2022 NFL Draft Preview - Wide Receivers with EJ Snyder

I should say with e J. Snyder of the Bootleg Football Podcast, He's gonna talk all things wide receivers, including the Tyreek Hill Edition, Cedric Wilson Jr. Edition, Trent Sherfield, and how Jaln Waddle kind of benefits from the additions and the receiver's room Davante Parker trade, as well as the in depth look from the receiver position at the NFL Draft. All of that in the heck of a lot more from somewhere in South Florida. This is the

Drive Time Podcast. Let's go ahead and welcome and our guest today, e J. Snyder and joining me now on the Drivetime Podcast from the Bootleg Football Podcast, Wendy City Gridiron and uh Bears over beers. E J stumble over that every single time. He is. E J Snyder, my Pacific Northwest brother, and e J, you're staying safe out there in stormy Seattle. We're okay. We got a break in the weather today. We had a pretty good wind

storm yesterday, but no damage luckily. And now you know, we get to talk about football, so it's all good. You know. It's you were sending those pictures of of the trees down your neighborhood, and like I I kind of missed that, but I kind of don't miss that at the same time. But I wanted to start here because you know, like you, I am a Pacific Northwest native and a non Seahawks fan that that's not very

common in those parts. And I was curious. I had to ask you before we get into anything else here. What took you away from the Seahawks at a young age. Yeah, well, I actually wasn't born on the West coast. I was born on the East Coast. But equally so, people ask me why I'm not a Bills fan or Jets fan

or Giants fan. Um. I was one of those kids that didn't really get football loyalty handed to me from my parents, So I got to choose when you sort of get to that age in middle school, and um, I was a bit of a free agent as a fan, and basically, short story long, I saw Walter Payton, fell in love, became a Bears fan, and that's that's been

it since then. I always I like, I like to hear you and Brett kind of commiserate about your your Bears fandom because I know he's kind of jumping in that realm as well, uh, leaving the Texans bandwagon as it were. So I always appreciate the fan element you guys present on the podcast and on on the video show, on YouTube and everything you guys do. So it's it connects you in a way I think to a lot of fan bases around the National Football League. That's that's

pretty cool. But um yeah, man, I wanted to talk some wide receivers with you here and kind of kick things off. But before we do that and talk about the draft, I want to revisit the Dolphins offseason so far, what they've done to really overhaul the receiver room the last two years really and in total, and you know, Jalen Waddle had a franchise record setting red rookie season,

and I'm a massive fan of his. And we go out and get Cedric Wilson Jr. Who I think is just beginning to start to scratch the surface on his skills. And then of course you get the big cannonball on the deep end to the move Tyreek Hill, the cheetah. Here, let's go ahead and start with the individuals. What does

Tyreek Hill bring to the Miami Dolphins offense? E J. I think what he brings is really well known because the Chiefs have had a lot of primetime games over the last couple of years, and it's game breaking speed. But there's a lot more than that. And I'm sure you've dug into two Tyreek since he's become a Dolphin

in in a bit more. Probably come away impressed, if you're anything like me, with how his game has developed, because he was certainly drafted as speed threat, uh, but he's bulked up, He's worked on his short to medium out running. He can still run one cross and burn any defensive back in the National Football League. But if you really look at him, people that sort of made that impression of him and just stopped and said, well,

that's what he is. Are really sewing him short. So he brings a lot to the Dolphins wide receiver room, and I think probably even a lot more because of the change you've had in head coach. You now have a head coach that understands a sort of multiplicity of roles that are can be accessed underneath that sort of wide receiver banner. And Tyreek is gonna serve you know, role, role and a half two roles depending on how you look at it, because he's very strong, he's incredibly fast,

and he's continued to develop. He's a good contested catch receiver. He's going to be able to be used in so many ways in the Dolphins offerings. Oh man, I cannot wait to see it come come to fruition on the field on Sundays and before that, O t A is like, I can't wait take it out to practice at the stage and watch shows guys go up against xaviing Howard and Byron Jones and all the dudes in that Dolphins

defense as well. We'll go ahead and stay in the receiver room here and talk about Cedric Wilson junior little because I have a feeling that you were. I just get the feeling you were a fan of him watching some of those Mountain West games after dark as we call it, you know, packed all after after dark as it were. What was your kind of report on Cedric Wilson as a college or I should say, a prospect

and then now four years into his career. Yeah, as a prospect coming out of Boise State, I liked him as a mid round receiver who I thought could do kind of exactly what I see him doing in Miami, which is rounding out a wide receiver room. He wasn't a sort of one alpha type that you're gonna line up over on the left and run your offense through. I thought he had the potential if he continued to improve, to really become a solid, you know, Z receiver, a

number two in a pro offense. Uh. You know, he went to Dallas first, got to be part of what was an exceptional wide receiver room there, and now gets added to the Dolphins. Kind Of at the time he was added, you thought, all right, like this could be the solid number two he could he could alternate. They bring in Tyree Hill and now you're like, okay, that's one of the most solid number three's in the league. If you're looking at it that way. I still think

he'll play outside. I still think he'll play Z's got really good size. Um, he's fast, but he's a good possession receiver across the middle as well. And one of the guys that I was actually hoping my team, the Bears would look at. They have a let's just say the polar opposite of a wide receiver room. It's pretty threadbare. Uh. And Curdric Wilson was out there as a free agent. I thought, now there's a guy that's going to present value if he last the sort of second or third wave,

I hope they make an offer. Dolphins pounce early. He ends up going to work with Mike McDaniel, And now, look, you've got three incredible weapons in Hill, Waddle and Cedric Wilson doesn't have to again be that um. You know, Daniel Jeremiah talks about he and Bucky Brooks talk about tractors and trailers. Right, is this the guy that's gonna pull the offense along or a guy that's going to support. Cedric Wilson is a great trailer. He is a really

good supporting cast member in a wide receiver room. So the Dolphins are you know, talking about the draft is a little bit of a luxury for the Dolphins because the wide receiver room is real solid at the Well. I do want to get there eventually, but I want to stay here because I want to keep talking about these guys because it's one of my favorite position groups

on the entire team. And speaking of favorites, I mean I've I've made no no bones about it here that I really really have an affinity for what Jalen Waddle is as a player because you mentioned this with Tyreek Hill about the contested catch nature of his game, and man, Waddle competes his butt off, dude, like every day in practice on Sundays as well. He competes for every single football and just has that that ball's mind type of mentality. And I think all three of those guys we just

talked about have that that same mentality. But I was curious about, again, the same idea you're scouting report on Wattle more recently just last year, compared to what he is now after one full year in the pros setting records for Dolphins rookies for for catches and yards in a rookie season. Yeah, speed was the thing at the top of everybody's menu when they were looking at other

than a waddle. He had a different level of speed and and playing in the conference he did, the top conference in the country, he gets to compete against all the guys. He's gonna compete against the pros, all all the cornerbacks, all the safeties, and he was running past them. Then uh, he's still running past them. And it's that ability to take pretty much literally any ball on the field and go eight year ninety yards because of instant

acceleration and a great top end. Not the biggest guy, but a really quick, really fast and when you add in that competitive element of that ball's mind, I'm gonna win contested catches, I'm gonna go up in situations where it might not be a clear catch, and I'm gonna

bail my quarterback out um. And then you just add all that, you know, really top tier I would say, like top five to maybe in the NFL sort of yards after the catch ability and the familiarity had with to coming out of the Alabama program certainly didn't hurt at all. I I don't think he could have done anything more in his rookie year. To say, Hey, that was a really solid choice and he's gonna be a

cornerstone in our wide receiver room going forward. I'm glad you mentioned the the the yard after catch, but also a separation skill set of those guys, because all three of the guys we just talked about ranked in the top twenty five last year on next Gen Stats. And that's something that Mike McDaniel has talked about really repeatedly,

about the ability to create yards after catching. I love the humility he shows when people ask me about his offense and he says, all I really do is put the ball in the hands of my really good players and they take care of it from there. And so with that in mind and the the the thought about what this offense might be, I mean, we obviously have elements and and things that we can take from his previous stops and you know, the Kyle Shanahan offense and

then Sean mcvain the wide zone. We talked about that a little bit before it came on the air here and what that might look like. But I'm still sure there's gonna be plenty of you know, Mike McDaniel Miami Dolphins specific influx in terms of what exactly it is, because you know, every offense has their core principles and then you can tailor it to your certain else setting

all that stuff. So with all of that kind of you know, in the back of your mind, how do you think the speed and the skills of these guys in the receiver room match up with an offensive system? What that could look like here under Mike McDaniel, it's gonna be really interesting, like you said, to see what he keeps and to see what he introduces as his own his own wrinkles. Um. He's been with Kyle shanahan for a long time, like their relationship goes way back.

They've been at multiple stops together and and anything you would say about Kyle Shanahan over the last decade really you kind of have to include Mike McDaniel in the same breath because they have been sort of tied at the hips. So a lot of it's going to be similar and look familiar. But you've got to think a guy takes a grab at the brass ring at the top spot with the notion of I can do that

and be better. There's some things I want to do that are mine that I've kept in my bag for this time, and he's got every tool he needs to unleash all of those. If I was going to play the Dolphins this year and I'm a defensive coordinator, I'm not gonna sleep real well the night before the game because you've got somebody that understands offense and how really to use an offense to stretch a defense. And he's got the biggest stretchers there are in the NFL at

his disposal now. Jalen Waddle was one, Tyreek Hill was another who probably was thought to be out of reach by just about everybody, including me. And now you've got them sort of under the tutelage of Mike McDaniel. And when they start working together, they're gonna be some defenders who are put in impossible spots. And that's exactly what you want as an offensive coach. And it's going to cause you to score points. It's really gonna be. It's

gonna be so difficult for Dolphins opponents this year. Oh Man, I talked about conflicts in the podcast all the time. You talked about conflict, You talked about the move the sticks podcast, two very very frequent themes to talk about here on the Drive Time Podcast. Man, I'm I'm so excited for We get a long way to go till

we get there. And you know one thing that I find myself doing right now, e J. We talked a little bit about, you know, the process of watching tape and getting ready for the draft, and usually April is my sprint to the finish line, you after covering free agency and this year coaching change, and April is all

about getting in all the film I possibly can. I keep finding myself going back to watching old Niners games, you know, the Chiefs games, that the Cowboys games from last year, watching to Ah operate when he was really playing well last year, and finding out where those pieces kind of fit in. And I find myself getting distracted. So I want to go ahead on our next segment here and talk about the draft class at the serio position here with EJ. Styer from the Bootleg Football Podcast.

Here on Drivetime with Travis Wingfield, brought to you by Auto Nation. Alright, Drivetime Podcast with Travis Wingfield. My guest today e J. Snyder from the Bootleg Football Podcast. Easy enough for me to say, e J. I'm all congested, man, I'm having a hard time getting my words out right, and I appreciate you hang in there with me on

the podcast. It's it's been a long week so far, but I want to I want to turn this thing over here real quick and and kind of follow a theme that I did at least on the first edition of our draft preview series Joe Marino offensive line came out on Wednesday. You're here on Drivetime talking receivers with E. J. Sneyder on a Friday, and I asked this question to Joe, and I have a feeling your answer is the polar opposite. But I'm just curious. How do you watch film? What

is your process like? Is there a certain type of music? Do you get a certain food going? Do you have a drink? Like? What is your film process like? Your film watching process look like? Oh wow, that's a great question. Um. The answer is, with as much film as I watch, it has to vary. If I do the same thing, that's like four and a half months of whatever it is, So um, I'll change the music. Uh, definitely needs some music. One of the things that I learned it was only

a few years back. For the first seven or eight years I did this, I didn't have any access to ALL twenty two at all. Um, A lot of people are surprised by that, but I watched all TV tape and you can learn a lot about TV, a lot about players on TV tape. But um, uh you know it has commentary, right, you have commentators, and sometimes the commentators are good, sometimes they're not. On ALL twenty two, A lot of people don't know. This is dead silent.

There's no audio whatsoever. And the tapes are longer because there's two views of every play. So I got there and I was like, now what do I do? And so I had to develop some some musical taste and whatever. But largely from me, my tape watching is late at night. Still have a regular job, so it's after the family goes to bed, turn on the tape, come down, fire up the monitors, uh, put a little music on low and um. You know, it really depends on the position.

I've got checklist for each position. I've got a big database. I go through UM and I feel like I get better at that every year. But I feel like wherever my process is, the most important thing is that it evolves and changes with what I learned every year. So I'd say I'm at a decent point on the road, but I'm still staring at that point down towards her.

I loved to hear. And the reason I thought it would be opposite because Joe told me he's up at five thirty in the morning, and I told him, I'm like, e J, I'm I'm in here late at night and I'm not a morning person at all. We both have Joe and I both have two year old kids, and that then definitely throws a monkey wrench into the whole thing too. So try to try to come down here when she goes to bed at night and get as

much time as I possibly can. And it's, you know, I'm more of a night al anyway, So I I do better in that in that vein. Also have the Miami heat on in the background when I do that stuff as well. So it's, you know, multitasking, that's how you do get a lot done in this business, e J. And speaking of multitasking, I told you I was gonna boost this from you guys, the question from the Bootleg Football pod, And what did you guys call it? It

was the other guys, right, it was the other guys. Yeah, we we we uh we teased the idea of calling it draft doubles, but we ended up with the other guys. I was wondering if that was an offshoot of the Will Ferrell Mark Walbert vehicle. We thought about that afterwards because we're like, oh, I actually made the joke and sent the gift to to Brett about the other Guys movie.

But um, the whole the whole point was if you miss out on your guy at the top, who can you get later on in the draft that has a similar skill set or offers you a lot of the same things for a much better draft value. Well that's a perfect segue into the question. So for a fan that pre Tyreek Hill trade. And again, who knows what happens with the Dolphins draft if they go after receiver, if they don't. But let's let's just put all positions on the board, and since we're talking receivers with you

will go in that direction. So if you were a Dolphins fan that was clamoring for, I don't know, it can be anybody you want, Jamison Williams, John Dotson, maybe Chris o. Lave With that twenty nine pick, maybe that's fortuitous to assume any of those guys to be available. But let's say that was your guy early on, who were some guys that kind of fit those molds at pick one oh two or possibly even later on down in the draft. Yeah, it's a great question because this

is always the argument that occurs in NFL draft rooms. Right, you either receive first coach or like, nope, we need that number one receiver, and the offensive line coach is like, yeah, we need that number one guard, and down in the twenties, you know, basically you're gonna have to sort of pound it out on the table and then it's either the GMS call or the head coach is called, depending on the team, to say, well, this is what we need more.

And if you're the wide receiver's coach and then and the offensive line coach wins, you don't get your guys. So you gotta go to the next guy in line and say, hey, I still need a bunch of those skills. Um, what can I find. Let's just say that Tyreek Kill wasn't a dolphin because he is now and you can just revel in that. Uh, and it was it was more speed, right, Jalen's on one side, you got a lot of speed and you're like, no, I just I

want more speed. I want to tear open defenses. So you're like, maybe Jamison Williams with his injuries, gonna fall to the late twenties. I want Jamison Williams. And you go and you pound the table and you you lose to the offensive line coach. They pick up a guard, and now you're like, all right, I need a guy that's got speed later on down in the draft because I really want to prize some defenses open, and there

are guys in this draft that would do that. Uh. Probably the closest allegory to you know, Jamison Williams is a guy like Alec Pierce out of Cincinnati. Um, he's a Chicago guy from high school. I went to College of Cincinnati's part of that great Cincinnati offense. A lot of players from that going to get drafted this year. And Alec Pierce is many things that Jamison Williams is

not quite as fast, but he's very fast. He's quite tall, really good boundary sideline contest catch wide receiver, can get behind defensive backs, poses a bunch of different problems. You can't put a small guy on him, you can't put a slow guy on him. So if you're a wide receiver's coach and you missed out on Jamison Williams, I'd be sort of biden my time to about the oh somewhere between eighty five and one fifteen and saying, all right, go get me Alec Pierce and I'll be I'll be

pretty darn happy with that. I've seen his name pop up a lot for for what he did at the combine, and I guess that matches the tape as well to according to what you and and many others have said there too, So that seems to be the mold these days with these receivers. Man, they either are fantastic technicians and route runners, so they can just flat out explode and beat you with the release package. And if you can do both those things like a wattle like a hill,

and then you're cooking with gas there. So you know that that brings me back to a point. I wanted to ask you about e J here because the reference move the sticks earlier. Daniel Jeremiah. I talked about him all the time in the podcast. I love his work, and you know, I wanted to ask you about that track element because one of the things that he said about how he would build an offense around to a tunge Bylowa here in Miami. Would to go out would

be to go after that track style offense. And he's talked about that with the Buffalo Bills and Josh Allen. He's talked about it with Lamar Jackson and the Baltimore Ravens, and I'm thinking about it, and like, all three of those quarterbacks could not be more diametrically opposed to the next, Like they're all so different. So I'm curious, do you agree with that? Is that the way you would go?

And is there anybody else the Dolphins could look at late in the draft that would kind of give him a third speed merchant like that or is it kind of getting redundant that point. Well, I don't think it is, and I think that's what DJ is getting at. I too, am a huge fan of him. I was lucky enough to get to meet him when I was the Senior Bowl and UH didn't swallow my tongue, so I took

it as a win. Um. But now what he's talking about is if you fill up an offense with guys that can, they're fast right that if you make a mistake, they're gonna crack it open and not just go five yards or ten yards, but they're gonna reel off or thirty. And look, if you've got some of the guys at the top end of that speed merchant category, like Wattle and Hill, they're not gonna go twenty or thirty. They're

gonna go until they stop in the end zone. And the more threats that you can assemble like that on an offense doesn't matter if, like you said, your quarterback has a huge arm and can throw it, you know, eight yards in the air, or if you can throw it twenty yards really accurately and quick and again take advantage of that separation and then just really break the

fail the field open with speeds. So I don't think there's ever too much speed on an offense because as a defense, it really it forces you to stay honest, right, you have to play honest. When we were interviewing players at the Shrine bol one of the things I thought was most interesting when we asked about what was most difficult or what was one of the most difficult teams or players that you played against. He talked about it was a defensive lineman, and he talked about an offense

that didn't have any tells. And he said, normally, it's a very smart player studies film and he said, normally I could cheat, right, I would. I would. I would pick up a tell and I would know it was run, so I'd shade my gap a little bit. But they didn't give off any tells. The whole offense was really disciplined. So I had to play right in the middle, and that gave them the advantage because I wasn't getting a free half step. And what speed does to defense is

it makes you play in the middle right. You can't shade it, you can't cheat it. You can't if you get your eyes in the backfield, they're going to be by you. So I don't think there is such a thing as too much speed on an offense because it

just puts a defense under such tremendous pressure. And when you talk about that, the first thing my mind goes to is thinking about having to stay in the middle of the field, and then that stretch zone, that wide zone running game with Raheem most with Chase Edmonds Man.

You could be in trouble if you don't have the speed on the defensive side to match because like you talk about in a league where you know, the twelve play drives are great, but if we can cut that down to have a couple of five play drives to go for for six as well, that's pretty nice too and can help your defense really kind of get that lead. This Dolphins defense loves to play with and get after the quarterback with all the blitz packages and stunt games

they have upfront. So we're getting way off the rails here. So I want to kind of bring this back to the receiver position, just because I'm so excited about this season, e J. If you can't tell, but I want to finish up with this before our last break and we'll come back with a couple more questions for you on the other side. Back to the Jeremiah move, the sticks, the track, the truck and trailer, the track, the track

team offense. They also have one component they always talked about with the basketball line up, but I was curious to kind of get your take on that because you know, we talked about you can never have enough speed, but also is there some value to a balance because you know, you talked about basketball, like go go plug on Mike Asicky tape, and I know he's a tight end, but he's gonna hold on some rebounds in the back of

the end zone for you. So like there's some value to the balance of that too, because they've got him, and you talk about Cedric Wilson's size and he can

certainly block down the field. I think Trent Sherfield is a bit of a sleeper prospect in that regard to you know, Lin Boone Junior does multiple things, so it's pretty well spread to that's there's value to that also, right, Oh for sure, there's no one right answer to any of the speed speed kills, and always will but you're not always going to be lucky enough to be a team like the Dolphins and have guys like Wattle entirety kill like speed merchants that can also ball are tough

to find. That's why they go for really high draft picks. Um. So if you need some complementary skill sets, again, it's taking what's offered to you. And if what you can find in the late rounds is a guy that's six for super physical and we'll just maully you for the match every time. But look he ran a four or five, five or or six to like that works too, there's

a bunch of different ways to win. One of the best things that I read early in this draft season, or let's say late NFL season, was there's three ways to win as a wide receiver. Right. We always say, oh, you have to be able to win off the line. That's not true. Like that is absolutely one way to win, and it's a really good one because you win early in the route right, then you can win the middle of the route. Right, you can win at the top of the stem. You can win with a fake, you

can win with a really good sharp cut. You can win in the middle of the route too, and then you can win at the end of the route. Right, you can win at the catch point. Because there are receivers that do not win off the line, do not win in the middle of the route, and they win at the catchpoint consistently. Is that a win still counts as a catch. It is, so be real careful when you're looking at wide receivers about saying, well, he doesn't you know, it can't be pressed, so he's never gonna win.

Some guys can't beat pressed, but they still find ways to win. I feel like what you just talked about is a scouting lesson you get every single year when you convince yourself this guy can't win because of this, and then you get to the NFL and he can win because of this instead of X, instead of Y. Right, So talking about what players can do, Yeah, that's that's that's good stuff. E J. I want to come back on the other side of the break here and get

a couple of players that fit those molds. The the guy that wins at the catchpoint or the second the second level of the route, or the speed guys that win early in routes, whatever the case may be. I want to talk about some of those Day three prospects or possibly post pick one hundred guys up next here e J Snyer from the Bootleg Football podcast Travis Wingfield Drive Time brought to you by Auto Nation. Alright, we're

back here on the Drive Time podcast. My guest today is e J. Snyder talking all things wide receiver and two NFL Draft class. And you know e J. Every year, it seems. Then we talked about this before you came on and recorded about how you love basically is it the fifth round and and on? Or just where where's

your sweet spot? Would you say? I don't have one, but I do have a soft spot in my heart for any player that's not going to be considered until sort of post fifth round, sixth round, seventh round, U d f A, any of that. Um, the line is so thin. I mean, we're if you're talking about the after the fifth round, you're talking about two hundred and twenty football players out of all the football players in the country that year that are coming out, that are

excluded from that. Right, the first five rounds is like two hundred players, right, and everybody after that, out of all the football players that are eligible, there's like eighteen hundred guys in this draft, right, that's everybody else. The line is really thin talent wise, opportunity wise, sometimes it's injury. There's as many stories and reasons that people end up down there as as possible, and there's so much skill. I love digging through those stories, digging through that tape

and and finding those gems down there. That's exactly what we have you here on the podcast. Let's go ahead and stay in that range, like the fifth sixth round range, because that's where I'm Miami's you know, they got a couple of earlier picks in that, but that's kind of where their picks fall. This year, only have the four picks, none of them our original picks for the Miami Dolphins.

Pretty pretty fascinating draft this year for the Dolphins. But you know, for whatever reason, I don't know why this happens every year, but it does. Like gave Davis Darnell Mooney speaking on the Chicago Bears, every year we get a guy in this range that comes up and has any media impact. Who are some guys that can make an immediate impact in this year's draft class in that fourth fifth, sixth round range. Yeah, there's there's so many.

This draft, one of the things your listeners might not be familiar with is one of the largest in history because so many guys went back for the extra year of eligibility that last year's draft class was one of the smallest and then they all had to come out, so they're coming out this year. There's just a ton of players that are available, so a lot to choose from.

There's a lot of depth in this draft and a lot at wide receiver and boy, I'm I'm thinking even farther down, there's a guy named Jaquez and zard Uh

and this he was on Bruce Feldman's Freaks list. For those of you that aren't familiar, Bruce Feldon right for the Athletic puts together a list every year of guys that are really really athletically talented, like top five percent of athletic talent and jakez is Ore Sam Houston State, little guy, very slight but has a tremendous amount of value, not only because he's really fast, but he also adds

a dynamic element to the return game. And look, you've got a great returner in Jalen Waddle, but you really don't want to put wide receiver one out on the field and return situations and get him banged up. So could you get a guy in the sixth round, the seventh round, maybe even as a U d F A. But I really think his art is probably gonna get drafted UM again down towards those bottom rounds because he

brings that dynamic return element. So guys like him are going to be available, UM if you're looking for size UM. One of the guys we saw a shrine Bowl tamar Um Davon Tavian is his first name, but he goes by T from Oklahoma State. Uh really slightly built but really tall, wiry receiver uh from Oklahoma State that most guys built like that don't have that contested catch mentality. He's the opposite. He will absolutely value for the ball, which is crazy because he's he's real thin. Um. But

he's gonna be available late. Um. Yeah, there's just so many. I've got a list here, like thirty five guys, but I'll give you one I haven't talked about um really anywhere. Uh and it's Amika am Easy from South Carolina. And I don't know why he's not getting more buzz because he is not slight, he is incredibly well built. He's not slow, he's not super fast, he's not a burner, but again, played in a big conference, was productive. Every time I see him on tape, I think, man, that's

a guy that could win in the NFL. And you don't even really see him in the draft double range right now. He's in the if you're looking at sort of a DP for the for the projective draft, he's down in like the three hundreds. And you just look at a guy like that with that much talent, that many physical skills, plenty of production, and I wonder why he's not getting talked about. But there are guys like

him all over the place. That's I mean, that's perfect because my next question here for you, and you ticked it off the checklist on the very first player you talked about. I'm not gonna try to repeat his name from Sam Houston because I'll butcher you j if I try to do that. But uh, you know, special teams such a big element of if you do go in this direction this late in the draft, if you're gonna make a football team, you know, fifth round or beyond,

you probably have to contribute on special teams. You know, who's who's a guy in this year's draft class that plays receiver that you'd like as a gunner, as a you know, kick return or whatever the case may be. Who's someone that could have a big four down contribution. Yeah, if you're talking about returners, another guy is Stanley Barry Hill,

the third from Arizona Wildcats. Didn't have a great pro roum this year, but again brings that dual threat capability as a guy smaller come in this lot, has pretty good speed, real good routes, but it is a great returner as well. Um in the gunner category, again, all these guys. What you really want is somebody that has that experience, and it really just depends on the program. Some programs believe in playing their starters on special teams and some don't. And so you're looking for guys that

have a ton of special team snaps in college. There aren't that many of them, strangely, but you want somebody that either was that or was like a receiver in a run heavy system, so they had to block a lot, They had to go out and get physical, they had to you know, make contact defensive backs and try and push them around because it's a lot of the same skills that they're going to use as a special team s Gunner. Um, let me see if I can pull it off my list real quick. Uh, well, I'm easy,

would be good. I don't think he's got the experience. Oh I've got one for you. And and we have talked about him quite a bit on Bootleg and that's Tanner Connor from Idaho State. Tanner Connor is huge. He's six three fully two thirty UM. The official time reported he ran at the U DUB Pro Day week ago and the official time reported was four or five UM. He ran a lot faster than four or five. The hand time was somewhere between four three seven and four

four two. And that's legit. He's a track guy, ran high hurdles, um, he's a weight room guy. And he is a football player. He's not a track star playing football. He is a football player. He loves it so wide receiver for the Bengals of Idaho State. But that's a guy that has enough physical capability and experience blocking and doing everything else that you can bring him in and he's fully going to expect to be on special teams. And look, he got a guy you know, he's six

three thirty runs aboard four Like, there's your special teams gunner. Yeah, exactly. I mean, Nick, I look at the Dolphins this offseason with you know, whether it was key on Cross in the audition or bringing back Sam Egill Von and Duke Riley and on the other side of the football Seeth and Carter at Tita and Clayton Federlman's a safety. All these guys have really a big special teams experience. So I just have to imagine it'll be a point of

emphasis for this Dolphins team. And I appreciate e J going through all these potential prospects beyond the top one hundred. But I won't get you out of here without giving you a chance to talk about a potential top one hundred pick. And you mentioned this about eighty I think you said eighty to one fifteen in that range. So let's say there's a player in this draft that you love and he starts to slip a little bit too. Let's say that eight eight five range. The dolphins first

pick is one oh two. So if there's a player that makes to that spot and you're the Miami Dolphins and you're sitting at one oh two, and you think, I gotta give up a future pick in this draft, or I should say a later pick in this draft or a future pick next year, to go up and get a guy who's the guy that you're pounding the table for a go up and get at pick sixties seventy eight in that range. Who do you love? M That's a great question, um, And you're gonna make me

choose the biggest blueberry. And that's gonna be tough, because I love a lot of these guys. The guy named earlier, Alec Pierce, is he's probably not gonna make it to that range. I think he's probably gone, you know, might be as early as the sixties, probably very solidly by

the eighties. If he was anywhere even into the mid eighties, I'd start thinking about it because he has all the elements together right size, speed, hands, experience in a major program, the sort of competitive want to is a three sport guy in in high school as well, so again, a really well rounded athlete. And I think he's got ceiling. We're gonna we're gonna talk about this on an upcoming

bootleg episode, the sort of All Ceiling Team. Uh. And he's one of those guys that if he hits his sort of athletic high points, he can be one of the best receivers in the trap. So if he's floating down towards a hundred, I'd be really interested in it. Um, let me go to my other list really quickly. Who's gonna float down towards that range? Uh? Calvin Austin on the other the spectrum, Calvin Austin, the third from Memphis,

really small, super productive. I don't think he gets anywhere near a hundred, but if he's there, I'd be incredibly interested because he's impossible to keep up with. I was pretty solid on the Calvin Austin train before the Senior Bowl. Watched all the top cover guys in the country try and contain him down there in Mobile. Nobody was able to. He won against everybody, And at that point I was solidly like, punch my ticket for the Calvin Austin train.

Yes he's really small. No, I don't care. That's great, that's that's that's my type of guy. Man. That's the type of guy where we're lowing up on right now here in Miami as well. So maybe we'll see, we'll see what happens. I really have no idea what direction they're gonna want to go in. But that's what makes the draft so much fun. E J. You said to all my friend at the draftsman FB on Twitter, the Bootleg Football Podcast, Win d CD, Gridiron and Bears Over

Beers Podcast. E J. Snyder, thank you again so much, my friend. I really appreciate it. Hey, we've been talking about it for a long time. I'm glad we were able to finally polish it off, finally made it happen. I appreciate him a man, have a good one, and there he goes. E J. Snyder. Fun stuff here. Man

learning a lot on these draft preview series already. We're gonna come back on Monday and have more of those as well as some sit down interviews with some of the Miami Dolphins scouts I spoke to up in Indianapolis at the Combine. Plenty of content coming your way in the meantime. That's gonna be my time, you all. Please be sure to subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts, Leave us a reigning, leave us a review. You can follow me on Twitter and Instagram at Wingfield NFL, follow

the team across all social channels at Miami Dolphins. Check out the fish Tank podcast with Seth and o J. Great content on there as well, and our YouTube channel where you can find the Dolphins Today weekly. You can also find our media availabilities and all the drivetime sit downs with the free agent class, and of course, last but not least, Miami Dolphins dot Com. Until next time, fins Up Caroline Daddy's coming up