April 18, 2025 • 32 mins
Tuesday, Chris Grier spoke about the desire to get immediate impacts from this year’s rookie class. Travis is taking a look at some of the prospects from this year’s class that he thinks could become immediate starters and contribute right away in 2025.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:08):
What is up, Dolphins and welcome to the Draft Time Podcast.
I am your host, Travis Wingfield and on today's show,
one more time before the Kyle Krabs Draft Extravaganza, We're
gonna talk today about the thirty visits that have been
attached to the Miami Dolphins and what those prospects could
bring should they take the devon a chan route and
(00:28):
be a guy that was here on a visit the
guy Draft by the Miami Dolphins. We'll also talk about
potential immediate impact players because Chris we were mentioned, the
Dolphins needed to find a few of those guys in
this year's class. So who could be those options from
the Baptist Health Studios inside the Baptist Health Training Complex.
This is the Draft Time Podcast, Maybe daf two episodes
(00:50):
next week before the draft begins Monday and Tuesday with
Kyle Krabs are now five year running annual Dolphins Draft
Extravaganza ahead of the Big Wee weekend and we've done
the mock draft roundups, the player profiles, the my Guys list.
I feel like we're pretty much at the end of
the draft of rope here in fact, yep, the content
(01:11):
fatigue has set in for your boy. It does every
single every single part of the year, the content fatigue arrives,
whether it's training camp is the worst, the last couple
of days of training camp like that. That's the biggest
slog of all. Draft is probably the second behind that.
What's number one is a season that goes off the
rails early. That's when you're out of it early on,
(01:33):
like back in you know, twenty nineteen, for instance, I
think it was the last time the Dolphins were out
of playoff contention before like Thanksgiving. That can be difficult,
but I will say the last week of draft coverage,
I'm pretty much over it by this point, but I
will say I did conjure up one more fun show
before the extravaganza next week that I think can be
(01:54):
a bit of an enigma across Dolphins draft coverage. We'll
talk about a few players I think can match something
that Chris said it his Tuesday press conference and I
something that the roster pretty much, you know, shows you
the Dolphins will need to have as an immedia impact
from guys. So based on my own study and evaluations,
I thought we could talk about some of the players
that might fit that mold, that have the skills and
(02:15):
the polish and the little something extra to be immedia
impact players, which is a pretty rare thing in the NFL.
Even the guys that have good rookie seasons don't always
start that way. Chop Robinson was, you know, from the
sack production standpoint and his run defense last year had
a slow start, but then he came on the second
half of the year and was one of the top
ten pass rushers in the NFL. For Patrick Paul, I
(02:39):
mean it was similar, And you know, those guys were
both not supposed to be immedia impact players, or at
least Patrick Paul was supposed to be like a red
shirt year right, And when you know it, Chopp goes
for a finalist for Defensive Rookie of the Year. And
Patrick had two damn good game tapes in December, he
had two more that we were not as good, one
at right tackle, one off the bench against Miles Garrett.
Like those are kind of difficult circumstance. So sometimes we
(03:01):
think about impact guys in terms of their Week one usage,
But I would challenge you to broaden your perspective here
because it's really the case in all sports that the
end season development is oftentimes more important than what you
get over the course of the spring. In the summer,
you know, guys in the best shape of his life.
While this guy's hitting five sixty down spring training, he's
gotta have a great year, Like, okay, we'll see what
(03:22):
happens when he's getting specialized relievers in the game against him,
throwing ninety nine, you know, lefty on lefty matchup. And
forgive me for going back to this analogy speaking of baseball,
as it is my security blanket of comparisons, but as
someone who has watched I would say one hundred and
forty plus Mariner games every year since the mid nineties.
(03:45):
And actually, you know what, let me take a reprieve
on that. I have to make a confession about my
baseball fandom. I did defect from the Mariners to the
Cincinnati Reds when they traded Griffy. I was a bigger
Griffy fan than a Manors fan early on, But once
I grew up a little bit, I came back to
the marriage. Actually, Griffy came back to the minors and
I came back In the now, now I'm an adult,
(04:05):
so I stick with the same team. But you know,
those since the mid nineties when the Manors were like
the best offense in baseball every year. The modern Mariners
open every single season with a lineup that's always a
far cry from what it is. Once the summer months
come around, they'll dfa, they're non productive guys, which why
were they that way in the first place, I don't know,
(04:26):
but it's just kind of how it goes. They'll promote
better players from the minor leagues. I'll make a trade
or a signing every August and you look back in April,
from from the August to April stretcher, and you're like,
what the hell was that lineup back on opening day?
I mean, in golf, hell, inside of one tournament last weekend,
Rory McElroy goes from two double bogies to close his
back nine at the Masters, and comes back the next
day and shoots seven under par and then goes nuclear
(04:49):
on Saturday too to take a three shot lead into Sunday,
And we saw what happened there. I'll make one more
reference to it. It reminds me of the twenty fifteen
Arizona Cardinals. A total tangent here, but anybody else agree
that content has become far too saturated in every walk
of life. Seth from the Fish Tank podcast sent me
a list of the top twenty five Dolphins podcast Like,
(05:11):
there's twenty five of them? Why, you know, Like everyone
is entitled to get on a podcast and have, you know,
on a microphone talking to a podcast, But do you
have time to listen to twenty five Dolphins podcasts? I
guess it was something out there for everybody, but it
used to be for me, anything NFL related was appointment viewing.
I couldn't put it down anything at all. Hey, rookie,
(05:33):
welcome to the NFL. You know those those documentaries that
are still on ESPN, actually, but now it's like there's
a documentary on every single little thing. I think there's
like four documentaries on the freaking four Red Sox in
that series against the New York Yankees. But that twenty
fifteen Cardinals team. I bring them up because they were
the first one to do something that was, to me,
(05:53):
the best NFL content ever done before the saturation began.
It was twenty fifteen and it was the all or
nothing series on Amazon. It was in season Hard Knocks,
but it came out after the season and you could
binge it back to back to back to back, and
it covered the entire season. It wasn't just the you know,
the Thanksgiving on stretch that we've seen on Hard Knocks recently.
And in that season when the Cardinals went to the
(06:13):
NFC Championship game, there's a great shot of Bruce arians
talking about star rookie running back David Johnson and how
by Thanksgiving he's going to be our bell cow. He's
telling somebody in like a Week three game before the game,
you know, talking to the coaches on the other team,
like they had this plan to build him into their
feature back, and the plan was never to have it
happen right away, although his production sort of accelerated that
(06:37):
think he had like two touchdowns in that game and
a kickoff return touchdown. So that's a long winded way
of saying it's not always about Week one, but the
collection of the entire season, the same way the offseason
isn't over on April eighteenth, right, And with all that
in mind, I wanted to look at some players that
could follow David Johnson or Chop Robinson in terms of
their rookie season impacts. And to me, it starts with
(06:58):
a player that is being over thought a little bit
at least in the media and fan aspect of social
media discourse. And right now he is my favorite provided
what I think is going to be on the board,
my favorite option at number thirteen, it's Will Johnson, the
Michigan cornerback. And there will be a theme here with
these players. It's gonna be guys that play their positions
at a high level from a processing and fundamental standpoint.
Speaker 2 (07:21):
But wait, that's not all.
Speaker 1 (07:23):
And I saw this great tweet the other day about
pro ready quarterbacks and what that means, and it's usually
not the pro ready prospect in terms of his aptitude
for reading defenses, for instance, and playing the position that
has success right away, because those guys kind of have
to learn the speed of the game and sharpen that
superpower to make it NFL ready.
Speaker 2 (07:43):
Now. CJ.
Speaker 1 (07:44):
Stroud was that way and he made it work as
rookie season, but he was like otherworldly in that department,
and you kind of get that sometimes with these guys
that come out that have all these reps, as we've
talked about in the past, but oftentimes the standout rookie
quarterback is an athlete who has no idea what the
hell he's doing in terms of playing the position, but
he just figured it out. Lamar Jackson was that way
right that rookie yearth the Ravens. He was not a
(08:05):
polished passer by any means, and he just survived on
peer athletic talent and then the rest came along in
his career and now he's like a Hall of Fame quarterback.
Speaker 2 (08:12):
Cam Newton was that way. Hell.
Speaker 1 (08:14):
What better example than Josh Allen who was playing yolo
ball as a rookie his first season and the night
out Now I would consider him a top ten decision
maker at the position, which pairs well with top three
physical gifts too. So it's fun to enjoy twenty five
consecutive years of either the second best or first best
quarterback in the NFL in your division. So there's some
of that there too. I'll explain it as I go
(08:34):
along with back to Will Johnson. I think he's getting
nitpicked right now, but turn the tape on and watch
a super smart player that just understands angles, what route
concepts look like. I mean, you don't get the highest
zone coverage grade in college football without having a pretty
good mind for the offense's tendencies and the ability to
anticipate the play study or to play based on your study.
(08:56):
That to me is Will Johnson's game on top of
really really good physical skills. And this is where you know,
I think you can. You just cannot shortchange the tape
watching process. And I shoot, as someone that was a
purveyor of stats and analytics on this podcast the first
couple of years, like I've kind of taken a full swing.
I went all the way into the stats and stuff
(09:17):
and said, like, this is very valuable. And now I
kind of like, I kind of almost feel like it's like,
shut up nerd territories, like just watch the tape. Because
I said, there was a debate on Twitter the other
day or X with a guy that was saying like
he didn't watch the tape when he had all these
evaluations based upon his model, and I'm like, brother, that's great.
It's a great supplementary skill. And we I mean, NFL
teams pay out the nose for those types of studies
(09:39):
and models. But you cannot do that absence of the tape.
You have to match it with the tape. So when
it comes to Will Johnson, I don't care about him
not running his forty coming off of a hamstring injury,
you know, in April of his rookie season. I don't
care about him not bench pressing, which no one does
that anymore anyway, So I don't know what we're talking about. That.
Just watch the damn tape. You do not hawk down
ja Aden Blue, the four to three to eight Texas
(10:02):
back that's what he ran an indie. By the way,
if you don't run a four to four yourself, the
math doesn't math there, does it. He's a great athlete,
and the tape tells you that. I think he's one
of the most immediate impact players in this entire class.
In fact, I think that we are maybe spinning our
wheels here a little bit cause I think that he
should go in the top like six or seven other
draft will he I don't know, but if he doesn't,
I'll be happy to scoop him up. I think the
(10:24):
same is true for my cornerback three. And honestly, he's
neck and neck with Johnson two. It's Texas is jadea Baron.
We've covered his intelligence, his mature approach. He's twenty four
years old today, so it makes sense he's been around
the players that came into the college during the COVID year.
They've had to display some patience, and they're going to
be older rookies than most rookies are because they missed
(10:44):
a year of college football. But I think Baron's ability
to grasp the concept of multiple positions right away, the
anticipation he plays with from those spots, his ability to
slide back to rush to cover. I think he's a
day one chess piece that has proof of concept that
he can do that in an NFL. Sometimes you get
these super versatile pieces and you project all the things
(11:05):
they can do at the NFL level, but they wind
up never really finding their Niche like Isaiah Simmons for
the Arizona Cardinals. Yeah, drafted by the Cardinals, rights with
the Giants now or went to the Giants. But he
was a guy that I mean, your boy was like
talking about I would take either two or Isaiah Simmons
and the pick five and that's how highly I thought
of him. But he didn't really work out because I
(11:26):
thought no one really had a plan for how to
use him. I think Tyler Warren is the same. I
think you've seen an offense run through him there at
Penn State. I think you've seen a lot of the
same things I said about Baron in terms of different alignments, responsibilities,
and his understanding of leverage, angles of attack. All of
that is a calling card of his. And then I
think about his ability to run with the football, like
(11:47):
college or pro. That's a man that's going to break tackles.
And if we the Royal we as a football hole
can conjure up a manufactured touches, they create three yards
for you, and then he can make that an eight
yard play. That's one of the most valuable tree eligible
can have. And that's why I would add Ashton Jean
t to this list, even though he's going to be
long gone by the time we pick. And his great
Player's Tribune article that he wrote where he said, hey,
(12:08):
it's tackle football, I would draft the guy that they
can't tackle. That's a pretty good point, Ashton. I feel
the same way about Tyler Warren. And then that's probably
where my cutoff is in terms of guys that I
think are like, well, that's not true. Let me take
that back, because this one is probably the most obvious.
Malachi Starks captain, played championship football at Georgia for three
years signal caller on a complex defense. He might be
the most day one ready guy in the entire class.
(12:30):
And to me, those are the four guys, and it's
been that same we've talked about those four guys at length.
Of those are the four guys that I think you
can put in your starting lineup the day you draft them,
and they can be eighty ninety percent snaptakers. I mean,
they have to prove it, but I feel like that's
where you would project them right away as rookies, like
this guy is tight end not tight end one because
Johonna Smith is here, like Starks can be safety one.
(12:50):
Will Johnson could be cornerback one. Like They have that
kind of potential the minute you draft him. And then
I would say, for me, those are the guys in
the round one range that have the most immediate starter
impact potential. And there are others I think that you
would have some semblance of the question about their ability
to make an immediate impact with some of the guys
that might have to move from tackle a guard for
its on the offensive line. And that's not to say
(13:11):
that that's not there with Johnson, Baron and Warren, And
it starts all rookies are unproven, but to me, those
ones are the ones I could start a football game
as pros tomorrow because of their makeup. Let's go ahead
and take our first break right there. Come back on
the other side and do some more of these Draft
time podcasts brought to you by Autoation. You guys tired
(13:32):
of my round one draft talk on the show because
it's mostly been the same guys, And maybe I am
like going too far on the pendulum against the grain
of common draft coverage, where I feel like every year
you get these baseline ideas, you kind of get fatigued
by the whole process, you get some crazy takes out there,
and then it reels back into the actual like original
(13:53):
grounded thoughts. For me, I just skipped the whole process
in the middle of just like, yeah, these are the
same good guys we talked about back into So maybe
that's boring podcasting. Maybe I should Maybe I should get
out rage. Maybe I should tell you about drafting. You know,
Tyler Shook the thirteenth pick, that the Louisville quarterback, Or
maybe I should talk about taking Omary and Hampton the
NC the North Calina running back. Maybe it should should
(14:15):
get some hot takes in here. Ted McMillan at thirteen
to the Miami Dolphins. Would that would that make a
better podcast? I don't think so. That's why I don't
do it. So, yeah, those are the same guy's been
talking about all draft season. And you can throw Kenneth
Grant in there as well, the offensive line guys Walter
Nolan like it's it's the same guys are talking about
and picking it back up here with the same theme
from segment one. Who are some of the players that
(14:36):
I think are ready to step in and contribute when
we hit the field on September seventh.
Speaker 2 (14:41):
Or eighth, or maybe the fifth. It won't be the fourth.
Speaker 1 (14:44):
The Thursday night game is going to be Philly and
somebody else, and we do not play in Philly this year,
but it could be the Friday game, could be the
Monday game, right, you never know. We'll see tangents aside.
Let's rolled down this list here. I'm just doing it
by position now. That was like first round players. This
is by position at wide receiver. I've really got three,
but I took one offul list because I think he's
going to be gone outside of our range of possible
(15:06):
draft selections, and that is a mecca of at Buka
from Ohio State. I think he's very polished, So he
is not on this list, But receiver Elick ao Minore
from Stanford is. I saw someone compare him to Robert
Woods Bobby Trees, and I just think that's a perfect comparison.
When you were talking about a rookie receiving receiver excelling.
There's one common trait that makes them good as rookies.
(15:27):
It's their route running and in particular, can they get
off the line of scrimmage. Ao Minor has the very
best released in the entire draft. He's a dog blocker
and he gets open. And let's say you had a
formation with Reek and Waddle and al Minor. Who do
you think is getting the single coverage there? It's the rookie.
I think he can win against that, especially against cornerbacks
two and three. Nobody had more success against Travis Hunter
(15:49):
in college football last year. I would take him at
forty eight if he's there, because I think he's that
good of a player. Obviously, it's kind of a Lexurcy
pick because we have other needs. But you know, if
you get more picks like that's kind of the range
you're looking at with elok Aomnoor, same as Kyle Williams
from Washington State cut and paste the rout running stuff.
He's the best in the class as a route runner
besides maybe Egbuka, but he's better in that department by
(16:09):
a little bit, whereas Ale Minor has a better release game.
He's also got run away from You speed on screens,
which is something that is a run game replacement in
the NFL these days. We saw Miami last year pretty
much replaced the run game with a screen game. In
several games they could not run the football. So rather
than hand the ball off, you know, behind the last scrimmage,
let's throw out to our receivers and let them try
to get yards on the outside with screens, and Kyle
(16:30):
Williams can be that guy for you. Tight end Mason
Taylor out of LSU. This is about as much about
the kid as it is the player. And a lot
of people down here know Mason Taylor, and you can't
find the remark about him that says anything other than
he's a high achiever who doesn't have like you know,
doesn't make you aware of the geens that he comes
(16:52):
equipped with like you would never just talking to Mason,
you would never know that JT is his dad outside
of the fact that he looks like him, Like he doesn't.
He's not braggadocious about it. He's humble, he's a hard worker.
I mean, he's wise beyond his years. He just gets it.
You pair that with really good skills and the NFL
blood lines, and I mean you want to talk about
(17:13):
like just the stories you hear about JT and what
he did to get ready to play and how he
was as like a competitor, like Mason has that too,
and it's such a unique rare.
Speaker 2 (17:25):
That's the same word.
Speaker 1 (17:26):
It's just such a valuable thing to Holster and for
Mason Taylor he has that in big way. So I'd
be very surprised if Mason as a rookie, even if
it's in the second round, if he's not playing starter
snaps somewhere very quickly for somebody on the offensive line.
Gray's Abel from North Dakota State. I think he's in
play at thirteen and that's going to make I think
it'll be interesting because I know there's a lot of
fans that think like O line or bust every year basically,
(17:48):
and for Zabel, I think that he's like the safest
player in the entire class. But I think that he
might be a guy that is considered a reach at
that point, just from the perception of the fan base.
I don't even think that's the case, because to me,
by far, the best guard is he is what you've
been told about Tyler Booker in terms of the fit
here for the last couple of months, we've had it
(18:09):
on my show, people talking about Tyler Booker, and I
just I don't see that fit there for him, Whereas
with Gray's Abel, he is exceptional getting out into space.
I think he's got the highest floor. To me, he's
last year's Graham Barton, the smartest player on the field.
He can literally play all five positions, and I would
trust him to start at tackle in the NFL. Wouldn't
be his best spot, and he could be your center.
That's just a rare trait to have for somebody. And
(18:32):
his off Heason was as good as anybody the Senior Bowl,
the combine everything, he was dominant from day one on.
I think he's going to start on someone's offensive line
from week one all the way through, and he's healthy
he never gets hurt either, so a really good option
there if you want to go safe. And then also
on the offensive line, Jonas Savina from Arizona. This is
a bit of a detour from what I said about
Zabel and going back to the rookie quarterback discussion. I
(18:53):
think Savina, and I'm saying that name wrong, I think
is so physically imposing that he can get by on
that at the NFL level right away, which you know,
is a kind of what we saw from Jalen Carter
as a rookie on the other side of the ball,
or maybe even Jordan Davison Philadelphia there or even you know,
and he's a here's a mini throwback for you guys
what we saw from Solomon Kinley in his rookie season
(19:14):
when he was three hundred and thirty five pounds and
didn't really know what he was doing, but he was
bowling guys over in a power scheme. I think I
think more tape kind of exposes the shortcomings there. But
with Savina, I mean, you're talking about a guy who
is going to be a top fifty pick compared to Kimley,
who was in the fourth round that year. I think
he's going to be someone that goes off the board
sometime early in round two, probably have to be picked
forty eight for you, and I would feel pretty good
(19:36):
about the claim that he starts in week one wherever
he winds up. Let's go over to the other side
of the football here and on the defensive line. Ty
Leek Williams out of Ohio State is a guy that
I have really warmed on recently, and I think our
buddy Eric Smith, who does really good work for the
three yards per carry crew over there, and he has
the podcast with Hasan Btel I did a couple weeks ago.
He had a mock draft where he got Jaday and
(20:00):
Tyleek Williams back to back, and that would be like
a home run one two selection for me. Have you
guys watched his tape at all? I mean that's a
good question, right but before twenty twenty four. The reason
he's on this list and our next player for that matter,
is because I think you can drop him into a
defense today as your three technique and he can eat
up blocks and free up Jordan Brooks to do what
he does best. But man, I think there's something more.
(20:22):
There is a pass rusher in terms of his profile
than what's being led on from the draft community. So
his pass rush totals have dipped each year at Ohio State,
but not in volume, but because he had twenty pressures
this year, twenty two last year ten as a sophom
when he got hurt, but twenty one as a freshman.
And during that freshman year he had one hundred and
fourteen pass rush snaps compared to three twenty one this
(20:43):
year and three thirty three last year, So a three
hundred percent productivity jump in pass rushing as a freshman.
And watching his tape without getting into it, I think
it's using it. It's more usage than it is his skills.
So very very bullish on Tyleek Williams, and quite frankly,
I think he's one of five or six defensive tackles
that could start next to Seler next year if they
(21:05):
have a good summer. And then I think there's ten
or fifteen more guys that could be defensive tackle. Three
four rotational guys. And that's why I think you double
dip at this spot and get like a either Kenneth
Grant or a Tileergue Williams or our next guy, Alfred
Collins and you pair them with like a CJ.
Speaker 2 (21:19):
West or a who's the kid from Rucker if he's talked.
Speaker 1 (21:23):
About Kiante Hamilton or you know, you come back and
you double dip with somebody else later on the draft
and there's a defensive tackle from I could see that
happening pretty easily. Speaking of Alfred Collins from Texas, Like,
you know, this is a dangerous game to play with rookies,
but I think alf would be one of the top
twenty or so two gapping defensive tackles in football the
moment he's drafted. The power, the heavy hands, the ability
(21:45):
to playoff blocks is very very NFL ready might not
be on the field on third, medium, and long, but
he's going to be a first and second down player
who I think can play. He can play, you know,
Kalais Campbell STAPs six hundred STAPs as a rookie. In
my opinion, cornerbacks Savon Revel from East Carolina, this one
might bite me, but I don't think it will. I
think you say that because Ravel is the best man
(22:05):
cover corner in the class for my money. But this
is a zone heavy league, the most frequent man team
in football. Last year was the Lions and they ran
it a fifty one percent and number two was it
like forty four percent. So basically nobody plays more man
than zone these days. I think he'd be a great
pick for the Lions. It picked twenty eight. So while
there may be a learning curve on the zone aspect,
if I need a third down cover rep Win, I
(22:26):
like Savon Revel better than anybody else in the entire class,
and he is coming off in ACL, so maybe he
doesn't play right away, but I think that once he
gets like fully up to speed, I think he's going
to be a starting cornerback for somebody this year. I
think the same thing is true of cornerback Jacob Parish
from Kansas State, and for the opposite reasons of Revel,
he's a feisty, ready to go at all times, like
a scrapper. He's the kind of guy that if he
(22:47):
sees somebody else from the other crew get in the
face of one of his boys, he's up in their
face immediately saying like let's go, I'm here to back
up my guys, like a ride or die type of player,
and I just mean the zero hesitation to his game.
I think you can blitz him. I think you can
make him the rat in the hole and fit him
into the run fit of your defense, and you can
trust he's going to do the job from day one.
(23:07):
One of my favorite slots in the entire class. And shoot,
you might be able to get him at pick ninety eight.
And if you went shoot, if you went Will Johnson
and then Tyler Williams and Jacob Parrish corner, do you
tackle corner? I would not be upset about that at all.
Cornerback Darien Porter from Iowa State. This is more of
a traits projection with his age four to three flat,
(23:28):
ten to eleven broad, ninety fifth percent tile shuttle and
three cone and doing that at a ninety nine percent
tile height. He's just under six foot three and a
seventy seventh percent tile weight. He's one ninety five. He
has the fifth best RASS score relative athletics scorecard of
any cornerback at the combine over the last thirty seven years.
Matt Bowen of ESPN raves about his eyes, his ability
(23:49):
to play zone and come up and press and because
of that COVID year. He's twenty four years old and
has the maturity to match. I think he's going to
be a stud. Xavier watch the safety out of Notre Dame.
It's weird to call a ballhawk like this a minimal
flash player, but I say that with the most complimentary tone,
because he's reliable, instinctive, he finds the football, He's a
student of the game. He's not one of these marvel
(24:10):
character athletes, but he just makes plays. Over two thousand
snaps major stage games, a National championship game for one
thirteen picks in a career at that position. Pretty crazy
production there for Xavier Watts. And then we're getting deeper
into the drafter of these two guys. Safety from Marshall.
JJ Roberts might be the deepest pull on the entire list,
but I recently familiarize myself with his game, and he's
(24:31):
just springy, and I get the sense from watching his
tape that he is in the film room always. He's
a big hitter, big body, big frame, exceptional fundamentals, brings
his feet through the tackles, does not drop his head,
he wraps up. It's a rare to find a college
player that tackles the way this guy does. I think
he's a potential option in the fourth round. That could
be a possible starter for you right away. Actually, I've
(24:52):
got two more safeties. Billy Bowman, junior out of Oklahoma
has a center fielder's mentality and he knows the batt
orders spray charts. Is that too deep of a cut
for a football audience to get. We're baseball heavy today.
So played college baseball right and by the time I
got to Legion ball in high school, we charted every
player we saw. If you weren't in the lineup, you
were charting at bats and some of my friends hated charting,
(25:15):
and that would shift. We would shift our defense according
to those charts that we provided, And if you study
the scouting report on the bus ride to the game,
you could place yourself without the coach's aid. To me,
that's Billy Bowmen. He knows where to align, what keys
to trigger, and how to get there. I freaking love
his game. And then safety Lathan Ransom from Ohio State.
I think when you hit like Ransom does, you're going
(25:35):
to be a player, especially as a safety. Just watch
his run fit real at Ohio State and the Rose
Bowl in particular, and you'll come away from that saying like, say,
let's this dude's a baller. He played alongside Caleb Downs,
who's going to be safety one next year and a
top ten pick possibly, and they were just so well
in tune and communicated, and I think that he can
bring that to the NFL level as well. I love
(25:57):
both their games. I love Leaith and Ransom's games. Plenty
of chance to find impact players in this year's draft.
We could get four guys off that list. They could
be starters, and we could be happy again. All right,
go ahead and take our last break right there. Come
back on the other side and talk about the thirty
visits the Dolphins have had so far per reports. That's
next Draft Time podcast, brought to you by out donation.
(26:20):
So every single draft season, players from around the NFL
draft will descend upon thirty two NFL cities and meet
with clubs and brass to just get to know them.
But also there could be a little bit of misdirection
involved in those I actually saw somebody tweet the other
day that one team was looking at thirty visits as
(26:42):
only bring in teammates of the guys they were interested
in to talk about them from a third party source.
So kind of interesting way of doing this. We've seen
the Dolphins draft off this list have guys that were
there on the board and not draft off this list.
So there are I guess, multiple ways to read into it,
but ultimately it's just like there's nothing definitive to take
(27:05):
from it, ultimately, right. And so these are all per
reports players that have been linked to the Dolphins through
thirty visits, and some of these are local visits as well.
As you it doesn't cost you against the thirty players.
You can bring in if you have guys that went
to high school or college in your town. And since
South Florida is the freaking football mecha of the planet,
(27:25):
we have an advantage that way with guys like Mason Taylor,
Elijah Royo, Xavier'strepo. You know, if cam Ward wasn't going
first in a draft, he would begin that category. Like,
you can have these guys visit you because they're from
here or they played college ball here. So per report,
let's go in order of position once again. Running back
Alie Gordon from Oklahoma State, who is the tallest running
back I've ever seen him entire life. He's like six
(27:46):
foot three, He's strong, he has massive arms, He's built
in a lab short gardage, pile mover, tone, center and
pass protection could be an option for the Dolphins sometime,
maybe on Day three potentially. I don't know what I'll go,
but that's about where I think that his his draft
range has been has been kind of uh that that's
where folks have him. Running Back Jacory Krossky and Mara
from Arizona didn't know much about him, but how about
(28:09):
this stat? He had the highest max deceleration at the
Shrine Bowl since they began tracking that stat. What the
hell is that stat?
Speaker 2 (28:17):
Travis?
Speaker 1 (28:17):
You just talked about stats being for nerds earlier. Essentially
it measures change of direction. They posted the formula. It's
negative seven point twenty nine yards per square second squared.
What Yeah, I'm too dump to know what that means.
But basically what it means is that his cutbacks are lethal.
He's got the best like start stop juice you can find.
It's off the chain.
Speaker 2 (28:35):
Baby.
Speaker 1 (28:37):
If anybody can tell me where that deep cut is from,
I will. I'm not gonna give anything, but I'll be
very excited about that. Running Back Damien Martinz from Miami
Attitude runner, inside Zone slash duo combo would be a
good change up to what you have here. Short yardage,
run through your face mask type of player. I am
a huge fan of him. On Day three, Kyle Williams
Washington State was here for a visit as well. We
(28:58):
covered him per reports of course wide receiver Chandler bray
Boy from Elon. I gotta be honest with you, guys,
I haven't quite gotten to the Elon tape just yet, but.
Speaker 2 (29:07):
He was here.
Speaker 1 (29:08):
Tyler End Mason Taylor covered him from LSU tight end
Elijah Arroyo from Miami. He's a seam separator, big play,
game changer, vertical threat that could possibly give you a
balance to what you have on the outside down the middle.
I think there's enough there for him to be a
pretty good blocker at the next level. But he's a
smooth route runner, quiet hands, just a big time a
(29:29):
big body, electric receiving tight end. Defensive tackle Shamar Turner
from Texas A and M is a bowl and a
China shop. Heavy handed, he messes up things that he touches,
does not get engulfed versus double teams in the run.
Could be an immediate two down player for you here
in Miami. Talked about defensive tackle Alfred Collins from Texas
already talked about defensive tackle Keyante Hamilton from Rutgers, who
(29:51):
is an explosive, explosive athlete with really good lateral agility
and pass rush chops. I could see him being a
specialized guy that comes down here with a chance to
run all these games and potentially impact the interior of
the pocket as a pass rusher. There were some guys
in the UDFA class last year that I thought had
similar chops. I could see Keyante Hamilton being bat guy
(30:11):
for the Dolphins this year on Day three maybe in
the UDFA process. Defensive tackles Sebastian Valdez from Washington powerful athlete,
also ran a sub five forty at three hundred and
ten pounds with thirty four bench press rep, so he
is kind of a built in a lab athlete. Cornerback
bj Adams from UCF has length and press ability and
really good ball skills. He's super thin, but when he
(30:31):
gets hands on guys, he can lock him up and coverage.
Cornerback Corey Black from Oklahoma State elite athlete. He's six
foot tall, four to three five forty thirty nine inch
vertical and a four year started there with good ball
production and then three safeties. Nick emn Worry from Georgia.
We've covered him in depth. He is a what would
you call him? I mean he's a fat two Mela
(30:52):
fund basically in terms of the athletic profile. Kevin Winston
Junior from Penn State, super charged, first step, flies all
over the football field. Probably a first round pick. He
doesn't get hurt last year, or maybe not because of safety,
but he's in that range and then safety. JJ Roberts
from Marshall. We covered him, so a good list there,
and again it's they Chris Greer has talked about it.
The thirty visits line up with it. We'll see if
(31:13):
they do it. They've been a team that has kind
of been like premium positions over the last several years,
and it's a good strategy. And I think that in
the first round, if it is a cornerback, you can
satisfy a need and get a good player and get
the premium spot all locked up, bing bang, boom bomb.
But I think there's a chance you can see them
kind of, you know, go more towards the meat and potatoes,
based upon what they've said, based upon these visits, based
upon the roster needs. We shall see it could be
(31:35):
a fun draft in a week and hopefully that can
kind of get Dolphins fans fired back up again, because
I know that folks are a little bit down right
now about where you know this offseason, where the team is,
but long way to go. We'll see what happens and
how it shakes out when things get kicked off here
in training camp come July. All right, next time you
hear from me, Kyle Krabs and myself are going to
be on the show getting ready for a two part
(31:56):
draft series for the Dolphins twenty twenty five draft. But
until then, you all please be sure to subscribe to
the podcast. Leave us a rating, leave.
Speaker 2 (32:03):
Us a review.
Speaker 1 (32:04):
You can follow me on social at winkled NFL and
the team at Miami Dolphins. Check out the fish Tank
podcast with Seth and Juice, the YouTube channel for Media Availabilities.
Speaker 2 (32:12):
A brand new episode of Dolphins HQ dropped last night.
Speaker 1 (32:14):
You do not want to miss that one good Patrick
Paul film breakdown in there. And then last button, not
least Miami Dolphins dot com until next time, Finza get on,
Cameron Daddy
What is up, Dolphins and welcome to the Draft Time Podcast.
I am your host, Travis Wingfield and on today's show,
one more time before the Kyle Krabs Draft Extravaganza, We're
gonna talk today about the thirty visits that have been
attached to the Miami Dolphins and what those prospects could
bring should they take the devon a chan route and
(00:28):
be a guy that was here on a visit the
guy Draft by the Miami Dolphins. We'll also talk about
potential immediate impact players because Chris we were mentioned, the
Dolphins needed to find a few of those guys in
this year's class. So who could be those options from
the Baptist Health Studios inside the Baptist Health Training Complex.
This is the Draft Time Podcast, Maybe daf two episodes
(00:50):
next week before the draft begins Monday and Tuesday with
Kyle Krabs are now five year running annual Dolphins Draft
Extravaganza ahead of the Big Wee weekend and we've done
the mock draft roundups, the player profiles, the my Guys list.
I feel like we're pretty much at the end of
the draft of rope here in fact, yep, the content
(01:11):
fatigue has set in for your boy. It does every
single every single part of the year, the content fatigue arrives,
whether it's training camp is the worst, the last couple
of days of training camp like that. That's the biggest
slog of all. Draft is probably the second behind that.
What's number one is a season that goes off the
rails early. That's when you're out of it early on,
(01:33):
like back in you know, twenty nineteen, for instance, I
think it was the last time the Dolphins were out
of playoff contention before like Thanksgiving. That can be difficult,
but I will say the last week of draft coverage,
I'm pretty much over it by this point, but I
will say I did conjure up one more fun show
before the extravaganza next week that I think can be
(01:54):
a bit of an enigma across Dolphins draft coverage. We'll
talk about a few players I think can match something
that Chris said it his Tuesday press conference and I
something that the roster pretty much, you know, shows you
the Dolphins will need to have as an immedia impact
from guys. So based on my own study and evaluations,
I thought we could talk about some of the players
that might fit that mold, that have the skills and
(02:15):
the polish and the little something extra to be immedia
impact players, which is a pretty rare thing in the NFL.
Even the guys that have good rookie seasons don't always
start that way. Chop Robinson was, you know, from the
sack production standpoint and his run defense last year had
a slow start, but then he came on the second
half of the year and was one of the top
ten pass rushers in the NFL. For Patrick Paul, I
(02:39):
mean it was similar, And you know, those guys were
both not supposed to be immedia impact players, or at
least Patrick Paul was supposed to be like a red
shirt year right, And when you know it, Chopp goes
for a finalist for Defensive Rookie of the Year. And
Patrick had two damn good game tapes in December, he
had two more that we were not as good, one
at right tackle, one off the bench against Miles Garrett.
Like those are kind of difficult circumstance. So sometimes we
(03:01):
think about impact guys in terms of their Week one usage,
But I would challenge you to broaden your perspective here
because it's really the case in all sports that the
end season development is oftentimes more important than what you
get over the course of the spring. In the summer,
you know, guys in the best shape of his life.
While this guy's hitting five sixty down spring training, he's
gotta have a great year, Like, okay, we'll see what
(03:22):
happens when he's getting specialized relievers in the game against him,
throwing ninety nine, you know, lefty on lefty matchup. And
forgive me for going back to this analogy speaking of baseball,
as it is my security blanket of comparisons, but as
someone who has watched I would say one hundred and
forty plus Mariner games every year since the mid nineties.
(03:45):
And actually, you know what, let me take a reprieve
on that. I have to make a confession about my
baseball fandom. I did defect from the Mariners to the
Cincinnati Reds when they traded Griffy. I was a bigger
Griffy fan than a Manors fan early on, But once
I grew up a little bit, I came back to
the marriage. Actually, Griffy came back to the minors and
I came back In the now, now I'm an adult,
(04:05):
so I stick with the same team. But you know,
those since the mid nineties when the Manors were like
the best offense in baseball every year. The modern Mariners
open every single season with a lineup that's always a
far cry from what it is. Once the summer months
come around, they'll dfa, they're non productive guys, which why
were they that way in the first place, I don't know,
(04:26):
but it's just kind of how it goes. They'll promote
better players from the minor leagues. I'll make a trade
or a signing every August and you look back in April,
from from the August to April stretcher, and you're like,
what the hell was that lineup back on opening day?
I mean, in golf, hell, inside of one tournament last weekend,
Rory McElroy goes from two double bogies to close his
back nine at the Masters, and comes back the next
day and shoots seven under par and then goes nuclear
(04:49):
on Saturday too to take a three shot lead into Sunday,
And we saw what happened there. I'll make one more
reference to it. It reminds me of the twenty fifteen
Arizona Cardinals. A total tangent here, but anybody else agree
that content has become far too saturated in every walk
of life. Seth from the Fish Tank podcast sent me
a list of the top twenty five Dolphins podcast Like,
(05:11):
there's twenty five of them? Why, you know, Like everyone
is entitled to get on a podcast and have, you know,
on a microphone talking to a podcast, But do you
have time to listen to twenty five Dolphins podcasts? I
guess it was something out there for everybody, but it
used to be for me, anything NFL related was appointment viewing.
I couldn't put it down anything at all. Hey, rookie,
(05:33):
welcome to the NFL. You know those those documentaries that
are still on ESPN, actually, but now it's like there's
a documentary on every single little thing. I think there's
like four documentaries on the freaking four Red Sox in
that series against the New York Yankees. But that twenty
fifteen Cardinals team. I bring them up because they were
the first one to do something that was, to me,
(05:53):
the best NFL content ever done before the saturation began.
It was twenty fifteen and it was the all or
nothing series on Amazon. It was in season Hard Knocks,
but it came out after the season and you could
binge it back to back to back to back, and
it covered the entire season. It wasn't just the you know,
the Thanksgiving on stretch that we've seen on Hard Knocks recently.
And in that season when the Cardinals went to the
(06:13):
NFC Championship game, there's a great shot of Bruce arians
talking about star rookie running back David Johnson and how
by Thanksgiving he's going to be our bell cow. He's
telling somebody in like a Week three game before the game,
you know, talking to the coaches on the other team,
like they had this plan to build him into their
feature back, and the plan was never to have it
happen right away, although his production sort of accelerated that
(06:37):
think he had like two touchdowns in that game and
a kickoff return touchdown. So that's a long winded way
of saying it's not always about Week one, but the
collection of the entire season, the same way the offseason
isn't over on April eighteenth, right, And with all that
in mind, I wanted to look at some players that
could follow David Johnson or Chop Robinson in terms of
their rookie season impacts. And to me, it starts with
(06:58):
a player that is being over thought a little bit
at least in the media and fan aspect of social
media discourse. And right now he is my favorite provided
what I think is going to be on the board,
my favorite option at number thirteen, it's Will Johnson, the
Michigan cornerback. And there will be a theme here with
these players. It's gonna be guys that play their positions
at a high level from a processing and fundamental standpoint.
Speaker 2 (07:21):
But wait, that's not all.
Speaker 1 (07:23):
And I saw this great tweet the other day about
pro ready quarterbacks and what that means, and it's usually
not the pro ready prospect in terms of his aptitude
for reading defenses, for instance, and playing the position that
has success right away, because those guys kind of have
to learn the speed of the game and sharpen that
superpower to make it NFL ready.
Speaker 2 (07:43):
Now. CJ.
Speaker 1 (07:44):
Stroud was that way and he made it work as
rookie season, but he was like otherworldly in that department,
and you kind of get that sometimes with these guys
that come out that have all these reps, as we've
talked about in the past, but oftentimes the standout rookie
quarterback is an athlete who has no idea what the
hell he's doing in terms of playing the position, but
he just figured it out. Lamar Jackson was that way
right that rookie yearth the Ravens. He was not a
(08:05):
polished passer by any means, and he just survived on
peer athletic talent and then the rest came along in
his career and now he's like a Hall of Fame quarterback.
Speaker 2 (08:12):
Cam Newton was that way. Hell.
Speaker 1 (08:14):
What better example than Josh Allen who was playing yolo
ball as a rookie his first season and the night
out Now I would consider him a top ten decision
maker at the position, which pairs well with top three
physical gifts too. So it's fun to enjoy twenty five
consecutive years of either the second best or first best
quarterback in the NFL in your division. So there's some
of that there too. I'll explain it as I go
(08:34):
along with back to Will Johnson. I think he's getting
nitpicked right now, but turn the tape on and watch
a super smart player that just understands angles, what route
concepts look like. I mean, you don't get the highest
zone coverage grade in college football without having a pretty
good mind for the offense's tendencies and the ability to
anticipate the play study or to play based on your study.
(08:56):
That to me is Will Johnson's game on top of
really really good physical skills. And this is where you know,
I think you can. You just cannot shortchange the tape
watching process. And I shoot, as someone that was a
purveyor of stats and analytics on this podcast the first
couple of years, like I've kind of taken a full swing.
I went all the way into the stats and stuff
(09:17):
and said, like, this is very valuable. And now I
kind of like, I kind of almost feel like it's like,
shut up nerd territories, like just watch the tape. Because
I said, there was a debate on Twitter the other
day or X with a guy that was saying like
he didn't watch the tape when he had all these
evaluations based upon his model, and I'm like, brother, that's great.
It's a great supplementary skill. And we I mean, NFL
teams pay out the nose for those types of studies
(09:39):
and models. But you cannot do that absence of the tape.
You have to match it with the tape. So when
it comes to Will Johnson, I don't care about him
not running his forty coming off of a hamstring injury,
you know, in April of his rookie season. I don't
care about him not bench pressing, which no one does
that anymore anyway, So I don't know what we're talking about. That.
Just watch the damn tape. You do not hawk down
ja Aden Blue, the four to three to eight Texas
(10:02):
back that's what he ran an indie. By the way,
if you don't run a four to four yourself, the
math doesn't math there, does it. He's a great athlete,
and the tape tells you that. I think he's one
of the most immediate impact players in this entire class.
In fact, I think that we are maybe spinning our
wheels here a little bit cause I think that he
should go in the top like six or seven other
draft will he I don't know, but if he doesn't,
I'll be happy to scoop him up. I think the
(10:24):
same is true for my cornerback three. And honestly, he's
neck and neck with Johnson two. It's Texas is jadea Baron.
We've covered his intelligence, his mature approach. He's twenty four
years old today, so it makes sense he's been around
the players that came into the college during the COVID year.
They've had to display some patience, and they're going to
be older rookies than most rookies are because they missed
(10:44):
a year of college football. But I think Baron's ability
to grasp the concept of multiple positions right away, the
anticipation he plays with from those spots, his ability to
slide back to rush to cover. I think he's a
day one chess piece that has proof of concept that
he can do that in an NFL. Sometimes you get
these super versatile pieces and you project all the things
(11:05):
they can do at the NFL level, but they wind
up never really finding their Niche like Isaiah Simmons for
the Arizona Cardinals. Yeah, drafted by the Cardinals, rights with
the Giants now or went to the Giants. But he
was a guy that I mean, your boy was like
talking about I would take either two or Isaiah Simmons
and the pick five and that's how highly I thought
of him. But he didn't really work out because I
(11:26):
thought no one really had a plan for how to
use him. I think Tyler Warren is the same. I
think you've seen an offense run through him there at
Penn State. I think you've seen a lot of the
same things I said about Baron in terms of different alignments, responsibilities,
and his understanding of leverage, angles of attack. All of
that is a calling card of his. And then I
think about his ability to run with the football, like
(11:47):
college or pro. That's a man that's going to break tackles.
And if we the Royal we as a football hole
can conjure up a manufactured touches, they create three yards
for you, and then he can make that an eight
yard play. That's one of the most valuable tree eligible
can have. And that's why I would add Ashton Jean
t to this list, even though he's going to be
long gone by the time we pick. And his great
Player's Tribune article that he wrote where he said, hey,
(12:08):
it's tackle football, I would draft the guy that they
can't tackle. That's a pretty good point, Ashton. I feel
the same way about Tyler Warren. And then that's probably
where my cutoff is in terms of guys that I
think are like, well, that's not true. Let me take
that back, because this one is probably the most obvious.
Malachi Starks captain, played championship football at Georgia for three
years signal caller on a complex defense. He might be
the most day one ready guy in the entire class.
(12:30):
And to me, those are the four guys, and it's
been that same we've talked about those four guys at length.
Of those are the four guys that I think you
can put in your starting lineup the day you draft them,
and they can be eighty ninety percent snaptakers. I mean,
they have to prove it, but I feel like that's
where you would project them right away as rookies, like
this guy is tight end not tight end one because
Johonna Smith is here, like Starks can be safety one.
(12:50):
Will Johnson could be cornerback one. Like They have that
kind of potential the minute you draft him. And then
I would say, for me, those are the guys in
the round one range that have the most immediate starter
impact potential. And there are others I think that you
would have some semblance of the question about their ability
to make an immediate impact with some of the guys
that might have to move from tackle a guard for
its on the offensive line. And that's not to say
(13:11):
that that's not there with Johnson, Baron and Warren, And
it starts all rookies are unproven, but to me, those
ones are the ones I could start a football game
as pros tomorrow because of their makeup. Let's go ahead
and take our first break right there. Come back on
the other side and do some more of these Draft
time podcasts brought to you by Autoation. You guys tired
(13:32):
of my round one draft talk on the show because
it's mostly been the same guys, And maybe I am
like going too far on the pendulum against the grain
of common draft coverage, where I feel like every year
you get these baseline ideas, you kind of get fatigued
by the whole process, you get some crazy takes out there,
and then it reels back into the actual like original
(13:53):
grounded thoughts. For me, I just skipped the whole process
in the middle of just like, yeah, these are the
same good guys we talked about back into So maybe
that's boring podcasting. Maybe I should Maybe I should get
out rage. Maybe I should tell you about drafting. You know,
Tyler Shook the thirteenth pick, that the Louisville quarterback, Or
maybe I should talk about taking Omary and Hampton the
NC the North Calina running back. Maybe it should should
(14:15):
get some hot takes in here. Ted McMillan at thirteen
to the Miami Dolphins. Would that would that make a
better podcast? I don't think so. That's why I don't
do it. So, yeah, those are the same guy's been
talking about all draft season. And you can throw Kenneth
Grant in there as well, the offensive line guys Walter
Nolan like it's it's the same guys are talking about
and picking it back up here with the same theme
from segment one. Who are some of the players that
(14:36):
I think are ready to step in and contribute when
we hit the field on September seventh.
Speaker 2 (14:41):
Or eighth, or maybe the fifth. It won't be the fourth.
Speaker 1 (14:44):
The Thursday night game is going to be Philly and
somebody else, and we do not play in Philly this year,
but it could be the Friday game, could be the
Monday game, right, you never know. We'll see tangents aside.
Let's rolled down this list here. I'm just doing it
by position now. That was like first round players. This
is by position at wide receiver. I've really got three,
but I took one offul list because I think he's
going to be gone outside of our range of possible
(15:06):
draft selections, and that is a mecca of at Buka
from Ohio State. I think he's very polished, So he
is not on this list, But receiver Elick ao Minore
from Stanford is. I saw someone compare him to Robert
Woods Bobby Trees, and I just think that's a perfect comparison.
When you were talking about a rookie receiving receiver excelling.
There's one common trait that makes them good as rookies.
(15:27):
It's their route running and in particular, can they get
off the line of scrimmage. Ao Minor has the very
best released in the entire draft. He's a dog blocker
and he gets open. And let's say you had a
formation with Reek and Waddle and al Minor. Who do
you think is getting the single coverage there? It's the rookie.
I think he can win against that, especially against cornerbacks
two and three. Nobody had more success against Travis Hunter
(15:49):
in college football last year. I would take him at
forty eight if he's there, because I think he's that
good of a player. Obviously, it's kind of a Lexurcy
pick because we have other needs. But you know, if
you get more picks like that's kind of the range
you're looking at with elok Aomnoor, same as Kyle Williams
from Washington State cut and paste the rout running stuff.
He's the best in the class as a route runner
besides maybe Egbuka, but he's better in that department by
(16:09):
a little bit, whereas Ale Minor has a better release game.
He's also got run away from You speed on screens,
which is something that is a run game replacement in
the NFL these days. We saw Miami last year pretty
much replaced the run game with a screen game. In
several games they could not run the football. So rather
than hand the ball off, you know, behind the last scrimmage,
let's throw out to our receivers and let them try
to get yards on the outside with screens, and Kyle
(16:30):
Williams can be that guy for you. Tight end Mason
Taylor out of LSU. This is about as much about
the kid as it is the player. And a lot
of people down here know Mason Taylor, and you can't
find the remark about him that says anything other than
he's a high achiever who doesn't have like you know,
doesn't make you aware of the geens that he comes
(16:52):
equipped with like you would never just talking to Mason,
you would never know that JT is his dad outside
of the fact that he looks like him, Like he doesn't.
He's not braggadocious about it. He's humble, he's a hard worker.
I mean, he's wise beyond his years. He just gets it.
You pair that with really good skills and the NFL
blood lines, and I mean you want to talk about
(17:13):
like just the stories you hear about JT and what
he did to get ready to play and how he
was as like a competitor, like Mason has that too,
and it's such a unique rare.
Speaker 2 (17:25):
That's the same word.
Speaker 1 (17:26):
It's just such a valuable thing to Holster and for
Mason Taylor he has that in big way. So I'd
be very surprised if Mason as a rookie, even if
it's in the second round, if he's not playing starter
snaps somewhere very quickly for somebody on the offensive line.
Gray's Abel from North Dakota State. I think he's in
play at thirteen and that's going to make I think
it'll be interesting because I know there's a lot of
fans that think like O line or bust every year basically,
(17:48):
and for Zabel, I think that he's like the safest
player in the entire class. But I think that he
might be a guy that is considered a reach at
that point, just from the perception of the fan base.
I don't even think that's the case, because to me,
by far, the best guard is he is what you've
been told about Tyler Booker in terms of the fit
here for the last couple of months, we've had it
(18:09):
on my show, people talking about Tyler Booker, and I
just I don't see that fit there for him, Whereas
with Gray's Abel, he is exceptional getting out into space.
I think he's got the highest floor. To me, he's
last year's Graham Barton, the smartest player on the field.
He can literally play all five positions, and I would
trust him to start at tackle in the NFL. Wouldn't
be his best spot, and he could be your center.
That's just a rare trait to have for somebody. And
(18:32):
his off Heason was as good as anybody the Senior Bowl,
the combine everything, he was dominant from day one on.
I think he's going to start on someone's offensive line
from week one all the way through, and he's healthy
he never gets hurt either, so a really good option
there if you want to go safe. And then also
on the offensive line, Jonas Savina from Arizona. This is
a bit of a detour from what I said about
Zabel and going back to the rookie quarterback discussion. I
(18:53):
think Savina, and I'm saying that name wrong, I think
is so physically imposing that he can get by on
that at the NFL level right away, which you know,
is a kind of what we saw from Jalen Carter
as a rookie on the other side of the ball,
or maybe even Jordan Davison Philadelphia there or even you know,
and he's a here's a mini throwback for you guys
what we saw from Solomon Kinley in his rookie season
(19:14):
when he was three hundred and thirty five pounds and
didn't really know what he was doing, but he was
bowling guys over in a power scheme. I think I
think more tape kind of exposes the shortcomings there. But
with Savina, I mean, you're talking about a guy who
is going to be a top fifty pick compared to Kimley,
who was in the fourth round that year. I think
he's going to be someone that goes off the board
sometime early in round two, probably have to be picked
forty eight for you, and I would feel pretty good
(19:36):
about the claim that he starts in week one wherever
he winds up. Let's go over to the other side
of the football here and on the defensive line. Ty
Leek Williams out of Ohio State is a guy that
I have really warmed on recently, and I think our
buddy Eric Smith, who does really good work for the
three yards per carry crew over there, and he has
the podcast with Hasan Btel I did a couple weeks ago.
He had a mock draft where he got Jaday and
(20:00):
Tyleek Williams back to back, and that would be like
a home run one two selection for me. Have you
guys watched his tape at all? I mean that's a
good question, right but before twenty twenty four. The reason
he's on this list and our next player for that matter,
is because I think you can drop him into a
defense today as your three technique and he can eat
up blocks and free up Jordan Brooks to do what
he does best. But man, I think there's something more.
(20:22):
There is a pass rusher in terms of his profile
than what's being led on from the draft community. So
his pass rush totals have dipped each year at Ohio State,
but not in volume, but because he had twenty pressures
this year, twenty two last year ten as a sophom
when he got hurt, but twenty one as a freshman.
And during that freshman year he had one hundred and
fourteen pass rush snaps compared to three twenty one this
(20:43):
year and three thirty three last year, So a three
hundred percent productivity jump in pass rushing as a freshman.
And watching his tape without getting into it, I think
it's using it. It's more usage than it is his skills.
So very very bullish on Tyleek Williams, and quite frankly,
I think he's one of five or six defensive tackles
that could start next to Seler next year if they
(21:05):
have a good summer. And then I think there's ten
or fifteen more guys that could be defensive tackle. Three
four rotational guys. And that's why I think you double
dip at this spot and get like a either Kenneth
Grant or a Tileergue Williams or our next guy, Alfred
Collins and you pair them with like a CJ.
Speaker 2 (21:19):
West or a who's the kid from Rucker if he's talked.
Speaker 1 (21:23):
About Kiante Hamilton or you know, you come back and
you double dip with somebody else later on the draft
and there's a defensive tackle from I could see that
happening pretty easily. Speaking of Alfred Collins from Texas, Like,
you know, this is a dangerous game to play with rookies,
but I think alf would be one of the top
twenty or so two gapping defensive tackles in football the
moment he's drafted. The power, the heavy hands, the ability
(21:45):
to playoff blocks is very very NFL ready might not
be on the field on third, medium, and long, but
he's going to be a first and second down player
who I think can play. He can play, you know,
Kalais Campbell STAPs six hundred STAPs as a rookie. In
my opinion, cornerbacks Savon Revel from East Carolina, this one
might bite me, but I don't think it will. I
think you say that because Ravel is the best man
(22:05):
cover corner in the class for my money. But this
is a zone heavy league, the most frequent man team
in football. Last year was the Lions and they ran
it a fifty one percent and number two was it
like forty four percent. So basically nobody plays more man
than zone these days. I think he'd be a great
pick for the Lions. It picked twenty eight. So while
there may be a learning curve on the zone aspect,
if I need a third down cover rep Win, I
(22:26):
like Savon Revel better than anybody else in the entire class,
and he is coming off in ACL, so maybe he
doesn't play right away, but I think that once he
gets like fully up to speed, I think he's going
to be a starting cornerback for somebody this year. I
think the same thing is true of cornerback Jacob Parish
from Kansas State, and for the opposite reasons of Revel,
he's a feisty, ready to go at all times, like
a scrapper. He's the kind of guy that if he
(22:47):
sees somebody else from the other crew get in the
face of one of his boys, he's up in their
face immediately saying like let's go, I'm here to back
up my guys, like a ride or die type of player,
and I just mean the zero hesitation to his game.
I think you can blitz him. I think you can
make him the rat in the hole and fit him
into the run fit of your defense, and you can
trust he's going to do the job from day one.
(23:07):
One of my favorite slots in the entire class. And shoot,
you might be able to get him at pick ninety eight.
And if you went shoot, if you went Will Johnson
and then Tyler Williams and Jacob Parrish corner, do you
tackle corner? I would not be upset about that at all.
Cornerback Darien Porter from Iowa State. This is more of
a traits projection with his age four to three flat,
(23:28):
ten to eleven broad, ninety fifth percent tile shuttle and
three cone and doing that at a ninety nine percent
tile height. He's just under six foot three and a
seventy seventh percent tile weight. He's one ninety five. He
has the fifth best RASS score relative athletics scorecard of
any cornerback at the combine over the last thirty seven years.
Matt Bowen of ESPN raves about his eyes, his ability
(23:49):
to play zone and come up and press and because
of that COVID year. He's twenty four years old and
has the maturity to match. I think he's going to
be a stud. Xavier watch the safety out of Notre Dame.
It's weird to call a ballhawk like this a minimal
flash player, but I say that with the most complimentary tone,
because he's reliable, instinctive, he finds the football, He's a
student of the game. He's not one of these marvel
(24:10):
character athletes, but he just makes plays. Over two thousand
snaps major stage games, a National championship game for one
thirteen picks in a career at that position. Pretty crazy
production there for Xavier Watts. And then we're getting deeper
into the drafter of these two guys. Safety from Marshall.
JJ Roberts might be the deepest pull on the entire list,
but I recently familiarize myself with his game, and he's
(24:31):
just springy, and I get the sense from watching his
tape that he is in the film room always. He's
a big hitter, big body, big frame, exceptional fundamentals, brings
his feet through the tackles, does not drop his head,
he wraps up. It's a rare to find a college
player that tackles the way this guy does. I think
he's a potential option in the fourth round. That could
be a possible starter for you right away. Actually, I've
(24:52):
got two more safeties. Billy Bowman, junior out of Oklahoma
has a center fielder's mentality and he knows the batt
orders spray charts. Is that too deep of a cut
for a football audience to get. We're baseball heavy today.
So played college baseball right and by the time I
got to Legion ball in high school, we charted every
player we saw. If you weren't in the lineup, you
were charting at bats and some of my friends hated charting,
(25:15):
and that would shift. We would shift our defense according
to those charts that we provided, And if you study
the scouting report on the bus ride to the game,
you could place yourself without the coach's aid. To me,
that's Billy Bowmen. He knows where to align, what keys
to trigger, and how to get there. I freaking love
his game. And then safety Lathan Ransom from Ohio State.
I think when you hit like Ransom does, you're going
(25:35):
to be a player, especially as a safety. Just watch
his run fit real at Ohio State and the Rose
Bowl in particular, and you'll come away from that saying like, say,
let's this dude's a baller. He played alongside Caleb Downs,
who's going to be safety one next year and a
top ten pick possibly, and they were just so well
in tune and communicated, and I think that he can
bring that to the NFL level as well. I love
(25:57):
both their games. I love Leaith and Ransom's games. Plenty
of chance to find impact players in this year's draft.
We could get four guys off that list. They could
be starters, and we could be happy again. All right,
go ahead and take our last break right there. Come
back on the other side and talk about the thirty
visits the Dolphins have had so far per reports. That's
next Draft Time podcast, brought to you by out donation.
(26:20):
So every single draft season, players from around the NFL
draft will descend upon thirty two NFL cities and meet
with clubs and brass to just get to know them.
But also there could be a little bit of misdirection
involved in those I actually saw somebody tweet the other
day that one team was looking at thirty visits as
(26:42):
only bring in teammates of the guys they were interested
in to talk about them from a third party source.
So kind of interesting way of doing this. We've seen
the Dolphins draft off this list have guys that were
there on the board and not draft off this list.
So there are I guess, multiple ways to read into it,
but ultimately it's just like there's nothing definitive to take
(27:05):
from it, ultimately, right. And so these are all per
reports players that have been linked to the Dolphins through
thirty visits, and some of these are local visits as well.
As you it doesn't cost you against the thirty players.
You can bring in if you have guys that went
to high school or college in your town. And since
South Florida is the freaking football mecha of the planet,
(27:25):
we have an advantage that way with guys like Mason Taylor,
Elijah Royo, Xavier'strepo. You know, if cam Ward wasn't going
first in a draft, he would begin that category. Like,
you can have these guys visit you because they're from
here or they played college ball here. So per report,
let's go in order of position once again. Running back
Alie Gordon from Oklahoma State, who is the tallest running
back I've ever seen him entire life. He's like six
(27:46):
foot three, He's strong, he has massive arms, He's built
in a lab short gardage, pile mover, tone, center and
pass protection could be an option for the Dolphins sometime,
maybe on Day three potentially. I don't know what I'll go,
but that's about where I think that his his draft
range has been has been kind of uh that that's
where folks have him. Running Back Jacory Krossky and Mara
from Arizona didn't know much about him, but how about
(28:09):
this stat? He had the highest max deceleration at the
Shrine Bowl since they began tracking that stat. What the
hell is that stat?
Speaker 2 (28:17):
Travis?
Speaker 1 (28:17):
You just talked about stats being for nerds earlier. Essentially
it measures change of direction. They posted the formula. It's
negative seven point twenty nine yards per square second squared.
What Yeah, I'm too dump to know what that means.
But basically what it means is that his cutbacks are lethal.
He's got the best like start stop juice you can find.
It's off the chain.
Speaker 2 (28:35):
Baby.
Speaker 1 (28:37):
If anybody can tell me where that deep cut is from,
I will. I'm not gonna give anything, but I'll be
very excited about that. Running Back Damien Martinz from Miami
Attitude runner, inside Zone slash duo combo would be a
good change up to what you have here. Short yardage,
run through your face mask type of player. I am
a huge fan of him. On Day three, Kyle Williams
Washington State was here for a visit as well. We
(28:58):
covered him per reports of course wide receiver Chandler bray
Boy from Elon. I gotta be honest with you, guys,
I haven't quite gotten to the Elon tape just yet, but.
Speaker 2 (29:07):
He was here.
Speaker 1 (29:08):
Tyler End Mason Taylor covered him from LSU tight end
Elijah Arroyo from Miami. He's a seam separator, big play,
game changer, vertical threat that could possibly give you a
balance to what you have on the outside down the middle.
I think there's enough there for him to be a
pretty good blocker at the next level. But he's a
smooth route runner, quiet hands, just a big time a
(29:29):
big body, electric receiving tight end. Defensive tackle Shamar Turner
from Texas A and M is a bowl and a
China shop. Heavy handed, he messes up things that he touches,
does not get engulfed versus double teams in the run.
Could be an immediate two down player for you here
in Miami. Talked about defensive tackle Alfred Collins from Texas
already talked about defensive tackle Keyante Hamilton from Rutgers, who
(29:51):
is an explosive, explosive athlete with really good lateral agility
and pass rush chops. I could see him being a
specialized guy that comes down here with a chance to
run all these games and potentially impact the interior of
the pocket as a pass rusher. There were some guys
in the UDFA class last year that I thought had
similar chops. I could see Keyante Hamilton being bat guy
(30:11):
for the Dolphins this year on Day three maybe in
the UDFA process. Defensive tackles Sebastian Valdez from Washington powerful athlete,
also ran a sub five forty at three hundred and
ten pounds with thirty four bench press rep, so he
is kind of a built in a lab athlete. Cornerback
bj Adams from UCF has length and press ability and
really good ball skills. He's super thin, but when he
(30:31):
gets hands on guys, he can lock him up and coverage.
Cornerback Corey Black from Oklahoma State elite athlete. He's six
foot tall, four to three five forty thirty nine inch
vertical and a four year started there with good ball
production and then three safeties. Nick emn Worry from Georgia.
We've covered him in depth. He is a what would
you call him? I mean he's a fat two Mela
(30:52):
fund basically in terms of the athletic profile. Kevin Winston
Junior from Penn State, super charged, first step, flies all
over the football field. Probably a first round pick. He
doesn't get hurt last year, or maybe not because of safety,
but he's in that range and then safety. JJ Roberts
from Marshall. We covered him, so a good list there,
and again it's they Chris Greer has talked about it.
The thirty visits line up with it. We'll see if
(31:13):
they do it. They've been a team that has kind
of been like premium positions over the last several years,
and it's a good strategy. And I think that in
the first round, if it is a cornerback, you can
satisfy a need and get a good player and get
the premium spot all locked up, bing bang, boom bomb.
But I think there's a chance you can see them
kind of, you know, go more towards the meat and potatoes,
based upon what they've said, based upon these visits, based
upon the roster needs. We shall see it could be
(31:35):
a fun draft in a week and hopefully that can
kind of get Dolphins fans fired back up again, because
I know that folks are a little bit down right
now about where you know this offseason, where the team is,
but long way to go. We'll see what happens and
how it shakes out when things get kicked off here
in training camp come July. All right, next time you
hear from me, Kyle Krabs and myself are going to
be on the show getting ready for a two part
(31:56):
draft series for the Dolphins twenty twenty five draft. But
until then, you all please be sure to subscribe to
the podcast. Leave us a rating, leave.
Speaker 2 (32:03):
Us a review.
Speaker 1 (32:04):
You can follow me on social at winkled NFL and
the team at Miami Dolphins. Check out the fish Tank
podcast with Seth and Juice, the YouTube channel for Media Availabilities.
Speaker 2 (32:12):
A brand new episode of Dolphins HQ dropped last night.
Speaker 1 (32:14):
You do not want to miss that one good Patrick
Paul film breakdown in there. And then last button, not
least Miami Dolphins dot com until next time, Finza get on,
Cameron Daddy
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