2022 NFL Draft Preview with Kyle Crabbs

Travis Wingfield. Where you're one day away from the draft, and on today's show, Kyle Crabs makes his return to the Drivetime Podcast, the host of Locked On Dolphins and a big time draft analyst there at the Draft Network. I'll get his title here in just one second. We're gonna preview this entire draft, take a look at how the Dolphins could get better, and we'll also talk to Kyle a little bit about the entire draft storylines and what they're working on their over at t d N.

From somewhere in South Florida. This is the Drivetime Podcast. I think I have a solid fifteen eighteen questions here for Kyle, plus some riffing and follow ups we did on this edition of the Drift Time Podcast. So planning to get to let's not waste any more time and get to my guest Kyle Crabs and joining me now on the Drivetime podcast is the grind Father himself, the director of scouting at the Draft Network. Locked on Dolphins. Also, should I say locked on Dolphins? Kyle Crabs? How are you?

My friend? Is that you poking fun at me already? And they just got here? Yes, they don't have that Pacific Northwest accent to roll with, but it's good to catch up and talk a little ball, Travis. And I'm obviously excited to talk Dolphins and draft and a couple of my favorite things. So I would love to get this thing started or whatever direction we we think that people are going to enjoy the most. Well, look at you take in the high road there on my trash talk.

It was something I've I've I've asked you about in the chat a few times and you probably just blow me off. And that's probably the best way I do, because just being stupid like I like to be sometimes. But uh, you know, you mentioned the draft and the Dolphins and it's a big week this week. Anything going on for you this week? Man? Uh? No, you know, I might go to bed beev and beyond. We'll see.

I don't know. I don't know if we'll have enough time, but uh yeah, we'll we'll be in uh we'll be in Las Vegas with the Draft Network all week and we're gonna do some some really cool stuff with some of the prospects that are coming through. And obviously we'll have our coverage. Uh this is some video content and a bunch of written content. We've got a great team over there, so we're we're full steam ahead. This is

kind of our super Bowl. We love that this weekend can be all inclusive for all thirty two teams, even when you only have four picks and none in the first one. And uh, as we heard Chris Crewer talk a little bit about last week, you know that that depth of process this time of year is is important for not just now in making these decisions, but you might get a year or two down the road and somebody is available via the waiver wire, or you want to make sure you mind your p's and qus dor

I s cross teams. So it's it's a great time a year for that for all thirty teams. Are you just proving to me that listen to Drift Time? Since I told you I haven't cop on Lockdown Dolphins, Like I talked about that exact same thing, I think a couple episodes ago, So I think that's coming maybe what you're doing here. Uh no, man, it's it's an interesting point.

I loved, you know, Chris Greer's press conference last week was very very informative, very transparent, and just I like the way he told he spoke about certain things, and that was one of the things that rested out to me was him talking about the value of the picks they do have, and you're not just gonna like go into the draft and say, like we're not just actually

gonna watch Tyreek Hill highlights. Obviously a joke on his part, but you know, I put this point out there, and you probably know better than I do because you run in more circles across the league than just one team. But you know, I've I've heard this from I think Move the Sticks talks about it sometimes about the value of the depth of your scouting staff and your regional scouts, your area scouts, and how much really goes into this process.

But just how valuable is the depth of your scouting staff when you do get into that sixth seventh round priority U D F A S regularly regular U d f a s. Those guys become more important at that

stage of the draft. Maybe more important is the wrong term, but they really get their their hands dirty, and that's the work that comes out of that is typically that part of the draft in my writing that, yeah, I mean that that's the group that's boots on the ground right who regionally is going to schools all throughout the summer and the fall, and you know, you kind of create a little bit of a relationship with people within each one of those respective schools and their buildings to

kind of intimately know the finer details that when you're trying to scout. You know, some of these databases are starting with like ten tho prospects, and you whittle it down throughout the course of the summer and then the fall, and then you get to the start of the winter and you know, these lists are down around three hundred to fifty and you just continue to whittle it down. This whole draft process is largely from a team perspective.

We're trying to find disqualifiers that we feel like, don't make you somebody we feel safe investing in to bring

into our program. And those people who are in the minutia of it all for your late round guys in your U d f A s. Yes, they're essential and they're critical, and especially when you get to the U d f A portion too, because a lot of times you have to If you're a highly prized U d f A, you could probably have half the league calling you, right, and it's you know, what is your what is your ability to convince that player to come play for you?

Is it the most guaranteed money that you can offer at signing, which we we've seen teams try to strategize, or is it having a good relationship with somebody in the building that makes you feel like I'm gonna have a home here and I know I'm going to get a chance to compete based on what these conversations have been. So a lot of that sounds almost like a college recruiting pitch, like you're back into that eighteen year olds living room talking to mom and dad about the best opportunities.

That kind of kind of the same idea. Yeah, I think that's it's a great way to present the long and the short of it. You know, we we all we we hit one four o'clock on Saturday, and the last pick is in and Mr. Irrelevant. They they do the quaint thing where the guy goes up with the jersey Mr. Irrelevant and to fifty seven. I think this year it's like to sixty or whatever, and that you have your pomp and circumstances and I'm like, okay, drafts over,

you turn the TV off. But like it's after the draft is over for so many of the teams, it's like that's when things get really crazy. You know. I would expect that to be the case for Miami this year. We're only having four picks. You know, you're gonna have a chance to bring in a lot of guys to compete for those bottom of the roster spots. Um. And that's something that you can play up as well as obviously locale state income tax, and you know, the opportunity

to compete. This is a young team that's coment contending, and you can point to the guys like a Nick need Hum and say, hey, this guy was a U d f A. He came in here, he worked already, did all the right things, um and here he is and he's entering into his third season with the team, or his fourth season with the team. H and a chance to to secure yourself a long term future as

a member of an NFL franchise. No, that's that's a really good point to talk about the previous guys they brought in, and you know, you can go back to Robert Jones last year as a guy that I'm a big fan of. We've talked about a lot and the limited snaps he played last year and how he kind of impressed us with his work there and his potential to you know, maybe make a push for for a job this year on the offensive line. We'll see how

that works out. But you know, it'll be interesting to see what the U d f A class looks like because you kind of feel like as you go along and I think that you know, from from the top down Mr Rosster, Chris Career to to Mike McDaniel and those guys have to believe this this roster is as far along as it's been during this you know kind of twenty nine team process of building these put putting these resources together, putting these assets together, and ultimately putting

a football team on the field that can go out there and win a bunch of games and you know, getting to the postseason and all that fun stuff. So it's interesting to start there talking about the back end of this draft, and it'll be a big part of of what our content coverage is here on Drift Time in Miami Dolphins dot Com and for Lockdown Dolphins as well, obviously.

But I want to talk a little bit with you, Kyle about just the general draft because I find myself a week out here and I'm doing my Dolphins work and I'm getting to work on some future content stuff. But I thought to myself today, like I really don't how haven't paid as a close attention to all these mock drafts, all the you know, the buzz is this guy is gonna go up and get this guy or whatever the case may be. Like, I haven't really focused

as much on that stuff. So I just kind of wanted to get your take on the top part of this draft, kind of what you think will define this year's draft. And you know, I guess just kind of riff off of the part of the draft the Dolphins are not going to be participating in the first round. How do you describe it? It's the wild wild West

this year, I think would be the best way. I mean, we're we're a week out as of you and me sitting down talking about this, and we're we're having meetings with our group of td N talking right now about how we we wouldn't be surprised to see the guy who's been the presumptive number one overall pick in the last three four months, Michigan's defensive end, Aidan Hutchinson, uh making it the four and we're I mean, we're we're sitting here, Okay, you know, there's some some buzz on

Trayvon Walker, the defensive end from Georgia potentially usurping hushingson

and going at one. Obviously Trent Balky, who's who's in an executive role there was there in San Francisco and the success that they had with Alvin Smith and and Walker has kind of rare athleticism and an elite length versus Hutchinson is more of a high floor but doesn't have those rare physical skills as length as and as notable like if that's something ball, he's gonna hang his hat on like he could go one and then you get to two and we're having the conversation about, Okay, well,

there's there's Brad Holmes, who's the GM there in Detroit, And yes, Adan Hutchinson's from Michigan, but Brad Holmes is from out West and they just took Penny School last year and they took COmON Ross St. Brown last year. They like they had a pretty successful tenure with with picking pack twell players. Is that gonna push them in

that direction? Or will they go quarterback? And it sounds like the buzz of Malik Willison, that connection was there because of the Senior Bowl has cooled off a little bit. And then you get to three in Houston and m

will they go corner? Will they go past? It's it's like every we know so little this year versus your enter year at this point in the draft process that it really makes it fascinating, even though I think some of the sexy positions on the offensive side of the ball that really moved the needle for draft discussion don't have their usual spice that they do on a normal year. Yeah, that's that's kind of the theme I've got. You talked

about the Draft Network doing big things and expanding. You guys have made up I think I think you are five of ten, so previously it was now batting and even five hundred as far as Draft Network employees doing my my preview shows hearing you guys have absolutely killed it for us. So a big thank you to you and your team for getting on that up with us and making it happen for us here. But um, you know I want to play. I want to get to the the Dolphins here in just a seconds ahead and take

our first break. Before that first break, though, I have a rapid fire game for you. I have not disclosed this with you before coming on the show, so I know you attack my character when we come on, and attack my my lingo and my my vocabulary. And now you're ambushing me with something to make a fool of myself. But that's great. Let's go go go ask Damnian and keep how I prepped them. I gave him the entire rundown and they were, man, this is awesome. I'm so

ready to go with this. Just I'm just throwing bullets at Kyle here and he's gonna go ahead and fend them off here. So I think you'll do well. This is a fun game, I trust me. It said's something that will get some good education for the fans here. So what I'm gonna do is tell you a position and I want to hear where you think the first name comes off the board. You can say top five, top ten, you can say pick eight, it'll go pick eight,

it'll be a quarterback there. So each position, I want to go down the board and just tell me what range that first player goes. Does that work for you? That does work for me? QB Dick, I thought you. I thought I lost it there. That was some some thought about that well, and I think that might be a sneaky trade spot two with Carolina. They don't have any picks. They gave up all their picks. But I will say six either via Carolina or via Tree. And

that's Molik Willis. You think probably will not be surprised to see Pittsburgh come get it. Okay, Yeah, that's been a lot of buzz on that since the Senior Bowl. Running back thirty eight. Wherever Atlanta picks in the early second round, not first round, then that's that's kind where I thought you were gonna go. And then who's your top back in the draft? Who do you like that the most? I like Isaiah Spiller from Texas A and

M the most. I know that that he didn't necessarily run a great time but listen, neither did Naji Harris last year. And I'm not saying that that Isaiah Spiller is Naji Harris, but he's somebody who I think does really good when he gets out of the mesh point. He's pressing the line of scrimmage to anticipate lanes and manipulate defenders to create lanes for himself. He just doesn't have four or four speed, but he he checks literally every other box. Yeah, he's he's awesome catching the ball

of the backfield too. He's like he just the A and M offense. A lot of time went through him last year. He's he's a lot of fun to watch. How about wide receiver? I will go ten really Jets, because because what I heard someone talk about I came first, Jeremiah. It was a guest on the podcast talking about, like just take the receiver at four. I thought you were gonna go a lot higher than that. Well, I think the I know that they're really dialed in on three

potential positions, edge, offensive tackle, and wide receiver. I think the scarcity and and the fact that the Giants picked twice behind him the Panthers and Seahawks. I mean, I think there's enough competition for those other spots that they'll probably go trenches first and get and get the I think they can still get wide receiver one at ten.

Tight end, uh, sometime outside the top fifty fifty. Yeah, it's we had fran Duffian and he was talking about how nice the classes, but how kind of that glut might actually push it down a little bit. Yes, which you agree. If the Dolphins are in the range for a tight end and looking for it, you could get a nice value pick there. Uh, let's go offensive tackle.

I will say offensive tackle is five to the Giants. Okay, so da that's again these positions that keep thinking they're gonna go top three might be a heavy edge portion of I think we'll go edge, edge corner in the top three. Well, there's a couple of answers. So I want to ask you edge, want to ask your corner, interier, your offensive line, interior offensive line. I'll say right now fourteen to Baltimore and that they will friendly Bozeman in

free agency. So whether it is Zion Johnson, Kenyan Green, I think they've got a couple of options there. Johnson showcase some some positional versatility, potentially snap, um, and then they've got enough lottery tickets. At right tackle. They do have Jawan James who missed last year. He's still under contract. He's gonna contend for that right tackle spot. And they'll get Ronnie Stanley back as well. Yeah, it makes perfect sense. Let's go over to the defensive spot. Uh, Is Jordan

Davis the first tackle off the board? And who do you where do you see the first defensive tackle going off the board. I would not be surprised to see it at seventeen or eighteen to the Chargers or Eagles. And that's Jordan Davis, either Jordan Davis or Davante Wyatt, a couple of one of the Georgia kids. And no one's gonna love to hear that. How about the uh? How about off ball linebacker? This one's tough. Um. It depends on I think it depends on how the corner

group falls. I could see New England taking Devon Lloyd at twenty one. Um. You think about Donta high Tower not renewing his contract thereas of this point in time, and and Lloyd showcasing the kind of three down value that he had last year and making plays in the passing game, both as a pressure player and in zone coverage underneath. I think that's very much a New England centerpiece,

kind of that quarterback in the defense. UH. Dallas maybe a sneaky spot depending on what they and if they want to play Micah Parsons more on the edge Tennessee at UH. And then I would also point to Detroit as thirty two is kind of just a team that needs to get as good of a football player as they can. That might be p p A for them at thirty two. I know you agree here. I do not want to see devn Lloyd in New England. No, No, he's a he's a stunt. Yeah, he's he's an absolute stunt.

And stay out of the a FC East in general. Please. And so you ted, you said cornerback at number three to Houston. I have to imagine that, sauce. I That's how I would lean. I think Nick as Serio in his background with the Patriots, and you think about how they've liked big, long, physical press guys, I think that makes a lot of sense. And then the last question is Kyle Hamilton, the safety. Where does he go? The

big mystery right now? I would point to either eight to Atlanta or eleven to Washington as my two favorite landing spots for Kyle Hamilton's possibly the best player in the draft right is? Where does he rank on your big board? He's one for me? Firstly, I know, listen, I I know he ran four or five seven, but Ed Reid ran a four or five eight, I think, And I'm not saying Kyle Hamilton's Ed Reid. He's a

very different player. But the big trend in league right now is a lot of too high safety looks trying to take away explosive place for imposing offenses. And he can align back there and play downhill and fit the run and be an absolute stud in that capacity, and a lot of his other athletic testing was very explosive. He just happens to be six four. So yeah, I think he's He's somebody I'm not gonna get bored with.

He's my my top player. Yeah. Talking about the four or five, all I could picture was the Jeffy OI send us of I don't care, I don't care, I don't care, I don't good stuff. Let's come back. I'll take our first break, come back, and we'll talk to Miami Dolphins Draft. Here next on the Drive Too on podcast, your host Travis Wingfield, brought to you by Auto Nation. My guest today Kyle Crabs. All right back here for the B block, the Dolphins Draft preview edition of the

Drivetime Podcast. I have who else besides Kyle Crabs have locked on Dolphins and the Draft Network here talking some draft, talking some Dolphins and Kyle before we get into that, you know, looking at your Twitter profile and seeing your your banner there with you in the great Joe Marino, Ricky Williams Man, you got a chance to meet them, go tell us about that. What a that was a

bucket list item for me. I'll be completely honest. Now, I'm not blessed enough to go on the fish Tank and talk to to Seth and Juice or anything like that.

But yeah, we went out to Los Angeles for the Super Bowl for a couple of days and uh, Ricky was there with one of our partners, with Panini, and he did like a card opening and did a couple interviews and one of them that he did with was with us and getting to talk to Ricky and catching up about like what life has been like after the NFL and hearing about all of his entrepreneurial ventures that he is embraced and really tackled with enthusiasm, and then

getting into talking about the running back position and uh, talking about what traits Ricky would look for if he were looking for criteria for running back to draft in the NFL, and uh, we kind of got him down

the rabbit hole talking about pass protection and intelligence. And I'm one of those weird football nerds that like, I don't care what your yards per carry is, Like, let me let me see you stick your face in the hole on third and seven and pick up an a gapthletzer, right Like, That's that's what moves the needle for me

when I'm watching running backs. And we got Ricky talking about that a little bit, and he talked about his his vision and oh, he made so many plays because his vision in the pocket would be able to see where a missed assignment was from somebody else, and how he was able to redirect and pass protection and allow plays to happen in that regard. And we talked about

the Wildcat and oh it was. He was phenomenal. It was an absolute treat to get a chance to talk to Ricky and um, I'm very thankful that he shared his time with us. I think one of the most underrated traits in any individual in the sport of football is Ricky's passionate love for the game and intelligence of the game, which kind of seems to just you assume because he's into other things besides football, he doesn't have those things. But that could not be further from the truth.

And I think you've got a chance to kind of have improved that right in front of you, right there, and and Seth and O J talked about them. They both say the exact same thing about just how how crazy, relentless that guy was working on the football field, And obviously that pairs with immense talents. So the goat man.

I love Ricky Williams. Let's let's talk about the current team though here because you and I did this podcast the last two years, and I think we turned out two episodes of forty five minutes of pop an hour and a half. We're gonna trying to cut that in half this time and go just forty probably smart. Yeah, I mean, I know you've got a bunch of things going on. You gotta get you gotta get yourself that Pennsylvania artificial tan. You're getting the teeth whitened? Are you?

Have you gone with the frosted tips yet? Is that part of the equation? Uh No. When we're done here, I'm actually gonna go get my hair cut by a professional for the stime in probably a decade. So I'm a little nervous, but I'm trying to look right for for going on camera next week. Well, you're aging like a fine wine, my friend. I'll give you a compliment after all the trash shok I gave you early on, So looking good for camera. Man. Look, I can't wait to see you guys do man, It's gonna be gonna

be some fun content for you guys this year. And uh, let's talk to some Dolphins though and talk about this offseason and how kind of how we got to this point, right, how we got to having just four draft picks. And I know you're excited, but I want to have your our fans here, how excited you are because we talked

about this all the time. You don't gotta tell me about Go ahead and tell them, you know, going from eleven picks in the top one hundred to just four this entire draft, this year, Um, what do you think? What do you think about this team in this off season? What they've done to kind of build around the head coach and Mike McDaniel bet around the quarterback into a tungle by loa to put complimentary pieces on the football

field for the offense and defense. Where kind of give us your meteror where you're at right now with this Miami Dolphins roster. Yeah, it's funny you you alluded to the journey that this team has been on since two thousand nineteen when they kind of embrace, you know, taking things down to the foundation and building it back up again. Right.

But I'll look even further back, and I'll go to when Chris Greer was first named the general manager of the team back in two thousand six team, and I look at the roster that existed for that team that year when they won ten games and made the playoffs, versus the roster that we are looking at coming into this year's draft without a lot of draft capital at your disposal. But you invested those picks and impact players.

And yes, I think the offensive line when healthy was more talented back then, but it was also a lot more expensive and they weren't healthy often. Uh, And I know you had bigger, more established names on your defensive line, but I don't think the talent levels particularly close, you know. And that's that's a testament to Chris Greer and the evolution of him working with different regimes and and making sure like we're getting what we need for whatever chapter

we're in as an organization right now. And for them to come through this massive influxing young talent with the emphasis that's been on the draft in the last two years to now coming into this year and say, hey, we think we're close, Like we think we're really close, and we have young players that are going to continue to get better and progress at differing rates, right, because progressions never linear. It's never the same for any two players.

But it's gonna it's gonna happen. What the ceiling is is up to them. Um. I'm so excited about the speed that they have implemented on the offensive side of the ball. And I went down a big rabbit hole last week un Lockdown Dolphins talking about hopefully what we'll see from coach McDaniel and the speed on the perimeter that we have here. I mean, and the screen game was an area that the Dolphins weren't particularly high volume in last year relative to some of the other offenses

across the league. And I think Jimmy Garoppolo and San Francisco was in the top twelve in screen rate. I know their screen rate was twice as often as what the Dolphins did last year. And um, you know there were teams that were three times the screen rate. And you talk about to Ah coming into the press conference

to say we're trying to act guys to death. You got Tyreek kill and you got Jalen Wattle in the screen game with a creative play caller, and just you're gonna have a math problem, right, You're gonna say it here, and you're gonna look and say, okay, are you gonna play plus one outside the numbers or outside the hashes on each side, because if you do, and you're gonna go into those two high safety looks, well, now you're lighting the box. And we got athletes up front, we

got speed inside. And if you're gonna play man coverage against this, we're gonna run you off and you're gonna play zone, then you're gonna be soft on the edge. We get the whole corner of the run game. So it's like you you're introducing so many different like levels of conflict the offensive infrastructure wise, with the talent and the change in the philosophy that's in place. And I'm excited to see what the Dolphins evolution on that side

of the ball is gonna look like. I'm glad that they embrace stability on the defensive side of the ball. I still think they'll probably kick the tires on a couple opportunities to maybe get guys that can step into rotational rules quickly. But like, think about the jump that Christian Wilkins took from year two to year three right now, think about what's Javon Holland's jump look like from year one to year two. What's Jalen Phillips's jump look like

from year one to year two? Does Christian Wilkins take another jump this year? Like it? That's the part for the defense that I think is it's is exciting. It's that, Yeah, it's a lot of familiar faces, but a lot of their strong performers that were young players early on, we're players on that side of the ball and we'll continue to see them grow. So I don't think we've seen the ceiling of the defense yet either as well as

the offensive side. Yeah, and Holland didn't start the season as a starter, and Jalen Phillips didn't really get his pass rush production going till you know, October. So I mean, it's it's all. It's like you mentioned, that's that incumbent growth I think is where you're gonna see a big

leap there. You also mentioned the offensive side of the football, not to mention that the options in the passing in the running backs they have now with Chase Edmonds and and uh, help me out where he and most start going along with Miles Gaskin, and you put one of those guys in a Texas route or an option route on a linebacker after a blizz comes on the pipe.

I mean, it's it's constant conflict, like you mentioned. And I want to go back to another point you alluded to about Chris Career's press conference and talking about, you know, building through the draft, but also I love the idea

that he mentioned. You know, we were we were kind of keen on this idea of potentially using that late first round pick or maybe the second round pick on a Vecteran player and understanding the way of kind of constructing this football team as it currently is with Tyreek Hill. And you know, he does have that build through the draft mentality, which you love because that's obviously the best

path forward most of the time. But the ability to kind of go away from what he knows in a in an industry of sport, a league that's full of you know, ego and my way or the highway, right, the ability to go outside of your your comfort comfort zone, I suppose and do different things. I think that has to make Dolphins fans really excited about not just right now, but how they're going to build this thing long term. So really good stuff there, Kyle. Let's keep going here

talking about the draft. Finally, first pick one oh two. You know, I've previewed every position here on the podcast now, We've talked about the moves this offseason, and I think one thing that Dolphins have done is really put themselves in position to just take B p A. I mean, it's we talked about it all the time. It's a popular phrase, it gets thrown around, but there's probably you know, two or three, maybe four spots that you could look

at on the roster and say, like you mentioned. Yeah, we could use more depth there or immediate rotational pieces kind of like you mentioned. But really, I think you look at the roster and say, you know, we go into camp with that spot. It looks it looks pretty good. Now, with all that said, we did this last time when you came on it picked one o two. Let's just go ahead and get into it. What positions do you

think make the most sense there? And you know that's that's a holistic question, isn't it both in terms of the positional value you expect the draft to produce. Like we talked about the tight end position. Uh, that's that's actually I'm gonna get more convoluted here. Let's break this into two parts and start there. A variety of circumstances

can provide different pockets of benefit the draft. What are a couple of positions that could see some really good talent that maybe in other years might see that value plucked earlier than pick one oh two, but because of how it stacks up. What are a couple of positions do you think that could present some real value at that one O two pick? Yeah, I know this this might be music's to a lot of dolphins. Fans ears despite the moves that have been made already this offseason.

But the running back position this year is loaded, like there's a lot of really good players that in the vacuum you would say, yeah, this probably got a mid, mid to late day to pick, but you do the volume of those players, and we already talked about, you know, when do you think the first one comes off the board? I don't. I don't think we get one in the first round. I'd be surprised if we got more than two in the top fifty. Well, maybe Bruce Hall goes to the Bills at the end of the first round.

I know he's probably the betting favorite. I don't know that for sure, but it just seems like he's the consensus favorite to potentially get his name called first. But you've you've got a lot of backs, whether it's James a from Georgia who's more of a pass catching type, whether it's uh some more of these heavy, heavy hitters between the tackles as well. That I think is probably we're talking about rotational players. As I kind of survey the Dolphins running back room, I think Jared Oaks is

probably the closest to that player. Is the seventh round picked from last year, and he'll get a chance to compete.

But if they want to get a Rashod White from Arizona State who's another pass catcher but can run effectively between the tackles, I really like him in his own Or Pierre Strong Jr. From South Dakota State who ran in the four threes and was highly highly productive, and I think he's underrated as a a pass blocker to bringing back that nerd in me and for pass pro speaking pass pro and backs Damian Peers from Florida, somebody who didn't get a lot of mileage at Florida UH

in a crowded running back room and they kind of consistently passed guys around. And if they want another big body guy who can run to the outside, you've also got Isaiah Pacheck from Rutgers who ran in the fourth reason it's two fifteen pounds and successfully runs kind of that toss. You think about San Francisco and what they did with the outside run game and the short toss with Deebo Samuel at times last year. I could see a role like that for a player like him early

in Day three. Or I know that that's a little bit behind one oh two. But do you have so many options? And the fact that you have so many options it makes it really hard for me to envision teams continuing to prioritize that position early because it's like, Okay, the opportunity costs, I can get of this player around or two rounds later, So why would I draft this guy early? So that potentially is going to push a

lot of the top guys down too. So I think the number one position that I think has depth that would be beneficiary of the Dolphins with their first pick being at one oh two, is you can get really really good running back value if that's something they choose to prioritize. I think that your answer there, which is great by the way, kind of opens up an other philosophy that maybe it gets lost in the shuffle sometimes.

But you're not just drafting for two, right, because like you look at the additions of Mostert and Edmunds and Gaskins still here in savan Akhmed's still here, and you mentioned Jared Oaks as the running back room kind of

rounds out. But I mean, you look at the lengths of contracts of those guys sign it's you've got to prepare for not just now, but four and that's where the idea of a four year contract for a running back could do you some benefit and give you some favors in that room, not just and adding to what you have this year, but in future years. Here for the Miami Dolphins running back room. So good stuff there, can I can I jump in on that real quick? Can?

It's just this thought. You know, we talk about life cycles at the Draft Network, and you know, it's a pretty popular phrase to refer to teams having different mentalities and different chapters, and we just got done alluding to that with Chris Group too. But with this roster being built out the way that it is, like that kind of mentality starts to take more hold now than what it has been because they've been looking for foundational players.

You found a lot of foundational players. Now you can start to ask yourselves those questions and then and now it is more appropriate to start drafting players for Hey, we need to be ready for next year when we

have to make a contractual decision about player except position wy. Yeah, it's a lot easier when you have Javon Hall and Jileen Philip Jillan Waddle, Christian Wilkins, all these guys that you know you can count on to PLoP him in their first seven, eight hundred snaps or you know, in the case of of a Hall and a thousand snaps, and you're gonna get good production there. That's a great point, man, it's a good That's a good spot to end this topic and get to our next topic, which is part

of the previous topic. But it's a game that I want to introduce to you. We're gonna get to that here next on the Drivetime Podcast, your host Travis Wingfield, my guest today Kyle Crabs of the Draft Network and Locked on Dolphins here brought to you by Auto Nation. All right back here on this Draft preview edition of the Drivetime Podcast. My guest, as he is every single year here right before the draft kicks off. As Kyle Crabs.

You can hear his podcast Locked on Dolphins every day on the Lockdown Podcast Network, as well as his work at the Draft Network. And so I talked about this that concluded question at the end of the last segment, but this is another Dolphins portion of that question in a game that I kind of came up with here. You know, I think every position Kyle remains on the

board at all times. But you also look at like you know, for the Dolphins, for instance, quarterback, tight end, maybe even wide receiver, offensive guard, and to your defensive lineman and probably even the entire secondary as positions that you say, well, we're set at top, we like the depth. And you could look at possibly some others and say this about some others, but that would leave I guess tackle, center,

running back, edge, and off ball linebacker. Let's go name for name here among those spots at one oh two. So tackle, center, running back, edge, off ball linebacker. I'm gonna give you the honors here. You're gonna pick five. I'm gonna pick five. You go first, kick us off. Who is the one player at those five positions? Yeah? That you want it one oh two? Okay, if you're drafting a center at one oh two, I really want cold strange. That's my first border. Apparently great minds do

think alike. It's good to know. Uh. Yeah, I went down to the Senior Bowl. He's he's super athletic. And if you want to introduce some competition for Michael Deater, I would love for it to be him at the linebacker position problem can you get? You get one pick? Uh? And now I get a pick? Oh so okay, I'll be quiet, go ahead, so it's cold Stranger pick. Then you can change it. Yes, Oh no, I'm drafting Cold Strange because especially since you told me he was the

top player. Yeah, there you go. I am gonna do this and and shamelessly take someone on the offensive line. But he's going to be Wait, is this a position that I had on there? I did? Okay, offensive tackle going back to Washington, say, I'm taking Abraham Lucas there the big right tackle, because I've seen him perform for a long time successfully there at the right tackle spot. So, Abe Lucas for me is my first round pick. There a big surprise, Travis going with a cougar? What are you?

What are you gonna do? Man? Um? Okay, So I need offensive tackle, off ball, linebacker, and remind me of the other positions running back, center, and edge. Okay, and I already drafted my my center. Okay, So I I will probably go with linebacker Troy Anderson from Montana State as the linebacker choice here. I mean, you think about how this defense over the last couple of years has

moved personnel around. Anderson was on the offensive side of the ball quarterback and then running back at Montana State, and then he goes over the defensive side of the ball and he's All Conference at both outside linebacker and inside linebacker in consecutive years. Uh, phenomenal, top shelf athlete. He's just a little role. This would be one of those you're drafting more picks, but his ceiling is so immeasurably high, and the his ability to move around I

think would be really valuable in his defense. Yeah, he's He's a fun watch and it's fun to watch, like not just Dolphins Twitter, but draft Twitter kind of get their eyes on his tape and you see the tweets come out like, oh man, this is yeah, he's He's been very popular from what I've scene, I am going to go back to the running back position from my second pick and take a guy you already mentioned. My my audience knows. I love this guy from South Dakota State,

Pierre Strong Jr. I love the urgency he presents. I love the fact that when he hits the whole, if you don't get your your safety down that box. After he gets past the first level, he might score a touchdown because he has that urgency and that speed to to not just get to the spot quickly, but get through the arm tackles and get to the pay dirt and get to the end zone and score points. So Pierre Strong Jr. Is my second pick who you got in the third there. Okay, So this is where my

strategy is really going to come into play here. Since you've already drafted a tackle, or you've already drafted a running back and a tackle, I'm not gonna draft those. I'm just gonna draft the edge next to make sure I get my top choice here at this position and then get leftovers, so of the edge guys that I predictively think could be here in this strike zone. If Josh Pascal from Kentucky ends up being here in this range.

You think about how the Dolphins have put Emmanuel Agba down inside at times with his hand in the dirt

on an inside shade and offensive tackles. I think he can do that, but then he showed up in the combine at two sixty eight and have like a thirty eight age for like super explosive with his lower half to go with really really heavy hands and ability to to generate that knock back that we've heard those Dolphins players talk about on the defensive side of the ball from time to time, as far as jolting guys with

their hands. So I'll go with Josh Pascal, kind of a hybrid uh on front even front flexible defender out of Kentucky. That would be a great pick. And it also makes me feel more comfortable about the guy I put my list next because I did the same thing you were talking about there. You went with the uh the center and col Strange. I'm gonna keep my center on the board here till lakes and you're not gonna

go back to him here. Maybe you will, I don't know, but uh, I'm gonna do the same thing that you did here and hope this guy falls down the board. I think I mentioned to you after watching the National Championship, like Georgia has so many dudes in that defense, but man quay Walker, the physicality he plays with and the way he strikes guys in the knock back you talk about. He he has that grown man strength already. I think

you're gonna see Bill show up on Sundays. You know, sometimes in the college game it's not quite as physically imposing when they get to the next level because you're playing against lesser athletes, not quite a strong athletes. But Kuaya Walker kind of that sam backer position. He's my pick right here. So that's a great selection, and he'd be a home run fit for Miami. I have him grated in the same range that you have him pig

here as somebody who might be there. There's a little bit of buzz though that like he might end up getting drafted in the same rage as Kenneth Murray from Oklahoma got drafted a couple of years out ago at the end of the first round. Yeah, I mean it would not surprise me as a heightweight, speed athlete if

if he gets drafted in that range. So I've got running backs and offensive tackles, and offensive tackle is gonna hurt me because you took Abe Lucas already and that's probably the only tackle I would have in consideration here at all. So I'll go with the back next to kind of reflect how I I covet the players, and

I will go with James Cook from Georgia. His ability, he's a four or five guy, but they put him split out wide didn't have him run go routes down the field, and he's catching balls tracking it vertically down the field, and I like his ability to kind of jitterbug between the tackles and create some space for himself as well. So I'll go with James Cook is my next pick here. Yeah, he's a hell of player. That's that's a fun one. I'm glad you took him there.

I would definitely have him in my list here. I'm not gonna take him now because we took running backs ready, but Rashod Wife from Arizona State, another one of those guys here. I'm gonna get my center off the board right here. I'll take my edge next. But I'm gonna go ahead and take Cam Jurgens from Nebraska. Just one of those those mean dudes. I think that every offensive line needs. He kind of qualifies the two things we

talked about a lot this offseason. Can they move into the smart players and then you have that nasty finishing temperament. I'm gonna go ahead and get Cam Jurgens right here from my fourth pick. So my last one is gonna be an offensive tackle, and it's a little bit of a reach versus where I have this player actually graded.

I do have him as more of a four mid four UM, but I do think for the sake of this conversation and it's worth acknowledging, Matt will let's go from North Dakota was a senior Bowl participant at offensive tackle, and he looked really good against Arnold, Evi Katie and some of the one on ones. And Evcati is a pass rusher from Penn State who's getting some first round buzz. But this is a dude who is nine percentile in height. He's twelve pounds eighty five and a half inch wingspan,

which is ninety seven percentile for offensive tackles. Uh. He ran a five oh three forty yard dash with a won seven three ten yards split that's eighty three percentiles. Uh. He had a nine ft five inch standing broad jump, which is percentile for offensive woman's super super explosive player. Uh. And just a freakish size for a small school kids. So well, let's go from from North Dakota is kind of a bet on trades guy here with this last pick.

He I think he was a name that Joe brought up on the podcast what he did as a guy that he really liked as well. So two for two there with the big time expert opinions giving us names there, I'm gonna go ahead and finish out this draft with my J Sanders from Cincinnati. The build, the length of the ability to kind of bend that corner off the edge and play, you know, a high volume of downs. I think could be an early rotation guy that you build into a potential long term starter there off the

edge from the Cincinnati Barrackcats. That's ten names we gave you. Cole Strange, Abe Lucas, Troy Anderson, Pierre Strong Junior, Josh Pascal, Quay Walker, James Cook, Cam Jurgen's Matt will Let's go my J Sanders, Kyle. If that's if one of those ten guys at the first pick for the draft this year for the Dolphins, you feel pretty good about it. Yeah, you either got really good value or you've got a really high upside player. Um, regardless of any of those

ten players. I I think that would be a great foundational bit to kind of take a look at and say, hey, here here's the shortlist of guys we should hope to see is gonna be built? Okay, speaking of short list, let's do this really quickly before we get to our last break. Are we already our last break? Never mind, but let's do a quick, a short one here with

the other positions. Just two picks each, all right, quarterback, tight end, wide receiver, offensive guard, and to your defensive line, defensive back, so the other positions to you, guys, go ahead and take the arms pick one two. So we're gonna do the draft all over again. Just we're doing two rounds. You get two picks. I get two picks. Okay, okay, quickly. You can't put me on the spot like that and

then expect me to prosper. How about Josh Williams, cornerback from Fayetteville State is just the absolute freakish heightweight, speed athlete, super physical. You think about the Dolphins and the amount of dollars that they do have invested in the cornerback position if they want some cheap young talent that can continue to grow into that spot. Obviously, no, Bogady is still on the roster, and we'll see what year three. Maybe there's a jump like we talked about with some

of the other guys. But he's a player who the ceiling is immeasurable, and this is probably the right range to kind of bet on traits with somebody like that. That's uh, he's a senior Bowl Yes, that's that's right on the name of Oka. Yeah, Fayettville State threw me off. I remember writing about him a little bit and get a chance to watch him just just a little bit. But that's a good pick there. I'm gonna go to right back to the Alabama well, back to the receiver well,

and take John Macchi because I just love his game. No, the receiver group for the Dolphins is pretty loaded right now, but I think John metch is a great fit for what the Dolphins want to do offensively, explosive playmaker who can turn those you know, quick slants in the long touchdown passes, even coming off the injury. So John Mechi is my pick. The second I'll go, I'll go tight end.

I know we've alluded to to the tight end position, and we brought some names back, some familiar faces, but we do know this offense based on some of the track record that we've seen in other teams across the league, that implements it. Uh, you can have a lot of versatility with some of your athletes. I'll go Greg Dulcine from u C l A, who is somebody who I think has plenty of development to be had as far as a rumblacker, but he shows a really good appetite for it. And he's a rat, a rat guy, a

yat guy at the tight end position. And uh, I think he's led the pack twelve and receiving yards amongst tight ends and each of the last two years, so a highly productive football player. He crushed it Senior Bowl.

I think that'd be a great value pick. Obviously, no Hunter Long is in the building as well, but uh, it's a mismatch league and we'll see, you know, Obviously, mikea Seki, we need to figure out if that's a long term deal or not for him, And and Adam Shehen is somebody who's getting close to the end of his current contract as well, so there may be some

turnover in that position. Room. Yeah, it makes plenty of sense, And we talked about drafting for for long term and just continue to both start roster we feel pretty good about. And that was a guy I know you got pretty excited about a couple months back when you first got a chance to your your cross checks and everything with him.

So you got your guy there. I'm gonna go back to the cornerback spot and take Cam Taylor Britt primarily for fit because I think that he's one of the better press corners in this draft, especially in this range here from Nebraska. So Cam Taylor BRIT's ability to come down, play physical, play the run, getting guys faces throw off that timing. I'm a big fan of his games. I'll go with him. So that's another contender for the nickel too. Yeah, you could play him inside it and he will thrive

in run fits. So he's excellent. You can never have enough of those guys in this defensive back film, and I don't want to see them just kind of sit on it and call it good, you know, just because they are so good. Like, if you get a good chance to get a player, go go ahead and go get that guy. And Cam Taylor Britt would be one of those guys. All right, Kyle, let's go back into this, uh,

back into the draft mode here. And I know we just talked about fourteen names, which is great for the podcast here, but um, I wanted to get your take on the day three options because we don't we come back around day you know, our round seven, I should say, And they could be guys are in the U d f A range or maybe their sixth round range. You hope they fall to you. Just some of your Day three favorites here and maybe you trade up from You can talk about that too, some Day three favorites for

your Miami Dolphins and this year's draft. Yeah, So as as I kind of survey what's where the depth flies on Day three, um, I would. I would really love to see them go find guys that can give you snaps on teams right and being able to play on special teams early on. I think about a guy like Percy Butler and safety from Louisiana, who's an absolute killer on special teams. He's not gonna blow you away with

his physical measurables or anything like that. And I think as a pure defensive are uh, there's some development there that's needed. But Percy Butler from Louisiana, if you you have him on the board for you in the seventh round, like, that's a guy that you can guarantee will make your roster as your fourth safety and somebody who's gonna cover kicks and do very very well in that regard, and obviously the Miami Dolphins have a bit of a void there with the decision to let mcollins depart in free

agency to go to the Raiders this offseason. Uh, there's gonna be competition in that spot. So so that's one name if you were going to look at a running back a little later that had some size and physicality to him. I really like Jante ingram from USC. I think he's somebody who created for himself. He dropped a little bit of weight coming into and showcase some some short area twitch and um, he's a different running style. He's a little bit more physical and assertive as a runner,

challenging tacklers with with his frame as necessary. I'll point to a potential local at least off this past year at Miami, Charleston Rambo why receiver as somebody who bottom of the wide receiver room contender. Obviously, the they have plenty of players with experience returning kicks. Do they want any of them returning kicks full time? Again? I don't.

I don't know, but that that's kind of the theme as I'm looking at the seventh round picks and I go back to what Chris Grewer talked about when he had the pre draft press conference, and he's like, when you have this few picks, you feel like you gotta hit on him, and you you gotta know what you're getting, and when you're picking in the seventh round, there's usually not a lot of those, unless you're getting guys who have a very clear and defined role on special teams.

The last name I'll leave you with Travis. I'll make you real hoppy. I'll talk about Washington State Cougar Jalen Watson, the defensive back who's six ft three, runs in the four fours physical. I think he'd be another guy who would be a contender for some of those teams reps as well. Yeah, he was. He was kind of a stable,

stabilizing force in the Washington State team this year. That was really close, really really damn close to going off the rows of the nd season fire of our our du fist head coach that got replaced in the interim guy gets the full time job because he beat up with the Huskies and in the Apple Cup for the first time in seven years. But I'll go ahead and get off that topic. What am I to say about that.

I'm glad you mentioned special teams because we talked about this a lot, you know, like, I think it would behoove the Dolphins, who clearly clearly value special teams in a way that I think, you know everyone does, but I think more so than most teams. It would be nice to get a guy that can really give you a core special teams piece, and that seventh round for the next four years would be a really good thank you. I needed that. I needed that name school school in

position again, safety from Louisiana. Perfect. I know you gotta go get your haircut man to let you go ahead and do that. Before you do that, I want to hear one name that if this guy falls, for whatever reason, into that fifties, sixties, seventy five round range, who's the one guy that you're happy with giving future draft capital to go up and get this year? Oh, somebody, I'm willing to risk it all four Yep. That's the thing, that's the deal. That's the question, man, Um, that is

such a tough call. In this year, your draft class have kind of mentally hunted on on the idea of of being In that conversation, I would probably point to um maybe quay Walker, the guy that you mentioned. I don't expect him to be there, but I kind of

graded him in that range. And I think about somebody with that kind of length and explosiveness potentially playing in the middle and the heart of that defense a couple of years down the road as he continues to develop, and and that's somebody you'd be willing to bet on the traits with. So um, I think his floor is probably higher than Troy Anderson's, who is the linebacker I mentioned earlier. So if quay Walker starts that slide, yeah, I'd be making some phone calls. There's moments in this

industry where you kind of fill yourself validated. I've talked before about like when Shannon Crowerd talk to me about No. One football like that really made me feel good about myself. You giving me the quay Walker stamp of approval when I first brought his name up back in the National Championship game. That makes me feel very good in my friends. So, once again, you said it all. You've absolutely killed it

at grinding the Tape on Twitter. Director of scouting at the Draft Network locked on Dolphins podcast, Kyle Crabs appreciate you as always my friend. Can we put you down this year again for Fann Weekend and bow campers on that Saturday. Yes, lock me in. I love it. He's locked in. He's locked on Dolphins. Kyle Crabs, thanks a lot. Man. So typically when I say farewell to my guests, they'll say like, thanks a lot, Travis, appreciate you having me on.

Kyle didn't say anything. So I asked him about it after he got off the air, and I said, you didn't say anything. He goes, I'm not gonna have the last word on your podcast. I love that guy. He's the best. Kyle Crabs which chek out his work. Thank you to him again for doing this. Thank you to the entire Draft Network team for kind of carrying the water here previewing the draft class this year. Very valuable information for us for a couple of weeks now here

on the Drivetime podcast. In the meantime, that's gonna be my time. We'll have the mail bag tomorrow answering your questions both on Miami Dolphins dot com as well as the Drivetime podcast here. So I'll check out that one and then we'll come back to recap Night two of the draft. That podcast will be out Saturday morning, I believe here on the Miami Dolphins podcast Network. In the meantime, you all please be sure to subscribe to the podcast

on Apple Podcast. Leave us a rating, leave us a review. You can follow me on Twitter at Wingfield NFL, follow the team at Miami Dolphins, check out the Fish Tank, the Wednesday night Twitter Spaces show, and of course the YouTube channel for Media availabilities and Dolphins Today, and last but not least, Miami Dolphins dot com. Until next time, fins up Caroline Daddy's Coming Home.