2022 NFL Draft Preview - Tight Ends with Fran Duffy

and so too does our draft preview series. I have Fran Duffy here to help us preview the tight end class and a whole lot more because this guy is a bit of a draft guru. He works in the Philadelphia Eagles podcast network, the Journey to the Draft podcast, and the Eagle Eye in the Sky podcast. Fran Duffie

my guest today. We're gonna break down this tight end class, but also revisit the last couple of draft class here with the Miami Dolphins from someone who has evaluated those classes as close as anybody else from somewhere in South Florida. This is the Drivetime Podcast. We have a lot to get to today with Fran Duffy, and it will be a very busy week here on the Drivetime Podcast. Yesterday we heard our final of the scout sit downs with Matt Winston. We also chatted with Ali Connolly of Gridiron

Football Overseas talking about the linebacker class. We're gonna continue today with the tight ends and put a bow on our positional draft preview series tomorrow night on the podcast. Tomorrow, I should say, Kyle Crabs from Locked On Dolphins and the Draft Network joins us to do a comprehensive draft preview. Then Thursday we'll have a mail bag. The questions have already been put out, are you guys asked those questions? Will answer them on the podcast as well as Miami

Dolphins dot Com. But for today, let's put a bow on the positional previews and get to my guest friend Duffy and joining me now here on the Drivetime Podcast is the host of the Eagle, Eye and the Sky podcast and the Journey to the Draft podcast on the Philadelphia Eagles podcast Network, Fran Duffy. Fran, appreciate your time today, man, thanks a lot. I have us absolutely, Man. I appreciate you're asking me and happy to join them. You know, I always like to to not just study the game

of football. But study the folks that study the game of football, and watching you at the Combine, Man, this might be almost a little bit like a creepy to you. Instead it's not really, but just just watching the way you went around to the podiums, the questions you had for for the kids, and the stuff you extracted out of those those questions. Man, I really enjoyed watching you do your things. I was just kind of curious about

how you game plan for the weekend India. It's a good question, um, you know for me, Like I've been going to the Combine for like a decade now, and at this point, like you gotta know the questions that a lot of these guys are gonna be asked, and a lot of them are questions that don't necessarily benefit me. Like, I honestly don't care who these players are meeting with the combined because I know, like, in some ways, shape

or form, these guys are meeting with every team. It's more news of a team doesn't meet with the player throughout the free draft process and so uh, the the constant badgering for these guys, Oh did you meet with Team X? Oh? Like how did the meeting go? Like, yeah, sometimes you get an anecdote out of there and I

get it, so that part of it's fine. But to me, the big thing that I always and the other aspect of it too, is during pre draft CREP, these guys are coached up on all of these questions when it has to do about themselves, and so I've learned over the years you get these really kind of planned vanilla answers from these guys. If you said, like, oh, like, where do you think you need to improve? Or where

what's your biggest strength of your game? Who do you model yourself after a lot of those boilerplate questions come with boilerplate answers from the players, And so I have found that a lot of my success has come from asking players to talk about other players, whether that's in this draft, their teammates, opponents, guys they've gone up against, or guys that are coming down the road, and that can help me get a little bit of a head

start on next year. Because we do the Journey of the Draft podcast year round, and so we're always kind of looking ahead. That's off, we'll start as soon as the late part of the spring, early part of the summer gets here, and so That's really what my goal is going into Combine week is just try and get players to talk about other players. And it is also I think the players kind of appreciated as well, because they spend all weeks talking about themselves. They love gasing

out their teammates. And that was the one that I listed out to me was when you would ask him about who's a guy that we should keep an eye on next year? And I was thinking, look at Frank getting ready for the class already here in February of two. It's great. And you talk about being a ten year vent at the Combine. I've been there twice, spent the team for three years now, obviously no combined one, but it took me two years to really kind of get sick of that have you met with Team X questions?

So it doesn't take long to figure that one out. But it's like I said, like it's the same thing with the at the Senior Bowl. You know, you get a lot of these websites and people and look, look, everybody good create content. I'm not gonna I'm not gonna not content. Content is good for everybody. But to me, like every team, it's it's you're on a fact finding mission. If you're an NFL scout, you're trying to talk with

as many players as possible. Ever, every team is trying to talk with all the guys a senior ball, all the guys in the shrine ball, at the nflp A game, you go to the combine, whether it's formal informal, teams are trying to talk with everybody, and so uh to me that that's where that stuff kind of gets lost in the wash. Yeah, you gotta get the knowledge in case, you know, for agency comes around in four years and you want to know about a player his entire career.

So I mean, it makes sense to to know the entire league, right, And that's kind of where I wanted to get you to weigh in here for this Dolphins really this offseason, but a collection of the last few draft classes because I want to get to the tight end class here eventual. That's the reason we have you on the podcast. But you know, I want to go

back to the real reason. I believe the Dolphins were kind of afforded this opportunity to really use this year's ammunition to go out and get a proven you know, six for six six years, six Pro Bowl bids type of talent and Tyreek Hill, and that was you know, the success of the twenty one draft classes, and really in earnest, it goes back to before that when you consider, you know, Christian Wilkins Andrew Van Ginkle might get sick of Jerome Baker back to Xaving Howard in twenty six

team and so Fran I've got someone on my podcast here yourself that does this draft in depth every single year. I have to imagine you track not just the Eagles, but the entire national football they'd kind of only get a gauge for your hits and misses, but just curiosity, right, we all feel that way. So I wanted to keep it in these last two draft classes and just ask you as you go back over these Dolphins last two classes.

Eleven top one hundred picks, a bunch of guys that have played a bunch of snaps and starts and production all that fun stuff. What really stands out to you about these last two Dolphins draft classes. Well, I think the big thing you know, when you go back and you look at the last two groups, obviously a lot of high quality picks, right, I mean five first round picks, uh four second round picks, and so a lot of

really talented players. And I think when you look at the way that they operated last year, number one, you've got a legitimate athleticism across the board, right and you look at Jalen Waddle, Jalen Phillips, Javon Holland right off the bat one to three, all three guys stand out with their athleticism, not just what they did in the NFL and year one, but also with what they put on on the film in college. Mean, Jalen Waddle was one of the most impressive game breakers in all of

college football for the last two seasons at Alabama. Jalen Phillips was a monster his final season in Miami. And then Javon Holland was a personal favorite of mine just because of the athleticism and the versatility that he showed at Oregon, and people kind of forgot about it because he didn't play in that COVID season in but really kind of came on and I know he had a

strong first year down there for Miamy. So I think, to me, you look at that from that standpoint, and so, yeah, they really kind of hit it out of the park early on in that draft and then going back to the year before in just so many picks and interesting talent up and down the board, right, And I think when you look at guys now that are entering their third season, it's gonna be so pivotal for that class. And obviously so much is gonna be talked about with

to a tongue of ioloa. But you talk about Austin Jackson and Noah Bonogny and uh, you know Robert Hunt, what he has done so far in his career. Rickkwon Davis has been a pivotal, key cog upfront from everything that I've been able to tell um, but it's been It's a really interesting group of players, and obviously with a new coaching staff, you know that it's gonna be big for those guys to really kind of come in.

And some of those guys are gonna get an extra shot maybe if they felt like they were in their last leg with the previous coaching staff. Well, now you've got some new life. Uh. And obviously it can work the other way as well. So it's always important to make that strong first impression, which I know a lot of those players are doing right now. This week without Gates kicking off in South Beach. Yeah, football back on the football field. You can't beat that. That's for us.

All all kind of leads back to the draft, free agency, all that stuff to getting back on the football field. And you mentioned it there. You know that the efforts to build around to a tongue of voloa. The the Mike McDaniel and Chris Weer are both talking about their admiration for the talent they got on the offensive line with a Austin Jackson, with Robert Hunt, last year with

Liam Eikenberg and then going back to Solomon Kindley. Will also include Brandon Jones in that list, And it's just so many guys that continue for the defense obviously, but so many guys that are have been the main cogs in back to back winning seasons have come out of those draft classes. You go into year three here, you hope that's the year that they kind of take their game to that next level and really get themselves into

the next portion of their career. So, you know, these two drafts provided Miami again eleven top one hundred picks, and the Dolphins got a lot of that based upon one big draft day trade with LARRYE. Tons I'll go

into the Texans and getting that haul back. But the Dolphins have also been in business in recent years with the team that you cover in the Philadelphia Eagles and two of the more i would say rich teams in terms of their draft capital over the last you know, half decade and projecting into the future here as well, that we both have, you know, multiple first round picks next you guys this year with two and then two

again next year. The Dolphins in three as well, and you know, both these teams, it seems, have taken this approach this year. And it sounds funny to say because Philly still has the two first rounders, but to almost like invest more capital into next year's draft class. I was curious what you think about the benefit of that mode of operation. What do you think is the the idea behind kind of putting their draft capital from this year into next season. Well, it just gives you flexibility

over multiple seasons. And so obviously having three first round picks. You guys experienced that a couple of years ago. You know how exciting that could be for a franchise to how that amount of quality talent enter the building. But to me, now being able to stretch out, say okay, now we've got multiple first round picks over these couple of years. You've got multiple second round picks over these

next couple of years. It just gives you flexibility, not just in the draft, but if a blue chip talent or whether on the veteran market becomes available, like saying, you know a pro Bowl wide receiver like a Tyreek Kill level talent. Well, now if it's three, you've got that flexibility to be and say, okay, we can go and make that move if we still want to write and so to me, that's what that trade is about. You. You didn't give up much in terms of capital this year.

You still have multiple first round picks in the top twenty of this draft, but you gain an extra one next year, you gain an extra two a couple of years from now. So just being able to collect that those quality, high value picks to me over the course of the next couple of years, that's important for this franchise that is still very much trying to build towards

getting back to getting another Lombardi trophy. It's fascinating the way you almost have like these you know, these certain life cycles they talk about your you know, I don't want to call it a Super Bowl window, but those windows of time where you feel like you can achieve certain things. And the Dolphins seem to have put themselves in this position where their life cycle is not just now but also for the future. And I kind of see the same thing happened there in Philadelphia. So real

quick frame before our first break. I want to circle back to the previous thing we talked about and this new Dolphins coaching staff and kind of that you know, clean slate. We've heard you know, Patrick Surtainant, Sam Madison and damn it feels good to say those two names again for the coaching staff. We've heard Mike McDaniel talk about the entire coaching staff talk about a clean slate for some of these guys like you mentioned. So I

was curious. You know, you do a lot of great work on XS and O's friend, I can watch your breakdowns for hours and hours on end. It's it's a lot of fun, very educational. And you know this, this new offensive staff, defensive system should stay largely intact. But on the offense, new head coach, new OC, new quarterbacks, receivers, O line tight end coach. How can this staff, the

way they're constructed help accelerate the trajectory of those young players. Well, the big part is when you have the speed on the field that the Dolphins are going to have as long as everyone's healthy, when you have Jalen Waddle and Tyreek Kill, that speed a lot with the creativity that that coaching staff is likely to bring. Uh, that really kind of opens things up. And I think that when you look at a staff and they do things a

little bit differently. But when you look here in Philadelphia, Nick Sirianni, Shane Stikeen, Brian Johnson, the quarterback coaches across the board, they all want to talk about finding ways to get their playmakers the ball. They were one of the best in the league this past year in terms of yards after catch per reception, and that's about just trying to find ways to get the playmakers the ball

in space. One of the other teams that was really good in that department the Miami Dolphins and Mike McDaniel Right, So I think when you're the San Francisco for the Niners rather and Mike McDaniels, so that's where you're hoping carries over to the Miami Dolphins here this fall is that ability to find ways to get kill and waddle the ball in space and everybody else as well. And I think when you have that amount of speed, well,

now you've got that ability to stretch things out. Because that's the thing when people talk about the San Francisco for the Niners and their offense and Deebo, Samuel and Brandon you can obviously George Kittle, that's not it's not a big play offense from a vertical stand point, is a big play offense from a chunk standpoint. So you're trying to create explosive plays that are in that eighteen to twenty five yard window and some of those are balls that are thrown at seven yards with space where

receivers on the run. And that's something that to a tongue of Bolo woul due to high level during his time at Alabama, and now you're trying to create some

of that same magic schematically here in Miami. Yeah, most of the games played in that ten yard bucks, right, That's that's the part of the game that it seems to you really have to harp on that to get it across, it seems sometimes and you know it's It's interesting you talk about the vertical stretch of the offense, because a lot of these offenses that are built similarly, they start off condensed, right, They're always in nasty splits, in these tight splits, and then it gets to the

horizontal stretch as well, and how you create the spacing and all that fun stuff. Let's take our first break here and come back on the other side with Fran Duffy of the Journey to the Draft podcast on the Philadelphia Eagles podcast Network here on the Drivetime Podcast with your host Travis Wingfield. That's me, brought to you by

Auto Nation. Al Right back here on this edition of the Drivetime Podcast brought to you by Auto Nation, Fran Duffy is my guest, and Fran, I've asked this question to all my Draft preview guests here and I'm dying to get your answer because you obviously watch a ton of tape. I want to know about your idio secrecies. I've had a lot of good answers on this. It's there like a go to snack or a drink that

you have to have. For me, it's coffee. You watch me drinking this coffee during this podcast and then once you're locked in, I'm curious to hear your approach to the tape itself. I want to hear your entire film watching session. What does that look like for you? Um so, I would say by my snacks are on a general rotation, uh there, there's a lot of different things I like to rotate in there. I certainly like to have a drink at my side. I'm not a big coffee drinker.

I've tried multiple times over the course of my uh teenage and adult life to get into coffee, and I just can't find the taste. I love the smell, but just not I have not become a coffee drinker. Um that said, I think when you for me getting into the film, it's really a bit. It's a it's a long process, especially when it comes to the draft, because I usually try and get through a couple of different

touch points with all of these players. Obviously being able to see them live, whether it's at a game or at an All star setting, certainly at the combine, those are all helpful. But I try and at least have two or three different instances where I watch a player, because I can't tell you how often it happens. Travis where I'll watch a guy in August or a guy in October, and then it's January. I'm like, man, I'm I'm really high on this guy, and not everybody else

is high on this guy. Should did I just have like a good day that morning, like there was no traffic going into the office. I woke up on the right side of the bed. I'll go back and watch again and say no, like I really do like this guy, like oh okay, Like it just kind of reaffirming that. It just it makes me feel good to say, like, Okay, everything I saw back in the summer, everything I saw early in the fall, that still carries over and I'm

still watching. You know, it will be this it's this week. Um. You know, we're getting ready to do the defensive line preview next week on the Journey the Draft podcast, and so this week I'm just kind of going back through defensive linemen, some of whom I have not watched for months, and some of these are that are some of the best best players in the class. And you're gonna see some changes, You're gonna see some things that are about the same. I'm a big believer and just trying to

make sure, you trust your eyes more than your ears. Uh, and so just kind of lean into what I see and and that's I just have to be true to myself from that standpoint. And so typically from most players, I try and watch anywhere from like three to five games full games, depending on the position. Uh, and then

some specialty tapes off of that. So uh, you know, if it's a corner, I like watching all of the plays where he impacts the football, but then also some of the explosive plays that the defense gave up to get a sense of how often he was involved. Their wide receivers, I want to watch every single target running backs. I want to see as many pass protection stamps as possible, as well as all their touches against Power five competition. Right. So, just depending on the on the position, those kind of

specialty tapes will change. Um, but I think ultimately it just comes down to just watching as much as possible and just trying to get as many exposures as possible. No surprise at all here that you gave me a new answer that I haven't heard yet. So great stuff. They're frying to appreciate that, And then you got me thinking they're talking about watching these guys in the fall and then you kind of come back and then they

stir open mobile and they dominate. You're like, yep, that's the guy I saw, and everyone else kind of catches up to it. That's the best feeling in the draft process, if you ask me, so you know we can. We talked about the Dolphins and Eagles both putting capital into future draft classes. Certainly the Dolphins in next year's class, Eagles a little bit too. But I was curious to kind of circle back before we get into tight ends.

It's coming. I promised that the tight end preview is coming everybody, But uh, I wanted to ask you first, how would you describe this draft class. I don't know if you want to talk about the depth, the top heaviness of a certain position groups to stand out, But if you just kind of, you know, in your expertise here for and the all the knowledge you have of past draft classes, how would you say this one stacks up? And how would you describe what exactly this draft class offers. Yeah,

I think it's a it's a talented class. And while there isn't like that sizzle at the top that I think a lot of people are always looking for and you you could argue that I got I get the argument there. I still a big believer that there's talent and every draft and now it's just up to you to be able to find it. Now as all of that talent going to go in the first round, is all that talent gonna go in the top ten, is

all that rounte talent gonna go on the first two days. No, That's why we have these articles that come out every single year that are all, look what's redraft the draft from three years ago, and a lot of those guys that went in the first round aren't in that draft because there's talent and everywhere, And so to me, when I look at it, there are a handful of positions that are really really fun to study, really really impressive

in this class. When you talk about the depth through round one through round three and then even all the way out to round seven, there are gonna be a lot of those positions where it's like, man, there, you're gonna get good players on Day three in this draft, and so, um, it's a it's a talented group. I will I again, I am not one of the people that will say, oh man, this is if you need a franchise quarterback, this is not the year for that. Or if you need a tight end, this is not

the year for that. I'm a big believer that there is talent everywhere and so many That's I think that it gets lost often when talking about the NFL and while talking about this sport, is that there are very few, you know, just transformational system you know, the non system dependent players, Guys that you know, they just they drop them into any system, any scheme, and they'll find success. All of these guys need some kind of support, whether

it's their usage, the talent around them. So now it's about trying to find the best ways to put them into into position to succeed. And that's one of the things I'm always trying to look for on film is what exactly can they bring and what do they need to help them reach that seal. It makes sense how sometimes the ridge can get richer and kind of continues to go that way and the good teams get better because they have that system in place to to be

the right situation for that player. Because we know how much the draft depends on situation and where a player winds up, so real quick before we do get into the tight end preview here for two want to ask you about the Dolphins tight end room and really go back to last year's draft class because Miami took one of the top tight ends in last year's class as far as coming off the board, and Hunter Long just wanted to get your kind of your your expertise here

on what his draft profile was to you last year. And then I kind of follow up to that about you know, so many tight ends seemed to hit their stride in year two, year three. What is it about that first year for a rookie tight end that makes it so challenging to kind of have that major impact

right away in year one. Well, it's one of those positions where you have a very heavy hand in both the run game and the past game, and very often tight ends in college you're not asked to put your hand in the dirt and you're not asked to block

defensive ends. You're not asked to run a full route tree, right So to me, that's one of that was one of the big things I liked most about Hunter Long at Boston College was like, yeah, like maybe he wasn't like the fastest and most explosive athlete, but he had experienced a couple of different offensive schemes, was very productive, uh and showed that ability to be a very reliable pass catcher, but also it was a really competitive blocker.

And so when you have that dual threat ability as a tight end, I think that that's where you really bring a lot of value. That's not to say that the guys that are great blockers and the new pass catchers or the inversary or a great pass catcher and winded blocker. That's not to say that those guys don't have value, But I think when you have that ability to be uh, be across the board, that's what true versatility is at that position. It's not just oh yeah,

you can move this guy all around the formation. Now that guy's versatile. That's not versatility. Versatility is coming out in twelve personnel, are coming out in eleven personnel, and the defense saying, all right, is this gonna be a run? Is this gonna be a pass? And we're not. We're not quite sure yet based off just the personnel alone.

And so that was how I kind of viewed Hunter Long was that he was one of those guys that could do a little bit of everything for you on offense, and he did it from a number of alignments with Boston College. He played multiple offensive systems that are kind of that run heavy scheme that they adapt to, that more spread it out recent college style offense we're used to.

So he got the best of both worlds there, and you know that is a perfect kind of lead into my my my final question here before I get to the draft talk. Friend, I keep teasing it for you. I apologize on here, so you're such a draft guy here, but I gotta ask about our Dolphins tied end some more because I was thinking about when they drafted Hunter Long, how well that might pair with a guy like a Mike A. Sicky who can do so much across the formation in his own right and really kind of play

that big classic ye down the field. You know, his vertical seems stretched, the guy who can flex out and play out there as well. Uh, talking about Mike A. Sicky and Durham Smith as well, who was also resigned this this offseason, I was curious if you could go back into your twenty eight teen draft notebook and talk about those guys, but also how far they've come as pros. Yeah, I think the big thing is that Kasicki has turned into basically what we most of what most people expected

he would be coming out of Penn State. I mean, he was a local kid here, so there was a lot of eyes on him. But I think when you look at Mike Kisiki, his value was as a long strider in the open field, getting down the seam and being a factor in the past game. And that's where most people were excited for him coming into the NFL Draft, And well, that's why he was a second round pick right for the Miami Dolphins, was the fact that he had that game breaking ability as a pass catcher and

he could be a factor at all three levels. And that's something you're always looking for. To me, what always stood out to me about him when you watched Mike Kisicki was not only the outstanding test numbers at six five and a half under two hundred fifty pounds, he was really really long, but he caught damn near everything that was throwing his way. I mean, he was just so reliable at the catch point. He could clean things up as a route runner, he needed to clean things

up as a blocker. But with a guy that could be that three level threat that can impact all three levels of the field or you know, at that position, that can be tough to find. And so to me looking at Mike Kisiki, that was what really stood out to me about him and about his game. And I can imagine ways that this coaching staff will try and use him, especially at the intermediate area of the field.

He's not that same dual threat guy in terms of George Kittle when you talked about what he can bring as a blocker, but as a pass catcher, they're gonna try and find ways to be able to get him the football. Yeah, McDaniel has said as much talking about getting him the football in the passing game. And you know, I'm working on this a little bit of a you know, this time of year, we kind of trying to find

things out right. I was looking at this this kind of research project, kind of measuring how separation correlates to you know, interceptions that get thrown when you're targeted and passer rating and all that fun stuff and gasicky. You know, it doesn't have the highest separation number, but he has a good rack. He has a good passer rating when targeted and the balls didn't get picked off very much, and that kind of speaks his ability to go open

catch everything. Just like you mentioned, they're good stuff there. Let's take our final break here and come back with Fran Duffy here on the Drivetime Podcast with me your host Travis Wingfield, brought to you by Auto Nation, and we'll preview this year's tight end class. Alright, third and final segment here on this edition of the Drivetime Podcast with Fran Duffie, my guest from the Philadelphia Eagles podcast Network.

And how about some draft talk. Finally, this this tight end class is a pretty deep one and with the Finns first pick at one oh two, I'm curious to get a name from you here, Fran, maybe two, maybe two or three names that you'd like to see go off the board at that spot right at the end of the third round. Who might be the best bang for your buck at pick one oh two at the tight end position. Well, I think it ultimately, and this is how it took me is that position. It depends

on what you're looking for. I think the depth in this class is really impressive, and people, especially when you talk to people like the fantasy football community, they're not super excited about this tight end class because there's not that that Mike a Sticky right, There's not that guy that you're like, oh man, like this guy could be coming, could come in and be a dynamic pass catcher. He's proven to do it for you know, multiple seasons to

college level. He came in, it was dominant right away. We had one last year in Kyle Pitts. It looks like we're gonna have one next year, at least one next year with a Notre Dames Michael Mayer kind of being that guy. But this year everybody's looking a's like, all right, well, who is that guy who is the number one tight end? Again, it comes down to what you're looking for. If you're looking for production. Ault Trey McBride from Colorado State was as productive as they come.

I mean he had ninety catches for over eleven yards and and only one touchdown this year. But he wins the Macky Awards the number one tight end in college football. He was an All American, he was the Senior Ball tight end of the Week for the national squad. Uh And again he's a guy that he's not gonna blow you away Athletically. He ran mid four fives, which I thought was a little bit better than I expected. I don't think he's truly dynamic, but the guy that's gonna

chip in as a blocker, he catches everything. He's a pretty solid route runner. So I think when you're looking at not not a guy where you say all that like, he's got an A plus physical trait, but he just catches everything and he's really tough and competitive. And so again that dual threat ability gives you versatility as an offensive plate caller. If you're looking for a guy that leans more towards pass catching, well, Greg Dulcitch from u C.

L A. He is more that guy. He's a converted wide receiver six ft four, just over two forty pounds. He's got that ability to get down the seam and in the Pact twelve you see him run away from Pete with the ball and without the football. And so that was what was really impressive for me. I went down to the Senior Ball I thought he had a solid week down there in Mobile. He kind of reminds me a little bit of like a Tyler Higby when he was coming out of Western Kentucky a few years ago.

Higby has turned into a solid player with the l A ramps. And then again, if you want to go back the opposite direction, who's the guy that's really dominant at the point of attack on the run game and maybe untapped as a pass catcher. I think there's a handful of options for me. Kate Dotten from Washington really

stands out six ft five just under pounds. Couldn't take part in anything in the pre draft process because of an ankle injury that he suffered in November which caused him to have surgery, and he missed Combine, he missed Senior Bowl and right down the line. But I think when you look at Otten, he is a tough, competitive blocker. You could tell he likes the physical part of the football of the game and then also just snatches the ball easily away from his frame. He he catches more

mostly everything throwing his way. He was trusted in pass protection one on one against edge rushers in the pack twelve. So a guy that can get after it as a blocker. He's a really compelled, ditive player in pass protection, catches everything. Uh, it's just a guy. I think again, it just kind of goes back to McBride, just a well rounded player that just gets after it as a blocker. So to me, those would be some of the guys that I think when you get to that part of the draft that

start to make sense. I appreciate your approach to kind of talking us through. You know what your flavor might be in the and the players that match up with that. Accordingly, do you think all three of those guys go off the board before one oh two? And how many tight ends do you think are off the board by the time the Dolphins pick make their first pick. I think there's a chance that you probably see like a couple of those guys off the board you throw in like

Ohio States Jeremy ruckerd in there. There's been some buzz for Virginia's Jelanni Woods, who has been just an otherworldly athlete over the course of this pre draft process. He's huge, and he only had one year at Virginia where he

was a high volume pass target. At Oklahoma State for the three years prior, he was used more as a blocker, was not future featured in that past game, right, So I think when you look at his skill set, you think that his most productive football might be ahead of him, and so You've seen some buzz that he could go in that top one area, but I think that you're at the end of the day, the Dolphins should be in good shape. You're looking for a tight end at one or two. Uh most I'm thinking maybe two off

the board. At that point there they should have their pick. But what what gets interesting for all those teams that are looking for a tight end around that spot is that I feel like there's gonna be a lot of similarly graded players in that range. Once you get to a hundred one fifty one seventy five, you start getting to that part of the draft, there's gonna be a bunch of tight ends going off the board. So, uh, there's gonna be some talent in that area of the

draft the shore next week. That's one of the parts of the draft that I love the most as as trying to figure out which of these positional kind of gluts can create either you know, groups of guys to fall or maybe guys that should have gone higher fall because of the positional value in total. It's fascinating to me and that's why I love this part time of the year so much, even though we only have four

draft picks. But speaking of that, three of those come on Day three, and fran I'm only gonna ask you this because I know you can give me an answer on it, but I want to get some variety here talking about Day three players. You know, you're trying to find guys that can contribute on special teams, Guys that can maybe be part of your sub packages. You know, a thirtteen personnel package. Come in there, knock someone off the football and score a touch down, goal line, whatever

the case may be. So I'm curious to just kind of get a multitude of guys the way you just did for potential Day three development guys. Whether it's a you know, h back kind of guy that can do multiple things. I think the Maryland kid stands out in that way. A guy that is that in line blocker, a guy that is a potential developmental pass catcher, and then who's a guy in this group that also can

dominate on special teams right away? Yeah, So to me, I think when you look at that, when you get to day three, uh, it's like you said, you're either looking for role players or you're looking for guys that have an a trait that are just missing other portions of the game and that's why they fell a Day three or maybe there's an injury concern or something along

those lines that causes a guy to fall. So I think when you're looking at some of the different body types, Um, you know, in terms of the pass catcher, you mentioned the Maryland kid, that's Chicka Konquo. Uh tested pretty well. He went out to the Shine Bowl and had a good week out there. He's got four or five speed. He's played. He's only played a couple of years at Maryland. But this is a guy that had one year of really good production and so now you're betting, Okay, this

is what he can be. Moving forward to Red Church Junior, who declared for the draft early at twenty two years old. He goes to the Shrine Bowl former wide receivers, only been playing tight end for a couple of seasons. Uh. Kind of similar to Gilanni Woods from that aspect in terms of just the one real year of production. I think when you go to in terms of who can impact on special teams, there's a handful of those guys in this group. I would say, yeah that this guy

can come in uh. And typically it's the kind of the fullback types, and so Miami would be a team that I would imagine might be interested in a player that has that kind of skill set. So maybe like a Connor Hayward from Michigan State who played over four hundred snaps on core special teams over the course of his career. You can look at Jeremiah Hoff from Oklahoma. He played over three hundred snaps of course special teams

over the course of his career. So those movable like kind of fullback h back types, guys that can be used as run blockers, but also in the in the underneath area. Another guy that I think kind of fits in that mold Garrett Prince. He's a little bit older and he'll be a twenty four year old rookie from U A B a non combined invite. Didn't test as well as people thought, but this is a guy that

can get down the scene. He's really really influid athletically. Uh, he's slippery after the catch, was really dynamic with the ball in his hands this year as a senior in Conference USA. So Garrett Prince one of those guys that kind of fits that mold for late in the draft that you might look at. I think when you get to the early portion of day three. One of those combo players that I was talking about earlier that could

just chip in in a multitude of ways, JAKEO. Ferguson from Wisconsin, just under six ft five fifty pounds, really experienced player, I mean, thirty six starts in his career, ended up with a hundred and forty five catches, was with her primary past target for the majority of the last two years. So I think when you look at Jake Ferguson, not like that a plus athletic trade, but a guy that could do a little bit of everything, and as we talked about, that can be very valuable

for an NFL offense. Man. We live in the golden era of content. You just got matches for every single tight end needs you could possibly have, and a name to fit with each of it. Fran That's that's incredible stuff, man, And for your efforts, I'll go ahead and send you off on this question. And maybe you already mentioned this name, but you can repeat it again if you want to.

Let's say there's one tight end in this class that you know he starts to kind of slide into that fifties sixty seventy five range and the offense are for the sake of the game, they want to go up. We'll see if it happens. We have five tight ends in the roster that we feel pretty good about I think, so we'll see if it happens. But for the sake of the game, they're sitting at one O two. This name begins to slide in the slide down the draft board.

Who are you pound the table for to go up and get Who's that tight end for you in this year's draft class? Yeah, I think that you would make the argument. The players that I think you can make that argument for would be McBride just because of the overall body of work and the versatility. Like we mentioned Dulcitch because of what you think he can be is

maybe that true three level threat at the position. And the other guy that we haven't talked about yet and I think he deserves to be in this conversation is Jeremy Ruckert from Ohio State. UH could not go through a very similar to Kay Dodden. Honestly a lot of from a skill set standpoint, very very similar to Kay Dodden. He's a big body, tight end, he can play in line, he can move around the formation. He's gonna be a twenty one year old senior, our twenty one year old

rookie this year coming off his senior campaign. Or look, I mean he only finished his career of fifty four catches. He was not used as a part of that Ohio state offense. And uh, he's a guy who can get down this team from a profile standpoint. And again we all have the test them to back this up. But similar to what George Kittle was coming out of Iowa. Now, George Kittle went to the combine and blew the doors off the workout right, so he had that in his pocket.

Jeremy Rucker did not do that. I don't know that he's quite that athlete, but I do think he's a better athlete than giving credit for. So Rutgert would be one of those other guys. I think if you're talking about you know, mid day two, that that that kind of thing we say, okay, who's that guy that could be the first off the board. I think he would be in that discussion ot And I think, well, you know, if if you were just going off film might be there.

But with the medical concern with it, you know, coming off the ankle surgery and not being able to go through the workout. I think that kind of gings him a little bit when you're talking about the overall draft stats Eagle I and the Sky and the Journey to the Draft podcast on the Philadelphia Eagles Podcast Network. He's at Eagles XS and O's on Twitter. Fran Duffy, Fran, appreciate you everything you do, Man, so much for for coming on the podcast here, but also the content you provide.

Great stuff. And we'll see you again in indian next year. I believe that's the plan, man, we will we will see out there. Thankfully in Indianapolis they did not move the combine, so yeah, at least at least a couple more years. I mean, that's the best news of the day. Thanks a lot, Fran, appreciate it, man. Thanks Man, And there he goes Fran Duffy from the Philadelphia Eagles Podcast Net. We're great stuff there from Fran. And I always appreciate when someone can match the speed at which I speak.

You know, we had been so luck on the podcast a couple of times. He certainly can can put the put up a test for house fast I talk. I think France in that category too, But man, he was just dropping knowledge on us there. We appreciate that as always as I hope I've learned a lot through this process talking to these these fine guests we've had here. I hope this case is the same for you guys out there. We're gonna keep on trucking tomorrow with Kyle

Crabs from Lockdown Dolphins and the Draft Network. You won't want to miss that. We're gonna keep going this week all week long here covering the draft with the Dolphins picks after they happen uh this coming weekend, and of course the media availabilities afterwards as well. Plenty of stuff coming your way here on the Drivetime Podcast in the meantime that is 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. He follow me on Twitter, Instagram or wherever at Wingfield, NFL, the Dolphins, at Miami Dolphins, across all social channels. Check out the fish Tank Podcast the most recent episode to a tongue of Iloa. Some more good stuff coming your way there from those guys as well. Check out our YouTube channel for the media availabilities and Dolphins Today, and last, but not least, Miami Dolphins dot Com until next time bends up. Caroline Daddy just coming home.