July 24, 2025 • 32 mins
The Dolphins were back on the field for Day 2 of training camp 2025. Travis is looking at: making things difficult to prepare for the season, the element of earlier practices, the power run game and how it impacts Tua and the play pass, the individual notes, soundbites from the guys and much, much more!!
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is Drivetime with Travis Wingfield. What is up, Dolphans
and welcome to the Draft Time Podcast. I am your host,
Travis Wingfield, and on today's show, day number two, here
from Miami Gardens, better weather, more reps, and a full
(00:23):
fun day of work on that field. I'm working on
a few things here theme wise for this show, including
the incorporation of power football and how it opens up
things for the offense, the return of the power off
the edge in this defense with Bradley Chubb and Jalen
Phillips looking the absolute part. Jalen writes ascension, continuing Zach
Seeler being the ultimate elite player and everything he does,
(00:46):
growth from all the quarterbacks, and of course all the
highlights and notes and news from the practice. Plus we're
gonna hear from a handful of guys including right including Sealer,
Zach Wilson, and Moore from the Baptist Health Studios inside
the Baptist Health Training Complex is the Draft Time Podcast.
We touched on this yesterday as a continuation, I would
(01:08):
say of the off season themes that I've harped on
at length, but the idea of attacking things that gave
you fits in years prior, or the year prior, and
how they've done a nice job this offseason of giving
themselves an opportunity to correct some of those things. Going
over it again, Jonah and James acquisitions, Nick Westbrook, a
(01:30):
Keene and Farrell Brown off the edge, eight Chan further
evolving his role as a pass catcher and do it
all running back, and the emergence of Jalen Right, and
how those two things marry up together to give you
more flexibility and more disguise in what you do. Quite frankly,
and this is something that I want to touch on
a little bit more later with regards to the defense,
but I think this team is deeper in so many
(01:54):
spots and the offensive lines where you can really see that.
I mean, gosh, between you know, Pat Jonah Brew, James
Daniels and Austin Jackson, you're projected first five, and then
Larry Boram, Keon Smith, Leo Miikenberg, Daniel Brunskill. All those
guys can play guard and tackle. Two of those guys
have played center in their career and they can play
anywhere in a pinch.
Speaker 2 (02:14):
Right.
Speaker 1 (02:15):
But even though you probably prefer you know certain guys
at guard, certain guys a tackle and so on, and
with Andrew Meyer continuing his progress and looking pretty good
in that, that's nine really good options on top of
what you have on depth beyond that, and the ability
to shuffle as you see fit for whatever injury. You're
giving yourself a better chance to win in the short
(02:35):
yardage game, your power inside game, and off the edge.
You're giving yourself a better chance to withstand the attrition
that comes on the offensive line in a given season.
And this is not a knock on anybody in particular,
but you go into that Houston game last year, a
game that you had to win, and if you did
win that, coming off the you know, the Packers loss
and then the Jets win. You get to seven and
(02:55):
seven with a stretch of games that we were winnable.
You know, you can beat the Niners and Browns and
the Jets in the finale and you make the playoffs
if you run the table there. And you go into
that game with a guy that you just signed off
the street in Jackson Carmen and a rookie on the
other side, and that's what you dealt with in a
game against d'anil Hunter and Will Anderson arguably the best
pass rush duo in the entire NFL. So the Dolphins
(03:18):
look at that and say, how do we make sure
that doesn't happen again? Well, you go nine, possibly ten
deep on your offensive line with guys that you feel
pretty good about inserting into a game and getting live
game reps in a December game. That is for all
the marbles, right, And I just think you're giving yourself
that opportunity to shore up those wrongs of the past.
(03:39):
And that's just the roster building. In the personnel aspect
of it. There's way more than meets the eye, right,
because how about the execution or the administration stuff to
help this team be the best version of themselves? Like
you have to think about football on a more granular
level about it's not just about Okay, I've got the
twelfth best you know, wide receiver with the ninth best quarterback.
(04:04):
I've got the third best defensive whatever it might be.
It's not as simple as a spreadsheet. Like there's how
do I maximize each of the ninety players or the
fifty three players once you get in season? How do
I motivate them individually and collectively? There's just so many
intangibles and this esoteric nature into the weeds of football
about what actually goes into the product that comes out
(04:27):
on Sundays and why there's so many damn surprises across
the league every year. I don't think anybody in the
world predicted the Washington Commanders would go to the NFC
Championship Game last year, but they put it together with
Dan Quinn. They brought in a bunch of guys that
people thought maybe couldn't play anymore. But between Bobby Wagner
being the key cogna middle of that defense and Austin
Eckler's experience in the backfield, like those moves matter, and
(04:48):
they were impactful players on a championship game loss, but
still appeared in that game football team like it happens
every single year. And I just listened to the Kenny
Steells Fish Tank episode where they were so bought in
in twenty sixteen that playoff year compared to twenty fifteen
when they couldn't get anybody bought in according to Kenny,
(05:08):
and how he knew the game plans so well that
he could break the huddle before Tannehill finish, barking out
the play call because he knew what it was going
to be based upon his just intent investment into those
game plans every single week. And that's something you have
to curate across the NFL season. And not all thirty
two teams get that every single year. I think you
could argue not even half the teams get that every
(05:30):
single year. It's why our expectations for what's supposed to
happen every August goes completely belly up, you know, outside
of the main stays in the league, the Kansas City Chiefs,
that Philadelphia Eagles, the Bottomble Ravens, and so on and
so forth. So I make this whole point because these
earlier practices, and you know, we heard coach McDaniel touch
on the reasoning behind it, and I think he said
(05:51):
there was like, you know, exaggerating four hundred reasons behind it,
but he gave us a couple of specific reasons, talking
about going up to playing the Bears and the Lions
and ten day stretch and joint practices and dealing with
tough football teams and the change and schedule that they'll
see up there, and just really trying to weigh out
all the options and the variables that can help this
team map out the best roadmap to be successful, to
(06:14):
be a winning football team, Like when you, you know, go
on a road trip, and this is probably different from
what it was when I was a kid, but like
you had to get the old Rand McNally map out
and map that thing out. Otherwise you're kind of winging
it and you might make mistakes. But if you have
the roadmap and the game plan, and you've kind of
decided the best way to get to this gas station,
the best way to get to our exit for this
this lunch we're gonna have right here, you're probably going
(06:36):
to better execute that plan. And if this all like
increases your ability to get in more quality work in
the summer and also maybe not expose yourself in these
pretty rough conditions in the middle of the day. Like
I'll tell you first hand, I've been in South Florida
for this is my six year down here, or I
guess fifth year, because I didn't move down here in
the pandemic here for the entire season or the entire year.
(06:57):
But like, it is different at nine am than it
is at even eleven am. It gets a lot harder
than even worse at one o'clock in the afternoon, and
right now at two o'clock. So I'm talking to this podcast.
It's pretty miserable out there. But nine o'clock in the morning,
slight breeze, some cloud coverage, wasn't that bad. And so
I think that, you know, I heard the Heat the
Call podcast and they were talking about one of the
hosts had come down to Disney World in July and
(07:20):
he was like, never again. I'm never going to Florida
in July again, And like, I get it. My kids
are going stir crazy because it's tough to get outside
right now. And the whole thing behind that is like, well,
maybe if we can reduce the number of hours we're
out in the worst part of the day, maybe that
can have like a long term impact on how this
team is able to be sustained, you know, for the
(07:43):
entirety of the season, not even just coming out of
the gates like six and two and then being in
a good spot going into the late part of the season.
And I'm not gonna sit here and say that hard
training camps are why this team has had, you know,
less than desirable December results. But I think you can
look at it and pontificate that and wonder how you
can fix that, and then I guess the pushback on
that might say, like, well, yeah, the seventies Dolphins under Shula,
(08:06):
you know, they were out there three times a day
in this stuff. But you know, if you're as old
as me, you remember Zach Thomas and Jason Taylor and
those Dolphins teams. They were consistently you know, five and
one out of the gates and then would have a
tough December loss, And you know, I just think maybe
there's something there to reducing some of that workload and
just not being in the hottest part of the hottest
or in the hottest part of the day in the
(08:28):
hottest region in America. I don't know, I feel like
there could be something to that, and maybe it can
help you just sustain the season a little bit better.
But back to the larger point, let's create harder elements,
right to push us through that adversity now and McDaniel
touched on this various points of the offseason, about making
practice hard and creating competition through the roster construction. And
(08:49):
you can look at that on the defensive side of
the ball, in the defensive backfield, there are guys competing
for work there and really everywhere across the football on
both sides. And I've talked in the podcast about how
by doing that at you create this level of strain
where maybe maybe in years past it was like, well,
I have this rep and I'm trying to get better,
but if I lose it, then it doesn't matter in
terms of my ability to start on Sunday. But what
(09:12):
if you go into that rep with the mindset of
if I can get this third and seven rep locked
down and show good technique and get the quarterback to
either you know, not come at me or to break
the pass up, or if I win this pass rush
is at an edge guy, or if I can hold
the pass protection as an offensive lineman, then maybe that
will get me in the starting lineup. Like that type
of mindset and mentality creates a different level of strain.
(09:32):
To go back to the golf analogy, on the range
versus on the tee box are entirely different golf shots.
It's not it's the exact same thing, provided you're hitting
off grass and not mats, But your mindset doesn't have that.
When you get on the tee box, you know that
this ball goes in the woods. I'm now hitting three
off the tee opposed to on the range. It's like, Oh,
I'll just try it again. It doesn't matter like it's different.
(09:53):
You have to adjust your mindset and put yourself in
as many situations to make yourself battle tested. And I
think these vironments that create that provide value. I think
there's value to coming out in the rain on Wednesday
in day one and getting work in in inclement weather.
It rained today too, so they got that experience and
they got some of the hot, hot heat out there
today as well. So that's like all the administrational execution
(10:16):
stuff that I think pairs with how they've altered their
roster and team building approach. We'll hear from Jalen Wright
on this in a moment in a way that helps
corroborate the idea of something that coach talked about at
the owners meetings back in March or April whenever. That
was about setting your culture through the draft, and Jalen
Wright is a good example of that. We'll come back
to that in one second, but before we continue on that,
(10:38):
just a couple of housekeeping items here before we move
on to the next thing. It's being reported that the
Dolphins are signing Cornell Armstrong a former cornerback out of
Southern miss who was drafted here in the sixth round
back in twenty eighteen. So if that does go through
and becomes an official move, he will join the Dolphins
defensive backfield. Bayron Mactos has movement in all extremities and
(10:58):
is in stable condition. He remains at the Writer Trauma
Center at Jackson Memorial Hospital for continued observation. So good
news for the big fellow there. And then the last
thing here, Benito Jones was in the Orange Jersey and
quite frankly, I thought he brought the noise on his playlist,
very very good playlist for Benito. And I am now
realizing that I just forgot to drop a SoundBite that
I had on my rundown here, and this goes back
(11:21):
to the offensive line stuff. So sorry for the kind
of out of order, but this is a SoundBite from
Patrick Paul that I meant to play earlier talking about
the offensive line in developing chemistry with the fellow young
player on the offensive line in Jonas ofvit Naya. I
thought this was just excellent to hear from the two
young Dolphin studds on the offensive line.
Speaker 3 (11:38):
Ah Man Jonah I mean, we hang out all the time,
so throughout the off season, me and him were here
in this building every single day working, so naturally, when
you spend that much time together, you're jailed like one,
all right.
Speaker 1 (11:47):
So we covered the topic of making things harder on
yourself intentionally. The next theme, I guess I want to
cover that sort of coincides with that, because this idea
of the additions and how they can execute the offense
and Austin Jackson talking about the multiplicity of the run game,
it all kind of blends into this idea of being
(12:09):
a tough football team and being a team that can
go out and implement weather late in the season, playoff games,
all that stuff, and execute a running game and develop
that toughness and lean on teams, right, And we've talked
about the impact of how a strong running game can
really help open your passing game, especially in modern football
with the way coverages are. And I wanted to get
into this because I thought the first three plays of
(12:32):
today's team period work set the.
Speaker 4 (12:35):
Tone and really was really what I wanted to see.
Speaker 1 (12:38):
And I know it's a shorts and shells practice day
two which July twenty fourth, but it's better than not
seeing that, right, Like, all I have to go off
of is the evidence that we have in front of us,
and what I saw was what I was hoping to see.
And so those first run is a devon a Chan
explosive run inside, maybe even scored a touchdown from whatever
seventy seventy five yards wherever the football was. It's hard
(13:00):
to tell, but he did go untouched at the point
of attack and into the second level with a full
head of steam. And who was at the point of
attack folding back the backside cut for eight Chan but
Jonas ofvit Naya and pushing Zach Seeler into the linebackers.
I'm not sure I've seen Zach give ground like that before,
and maybe he got caught by surprise. Maybe it's because
(13:23):
there's no pads. I don't know the context behind it.
I'm telling you what I saw, and I haven't seen
that happen tonight you two ever, So that was great
to see and possibly a first play seventy yard touchdowns
obviously great to see. The very next play is play
action with one of the craziest anticipation throws I've ever
seen too, a make which if you know his game
capital a anticipation is his game where Waddle runs this
(13:45):
deep crosser to the other side of the field about
twenty five yards down the field and to a layers
this thing to a spot with touch and loft, which
when you do this, like if you if you shoot
a fastball in there, like the receivers to catch it
pretty much where he is. But when you can do this,
and you can see with this type of foresight, you
(14:05):
can mitigate pass rush tenfold, right, and that's part of
what makes two us so good. Let's go ahead and
layer this thing softly into a spot and let our
receiver get there, and that will just take away time
where I have the ball in my hands, which reduces
the time the pass rush can get me to the
ground and hit me and force a negative play or
maybe even hurt me. And Wattle runs right under it
and intersects with it at the exact same time as
the football descends towards the earth, and he had the
(14:29):
time to get it out there to what did But
that just helps reduce the need for pass protection.
Speaker 5 (14:34):
Right.
Speaker 1 (14:34):
Then the third play they come back and they run
this wide outside play with Devon a Chan where he
gets to the edge with another full head of steam
into the second level and probably ten yards before he
gets even bumped to the sideline or contacted. And so
I think you've seen this element of power running game
they've added to this front, but doing so without sacrificing
(14:55):
even a modicum of athleticism. In fact, I think it's
not a stretch to say, based upon athletic testing, the
film itself, and just what guys look like on the field,
that you've gotten much more athletic on the offensive line
this year, and it more closely reflects what you had
in twenty twenty three before Rob Hut and Isaiah Win
both took injuries that you forced backups into those spots
(15:15):
and didn't give you your a team offensive line late
in that season. And to me, the impact of that
was the passing offense today looked a lot more like
twenty twenty three than it did in twenty twenty four.
What I mean by that was I had Waddle catching
three passes on intermediate targets between and outside the numbers.
But you know, kind of the flood the middle of
(15:36):
the football field fifteen to twenty twenty five yards down
the field, make these catches where we're chewing off big
chunks with air yards, and Tyreek had two of those
as well, including one of the sickest routes I've ever
seen out here, where it almost looked like he was
going to run a comeback and like showed the shoulders
to the sideline and that widens the corner, and then
he broke it back across face and froze the safety
because the safety's like, what the hell route is that?
(15:57):
What the hell is even that? Then he whips it
back inside and Tua throws another perfect touch timing pass
twenty five yards down the field. Reek accelerates through it
for additional yards of the yach ariety, and I just
saw those things paired together, and I was thinking, like,
all right, well, day two in, I've got some confirmation
on what I thought it might look like. And we'll
(16:18):
see if it continues. But it's pretty excited about that man.
We also saw Ollie Gordon with some inside runs getting
downhill where it's like in your face, now, make a decision,
because I'm going to hit you with the full head
of steam. Makes a move and goes and Jalen Wright, Buddy,
my goodness, I was impressed last year. It's even better
this year. He gets to that second gear off of
his initial cut, so damn fast. It's like a vertical cut,
(16:39):
not horizontal. He was excellent once again today. So that
was my biggest takeaway, this element of power with elite
movers up front who can help the run game, the
play pass game, get more opportunities for the pass game
beyond the second level of defense. And let's go ahead
and conclude this thought here with some soundbites from Jalen
Wright as he discussed the growth that he's experienced with
(16:59):
reading blocks, reading angles, and his tracks as a runner
from year one to year two.
Speaker 4 (17:04):
Here's right a lot.
Speaker 3 (17:05):
I mean last year, I didn't you know the system.
I came from Tennessee. We never ran like outside zone,
wive zone, stuff like that. It's just you know, just
me studying, watching film, you know, just just me being disciplined.
Like I just keep saying discipe because that's what it is,
you know, just staying the course and then you know,
just putting the ball in the right spots.
Speaker 1 (17:22):
And you heard him talk about the aforementioned discipline. I
want to go ahead and just play that answer his
sound bite from that answer, because I think it provides
more context to him talking there about the comfortability, comfort
level going from year one to year two as a
patient and the vision as a runner. Here he is
providing more context on discipline in the process.
Speaker 3 (17:41):
Just me, me being disciplined, and you know, being disciplined
in my responsibility, not not you know, you're putting the
ball in the right spot. No, not every run is
gonna be clean. So you know what I did today,
I was just being patient, just waiting for the opportunity
to happen, just putting the ball on the right spot.
The line of eventure. The line will eventually clean it up.
And when they clean it up, that's when you know,
that's when I flurted.
Speaker 1 (18:01):
So and to put a bow on this first segment
and that topic, you know, coach talked about their fast
twenty one personnel grouping last year, which is two backs
in the field, which is not a fullback right when
you call it fast, it's two running backs and it.
Speaker 4 (18:13):
Was eight chan and raheem.
Speaker 1 (18:14):
I think you've got even more potential there this year,
especially with how DeVaughn continues to grow as a route
runner and progress in that area. And I think right
is more adept at some of the power inside stuff
with a chan's ability to motion and take a jet sweep,
catch a screen run vertical. It puts you in a
buying with your coverage and your personnel, and it just
gives Miami these matchup nightmares together. So that's where I
(18:35):
think that right is so damn valuable. If we have
this back who can be a bit of a bully
and a chan puts you in these defensive minds, It's
so much to think about.
Speaker 4 (18:44):
So I like it a lot.
Speaker 1 (18:45):
I'm excited abou where we're going there in the running
game and how it impacts the rest of the offense.
Let's go ahead and talk some defense on the other side.
Draft Time podcast brought to you by AutoNation, So I
touched on this on the opening part of the podcast
about the depth of the offense, and I had this
conversation with with Kyle Crabs and John Knjemmy and we
were talking about how to best deploy this defense and
(19:08):
with all the depth they have at linebacker, at safety,
up front, on the entire front seven really and perhaps
you know, protect a corner room that as of today
is pretty unproven, and building this defense in a way
where you can mix personnel through various spots and their
depth to mitigate putting more cornerbacks on the field. Because
Kyle made the point like your all your best packages
(19:28):
on defense are going to have three safeties. If you
conclude that you know Minca and if he are are
guys that are going to be the primaries. And then
between the two third round Earth Day three picks the
last two years with Dante, Trader and Patrick mc morris,
if one of them can come down and be like
a quasi you know, box safety, buck linebacker, subpackaged type
of role that can really like expand your versatility in
(19:53):
terms of like Minca can cover everywhere, right if he's
a former college cornerback, so you can use him in
a variety of roles. Cater Co who can do everything,
and then Trader mc morris. These two guys that have
this box presence and can play some hook and can
even play in the deep posts as well.
Speaker 4 (20:07):
It keeps you flexible.
Speaker 1 (20:08):
And maybe it is just cater and Storm Duck or
Cater and you know whoever else the other cornerback might be,
or you know, a new cover whatever it is, Like,
there's all those options, and I just think that between
that the depth linebacker and guys like Willie Gay who
can really help you play in that hook zone, and
that can reduce the need for you know, a safety
in that area.
Speaker 4 (20:26):
So maybe one of your three stages can play back
in the post.
Speaker 1 (20:28):
Like you've got depth in certain areas that can cover
parts of the field where you think like we have
to have x amount of corners, x amount of safeties.
You don't think of like that, think about like the
roles of covering certain areas of the field, having guys
that can rush and cover, having guys that can play
the run, having guys that are stronger versus faster, Like
there's different ways to skin a cat. Here's what I'm
trying to say. And I think that all of that
surrounding elements around that can help you mitigate that and
(20:52):
maybe we can get some growth from that position. Maybe
we can bring in some exterior guys, whatever it might be.
I just think there's options in a way to get
it done. That's my my general take with my general point.
Speaker 4 (21:02):
And so it.
Speaker 1 (21:02):
Wasn't all offense on this Thursday. It usually never is
one side or the other. As much as I laud
the running game, I think my orange Jersey either goes
to Bradley Chubb or Jalen Phillips. Either way, their impact
was felt whoever you want to give it to the
way they can operate as double agents both from the
run game and pass game. And by that I mean
I saw Chubb win with speed around the corner. I
(21:23):
saw him win with power inside. I saw Jalen Phillips
wreck tight ends and fullbacks and tackles on a handful
of outside runs. He had one tackle for loss that
came from that, but he also helped set up Jordan
Brooks for a number of heat seeking missile collision plays
that he would have made in live contact. Might be
another Orange Jersey candidate right there. Those guys might be
the top three on there. Phillips and Chubb run game work.
(21:45):
I know it's the pass rush that makes the marque
for those guys, but damn it, we missed them. We
missed their energy, their impact and the running game, their
impact overall. I asked Chop Robinson what it was like
to have those two guys back on.
Speaker 5 (21:56):
The It's been great, especially those guys since they helped
me so much lest year off the fielding in on
the field, so being out there in the field with him,
and they're the guys that I used to watch when
I was in college and everything, So it just it's
a blessing and it's fun to be out there with him.
Speaker 1 (22:08):
Chop also got in on the fund with a sack
of his own today. I think we had two from
Chubb as well. There was also some coverage sacks in
this practice, or at least you know, the pressure throwaway
impacted the quarterback by their pressure that was aided by
good coverage down the field, and I think Minka fitzpatrick
had a lot to do with that. Ashton Davis as well.
Patrick McMorris nearly had a pick and I thought was
(22:29):
in good shape throughout the day. But back to Minka,
I just kept an eye on him throughout individual drills
today and he looks like a wide receiver tracking the
football and the way he plucks it and gets the
feet down like it kind of reminds me of like
if you ever have a chance to watch a world
class golfer on the driving range, Like, let me emphasize
and slow take away, my takeaway of the club, my rotation,
(22:50):
the club face, and the right spot at the top
of the swing. The trail arm, dropping back into the slot,
rotate through the finish and strike and hold that finish.
It's just all very intentional, and that's how you kind
of create this muscle memory of sequencing things together. That
was the vision that I got when watching Minka go
through individual drills. And speaking of intentionality, I am just
(23:11):
such a big fan of Zach Sealer.
Speaker 4 (23:13):
Man. He had some plays today as well. He always
makes his plays.
Speaker 1 (23:16):
I know he kind of got the brunt of my
comment about Jonas Ofvit Andaya, but that's more of a
praise of the rookie, because when you can beat a
guy that deserves All Pro team like Zach Seeler, it
speaks more to you than it does the All Pro
or potential All Pro. But I want to play some
soundbites here from Zach Sealer because this guy is the man.
He was asked about his situation and I just think
this is how you answer this question, and there's no
(23:37):
better way to do.
Speaker 2 (23:38):
It really came down to is being able to get
here seasons right around the corner, four or five weeks away,
and I want to be out here and be with
the guys like I talked about earlier and build that
culture to have a fast start to the season and
carry that out all the way to the winner.
Speaker 1 (23:53):
He was also asked about his level of compensation over
the years and how he feels about it. And I
just think this is this is who zax Hiler is
right here.
Speaker 4 (24:01):
Man.
Speaker 2 (24:01):
We have more than we ever imagined. I am beyond
blessed from these last seven years alone. My wife and
I love how our life has turned out, and it's
just been awesome. Now I do feel like I want
to get there. I do feel that respect coming and
I feel like I've earned it. I know I've earned it.
And I think something we always joke about my wife
(24:22):
and I is I played at D two. Christian likes
to tell me that all the time. He still does.
He told me that before we start a camp, I
was cut twice. All that stuff I think I have.
I know I have the best years ahead of me.
I didn't play for three years in the NFL, only
played two and a half in college, so you really
think about it like I got less years under my
belt than some rookies do. So I really feel like
my best years are ahead of me, and I have all
that knowledge and experience from the last seven years, so
(24:43):
I'm really excited to see what his next few years
have in.
Speaker 1 (24:45):
Store for me. And just one more I asked Zach
for a little scoutyrpoort on jonahsavit Naya after the rep
that I talked about.
Speaker 4 (24:52):
Here is the event on the.
Speaker 2 (24:53):
Rook Jonas is obviously young. He has all the talent
in the world. His frame is great, he has good
I'm excited to see him grow as a player. It's
been awesome to work with him, and at the old adage,
iron sharpens iron, so the best thing to do is
go out there and play against each other make each
other better. So it's been really cool seeing him and
Pat Paul grow and work together, as well as all
(25:14):
the guys across the line.
Speaker 4 (25:16):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (25:16):
Man, Like with Steeler, you talk about wanting to lock
in your culture. You want to afford yourself to shoot
some spending flexibility, Like is there anybody on this roster
who a sets a better example in terms of how
to do everything, like literally everything, or be someone that
you can trust to play at a high level for
several more years, like he talked about it there about
(25:37):
you know his how he feels like his best ball
still ahead of him, and even at his age, I
think there's like a lot of kalay Is Campbell there right.
Like the length isn't going to go anywhere. He still
has those long arms and that pure brute strength. The
work habits sure as hell aren't disappearing. He's durable as hell.
He missed two games one time because he got his
freaking eyebroken in practice, and he was ever a guy
that won with pure speed. So even if that goes
(25:58):
a little bit, I don't think his game goes at all.
He's got eighteen other things he can use to win,
and he's going to do that year in and year out.
In my opinion, I just think that he's like a
franchise cornerstone that it can help you in every single
way that a football team can be improved. Speaking of
defensive tackles, I am so confident in what I've seen
from Jordan Phillips in just two practices, and I've been
(26:18):
wrong plenty, but pairing that with his tape and the
way I think he can naturally leverage guys with the
grip strength. Again, I talk about it all the time,
but I also sat with John Knjemmi today and he
was talking about Tony Siragusa, a noted wrestler turned Hall
of Fame football player, and he was saying that before
Goose got huge, he was just a guy that would
whip you at two hundred and seventy pounds using those
(26:40):
wrestling traits, and guys had no idea how to contend
with him. And I'm not making the comparison there, but
you see the impact of those wrestling traits both in
his Maryland tape and so far here at practice. And
the thing that really gets me excited about him is
the biggest flash I saw from him the entire day
was a rep where he got out of the gate
off the football before anybody else offense or defense, and
(27:00):
by the time he contacted Dan Brunskill, he was just
getting out of his stance and Jordan was so effective
in his technique and pad level and hand placement that
he had no shot to anchor against Jordan, and he
went for a ride into the backfield. I freaking love
his game. Man. Let's go back to the offense here
real quick. I think Zach Wilson's growth in timing is noticeable,
(27:23):
but I think there's something that he's currently working through
and he's talked about this that can really help him
gain confidence and maximize the traits that he offers within
the offense and take a bigger step here. Like most
the reps were really good today and yesterday too, And
when he isn't perfectly on time, he can overcome that
with some escapability but also the strong arm to jam
that thing into a tight window. But on the incompletions,
(27:44):
it looks like his processing is going faster than his
feet and the feat can kind of get stuck, and
that's a sequencing.
Speaker 4 (27:50):
You have to kind of pair it together.
Speaker 1 (27:51):
And I want to make it clear that I'm not
trying to disparage his game or his practice, but I'm
saying that, I think because that's something that can come
with time as he gets more and more reps here,
live reps in these practices like it's day two, but
even just from the spring, I think there's noticable growth
that he's made there and Quinn viewers for that matter
as well. Let's go ahead and play this sound by
here from Zach to close out the segment, talking about
(28:12):
the growth and timing from the spring now to the summer.
Speaker 6 (28:14):
Yeah, I think it's been good. I feel like I've
been playing more on time, but I think it's just
consistently getting even better, and I think as camp goes on,
I'll feel more of that. But I feel like I
worked on a lot of these things in the last
forty days that I feel good when when I'm able
to go out there and do some of them coming
into camp.
Speaker 1 (28:30):
Let's take our last break right there, come back on
the other side, and get a few more practice highlights.
That's next Draft Time podcast, brought to you by AutoNation.
Concluding this podcast with some highlights from practice. I did
a little breakdown on Cater's past breakup on Twitter, but
he's been super sharp through two days, including some nice
leverage and technique and a good rep a good win
(28:53):
against Tyreek Hill. Of all people out there, Ethan Bonner
had himself a day. Zach Wilson threw a gorgeous ball
up the sideline to Erica Zookama, and he had Bonner stacked,
but Bonner stayed right and trail technique and beat the
safety to the sideline. That the football did and Bonnard
did as well. But Bonnard pokes his hand the last
second knocks that thing out. Damn nearest tole a pick
but gets a pass breakup. Also had a punch out
(29:14):
fumble in the seven to seven portion of practice on
Malik Washington. Wanda had a fumble later on as well
during the team drills, and Patrick mc morris also had
a really nice day, though he did drop a pick
one of two dropped i iNTS, one was from Zach Wilson,
one from Quinn Ewers. The other drop pick was Elijah Campbell,
and the entire team ran gassers at the conclusion of practice,
(29:35):
with the defense doing some push ups as well. That's
just a continuation of that self policing self punishment that
Austin Jackson talked about and we kind of alluded to
off the top of the podcast. Bj Adams ran stride
for stride with Malak Washington to force an incomplete pass
on a deep ball. He's got those those man coverage
press chops that I thought showed out a little bit today.
And then Jordan Brooks. I just keep talking about him,
but it's it's pretty simple, like he's just dominant. He
(29:57):
plays so fast, he gets downhill. In fact, Zach Seiler
talked about Jordan Brooks a little bit here after practice.
Speaker 2 (30:04):
You know, like Jordan Brooks got here last year. Me
and him really started clicking last season because you know,
it's not immediate. You can't build a relationship out of
thin air. And nothing beats that more in time. So
to have that time with these guys and be able
to work with them from day in and day out,
and not even on the field, just in life. Hey,
I got an issue off the field, like something's going
on back home whatever, just talking through it and just
(30:25):
being vocal about it all. Sorry whoever that is. But yeah,
so that's the best part.
Speaker 1 (30:32):
That was a recorder being knocked off the table and
then returned to the table by Zack Seiler.
Speaker 4 (30:36):
What a guy. So there you go. More stuff there.
A couple more notes.
Speaker 1 (30:38):
I thought Alec Ingold had a nice day, although the
rep that jumped out to me the most was the
one matchup with Jalen Phillips where Jalen got the better
of Alec. But Jalen was doing that to everybody all
day long. Tanner Connor made a few plays again, I
think he's looked sharp. See what else here? Moo Kamara
got really good knockback on a rep against Jackson Carmen.
I had changin Tindall with a tag off around the
lion of scrimmage in the running game to Quat and
(30:59):
Jackson had stuff on Alexander Madison run and quinn Ewers
had to throw where he like dropped his arm angle
and flipped that thing out there and it was a
drop pass. But I was like, that looks pretty nice
right there, the way he can drop that slot and
flinging that ball out there. I thought there were some
challenging days that can be improved upon. Daniel Brunskill was
one of those guys. Larry Borham, Ryan Hayes thought Kenneth Grant,
(31:20):
like I keep getting asked about him, I think that
he's kind of going through a golf reference here, a
swing change, getting the pad level, playing more consistently low.
Speaker 4 (31:27):
I think that that's haven't seen the major impact.
Speaker 1 (31:30):
I think because of that, and JJ Watt tweeted about
how like he can't believe people keep stats on practice
because of the purpose of practice. I highly recommend going
and finding that tweet when you think about training camp practices.
I just think he's working and I have no question
whether or not he can get himself going full speed
by the time this season gets here and being a
dominant player. I thought Kendall Sheffield and Cam Smith were
(31:52):
in some coverage or they were, I didn't think that
on some of the intermediate passes to Reek and Waddle.
Speaker 4 (31:57):
So there we go. That's it. Tomorrow.
Speaker 1 (31:59):
Will do the exact same thing over again on Saturday
as well, and then take Sunday off and come back
and do it a bunch more times next week. In
the meantime, you all please be sure to subscribe to
the podcast.
Speaker 4 (32:08):
Leave us at writing, leave us a review.
Speaker 1 (32:09):
You can follow me on social at Winkle NFL and
the team at Miami Dolphins. Check out the YouTube channel
for Dolphins HQ, Media availabilities, drive time content and so
much more. And last, butt not least Miami Dolphins dot com.
Until next time, fins up Caroline, Cameron and Willow Daddy.
Speaker 4 (32:25):
He's coming, Hope,
This is Drivetime with Travis Wingfield. What is up, Dolphans
and welcome to the Draft Time Podcast. I am your host,
Travis Wingfield, and on today's show, day number two, here
from Miami Gardens, better weather, more reps, and a full
(00:23):
fun day of work on that field. I'm working on
a few things here theme wise for this show, including
the incorporation of power football and how it opens up
things for the offense, the return of the power off
the edge in this defense with Bradley Chubb and Jalen
Phillips looking the absolute part. Jalen writes ascension, continuing Zach
Seeler being the ultimate elite player and everything he does,
(00:46):
growth from all the quarterbacks, and of course all the
highlights and notes and news from the practice. Plus we're
gonna hear from a handful of guys including right including Sealer,
Zach Wilson, and Moore from the Baptist Health Studios inside
the Baptist Health Training Complex is the Draft Time Podcast.
We touched on this yesterday as a continuation, I would
(01:08):
say of the off season themes that I've harped on
at length, but the idea of attacking things that gave
you fits in years prior, or the year prior, and
how they've done a nice job this offseason of giving
themselves an opportunity to correct some of those things. Going
over it again, Jonah and James acquisitions, Nick Westbrook, a
(01:30):
Keene and Farrell Brown off the edge, eight Chan further
evolving his role as a pass catcher and do it
all running back, and the emergence of Jalen Right, and
how those two things marry up together to give you
more flexibility and more disguise in what you do. Quite frankly,
and this is something that I want to touch on
a little bit more later with regards to the defense,
but I think this team is deeper in so many
(01:54):
spots and the offensive lines where you can really see that.
I mean, gosh, between you know, Pat Jonah Brew, James
Daniels and Austin Jackson, you're projected first five, and then
Larry Boram, Keon Smith, Leo Miikenberg, Daniel Brunskill. All those
guys can play guard and tackle. Two of those guys
have played center in their career and they can play
anywhere in a pinch.
Speaker 2 (02:14):
Right.
Speaker 1 (02:15):
But even though you probably prefer you know certain guys
at guard, certain guys a tackle and so on, and
with Andrew Meyer continuing his progress and looking pretty good
in that, that's nine really good options on top of
what you have on depth beyond that, and the ability
to shuffle as you see fit for whatever injury. You're
giving yourself a better chance to win in the short
(02:35):
yardage game, your power inside game, and off the edge.
You're giving yourself a better chance to withstand the attrition
that comes on the offensive line in a given season.
And this is not a knock on anybody in particular,
but you go into that Houston game last year, a
game that you had to win, and if you did
win that, coming off the you know, the Packers loss
and then the Jets win. You get to seven and
(02:55):
seven with a stretch of games that we were winnable.
You know, you can beat the Niners and Browns and
the Jets in the finale and you make the playoffs
if you run the table there. And you go into
that game with a guy that you just signed off
the street in Jackson Carmen and a rookie on the
other side, and that's what you dealt with in a
game against d'anil Hunter and Will Anderson arguably the best
pass rush duo in the entire NFL. So the Dolphins
(03:18):
look at that and say, how do we make sure
that doesn't happen again? Well, you go nine, possibly ten
deep on your offensive line with guys that you feel
pretty good about inserting into a game and getting live
game reps in a December game. That is for all
the marbles, right, And I just think you're giving yourself
that opportunity to shore up those wrongs of the past.
(03:39):
And that's just the roster building. In the personnel aspect
of it. There's way more than meets the eye, right,
because how about the execution or the administration stuff to
help this team be the best version of themselves? Like
you have to think about football on a more granular
level about it's not just about Okay, I've got the
twelfth best you know, wide receiver with the ninth best quarterback.
(04:04):
I've got the third best defensive whatever it might be.
It's not as simple as a spreadsheet. Like there's how
do I maximize each of the ninety players or the
fifty three players once you get in season? How do
I motivate them individually and collectively? There's just so many
intangibles and this esoteric nature into the weeds of football
about what actually goes into the product that comes out
(04:27):
on Sundays and why there's so many damn surprises across
the league every year. I don't think anybody in the
world predicted the Washington Commanders would go to the NFC
Championship Game last year, but they put it together with
Dan Quinn. They brought in a bunch of guys that
people thought maybe couldn't play anymore. But between Bobby Wagner
being the key cogna middle of that defense and Austin
Eckler's experience in the backfield, like those moves matter, and
(04:48):
they were impactful players on a championship game loss, but
still appeared in that game football team like it happens
every single year. And I just listened to the Kenny
Steells Fish Tank episode where they were so bought in
in twenty sixteen that playoff year compared to twenty fifteen
when they couldn't get anybody bought in according to Kenny,
(05:08):
and how he knew the game plans so well that
he could break the huddle before Tannehill finish, barking out
the play call because he knew what it was going
to be based upon his just intent investment into those
game plans every single week. And that's something you have
to curate across the NFL season. And not all thirty
two teams get that every single year. I think you
could argue not even half the teams get that every
(05:30):
single year. It's why our expectations for what's supposed to
happen every August goes completely belly up, you know, outside
of the main stays in the league, the Kansas City Chiefs,
that Philadelphia Eagles, the Bottomble Ravens, and so on and
so forth. So I make this whole point because these
earlier practices, and you know, we heard coach McDaniel touch
on the reasoning behind it, and I think he said
(05:51):
there was like, you know, exaggerating four hundred reasons behind it,
but he gave us a couple of specific reasons, talking
about going up to playing the Bears and the Lions
and ten day stretch and joint practices and dealing with
tough football teams and the change and schedule that they'll
see up there, and just really trying to weigh out
all the options and the variables that can help this
team map out the best roadmap to be successful, to
(06:14):
be a winning football team, Like when you, you know, go
on a road trip, and this is probably different from
what it was when I was a kid, but like
you had to get the old Rand McNally map out
and map that thing out. Otherwise you're kind of winging
it and you might make mistakes. But if you have
the roadmap and the game plan, and you've kind of
decided the best way to get to this gas station,
the best way to get to our exit for this
this lunch we're gonna have right here, you're probably going
(06:36):
to better execute that plan. And if this all like
increases your ability to get in more quality work in
the summer and also maybe not expose yourself in these
pretty rough conditions in the middle of the day. Like
I'll tell you first hand, I've been in South Florida
for this is my six year down here, or I
guess fifth year, because I didn't move down here in
the pandemic here for the entire season or the entire year.
(06:57):
But like, it is different at nine am than it
is at even eleven am. It gets a lot harder
than even worse at one o'clock in the afternoon, and
right now at two o'clock. So I'm talking to this podcast.
It's pretty miserable out there. But nine o'clock in the morning,
slight breeze, some cloud coverage, wasn't that bad. And so
I think that, you know, I heard the Heat the
Call podcast and they were talking about one of the
hosts had come down to Disney World in July and
(07:20):
he was like, never again. I'm never going to Florida
in July again, And like, I get it. My kids
are going stir crazy because it's tough to get outside
right now. And the whole thing behind that is like, well,
maybe if we can reduce the number of hours we're
out in the worst part of the day, maybe that
can have like a long term impact on how this
team is able to be sustained, you know, for the
(07:43):
entirety of the season, not even just coming out of
the gates like six and two and then being in
a good spot going into the late part of the season.
And I'm not gonna sit here and say that hard
training camps are why this team has had, you know,
less than desirable December results. But I think you can
look at it and pontificate that and wonder how you
can fix that, and then I guess the pushback on
that might say, like, well, yeah, the seventies Dolphins under Shula,
(08:06):
you know, they were out there three times a day
in this stuff. But you know, if you're as old
as me, you remember Zach Thomas and Jason Taylor and
those Dolphins teams. They were consistently you know, five and
one out of the gates and then would have a
tough December loss, And you know, I just think maybe
there's something there to reducing some of that workload and
just not being in the hottest part of the hottest
or in the hottest part of the day in the
(08:28):
hottest region in America. I don't know, I feel like
there could be something to that, and maybe it can
help you just sustain the season a little bit better.
But back to the larger point, let's create harder elements,
right to push us through that adversity now and McDaniel
touched on this various points of the offseason, about making
practice hard and creating competition through the roster construction. And
(08:49):
you can look at that on the defensive side of
the ball, in the defensive backfield, there are guys competing
for work there and really everywhere across the football on
both sides. And I've talked in the podcast about how
by doing that at you create this level of strain
where maybe maybe in years past it was like, well,
I have this rep and I'm trying to get better,
but if I lose it, then it doesn't matter in
terms of my ability to start on Sunday. But what
(09:12):
if you go into that rep with the mindset of
if I can get this third and seven rep locked
down and show good technique and get the quarterback to
either you know, not come at me or to break
the pass up, or if I win this pass rush
is at an edge guy, or if I can hold
the pass protection as an offensive lineman, then maybe that
will get me in the starting lineup. Like that type
of mindset and mentality creates a different level of strain.
(09:32):
To go back to the golf analogy, on the range
versus on the tee box are entirely different golf shots.
It's not it's the exact same thing, provided you're hitting
off grass and not mats, But your mindset doesn't have that.
When you get on the tee box, you know that
this ball goes in the woods. I'm now hitting three
off the tee opposed to on the range. It's like, Oh,
I'll just try it again. It doesn't matter like it's different.
(09:53):
You have to adjust your mindset and put yourself in
as many situations to make yourself battle tested. And I
think these vironments that create that provide value. I think
there's value to coming out in the rain on Wednesday
in day one and getting work in in inclement weather.
It rained today too, so they got that experience and
they got some of the hot, hot heat out there
today as well. So that's like all the administrational execution
(10:16):
stuff that I think pairs with how they've altered their
roster and team building approach. We'll hear from Jalen Wright
on this in a moment in a way that helps
corroborate the idea of something that coach talked about at
the owners meetings back in March or April whenever. That
was about setting your culture through the draft, and Jalen
Wright is a good example of that. We'll come back
to that in one second, but before we continue on that,
(10:38):
just a couple of housekeeping items here before we move
on to the next thing. It's being reported that the
Dolphins are signing Cornell Armstrong a former cornerback out of
Southern miss who was drafted here in the sixth round
back in twenty eighteen. So if that does go through
and becomes an official move, he will join the Dolphins
defensive backfield. Bayron Mactos has movement in all extremities and
(10:58):
is in stable condition. He remains at the Writer Trauma
Center at Jackson Memorial Hospital for continued observation. So good
news for the big fellow there. And then the last
thing here, Benito Jones was in the Orange Jersey and
quite frankly, I thought he brought the noise on his playlist,
very very good playlist for Benito. And I am now
realizing that I just forgot to drop a SoundBite that
I had on my rundown here, and this goes back
(11:21):
to the offensive line stuff. So sorry for the kind
of out of order, but this is a SoundBite from
Patrick Paul that I meant to play earlier talking about
the offensive line in developing chemistry with the fellow young
player on the offensive line in Jonas ofvit Naya. I
thought this was just excellent to hear from the two
young Dolphin studds on the offensive line.
Speaker 3 (11:38):
Ah Man Jonah I mean, we hang out all the time,
so throughout the off season, me and him were here
in this building every single day working, so naturally, when
you spend that much time together, you're jailed like one,
all right.
Speaker 1 (11:47):
So we covered the topic of making things harder on
yourself intentionally. The next theme, I guess I want to
cover that sort of coincides with that, because this idea
of the additions and how they can execute the offense
and Austin Jackson talking about the multiplicity of the run game,
it all kind of blends into this idea of being
(12:09):
a tough football team and being a team that can
go out and implement weather late in the season, playoff games,
all that stuff, and execute a running game and develop
that toughness and lean on teams, right, And we've talked
about the impact of how a strong running game can
really help open your passing game, especially in modern football
with the way coverages are. And I wanted to get
into this because I thought the first three plays of
(12:32):
today's team period work set the.
Speaker 4 (12:35):
Tone and really was really what I wanted to see.
Speaker 1 (12:38):
And I know it's a shorts and shells practice day
two which July twenty fourth, but it's better than not
seeing that, right, Like, all I have to go off
of is the evidence that we have in front of us,
and what I saw was what I was hoping to see.
And so those first run is a devon a Chan
explosive run inside, maybe even scored a touchdown from whatever
seventy seventy five yards wherever the football was. It's hard
(13:00):
to tell, but he did go untouched at the point
of attack and into the second level with a full
head of steam. And who was at the point of
attack folding back the backside cut for eight Chan but
Jonas ofvit Naya and pushing Zach Seeler into the linebackers.
I'm not sure I've seen Zach give ground like that before,
and maybe he got caught by surprise. Maybe it's because
(13:23):
there's no pads. I don't know the context behind it.
I'm telling you what I saw, and I haven't seen
that happen tonight you two ever, So that was great
to see and possibly a first play seventy yard touchdowns
obviously great to see. The very next play is play
action with one of the craziest anticipation throws I've ever
seen too, a make which if you know his game
capital a anticipation is his game where Waddle runs this
(13:45):
deep crosser to the other side of the field about
twenty five yards down the field and to a layers
this thing to a spot with touch and loft, which
when you do this, like if you if you shoot
a fastball in there, like the receivers to catch it
pretty much where he is. But when you can do this,
and you can see with this type of foresight, you
(14:05):
can mitigate pass rush tenfold, right, and that's part of
what makes two us so good. Let's go ahead and
layer this thing softly into a spot and let our
receiver get there, and that will just take away time
where I have the ball in my hands, which reduces
the time the pass rush can get me to the
ground and hit me and force a negative play or
maybe even hurt me. And Wattle runs right under it
and intersects with it at the exact same time as
the football descends towards the earth, and he had the
(14:29):
time to get it out there to what did But
that just helps reduce the need for pass protection.
Speaker 5 (14:34):
Right.
Speaker 1 (14:34):
Then the third play they come back and they run
this wide outside play with Devon a Chan where he
gets to the edge with another full head of steam
into the second level and probably ten yards before he
gets even bumped to the sideline or contacted. And so
I think you've seen this element of power running game
they've added to this front, but doing so without sacrificing
(14:55):
even a modicum of athleticism. In fact, I think it's
not a stretch to say, based upon athletic testing, the
film itself, and just what guys look like on the field,
that you've gotten much more athletic on the offensive line
this year, and it more closely reflects what you had
in twenty twenty three before Rob Hut and Isaiah Win
both took injuries that you forced backups into those spots
(15:15):
and didn't give you your a team offensive line late
in that season. And to me, the impact of that
was the passing offense today looked a lot more like
twenty twenty three than it did in twenty twenty four.
What I mean by that was I had Waddle catching
three passes on intermediate targets between and outside the numbers.
But you know, kind of the flood the middle of
(15:36):
the football field fifteen to twenty twenty five yards down
the field, make these catches where we're chewing off big
chunks with air yards, and Tyreek had two of those
as well, including one of the sickest routes I've ever
seen out here, where it almost looked like he was
going to run a comeback and like showed the shoulders
to the sideline and that widens the corner, and then
he broke it back across face and froze the safety
because the safety's like, what the hell route is that?
(15:57):
What the hell is even that? Then he whips it
back inside and Tua throws another perfect touch timing pass
twenty five yards down the field. Reek accelerates through it
for additional yards of the yach ariety, and I just
saw those things paired together, and I was thinking, like,
all right, well, day two in, I've got some confirmation
on what I thought it might look like. And we'll
(16:18):
see if it continues. But it's pretty excited about that man.
We also saw Ollie Gordon with some inside runs getting
downhill where it's like in your face, now, make a decision,
because I'm going to hit you with the full head
of steam. Makes a move and goes and Jalen Wright, Buddy,
my goodness, I was impressed last year. It's even better
this year. He gets to that second gear off of
his initial cut, so damn fast. It's like a vertical cut,
(16:39):
not horizontal. He was excellent once again today. So that
was my biggest takeaway, this element of power with elite
movers up front who can help the run game, the
play pass game, get more opportunities for the pass game
beyond the second level of defense. And let's go ahead
and conclude this thought here with some soundbites from Jalen
Wright as he discussed the growth that he's experienced with
(16:59):
reading blocks, reading angles, and his tracks as a runner
from year one to year two.
Speaker 4 (17:04):
Here's right a lot.
Speaker 3 (17:05):
I mean last year, I didn't you know the system.
I came from Tennessee. We never ran like outside zone,
wive zone, stuff like that. It's just you know, just
me studying, watching film, you know, just just me being disciplined.
Like I just keep saying discipe because that's what it is,
you know, just staying the course and then you know,
just putting the ball in the right spots.
Speaker 1 (17:22):
And you heard him talk about the aforementioned discipline. I
want to go ahead and just play that answer his
sound bite from that answer, because I think it provides
more context to him talking there about the comfortability, comfort
level going from year one to year two as a
patient and the vision as a runner. Here he is
providing more context on discipline in the process.
Speaker 3 (17:41):
Just me, me being disciplined, and you know, being disciplined
in my responsibility, not not you know, you're putting the
ball in the right spot. No, not every run is
gonna be clean. So you know what I did today,
I was just being patient, just waiting for the opportunity
to happen, just putting the ball on the right spot.
The line of eventure. The line will eventually clean it up.
And when they clean it up, that's when you know,
that's when I flurted.
Speaker 1 (18:01):
So and to put a bow on this first segment
and that topic, you know, coach talked about their fast
twenty one personnel grouping last year, which is two backs
in the field, which is not a fullback right when
you call it fast, it's two running backs and it.
Speaker 4 (18:13):
Was eight chan and raheem.
Speaker 1 (18:14):
I think you've got even more potential there this year,
especially with how DeVaughn continues to grow as a route
runner and progress in that area. And I think right
is more adept at some of the power inside stuff
with a chan's ability to motion and take a jet sweep,
catch a screen run vertical. It puts you in a
buying with your coverage and your personnel, and it just
gives Miami these matchup nightmares together. So that's where I
(18:35):
think that right is so damn valuable. If we have
this back who can be a bit of a bully
and a chan puts you in these defensive minds, It's
so much to think about.
Speaker 4 (18:44):
So I like it a lot.
Speaker 1 (18:45):
I'm excited abou where we're going there in the running
game and how it impacts the rest of the offense.
Let's go ahead and talk some defense on the other side.
Draft Time podcast brought to you by AutoNation, So I
touched on this on the opening part of the podcast
about the depth of the offense, and I had this
conversation with with Kyle Crabs and John Knjemmy and we
were talking about how to best deploy this defense and
(19:08):
with all the depth they have at linebacker, at safety,
up front, on the entire front seven really and perhaps
you know, protect a corner room that as of today
is pretty unproven, and building this defense in a way
where you can mix personnel through various spots and their
depth to mitigate putting more cornerbacks on the field. Because
Kyle made the point like your all your best packages
(19:28):
on defense are going to have three safeties. If you
conclude that you know Minca and if he are are
guys that are going to be the primaries. And then
between the two third round Earth Day three picks the
last two years with Dante, Trader and Patrick mc morris,
if one of them can come down and be like
a quasi you know, box safety, buck linebacker, subpackaged type
of role that can really like expand your versatility in
(19:53):
terms of like Minca can cover everywhere, right if he's
a former college cornerback, so you can use him in
a variety of roles. Cater Co who can do everything,
and then Trader mc morris. These two guys that have
this box presence and can play some hook and can
even play in the deep posts as well.
Speaker 4 (20:07):
It keeps you flexible.
Speaker 1 (20:08):
And maybe it is just cater and Storm Duck or
Cater and you know whoever else the other cornerback might be,
or you know, a new cover whatever it is, Like,
there's all those options, and I just think that between
that the depth linebacker and guys like Willie Gay who
can really help you play in that hook zone, and
that can reduce the need for you know, a safety
in that area.
Speaker 4 (20:26):
So maybe one of your three stages can play back
in the post.
Speaker 1 (20:28):
Like you've got depth in certain areas that can cover
parts of the field where you think like we have
to have x amount of corners, x amount of safeties.
You don't think of like that, think about like the
roles of covering certain areas of the field, having guys
that can rush and cover, having guys that can play
the run, having guys that are stronger versus faster, Like
there's different ways to skin a cat. Here's what I'm
trying to say. And I think that all of that
surrounding elements around that can help you mitigate that and
(20:52):
maybe we can get some growth from that position. Maybe
we can bring in some exterior guys, whatever it might be.
I just think there's options in a way to get
it done. That's my my general take with my general point.
Speaker 4 (21:02):
And so it.
Speaker 1 (21:02):
Wasn't all offense on this Thursday. It usually never is
one side or the other. As much as I laud
the running game, I think my orange Jersey either goes
to Bradley Chubb or Jalen Phillips. Either way, their impact
was felt whoever you want to give it to the
way they can operate as double agents both from the
run game and pass game. And by that I mean
I saw Chubb win with speed around the corner. I
(21:23):
saw him win with power inside. I saw Jalen Phillips
wreck tight ends and fullbacks and tackles on a handful
of outside runs. He had one tackle for loss that
came from that, but he also helped set up Jordan
Brooks for a number of heat seeking missile collision plays
that he would have made in live contact. Might be
another Orange Jersey candidate right there. Those guys might be
the top three on there. Phillips and Chubb run game work.
(21:45):
I know it's the pass rush that makes the marque
for those guys, but damn it, we missed them. We
missed their energy, their impact and the running game, their
impact overall. I asked Chop Robinson what it was like
to have those two guys back on.
Speaker 5 (21:56):
The It's been great, especially those guys since they helped
me so much lest year off the fielding in on
the field, so being out there in the field with him,
and they're the guys that I used to watch when
I was in college and everything, So it just it's
a blessing and it's fun to be out there with him.
Speaker 1 (22:08):
Chop also got in on the fund with a sack
of his own today. I think we had two from
Chubb as well. There was also some coverage sacks in
this practice, or at least you know, the pressure throwaway
impacted the quarterback by their pressure that was aided by
good coverage down the field, and I think Minka fitzpatrick
had a lot to do with that. Ashton Davis as well.
Patrick McMorris nearly had a pick and I thought was
(22:29):
in good shape throughout the day. But back to Minka,
I just kept an eye on him throughout individual drills
today and he looks like a wide receiver tracking the
football and the way he plucks it and gets the
feet down like it kind of reminds me of like
if you ever have a chance to watch a world
class golfer on the driving range, Like, let me emphasize
and slow take away, my takeaway of the club, my rotation,
(22:50):
the club face, and the right spot at the top
of the swing. The trail arm, dropping back into the slot,
rotate through the finish and strike and hold that finish.
It's just all very intentional, and that's how you kind
of create this muscle memory of sequencing things together. That
was the vision that I got when watching Minka go
through individual drills. And speaking of intentionality, I am just
(23:11):
such a big fan of Zach Sealer.
Speaker 4 (23:13):
Man. He had some plays today as well. He always
makes his plays.
Speaker 1 (23:16):
I know he kind of got the brunt of my
comment about Jonas Ofvit Andaya, but that's more of a
praise of the rookie, because when you can beat a
guy that deserves All Pro team like Zach Seeler, it
speaks more to you than it does the All Pro
or potential All Pro. But I want to play some
soundbites here from Zach Sealer because this guy is the man.
He was asked about his situation and I just think
this is how you answer this question, and there's no
(23:37):
better way to do.
Speaker 2 (23:38):
It really came down to is being able to get
here seasons right around the corner, four or five weeks away,
and I want to be out here and be with
the guys like I talked about earlier and build that
culture to have a fast start to the season and
carry that out all the way to the winner.
Speaker 1 (23:53):
He was also asked about his level of compensation over
the years and how he feels about it. And I
just think this is this is who zax Hiler is
right here.
Speaker 4 (24:01):
Man.
Speaker 2 (24:01):
We have more than we ever imagined. I am beyond
blessed from these last seven years alone. My wife and
I love how our life has turned out, and it's
just been awesome. Now I do feel like I want
to get there. I do feel that respect coming and
I feel like I've earned it. I know I've earned it.
And I think something we always joke about my wife
(24:22):
and I is I played at D two. Christian likes
to tell me that all the time. He still does.
He told me that before we start a camp, I
was cut twice. All that stuff I think I have.
I know I have the best years ahead of me.
I didn't play for three years in the NFL, only
played two and a half in college, so you really
think about it like I got less years under my
belt than some rookies do. So I really feel like
my best years are ahead of me, and I have all
that knowledge and experience from the last seven years, so
(24:43):
I'm really excited to see what his next few years
have in.
Speaker 1 (24:45):
Store for me. And just one more I asked Zach
for a little scoutyrpoort on jonahsavit Naya after the rep
that I talked about.
Speaker 4 (24:52):
Here is the event on the.
Speaker 2 (24:53):
Rook Jonas is obviously young. He has all the talent
in the world. His frame is great, he has good
I'm excited to see him grow as a player. It's
been awesome to work with him, and at the old adage,
iron sharpens iron, so the best thing to do is
go out there and play against each other make each
other better. So it's been really cool seeing him and
Pat Paul grow and work together, as well as all
(25:14):
the guys across the line.
Speaker 4 (25:16):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (25:16):
Man, Like with Steeler, you talk about wanting to lock
in your culture. You want to afford yourself to shoot
some spending flexibility, Like is there anybody on this roster
who a sets a better example in terms of how
to do everything, like literally everything, or be someone that
you can trust to play at a high level for
several more years, like he talked about it there about
(25:37):
you know his how he feels like his best ball
still ahead of him, and even at his age, I
think there's like a lot of kalay Is Campbell there right.
Like the length isn't going to go anywhere. He still
has those long arms and that pure brute strength. The
work habits sure as hell aren't disappearing. He's durable as hell.
He missed two games one time because he got his
freaking eyebroken in practice, and he was ever a guy
that won with pure speed. So even if that goes
(25:58):
a little bit, I don't think his game goes at all.
He's got eighteen other things he can use to win,
and he's going to do that year in and year out.
In my opinion, I just think that he's like a
franchise cornerstone that it can help you in every single
way that a football team can be improved. Speaking of
defensive tackles, I am so confident in what I've seen
from Jordan Phillips in just two practices, and I've been
(26:18):
wrong plenty, but pairing that with his tape and the
way I think he can naturally leverage guys with the
grip strength. Again, I talk about it all the time,
but I also sat with John Knjemmi today and he
was talking about Tony Siragusa, a noted wrestler turned Hall
of Fame football player, and he was saying that before
Goose got huge, he was just a guy that would
whip you at two hundred and seventy pounds using those
(26:40):
wrestling traits, and guys had no idea how to contend
with him. And I'm not making the comparison there, but
you see the impact of those wrestling traits both in
his Maryland tape and so far here at practice. And
the thing that really gets me excited about him is
the biggest flash I saw from him the entire day
was a rep where he got out of the gate
off the football before anybody else offense or defense, and
(27:00):
by the time he contacted Dan Brunskill, he was just
getting out of his stance and Jordan was so effective
in his technique and pad level and hand placement that
he had no shot to anchor against Jordan, and he
went for a ride into the backfield. I freaking love
his game. Man. Let's go back to the offense here
real quick. I think Zach Wilson's growth in timing is noticeable,
(27:23):
but I think there's something that he's currently working through
and he's talked about this that can really help him
gain confidence and maximize the traits that he offers within
the offense and take a bigger step here. Like most
the reps were really good today and yesterday too, And
when he isn't perfectly on time, he can overcome that
with some escapability but also the strong arm to jam
that thing into a tight window. But on the incompletions,
(27:44):
it looks like his processing is going faster than his
feet and the feat can kind of get stuck, and
that's a sequencing.
Speaker 4 (27:50):
You have to kind of pair it together.
Speaker 1 (27:51):
And I want to make it clear that I'm not
trying to disparage his game or his practice, but I'm
saying that, I think because that's something that can come
with time as he gets more and more reps here,
live reps in these practices like it's day two, but
even just from the spring, I think there's noticable growth
that he's made there and Quinn viewers for that matter
as well. Let's go ahead and play this sound by
here from Zach to close out the segment, talking about
(28:12):
the growth and timing from the spring now to the summer.
Speaker 6 (28:14):
Yeah, I think it's been good. I feel like I've
been playing more on time, but I think it's just
consistently getting even better, and I think as camp goes on,
I'll feel more of that. But I feel like I
worked on a lot of these things in the last
forty days that I feel good when when I'm able
to go out there and do some of them coming
into camp.
Speaker 1 (28:30):
Let's take our last break right there, come back on
the other side, and get a few more practice highlights.
That's next Draft Time podcast, brought to you by AutoNation.
Concluding this podcast with some highlights from practice. I did
a little breakdown on Cater's past breakup on Twitter, but
he's been super sharp through two days, including some nice
leverage and technique and a good rep a good win
(28:53):
against Tyreek Hill. Of all people out there, Ethan Bonner
had himself a day. Zach Wilson threw a gorgeous ball
up the sideline to Erica Zookama, and he had Bonner stacked,
but Bonner stayed right and trail technique and beat the
safety to the sideline. That the football did and Bonnard
did as well. But Bonnard pokes his hand the last
second knocks that thing out. Damn nearest tole a pick
but gets a pass breakup. Also had a punch out
(29:14):
fumble in the seven to seven portion of practice on
Malik Washington. Wanda had a fumble later on as well
during the team drills, and Patrick mc morris also had
a really nice day, though he did drop a pick
one of two dropped i iNTS, one was from Zach Wilson,
one from Quinn Ewers. The other drop pick was Elijah Campbell,
and the entire team ran gassers at the conclusion of practice,
(29:35):
with the defense doing some push ups as well. That's
just a continuation of that self policing self punishment that
Austin Jackson talked about and we kind of alluded to
off the top of the podcast. Bj Adams ran stride
for stride with Malak Washington to force an incomplete pass
on a deep ball. He's got those those man coverage
press chops that I thought showed out a little bit today.
And then Jordan Brooks. I just keep talking about him,
but it's it's pretty simple, like he's just dominant. He
(29:57):
plays so fast, he gets downhill. In fact, Zach Seiler
talked about Jordan Brooks a little bit here after practice.
Speaker 2 (30:04):
You know, like Jordan Brooks got here last year. Me
and him really started clicking last season because you know,
it's not immediate. You can't build a relationship out of
thin air. And nothing beats that more in time. So
to have that time with these guys and be able
to work with them from day in and day out,
and not even on the field, just in life. Hey,
I got an issue off the field, like something's going
on back home whatever, just talking through it and just
(30:25):
being vocal about it all. Sorry whoever that is. But yeah,
so that's the best part.
Speaker 1 (30:32):
That was a recorder being knocked off the table and
then returned to the table by Zack Seiler.
Speaker 4 (30:36):
What a guy. So there you go. More stuff there.
A couple more notes.
Speaker 1 (30:38):
I thought Alec Ingold had a nice day, although the
rep that jumped out to me the most was the
one matchup with Jalen Phillips where Jalen got the better
of Alec. But Jalen was doing that to everybody all
day long. Tanner Connor made a few plays again, I
think he's looked sharp. See what else here? Moo Kamara
got really good knockback on a rep against Jackson Carmen.
I had changin Tindall with a tag off around the
lion of scrimmage in the running game to Quat and
(30:59):
Jackson had stuff on Alexander Madison run and quinn Ewers
had to throw where he like dropped his arm angle
and flipped that thing out there and it was a
drop pass. But I was like, that looks pretty nice
right there, the way he can drop that slot and
flinging that ball out there. I thought there were some
challenging days that can be improved upon. Daniel Brunskill was
one of those guys. Larry Borham, Ryan Hayes thought Kenneth Grant,
(31:20):
like I keep getting asked about him, I think that
he's kind of going through a golf reference here, a
swing change, getting the pad level, playing more consistently low.
Speaker 4 (31:27):
I think that that's haven't seen the major impact.
Speaker 1 (31:30):
I think because of that, and JJ Watt tweeted about
how like he can't believe people keep stats on practice
because of the purpose of practice. I highly recommend going
and finding that tweet when you think about training camp practices.
I just think he's working and I have no question
whether or not he can get himself going full speed
by the time this season gets here and being a
dominant player. I thought Kendall Sheffield and Cam Smith were
(31:52):
in some coverage or they were, I didn't think that
on some of the intermediate passes to Reek and Waddle.
Speaker 4 (31:57):
So there we go. That's it. Tomorrow.
Speaker 1 (31:59):
Will do the exact same thing over again on Saturday
as well, and then take Sunday off and come back
and do it a bunch more times next week. In
the meantime, you all please be sure to subscribe to
the podcast.
Speaker 4 (32:08):
Leave us at writing, leave us a review.
Speaker 1 (32:09):
You can follow me on social at Winkle NFL and
the team at Miami Dolphins. Check out the YouTube channel
for Dolphins HQ, Media availabilities, drive time content and so
much more. And last, butt not least Miami Dolphins dot com.
Until next time, fins up Caroline, Cameron and Willow Daddy.
Speaker 4 (32:25):
He's coming, Hope,
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