July 11, 2025 • 42 mins
Two more guests join Travis as we’re talking farming, football and country life with Willie Gay Jr. and Benito Jones. Plus, the Lions, Packers, Vikings and Bears go under the microscope today as we preview the NFC North.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is drive Ton with Travis Wingfield. What is up Dolphins?
And welcome to the Draft Time Podcast. I am your host,
Travis Wingfield, And on today's show, you are in for
a treat. I have the big personality, we'll say, and
(00:22):
Willie Gay on the show. Benito Jones gonna drop by
as well. We talked a lot about farming. Those guys
both own land out in Mississippi, their home states, and
they were geeked up to talk about it with me.
But Willy is just all personality, all juiced and tons
of fun to talk about in the podcast. Has second
appearance on the show before he's even play his first game,
so we'll look forward to that.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
But Itito as well. And the NFC North is the
division we preview today. Lions, Packers, Vikings and Bears. All
of that and more from the Baptist Hell Studios inside
my House. This is the Draft Time Parker da joining
us for his second time in like three or four
months here on the Draft Time Podcast his new Dolphins
linebacker Willie Gay.
Speaker 3 (01:00):
Willie, what's up man?
Speaker 4 (01:00):
How we up? Man? I'm doing good? Happy to be here, which.
Speaker 2 (01:03):
I can't complain at all. I'm happy to have you
back here. We just talked to you, so I was
like kind of talking to you before the show here,
and I'm like, what should we talk about because we
talked a lot about the football previously. Let's do it
like a catch up, Like, what's it been like since
I last spoke to you, just getting to know the facility,
your teammates, your coaches, all that stuff.
Speaker 5 (01:19):
Well, it's been amazing. Everybody's amazing. I mean, it's you know,
sometimes it's just cliche to say that, but it's actually
I love it here. You know, the players, the coaches
are amazing. I like the way the programmers ran, you know.
I mean, I can't speak for anything in the past,
but I liked in the direction that we're heading in,
and I just feel like it's gonna be a good year, man,
So hoping for that.
Speaker 2 (01:39):
Without getting into too much specifics here, the defense really
seems to kind of suit your skills and care to
what you do. How have you noticed that translates so
far through a few ota practices.
Speaker 5 (01:49):
Like you say, it fits me, man, And we've got
a lot of linebackers right now on Rocks that can
run and hit. You know, I won't name them because
it's so many but everybody know, we just we were
skilled all in different ways, but you know we all
have the same skills in a lot of ways as well.
And I see that's kind of what the Dolphins were.
(02:10):
We're looking for and looking for linebackers and I can
see myself in his defense for a long time. So
hopefully that's a thing we get to.
Speaker 2 (02:20):
Yeah, I'd love to hear that because I want to
see you here for a long time, and I want
to see a coach Weaver here for a time. Personally,
that's just me talking for a lot of Dolphins fans there.
But you know, we had Tyrrel Dotson. T dot was
on did a press conference a couple of weeks ago,
and he talked about how the defense kind of runs
through the middle linebackers. Yeah, I'm curious just to get
someone else that plays the positions perspective on that.
Speaker 5 (02:39):
Uh No, it's true, man. You know those guys coach
gives the call out, we all can hear it. But
you know, from a mic linebacker's perspective, they have to
set the front. You know, we both have to know everything,
but from the MIC, he has to set the front.
Get everyone, you know, on the same page when we
check calls, check defenses, and you know, as a wheel
dying backer linebacker, you know, we're just just a voice
(03:02):
for you know, to make sure he's that code and
make sure if he gets something wrong, we correct him,
or we get something wrong, he corrects us. So we
all just playing on the cord man, helping each other
out as much as possible.
Speaker 2 (03:13):
Yes, it sounds like, I mean a lot of times
people can put those positions in the same bucket, right,
It's a lot of different.
Speaker 5 (03:19):
Responsibility, especially depending on what type of scheme you run.
Some teams are one hundred percent relying on the miclnebacker.
And thank god it's not one of those teams, you know,
because I've seen it, you know, hurt some guys at
the mic linebacker position to the point it's so much
mentally that it slows them down physically, you know, and
(03:39):
that's not what you want.
Speaker 2 (03:40):
You got to put the fastest game man. One one
false step can take it down. To quote something Rapp
said that, But no, I mean, I'm, you know, as
far as the football goes excited to see all that,
But I kind of want to change gears here and
switch over to some of the stuff we've talked about
a little bit off the air, yeah, man, and the
farming life.
Speaker 3 (03:56):
Man.
Speaker 2 (03:57):
We just had Benito Jones in here. He talked about
his trucking and logging company.
Speaker 4 (04:00):
Yeah, he got it going on. Man.
Speaker 3 (04:01):
He's just chill.
Speaker 2 (04:01):
About it, man. He doesn't want to talk too much.
He just wants to kind of sit back and enjoy
as farm. Is that is that kind of how you
see yourself?
Speaker 4 (04:07):
Definitely.
Speaker 1 (04:08):
Man.
Speaker 5 (04:08):
I'm actually going back home this Saturday, you know, for
the summer, and I just I haven't started my garden
and everything yet. I haven't started all that because I'm
not home as much. So I'm gonna get my mom
to run it whenever I do. But you know, I'm
getting my animals situated.
Speaker 1 (04:22):
Man.
Speaker 5 (04:22):
I got my ducks, my chickens, you know, my dogs
out there, for sure. I got to keep my babies
out there. But the ducks, man, and they a lot
of work. I don't know if you knew that, But
the ducks wear me out. The chickens they cool.
Speaker 4 (04:33):
You know.
Speaker 5 (04:34):
I got like fifteen chickens now, six ducks cows coming
this summer. That's the plan for now. We're getting the
fencing and everything put up. So it's just getting something
to give me peace, man, when I'm away from football,
and you know, it's something I've always wanted to do.
But still educating myself on it as well, because I
mean it's obviously it's more than just getting animals and
(04:54):
putting them out on the land, you know, So just
trying to find my piece in that and grow it
as much as possible.
Speaker 3 (05:01):
You're building your roster. Yeah, the farm.
Speaker 2 (05:05):
So I got to go back to the ducks because
I mean, I'm I'm intrigued.
Speaker 3 (05:09):
What's so difficult about the ducks.
Speaker 5 (05:11):
So ducks love water, obviously everyone knows that, right, But
it's not just the water that they love. They don't
just see water and just you know, be happy. They
got to get in and splash around. They dip their
beaks in it, which is not bad. It's the standing
in and jumping in it and and splashing it all
over the place is what messes everything up. So now
you have to change the area that they're in over
(05:33):
and over. So I've seen a lot of people put
rocks under the ducks, like wherever their enclosure is, and
that's smart. But right now I got them in grass,
and so every two three days I'm having to switch
them and change them wherever, you know, around the yard.
And man, yeah, they messy, Man, they real messy. And
they poop a lot. They poop a lot, so they
poop in the water. You have to change the water
(05:54):
every every day. We change the water. So yeah, but
the chickens, you know, they chilling. They they scratch in
the ground a little bit, help the soil. They peck
around and that's about it. Man, they just eat a lot.
Speaker 2 (06:08):
Sounds like it sounds like a duck is like having
a messy locker neighbor.
Speaker 4 (06:11):
Exactly.
Speaker 5 (06:12):
That's exactly what it's like, like a teenager exactly right.
Speaker 2 (06:16):
Yeah, I mean I play a lot of golf down here,
and everywhere you go there's a billion ducks. Of course,
you said you have six, but I feel like six
becomes thirty six overnight if.
Speaker 4 (06:25):
You let it. Yeah.
Speaker 5 (06:25):
So one thing I learned. I'm learning with some farmers,
like duck farmers and everything. They get the males out
of there so they won't breathe, which is smart because
I mean, I don't want many more ducks.
Speaker 4 (06:38):
I can't lie. It's six is enough.
Speaker 5 (06:41):
I'll take a lot more chickens, but the ducks, man,
and they're scary, some of them real skitdish. So obviously
that don't help, you know, because you try to help
them out and change the area and they running away
from you.
Speaker 4 (06:52):
It's cool though, man, it's fun.
Speaker 2 (06:54):
So do any of your teammates besides but you to
talk to you about this kind of stuff.
Speaker 1 (06:59):
Here.
Speaker 5 (07:00):
I haven't met anyone else yet, but I'm sure some
other people has experience with it. So I'm just looking
forward to seeing who you know and picking their brains
as much as possible, because, like I said, man, I'm
still educating myself about farming in general. So obviously I'm
not retired yet and pray to God I don't be
no time soon. So just over the next few years
(07:22):
to continue to learn and grow in the area, and
so when I do retire, you know, I'm ready to
attack it head on.
Speaker 3 (07:29):
So yeah, that's that's cool man.
Speaker 2 (07:31):
It sounds like it's it's nice to have kind of
like a map of what you want to be down
the road.
Speaker 5 (07:35):
Right.
Speaker 3 (07:35):
Oh yeah, you mentioned gardening.
Speaker 2 (07:36):
I assume it's something you're still kind of trying to
learn a little bit, Like what how did you teach
yourself any of that in the first place, Like you
go to YouTube for that type of.
Speaker 4 (07:44):
Stuff you just learned.
Speaker 5 (07:45):
So where I'm from, I mean a lot of people
from the country, but you know, you have people around the.
Speaker 4 (07:50):
Way that does it already.
Speaker 5 (07:51):
Like I got a guy next door to me that
has cows, so I go to him for that type
of stuff advice. You know, my mom and my grandmother
know when my great grandmother was living when they was
coming up, they would grow their food and stuff like that,
so my mom knows a lot about it. So yeah,
that's where we are right now with it, man, just
trying to see where to start and how to manage
(08:14):
it while I'm going so much, you know, because you know,
your people check in on your property and everything and
your land, you know, but you don't want rabbits and
deer in there picking around and messing everything up. So
we're trying to just find the right time to start.
And like I said, it's still educate myself on that
as well, you know, reading watching videos. That's really I
mean TikTok YouTube man, Like it's you don't need anything
(08:37):
else other than those two, honestly.
Speaker 4 (08:38):
So yeah, I.
Speaker 2 (08:39):
Feel like Gardening is a really good metaphor for not
just life or not like by football. Right, Like you
plant your seed, right, you get in the gym, you
lift the weights, and that's kind of like.
Speaker 5 (08:49):
Yeah, that's life. Whatever you put in, you get out,
you know. So if you plant on bad soil, you
get bad crops. I love it, you know.
Speaker 2 (08:56):
So life's of guarden. Man, did it last one for
your hare? Last time we hud you on talked about
the juice Man. But you got to earn the juice man, right,
got to earn it. I haven't had a game, it's
hadn't had a chance to earn it out there. But
has there been a juice man moment of practice? We
haven't seen yet.
Speaker 5 (09:09):
I've been out there running around, man, you know, I've
been having my fun. I can't lie, but I won't
give myself too much critics because I mean I haven't
done anything yet, you know, worth anything. But when the
season comes around, man, obviously I get my first chance
in pre season, you know, real chance for the fans
to see and everything. Hopefully then man, I can earn
that name again from them and from my teammates. So
(09:30):
that's my plan, just to continue to be who I am,
you know, and express my love for the game and emotion,
you know, Like I tell people, I don't do this
because I'm trying to be seen. That's just love being
around the football, you know, so, and that's where it
comes from. So hopefully they'll see it, man, and I
can earn that back.
Speaker 2 (09:47):
So one of my favorite traditions already is the coming
out of the indoor.
Speaker 4 (09:51):
Yeah yeah, you hear it.
Speaker 3 (09:52):
Yeah yeah, I can't.
Speaker 5 (09:54):
I started that, man, like three years ago in Kansas City,
and it helps me get my blood going.
Speaker 1 (09:59):
You know.
Speaker 4 (09:59):
I don't know what it is, but it wakes me up.
Speaker 5 (10:01):
You know, I've been in means all morning and now
we're going out at twelve, have to be in a
meet since eight o'clock.
Speaker 3 (10:06):
Wake up a little bit.
Speaker 4 (10:06):
It gives me.
Speaker 1 (10:07):
Right.
Speaker 3 (10:07):
Here's the movie I Love You Man with Paul Rudd and.
Speaker 4 (10:10):
Jason I know a name, but I can't close.
Speaker 2 (10:12):
He takes him under the pier to like, yell, to
like and act as like primitive nature.
Speaker 3 (10:17):
Same thing.
Speaker 2 (10:18):
Yeah, good stuff, Willy, get appreciate you man, Thanks, thank
you man. Little inside baseball for you guys. So media
day is a chaotic day where everyone is running around
with multiple stations, they go through medical checks, they're doing
their headshots for the primetime games. The cbe like everything
that you see in a production on Sunday is probably
filmed at some point on media Day. And Willie was
(10:39):
all done and had the podcast left to do, and
we were like, you don't have to do it, man,
like you did the show three months ago, and he
was like, hey for this guy anything. So you know
your boy loves it when the guys are nice to me.
So that was a fun chat with a really fun
personality and a guy that I think is going to
have just an awesome year and a great fit in
this defense. Let's go ahead and take a break right there,
come back on the other side and do the marathon.
(11:02):
Do a long division preview. NFC North Packers, Lions, Bears,
Vikings Up Next Draft Time podcast brought to you by
Auto Nation.
Speaker 3 (11:18):
NFC North gets our.
Speaker 2 (11:19):
Attention today in starting off with the team that has
recently owned the division after several decades of not doing that.
The Detroit Lions and the personnel changes are vast for
this team and they get to endure for the first
time in franchise history since Bobby Lane was there kind
of facing what all wildly successful teams eventually faced, the
(11:41):
depletion of their coaching staff. Ben Johnson ran it back
last year and they can't get past that first playoff
game and one of the biggest upsets in recent playoff memory.
And then Aaron Glenn leaves for a head coaching job,
and now Dan Campbell has maybe his biggest test yet.
And I won't actually go that far, because to turn
a team that was a punching bag for thirty plus
(12:02):
years into what this team has become. You know, it's
been since Barry Sanders since they had really any relevance,
and Matthew Stafford and Calvin Johnson were great, but that produced,
you know what, two trips of the playoffs and no
wins in the playoffs. So to do what Dan Campbell
has done is already a major, major win. But this
will be the next test for him. On defense, they
(12:24):
promote from within and you might remember this name the
twenty fifteen Dolphins defense. Calvin Shepherd's the DC now as
he will step in for Glenn, while John Morton, the
pass game coordinator for the Broncos the last two seasons,
will take the OC job. Remember Dan Campbell played for
and coached under Sean Payton, so now he raids his
ex bosses coaching staff now his Xbox's coaching staff. On
(12:46):
the roster, well, they retained a lot sixteen returning players
who were free agents, most notably Levi on Wuzaigue, Dan Skipper,
and Alquidin Mohammad as far as outside helped goes Roy
Lopez on the defensive front, dj Reed the cornerback from
the Jets, roky of Sin and Davonte Maddox also cornerbacks.
You might remember they were pretty thin in the secondary
(13:07):
down the stretch, and then injuries to both sides up
front and the back really kind of did them in.
It made him a skeleton crew down the stretch, culminating
in that playoff loss where they just couldn't get a
stop on Jayden Daniels and the Commanders. And though they've
protected themselves against what happened last year with some additions,
they've also lost quite a bit. Zadarius Smith, Jalen Reeves,
mayben if emlafon Wu, John Kaminski, Kevin Zeitler, Carlton, Davis Kindle,
(13:30):
Vildor all gone. That's a lot of key parts of
that team, and the biggest one one that you cannot
replace because senators who can reach a two technique on
the play side of outside zone. There's like four guys
in the league that can do that. Aaron Brewer is
one of them, and Frank Ragnow was one, but he
is now retired. He was one of the best centers
in football. I think their first round pick, though, tay
(13:51):
Lee Williams is such a freaking culture fit and good player,
one of my favorite picks in the entire first round.
The film for the Lions, the calling card, I have
to imagine Jared Goff will have something of a cooc
tag here, and not officially but just in theory, because
this is one of the smartest players in the league
and there's no chance on earth that Dan Campbell just says,
go give Jared Goff a news system like that's not
(14:13):
how he coaches, because I don't think that Ben Johnson's
creativity or really even his scheme is achievable without him.
So I imagine you get some pieces of it that
Goff likely melded with what Morton does, which is going
to be some version of the Sean Payton West Coast
style attack.
Speaker 4 (14:30):
Right.
Speaker 3 (14:31):
I do know this.
Speaker 2 (14:32):
They believe in the running game and it will still
be paramount, and you'd be silly not to lean into
that with the offensive line they've assembled and that star
running back of theirs. But I do think you could
see some early growing pains. Potentially they really enjoyed that.
Continuity and change is not easy, and I don't think
it's a given that a plug and play line fix
will just slot in for you, especially at that key
(14:52):
position in the pivot. I mean, you're going from an
all pro in ragnow to a rookie and Tate Ratledge,
and even if you like rat it's got to be
a little bit of a downgrade, right and then a
first time starter for Zeitler in Christian Mahogany Now, Decker
and Glasgow and Sewell are all there. They're all awesome,
especially those two tackles. Jamir Gibbs, the freaking man Aman Ross,
(15:14):
Saint Brown. If you could have twenty two of him,
you would take it. Jamison Williams, Sam Laporta. It's tough
to find it better for some than Gibbs, Saint Brown,
Williams and Laporta. As far as your skill players go,
then it's Tim Patrick Khalif Rahman, and I think rookie
Isaac Teslaw is going to fit in beautifully there with
their culture and the receiver's room. The defense is where
the questions were last year. But they're gonna get Aiden Hutchinson,
(15:36):
Alee McNeil, on Wuza Rique, Alex Anzeloni all back from injury,
Brian Branch and Kirby Joseph Man. You can't find a
better safety combo and football for my money, Terry and
Arnold has a nice rookie season last year, and then
DJ Reid fits what they do so well right, go
press up and play man coverage. DJ Reiders back in
the interior, Marcus Davenport off the edge. Jack Campbell looks
(15:58):
like the first Browner that he was picked to be.
There's stars all over this team. The question here, I'm
struggling here because I think they had a great offseason
in terms of who they brought in, but I struggled
to balance that against what they lost, especially on the
coaching staff. My biggest questions are Gof's comfort level after
a little bit of a not great end of the
season for him, a rookie center and a first time
(16:20):
play caller on defense. For a team that has the
expectation of high, high level execution, and really anything short
of a championship is probably a failure for them this year. Right,
I don't believe in that, but that's kind of how
they're going to have to operate. But you put that
up against the other thirty one teams, it's really some
of the least amount of questions there are in the league.
Speaker 3 (16:38):
So I always have that perspective.
Speaker 2 (16:39):
I feel like we often can compare like what the
Dolphins do to the Chiefs and Bills, and that is
who you're chasing. Don't get me wrong, but it's not
the full balance of the National Football League when you
do that, right, the miscellaneous factors here, If I'm a
Lions fan, I am slightly annoyed to open up at
Lambeau just because I think the first game is the
worst version you're going to see of this particular Lions team.
Speaker 3 (16:58):
I could be wrong.
Speaker 2 (16:59):
That's my forecast here, and that could be paramount in
the race for the division, right, Like it could come
down to if you beat green Bay and green Bay
or not. But how about this. If there's one concerning
stat for the Lions, it's Golf's indoor and outdoor splits.
After back to back trips to Washington and Philly in
mid November, they play one more game outside, three road games,
(17:19):
two of them in Minnesota in LA the finale a
soldier field against a Bears team that hasn't had anything
to play for in Week eighteen. In freaking years, the
trapdoor scenario, quarterback injury as always, and perhaps the rookie
center and golf get on the wrong page and it
causes a breakdown, I guess, and that gets golf hit.
Speaker 3 (17:35):
I don't know.
Speaker 2 (17:36):
I think they're protected better against all the attrition on
defense they had last year, but I would say the
depth of the offense is taken a bit of a hit.
Like if they lose either tackle, there's not really a
legitimate starter. I like Dan Skippers a sixth offensive lineman,
I don't think I like him blocking Miles Garrett for
forty times a game. The conclusion, there's no reason to
think the Lions will regress by the six games it
(17:57):
would take to knock them out of playoff contention. They
won fifteen freaking games last year. I don't think they'll
win fifteen again. But we do see this all the
time where a team has a devastating playoff loss off
of a great season, has a tougher regular season. The
next year, maybe they win eleven games and then rolls
through the playoffs with a tougher path. The Chiefs did
this literally two years ago. The Green Bay Packers were
(18:19):
up next, and I like this this club quite a lot.
The changes you want to talk about, continuity, head coach, OC, DC,
quarterback all that they're all back, and last year on
this podcast, I opined if calling upon a college head
coach to be your DC would work, and boy did it,
and that might be a more in vogue thing now
with how college football has become basically, you know, a
(18:41):
B league of the NFL with you know, nil money
and all that stuff. But Jeff Hafley is one of
the best dcs in the game now and he'll probably
have to do an even better job because the Packers'
secondary kind of got rated this offseason and not a
ton of additions to offset that. Out our Jay Year Alexander, Corey, Ballentine,
Eric Stokes, then outside of the cornerback position to Daryl Slayton,
(19:02):
AJ Dillon, Josh Myers in Nate Hobbs. I love his
game Aaron Banks was a big addition to the guard spot.
Isaiah Simmons I think will be a fun piece for
Halfley and maybe maybe the next Zach Bond high draft
pick didn't work out right away, goes to a new
team and finds payroll payday, Peter Mikole, Hardman, Matthew Golden
(19:23):
in the first round, Anthony Belton the draft pick, and
Saveon Williams. They took a lot of receivers. Man, you
guys remember how much I liked saveon on the draft process.
I think the Packers have the most good receivers on
their roster. Maybe any team has ever had the film
the calling card that's the calling card for the offense
right This is one of, if not my favorite variations
of the Shanahan McVeigh tree. I implore the Dolphins to
(19:45):
follow suit with the Josh Jacobs inside zone duo combination
to go with their spread out passing game. Miami I
think is doing that this year with who they added,
But they incorporated that power run game that called upon
the combination of those two run schemes in addition to
their outside zone stretch game, and Josh Jacob made that go.
But when you talk about a ball distribution offense and
doing it through a bunch of guys who are probably
(20:06):
number twos, but like high end number twos, it just works.
Speaker 1 (20:10):
Man.
Speaker 2 (20:10):
They space the field so well they marry their run
and pass concepts to flow seamlessly. Laflora has had an
excellent feel for in game flow. And I just think
Jordan Love is really, really damn good. And with Jacobs,
I think Jayden reed to me. Jaden Reid's a number
one receiver, like if Riek was going to get traded
this offseason, like Green Bay and Jaden Reid would have
been the team that I was like looking at if
(20:31):
I was Chris Career, then Romeo Dobbs, Christian Watson. He
might miss a good chunk of the season though coming
off knee injury. Dontavian Wicks is a good player. I
like Savion Williams, and I don't think you draft Matthew
Golden unless you intend to throw a bunch of footballs
this year. Then you get two really good tight ends,
and Tucker Craft and Luke Musgrave, those guys are awesome players.
Speaker 3 (20:50):
I like these guys.
Speaker 2 (20:51):
The line is good, but has had injury issues in
the past. Rashid Walker, and then Aaron Banks is the
big splash at left guard. Elton Jenkins is one of
the best players in the damn league for my money,
Sean Ryan and then Zach Tom their second round pick
figures to be a swing tackle in Anthony Belton. And
you know Zach Tom can move around, so can Elton Jenkins.
So perhaps Belton is just like the sixth man up
and then they move around whoever they have to to
(21:12):
account for injuries. I love this offense. I didn't even
mention me Cole Hartman and that whole bit right there. Defensively,
they play more middle closed than most teams do. That's
a safety in the middle of the field with four
down linemen. And Halfley talked about his time in San Francisco,
So think about those Robert Sala and Jets defenses, aggressive
on the perimeter, rangey safeties and boy does he have
(21:34):
that Nick Zaper McKinney. But they can get to all
that too high stuff because of that player, because of
how they're coached and how they can stop the run
with safeties in rotation opposed to coming downhill. And the
thing I love, Yes, they lost Slayton to the and
those corners, but really the only new addition slated to
start is Nate Hobbs. They do have a lot of
continuity there in that regard, but I mean Rashaan Garry,
(21:56):
DeVante Wyatt, Kenny Clark, Lucas van Ness and kway Walker,
Edrin Cooper. It's a pretty nice front seven there, and
what do you know another team that has a really
strong front seven and maybe doesn't have the name power
on the back. And that's kind of where the game
is going right now. More about team football on the
back end. The question here, I think depth in several areas,
but particularly on defense. The real question is in the secondary.
(22:17):
Keshawn Nixon and Javon Bullard are listed to the starters
on our Lads depth charts, and those were both backups
a year ago and they came up due to injuries.
If they get an injury there, the picking is get
thin real quick. I think you could say the same
thing about the offensive line, but man, I think they
stand to have one of the fastest starts in the
league due to all that continuity the miscellaneous factors. For
(22:38):
the Packers, I really think they're going to beat the
Lions and then the Commanders four days later, both at
lambeau Field. And imagine what we're talking about with the Packers.
If they go too and overs the Lions and Commanders
to kick off the season, and that would set up
for a mini by week ten days off before going
to the Browns and Cowboys and then a bye. So
if you're four and know to start, we talk about
the secondary, there's a lot of games on here against you,
(23:00):
against young, inexperienced, unproven quarterbacks. The rest of the way,
I think this division will be a two team race
between them and Detroit, and they could go into Detroit
on Thanksgiving with a chance to pull the sweep. If
that goes how I think it goes in Week one,
then they'll win the North and then the teams have
to come to Green Band in the playoffs. I'm feeling
this is a dark horse Super Bowl pick, to be
perfectly honest, the trap door scenario. They're gonna have to
(23:21):
get by Philadelphia, though, which is not easy. The trap
door scenario. We almost say it said it last year
when Love got hurt in the opener, right like almost
saw it last year. I should say it looks serious.
He missed two games, they win both of them. Which
again Matt Lafore, I think though that's what we've been saying, right.
If they lose any of their big names in the
secondary and then one more injury, I think it gets
(23:42):
to the point they'd have to start looking for trade
partners and they could be a team that maybe competes
with teams that want cornerbacks this summer. The conclusion, I
think I'm gonna pick them to win the division. But man,
the Lions and Vikings are really good rosters. I'm not
gonna trust the Vikings spoiler because of the rookie quarterback
or second year but first year playing quarterback, but the
change in coaching for Detroit and just not buying in
on McCarthy doing what Donald did last year. I'll go
(24:04):
with the pack I think, but do not write that
and pen just yet. Speaking of those Vikings JJ McCarthy
and company. The changes there cut and paste here for
the personnel of the continuity spiel on the Packers, except
they'll do it with a brand new quarterback. So that's
a pretty big change. The weight of one of the
best rosters in the NFL with coaches that are getting
(24:25):
interviews for head coaching jobs but come back like a
lot rest on this dude's shoulders for his first NFL start,
his first NFL action, coming off a major leg injury,
and just flat out like trusting all of that and
him fascinates me. I think those last two games for
Donald and how it looked probably sealed his fate and
pushed the Vikings into this new era. O'Connell, West, Phillips,
(24:47):
Brian Flores all back, and they just kept adding to
that roster because of the flexibility you get from having
a young quarterback on a rookie contract. Because in Jonathan Allen,
Javon Hargrave, Ryan Kelly, and Will Fryes, like that might
be the best collection four free agents in the league,
not just this year, but going back sometime now. They
also add Isaiah Rodgers, who's a sneaky good cornerback justin school.
(25:07):
Jeff Akuda can play some ball, Rondell Moore, Tavier Thomas,
Jordan Mason, first round pick, Donovan Jackson on the way out,
Sam Darnold, Cam Biden was a big piece of that defense.
He's out, Patrick Jones, Johnny Munt, Garrett Bradbury, Cam Robinson,
and ed Ingram all on the departures list. A lot
of change, but I think one step back potentially three
steps forward down the road. Their calling card on offense
(25:31):
is Aaron Jones, and I thought that he helped them
implement that run skiing the O'Connell had kind of craved
as they went through the end of the Dalvin Cook years,
as he kind of lost a step and really became
a shadow of himself in the post Dalvin Cook world.
Now they get Jordan Mason, who I think is one
of the best pure zone runners the entire damn league
last year. I think all of that with how they
get displacement and have arguably the best player in the league,
(25:54):
and Justin Jefferson who can get open in all three
levels and destroy any single coverage and win against doubles
on PIP teams with the outlet valve and TJ Hawkinson
and Jordan Addison there, gosh, what a fun offense now,
the depth there and putting all of this on McCarthy's hands,
that's the interesting part. I didn't like the tape of
ty Felton out of Maryland, and then Tim Jones is
the kind of the next option. But if you lose
(26:16):
one of those guys, now McCarthy has to kind of
make it work with backups.
Speaker 3 (26:19):
We'll see.
Speaker 2 (26:20):
I think Rondell Moore could be a good specialist type
of addition who I think really fits the horizontal stretch
aspect of this offense. Not a big vertical guy, but
he can get them on some misdirection through screens, jet
sweeps in the play pass, all that checks out, and
then getting Freeze and Kelly to stabilize what had become
kind of a shaky offensive line that really took on
injuries last year with a crazy rate. But just a
(26:41):
masterclass from Questi their GM. Darrisol is going to be back.
He's an elite left tackle. Brian O'Neil has been a
good right tackle for a long time. Donnie Jackson day
one left guard who can play tackle two. It's a
pretty good offensive line man. On defense, you don't need
this describe, but it's a lot of man coverage, it's
a lot of blitzeeing, a lot of zero coverage rush games.
The backers that fly around and come after the quarterback,
(27:03):
and safeties who do the same thing. They'll have to
replace Cam bind them who helped them stay in that
big nickel package. They really didn't go after another safety
Harrison Smith returns for year fifteen. Josh Mattellis is the
most Brian Flora's safety ever, and they went after aggressive,
feisty man cover corners and Rogers and Nokudah to pair
with Byron Murphy, who came in from Arizona last year
(27:23):
and was awesome. I think Tavi er Thomas as a
depth signing was low key one of the best moves
of the offseason for them. But Man thinking about the
scheme with Alan and Hargrave have mercy Man, I wrote
down Jordan Phillis, I'm talking about Harrison Phillips here, they
return Gink and Jonathan Grenard. I have in Pace and
Blake Cashman to fit what Flora's does. If McCarthy is good,
this team's going to be a force to reckon. With
(27:44):
the question, I mean they demonstrated a considerable amount of
faith in the quarterback. When I watched him at Michigan,
I saw a limited processor with uninspiring accuracies. So we're
gonna see it's not gonna be great in year one
probably if he does all that, though, they'll make a
deep run. Defensive depth, I guess would be the other thing.
The skill spots and I guess the offensive line, but
I mean when you get you know, you go this
hard on your starting unit, you tend to sacrifice some depth,
(28:07):
and I think that we have some of that here
with you know, Freeze, Fries, Kelly Hargrave and Allen coming
off a year where they signed Gink and Murphy. Like,
it's a lot of free agent money on that team
and you don't typically get that and have proven depth.
Speaker 3 (28:18):
The miscellaneous factors.
Speaker 2 (28:20):
I know it's, you know, a new quarterback, but I
think you have to consider what the offense looked like
in the Detroit finale and that playoff game. Teams will
dissect those tapes, but again, the offensive line is healthy
and the quarterback is new. I think the division makes
this tough for them. I'd have them as a surefire
playoff team and probably any other division in the NFC,
but they might be third best here and that's a
(28:40):
lot of tough games. They've got a stretch where they
go Eagles, Chargers, Lions, Ravens, Bears, Packers. That's five games
or five teams rather that won eleven games last year
in six weeks. They have to have a fast start
against Atlanta, Cincy, Pittsburgh, and Cleveland. The trapdoor scenario McCarthy
doesn't work out, right, You missed that's the biggest one.
I think they can afford a trick that comes to
(29:00):
the NFL season just because of how good the top
part of this roster is, and they can coach and
scheme around things to mitigate one or two injuries. Now,
if they get Lions injury luck, that'll cripple any team conclusion.
Are they a top fourteen team in the league? Yeah,
but it doesn't always go that way as far as
who gets in this team. This division, man, it is fascinating.
Let's conclude here with the Chicago Bears and Travis. Where
(29:20):
are the negatives in the division? Well, we've arrived, and
this is a surprise to nobody. Is Travis surprise that
Kayla Williams had one of the worst rookie seasons we've seen? No,
you know when that continues to go belly up, you
know where to find me. I just don't believe in it.
Ben Johnson arrives and a brand new staff is tasked
with getting last year's number one overall pick playing like
the generational prospect that I was told that he was
(29:41):
Declan Doyle joins Johnson's staff as the OC and Dennis
Allen will coach the defense, which I think is a
tremendous higher. Johnson was able to pluck some Detroit staffers
as well, found some established names throughout the league like
Al Harris, Eric b Enemy and Press Taylor. Roster wise,
in is a total offensive line overhauled Drew Dolman, Jonah
Williams and Joe Tony is gonna have that fan base
(30:01):
fired up. They also added Durham Smyth, Grady Jarrett, Devin Duvernet,
Alamade's a Kias case Keenum, and the big move on
defense was dayoh On Hedebo Oheadabo. In the draft they
go Colston Levland, Luther Burden, Ozzie Trapillo, and Shamar Turner.
Speaker 3 (30:15):
So a good draft too.
Speaker 2 (30:16):
DeMarcus Walker, Daryl Taylor, Larry Boram, Tevin Jenkins, Jalen Jones,
Coleman Shelton, and Keenan Allen are all on the departures list.
The calling card for this offense we're gonna see. We
know Johnson loves to operate from a variety of formations.
He must run the football. He likes to throw the
ball to his offensive lineman and just do a bunch
of fun stuff but power, you know, hence all the
moves on the offensive line. They went after three guys
(30:39):
that were born in power systems and Dalmontoney and Jackson.
They get their big tight end in the draft and
can help them stay in twelve personnel, which would get
Cole Comett and Colson Levlan on the field with both
Romadoonze and DJ Moore. The Keenan Allen Allen signing did
not work, so I think it's a net positive here
to pivot off of that. This offense should do a
good job creating and identifying one on one matchups, but
(31:00):
then it's imperative for the quarterback to play the position
from the pocket on time. He doesn't do that. Ben
Jonson number one task is to get Kayleab Williams to
execute the offense and not run backwards at the first
sign of pressure and play Sam lot Ball. Braxton Jones
and Darnell Wright are the only holdovers on the offensive line.
Both played really well, especially right you guys know, I
was a huge fan of his out of the draft,
(31:20):
but you can see Johnson's influence those three new starters.
They also add Ryan Bates as a swing interior guy
with tons of experience, and then I imagine their third
round pick Trapeo is the next swing guy off the
tackle position. DeAndre Swift, you know, stands that exceptional extra
gear in space, has a similar game to Jamir Gibbs.
To me, it all comes down to the quarterback. But
on defense, Dannas Allen operates some fun modern schemes that
(31:43):
emphasize winning one on one matchups and then adding wrinkles
off the preferred matchups. And that's in the rush game,
but also in coverage with rovers hybrid schemes and rotation
opposite of the pre snap presentation. They swap out Walker
for Odeumbo. Gosh, my pronunciation sucks, who's had a hard
time staying on the field, but it's awesome when he does.
He pairs with Montes Sweat for a really nice edge combination.
(32:06):
And then they get Grady Jarrett and Shamar Turner to
help inside with the productive Gervon Dexter.
Speaker 3 (32:11):
That's a nice trio.
Speaker 2 (32:12):
They signed two linebackers Edwards and Edmonds a few years back,
got them extensions. The corner trio is awesome. Jalen Johnson,
Kyler Gordon are two of the best, and Tyreek Stevenson
was a hit for them. Jakwan Brisker is a good safety.
I think Kevin Byer will get pushed by Jonathan Owens
and Elijah Hicks. To start the question for this team again,
how do you get a quarterback who has sort of
been found out for a lot of the negative things
(32:33):
from his approach to the game overall seemingly like disinterested
at times, especially in the Bears as an organization like
to play good football. How do you find that, especially
an offense where I need you to see the game
like Ben Johnson does, I just don't see it.
Speaker 3 (32:46):
We'll find out.
Speaker 2 (32:46):
Maybe I'm gonna be, you know, freezing cold. Take here,
but took taking Liam Neeson. You've got the staff, You've
got a good line, You've got good weapons. Defense is
going to be well coached with some pretty solid pieces.
How does the quarterback play? That's really Itago sixty eight sacks,
four hundred and sixty six yards lost was by far
the most, and that's a quarterback stat. Don't get it twisted.
(33:07):
A passer rating under ninety these days is not gonna
do it. Six point three yards per attempt, forty success
rate or sex rate. That's pretty good as a sex rate.
Now it's a success rate. It's got to get better.
Miscellaneous factors. Most teams get a reprieve with at least
one divisional foe. Not the case for the Bears. They
have six tough division games. They could go zero to
six there. Then you get the AFC North and that's
(33:27):
like three really tough games. NFC East is much better
than it was two years ago. Even their fourth place
schedule will get you a game against the Niners. I
cannot imagine they're favored and more than a handful of games.
The trapdoor scenario here, broken record. What if the quarterback
cannot play and it doesn't work? The conclusion. I see
the vision. I think they made a ton of positive steps,
But if you don't believe in the quarterback, you don't
(33:49):
believe in the team. So that's where I am on
this team. Division superlatives. The Packers are my winner right now.
Jordan Love is my best quarterback right now. The best
non quarterback on offense is Justin Jefferson.
Speaker 3 (33:59):
That's not up for debate.
Speaker 2 (34:00):
The best defensive player to me is not either in.
Brian Branch The best coach that also is not up
for debate. Matt Lafleur. My favorite rookie in this year's
group is Tyleeque Williams and the best under the radar
Studs Packers tight end Luke Musgrave.
Speaker 3 (34:14):
So there we go.
Speaker 2 (34:14):
Another division in the books, the Too East Still to go,
and one more segment on this podcast still to go
is but Itto Jones joins Jones. Jones joins me to
talk about some farming life, playing nose tackle on this defense,
and a heck of a lot more Draft Time podcast
brought to you by Autoonation. Joined here on the Draft
Time Podcast by Dolphins defensive tackle but Itto Jones, Banito,
(34:37):
what's up man?
Speaker 3 (34:38):
How we doing?
Speaker 6 (34:39):
Oh man, it's going good. How y'all doing?
Speaker 2 (34:41):
I'm I'm pretty good man. I can't complain too much.
So whether it's getting hot right now, training camp coming up?
How are you feeling about the upcoming season here?
Speaker 4 (34:48):
Man?
Speaker 6 (34:48):
I feel great about it. A body feeling healthy, team
looking healthy. I feel really good.
Speaker 2 (34:53):
About It's what's different this year than last year in
terms of your like because this is your second stint,
my any but second season, how has how have you
kind of grown developed over the time from this time
last year, first year in the system to now second
year with coach Weave.
Speaker 6 (35:10):
You know, coming back, you know, just seeing them they
believing me, giving me another chance here learning, you know,
knowing the defense really well. Now it's just like a
you know, like an early process in the brain and
just you know, just ready to get out there and compete.
Speaker 2 (35:25):
Another coach that you, I guess reunited with the second
time around was Coach Clark, a guy that I feel
like every person I talked to about Coach Clark has
has a great story. What's your what's your Coach Clark
story or maybe impression just in terms of, you know,
how he's helped your career.
Speaker 6 (35:40):
Man Clark, Me and him came in together, to be honest,
My rookie year was his first year. He stayed on
me and ray Kun so hard as a rookie, and
you know, I just thought just you know, just having
him as a as the first coach in the league
(36:00):
and like, you know, going to Detroit and coming back,
you know, I could I could see a big difference.
And you know, he he's a guy. He cared about
his players. He gonna keep it, he gonna keep it,
always honest with you what you're doing wrong, what you
can do, you know, the better your game. And he
just you know, he's hisself every day.
Speaker 2 (36:16):
What would you tell because we have four rookies in
the room right now, right, what would you tell those
rookies about how coach Clark can help them?
Speaker 6 (36:23):
Oh? Man, First of all, you just got to listen,
buy into his work. You know, anything he say, you
know it ain't it. Ain't he he beating you up.
He gonna coach you up. And I promise you he
gonna give you his one hundred and ten percent coaching every.
Speaker 2 (36:35):
Day every day, just like you guys give on the
football field. Let's pivot now to more of the off
the field stuff. So in Mississippi, right the farm, how's
that going out there?
Speaker 6 (36:43):
Oh man, it's going lovely?
Speaker 3 (36:46):
Tell me about it.
Speaker 6 (36:47):
Uh. You know, I I farm. I have cows. You know,
I also have a trucking company and logging business. And
you know, every chance I get, I get back home
and I like to, you know, see everything.
Speaker 4 (36:59):
And you know I like to be hands on.
Speaker 2 (37:02):
You like the farm aspects more or the trucking and
logging company.
Speaker 4 (37:04):
More, which both both. You know.
Speaker 6 (37:07):
I love cows, I love horses. And you know, just
you know, I drive eighteen with I have my CDL,
I have my own personal truck, and you know, I
like to do both.
Speaker 4 (37:19):
I drive my truck.
Speaker 6 (37:20):
When I'm home, you know, run to three loads a
day just to you know, get my mind off football sometimes.
Speaker 3 (37:26):
The eighteen wheeler is it? What's it? What's it like?
Learning to drive that is way different than driving a
standard car.
Speaker 6 (37:31):
Oh yeah, it's it's a lot different. You know, you
got many more gears. Got eighteen speed, thirteen speed, teen speed.
You know, that's something I've been learning how to do
ever since I was you know, you know, my dad
he taught me how to drive a truck when I
was four or five years old, and you know, one
day I always wanted, you know, to own my own
and I have twelve right now.
Speaker 4 (37:53):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (37:53):
I just took my daughter out golfing for the first
time this weekend and she drove the car. She thought
it was the best thing. Ever, I can't I can't
imagine how I drive a truck though.
Speaker 6 (38:00):
Oh yeah, it's big, you know, you you can see
both lanes, and the most dangerous part about it to me,
you know, people just don't understand, like know what a
truck driver got to you know, see and do on
a daily basis, you know, trying to save his life
and others around him, and people just drive curriculus, you know,
(38:21):
just kind of always be aware of other people.
Speaker 3 (38:24):
Yeah, that's man.
Speaker 2 (38:25):
It's always a dangerous the way some people drive around,
you know, a big trucks. It's like, man, do you
realize what that truck could do to you right now
if it.
Speaker 3 (38:32):
Makes one wrong move? So mad be a little more
careful there.
Speaker 2 (38:35):
Do you have any like long term aspirations, like because
I imagine like you you probably enjoy like a long road trip.
Speaker 6 (38:40):
It sounds like like, oh, not taking like a long
road trip. Or you know, me and my brother we're
jumping one of my eighteen wheels or something. You know,
we're just you know, like on a week or something.
We'll take a long haul to like, you know, wherever
we want to go, and you know, just just do
it together. You know, me him, you know, we we
(39:01):
drive trucks. He drive trucks twenty four seven. I don't,
but uh, you know, just getting out doing it and uh,
like I'm a like a like a like ah, it's
like a long term thing that I do want to do. Yeah, man,
you know, just just sit back and relax at the farm.
And you know, like I say, drive a truck when
I need to, you know, not when I have to.
(39:23):
You know, just just do it, you know, just you know,
just be around my kids.
Speaker 1 (39:27):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (39:27):
I'm picturing like a like a cross country window bago
or something like that. I don't know, some long time,
long term road trip there. But no in terms of
in terms of driving when you when you make those
long hauls. What do you have in the on the stereo?
Is it is a music? Is an audiobook? Is a podcast?
Speaker 4 (39:43):
I listened to a little bit of everything.
Speaker 6 (39:45):
Uh.
Speaker 4 (39:46):
I listened to gospel.
Speaker 6 (39:47):
I listened to blues, a little R and B, you know,
just to you know, get you, you know, get your
blood flowing a little bit. You know, you might want
to sing something in there, but like I say, you know,
you can't never like not be paying attention in the truck.
Speaker 4 (40:01):
You know, anything can happen. So but yeah, I listen
to music.
Speaker 6 (40:05):
It's you know, keep me going.
Speaker 3 (40:08):
Yeah, no doubt about that. One more question here for you.
Speaker 2 (40:10):
But you tell a Dolphins defensive tacklepen he told Jones
with us here on the podcast upcoming season twenty twenty
five and asking a lot of the guys, that's what
excites you the most about this year for the Dolphins?
Speaker 6 (40:18):
Oh man, just just another opportunity to do it again.
You know, I know, you know, we we all could
be somewhere else, but you know, just being here getting
a chance to do it again. Uh, you know, we
were trying to do something that we ain't done in
a long time, get to the playoffs. And that's that's
how biggest goal right now. And I think we have
everything to do it, and you know, we just gotta
(40:41):
go week by week.
Speaker 2 (40:42):
Good stuff. But you told Jones appreciate it timesday man,
Thank you, sir, Thank you. There he goes really enjoy chatting.
But hey, til he's a big personality and a big
body as well.
Speaker 3 (40:50):
There you go. That's the podcast and it is the
most wonderful time of year. That's right.
Speaker 2 (40:54):
Miami Dolphins training camp right around the corner, and you
can reserve your tickets rate now. The Dolphins are back
on the field for Back Together Weekend on July twenty sixth,
a Saturday, first Dolphins practice open to the fans in
the public. The Dolphins will take Sunday off and be
back on the field for a Monday practice on the
twenty eighth, as well as the twenty ninth and thirtieth,
(41:16):
all open to the fans. After a Thursday day off
on the thirty first, Miami's right back to work for
the first, second and third of August, all those practices
open to fans as well. The next practice available to
the fans August the sixth, and then a pretty good
gap there with the joint practices up in Detroit and Chicago.
Miami's back for three more practices in front of the
(41:37):
fans here at the Baptist Hill Training Complex August eighteenth,
August twentieth, and August twenty first. That twenty first date
is a joint practice against the Jacksonville Jaguars. So July
twenty sixth, July twenty eighth, twenty ninth, thirtieth, August first,
second and third, August sixth, August nineteenth, August twentieth, and
August twenty first against the Jacksonville Jaguars. Book your tickets
(41:59):
now on Miami Dolphins dot com. Also, please be sure
subscribe to the podcast. Leave us a rating, leave us
a review. You can follow me on social at winfle NFL.
Speaker 3 (42:07):
And the team at Miami Dolphins.
Speaker 2 (42:09):
Check out the YouTube channel for Dolphins HQ, media availabilities,
drive time content and so much more. And last button
not least, Miami Dolphins dot com Until next time, Funzo
cal and Cameron and Willow dottye just coming up.
This is drive Ton with Travis Wingfield. What is up Dolphins?
And welcome to the Draft Time Podcast. I am your host,
Travis Wingfield, And on today's show, you are in for
a treat. I have the big personality, we'll say, and
(00:22):
Willie Gay on the show. Benito Jones gonna drop by
as well. We talked a lot about farming. Those guys
both own land out in Mississippi, their home states, and
they were geeked up to talk about it with me.
But Willy is just all personality, all juiced and tons
of fun to talk about in the podcast. Has second
appearance on the show before he's even play his first game,
so we'll look forward to that.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
But Itito as well. And the NFC North is the
division we preview today. Lions, Packers, Vikings and Bears. All
of that and more from the Baptist Hell Studios inside
my House. This is the Draft Time Parker da joining
us for his second time in like three or four
months here on the Draft Time Podcast his new Dolphins
linebacker Willie Gay.
Speaker 3 (01:00):
Willie, what's up man?
Speaker 4 (01:00):
How we up? Man? I'm doing good? Happy to be here, which.
Speaker 2 (01:03):
I can't complain at all. I'm happy to have you
back here. We just talked to you, so I was
like kind of talking to you before the show here,
and I'm like, what should we talk about because we
talked a lot about the football previously. Let's do it
like a catch up, Like, what's it been like since
I last spoke to you, just getting to know the facility,
your teammates, your coaches, all that stuff.
Speaker 5 (01:19):
Well, it's been amazing. Everybody's amazing. I mean, it's you know,
sometimes it's just cliche to say that, but it's actually
I love it here. You know, the players, the coaches
are amazing. I like the way the programmers ran, you know.
I mean, I can't speak for anything in the past,
but I liked in the direction that we're heading in,
and I just feel like it's gonna be a good year, man,
So hoping for that.
Speaker 2 (01:39):
Without getting into too much specifics here, the defense really
seems to kind of suit your skills and care to
what you do. How have you noticed that translates so
far through a few ota practices.
Speaker 5 (01:49):
Like you say, it fits me, man, And we've got
a lot of linebackers right now on Rocks that can
run and hit. You know, I won't name them because
it's so many but everybody know, we just we were
skilled all in different ways, but you know we all
have the same skills in a lot of ways as well.
And I see that's kind of what the Dolphins were.
(02:10):
We're looking for and looking for linebackers and I can
see myself in his defense for a long time. So
hopefully that's a thing we get to.
Speaker 2 (02:20):
Yeah, I'd love to hear that because I want to
see you here for a long time, and I want
to see a coach Weaver here for a time. Personally,
that's just me talking for a lot of Dolphins fans there.
But you know, we had Tyrrel Dotson. T dot was
on did a press conference a couple of weeks ago,
and he talked about how the defense kind of runs
through the middle linebackers. Yeah, I'm curious just to get
someone else that plays the positions perspective on that.
Speaker 5 (02:39):
Uh No, it's true, man. You know those guys coach
gives the call out, we all can hear it. But
you know, from a mic linebacker's perspective, they have to
set the front. You know, we both have to know everything,
but from the MIC, he has to set the front.
Get everyone, you know, on the same page when we
check calls, check defenses, and you know, as a wheel
dying backer linebacker, you know, we're just just a voice
(03:02):
for you know, to make sure he's that code and
make sure if he gets something wrong, we correct him,
or we get something wrong, he corrects us. So we
all just playing on the cord man, helping each other
out as much as possible.
Speaker 2 (03:13):
Yes, it sounds like, I mean a lot of times
people can put those positions in the same bucket, right,
It's a lot of different.
Speaker 5 (03:19):
Responsibility, especially depending on what type of scheme you run.
Some teams are one hundred percent relying on the miclnebacker.
And thank god it's not one of those teams, you know,
because I've seen it, you know, hurt some guys at
the mic linebacker position to the point it's so much
mentally that it slows them down physically, you know, and
(03:39):
that's not what you want.
Speaker 2 (03:40):
You got to put the fastest game man. One one
false step can take it down. To quote something Rapp
said that, But no, I mean, I'm, you know, as
far as the football goes excited to see all that,
But I kind of want to change gears here and
switch over to some of the stuff we've talked about
a little bit off the air, yeah, man, and the
farming life.
Speaker 3 (03:56):
Man.
Speaker 2 (03:57):
We just had Benito Jones in here. He talked about
his trucking and logging company.
Speaker 4 (04:00):
Yeah, he got it going on. Man.
Speaker 3 (04:01):
He's just chill.
Speaker 2 (04:01):
About it, man. He doesn't want to talk too much.
He just wants to kind of sit back and enjoy
as farm. Is that is that kind of how you
see yourself?
Speaker 4 (04:07):
Definitely.
Speaker 1 (04:08):
Man.
Speaker 5 (04:08):
I'm actually going back home this Saturday, you know, for
the summer, and I just I haven't started my garden
and everything yet. I haven't started all that because I'm
not home as much. So I'm gonna get my mom
to run it whenever I do. But you know, I'm
getting my animals situated.
Speaker 1 (04:22):
Man.
Speaker 5 (04:22):
I got my ducks, my chickens, you know, my dogs
out there, for sure. I got to keep my babies
out there. But the ducks, man, and they a lot
of work. I don't know if you knew that, But
the ducks wear me out. The chickens they cool.
Speaker 4 (04:33):
You know.
Speaker 5 (04:34):
I got like fifteen chickens now, six ducks cows coming
this summer. That's the plan for now. We're getting the
fencing and everything put up. So it's just getting something
to give me peace, man, when I'm away from football,
and you know, it's something I've always wanted to do.
But still educating myself on it as well, because I
mean it's obviously it's more than just getting animals and
(04:54):
putting them out on the land, you know, So just
trying to find my piece in that and grow it
as much as possible.
Speaker 3 (05:01):
You're building your roster. Yeah, the farm.
Speaker 2 (05:05):
So I got to go back to the ducks because
I mean, I'm I'm intrigued.
Speaker 3 (05:09):
What's so difficult about the ducks.
Speaker 5 (05:11):
So ducks love water, obviously everyone knows that, right, But
it's not just the water that they love. They don't
just see water and just you know, be happy. They
got to get in and splash around. They dip their
beaks in it, which is not bad. It's the standing
in and jumping in it and and splashing it all
over the place is what messes everything up. So now
you have to change the area that they're in over
(05:33):
and over. So I've seen a lot of people put
rocks under the ducks, like wherever their enclosure is, and
that's smart. But right now I got them in grass,
and so every two three days I'm having to switch
them and change them wherever, you know, around the yard.
And man, yeah, they messy, Man, they real messy. And
they poop a lot. They poop a lot, so they
poop in the water. You have to change the water
(05:54):
every every day. We change the water. So yeah, but
the chickens, you know, they chilling. They they scratch in
the ground a little bit, help the soil. They peck
around and that's about it. Man, they just eat a lot.
Speaker 2 (06:08):
Sounds like it sounds like a duck is like having
a messy locker neighbor.
Speaker 4 (06:11):
Exactly.
Speaker 5 (06:12):
That's exactly what it's like, like a teenager exactly right.
Speaker 2 (06:16):
Yeah, I mean I play a lot of golf down here,
and everywhere you go there's a billion ducks. Of course,
you said you have six, but I feel like six
becomes thirty six overnight if.
Speaker 4 (06:25):
You let it. Yeah.
Speaker 5 (06:25):
So one thing I learned. I'm learning with some farmers,
like duck farmers and everything. They get the males out
of there so they won't breathe, which is smart because
I mean, I don't want many more ducks.
Speaker 4 (06:38):
I can't lie. It's six is enough.
Speaker 5 (06:41):
I'll take a lot more chickens, but the ducks, man,
and they're scary, some of them real skitdish. So obviously
that don't help, you know, because you try to help
them out and change the area and they running away
from you.
Speaker 4 (06:52):
It's cool though, man, it's fun.
Speaker 2 (06:54):
So do any of your teammates besides but you to
talk to you about this kind of stuff.
Speaker 1 (06:59):
Here.
Speaker 5 (07:00):
I haven't met anyone else yet, but I'm sure some
other people has experience with it. So I'm just looking
forward to seeing who you know and picking their brains
as much as possible, because, like I said, man, I'm
still educating myself about farming in general. So obviously I'm
not retired yet and pray to God I don't be
no time soon. So just over the next few years
(07:22):
to continue to learn and grow in the area, and
so when I do retire, you know, I'm ready to
attack it head on.
Speaker 3 (07:29):
So yeah, that's that's cool man.
Speaker 2 (07:31):
It sounds like it's it's nice to have kind of
like a map of what you want to be down
the road.
Speaker 5 (07:35):
Right.
Speaker 3 (07:35):
Oh yeah, you mentioned gardening.
Speaker 2 (07:36):
I assume it's something you're still kind of trying to
learn a little bit, Like what how did you teach
yourself any of that in the first place, Like you
go to YouTube for that type of.
Speaker 4 (07:44):
Stuff you just learned.
Speaker 5 (07:45):
So where I'm from, I mean a lot of people
from the country, but you know, you have people around the.
Speaker 4 (07:50):
Way that does it already.
Speaker 5 (07:51):
Like I got a guy next door to me that
has cows, so I go to him for that type
of stuff advice. You know, my mom and my grandmother
know when my great grandmother was living when they was
coming up, they would grow their food and stuff like that,
so my mom knows a lot about it. So yeah,
that's where we are right now with it, man, just
trying to see where to start and how to manage
(08:14):
it while I'm going so much, you know, because you know,
your people check in on your property and everything and
your land, you know, but you don't want rabbits and
deer in there picking around and messing everything up. So
we're trying to just find the right time to start.
And like I said, it's still educate myself on that
as well, you know, reading watching videos. That's really I
mean TikTok YouTube man, Like it's you don't need anything
(08:37):
else other than those two, honestly.
Speaker 4 (08:38):
So yeah, I.
Speaker 2 (08:39):
Feel like Gardening is a really good metaphor for not
just life or not like by football. Right, Like you
plant your seed, right, you get in the gym, you
lift the weights, and that's kind of like.
Speaker 5 (08:49):
Yeah, that's life. Whatever you put in, you get out,
you know. So if you plant on bad soil, you
get bad crops. I love it, you know.
Speaker 2 (08:56):
So life's of guarden. Man, did it last one for
your hare? Last time we hud you on talked about
the juice Man. But you got to earn the juice man, right,
got to earn it. I haven't had a game, it's
hadn't had a chance to earn it out there. But
has there been a juice man moment of practice? We
haven't seen yet.
Speaker 5 (09:09):
I've been out there running around, man, you know, I've
been having my fun. I can't lie, but I won't
give myself too much critics because I mean I haven't
done anything yet, you know, worth anything. But when the
season comes around, man, obviously I get my first chance
in pre season, you know, real chance for the fans
to see and everything. Hopefully then man, I can earn
that name again from them and from my teammates. So
(09:30):
that's my plan, just to continue to be who I am,
you know, and express my love for the game and emotion,
you know, Like I tell people, I don't do this
because I'm trying to be seen. That's just love being
around the football, you know, so, and that's where it
comes from. So hopefully they'll see it, man, and I
can earn that back.
Speaker 2 (09:47):
So one of my favorite traditions already is the coming
out of the indoor.
Speaker 4 (09:51):
Yeah yeah, you hear it.
Speaker 3 (09:52):
Yeah yeah, I can't.
Speaker 5 (09:54):
I started that, man, like three years ago in Kansas City,
and it helps me get my blood going.
Speaker 1 (09:59):
You know.
Speaker 4 (09:59):
I don't know what it is, but it wakes me up.
Speaker 5 (10:01):
You know, I've been in means all morning and now
we're going out at twelve, have to be in a
meet since eight o'clock.
Speaker 3 (10:06):
Wake up a little bit.
Speaker 4 (10:06):
It gives me.
Speaker 1 (10:07):
Right.
Speaker 3 (10:07):
Here's the movie I Love You Man with Paul Rudd and.
Speaker 4 (10:10):
Jason I know a name, but I can't close.
Speaker 2 (10:12):
He takes him under the pier to like, yell, to
like and act as like primitive nature.
Speaker 3 (10:17):
Same thing.
Speaker 2 (10:18):
Yeah, good stuff, Willy, get appreciate you man, Thanks, thank
you man. Little inside baseball for you guys. So media
day is a chaotic day where everyone is running around
with multiple stations, they go through medical checks, they're doing
their headshots for the primetime games. The cbe like everything
that you see in a production on Sunday is probably
filmed at some point on media Day. And Willie was
(10:39):
all done and had the podcast left to do, and
we were like, you don't have to do it, man,
like you did the show three months ago, and he
was like, hey for this guy anything. So you know
your boy loves it when the guys are nice to me.
So that was a fun chat with a really fun
personality and a guy that I think is going to
have just an awesome year and a great fit in
this defense. Let's go ahead and take a break right there,
come back on the other side and do the marathon.
(11:02):
Do a long division preview. NFC North Packers, Lions, Bears,
Vikings Up Next Draft Time podcast brought to you by
Auto Nation.
Speaker 3 (11:18):
NFC North gets our.
Speaker 2 (11:19):
Attention today in starting off with the team that has
recently owned the division after several decades of not doing that.
The Detroit Lions and the personnel changes are vast for
this team and they get to endure for the first
time in franchise history since Bobby Lane was there kind
of facing what all wildly successful teams eventually faced, the
(11:41):
depletion of their coaching staff. Ben Johnson ran it back
last year and they can't get past that first playoff
game and one of the biggest upsets in recent playoff memory.
And then Aaron Glenn leaves for a head coaching job,
and now Dan Campbell has maybe his biggest test yet.
And I won't actually go that far, because to turn
a team that was a punching bag for thirty plus
(12:02):
years into what this team has become. You know, it's
been since Barry Sanders since they had really any relevance,
and Matthew Stafford and Calvin Johnson were great, but that produced,
you know what, two trips of the playoffs and no
wins in the playoffs. So to do what Dan Campbell
has done is already a major, major win. But this
will be the next test for him. On defense, they
(12:24):
promote from within and you might remember this name the
twenty fifteen Dolphins defense. Calvin Shepherd's the DC now as
he will step in for Glenn, while John Morton, the
pass game coordinator for the Broncos the last two seasons,
will take the OC job. Remember Dan Campbell played for
and coached under Sean Payton, so now he raids his
ex bosses coaching staff now his Xbox's coaching staff. On
(12:46):
the roster, well, they retained a lot sixteen returning players
who were free agents, most notably Levi on Wuzaigue, Dan Skipper,
and Alquidin Mohammad as far as outside helped goes Roy
Lopez on the defensive front, dj Reed the cornerback from
the Jets, roky of Sin and Davonte Maddox also cornerbacks.
You might remember they were pretty thin in the secondary
(13:07):
down the stretch, and then injuries to both sides up
front and the back really kind of did them in.
It made him a skeleton crew down the stretch, culminating
in that playoff loss where they just couldn't get a
stop on Jayden Daniels and the Commanders. And though they've
protected themselves against what happened last year with some additions,
they've also lost quite a bit. Zadarius Smith, Jalen Reeves,
mayben if emlafon Wu, John Kaminski, Kevin Zeitler, Carlton, Davis Kindle,
(13:30):
Vildor all gone. That's a lot of key parts of
that team, and the biggest one one that you cannot
replace because senators who can reach a two technique on
the play side of outside zone. There's like four guys
in the league that can do that. Aaron Brewer is
one of them, and Frank Ragnow was one, but he
is now retired. He was one of the best centers
in football. I think their first round pick, though, tay
(13:51):
Lee Williams is such a freaking culture fit and good player,
one of my favorite picks in the entire first round.
The film for the Lions, the calling card, I have
to imagine Jared Goff will have something of a cooc
tag here, and not officially but just in theory, because
this is one of the smartest players in the league
and there's no chance on earth that Dan Campbell just says,
go give Jared Goff a news system like that's not
(14:13):
how he coaches, because I don't think that Ben Johnson's
creativity or really even his scheme is achievable without him.
So I imagine you get some pieces of it that
Goff likely melded with what Morton does, which is going
to be some version of the Sean Payton West Coast
style attack.
Speaker 4 (14:30):
Right.
Speaker 3 (14:31):
I do know this.
Speaker 2 (14:32):
They believe in the running game and it will still
be paramount, and you'd be silly not to lean into
that with the offensive line they've assembled and that star
running back of theirs. But I do think you could
see some early growing pains. Potentially they really enjoyed that.
Continuity and change is not easy, and I don't think
it's a given that a plug and play line fix
will just slot in for you, especially at that key
(14:52):
position in the pivot. I mean, you're going from an
all pro in ragnow to a rookie and Tate Ratledge,
and even if you like rat it's got to be
a little bit of a downgrade, right and then a
first time starter for Zeitler in Christian Mahogany Now, Decker
and Glasgow and Sewell are all there. They're all awesome,
especially those two tackles. Jamir Gibbs, the freaking man Aman Ross,
(15:14):
Saint Brown. If you could have twenty two of him,
you would take it. Jamison Williams, Sam Laporta. It's tough
to find it better for some than Gibbs, Saint Brown,
Williams and Laporta. As far as your skill players go,
then it's Tim Patrick Khalif Rahman, and I think rookie
Isaac Teslaw is going to fit in beautifully there with
their culture and the receiver's room. The defense is where
the questions were last year. But they're gonna get Aiden Hutchinson,
(15:36):
Alee McNeil, on Wuza Rique, Alex Anzeloni all back from injury,
Brian Branch and Kirby Joseph Man. You can't find a
better safety combo and football for my money, Terry and
Arnold has a nice rookie season last year, and then
DJ Reid fits what they do so well right, go
press up and play man coverage. DJ Reiders back in
the interior, Marcus Davenport off the edge. Jack Campbell looks
(15:58):
like the first Browner that he was picked to be.
There's stars all over this team. The question here, I'm
struggling here because I think they had a great offseason
in terms of who they brought in, but I struggled
to balance that against what they lost, especially on the
coaching staff. My biggest questions are Gof's comfort level after
a little bit of a not great end of the
season for him, a rookie center and a first time
(16:20):
play caller on defense. For a team that has the
expectation of high, high level execution, and really anything short
of a championship is probably a failure for them this year. Right,
I don't believe in that, but that's kind of how
they're going to have to operate. But you put that
up against the other thirty one teams, it's really some
of the least amount of questions there are in the league.
Speaker 3 (16:38):
So I always have that perspective.
Speaker 2 (16:39):
I feel like we often can compare like what the
Dolphins do to the Chiefs and Bills, and that is
who you're chasing. Don't get me wrong, but it's not
the full balance of the National Football League when you
do that, right, the miscellaneous factors here, If I'm a
Lions fan, I am slightly annoyed to open up at
Lambeau just because I think the first game is the
worst version you're going to see of this particular Lions team.
Speaker 3 (16:58):
I could be wrong.
Speaker 2 (16:59):
That's my forecast here, and that could be paramount in
the race for the division, right, Like it could come
down to if you beat green Bay and green Bay
or not. But how about this. If there's one concerning
stat for the Lions, it's Golf's indoor and outdoor splits.
After back to back trips to Washington and Philly in
mid November, they play one more game outside, three road games,
(17:19):
two of them in Minnesota in LA the finale a
soldier field against a Bears team that hasn't had anything
to play for in Week eighteen. In freaking years, the
trapdoor scenario, quarterback injury as always, and perhaps the rookie
center and golf get on the wrong page and it
causes a breakdown, I guess, and that gets golf hit.
Speaker 3 (17:35):
I don't know.
Speaker 2 (17:36):
I think they're protected better against all the attrition on
defense they had last year, but I would say the
depth of the offense is taken a bit of a hit.
Like if they lose either tackle, there's not really a
legitimate starter. I like Dan Skippers a sixth offensive lineman,
I don't think I like him blocking Miles Garrett for
forty times a game. The conclusion, there's no reason to
think the Lions will regress by the six games it
(17:57):
would take to knock them out of playoff contention. They
won fifteen freaking games last year. I don't think they'll
win fifteen again. But we do see this all the
time where a team has a devastating playoff loss off
of a great season, has a tougher regular season. The
next year, maybe they win eleven games and then rolls
through the playoffs with a tougher path. The Chiefs did
this literally two years ago. The Green Bay Packers were
(18:19):
up next, and I like this this club quite a lot.
The changes you want to talk about, continuity, head coach, OC, DC,
quarterback all that they're all back, and last year on
this podcast, I opined if calling upon a college head
coach to be your DC would work, and boy did it,
and that might be a more in vogue thing now
with how college football has become basically, you know, a
(18:41):
B league of the NFL with you know, nil money
and all that stuff. But Jeff Hafley is one of
the best dcs in the game now and he'll probably
have to do an even better job because the Packers'
secondary kind of got rated this offseason and not a
ton of additions to offset that. Out our Jay Year Alexander, Corey, Ballentine,
Eric Stokes, then outside of the cornerback position to Daryl Slayton,
(19:02):
AJ Dillon, Josh Myers in Nate Hobbs. I love his
game Aaron Banks was a big addition to the guard spot.
Isaiah Simmons I think will be a fun piece for
Halfley and maybe maybe the next Zach Bond high draft
pick didn't work out right away, goes to a new
team and finds payroll payday, Peter Mikole, Hardman, Matthew Golden
(19:23):
in the first round, Anthony Belton the draft pick, and
Saveon Williams. They took a lot of receivers. Man, you
guys remember how much I liked saveon on the draft process.
I think the Packers have the most good receivers on
their roster. Maybe any team has ever had the film
the calling card that's the calling card for the offense
right This is one of, if not my favorite variations
of the Shanahan McVeigh tree. I implore the Dolphins to
(19:45):
follow suit with the Josh Jacobs inside zone duo combination
to go with their spread out passing game. Miami I
think is doing that this year with who they added,
But they incorporated that power run game that called upon
the combination of those two run schemes in addition to
their outside zone stretch game, and Josh Jacob made that go.
But when you talk about a ball distribution offense and
doing it through a bunch of guys who are probably
(20:06):
number twos, but like high end number twos, it just works.
Speaker 1 (20:10):
Man.
Speaker 2 (20:10):
They space the field so well they marry their run
and pass concepts to flow seamlessly. Laflora has had an
excellent feel for in game flow. And I just think
Jordan Love is really, really damn good. And with Jacobs,
I think Jayden reed to me. Jaden Reid's a number
one receiver, like if Riek was going to get traded
this offseason, like Green Bay and Jaden Reid would have
been the team that I was like looking at if
(20:31):
I was Chris Career, then Romeo Dobbs, Christian Watson. He
might miss a good chunk of the season though coming
off knee injury. Dontavian Wicks is a good player. I
like Savion Williams, and I don't think you draft Matthew
Golden unless you intend to throw a bunch of footballs
this year. Then you get two really good tight ends,
and Tucker Craft and Luke Musgrave, those guys are awesome players.
Speaker 3 (20:50):
I like these guys.
Speaker 2 (20:51):
The line is good, but has had injury issues in
the past. Rashid Walker, and then Aaron Banks is the
big splash at left guard. Elton Jenkins is one of
the best players in the damn league for my money,
Sean Ryan and then Zach Tom their second round pick
figures to be a swing tackle in Anthony Belton. And
you know Zach Tom can move around, so can Elton Jenkins.
So perhaps Belton is just like the sixth man up
and then they move around whoever they have to to
(21:12):
account for injuries. I love this offense. I didn't even
mention me Cole Hartman and that whole bit right there. Defensively,
they play more middle closed than most teams do. That's
a safety in the middle of the field with four
down linemen. And Halfley talked about his time in San Francisco,
So think about those Robert Sala and Jets defenses, aggressive
on the perimeter, rangey safeties and boy does he have
(21:34):
that Nick Zaper McKinney. But they can get to all
that too high stuff because of that player, because of
how they're coached and how they can stop the run
with safeties in rotation opposed to coming downhill. And the
thing I love, Yes, they lost Slayton to the and
those corners, but really the only new addition slated to
start is Nate Hobbs. They do have a lot of
continuity there in that regard, but I mean Rashaan Garry,
(21:56):
DeVante Wyatt, Kenny Clark, Lucas van Ness and kway Walker,
Edrin Cooper. It's a pretty nice front seven there, and
what do you know another team that has a really
strong front seven and maybe doesn't have the name power
on the back. And that's kind of where the game
is going right now. More about team football on the
back end. The question here, I think depth in several areas,
but particularly on defense. The real question is in the secondary.
(22:17):
Keshawn Nixon and Javon Bullard are listed to the starters
on our Lads depth charts, and those were both backups
a year ago and they came up due to injuries.
If they get an injury there, the picking is get
thin real quick. I think you could say the same
thing about the offensive line, but man, I think they
stand to have one of the fastest starts in the
league due to all that continuity the miscellaneous factors. For
(22:38):
the Packers, I really think they're going to beat the
Lions and then the Commanders four days later, both at
lambeau Field. And imagine what we're talking about with the Packers.
If they go too and overs the Lions and Commanders
to kick off the season, and that would set up
for a mini by week ten days off before going
to the Browns and Cowboys and then a bye. So
if you're four and know to start, we talk about
the secondary, there's a lot of games on here against you,
(23:00):
against young, inexperienced, unproven quarterbacks. The rest of the way,
I think this division will be a two team race
between them and Detroit, and they could go into Detroit
on Thanksgiving with a chance to pull the sweep. If
that goes how I think it goes in Week one,
then they'll win the North and then the teams have
to come to Green Band in the playoffs. I'm feeling
this is a dark horse Super Bowl pick, to be
perfectly honest, the trap door scenario. They're gonna have to
(23:21):
get by Philadelphia, though, which is not easy. The trap
door scenario. We almost say it said it last year
when Love got hurt in the opener, right like almost
saw it last year. I should say it looks serious.
He missed two games, they win both of them. Which
again Matt Lafore, I think though that's what we've been saying, right.
If they lose any of their big names in the
secondary and then one more injury, I think it gets
(23:42):
to the point they'd have to start looking for trade
partners and they could be a team that maybe competes
with teams that want cornerbacks this summer. The conclusion, I
think I'm gonna pick them to win the division. But man,
the Lions and Vikings are really good rosters. I'm not
gonna trust the Vikings spoiler because of the rookie quarterback
or second year but first year playing quarterback, but the
change in coaching for Detroit and just not buying in
on McCarthy doing what Donald did last year. I'll go
(24:04):
with the pack I think, but do not write that
and pen just yet. Speaking of those Vikings JJ McCarthy
and company. The changes there cut and paste here for
the personnel of the continuity spiel on the Packers, except
they'll do it with a brand new quarterback. So that's
a pretty big change. The weight of one of the
best rosters in the NFL with coaches that are getting
(24:25):
interviews for head coaching jobs but come back like a
lot rest on this dude's shoulders for his first NFL start,
his first NFL action, coming off a major leg injury,
and just flat out like trusting all of that and
him fascinates me. I think those last two games for
Donald and how it looked probably sealed his fate and
pushed the Vikings into this new era. O'Connell, West, Phillips,
(24:47):
Brian Flores all back, and they just kept adding to
that roster because of the flexibility you get from having
a young quarterback on a rookie contract. Because in Jonathan Allen,
Javon Hargrave, Ryan Kelly, and Will Fryes, like that might
be the best collection four free agents in the league,
not just this year, but going back sometime now. They
also add Isaiah Rodgers, who's a sneaky good cornerback justin school.
(25:07):
Jeff Akuda can play some ball, Rondell Moore, Tavier Thomas,
Jordan Mason, first round pick, Donovan Jackson on the way out,
Sam Darnold, Cam Biden was a big piece of that defense.
He's out, Patrick Jones, Johnny Munt, Garrett Bradbury, Cam Robinson,
and ed Ingram all on the departures list. A lot
of change, but I think one step back potentially three
steps forward down the road. Their calling card on offense
(25:31):
is Aaron Jones, and I thought that he helped them
implement that run skiing the O'Connell had kind of craved
as they went through the end of the Dalvin Cook years,
as he kind of lost a step and really became
a shadow of himself in the post Dalvin Cook world.
Now they get Jordan Mason, who I think is one
of the best pure zone runners the entire damn league
last year. I think all of that with how they
get displacement and have arguably the best player in the league,
(25:54):
and Justin Jefferson who can get open in all three
levels and destroy any single coverage and win against doubles
on PIP teams with the outlet valve and TJ Hawkinson
and Jordan Addison there, gosh, what a fun offense now,
the depth there and putting all of this on McCarthy's hands,
that's the interesting part. I didn't like the tape of
ty Felton out of Maryland, and then Tim Jones is
the kind of the next option. But if you lose
(26:16):
one of those guys, now McCarthy has to kind of
make it work with backups.
Speaker 3 (26:19):
We'll see.
Speaker 2 (26:20):
I think Rondell Moore could be a good specialist type
of addition who I think really fits the horizontal stretch
aspect of this offense. Not a big vertical guy, but
he can get them on some misdirection through screens, jet
sweeps in the play pass, all that checks out, and
then getting Freeze and Kelly to stabilize what had become
kind of a shaky offensive line that really took on
injuries last year with a crazy rate. But just a
(26:41):
masterclass from Questi their GM. Darrisol is going to be back.
He's an elite left tackle. Brian O'Neil has been a
good right tackle for a long time. Donnie Jackson day
one left guard who can play tackle two. It's a
pretty good offensive line man. On defense, you don't need
this describe, but it's a lot of man coverage, it's
a lot of blitzeeing, a lot of zero coverage rush games.
The backers that fly around and come after the quarterback,
(27:03):
and safeties who do the same thing. They'll have to
replace Cam bind them who helped them stay in that
big nickel package. They really didn't go after another safety
Harrison Smith returns for year fifteen. Josh Mattellis is the
most Brian Flora's safety ever, and they went after aggressive,
feisty man cover corners and Rogers and Nokudah to pair
with Byron Murphy, who came in from Arizona last year
(27:23):
and was awesome. I think Tavi er Thomas as a
depth signing was low key one of the best moves
of the offseason for them. But Man thinking about the
scheme with Alan and Hargrave have mercy Man, I wrote
down Jordan Phillis, I'm talking about Harrison Phillips here, they
return Gink and Jonathan Grenard. I have in Pace and
Blake Cashman to fit what Flora's does. If McCarthy is good,
this team's going to be a force to reckon. With
(27:44):
the question, I mean they demonstrated a considerable amount of
faith in the quarterback. When I watched him at Michigan,
I saw a limited processor with uninspiring accuracies. So we're
gonna see it's not gonna be great in year one
probably if he does all that, though, they'll make a
deep run. Defensive depth, I guess would be the other thing.
The skill spots and I guess the offensive line, but
I mean when you get you know, you go this
hard on your starting unit, you tend to sacrifice some depth,
(28:07):
and I think that we have some of that here
with you know, Freeze, Fries, Kelly Hargrave and Allen coming
off a year where they signed Gink and Murphy. Like,
it's a lot of free agent money on that team
and you don't typically get that and have proven depth.
Speaker 3 (28:18):
The miscellaneous factors.
Speaker 2 (28:20):
I know it's, you know, a new quarterback, but I
think you have to consider what the offense looked like
in the Detroit finale and that playoff game. Teams will
dissect those tapes, but again, the offensive line is healthy
and the quarterback is new. I think the division makes
this tough for them. I'd have them as a surefire
playoff team and probably any other division in the NFC,
but they might be third best here and that's a
(28:40):
lot of tough games. They've got a stretch where they
go Eagles, Chargers, Lions, Ravens, Bears, Packers. That's five games
or five teams rather that won eleven games last year
in six weeks. They have to have a fast start
against Atlanta, Cincy, Pittsburgh, and Cleveland. The trapdoor scenario McCarthy
doesn't work out, right, You missed that's the biggest one.
I think they can afford a trick that comes to
(29:00):
the NFL season just because of how good the top
part of this roster is, and they can coach and
scheme around things to mitigate one or two injuries. Now,
if they get Lions injury luck, that'll cripple any team conclusion.
Are they a top fourteen team in the league? Yeah,
but it doesn't always go that way as far as
who gets in this team. This division, man, it is fascinating.
Let's conclude here with the Chicago Bears and Travis. Where
(29:20):
are the negatives in the division? Well, we've arrived, and
this is a surprise to nobody. Is Travis surprise that
Kayla Williams had one of the worst rookie seasons we've seen? No,
you know when that continues to go belly up, you
know where to find me. I just don't believe in it.
Ben Johnson arrives and a brand new staff is tasked
with getting last year's number one overall pick playing like
the generational prospect that I was told that he was
(29:41):
Declan Doyle joins Johnson's staff as the OC and Dennis
Allen will coach the defense, which I think is a
tremendous higher. Johnson was able to pluck some Detroit staffers
as well, found some established names throughout the league like
Al Harris, Eric b Enemy and Press Taylor. Roster wise,
in is a total offensive line overhauled Drew Dolman, Jonah
Williams and Joe Tony is gonna have that fan base
(30:01):
fired up. They also added Durham Smyth, Grady Jarrett, Devin Duvernet,
Alamade's a Kias case Keenum, and the big move on
defense was dayoh On Hedebo Oheadabo. In the draft they
go Colston Levland, Luther Burden, Ozzie Trapillo, and Shamar Turner.
Speaker 3 (30:15):
So a good draft too.
Speaker 2 (30:16):
DeMarcus Walker, Daryl Taylor, Larry Boram, Tevin Jenkins, Jalen Jones,
Coleman Shelton, and Keenan Allen are all on the departures list.
The calling card for this offense we're gonna see. We
know Johnson loves to operate from a variety of formations.
He must run the football. He likes to throw the
ball to his offensive lineman and just do a bunch
of fun stuff but power, you know, hence all the
moves on the offensive line. They went after three guys
(30:39):
that were born in power systems and Dalmontoney and Jackson.
They get their big tight end in the draft and
can help them stay in twelve personnel, which would get
Cole Comett and Colson Levlan on the field with both
Romadoonze and DJ Moore. The Keenan Allen Allen signing did
not work, so I think it's a net positive here
to pivot off of that. This offense should do a
good job creating and identifying one on one matchups, but
(31:00):
then it's imperative for the quarterback to play the position
from the pocket on time. He doesn't do that. Ben
Jonson number one task is to get Kayleab Williams to
execute the offense and not run backwards at the first
sign of pressure and play Sam lot Ball. Braxton Jones
and Darnell Wright are the only holdovers on the offensive line.
Both played really well, especially right you guys know, I
was a huge fan of his out of the draft,
(31:20):
but you can see Johnson's influence those three new starters.
They also add Ryan Bates as a swing interior guy
with tons of experience, and then I imagine their third
round pick Trapeo is the next swing guy off the
tackle position. DeAndre Swift, you know, stands that exceptional extra
gear in space, has a similar game to Jamir Gibbs.
To me, it all comes down to the quarterback. But
on defense, Dannas Allen operates some fun modern schemes that
(31:43):
emphasize winning one on one matchups and then adding wrinkles
off the preferred matchups. And that's in the rush game,
but also in coverage with rovers hybrid schemes and rotation
opposite of the pre snap presentation. They swap out Walker
for Odeumbo. Gosh, my pronunciation sucks, who's had a hard
time staying on the field, but it's awesome when he does.
He pairs with Montes Sweat for a really nice edge combination.
(32:06):
And then they get Grady Jarrett and Shamar Turner to
help inside with the productive Gervon Dexter.
Speaker 3 (32:11):
That's a nice trio.
Speaker 2 (32:12):
They signed two linebackers Edwards and Edmonds a few years back,
got them extensions. The corner trio is awesome. Jalen Johnson,
Kyler Gordon are two of the best, and Tyreek Stevenson
was a hit for them. Jakwan Brisker is a good safety.
I think Kevin Byer will get pushed by Jonathan Owens
and Elijah Hicks. To start the question for this team again,
how do you get a quarterback who has sort of
been found out for a lot of the negative things
(32:33):
from his approach to the game overall seemingly like disinterested
at times, especially in the Bears as an organization like
to play good football. How do you find that, especially
an offense where I need you to see the game
like Ben Johnson does, I just don't see it.
Speaker 3 (32:46):
We'll find out.
Speaker 2 (32:46):
Maybe I'm gonna be, you know, freezing cold. Take here,
but took taking Liam Neeson. You've got the staff, You've
got a good line, You've got good weapons. Defense is
going to be well coached with some pretty solid pieces.
How does the quarterback play? That's really Itago sixty eight sacks,
four hundred and sixty six yards lost was by far
the most, and that's a quarterback stat. Don't get it twisted.
(33:07):
A passer rating under ninety these days is not gonna
do it. Six point three yards per attempt, forty success
rate or sex rate. That's pretty good as a sex rate.
Now it's a success rate. It's got to get better.
Miscellaneous factors. Most teams get a reprieve with at least
one divisional foe. Not the case for the Bears. They
have six tough division games. They could go zero to
six there. Then you get the AFC North and that's
(33:27):
like three really tough games. NFC East is much better
than it was two years ago. Even their fourth place
schedule will get you a game against the Niners. I
cannot imagine they're favored and more than a handful of games.
The trapdoor scenario here, broken record. What if the quarterback
cannot play and it doesn't work? The conclusion. I see
the vision. I think they made a ton of positive steps,
But if you don't believe in the quarterback, you don't
(33:49):
believe in the team. So that's where I am on
this team. Division superlatives. The Packers are my winner right now.
Jordan Love is my best quarterback right now. The best
non quarterback on offense is Justin Jefferson.
Speaker 3 (33:59):
That's not up for debate.
Speaker 2 (34:00):
The best defensive player to me is not either in.
Brian Branch The best coach that also is not up
for debate. Matt Lafleur. My favorite rookie in this year's
group is Tyleeque Williams and the best under the radar
Studs Packers tight end Luke Musgrave.
Speaker 3 (34:14):
So there we go.
Speaker 2 (34:14):
Another division in the books, the Too East Still to go,
and one more segment on this podcast still to go
is but Itto Jones joins Jones. Jones joins me to
talk about some farming life, playing nose tackle on this defense,
and a heck of a lot more Draft Time podcast
brought to you by Autoonation. Joined here on the Draft
Time Podcast by Dolphins defensive tackle but Itto Jones, Banito,
(34:37):
what's up man?
Speaker 3 (34:38):
How we doing?
Speaker 6 (34:39):
Oh man, it's going good. How y'all doing?
Speaker 2 (34:41):
I'm I'm pretty good man. I can't complain too much.
So whether it's getting hot right now, training camp coming up?
How are you feeling about the upcoming season here?
Speaker 4 (34:48):
Man?
Speaker 6 (34:48):
I feel great about it. A body feeling healthy, team
looking healthy. I feel really good.
Speaker 2 (34:53):
About It's what's different this year than last year in
terms of your like because this is your second stint,
my any but second season, how has how have you
kind of grown developed over the time from this time
last year, first year in the system to now second
year with coach Weave.
Speaker 6 (35:10):
You know, coming back, you know, just seeing them they
believing me, giving me another chance here learning, you know,
knowing the defense really well. Now it's just like a
you know, like an early process in the brain and
just you know, just ready to get out there and compete.
Speaker 2 (35:25):
Another coach that you, I guess reunited with the second
time around was Coach Clark, a guy that I feel
like every person I talked to about Coach Clark has
has a great story. What's your what's your Coach Clark
story or maybe impression just in terms of, you know,
how he's helped your career.
Speaker 6 (35:40):
Man Clark, Me and him came in together, to be honest,
My rookie year was his first year. He stayed on
me and ray Kun so hard as a rookie, and
you know, I just thought just you know, just having
him as a as the first coach in the league
(36:00):
and like, you know, going to Detroit and coming back,
you know, I could I could see a big difference.
And you know, he he's a guy. He cared about
his players. He gonna keep it, he gonna keep it,
always honest with you what you're doing wrong, what you
can do, you know, the better your game. And he
just you know, he's hisself every day.
Speaker 2 (36:16):
What would you tell because we have four rookies in
the room right now, right, what would you tell those
rookies about how coach Clark can help them?
Speaker 6 (36:23):
Oh? Man, First of all, you just got to listen,
buy into his work. You know, anything he say, you
know it ain't it. Ain't he he beating you up.
He gonna coach you up. And I promise you he
gonna give you his one hundred and ten percent coaching every.
Speaker 2 (36:35):
Day every day, just like you guys give on the
football field. Let's pivot now to more of the off
the field stuff. So in Mississippi, right the farm, how's
that going out there?
Speaker 6 (36:43):
Oh man, it's going lovely?
Speaker 3 (36:46):
Tell me about it.
Speaker 6 (36:47):
Uh. You know, I I farm. I have cows. You know,
I also have a trucking company and logging business. And
you know, every chance I get, I get back home
and I like to, you know, see everything.
Speaker 4 (36:59):
And you know I like to be hands on.
Speaker 2 (37:02):
You like the farm aspects more or the trucking and
logging company.
Speaker 4 (37:04):
More, which both both. You know.
Speaker 6 (37:07):
I love cows, I love horses. And you know, just
you know, I drive eighteen with I have my CDL,
I have my own personal truck, and you know, I
like to do both.
Speaker 4 (37:19):
I drive my truck.
Speaker 6 (37:20):
When I'm home, you know, run to three loads a
day just to you know, get my mind off football sometimes.
Speaker 3 (37:26):
The eighteen wheeler is it? What's it? What's it like?
Learning to drive that is way different than driving a
standard car.
Speaker 6 (37:31):
Oh yeah, it's it's a lot different. You know, you
got many more gears. Got eighteen speed, thirteen speed, teen speed.
You know, that's something I've been learning how to do
ever since I was you know, you know, my dad
he taught me how to drive a truck when I
was four or five years old, and you know, one
day I always wanted, you know, to own my own
and I have twelve right now.
Speaker 4 (37:53):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (37:53):
I just took my daughter out golfing for the first
time this weekend and she drove the car. She thought
it was the best thing. Ever, I can't I can't
imagine how I drive a truck though.
Speaker 6 (38:00):
Oh yeah, it's big, you know, you you can see
both lanes, and the most dangerous part about it to me,
you know, people just don't understand, like know what a
truck driver got to you know, see and do on
a daily basis, you know, trying to save his life
and others around him, and people just drive curriculus, you know,
(38:21):
just kind of always be aware of other people.
Speaker 3 (38:24):
Yeah, that's man.
Speaker 2 (38:25):
It's always a dangerous the way some people drive around,
you know, a big trucks. It's like, man, do you
realize what that truck could do to you right now
if it.
Speaker 3 (38:32):
Makes one wrong move? So mad be a little more
careful there.
Speaker 2 (38:35):
Do you have any like long term aspirations, like because
I imagine like you you probably enjoy like a long road trip.
Speaker 6 (38:40):
It sounds like like, oh, not taking like a long
road trip. Or you know, me and my brother we're
jumping one of my eighteen wheels or something. You know,
we're just you know, like on a week or something.
We'll take a long haul to like, you know, wherever
we want to go, and you know, just just do
it together. You know, me him, you know, we we
(39:01):
drive trucks. He drive trucks twenty four seven. I don't,
but uh, you know, just getting out doing it and uh,
like I'm a like a like a like ah, it's
like a long term thing that I do want to do. Yeah, man,
you know, just just sit back and relax at the farm.
And you know, like I say, drive a truck when
I need to, you know, not when I have to.
(39:23):
You know, just just do it, you know, just you know,
just be around my kids.
Speaker 1 (39:27):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (39:27):
I'm picturing like a like a cross country window bago
or something like that. I don't know, some long time,
long term road trip there. But no in terms of
in terms of driving when you when you make those
long hauls. What do you have in the on the stereo?
Is it is a music? Is an audiobook? Is a podcast?
Speaker 4 (39:43):
I listened to a little bit of everything.
Speaker 6 (39:45):
Uh.
Speaker 4 (39:46):
I listened to gospel.
Speaker 6 (39:47):
I listened to blues, a little R and B, you know,
just to you know, get you, you know, get your
blood flowing a little bit. You know, you might want
to sing something in there, but like I say, you know,
you can't never like not be paying attention in the truck.
Speaker 4 (40:01):
You know, anything can happen. So but yeah, I listen
to music.
Speaker 6 (40:05):
It's you know, keep me going.
Speaker 3 (40:08):
Yeah, no doubt about that. One more question here for you.
Speaker 2 (40:10):
But you tell a Dolphins defensive tacklepen he told Jones
with us here on the podcast upcoming season twenty twenty
five and asking a lot of the guys, that's what
excites you the most about this year for the Dolphins?
Speaker 6 (40:18):
Oh man, just just another opportunity to do it again.
You know, I know, you know, we we all could
be somewhere else, but you know, just being here getting
a chance to do it again. Uh, you know, we
were trying to do something that we ain't done in
a long time, get to the playoffs. And that's that's
how biggest goal right now. And I think we have
everything to do it, and you know, we just gotta
(40:41):
go week by week.
Speaker 2 (40:42):
Good stuff. But you told Jones appreciate it timesday man,
Thank you, sir, Thank you. There he goes really enjoy chatting.
But hey, til he's a big personality and a big
body as well.
Speaker 3 (40:50):
There you go. That's the podcast and it is the
most wonderful time of year. That's right.
Speaker 2 (40:54):
Miami Dolphins training camp right around the corner, and you
can reserve your tickets rate now. The Dolphins are back
on the field for Back Together Weekend on July twenty sixth,
a Saturday, first Dolphins practice open to the fans in
the public. The Dolphins will take Sunday off and be
back on the field for a Monday practice on the
twenty eighth, as well as the twenty ninth and thirtieth,
(41:16):
all open to the fans. After a Thursday day off
on the thirty first, Miami's right back to work for
the first, second and third of August, all those practices
open to fans as well. The next practice available to
the fans August the sixth, and then a pretty good
gap there with the joint practices up in Detroit and Chicago.
Miami's back for three more practices in front of the
(41:37):
fans here at the Baptist Hill Training Complex August eighteenth,
August twentieth, and August twenty first. That twenty first date
is a joint practice against the Jacksonville Jaguars. So July
twenty sixth, July twenty eighth, twenty ninth, thirtieth, August first,
second and third, August sixth, August nineteenth, August twentieth, and
August twenty first against the Jacksonville Jaguars. Book your tickets
(41:59):
now on Miami Dolphins dot com. Also, please be sure
subscribe to the podcast. Leave us a rating, leave us
a review. You can follow me on social at winfle NFL.
Speaker 3 (42:07):
And the team at Miami Dolphins.
Speaker 2 (42:09):
Check out the YouTube channel for Dolphins HQ, media availabilities,
drive time content and so much more. And last button
not least, Miami Dolphins dot com Until next time, Funzo
cal and Cameron and Willow dottye just coming up.
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