and tight quarters alone with his
ability to kind of, you know, create separation through his
route running, it makes him seem like an obvious plug
and play red zone threat, one that might even be
able to give ten and seventeen a breather here and there.
And we know that, you know, McDaniel's not at all
shy about doing that, right, We saw Trent Sherfield, River Craycraft,
Cedric Wilson, all these guys, even Chase Claypool and Robbie
(09:40):
chosen to a certain extent getting reps down in high
and mid red zone and low red zone two for
that matter, while ten and seventeen got their breathers a
lot of the time on those rundowns inside the red zone.
Red zone rundown reps that's a freaking mouthful. So Westbrook
is more of a vertical threat to than the leak.
So he's got two pretty big ends of the spectrum
(10:01):
there in this potential competition in my opinion. But I
think Malik is a better screen player and with the
football in his hands after the catch and as a
potential ball carrier. So jet motion Nwi on one play
and he's your lead blocker, Jet motion Malik Washington and
give him the football. He's also very sure handed and
a true student of the game that absorbed the offense
last year and saw him go, you know, kind of
(10:22):
break out, not breakout, but like show that he could
play in this league, in this offense down the stretch right,
and he's got better as he went along, And that
year of experience within the offense I think is an
advantage on Nwi, who is no slouch when it comes
to being a student of the game. So I think
he'll get it down as quick as anybody, But I'm
just acknowledging that Malik does have the edge in terms of.
Speaker 2 (10:42):
He was here last year.
Speaker 1 (10:43):
Of course, the entire room is fighting for playing time,
but I think that based off resume and projecting forward,
those would be the front runners, with Westbrook Akine holding
the edge for a more prominent role. But ultimately both
players should have plenty of reps, especially with Malik in
the kicking game here is that Westbrook Akine takes it,
but Malik makes it tough on him, pushes him, and
(11:04):
makes the entire room better. In fact, I think the
real battle here might be more between Malik and D. S.
Gridge because we saw d kind of flash some some
things here and there in that kind of you know,
screen game potential ball carrier, tougher than you know, plays
bigger than the size type of role the Malik plays
like D. S. Gridge kind of shows you some stuff
(11:24):
in that in that role as well. But I think
all three of those guys feature pretty cool supplementary skills
to wreak and waddle, and as of today, you know,
before the draft, that would be my top five going
into the season. Reek Wattle, Nwy, Malik Washington, and D. S.
Gridge at the guard spot. I'd be surprised if they're
done adding there. So there's a chance we you know,
monkey wrench, you know, get a monkey wrench thrown too
this entire thing. In fact, i'd say better than a chance,
(11:46):
I'd say it's likely. But since it's been quiet for
a couple of weeks, you know, what better time to
assess where we are before going into the draft. So
Larry Boram played a little bit of gard in Chicago,
primarily tackle. Same story in college, although there was more
guard in colleges than there was as a pro. But
I think the guard stuff with the Bears, in particular
the twenty twenty three.
Speaker 2 (12:07):
Tape against the Bills. I care if it was two
or three. I think it was twenty three.
Speaker 1 (12:11):
When he played the entire game at left guard, was
by far the best thing that I watched, and I
watched probably six of his games, especially the movement that
he offers from that position and the ability to mash
down hill. There are reps with duo and combination blocks
where he you know, kind of shoulders to shoulder hip
to hips next to the center and can move people
off the football in short yardage and also a very
(12:31):
quick open the gate step and then cross over step
and get into space and trying to start square up
blocks outside the numbers down the field. With Liam, look
the five position of flexibility, I think is what's attractive there.
And he's tough and durable. I always talk about the
end of that twenty three season, he was, you know,
doing everything he could to play through some some pretty
serious stuff. So which that's a trait you look for
(12:53):
in any player obviously, but your swing guys, they have
to be durable, right, That's what that was a problem
with Like Kendall Lamb, for instance, who I thought was
as good of a swing tackles there was in the
league over the last couple of years, but he got
hurt a lot. If he played a few reps or
if he was in practice, like there was a possibility
he could get injured, and that all of a sudden
opens you up to Pandora's box of like practice, squad
call ups, street free agent signings, and you wind up
(13:15):
starting those guys in a must win game, you know,
in December, and look what happens, Like your quarterback is
under drest the entire game, So.
Speaker 2 (13:21):
You need durability out of those guys.
Speaker 1 (13:23):
And that's why I've always thought, like Liam as a
seventh or eighth makes a lot of sense.
Speaker 2 (13:27):
Then you higher than that. Maybe you know it's you're
pushing it a bit.
Speaker 1 (13:30):
But I the thing that puzzles me the most, and
not even the most, because like what I just said,
I do believe in terms of like if Liam mikenbergs
your eighth offensive lineman, then you're you're doing pretty good
up there. But the thing that does kind of confuse
me is is the scheme fit or lack thereof. I
don't think it's ever been a fit for what Liam
does well. There have been flashes, albeit brief, and those
(13:52):
flashes are when he settles in a left guard position
or right guard position and isn't bouncing around. But you know,
at this point, like when he is in that seventh
or eighth offensive line role, that means you're probably gonna
have to insert at different spots throughout the course of
the season, and when you lose that momentum and all
of a sudden, we get those those reps where you
get the big losses. And that's what I think it
is about Liam with the reputation, is like the losses
(14:14):
that get put on tape are so bad and so
glaring that it really stands out among the fans. But
the scheme fit and then the durability and consistency at
one position, like it's kind of tough to get that
in the role that I think he's best suited for.
And then the rest of the suitors are guys without
real NFL reps, Right, Andrew Meyer didn't play as a rookie,
Chase and Hines has been on the practice squad for
a few years. Then you've got some tackles and Brandon Daniels,
(14:35):
Jackson Carmen, Ryan Hayes, bid On Mattos. But the one
that I'm really intrigued by is Keon Smith because he
made a massive jump when I thought he was one
of the first guys cut on the team, you know,
his first year with the Dolphins. Then he comes back
in the next season and has a really good camp
and winds up making the team in twenty twenty three
and winds up getting mop up duty. And then all
those blowout games we had and looked really really good,
(14:58):
especially on that run exclusive touchdown drive they had in
Washington and twenty three, that drive that was Mike White led,
but it was all runs against the Commanders. And then
last camp, Keon gets cross training work playing at guard
and practice and in the preseason. And while I thought
that was what you'd expect from a position change from
a young player in camp, a lot of some ups
but a lot of downs, I think there's potentially something
(15:20):
there for him there, and that injury was so early
on in August that he's got a shot to be
ready by training camp. So he's sort of the dark
horse in the entire equation, both as a swing tackle
and a potential swing interior guy or maybe even a
long shot to start. But I won't get ahead of
myself there. I would imagine there's you know, that's not
the banking on decision with the entire thing. So my
prediction for this one is that the other starting guard
(15:40):
is not yet on the roster. All right, that's the
offensive battles I'm looking at today, on April the seventh,
let's go ahead and come back on the other side
and break down the defense. Draft Time podcast brought to
you by AutoNation. So I'm recording this episode on Sunday afternoon.
I was able to go to the driving range this
morning to hit golf balls and be outside for the
(16:01):
first time really in like five days. And is there
anything better in life than when you get over an
ailment or like a virus and then you can start
getting back to your normal life. I think maybe the
ability to sleep, you know, congestion free is probably the
top of that, like subgenre list. Maybe it's when you're
holding in like having to go to the bathroom for
(16:22):
a long time too, Like then you get a chance
to you know, hit the toilet, Like maybe that's one
of the best feelings in life. I don't know, what
do you guys think. Let me know in the episode
on Twitter, what you think is the best possible feeling
I'm talking about here. But yeah, going out on the
driving range hitting golf balls, gosh, it sure felt nice.
We got Master's week coming up, got college college hoops
Final four just happened, start of baseball, the Mariner still sucks,
(16:44):
So everything getting back on track here in the world.
So we talked about offensive camp battles of intrigue that
could potentially happen in a few months if nothing else
changes on the roster, which we have the draft, so
it will change. So an entirely futile exercise here, But hey,
do you want to just listen to five thousand different
names that could possibly Day three draft picks. We'll get
(17:06):
to the sleepers and the possible fits later on, but
I just want to continue to give you guys dolphin
centric content because not everybody wants to hear about Francisco Waxy,
the running back out of Twu Lane, and the potential
seventh round draft pick on every single episode. So defensive
side of the football, now here's where I think you
got a lot more juice and kind of where the
idea behind this kind of was sparked. It was really
(17:28):
the safety position that made me got thinking about this,
and the part about this I really like, and not
that it wasn't the case last year, but I can
really see the personnel fitting a vision of Anthony Weaver.
I felt a lot of the additions made here would
speak to what made this defense ecel under coach Weave.
And while defense is even more rotation, matchup and role
(17:49):
based and than the offenses, I think you'll have a
lot of fun potential battles bring all over the side
of the ball. To list the three that I'm looking
at here, today Jordan Brooks's running mate. In terms of
off ball linebacker reps, I think there's four very capable
players in that room. Now, who is the third cornerback
that is the most up in the air one at
the current moment, and then who are the safeties? And
(18:09):
I think those last two ones you're not gonna be
done seeing players add to those rooms either. The one
that I'll leave for another day is you know, like
offensive line depth and tight end two depth that that
type of stuff is the edge depth because we've got
three pretty good, proven players that in that role, provided
JP and Chubb can stay healthy for the first time
in two years. Well, Chubb just missed the entire year
because of previous year injury. And then Chop who was
(18:30):
a very impressive rookie, and someone said I was like
cheerleading him talking about his his sack he had against
the Houston Texans and talking about how excited I was
to see him in year two.
Speaker 2 (18:42):
Like, am I crazy?
Speaker 1 (18:44):
Is it weird to talk about like a rookie pass
rusher having a great year and being a defensive player,
Rookie of the Year candidate and being excited about his
year two growth. I don't know anyway, then, so we've
got a bunch of guys beyond those three players, right
in Mo Kamara, Quentin Bell, Grayson Murphy. Like, I'm curious
to see who shakes out playing time from that group,
but I don't think it's worthy of this episode.
Speaker 2 (19:05):
So back to the linebackers.
Speaker 1 (19:06):
Jordan Brooks led the team and Snaps played last year
on defense and was excellent in every phase of the game,
especially as the year went along. I felt the defense
kind of, you know, had a parallel incline to Brooks
settling into the system and being the true traffic cop
and green dot of this defense. And I think you
can look at him as kind of the Rokwan Smith
of the defense, and I you know, I'm not saying
(19:26):
he's the same player, but in terms of Roquan gets
to Baltimore and things just crystallized. I think jb Rather
was a major target with that in mind last year
and executed it brilliantly, and I think it's fair to
expect that to be better in year two. And then
I think you can see kind of the influence we
talked about defensive tackle Snaps on the podcast on Friday.
I think you kind of see the influence here of
(19:48):
what the Ravens did by getting Roquan Smith and pairing
him with Patrick Queen, and that you've seen the Dolphins
go after this off ball linebacker position because prior to
Jordan Brooks's arrival, you know, you had David Law and
then you had like the kind of leftover Jordan or
not Jordan Brooks. The Jerome Baker era was kind of
you know, attached to a couple of different coaching changes,
(20:08):
and then now you've really seen them invest in the
position last year with Jordan Brooks, but also go out
and get Anthony Walker to kind of, you know, be
that third guy which ended up taking over David Long.
You wind up getting Tyrrel Dotson, he gets the extension
of the re upped contract, and then kJ Britt and
Willie Gase like there's a real investment here akin to
how the Ravens went after that same position when Weave
(20:29):
was there. I think you see a lot of those
same influences on this year's defense. So who is that
guy that will earn the number two job? Because typically,
you know in the NFL, you have two linebackers that
rarely leave the field. The one never leaves the field,
you hope that he's one hundred percent snap taker, and
then a second guy who plays like ninety percent of
the snaps, and then your third and fourth guys are
typically forty fifty percent snap takers at best.
Speaker 2 (20:51):
So last year it was a committee as David.
Speaker 1 (20:54):
Long went from really good twenty twenty three season probably
you know, upper echelon linebacker to a big reduction in
performance for whatever reason. I know he was nicked up,
so that probably had a lot to do with it.
He winds up getting released, and luckily we claimed Tyreel Dotson,
who provided stability when Anthony Walker did go down. And
I think that Walker was much closer in terms of
(21:15):
his play style to kJ Britt than he was David
Long or Dodson for that matter, best on rundowns and
a true enforcer in the middle. And that's what makes
it all of this so much fun.
Speaker 2 (21:26):
I think you have three different styles.
Speaker 1 (21:29):
You know. Dotson is sort of a jack of all trades,
perhaps a master of none, but sturdy in all areas.
He's gotten better every year as a pro. When he
filled in for Matt Mulano and Buffalo a couple of
years back, they were like, I don't know if this
defense can withstand this loss, and then all of a sudden,
like Dodson was, Oh, he's pretty good. He did the job,
he held up and didn't you know, take us out
out of our defense. I think that he can, you know,
(21:50):
kind of that here for us last year with Anthony
Walker going down and David Long's release and then Willie
gay is just so damn explosive with so much upside
and flash and play potential. Dodson was too for what
it's worth, team leading three picks last year after arriving
like what around Halloween. I think he can be role specific,
as we saw with the Chiefs kind of deploy him
(22:10):
in various matchup based roles in that spy kind of, hey,
go take care of seventeen, make sure he's not you know,
and that's that's not like a complex role. But you
have to be a certain athlete to do that. And
we talked about Willie Gaye being ninety eight percent tile
in his ten split vertical broad jump and all that,
all the speed based metrics and then kJ is an
absolute head knocker, right, really good key and diagnosed, doesn't
take false steps, I think anytime you got to go heavy.
(22:31):
You put kJ Britt in the field and say, hey,
go knock out a full back or a pulling guard
and free up Jordan Brooks or free up e fat
to Mela Fon would get a free run on this
running back. This will be one of the positions that
I'm looking at pre snap for my checklist every single
rep in training camp first to find out who the
hell's out there, because I think there's all kinds of
ways to match this room together. My prediction is that
(22:52):
Dodson wins the number two jobs as the primary backer
next to Brooks out of camp, but Gay's workload phases
into that more and more as the year goes along,
and by the time we get to the postseason and
hopefully we're there, Willie Gays so sorry, linebacker next to Brooks,
provided everybody's healthy. I think the one with the next
most juice is the safety position. Right now, you basically
(23:12):
have to me four guys that could probably be safety
two or maybe safety three, and that's okay. I would
like to see one more who's got a safety one
safety two repertoire. I think that would be quite nice,
But I think that those are littered throughout the draft.
It's kind of funny how to me, like, our biggest
needs right now are on the defensive side of the
ball outside of the one of the two guard spots,
(23:33):
but defensive tackles, safety, and cornerback to me or three
of the deepest groups in the entire drafts. So funny
how that works. But for me, it starts with if
he here, you know when when healthy or healthy and
availability removed if you take those things out of the equation,
which you cannot. But he is an outlier from the
group to me in terms of his play, production and
tape have been different than the rest of the guys.
(23:54):
It's been really good, just hasn't been out there that often.
If you extrapolate his counting stats as advanced metrics, and
then the thing, that thing I really care about, the
actual tape for a full season, there's big time production
there and to the point of shaping things to weaves vision.
I mean, my goodness, the way you can walk this
guy up to the last scrimmage and blitz the quarterback.
He's one of the best blitzing defensive backs, albeit a
(24:14):
minuscule sample size that there is in the NFL right now.
The way he can be the rat in the hole,
and he can come from depth and defend the run,
the way he can hang out and zone and quarters
and play robber and play half field and be a
single high guy. The way he has range to play
back in the post. It comes down to if he
is healthy. If he's healthy, right, you know what I'm saying.
(24:36):
He's a guy that you can basically try to exploit
matchups on every single snap that he plays. Then you've
got Ashton Davis who has been productive with one fifty
career snaps. That's over five years. So like he's not
been of every down player obviously, but eight picks, it's
kind of insane on that few of snaps. Can he
be that guy that's a mid round pick, part time
player who gets a fresh start and blossoms here. I
(24:56):
think he's best And really the only quality that I
loved in his his tape evaluation was that post field
safety work right now, so that pairs with what I
think if he does best, So it makes sense to me,
and that's what fascinates me here because I think the
way I described that, that would be my starters if
the season started tomorrow. But I think that Patrick McMorris
has a skill set that we've could deploy a lot
(25:18):
in the same sense that we just discussed with If
he he's a sure tackler, and if he develops like
I think he can, or like his ability would suggest
that he can, he becomes one of the more valuable
things a DC can have in modern football, a safety
who can defend the run from depth. You know, I
love that about his game, And speaking of that, Elijah
Campbell has that to his game and coach has really
made it a point to mention Elijah time and time
(25:39):
again as guys to not sleep on. But with this group,
it would not surprise me in the slightest if anybody
was a starter, or if anybody was a sub package
slash special teams contributor. There's all types of roles for
all these guys. My prediction if he is the starter
and his running mate will be drafted at the end
of the month, maybe signed in free agency, with mc
morris as the sub package player that gets playing time
and Davis the guy off the bench and special team
(26:02):
are in case of an injury, then our last one
stays in that same position group the defensive backfield, and
I don't think this one requires a ton of analysis,
because this is the one that I would say is
for sure. The answer is not on the roster I
think would be my presumption there because the corners beyond
Ramsey and Cohu, there's nothing proven on the roster. Camp
Smith was a second round draft pick in twenty twenty two,
(26:24):
and they've expressed a couple of times the need for him, like, hey,
it's we gotta have you. It's time to get going here,
you gotta get ready to play. I thought he was
going to be an immediate hit for us with his
draft profile, and injuries and his own ability have kind
of not allowed that to happen so far. And because
of that storm Duck had an opportunity and sees that
and got playing time in Cam Smith's absence, beating up
(26:44):
the previous UDFA camp Darling Ethan Bonner for those reps
to the point of actually starting in the finale against
the New York Jets. Between those three, you've got two
udfas and a high draft pick, and I'll add two
more udfas and Jason Matrie and Isaiah Johnson, and then
of course you know whatever you can expect from Arty Burns.
I think counting on any snaps from Arty Burns would
be bad, you know, bad process because again hasn't played
(27:09):
more than two hundred and eighty snap since twenty eighteen.
But some of the tape is fun and exciting, but
you gotta look at reality there. So those guys, I
think matri and Johnson had great camps. I think Burns
has some intrigue if he can ever stay on the field.
But that's kind of what you're looking at. And it's
a pretty deep cornerback class and there's a couple of
guys in multiple rounds.
Speaker 2 (27:27):
Obviously.
Speaker 1 (27:27):
We talked about Juday Barron, who could be a potential
Day one inside outside cornerback for you. There's some quality
free agents out there as well. So this one, this
is why I don't want to spend too much time
on it, because I think this is going to change
pretty quickly. Here, we can revisit this on post draft
and get into this cornerback spot further, because I would
be shocked if it's the same thing in three weeks
(27:49):
from now. All right, we can get into the draft
here a little bit further after a quick break here
and close up this episode with a prospect profile on
the other side, back to the offensive side of the football.
Tyler Warren is up next Draft Time podcast, brought to
you by Auto Nation Draft Crush, Draft Crush. I wish
(28:14):
I could describe how happy making those makes me for
you guys. That's my intro into the Tyler Warren prospect
profile Penn State tight end number forty four, and I
want to start by just asking of you guys to
pull up the USC tape from last year, and that's
really all you have to watch to get to know
(28:34):
this guy. The first three plays of the game, he
goes and this is his true Swiss Army knife package here,
offset alignment, fullback, wildcat, quarterback field slot. In the screen game,
there's three entirely different positions and he's out here floating
around them between every single play. He also makes an
explosive contested catch. He has a big run, lumbering through defenders.
(28:54):
You talk about a football player from the moment he
was born with just natural absorption of contact, doesn't really
waste a lot of his of movement in general, catches everything.
I think draft fatigue is the only reason you're seeing
some folks kind of cool on Warren here. I do
not get it. He is my draft crush. He is
a tremendous prospect. In this game, they throw him another
(29:16):
screen in the fourth play of the game. The fifth
play of the game is a slant to him from
the same formation where the point man runs the underneath
coverage off and then clear space for him. To say
the offense ran through forty four would be an understatement
for Penn State. I think you start with him though,
in terms of his possible Miami Dolphins fit with short yardage,
you want to fix one of the bigger issues you had,
(29:36):
and what car wash attendants are telling coach McDaniel when
he gets his car washed, the number of ways that
Tyler Warren can win on those critical downs and the
way he can create for others because of the potential
personnel matching issues. I mean a former cornerback who is
comfortable running the ball from the wildcat. He can sneak
it from under center. They did that multiple times with him.
(29:57):
He can lead block as a fullback, and while he
not might not be alec ingold, it's his deployment that
invites a cornerback or a safety onto the field in
place of a linebacker, where then he can look like
alec Ingold because there's thirty pounds they're giving to him
on those reps. The first man almost never brings him
down as a ballcarrier.
Speaker 2 (30:15):
And if you ever.
Speaker 1 (30:15):
Got worried about teams keying on him in the screen
game in short yardage, remember all those screens that John
new Smith turned into big plays last year, Well, you
can replicate that on the other side of the formation.
Where do you then focus take away both those guys
and then you give free one on one vertical matchups
to Tyreek Hill and Jalen Waddle. And then to add
to that, he's very good and I won't go dominant,
(30:37):
but he's a very good blocker off the edge in
the run game. To help keep your outside zone menu
fully available. This is all just the short yardage factor.
As I write that, he takes a sneak on second
and two for three yards in a first down. So
on this rep he aligns as a wide tight end,
motions across the formation, then comes back under center and
sneaks the football. The very next play they run that
(30:57):
angle scream we just talked about with John new Smith
over two defenders for a fifteen yard game. The next
play they throw in a little throwback screen where he
fake pass sets and two rushers go flying by him,
trying to put him on his on his butt as
a pass rusher shows the quarterback his numbers, catches the
ball and rumbles for twenty more yards, breaking another tackle.
Like look, it might not be flashy, and he might
(31:17):
not have ran a fast time, but put on the
tape and watch the way this guy impacts tacklers, the
yards that he makes, the way he gets to gliding
when he opens up in the open field.
Speaker 2 (31:26):
You know, and don't we have enough flash on this
football team? You want?
Speaker 1 (31:30):
Everyone talks about trenches like Tyler Warren is that guy.
I think he's that you know what, play the damn.
Speaker 2 (31:36):
Drop that guy? Pal, trust me, you're that guy. And
that only scratches the surface.
Speaker 1 (31:41):
In fact, we just heard or is reported by uh shoot,
who's the guy that got in a fight with a
rap She is a Jordan Schultz at Starbucks and Indie
that only Tyler Warren only has one pre draft visit
because everyone knows the intelligence, the football character, the skills
like everything is clean and checks out. He is also
on top of all that one of the he's gonna
be in three years from now. Considered like the George
(32:03):
Kittle of tight ends in terms of how he runs
the ball in his hands, he might be the best
eligible with the football in his hands in two or
three years. Like it's special and while pans State ran
their offense through him, I don't think you'd do that
here given all your weapons, but it highlights the different
things you can add and the tendency breakers you could
unveil with him as a blocker.
Speaker 2 (32:21):
I want to say this off the top.
Speaker 1 (32:22):
I think he is plenty good today, But man, when
I watched the tape, I came away thinking that we
have not even begun to scratch the surface. To use
that phrase twice, on what he could be high school
quarterback three years of playing tight end. I think between
the pad level, the lower body strength, the way he
processes as a runner, I just think there's a beast
waiting to be unleashed.
Speaker 2 (32:43):
Pardon the reme.
Speaker 1 (32:44):
I think at times he didn't always look convicted in
his blocking assignment and could sometimes let the defender be
the aggressor, whether it was letting him cross face on
inside runs or getting around the corner because of a
fake inside move Like this was the best the most
common loss he had was some one over setting him
upfield and crossing face and he wouldn't get him to
his feet aligned. He could sometimes kind of like lunge
(33:05):
at the rep and if he just took one more
step and buried his shoulder through the contact and stood
the hit up as he exploded out of that stance,
I think he'd have a better strike zone hit rate
and could get more weight behind those blocks and just
win more of them. Now when he gets in space,
I think there's a little less thinking and more playing freely,
and that stuff comes a little more naturally to him.
I think that he's going to be a force off
(33:26):
the edge in the outside zone game, especially when how
you can marry all those looks with passing concepts off
of that. And then I get into the organ tape
again and see this guy just clearing lane after lane.
So there's like a progression I was just telling you,
and I hope i'd saw I would see as a
pro and it happened. His final year in college, at
least a little bit. He exhibited growth from a game
in October all the way to the conference championship game,
(33:48):
which makes me even more bullish on his ability to
take his blocking game to a different level. As a receiver.
He's not gonna wow you with flash again, but the
way he just gets to it, like there's an urgency
at the line that pairs with his physicality and then
the balance that he has up the stem to really
drive guys off their landmark, alter their footwork, and cause
confusion in the coverage in the back end, and then
(34:09):
snap the route off right at the inflection point. Like
he's so polished in that regard. He's not going to
run vertical and fly past anybody, but we have plenty
of that on our team. He can exploit the space
that we have when you watch back at twenty twenty
four and the pensiont for finding quick answers because of
the coverage backing off. You know, we saw what John
would do at that space, what Devon hen did at
that space. Now put Tyler Warren out there instead of
(34:31):
like Durham Spine through Julian Hill we have. You know,
half of his production is him chipping at the landscrimmage,
releasing into a vacant flat and then a defense that
can't rally and tackle him. He would have that pretty
much every damn snap if he was here, everything adds
up to me. Twenty one of thirty two contested career
catches forty percent slot, forty percent in line backfield, quarterback stuff.
(34:53):
This year alone, he had nineteen mistackles forced had seven
hundred yards after the catch. This season, they had game
where they went through him, seventeen grabs versus USC, and
games where he was an insert inline blocker. He averaged
two point seven eight yards per route ran. That's like
what Tyreek and Waddle average when they were going off
in twenty twenty two, two point eight percent drop rate.
(35:14):
With respect to rounding out the twenty twenty five roster
and where we sit right now today, it might be
a tad irresponsible to go tight end to pick thirteen.
I get that reservation, but even that can't deter me
from taking the best player for my program that would
give me the best boost, the best improvement. I think
Warren would click this offense together like the last piece
(35:35):
in a one thousand piece jigsaw puzzle. He's a problem
solver across the board. We have problems, He's a solution
for so many of them. This is my top player
in the draft of the Miami Dolphins we'll see if
he makes it there. I doubt he does, but I
just couldn't be higher on this prospect for this team
right now. All right tomorrow rather Wednesday, on the podcast,
We're gonna take a look at Patrick Paul's tape and
I'm gonna breakdown every single play that he played as
(35:56):
a pro so far and give you guys the report
on that. We'll get to some more prospect profiles, more
draft talk plenty to come here on the Draft Time Podcast.
In the meantime, you all please be sure subscribe, rate
review the show. Follow me on social at Winkfold NFL.
The team at Miami Dolphins. Check out the Fish Tank
with Seth and Juice, the YouTube channel for Dolphins HQ
media availabilities, Draft time, free agent interviews, and much much more. Last,
(36:20):
but not least, Miami Dolphins dot Com. Until next time,
Fin's up, Caroline Cameron, Daddy, He's come and hold
What is up Dolphins, and welcome to the Draft Time Podcast.
I am your host, Travis Wingfield, and on today's show,
the draft is fast approaching and we are knocking out
yet another prospect profile on a potential first round pick.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
As we look at tight end.
Speaker 1 (00:21):
Tyler Warren, the apple of my eye in this year's
draft class, and with roster depth rounding into form throughout
free agency, I wanted to look ahead to training camp
at some of the potentially intriguing battles we might see
come the month of August. From the Baptist Health Studios
inside the Baptist Health Training Complex. This is the Draft
(00:42):
Time Podcast. Off the top, very happy retirement, congratulations to
twelve year veteran one of the best tackles of the
last decade, to Ron Armstead who called it a career
on Saturday Night. So he hands the reins officially to
Patrick at left tackle, and I will be doing some
(01:02):
work on his tape from last season, providing you guys
a breakdown. Hopefully we'll have that in video form on
HQ as well, and maybe even try to get the
Big fellow on the show here and talk to him
a little bit. So that's first off the top here,
but what I wanted to look at with Paul sliding
into the left tackle position and essentially having four of
the five offensive line spots pretty much spoken for as
(01:25):
of today on April the seventh, I thought it would
be fun to look at some of the potential camp
battles we might see with what the roster currently looks like.
And you know, the first thing I learned in the NFL,
or the first thing that was really drilled into my
head from you know, a football perspective, was that everything
is a competition every single day. And the moment you
go into training camp thinking you have a concrete idea
(01:48):
of what your lineup and rotations will look like come
the second Sunday in September, when you kick it off
for real, that's when you permeate an environment that focuses
on the wrong things. Off the top of the head,
the best example of this that I can pinpoint to
the league right now is when the Bills spent a
first round pick on kyer Elum back in twenty twenty two.
And I'll never forget the content around him with the
(02:10):
Bills when he requested the playbook on the flight to
Buffalo after draft night, and it was like, Oh, this
guy's going to be a great study, which obviously he
went that high because of athletic ability.
Speaker 2 (02:21):
How could it go wrong? Right?
Speaker 1 (02:22):
That's where we always kind of take the cheese on
prospects and players is if they're smart and in their
playbook and care about the right things and their athletes,
they should work. But they don't always work out that way.
In that same draft class, they took Christian Benford one
hundred and sixty two picks later in the sixth round.
The first round draft pick didn't make it out of
his third year in Buffalo before getting cut. And that
sixth round pick just got a new contract paying him
(02:44):
roughly twenty million bucks per year. And that's what makes
this fun league, right, all the unknown that shrouded around
the league. Every single year, every single team, every single
position group has surprises that we did not forecast going
into that season. And another reason I detest the concept
that you have to land ins within your first couple
of picks.
Speaker 2 (03:02):
Don't get me wrong, it's obviously very important.
Speaker 1 (03:05):
Or rather, I suppose the best way to frame it
is that you can only possibly do it with your
first couple of draft picks. It drives me crazy because
we see impact players enter this league in every single
round and beyond the draft every single year. But that's
a separate argument for another day. Now, every coach, every regime,
every single person holding a high ranking position in this
(03:26):
league will have things they can improve upon, right, That's
true for even the best players in the NFL, and
experience is typically the only way for that to crystallize.
For coaches, for instance, especially first time head coaches. I
think in recent years, you know, in pursuit of star talent,
the Dolphins not only had to take some sacrifices in
certain areas of depth, which really, if you go back
(03:49):
the last every year of the McDaniel era has pretty
much gone by the boards because of one position group's
complete and ability to stay healthy. And you can pretty
much attach to two of those three years. But even
back in twenty two, it was the cornerbacks, right, remember
when we were playing you know, guys that were signed
to be special teams aces like Keon Crossing and Justin
Bethel as like starters, like, it was just so thin there.
(04:10):
And then in twenty three it was the edge. Last
year it was the edge again, and then the quarterback again,
so you've essentially had that happen each of the last
three years. And while you might say that type of
attrition is pretty much just unfair in any sense, the
reality is that it's happened three years in a row,
and so maybe lacking depth in certain areas, but also
(04:31):
it doesn't naturally foster an environment of competition.
Speaker 2 (04:34):
That's not to say they didn't compete.
Speaker 1 (04:35):
I would never, you know, question the efforts of these
you know, professional athletes, at least, you know, not uniformly,
Like there's obviously certain individuals that you know, need that.
But we kind of knew the starter at every single
position going into last year, right like where was the
real mystery one of the one of the two guard
spots after we learned that the Isaiah Winn was going
to be down for a while, the tight end two
(04:56):
battle between Smyth and Hill. I mean, that's just about
it outside of rotational work, and the tight end two
job is rotational work. Now, I think we'll look at
this camp with competitions at safety, defensive tackle, one of
the two guard spots, and I guess wide receiver three,
And of course the draft will reshape that. But I
feel pretty good about those competitions with how the roster
(05:20):
shakes out at the moment. All of this is a
preamble to say, to give you a disclaimer. Obviously, not
every spot is going to come down to camp performance.
You know who the quarterback is, you know who the
top two receivers are. You've got sixty percent of a
proven offensive line, eighty percent of what you is going
to be out there opening day. One of the best
defensive tackles, and Zach Seeler cornerbacks, and Jalen Ramsey, Mike
(05:41):
Backers and Jordan Brooks. It's good to have known quantities,
but I also think it's good to pit two good
players against each other or three or four at a
couple of positions and say let the best man win
and let's be You know, I mentioned this in a
podcast recently, Like that type of environment where you compete
for your job, winds up giving you applicable reps when
you need to compete on the field on Sundays and
(06:02):
with the draft still to come, you know, ten picks
and I'm I'm kind of a big believer in the
idea of trying to just accumulate more picks, like trade
back and acquire more and get yourself fourteen picks and
allow yourself to bat four hundred and find six contributors,
cause you know what that would do to this roster.
I digress, different story for a different day, and we'll
talk about different draft outcomes here in the coming weeks.
(06:22):
But you know the last time the Dolphins had a
very successful draft classes when they had a bunch of
byates at the Apple and you factor in those picks
udfas and almost certainly you know a couple of more
veteran acquisitions between now and the end of July, like
Jack Jones just got released. I know he's been a
knucklehead in two places he's been, but he's a really
good football player.
Speaker 2 (06:40):
We need a quarterback.
Speaker 1 (06:41):
I would kick the tires and that possibly, I thought
we could assess where some of those battles could occur.
And I had written that we were going to operate
under the assumption that toront will not be back, but
he gave us that news on Saturday. So updating that here,
Patrick Paul's left tackle, and with that in mind, we
have eighty percent of the offensive line ready to roll
with Austin Brew, James Daniels at one of the two
guard spots, and then Pat Paul we covered two a
(07:02):
Reek wattle at John new Smith In there. I don't
think there's a ton of mystery about the eight Chan
and Wright duo and how Alexander Madison factors into that,
which really only leaves us with three spots that I
find worthy of discussion in the segment, And quite frankly,
I'm inclined to lop off one of the three, and
in fact, I'm gonna do that because it's the same
spot I talked about last year with tight end two,
which to me is Pharaoh Brown versus Julian Hill for
(07:25):
that you know, y reps, and I don't think it's
much of a battle, if I'm being totally honest with you, guys,
receiver rolls beyond reak and waddle, and then the fifth
piece of the offensive line. Who's that other guard and
who mans the third and fourth spots and what roles
and what groupings and what personnel packages. You could probably
add swing interior offensive line and swing tackle here. I
think Keon Smith probably has his hand in both of
(07:47):
those pies. But even then, you know, again, tight end
two and why position work, I don't think it's worth
getting that far into the weeds prior to the draft.
This is a more of a you know, fostering competition
and who could be in line to surprise a training
camp type of segment. So my first one here might
even be a bit of a stretch. But the receiver spot,
we know that Nick Westbrook Akinne is more than just
an insert blocker. He's arguably the best blocking receiver in
(08:09):
the NFL. Who expands what you know about receivers, excuse me,
in the run blocking game in the in the running
game in the NFL. Like remember those old infomercials, forget
everything you know about I don't know vacuum cleaners. Okay, cool,
So forget everything you know about what you can ask
receivers to do in the running game. When it comes
to Nick Westbrook Akine. Now with Malik Washington, I would
(08:31):
say the same applies in terms of the want to
but and the tact I suppose that he plays with.
But the difference there is six two two ten versus
five eight one ninety. I legit could see NWI getting
reps that you would call for twelve personnel but actually
having eleven personnel on the field, like they match with
their nickel defense, and you get what you want because
(08:53):
they don't know that one of those three receivers is
going to jet motion wrap the edge and seal that
edge against your undersized box defender or one hundred and
seventy five pound nickel cornerback that you brought into the
field because we showed you three receivers. Now we're gonna
go ahead and block that guy and seal him for
a twelve yard Devon h Chen touchdown run on the
red zone. That and his ability to make contested catches,
(09:13):
it's not it's not like a you know, calling card
to his game.
Speaker 2 (09:17):
I wouldn't say, but he can do it.
Speaker 1 (09:18):
And just that size and tight quarters alone with his
ability to kind of, you know, create separation through his
route running, it makes him seem like an obvious plug
and play red zone threat, one that might even be
able to give ten and seventeen a breather here and there.
And we know that, you know, McDaniel's not at all
shy about doing that, right, We saw Trent Sherfield, River Craycraft,
Cedric Wilson, all these guys, even Chase Claypool and Robbie
(09:40):
chosen to a certain extent getting reps down in high
and mid red zone and low red zone two for
that matter, while ten and seventeen got their breathers a
lot of the time on those rundowns inside the red zone.
Red zone rundown reps that's a freaking mouthful. So Westbrook
is more of a vertical threat to than the leak.
So he's got two pretty big ends of the spectrum
(10:01):
there in this potential competition in my opinion. But I
think Malik is a better screen player and with the
football in his hands after the catch and as a
potential ball carrier. So jet motion Nwi on one play
and he's your lead blocker, Jet motion Malik Washington and
give him the football. He's also very sure handed and
a true student of the game that absorbed the offense
last year and saw him go, you know, kind of
(10:22):
break out, not breakout, but like show that he could
play in this league, in this offense down the stretch right,
and he's got better as he went along, And that
year of experience within the offense I think is an
advantage on Nwi, who is no slouch when it comes
to being a student of the game. So I think
he'll get it down as quick as anybody, But I'm
just acknowledging that Malik does have the edge in terms of.
Speaker 2 (10:42):
He was here last year.
Speaker 1 (10:43):
Of course, the entire room is fighting for playing time,
but I think that based off resume and projecting forward,
those would be the front runners, with Westbrook Akine holding
the edge for a more prominent role. But ultimately both
players should have plenty of reps, especially with Malik in
the kicking game here is that Westbrook Akine takes it,
but Malik makes it tough on him, pushes him, and
(11:04):
makes the entire room better. In fact, I think the
real battle here might be more between Malik and D. S.
Gridge because we saw d kind of flash some some
things here and there in that kind of you know,
screen game potential ball carrier, tougher than you know, plays
bigger than the size type of role the Malik plays
like D. S. Gridge kind of shows you some stuff
(11:24):
in that in that role as well. But I think
all three of those guys feature pretty cool supplementary skills
to wreak and waddle, and as of today, you know,
before the draft, that would be my top five going
into the season. Reek Wattle, Nwy, Malik Washington, and D. S.
Gridge at the guard spot. I'd be surprised if they're
done adding there. So there's a chance we you know,
monkey wrench, you know, get a monkey wrench thrown too
this entire thing. In fact, i'd say better than a chance,
(11:46):
I'd say it's likely. But since it's been quiet for
a couple of weeks, you know, what better time to
assess where we are before going into the draft. So
Larry Boram played a little bit of gard in Chicago,
primarily tackle. Same story in college, although there was more
guard in colleges than there was as a pro. But
I think the guard stuff with the Bears, in particular
the twenty twenty three.
Speaker 2 (12:07):
Tape against the Bills. I care if it was two
or three. I think it was twenty three.
Speaker 1 (12:11):
When he played the entire game at left guard, was
by far the best thing that I watched, and I
watched probably six of his games, especially the movement that
he offers from that position and the ability to mash
down hill. There are reps with duo and combination blocks
where he you know, kind of shoulders to shoulder hip
to hips next to the center and can move people
off the football in short yardage and also a very
(12:31):
quick open the gate step and then cross over step
and get into space and trying to start square up
blocks outside the numbers down the field. With Liam, look
the five position of flexibility, I think is what's attractive there.
And he's tough and durable. I always talk about the
end of that twenty three season, he was, you know,
doing everything he could to play through some some pretty
serious stuff. So which that's a trait you look for
(12:53):
in any player obviously, but your swing guys, they have
to be durable, right, That's what that was a problem
with Like Kendall Lamb, for instance, who I thought was
as good of a swing tackles there was in the
league over the last couple of years, but he got
hurt a lot. If he played a few reps or
if he was in practice, like there was a possibility
he could get injured, and that all of a sudden
opens you up to Pandora's box of like practice, squad
call ups, street free agent signings, and you wind up
(13:15):
starting those guys in a must win game, you know,
in December, and look what happens, Like your quarterback is
under drest the entire game, So.
Speaker 2 (13:21):
You need durability out of those guys.
Speaker 1 (13:23):
And that's why I've always thought, like Liam as a
seventh or eighth makes a lot of sense.
Speaker 2 (13:27):
Then you higher than that. Maybe you know it's you're
pushing it a bit.
Speaker 1 (13:30):
But I the thing that puzzles me the most, and
not even the most, because like what I just said,
I do believe in terms of like if Liam mikenbergs
your eighth offensive lineman, then you're you're doing pretty good
up there. But the thing that does kind of confuse
me is is the scheme fit or lack thereof. I
don't think it's ever been a fit for what Liam
does well. There have been flashes, albeit brief, and those
(13:52):
flashes are when he settles in a left guard position
or right guard position and isn't bouncing around. But you know,
at this point, like when he is in that seventh
or eighth offensive line role, that means you're probably gonna
have to insert at different spots throughout the course of
the season, and when you lose that momentum and all
of a sudden, we get those those reps where you
get the big losses. And that's what I think it
is about Liam with the reputation, is like the losses
(14:14):
that get put on tape are so bad and so
glaring that it really stands out among the fans. But
the scheme fit and then the durability and consistency at
one position, like it's kind of tough to get that
in the role that I think he's best suited for.
And then the rest of the suitors are guys without
real NFL reps, Right, Andrew Meyer didn't play as a rookie,
Chase and Hines has been on the practice squad for
a few years. Then you've got some tackles and Brandon Daniels,
(14:35):
Jackson Carmen, Ryan Hayes, bid On Mattos. But the one
that I'm really intrigued by is Keon Smith because he
made a massive jump when I thought he was one
of the first guys cut on the team, you know,
his first year with the Dolphins. Then he comes back
in the next season and has a really good camp
and winds up making the team in twenty twenty three
and winds up getting mop up duty. And then all
those blowout games we had and looked really really good,
(14:58):
especially on that run exclusive touchdown drive they had in
Washington and twenty three, that drive that was Mike White led,
but it was all runs against the Commanders. And then
last camp, Keon gets cross training work playing at guard
and practice and in the preseason. And while I thought
that was what you'd expect from a position change from
a young player in camp, a lot of some ups
but a lot of downs, I think there's potentially something
(15:20):
there for him there, and that injury was so early
on in August that he's got a shot to be
ready by training camp. So he's sort of the dark
horse in the entire equation, both as a swing tackle
and a potential swing interior guy or maybe even a
long shot to start. But I won't get ahead of
myself there. I would imagine there's you know, that's not
the banking on decision with the entire thing. So my
prediction for this one is that the other starting guard
(15:40):
is not yet on the roster. All right, that's the
offensive battles I'm looking at today, on April the seventh,
let's go ahead and come back on the other side
and break down the defense. Draft Time podcast brought to
you by AutoNation. So I'm recording this episode on Sunday afternoon.
I was able to go to the driving range this
morning to hit golf balls and be outside for the
(16:01):
first time really in like five days. And is there
anything better in life than when you get over an
ailment or like a virus and then you can start
getting back to your normal life. I think maybe the
ability to sleep, you know, congestion free is probably the
top of that, like subgenre list. Maybe it's when you're
holding in like having to go to the bathroom for
(16:22):
a long time too, Like then you get a chance
to you know, hit the toilet, Like maybe that's one
of the best feelings in life. I don't know, what
do you guys think. Let me know in the episode
on Twitter, what you think is the best possible feeling
I'm talking about here. But yeah, going out on the
driving range hitting golf balls, gosh, it sure felt nice.
We got Master's week coming up, got college college hoops
Final four just happened, start of baseball, the Mariner still sucks,
(16:44):
So everything getting back on track here in the world.
So we talked about offensive camp battles of intrigue that
could potentially happen in a few months if nothing else
changes on the roster, which we have the draft, so
it will change. So an entirely futile exercise here, But hey,
do you want to just listen to five thousand different
names that could possibly Day three draft picks. We'll get
(17:06):
to the sleepers and the possible fits later on, but
I just want to continue to give you guys dolphin
centric content because not everybody wants to hear about Francisco Waxy,
the running back out of Twu Lane, and the potential
seventh round draft pick on every single episode. So defensive
side of the football, now here's where I think you
got a lot more juice and kind of where the
idea behind this kind of was sparked. It was really
(17:28):
the safety position that made me got thinking about this,
and the part about this I really like, and not
that it wasn't the case last year, but I can
really see the personnel fitting a vision of Anthony Weaver.
I felt a lot of the additions made here would
speak to what made this defense ecel under coach Weave.
And while defense is even more rotation, matchup and role
(17:49):
based and than the offenses, I think you'll have a
lot of fun potential battles bring all over the side
of the ball. To list the three that I'm looking
at here, today Jordan Brooks's running mate. In terms of
off ball linebacker reps, I think there's four very capable
players in that room. Now, who is the third cornerback
that is the most up in the air one at
the current moment, and then who are the safeties? And
(18:09):
I think those last two ones you're not gonna be
done seeing players add to those rooms either. The one
that I'll leave for another day is you know, like
offensive line depth and tight end two depth that that
type of stuff is the edge depth because we've got
three pretty good, proven players that in that role, provided
JP and Chubb can stay healthy for the first time
in two years. Well, Chubb just missed the entire year
because of previous year injury. And then Chop who was
(18:30):
a very impressive rookie, and someone said I was like
cheerleading him talking about his his sack he had against
the Houston Texans and talking about how excited I was
to see him in year two.
Speaker 2 (18:42):
Like, am I crazy?
Speaker 1 (18:44):
Is it weird to talk about like a rookie pass
rusher having a great year and being a defensive player,
Rookie of the Year candidate and being excited about his
year two growth. I don't know anyway, then, so we've
got a bunch of guys beyond those three players, right
in Mo Kamara, Quentin Bell, Grayson Murphy. Like, I'm curious
to see who shakes out playing time from that group,
but I don't think it's worthy of this episode.
Speaker 2 (19:05):
So back to the linebackers.
Speaker 1 (19:06):
Jordan Brooks led the team and Snaps played last year
on defense and was excellent in every phase of the game,
especially as the year went along. I felt the defense
kind of, you know, had a parallel incline to Brooks
settling into the system and being the true traffic cop
and green dot of this defense. And I think you
can look at him as kind of the Rokwan Smith
of the defense, and I you know, I'm not saying
(19:26):
he's the same player, but in terms of Roquan gets
to Baltimore and things just crystallized. I think jb Rather
was a major target with that in mind last year
and executed it brilliantly, and I think it's fair to
expect that to be better in year two. And then
I think you can see kind of the influence we
talked about defensive tackle Snaps on the podcast on Friday.
I think you kind of see the influence here of
(19:48):
what the Ravens did by getting Roquan Smith and pairing
him with Patrick Queen, and that you've seen the Dolphins
go after this off ball linebacker position because prior to
Jordan Brooks's arrival, you know, you had David Law and
then you had like the kind of leftover Jordan or
not Jordan Brooks. The Jerome Baker era was kind of
you know, attached to a couple of different coaching changes,
(20:08):
and then now you've really seen them invest in the
position last year with Jordan Brooks, but also go out
and get Anthony Walker to kind of, you know, be
that third guy which ended up taking over David Long.
You wind up getting Tyrrel Dotson, he gets the extension
of the re upped contract, and then kJ Britt and
Willie Gase like there's a real investment here akin to
how the Ravens went after that same position when Weave
(20:29):
was there. I think you see a lot of those
same influences on this year's defense. So who is that
guy that will earn the number two job? Because typically,
you know in the NFL, you have two linebackers that
rarely leave the field. The one never leaves the field,
you hope that he's one hundred percent snap taker, and
then a second guy who plays like ninety percent of
the snaps, and then your third and fourth guys are
typically forty fifty percent snap takers at best.
Speaker 2 (20:51):
So last year it was a committee as David.
Speaker 1 (20:54):
Long went from really good twenty twenty three season probably
you know, upper echelon linebacker to a big reduction in
performance for whatever reason. I know he was nicked up,
so that probably had a lot to do with it.
He winds up getting released, and luckily we claimed Tyreel Dotson,
who provided stability when Anthony Walker did go down. And
I think that Walker was much closer in terms of
(21:15):
his play style to kJ Britt than he was David
Long or Dodson for that matter, best on rundowns and
a true enforcer in the middle. And that's what makes
it all of this so much fun.
Speaker 2 (21:26):
I think you have three different styles.
Speaker 1 (21:29):
You know. Dotson is sort of a jack of all trades,
perhaps a master of none, but sturdy in all areas.
He's gotten better every year as a pro. When he
filled in for Matt Mulano and Buffalo a couple of
years back, they were like, I don't know if this
defense can withstand this loss, and then all of a sudden,
like Dodson was, Oh, he's pretty good. He did the job,
he held up and didn't you know, take us out
out of our defense. I think that he can, you know,
(21:50):
kind of that here for us last year with Anthony
Walker going down and David Long's release and then Willie
gay is just so damn explosive with so much upside
and flash and play potential. Dodson was too for what
it's worth, team leading three picks last year after arriving
like what around Halloween. I think he can be role specific,
as we saw with the Chiefs kind of deploy him
(22:10):
in various matchup based roles in that spy kind of, hey,
go take care of seventeen, make sure he's not you know,
and that's that's not like a complex role. But you
have to be a certain athlete to do that. And
we talked about Willie Gaye being ninety eight percent tile
in his ten split vertical broad jump and all that,
all the speed based metrics and then kJ is an
absolute head knocker, right, really good key and diagnosed, doesn't
take false steps, I think anytime you got to go heavy.
(22:31):
You put kJ Britt in the field and say, hey,
go knock out a full back or a pulling guard
and free up Jordan Brooks or free up e fat
to Mela Fon would get a free run on this
running back. This will be one of the positions that
I'm looking at pre snap for my checklist every single
rep in training camp first to find out who the
hell's out there, because I think there's all kinds of
ways to match this room together. My prediction is that
(22:52):
Dodson wins the number two jobs as the primary backer
next to Brooks out of camp, but Gay's workload phases
into that more and more as the year goes along,
and by the time we get to the postseason and
hopefully we're there, Willie Gays so sorry, linebacker next to Brooks,
provided everybody's healthy. I think the one with the next
most juice is the safety position. Right now, you basically
(23:12):
have to me four guys that could probably be safety
two or maybe safety three, and that's okay. I would
like to see one more who's got a safety one
safety two repertoire. I think that would be quite nice,
But I think that those are littered throughout the draft.
It's kind of funny how to me, like, our biggest
needs right now are on the defensive side of the
ball outside of the one of the two guard spots,
(23:33):
but defensive tackles, safety, and cornerback to me or three
of the deepest groups in the entire drafts. So funny
how that works. But for me, it starts with if
he here, you know when when healthy or healthy and
availability removed if you take those things out of the equation,
which you cannot. But he is an outlier from the
group to me in terms of his play, production and
tape have been different than the rest of the guys.
(23:54):
It's been really good, just hasn't been out there that often.
If you extrapolate his counting stats as advanced metrics, and
then the thing, that thing I really care about, the
actual tape for a full season, there's big time production
there and to the point of shaping things to weaves vision.
I mean, my goodness, the way you can walk this
guy up to the last scrimmage and blitz the quarterback.
He's one of the best blitzing defensive backs, albeit a
(24:14):
minuscule sample size that there is in the NFL right now.
The way he can be the rat in the hole,
and he can come from depth and defend the run,
the way he can hang out and zone and quarters
and play robber and play half field and be a
single high guy. The way he has range to play
back in the post. It comes down to if he
is healthy. If he's healthy, right, you know what I'm saying.
(24:36):
He's a guy that you can basically try to exploit
matchups on every single snap that he plays. Then you've
got Ashton Davis who has been productive with one fifty
career snaps. That's over five years. So like he's not
been of every down player obviously, but eight picks, it's
kind of insane on that few of snaps. Can he
be that guy that's a mid round pick, part time
player who gets a fresh start and blossoms here. I
(24:56):
think he's best And really the only quality that I
loved in his his tape evaluation was that post field
safety work right now, so that pairs with what I
think if he does best, So it makes sense to me,
and that's what fascinates me here because I think the
way I described that, that would be my starters if
the season started tomorrow. But I think that Patrick McMorris
has a skill set that we've could deploy a lot
(25:18):
in the same sense that we just discussed with If
he he's a sure tackler, and if he develops like
I think he can, or like his ability would suggest
that he can, he becomes one of the more valuable
things a DC can have in modern football, a safety
who can defend the run from depth. You know, I
love that about his game, And speaking of that, Elijah
Campbell has that to his game and coach has really
made it a point to mention Elijah time and time
(25:39):
again as guys to not sleep on. But with this group,
it would not surprise me in the slightest if anybody
was a starter, or if anybody was a sub package
slash special teams contributor. There's all types of roles for
all these guys. My prediction if he is the starter
and his running mate will be drafted at the end
of the month, maybe signed in free agency, with mc
morris as the sub package player that gets playing time
and Davis the guy off the bench and special team
(26:02):
are in case of an injury, then our last one
stays in that same position group the defensive backfield, and
I don't think this one requires a ton of analysis,
because this is the one that I would say is
for sure. The answer is not on the roster I
think would be my presumption there because the corners beyond
Ramsey and Cohu, there's nothing proven on the roster. Camp
Smith was a second round draft pick in twenty twenty two,
(26:24):
and they've expressed a couple of times the need for him, like, hey,
it's we gotta have you. It's time to get going here,
you gotta get ready to play. I thought he was
going to be an immediate hit for us with his
draft profile, and injuries and his own ability have kind
of not allowed that to happen so far. And because
of that storm Duck had an opportunity and sees that
and got playing time in Cam Smith's absence, beating up
(26:44):
the previous UDFA camp Darling Ethan Bonner for those reps
to the point of actually starting in the finale against
the New York Jets. Between those three, you've got two
udfas and a high draft pick, and I'll add two
more udfas and Jason Matrie and Isaiah Johnson, and then
of course you know whatever you can expect from Arty Burns.
I think counting on any snaps from Arty Burns would
be bad, you know, bad process because again hasn't played
(27:09):
more than two hundred and eighty snap since twenty eighteen.
But some of the tape is fun and exciting, but
you gotta look at reality there. So those guys, I
think matri and Johnson had great camps. I think Burns
has some intrigue if he can ever stay on the field.
But that's kind of what you're looking at. And it's
a pretty deep cornerback class and there's a couple of
guys in multiple rounds.
Speaker 2 (27:27):
Obviously.
Speaker 1 (27:27):
We talked about Juday Barron, who could be a potential
Day one inside outside cornerback for you. There's some quality
free agents out there as well. So this one, this
is why I don't want to spend too much time
on it, because I think this is going to change
pretty quickly. Here, we can revisit this on post draft
and get into this cornerback spot further, because I would
be shocked if it's the same thing in three weeks
(27:49):
from now. All right, we can get into the draft
here a little bit further after a quick break here
and close up this episode with a prospect profile on
the other side, back to the offensive side of the football.
Tyler Warren is up next Draft Time podcast, brought to
you by Auto Nation Draft Crush, Draft Crush. I wish
(28:14):
I could describe how happy making those makes me for
you guys. That's my intro into the Tyler Warren prospect
profile Penn State tight end number forty four, and I
want to start by just asking of you guys to
pull up the USC tape from last year, and that's
really all you have to watch to get to know
(28:34):
this guy. The first three plays of the game, he
goes and this is his true Swiss Army knife package here,
offset alignment, fullback, wildcat, quarterback field slot. In the screen game,
there's three entirely different positions and he's out here floating
around them between every single play. He also makes an
explosive contested catch. He has a big run, lumbering through defenders.
(28:54):
You talk about a football player from the moment he
was born with just natural absorption of contact, doesn't really
waste a lot of his of movement in general, catches everything.
I think draft fatigue is the only reason you're seeing
some folks kind of cool on Warren here. I do
not get it. He is my draft crush. He is
a tremendous prospect. In this game, they throw him another
(29:16):
screen in the fourth play of the game. The fifth
play of the game is a slant to him from
the same formation where the point man runs the underneath
coverage off and then clear space for him. To say
the offense ran through forty four would be an understatement
for Penn State. I think you start with him though,
in terms of his possible Miami Dolphins fit with short yardage,
you want to fix one of the bigger issues you had,
(29:36):
and what car wash attendants are telling coach McDaniel when
he gets his car washed, the number of ways that
Tyler Warren can win on those critical downs and the
way he can create for others because of the potential
personnel matching issues. I mean a former cornerback who is
comfortable running the ball from the wildcat. He can sneak
it from under center. They did that multiple times with him.
(29:57):
He can lead block as a fullback, and while he
not might not be alec ingold, it's his deployment that
invites a cornerback or a safety onto the field in
place of a linebacker, where then he can look like
alec Ingold because there's thirty pounds they're giving to him
on those reps. The first man almost never brings him
down as a ballcarrier.
Speaker 2 (30:15):
And if you ever.
Speaker 1 (30:15):
Got worried about teams keying on him in the screen
game in short yardage, remember all those screens that John
new Smith turned into big plays last year, Well, you
can replicate that on the other side of the formation.
Where do you then focus take away both those guys
and then you give free one on one vertical matchups
to Tyreek Hill and Jalen Waddle. And then to add
to that, he's very good and I won't go dominant,
(30:37):
but he's a very good blocker off the edge in
the run game. To help keep your outside zone menu
fully available. This is all just the short yardage factor.
As I write that, he takes a sneak on second
and two for three yards in a first down. So
on this rep he aligns as a wide tight end,
motions across the formation, then comes back under center and
sneaks the football. The very next play they run that
(30:57):
angle scream we just talked about with John new Smith
over two defenders for a fifteen yard game. The next
play they throw in a little throwback screen where he
fake pass sets and two rushers go flying by him,
trying to put him on his on his butt as
a pass rusher shows the quarterback his numbers, catches the
ball and rumbles for twenty more yards, breaking another tackle.
Like look, it might not be flashy, and he might
(31:17):
not have ran a fast time, but put on the
tape and watch the way this guy impacts tacklers, the
yards that he makes, the way he gets to gliding
when he opens up in the open field.
Speaker 2 (31:26):
You know, and don't we have enough flash on this
football team? You want?
Speaker 1 (31:30):
Everyone talks about trenches like Tyler Warren is that guy.
I think he's that you know what, play the damn.
Speaker 2 (31:36):
Drop that guy? Pal, trust me, you're that guy. And
that only scratches the surface.
Speaker 1 (31:41):
In fact, we just heard or is reported by uh shoot,
who's the guy that got in a fight with a
rap She is a Jordan Schultz at Starbucks and Indie
that only Tyler Warren only has one pre draft visit
because everyone knows the intelligence, the football character, the skills
like everything is clean and checks out. He is also
on top of all that one of the he's gonna
be in three years from now. Considered like the George
(32:03):
Kittle of tight ends in terms of how he runs
the ball in his hands, he might be the best
eligible with the football in his hands in two or
three years. Like it's special and while pans State ran
their offense through him, I don't think you'd do that
here given all your weapons, but it highlights the different
things you can add and the tendency breakers you could
unveil with him as a blocker.
Speaker 2 (32:21):
I want to say this off the top.
Speaker 1 (32:22):
I think he is plenty good today, But man, when
I watched the tape, I came away thinking that we
have not even begun to scratch the surface. To use
that phrase twice, on what he could be high school
quarterback three years of playing tight end. I think between
the pad level, the lower body strength, the way he
processes as a runner, I just think there's a beast
waiting to be unleashed.
Speaker 2 (32:43):
Pardon the reme.
Speaker 1 (32:44):
I think at times he didn't always look convicted in
his blocking assignment and could sometimes let the defender be
the aggressor, whether it was letting him cross face on
inside runs or getting around the corner because of a
fake inside move Like this was the best the most
common loss he had was some one over setting him
upfield and crossing face and he wouldn't get him to
his feet aligned. He could sometimes kind of like lunge
(33:05):
at the rep and if he just took one more
step and buried his shoulder through the contact and stood
the hit up as he exploded out of that stance,
I think he'd have a better strike zone hit rate
and could get more weight behind those blocks and just
win more of them. Now when he gets in space,
I think there's a little less thinking and more playing freely,
and that stuff comes a little more naturally to him.
I think that he's going to be a force off
(33:26):
the edge in the outside zone game, especially when how
you can marry all those looks with passing concepts off
of that. And then I get into the organ tape
again and see this guy just clearing lane after lane.
So there's like a progression I was just telling you,
and I hope i'd saw I would see as a
pro and it happened. His final year in college, at
least a little bit. He exhibited growth from a game
in October all the way to the conference championship game,
(33:48):
which makes me even more bullish on his ability to
take his blocking game to a different level. As a receiver.
He's not gonna wow you with flash again, but the
way he just gets to it, like there's an urgency
at the line that pairs with his physicality and then
the balance that he has up the stem to really
drive guys off their landmark, alter their footwork, and cause
confusion in the coverage in the back end, and then
(34:09):
snap the route off right at the inflection point. Like
he's so polished in that regard. He's not going to
run vertical and fly past anybody, but we have plenty
of that on our team. He can exploit the space
that we have when you watch back at twenty twenty
four and the pensiont for finding quick answers because of
the coverage backing off. You know, we saw what John
would do at that space, what Devon hen did at
that space. Now put Tyler Warren out there instead of
(34:31):
like Durham Spine through Julian Hill we have. You know,
half of his production is him chipping at the landscrimmage,
releasing into a vacant flat and then a defense that
can't rally and tackle him. He would have that pretty
much every damn snap if he was here, everything adds
up to me. Twenty one of thirty two contested career
catches forty percent slot, forty percent in line backfield, quarterback stuff.
(34:53):
This year alone, he had nineteen mistackles forced had seven
hundred yards after the catch. This season, they had game
where they went through him, seventeen grabs versus USC, and
games where he was an insert inline blocker. He averaged
two point seven eight yards per route ran. That's like
what Tyreek and Waddle average when they were going off
in twenty twenty two, two point eight percent drop rate.
(35:14):
With respect to rounding out the twenty twenty five roster
and where we sit right now today, it might be
a tad irresponsible to go tight end to pick thirteen.
I get that reservation, but even that can't deter me
from taking the best player for my program that would
give me the best boost, the best improvement. I think
Warren would click this offense together like the last piece
(35:35):
in a one thousand piece jigsaw puzzle. He's a problem
solver across the board. We have problems, He's a solution
for so many of them. This is my top player
in the draft of the Miami Dolphins we'll see if
he makes it there. I doubt he does, but I
just couldn't be higher on this prospect for this team
right now. All right tomorrow rather Wednesday, on the podcast,
We're gonna take a look at Patrick Paul's tape and
I'm gonna breakdown every single play that he played as
(35:56):
a pro so far and give you guys the report
on that. We'll get to some more prospect profiles, more
draft talk plenty to come here on the Draft Time Podcast.
In the meantime, you all please be sure subscribe, rate
review the show. Follow me on social at Winkfold NFL.
The team at Miami Dolphins. Check out the Fish Tank
with Seth and Juice, the YouTube channel for Dolphins HQ
media availabilities, Draft time, free agent interviews, and much much more. Last,
(36:20):
but not least, Miami Dolphins dot Com. Until next time,
Fin's up, Caroline Cameron, Daddy, He's come and hold
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