2021 NFL Draft Defensive Line Preview

the best fits in this defense are. The heaviest hands, best lateral agility for stunting in games, best day to value, the prototype for playing edge in this defense, all of that and a whole bunch more on this edition of the Drivetime podcasts. As all traft Time is brought to you by Auto Nation, We're not gonna waste any time on this podcast. We have a lengthy interview with John Ledyard.

Let's go ahead and jump right in. We talked all things defensive end, edge position and this Dolphins defense on this edition of the Drive Time Draft Preview podcast and joining us now on the Drivetime Podcast, he covers the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the NFL traft com Pewter Report dot Com also has a great podcast and live show there. He is John Ledyard. John from one New Florida Man to another New Florida man. Welcome in, Thanks man, I've forgot about that. We're both kind of new to the

lay of the land down here. Man. It is sweet. I'm not gonna lie. I'm in the Tampa Bay area obviously, but I can't get enough for right now. Man. I mean, I honestly don't know if I'm ever gonna be able to convince my wife to leave, and I'm not sure i'd ever want to at this point. It's it's a great place to live Saturdays before home games when there's well, this year I didn't travel, but Saturday's before home games are sacred in the NFL because you don't, you know,

you have that time off to yourself. I would go to my pool like around Thanksgiving time and just floating for like three hours. I'm like, I can't get enough of this. This is like you said, never going back to the Pacific Northwest again, because we have like three months where I can swim, and now I've got basically twelve months where I can get in the pool and get my tan on and and all that stuff I didn't want to ask you. Is there like one Florida man,

thing you've seen so far that blew your mind? Because I had one early on in my in my time down there, I'm wondering what yours might be. I mean, one thing is just the roads like blow my mind. I cannot believe how just much of a free for all it is. I mean, first of all, you never see anybody pulled over. Everybody speeds, which everybody speeds and p A two where I'm from originally, but here it's like there's there's hardly any speed limit signs like a p A you got one all over the place. You've

got speed limit signs everywhere in Florida. You have them so spaced out you don't even if you didn't see one early. You don't know what speed limit is half the time. And most people drive like it. They never get in trouble. There's like no intersections or the inter I mean sorry, there's intersections. There's no lights at the intersections for I mean, so people are literally pulling out between the intersections and and just turning whatever they can.

It's just a mad house on the road. Sometimes even when traffic isn't bad. The lack of rules and structure is like very Florida man asked to me. Even if it isn't center around one individual, it's it's funny it's out east because it really is the wild wild West, like I call it, wacky races out there. It's basically just gun it and pray and see what happens. Because

turn signals are completely optional down there. I'm back home in the Northwest right now, but down in Florida they are optional and you just kind of go with it and see what happens. And I got hit by someone got ranted my first month down there. So welcome to Florida, man. I'm we're glad to have you in the state couple hours up north. And the reason you are in Florida is because you're covering a Super Bowl champion last year.

What was that like, man, covering a team that went all the way and you had the good press box flex post on Twitter showing the picture from the press box. How was the season covering a Super Bowl team for you? It was awesome? Um, for a lot of reasons. Really. I covered the Steelers for years and although obviously I always love the Steelers and I enjoyed my time covering them. It is a lot there are a lot more difficult to cover. There was, just there's not the same transparency.

You know, there's very much this hierarchy in the media realm, but also from the team to the media, there's not this you know, relationship and it doesn't mean like everything we say is in support of the team or anything like that. But there's just for so little drama in Tampa Bay. And I love that, you know, I love the cohesiveness of the media all working together um on and just being part of that where you don't feel like, oh,

you're younger. You know, I'm thirty one now, but you're younger, and like you know, you're not you have to do this, this and this before we accept the fact that you're part of me. Like just to know you're stepping into a realm where this team wants to be covered and they want a relationship with the media, and they want to keep that relationship you know, open door, and and they want to keep it in and kind of a

good place. Not so much that we just write positive things about them, because all right, negative stuff too, but it's just like that this is not this like superiority complex like there is with some other organizations that admittedly probably of reason to be on the high horse a little bit like Pittsburghi's want lot over the years. So that was a fun part of it for me personally, but also just covering a great team. I mean to

watch the transformations that happened. I started in February of last year, and Tom Brady was signed like a month later, a month and a half later. From after I got I was brown Board, and then it was Gronkowski and just kind of this whole run of of moves during the year, and then this amazing season that was kind of up and down a little bit, and then they got hot at the end and you knew something special could be happening once they started winning in the playoffs

a little bit, and it was. It was a blast to be a part of it. Rarely comes together like that that quickly, and so to be a part of something like that and to be able to be down here. We actually moved down to Tampa Bay during their bye week. Remember they haven't lost since that point, so we are eight now down here. I've been to three I think I covered three or four games live at the stadium this year and they want all of them obviously Banana, So a lot of pressure on us going into next

year for sure to keep the streak intact. But right now they've all been victory Mondays for the Ledgards in Tampa Bay. Yeah, I had, uh Tampa Bay. Trey his you know, the same name. He was in the podcast earlier this week and and he was I talked to him about rooting for a team that won the Super Bowl, and I told him, you know, I'll be in the

press box for these Dolphins games. I had a joke for a long time that the Dolphins had this program where people that wrote for for fans sides could come down and cover a couple of games every year, and I took advantage of that, and I was I think four know at one point in the press box, and I was telling Trey one of those games was the

Miami Miracle, where I couldn't contain it. And I told him, if it's a Super Bowl that I'm covering, there's no chance I'm gonna be able to follow the press box rule. So we will see how that goes. But you mentioned, you know, the Bucks last year gave you basically twelve months of great content because you signed a player that's good content for you have the draft that's obviously great content.

We saw that here in Miami as well. Boy was I busy last offseason with all those free agent acquisitions and all those draft picks. And that's where we have you on here for this podcast today, John, to talk about another position going into this draft that could be an area of focus for those Dolphins team, the defensive line,

particularly at the edge position. You and I spoke offline that they loaded up on the interior defensive line and have some guys that play a little bit of that big heavy edge like you had mentioned to me offline. Fans haven't heard that yet. But that's not out here

nor there. But I do want to get into this edge position and maybe just first before we get to the Dolphins aspect, establish a baseline for when you're looking at edge players on tape, like what is a trait or two that you have to see for you to

get excited about that player? For me, I always start with pass rush because if you and that might be a little different actually than where Miami starts, Like I don't know that they all you know, with all other guys that they start there, and that's fine, But for me, it's always I start with pass rush. Should I say to myself, I look at four pillars. I call them the four pillars of pass rush athleticism because I'm a nerd, and I call it starts with burst off the ball

your first two steps. Can you get off the ball quickly, timely fashion? And can you do it on a consistent basis? Could be snap timing. I don't really care as long as you're off the ball quickly and you can do it consistently. And so are you explosive? Basically? Are you fast? You carry that speed up the arc? Doesn't have to be fast over forty yards, but over yeah, that five to ten yards that you need to cover. Can you

maintain your speed? And then can you go to the third pillar of athleticism for pass rushers is bend flexibility? Can you carry that speed around the outside hip of the offensive tackle? And then the last one will be change the direction, just because I think you have to be able to then alter off of that path. So the primary path for pass rushers where I want to see them win is around the outside hip of the

offensive tackle. If you can do that it sets up your speed to power game, it sets up your speed counter game, and your ability to get inside guys sets up the rest of the arsenal as a pass rusher. But I gotta know that you can do that burst off the ball, speed up the arc, bend and flexibility at the top of the arc, and then change the direction. Which of those traits are you strong and or you're strong and all of them, You're probably gonna be a

really good prospect. If you're only strong and one of them can do. What other things do you have in your game to make it work? And you still make it work with that skill set. If you're explosive but you can't band, well that's good, that's okay. You can still wins speed to power, You can definitely counter inside because you still threaten up the arc even if you're not the bendiest dude. So explosiveness is the most important

thing because of that. If you're bendy but not explosive, it's a little bit harder because you're not going to be at the edge and be at that point where you need to bend very often unless a guy is a bad pass set. So it really kind of depends on what traits you offer and then how well you can work around them with the additional skills that you might have as a rusher. Well, I'm glad you mentioned the Dolphins might have some different preferences in terms of

the type of player they look at. And that's I'm sure it can be, you know, accounted four across all thirty two organizations. But we've seen this defense and I've talked about on the podcast many many times. You know, William McGinnis, you know, left the Patriots and his prime Richard Seymour left the Patriots and his prime Chandler Jones,

Trey Flowers went to the Lions and free agency. They just didn't always place that priority on the guy that could consistently win the one on one pass rush situations. And we saw last year list offense defense created pressure through the scheme en route to a top ten sack defense, the number one takeaway defense, number one third down defense, and number six scoring defense in the National Football League.

And to continue that, John, in terms of what the Dolphins defense does, I mean, they loaded up on the defensive tackle position. You know, Zack Steeler and Christian Wilkins can both play some of that heavy end uh in this defense, Adam Butler has that explosive explosiveness on the interior off the line you talked about shack loss and gets traded to Houston. Emmanuel Ogbas still here and we had him on a podcast a while back talking about some of the things that you just mentioned with the

pass rush game. And so this is a defense that calls a lot of dime defense. It's very linebacker influenced and guys that can play multiple spots. So when you think about that, how much different do you view this class in terms of guys that might fit the mold of the big heavy edge, the guy with the heavy hands, the guy that maybe can condense inside but also maybe work outside stand up as a linebacker. Is this a

good class? But the versatile multiple guys like that that Miami might covet actually is a pretty good class for that, especially because when you're talking about Miami, just with what you described the Sills, skill sets that Miami typically looks for are often not They don't have to be first

round guys for them to be interested in. In fact, I would say that they're probably less likely to take those types of players earlier than some other teams maybe that rely on pass rush, for formative pass rush or things like that to get home, where individuals guys that can win one on one teams that really rely on that, they're going to prioritize those positions early, whereas Miami they can wait kind of get in the sweet spot right and like get guys who other people might not have

that high on the board but fit exactly what Miami wants to do. And So there are players like that in this class, both in my edge rankings but also in my interior defensive line rankings that are kind of like hybrid types of players or could be hybrid types of players. I'll mention two of them quickly in terms of the heavy edge type of role. One of them is Peyton Turner from Houston, who actually just worked out on Friday at his pro day. Had an unbelievable workout.

He's too almost two seventy pounds, is over thirty five inch arms, and he still managed to get a six seven three cone, which three cone just denotes bend and flexibility. I think it's one of the most important um it's one of the most important workout results for edge defenders because it directly translates to tape, right, can you turn in space basically like that? UM like that you have to do running a loop or things like that. So UM so I love that, um that he's able to

bring those things to the table. You see him on tape too, very physical, very violent. He does play with a little bit of high pads. He's not quite as technically clean as you might see some guys that that that those Patriots style defenses. You know that the that Belichick umbrella has kind of prioritized over the years. But

he is very violent and he's very physical. And the other unique thing about him, as he's played inside of Houston early on in his career, still kicks inside occasionally for Houston, but he plays from a two point stance and a three point stance outside the tackle, which is kind of another thing for a guy his size. You've even seen him drop a little bit, not a ton, but a little bit, and I think he's way more

explosive from a three point stance. But if you can correct his balance and some of his things pre snap, he's just kind of like leaning all over the place a little bit, kind of very Marcus Davenport like, if you remember Davenport from a few years ago. It just couldn't get quite comfortable, like ants and his pants before the stat from a two point stance, but from a three point stance with his hand down. He's really explosive.

And I don't think that people have talked enough about how quick he is off the ball because a lot of time he's in that two point stand. So he's one of those players you can just do a lot of different stuff with him. I think he could play the heavy edge, but also late in games if you needed a pass rusher, if you needed a guy to kick inside, if you need another guy on the edge, and you were just looking at who's my two best

pass rushers, I just need them right now. Scheme scheme be damned like, I don't care about that right now. I just want my two best pass rushers. He's able to be on the field in those situations too, so fun guy that gives you a little bit of everything. I think it could be a fit the other guys also. Digazoola from u c L A more of an interior player at u c L. A played four, I played three, played zero, played one. I mean all over the place and there, Yes, you'd see him outside the tackle at

times too. Tested pretty well to inter and eighty two pounds, so he is definitely more in the heavy edge and could kick inside type of role for a team, but definitely a fit for that style defense. I think another guy, like you said, they don't prioritize a second contract, so like if Manuel Aga goes out the door, eventually it's some point and you know, OsO dig A Zoo is a guy that could back him up and then eventually replaced him at some point whenever if he would ever

move on. And so those are kind of a couple of guys that I would say that I would have my eye on that I think could be good fits for the Dolphins at the edge spot slash interior spot. Those are great points. And I'm glad you mentioned Peyton Turner because he gives me two kind of avenues to do kind of follow up questions with you here and one, I'm curious how you evaluate a player that maybe you

think could have been used differently. And I'm not saying that Peyton Turner wasn't used correctly Houston, but it reminds me of at Oliver back at Houston when folks were not thrilled about the fact that he was maybe rushing from the zero technique. Sometimes, like when you're on a third down call on defense and he's at the zero technique, maybe they kind of limits his ability there. I know Daniel Jeremiah thinks that Quitty Pays usage was awful at

Chigan this year. When you consider watching college tape and how these guys are used, how much do you have to kind of separate the usage what he can do compared to what he actually produced and what he did do in college. Yeah, really tough, really difficult. I'm completely with Daniel Jeremiah on Quety Pay. He was his usage just really bad, and it's kept me. I said this on a show the other day that I said to the host, I don't know whether Quiti Pay is good

or not. I watched a lot of games of him of the last two years, and I am really not sure. You know what he can be um And yeah, he's a good example of they try to do just way too much for them too soon. So it depends on the issue too. Like so with with Quity Pay, they're trying to play him inside, they're playing him head up on the tackle, they're asking him to playing a square stance, which was an issue with that Oliver two. So you

don't always get the most explosiveness you can get from him. Um. So that's very much a usage thing with with a guy like Payton Turner, it's like, Okay, I think he can do all these different things. I'm not sure it's techniques quite where it needs to be to do all

these different things. But I get I get why they're trying to to do all these different things with him because he might have that versatility the NFL, where somebody like pay he just might be an edge rusher, like that's it, and they're trying to do all this different stuff with them, and it just didn't make sense. It wasn't wasn't his skill set, wasn't who he was as

a player. So you do have to look past that sometimes. Um. I also think it's an excuse sometimes for value, and he's like, oh, I hate the way they use them, but I love the fact that he tested well, um and he looks great on the hoof, so I'm gonna give him a high grade. Well, usually, even if you're used not quite to the best of your ability, you can produce. And so that's where production does matter and does come in for these edge defenders, and I'm sure

we'll talk about that a little bit. And when we get to more of the speed rushing type that could also play maybe off the ball, a Calvinnoy type player. But that that the production matters, and what you did on the edge in terms of production in college matters too. So yeah, you figure out where you want to plant your flags on outliers and things like that. But I really do think it starts with looking at those traits. If you have those traits, that's a great place to start.

If you have those pastors athleticism pillars, that's a great place to start. If you didn't produce in college, I need to figure out why you didn't. Especially if you have those traits and then you didn't produce in college, why was that the case? Um That gets tricky for an evaluator, I think, but that's where I starts looking for those really important traits at the position. So Peyton, Turner Quitty Pay we cover the idea of if you didn't produce in college, what can you do in the pros?

That reminds me of Jason away from Penn State. So I want to get your kind of tier ranking here with all these guys and include you know, Jalen Phillips, greg Or so all these guys. I want to hear you know, how you rank them by tier? Like who falls into your first tier of guys that you feel

comfortable in the first round of these edge players? And where does that drop off a curb where it's like, well, maybe we circle back because there's more value at another position and we can come back in round two or three and scoop up someone later on. Like, where's the tier ranking for you at the edge position. Yeah, it's definitely Jalen Phillips at the top and an edge tier by himself. Now, I only rank based on ability on tape, athletic testing, and production, you know, I only that's the

only things I used to buy it. So injuries, I'm not a dog. He has had injury histories in his past. I don't know they didn't affect him his past season he played as far as I know, anyway, I don't. I just don't know the details. I don't know how many concussions he said, how serious they are. I mean, I know, I think it's the three that are recorded. Um, you know, I don't know there is risk how you know U c l A. They were like, oh, I don't know if you can play with this risk. That's

what I've heard. And then he goes to Miami. He's dominant. So I I don't know. It's hard for me to speak to all that because I just don't know the situation. So I don't really talk about injuries, and I don't really do the character thing either. There's some questions there with Phillips. Teams will have to vet all that stuff. I don't know where he's at right now, so I don't know the kid well enough to save to those things. But I do know on tape he's clearly the dominant

number one AD dresher in this class. I don't think anyone else belongs in his tier in this class on tape. On the field, uh, and athletic testing too, he was he was terrific. There's some other really athletic guys that next bucket you have really are kind of there's four upside guys really, and then there's one in Peyton Turners be will be the one guy who I who I was curious what is Seal was now that I've seen his athletic testing. I've got to go back to my

grading scale and actually decide where he's gonna be. Right now, he's my edge five, but there's a chance that I can move him up my board for me, and that second tier would be Ogillary from Georgia, Away from Penn State, Pay from Michigan, Turner from Houston, and then Joseph Asai from Texas, who, by the way, as somebody will probably come back to in that galvanoid type of role you mentioned Jason Away to both pretty good fits, but those guys all are like really exciting athletes. Will Away and

pay an Osai tested like unbelievable athletes. We've talked about Turner at length. He's a little bit more of a of a ready guy. I think he's just pro ready, ready to go. Um Ogillary did not test really well, but is the best pass restaurant tape out of all those guys. I just said. He has a go to move with the cross shop and he's a speed bend type of pass rusher. I don't know that he's going to be of great interest to to Miami their prototype. He is physical and tough, He's just small for an

edge defender. He does have pretty good length. There are some things that you like about him, but he's not the type of player that's gonna jump and move in space. He reminds me very much of Yannick and got Way. You can like Yannicking Gockway, but at the end of the day, he is what he is. He's a press

rusher first and foremost. He might not win every snap or win with the dominance of great pass rushers in the NFL, but he'll win enough times to get U ten sacks a game, and he'll get a couple of strip sacks in there, and that can change a game. That's o gelarr to me. Man like he They are such similar players. They aren't really benders in the hips, but they're tilters. They like tilt the edge. They lean into guys and keep that speed while running at an angle.

It's pretty impressive stuff. I like, Oh Glary a good bit, but there are questions to you know, namely with athleticism. You would have liked to see a lot better testing considering his style of play. Jason Away, Joseph Asai, those are guys that I think I could see being potential, and now it depends where they are coming off the board. I don't think my aim he's gonna prioritize the guy

that in the first round. So if some team gets crazy and they're like, wow, we want these guys in round one, despite the fact that they hardly produced in college. Away only had seven sacks, and he played in seven games last year and did not have a sack. That's pretty crazy, Travis, Like, we're talking about an edge rusher a Penn State, Like you couldn't get one sack. But he's also going to enter the NFL one years old as one of the most athletic human beings in the

game period. That's kind of testing that he did um. A lot of people have floated the idea around what if we played him a tight end? So he's just he's a special tier athlete. Does he love football? I'm gonna have to know that with a Way, But I have to know that with Quitty Pay and I have to know that with Joseph Acade, they have all the traits that you want. They're extremely exciting athletes. I don't know that you'll see Pay dropped like you would with

Away or a SI. I don't know that you'll see him play off the ball at all like you would with those guys, but Away and Asia especially as potential Van Noy types, especially Aside he played off the ball the Texas and then I'll moved to the edge more his last year. But he's a guy that you can move around and probably better as a chess piece move player than he is at any one specific role right now.

I saw a highlight clip on Twitter this morning of Jason Away catching like a sixty yard touchdown pass at tight end in high school. So I think some of some folks had that idea back in those days as well. And we'll see what happens to him, and he's he's definitely intriguing prospect. And you mentioned a couple of things.

They're just based on your tier system. I'm sitting here thinking that thirty six pick in the draft might be where you look at that edge position for this Dolphins team because of the things you mentioned in terms of the value, And you mentioned you know a zz Oglari, who I think is a really good player, but like you mentioned, is someone else gonna have him higher than Miami might because of the pro type, because of the

fits and all that stuff. So that thirty six maybe fiftieth in the draft could be a great spot to come around, scoop up on some of these edge prospects who fall a little bit maybe because someone else doesn't value them the way that we do. And also, you made a comment John about how you don't you don't look at the injury history or the character stuff, which bravo to you for that, because there's so many prognosis is out there that are taking in incomplete information and

applying that. I mean, shoot, Facebook is full of eptomologists these days, right to like you know, that's just how the world works these days. But so kudos to you for that. I want to get into a few of these traits that I'm looking at and kind of if you've already named the player, go ahead and do it again and repeat it and kind of home and emphasize that. But I want to check off a few of these traits I think are highly important in this defense. And you can tell me a couple of guys that fit

that bill the best. Does that work for you? Yeah? That sounds great. Who do you think has the loosest hips in terms of who has the best lateral side decide agility? And I'm talking about the ability to come in and twist and stunt and run all the games this Dolphins defense runs who's loosen the hips and has lateral agility like nobody else in this class. I think

that really does describe Jason Away pretty well. I mean, you would have to get the things you'd have to get down with the way would be the more technical of the timing aspects of it. Those kind of the hands when you're getting through the gap, guards leaning over, he catches you and he wants to hit you last second, get that hand ready to ward off a blow like those are the things to me you'd have to work

on with him. But in terms of speed and change of direction, explosiveness, if you could teach him the timing and the intricacies like that, he is just again like he you knows I would this will qualify for two. Like they are really just great movement players. They just they move at a special level um even laterally or or vertically. You know, that's kind of how they're built. So both those guys, but Phillips also, I mean Jalen Phillips again, for everything you mentioned, I bet Phillips will

will be noteworthy. There really isn't any weaknesses in Jalen Phillips game. I don't think many people expect him to be in Miami Dolphin um at the end of the day, but I mean it could happen, I guess, but he would be probably a deviation. Assuming he's gonna go high, I guess I should say, um, But yeah, he he doesn't really have a lot of weaknesses in his game, so most things you mentioned, I bet he'll be pretty

high on that list as well. You mentioned looking for pass rushers, but what about who's the guy that you watch at the edge that just does not allow the run game to get going, whether it's on the outside, set in the edge or working back inside. Who's your favorite run defending edge in this class? A couple of different types. So there's like point of attack run defense, which that that was really lacking in this group. You know, there wasn't really a dominant point of attack guy among

the top tier guys. Somebody I like later on the board on that point of attack run defense is camp sample from two lane? What's he gonna away? How heavy's gonna be? Is gonna be an inside guy in the NFL Situationally right now, he's definitely an edge with what he's weighing in at in the two sixties, I think, Um, but he is. He is the definition of playing with leverage and intensity and good hand placement in the trenches. He's just very technically hard to move him in two lane.

He stacked and shed really well. Very physical dude. Um, I've really really I'm a huge camp Sample fan. I might be the biggest Caam Sample fan out there. Not to say that his ceiling is really high. I just love the way that he plays. I think you're gonna I think he's gonna go in the middle rounds and

you're going to get a good NFL player. And I'm part of me still likes the assurance of kind of knowing what you're getting, you know, as much as I get excited about the ways and the size and what they could be, at the end of the day, Like, no, when you're getting a good football player, when you take somebody in round three, I really value that too. So

I like that about camp Sample. Um. Then I would say in terms of just their potential as a run defender, Jason Away again, he improved his run defense a lot of pense date this past year. Um, you know, part of it that he has all these tools in his toolbox, but also he kind of got it technically too, and I was really impressed with that with him. You know,

he was really able. He would step down, he would take on polars um, you know, he would dip underneath polars and he would recognize concepts and that growth actually really encouraged me with the way, even though he's very far away as a pass rusher, the fact that the whole aspect of his game took this huge leap told me that maybe we've got a quick learner and a guy who can figure things out on the fly, and maybe the next step is his pass rush game. Maybe

that's where he improves next. So I like those guys honestly, even though he wasn't, I don't know how his projection in the NFL is going to go. Oh, Gilry also played pretty good run defense despite being a smaller guy this past season. I don't know if teams will project him to being a great run defender in the NFL due to his size, but um on tape it definitely

he had some impressive moments as well. I love how sort of hashing this out live on the air here, like you have the Angel on the Devil on your should are gonna comes to Jason away and you're kind of like trying to figure out which one you want to listen to more because it's it sounds super intriguing. But like you mentioned, like, what's the finished product gonna look like? And do you have the coaching staff to

get your hands on them and get him right? That's obviously one of the most important things in this whole process, and I think it's overlooked so often. But let's continue on here. And you know, I've heard this term from being around the Dolphins for the last couple of years. You know, in camp around players and coaches. Heavy hands be be heavy handed when you're at that position. Who do you watch on TAPA and say that dude's got some heavy f and hands. Payton Turner for sure, no

question about that. Um. You know, I've kind of talked about him a little bit already. Despite not playing with great leverage, he's able to use that length, lock guys out and throw people around. B y U is the best offensive line he faced. I always go to the best offensive line, right, There's no reason to mess around, Like, let's watch him against the best if they can't play

against the best, then you watch the other tape. Sure, but you know there's there's gonna be some level of concern right there if they can't play against the best. And he was really good I thought against b y U and so um yeah, he tossed her other right tackle a few times in one RAPPI through Brady Christensen, who's gonna be a probably top sixty pick, top sixty four pick in the draft, has a chance to be anyway,

and he tossed him around in sack. Zack Wilson so real, heavy hands, very violent and one of those rare types I think that might be able to just because of his length and physicality. He might not have to play with leverage all the time. He can still get away with it on the on the inside. That's hard to do. You have to be a special, the forced Buckner type player to be able to do that on the inside and still be able to be consistently consistent of your

position on the outside. Though you don't always need that leverage if you have the length and the strength, and he does. The other guy I would say in terms of just heavy handedness sample I'll mention and throwing his name out of there again, perfect example of what he is and why I really like him. Um. And the other one Rashad Weaver from pitt Uh. Really interesting player, kind of has the athletic testing of like a bendy, smaller guy, but he's just not explosive and anything that

he does, um, it's very steady. But I do think you really need explosiveness to be great in the NFL. He's crafty enough, good enough with his hands, great lang, you know, plays good point of attacker on defense. Never gonna be a great space player. Um, but he's you know, he's the kind of guy that I think will carve out a role for himself in the NFL if he can stay healthy. That's that's gonna be the big question

with Weaver. But I'd say those guys are probably the ones that stand out the most in terms of those traits. John Ludyard Peter Report here on the Drivetime podcast, breaking down the edge and defensive line class in this year's draft, this draft coming up later this month. I should say one more category here for you. We've you've kind of hinted at a few times. You've mentioned the name Kyle

van Noy. That's a player that took a lot of reps, did a lot of things in those defense last season, but they're gonna have to find a way to replace those reps. In one who is your ideal two way kind of hybrid guy. I know we talked about Joseph Aside, a guy that played off the ball his first couple of years of Texas. Now he comes down off the edge. I think that's probably easy one, but you've got to

have some more other than Joseph Aside. Who are some of your top two way type of hybrid guys that can give you the edge rushing but also play off the ball. Yeah, I mean there's it's like a hypothetical for guys like Away in a side like I think they could, but you have to teach him. They're not like they didn't like do that necessarily in college. You know. I mentioned Asia a little bit he did, but Vannoy

definitely brought unique things to the table. The closest guy to that, honestly might be a linebacker in Zaven Collins because he had rushes situationally, which my understanding of vanois, you know, it's more like a situational edge rush and then a lot of off the ball work, especially coverage. What could he give you? You know, Collins made a lot of plays in coverage this past season. He definitely has a great feeling zone kind of of where to be and I appreciate that about his game. He is

like a huge version of Van Noy. I mean he's like two hundred sixty pounds. I mean he's massive for a linebacker. That's very rare, and he's very smooth. He is fast enough. The biggest question with Collins is he's not physical enough to play on the edge in the NFL.

So you have to figure out situationally, can you make him work and how much do you want to play him on the line of scrimmage, Because if you're on the line of scrimmage, I really need to know that you're explosive in your first couple of steps, that you are physically like willing to go. I mean, you go to war every snap on the online of scrimmage and linebacker, you might at some point get hit by somebody you know, or you may make a tackle, you may have to

work through a block. It's more what I'm talking about, um, you know, and the line of scrimmage. That's every play I mean basically every play you've got to do that. So does he have that kind of mentality you know, a player when you're projecting to that kind of a role, you know. So the physicality and the and the explosiveness are big, and I don't think that really describes this game as much. So you have to use them on

the edge situationally, I think. But in terms of off the ball stuff, yeah, I mean ability to play in space for sure, his own coverage for sure. Uh. You never may never be the tone center for your team, which you'd love a six three two or sixty pound linebacker to be the tone center for your team. So there will be some disappointment that he is not. His physical frame does not match play style at all. But at the same time, I still think there's a good

player in there. If you can get them with one of those second round picks that you're talking about, I think that's where you really kind of could help yourself. As a defense. I've always wondered, like, why isn't this guy beat blocks more aggressively and just play, like you mentioned, to that size and to that to that capability he has in that frame, I don't want to pigeonhole the Dolphins to drafting by need or by saying a certain position is no longer a need, because that's just not

how this team operates. But I do think the defensive tackle position right now is probably in good hands. But as the draft approaches that you know that there's always curveballs that come into this thing. So let's go ahead and just touch on the defensive tackle class here real quick. And maybe it is just a Day three space either, like a Tyler Shelvon, But even then, I think that's kind of what John Jenkins was brought back for in

a one year contract. So I'm not entirely sure. But John, you just put out your defensive tackle rankings on your on your draft big board, So why don't you go ahead and run through that force real quick here and talk about maybe some later round values at that position. Yeah, you're probably not gonna worry about the top guys like bar Moron, Rozrique Nix, and I say top, but I still have questions with all those guys anyway. So the value in this class is perfect for teams that don't

need one early. You know, if you if you don't need an impact guy earlier You're you're gonna be all right because later in the class you're gonna get some guys that that are good like that. Now, my favorite type of guy, probably especially for Miami, I think would be Marlon Tweet Pollo two from from USC I don't know why. I don't know what happened Travis and two thousand nineteen. The dude did not wear gloves. He was

wearing number fifty one. He wasn't He had no tape on his arms, and the aesthetic matters, man like it matters. This year he switches to number ninety three, He gets gloves, he tapes up his four arms. He lost the power gut that he had in two thousand nineteen. I am not kidding you when I say I stopped the tape after I watched a couple nineteen games. I stopped the twenty tape and I had to like check the roster, and I kept stopping and going, is this cannot be

the same human being? Like they just didn't even look the same. It was. It's wild. If you get a chance look at him in two thousand nineteen, then just look at him in two thousand twenty. His body looks different, just everything. It was really wild. I had two thousand en I thought he was borderline undraftable, to be honest, and then two Thowy just a different player, more past rushability, way, better usage of his hands, more consistent, recognized blocking concepts.

They say, loves the game, He's very physical, works really hard. Um, so those things. You know, again, you think about what Miami values. They want character guys, right, they want guys that are gonna grind with the type of players that they get in the trenches, and I think he really fits that. So to me, he's a great fit when obvious surprised, Oh to see Hi become a Miami Dolphin. Um, he can play multiple positions in the D line. That's the other thing. I like you mentioned a space eater.

That's the thing about Miami, Like they could get any type of guy. You could have a John Jenkins to a Emmanuel Agua playing inside, like all types of the interior man. Like you think about Beltics defenses over the years. You know a Die church Wise and Adam Butler and Danny Shelton, like you just have every type of player. Um, they just want I think they want guys who love football, are super physical and no technically what they're doing. That

describes Marlin Twee Polo too. I think to would agree Di Scot's OsO Diggi Zoo he has to use that length better the thirty four in ch Arms. But I do think he'll be mostly in interior player in the NFL, and he definitely fits in terms of physicality and aggressiveness

love for the game. I know that was apparently a question with his brother Digi Zoo when he was in the NFL, but it won't be a question with Osa, I don't think, um so as long as teams feel like those boxes are checked, those are the two that I would say from Miami that really kind of stand

out to me. Like you said, there could be a nose tackle late like a Tyler Shelvon or Marvin Wilson or even a two Darryl Slayton from Florida Cayrus Tonger from b y U. He's already twenty five years always gonna be twenty five years old in a couple of months, So it's like, you know, but late in the draft, if you're just looking at Phil roy or roster for one or two years, those might be the type of

guys you target. But in terms of those mid round types, I think those two guys Ozo Diggi Zoo and Marlon Tweet Polo too. We'll go on the West coast for two guys from Miami Dolphins. I love you just cranking on extra names there force at the end to go back and look at here. I also love that you mentioned the aesthetic because one thing that I always harp on and watching tape is like receivers, for instance, please

wear different color shoes, where different sleeves. Give me something that differentiates you, because sometimes these guys look the same from that eagle line this guy, and I can't tell who's who if I don't get your numbers. So with you on that all the way, John led your Pewter Report. What are you working on, man? What's coming up there on the website and on the podcast? And where can people find you on social? Yeah, you can find me

on social at Ledyard NFL Draft. I've always got draft content going up on the subwebsite, like on Peter Report dot com. Like you mentioned my edge defender rankings, my interior defensive line rankings have dropped over the last couple of weeks. You can go to the site and search those and you'll find those pretty easily. You can, you know, comment or tweet at me and let me know how much you think they're trash um. But those are the

places you can mainly find me. And then if you want to listen to the podcast, we do talk Bucks. But I had Dan Burgler on the other day. We just talked to NFL draft and quarterbacks for a long time, and we talk a lot of draft right now this time of year two. And I went through the next day on Thursday's podcast on the Pewter Report podcasts, which you can watch on YouTube, I went through and talked about by d tackle rankings and went in depth more

on those guys kind of guys. So we just talk a lot of draft to Some of it occasionally is geared to the Bucks this time of year, but it's a lot of it's just draft stuff. So you can always check out those things as well, But mainly if you want to ask me questions or get my draft thoughts just in general on a team, you're gonna look on Twitter at Ledyard, L E. D y A r D NFL Draft. Well, thank you so much for your

time today, John. We didn't get into this year like we had last year, but the Dolphins are in Tampa this seasons. When that schedule comes out, Let's let's send some d ms back and forth and and figure out something to link up in Tampa Bay. Sound good. That sounds great to me, Man, Will would be great to get a show together. Maybe we'll both get a show out of it if we do that, the Crossover City, Maybe I love it. John Ledyard, thank you so much, Man.

We'll talk to you soon. Absolutely, Man, thanks so much for having me and away, he goes John Ledyard, Pewter Report dot Com. We've got a few more of these left to go, including linebackers with Trevor Sikoma. We're gonna talk to Matt Harmon for the Receiver slash tight End preview, and we'll have a running backs preview guest t b d at this point, but plenty of good content coming your way, including some heavy hitters in the draft industry,

a great crossover podcast. Plenty of stuff coming your way here in the draft preview editions of the Drivetime Podcast, as well as draft coverage. When we get to the end of April, it's coming up a couple of weeks away, but until next time. That's gonna be my time. You all. Please be sure to subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcast, Leave us a rating, leave us a review, give me

a follow on Twitter. It's at Wingfield, NFL. Follow the team at Miami Dolphins, check out the Fish Tank and the Audible podcast, and of course, Miami Dolphins dot com. Until next time, fins up.